Chapter 3: What if the Sermon is Heretical?

Some people call a preacher a heretic when he is not. He might take a different view on eschatology, the mode and timing of baptism, the role of women, or the place of sign gifts in the church today. Don’t misunderstand me—these are important teachings to be sure—but they don’t necessarily make a preacher a heretic. Instead, these are the kinds of doctrinal differences that should be placed in last week’s category of sermon evaluation. Depending on your theological stance, you might lean one way or the other on these subjects. Either way, you are not a heretic and neither is the preacher who differs with you.

Others put unquestioned trust in heretical preachers who flat out deny the gospel or misrepresent the person and character of God Himself. I’m not referring to the cults such as Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Islam all of which deny the deity of Jesus Christ; the Roman Catholic Church which promotes the worship of Mary; Hinduism which accepts the existence of millions of gods; Buddhism which worships manmade idols; and other false systems of worship which are obviously corrupt. I’m referring to so-called Protestant preachers who are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They teach the Bible like it’s a moral handbook—a manual for personal improvement. They don’t talk about personal sin or disobedience. They don’t call people to repentance. They don’t speak of the need for forgiveness. They don’t emphasize the death of Jesus Christ as an atoning sacrifice. They speak of God as if He’s just like one of us.

If that’s the kind of preaching that’s taking place in your church, get out! Don’t hesitate. Act now. “Such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ” (2 Cor 11:13). The Apostle Peter said, “There will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned (2 Pet 2:1–2). Dear reader, don’t be one of those people who naively listens to false teaching. Don’t think that you’re immune to its devastating effects. You cannot afford to remain in that situation.

Now be careful. If the preacher gets it wrong by mistake and then puts it right when corrected, then he’s not a necessarily a false teacher. He is a heretic, however, if he holds obstinately to teaching that which the Bible shows to be wrong. A heretic is one who teaches error persistently and dogmatically, and seeks to persuade others.

Christopher Ash says,

The way to listen to these sorts of sermons is to stop listening to them! That is to say, we ought to move away from that kind of church and find a church where they believe and teach the Bible faithfully. We will not look for an exciting church, where the preaching entertains; we will look for a faithful, Bible-teaching church.[1]

In most Western-world locations, you’ll be able to find a church that teaches the gospel faithfully. That church might not agree with you on every single aspect of church practice, but at least they believe in the one true God, they love Christ, they confess their sin, they proclaim the Good News, they have a desire to understand the Word of God, and are determined to live in light of it. Maybe the preacher isn’t the best communicator in the world, but at least he’s a man of God who loves the truths of Scripture and is trying his best to teach them. That’s the church you need to be a part of. There’s no such thing as the perfect church, so don’t hold out for it. Instead, weigh up the church’s overall commitment to Scripture and make a determination based upon the essentials of the faith.

But what if you’re in one of those locations in which there are no faithful, gospel-preaching churches? I’ll answer that question next week.

---

[1] Christopher Ash, Listen Up!: A Practical Guide to Listening to Sermons (New Maiden, Surrey, England: The Good Book Company, 2009), 28.