Peter Barnes | Acts 20:29-31
SERMON NOTES
DANGERS FROM WITHIN THE CHURCH (Acts 20:29-31)
Jeremiah 23:9-22; Acts 20:17-38
– Satan seeks to destroy the Church by persecution from the outside or undermining from within.
1. False teachers are always a danger to the Church.
– 20:29-30; see Jer.5:31; this is not referring to mistaken beliefs but distorting the gospel
– Matt.7:15; Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:21) but Jeremiah confronted false prophets who spoke in the name of the true God (e.g. Jer.28). One false teacher inside the Church does more harm than ten in other religions.
2. False teachers seek to make disciples for themselves.
– 20:30; Calvin: ‘ambition is the mother of all heresies’.
– 2 Pet.3:16 – Scripture is twisted
– this happened at Ephesus later (1 Tim.1:3-4, 18-20; 2 Tim.1:15; 2:17-18), then was threatened later still in Rev.2:6
W. P. Nicholson to liberal theologians: ‘The road to hell is paved with the skulls of Presbyterian ministers.’
3. Be watchful, remember, be serious.
– 20:31; Be on guard, recall what Paul said & how he said it.