Christ Is Enough: How to Recognize False Teaching and True Freedom

Summary

False teachers attract followers by presenting appealing lies, but only Jesus is fully sufficient. In Christ, believers are complete, forgiven, victorious, and free from legalism and self-made religion. Union with His death and resurrection empowers true obedience and freedom. Any teaching that diminishes who Jesus is or adds rules for salvation reveals false doctrine and must be rejected in favor of Christ alone.

The Bait of False Teachers

Jesus was a skilled teacher at the age of twelve. By contrast, false teachers are like skilled fishermen. They present the bait of their lies in a way calculated to entice you.

Competing Philosophies and Hidden Hooks

The New Age movement teaches that God is already in you. The Playboy philosophy tells you that if it feels good, do it.

Materialism preaches that life consists of accumulating things. Astrology points to the heavens as the key to your destiny. Underneath each bait waits the devil’s hook.

Christ Is Enough

Christ is enough. In Him, you are spiritually, morally, and mentally complete. Possessing Jesus, you have all you need.

You can always rely on Him. To turn to any other philosophy is like trading your new Rolls-Royce for a rust-bucket car without an engine.

In Christ, you have true circumcision made without hands. In the Old Testament, circumcision was the outward sign of God’s acceptance.

Colossians 2:11 reveals that now it is an inward mark on your heart. God makes it when you decide to follow Him. It enables you to escape your sinful nature’s total domination.

You can manage your past failures because of your union with Christ in His death (Colossians 2:12). You can manage your present obligations and responsibilities because of your union with Him in His resurrection.

His overcoming resurrection life empowers you to do what you should. That is true freedom.

Forgiveness, Victory, and Freedom in Jesus

In Christ, you have forgiveness. Colossians 2:14 pictures all the sins you have committed as recorded on a charge list. God nailed it to the cross on which Jesus suffered.

By God’s grace, through the cross, He wiped your charge list clean. It is gone.

Has someone offended you? Jesus died for that, too. Will you nail it to the cross? If God forgives, who are you to withhold forgiveness? That also applies to forgiving yourself.

In Christ, you have victory (Colossians 2:15). He disarmed the spiritual forces that were in rebellion against God. He made a public display of them.

In your strength, you are no match for them. So, send Jesus to answer when the devil knocks at your door.

In Christ, you have freedom. He delivered you from self-justifying rule-keeping. Old Testament legal regulations were shadows of things that came in Jesus Christ. He freed you from the prison of man-made rules to serve Him.

Paul condemns punishing your body to gain God’s favor. You died to the old way of life. You rose to a new life centered on loving and serving God and others. It is futile to seek to earn God’s praise by man-made rule-keeping.

Two Questions That Expose False Teaching

Let me suggest two questions to identify suspected false teachers.

First, ask, “Who is Jesus Christ?” False teachers do not believe He is fully human, fully God, and fully adequate.

Second, ask, “What rules must I keep to be saved?” If there are any, you are dealing with a false teacher. See additional free spiritual growth resources for Christians.

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God has empowered me to write His Power for Your Weakness—260 Steps Toward Spiritual Strength. It’s a free, evangelistic, devotional, and discipleship e-book. Pastors have used it in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia to lead 7,590 people to Christ and teach the basics of Christianity to 17,681 people. I invite you to explore and use it in your setting.  

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