Did you know that until the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the largest single loss of American lives in a desperate, deliberate act in U.S. history was from a false teacher? A false teacher. In November of 1978, and I'm sure many of you who were around remember this very well, In November 1978, U.S. Representative Leo Ryan of California visited Jim Jones People's Temple, a California-based cult who had moved to Guyana, South America, to investigate various reports that there were people there that were being held against their will. So he went down to check it out. Having been threatened while there, Ryan quickly left the compound with his delegation, as well as 15 cult members who wanted to leave the cult, and they went to the airport. However, while boarding the plane, they were ambushed by some of the members of the People's Temple. Five people were killed, including Congressman Ryan. and many others were severely wounded. Hearing just a little later that day what had happened at the airport, and knowing that Jonestown was no longer safe, once word got out what had happened at the airport and those who were killed, U.S. government was coming. So Jones immediately ordered everyone to assemble in the pavilion that they had there on the compound. So everybody showed up and they were surrounded by Jones' armed guards. He talked about the beauty of death and the certainty that everyone would meet again. Then as large kettles filled with purple punch mixed with cyanide were brought out, he told them that they all were going to commit mass suicide. In reality, it was mass murder. The babies and the children were given the poison punch first. They brought them down and had a little syringe and they put that into their mouths. The adults then drank it. Most took it willingly, but some had to be forced And those that really resisted, they shot him right there. Within a few minutes, on November 18th, 1978, 912 people died from drinking the poison, 276 of whom were children. Jones was found dead near his pulpit from a single gunshot wound to the head. No one knows whether he did it himself or somebody did it for him. Only a handful of people survived the Jonestown massacre, either by escaping into the jungle or hiding somewhere in the compound. Now, although throughout history, the physical results of following false teachers are not always this horrific, The spiritual results always are. The spiritual results always are, as the false teachers' heresies, damn people's souls who believe in them to an eternal hell. You see, this is why the Apostle Paul warns against false teachers in the passage that we will be looking at this morning. If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Romans chapter 16. In chapter 16, verses 17 through 20, we're going to be looking at three elements, three elements of Paul's warning to the saints in Rome, which every believer should heed. Until the Lord returns. This will continue on and on and on and on and on until Christ comes back. So these are things that every believer needs to heed until the Lord returns. The first element of Paul's warning consists of what I call the responsibilities that believers must obey. The responsibilities that believers must obey. Look what Paul says in verse 17. Now I urge you, brethren, Keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned and turn away from them. The having just told the Roman believers to lovingly greet specific people, and he went through a whole list of them and verses three through 15. And then tells the whole congregation to greet one another with a holy kiss. and then went on to give the greetings of all the churches that he had established to these Roman believers. Because remember, he's off to Jerusalem and he had representatives from all these churches who had helped with that contribution that they were going to take to the poor saints in Jerusalem. And those representatives representing their churches also send their greetings. And so having done all of this greeting out of love and care for the Roman believers, Paul now feels compelled to warn those whom he loves against false teachers. You see, although false teachers had not yet arrived in Rome, From his vast missionary experience, Paul knew very well that it won't be long before they do, because that happened everywhere where Paul went. And even though he hadn't been to Rome yet, word got out of how this church was committed in the relationship with Christ. And he knew that it wouldn't be long before they'd come. Paul said to the elders at the church at Ephesus in Acts 20, verse 28-31, Be on your guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples to themselves after them. Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears." Paul knew the reality of false teachers. Therefore, as we come to verse 17, he gives these Roman believers a preventative warning against these teachers who would pervert the Word of God. Again, he gives this kind of warning many times in his other letters. As you go through, you see where Paul has on his heart the desire to care for and protect those that are part of the family of God. See, that's what love does. Love protects. And that's what Paul is doing here to the Romans. Now, the subject of false teachers and their character is seen throughout the New Testament. Numerous passages deal with this subject. Even Jesus Himself In Matthew 7, verses 15 and 16, it says, Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. So they come in sheep's clothing. They come all nice and caring and appearing to be one of us, believers. And yet, God knows their heart. Inside, they're ravenous wolves seeking to tear apart, undermine the gospel of Jesus Christ. That salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Nullify that and undo the unity that Believers have in Jesus Christ. Paul begins by telling his dear Christian brothers and sisters in Rome. Look what he says here. Now I urge you, brethren. As we've seen before, the meaning of the word urge here, it's a very strong word. It lies between request and command. It's best captured in such words as exhort. implore, summons, appeal, plead. Again, those are the words that Paul is saying here in this. He's pleading with them, pleading with them, exhorting these Roman believers and every other believer as well, which includes us, to obey what he is about to say. You see, in this verse, he gives two responsibilities that believers must obey regarding false prophets, false teachers, false Christ, anyone who comes along and is teaching something different than the Word of God. The first responsibility that believers must obey is to be spiritually alert for them. to be spiritually alert for them. Look again what he says. Keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned. Paul says, keep your eye on those. The one Greek word translated, keep your eye on, is a word from which we get our English word, scope. Scope. We use that in telescope, in microscope. It means to examine, to scrutinize carefully, to mark out, to watch out for, to be on your guard against. It's in the present tense in the Greek, meaning that we are to continually keep on watching out for those who are false teachers so that we can identify them. In other words, don't just lay back and think everything's fine and everybody believes the same thing you do as far as the fundamentals of the faith. We need to be spiritually alert to the fact that even though some people say they're Christians, what they teach violates the Word of God. We must be constantly spiritually alert. Now, who are these? Who are these false teachers that Paul's talking about? Well, in reality, nobody knows for sure. Some say they're the Jewish legalists that are called Judaizers. Others say they're, on the other extreme, the antinomian or anti-law libertines. Those who just, you know, do anything. Because they're free in Christ, so they're free to just do anything. Nobody really knows because Paul doesn't give us enough information to nail down who these people were, which is probably good because regardless of the false teachers, Paul characterizes all of them when he says, look here, those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you have learned. The word dissensions here refers to divisions. It's included in Galatians chapter five, verse 20. Among the deeds of the flesh. You see, self is reigning in these people's lives. They're fleshly, they're carnal. They're sinful. Some divisions are inevitable, aren't they? especially for the sake of truth and loyalty to Jesus Christ. Jesus said if you preach the gospel, it's going to divide. It's going to offend some. So truth sometimes brings about division. But that's not the division Paul's talking about here. False teachers introduce strife and factions, disunity, division. everywhere that they go, because they are controlled by sin and their sinful flesh. The word hindrances means offenses, stumbling blocks. It's true that the gospel of Jesus Christ is an offense. It is a stumbling block. We've already seen that in chapter nine, also in We see that in 1 Corinthians 1, 23, where it's foolishness. It's a stumbling block. It's foolishness to those who don't believe. But the heresy of false teachers is an offense and a stumbling block. It damns people's souls, those who believe in their heretical doctrines. It damns their soul to an eternal hell. No wonder Jesus said in Matthew 18, 6, whoever causes one of these little ones, and He had children around Him when He said this, whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. You see, the central issue with a false teacher, to be spiritually alert for, is that what they teach is contrary. It's contrary. It's diametrically opposed to the teaching, Paul says to the Romans, which you have learned. The word teaching here means doctrine. Doctrine. Instruction. It involves principles, positions, the body of beliefs that are taught. That's why I've said before, I'm taken back by people who say, well, we don't teach doctrine here. Then what is it you're teaching? Teaching is doctrine. It's beliefs. What do you believe? Do you not believe anything? They may not teach certain specific doctrines. Now, I can go with that. But teaching is doctrine. Paul's not talking about differing views on non-essential, secondary teachings of Scripture. He's not talking about differing perspectives about issues of personal preference. Things that are not directly commanded or forbidden in Scripture, which we talked about from Romans 14.1 all the way through 15.13. He's not addressing those issues. He's talking here about heretical doctrines, teachings that violate the fundamental truths of the Christian faith. That's what he's talking about. False teaching concerning religion is one of Satan's primary weapons that he uses to keep spiritually blind mankind in his blindness. And false teachers are Satan's instruments, his emissaries that propagate his lies. You see, although often they call themselves Christian, they twist and they distort, they pervert the Word of God, often giving meaning to biblical terms that is totally different from what it really means. And they teach their heresies under the guise of Christianity. So again, they give enough truth to suck people in. But their teaching is contrary. It's diametrically opposed to the divinely revealed apostolic teaching that the Roman believers had received at the beginning of their Christian lives. Therefore, the second responsibility that believers must obey is to personally separate from them. We need to be spiritually alert for them, but when we see them, we need to be personally separate from them. Those are the responsibilities. Look at the end of verse 17 where Paul states, turn away from them. The one Greek word translated turn away here means to shun, to avoid. This is repeated often in the New Testament concerning such heretical and immoral people. Now, it's important to understand that turning away from them is an imperative in the Greek. An imperative, in other words, is a command. It's a command. This is not a suggestion. This is not an option. It's a command. Turn away from them. It's also in the present tense, meaning that we are to continually separate ourselves from them so that we will not be corrupted by their false teaching. We're warned in Scripture in different places that a little leaven, what? Leavens the whole lump. A little corruption grows. And so Paul says, avoid them. Turn away. Notice again that Paul doesn't say that we're to do them physical harm. Again, throughout church history, you've seen where supposedly Christians are out there killing people that don't believe the same thing they believe. Paul's not talking about doing them physical harm. But nor does he say that we are to engage them in friendly debate and dialogue. We're to simply avoid them. And this means protecting fellow believers, especially new converts and those who are immature in their faith, from their error. I think John MacArthur is correct when he states, and I quote, Paul often argued and debated with unbelievers, both Jew and Gentile. While in Athens, he was reasoning in the synagogues with the Jews and God fearing Gentiles and the marketplace every day with those who happen to be present, including Greek philosophers. And others. He did not, however, provide a platform for those who profess Christ, but taught but taught a false and perverted gospel. Such people are not to be debated. but denounced." Avoid them. Shun them. Denounce them. Stay away from them. That's what Paul is saying. Now, understand that avoiding false teachers here does not violate Jesus' command in Matthew 5, verse 44 about loving our enemies. We've already looked at that earlier in Romans. We are to love our enemies. We are to pray for those who persecute us, those who are wrong. But this doesn't violate that. Remember that Jesus still wept over the stubborn rebellion of Jerusalem while He denounced their self-righteousness. He wept over them, and yet He stood His ground and He denounced what it was that they were doing. Cranfield rightly observed, and I quote, one can't avoid subjecting oneself to a person's evil influence without hardening one's heart against him. So we cannot deal with them, and yet we can still have a soft heart that prays for them. But that's not what happens often. Sad to say. Instead of obeying the responsibilities of identifying, being spiritually alert to identify false teachers, and then personally separating ourselves from them by avoiding them, many professing believers disobey, and then they listen to them. They tune right into them. William Newell, I think, said it well. And I quote, Mad dogs are shot. Infectious diseases are quarantined. But evil teachers who would divide their to their destruction and draw away the saints with teaching contrary to the doctrine of Christ and his apostles are everywhere tolerated. Let us take heed, lest we partake in the evil deeds of such evil workers. And then he goes on to quote 2 John verses 9-11 that deals with that very thing. That brings us to the second element of Paul's warning, which consists of the reasons for avoiding false teachers. The reasons for avoiding false teachers. Look at verse 18. Paul says, for such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ, but of their own appetites. And by their smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. And when Paul says such men here, he's making it very clear that false, heretical doctrine is not impersonal. It's not impersonal. It has a face. It is people who are the perpetrators. Such men can be women as well. Therefore, His warning here is against any and all false teachers who teach contrary to the Word of God. In this verse, Paul gives two reasons for avoiding false teachers. The first reason is because their motives are selfish. Avoid them Because their motives are selfish. They're not in this for you. They're not in this for the Lord. They're in it for themselves. Look again at verse 18. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ, but of their own appetites. Stop there. The word slaves here means to serve as slaves. Notice that they are not slaves of our Lord Christ. They're not slaves of God. They're not serving the Lord. That's not their heart's desire. Instead, they are slaves. They're driven by their own appetites. What does that mean? The word appetites here literally means belly. It's a graphic metaphor for self-indulgence, self-indulgence. Although false teachers often come across as very sincere, very caring, very loving, they're warm, they're wanting to pull you in and minister to you. They are idolatrous slaves of their own self-interest and self-gratification. At the core The bottom line, what God sees is it's all about them, what you can do for them. They claim to worship and serve the Lord Jesus Christ, but in reality, they're worshiping themselves. They're living to satisfy their own selfish desires. Again, whether it's the money they make, whether it's the power they are able to wield over people, I mean, it can be all kinds of things there. There are nothing more than heretics and charlatans, frauds, fakes, imposters. So the first reason is that the motives are selfish. The second reason for avoiding these false teachers is because their methods are deceptive. Their methods are deceptive. Look at what Paul goes on to say in verse 18. And by their smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. These people are not genuine spirit controlled people. The intent of false teachers is to deceive the hearts of the unexpected. The word unsuspecting here refers to those who are simple, those who are naive, which makes them a very vulnerable target because they're gullible to believe whatever they hear. That's the problem. Now, being kind of innocent and simple and naive is not necessarily a problem in itself. But if you have no guard and you are gullible to just take in everything that comes without a check, then there's a big problem. And the method that false teachers use to capture these unsuspecting people is deception. Deception. They're no different than Satan himself, as you see in John chapter Chapter 8, verse 44, where it talks about Satan being the father of lies and the master deceiver. Again, they've got his character. Paul says, by their smooth and flattering speech. Remember that no one joins a cult thinking that they're going to be harmed. No one. They knew where they were going to end up. They would have never done that to begin with. They're deceived. They're brought in subtly. They're deceived by smooth and flattering speech. The word smooth here means fair, plausible, reasonable. It's reasonable. It sounds good. Again, most of the time, it's all about me. If you do this, then you're going to have all God's blessings and you'll be wealthy and healthy and wise and prosperity. What false teachers say superficially appears many times to be pleasing, persuasive and worthy of belief. The word flattering here refers to insincere and excessive praise. Slick talkers are often very charismatic people. They're very eloquent orators. They have silver tongues. They know how to work the crowd. But their well-chosen words are not wholly biblically true. Again, like I said before, they mix in enough truth to kind of get people. But then once they have them, then they're taking them down the wrong road. Linsky says about their smooth and flattering speech, and I quote, this is the language of Satan used in Genesis 3, 5, where he is wooing Eve to take the tree that was forbidden. Paul said to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 11, 3, but I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. He goes on in verses 13 and 15 to say, for such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it's not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness whose end will be according to their deeds." Again, they're smooth, slick talkers. But never forget that the heretical doctrines of slick, talking, false teachers is like spiritual purple punch mixed with cyanide that damns people's souls to eternal hell unless by the grace of God they turn away from them and God draws them to saving faith in Jesus Christ alone. Paul then further explains why the Roman believers must take His warning seriously in verse 19. Look what he says. For the report of your obedience has reached to all. Therefore, I am rejoicing over you. But I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil. Now, Paul did not consider the Roman believers as unsuspecting people. Again, that wasn't their character. He had already acknowledged them for their faith. Back in chapter 1 and verse 8, we looked at that. Their faith, which was known throughout the world. And here, here in verse 19, their obedience, which had reached to all. Again, it was their commitment to Christ, their faith in Him and their obedience was known throughout the world. And he is truly rejoicing over them because of their strong commitment to Jesus Christ, demonstrating the fact that their faith and their obedience is inseparable. And we saw that throughout Romans. Faith and obedience are tied together. That's why he often calls it the obedience of faith. However, Paul is confident because of his past experience, that eventually false teachers will come to Rome. And he wants them to be ready. He wants them to be ready. History tells us that they did come. And by the 7th century, the Roman papacy was enthroned in Rome. False teachers did make it there. It's the headquarters now. of the Roman Catholic Church. Notice that Paul goes on to say, because of his concern for these Roman believers, in verse 19, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil. Jesus said a similar thing in Matthew 10, verse 16, when He said, Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves, shrewd as serpents, wise, but again, innocent. Wise in what's good, innocent in what is evil. How can we be wise in what is good? The word wise here means to have understanding and discernment in order to be able to make sound judgments. to be wise, to be discerning, to have this understanding, to be able to make sound judgments. Since spiritual wisdom comes from God and from His Word, beloved, we must know the Word of God if we are accurately to discern good from bad, right from wrong, truth from error. We've got to know the Word of God if we're going to be able to do that. And this requires that we diligently study the Word of Truth, as we are told in 2 Timothy 2, verse 15. To be diligent about that, to accurately handle the Word of Truth. You see, only as we are so familiar with what is true, can we then spot what is not true. We need to know the Word of God. That's why we're committed, for the large part, to teach verse by verse. We want you to understand what God's Word means in the context in which it's written. You see, if we're not, if we don't know God's Word, Ephesians 4.14 tells us that we will be tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of man, by craftiness and deceitful scheming. If we don't have a biblical knowledge, a biblical framework to think through, because we understand God's Word, then when things come, we're not going to be spiritually alert to identify them. And therefore, we can get sucked in. Instead of avoiding them, we get sucked into it. Those who do not know God's Word are sitting ducks to swallow whatever it is they hear. They're sitting ducks. We must remember that the Word of God is absolute truth. Absolute truth. We live in a day and age that everything's relative. It's only true because it's true to you. But it's not true to this person, so it's not true to them. There is no absolute truth. That's what we hear today. That is not what the Word of God says. God's Word is truth. It is absolute truth. It is the final standard by which we evaluate everything. We need to be like the Bereans who, according to Acts 17, 11, were examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. And it's talking about Paul teaching them. Imagine that. The Bereans were being discerning to see if Paul himself was teaching what the Scripture was saying. But we need to evaluate everything we hear from the Word of God, but we can't do that if we don't know the Word of God. We need to study it. And how can we be innocent in what is evil? The word innocent here means unmixed, pure, simple, harmless, godless. Being innocent in what is evil does not mean that we're ignorant of it. It doesn't mean we're ignorant of evil. We see evil all around us. We see evil within us. It's everywhere. We live in a fallen, sinful world. But by God's grace, as we're dependent on Him, we're acting daily in our Christian lives in a way that is inexperienced and unsophisticated in reference to evil. We're not just giving into it and going with it and then sharpening it in our lives to just a fine point. When we see it, we confess it, get it out. In other words, we're not being conformed or pressed into the mold of this sinful world. We're not being conformed to the world as we saw back in chapter 12, verse 2. Now, although false teachers are a clear and present danger in the world today, Their dangerous influence will not last forever. Praise the Lord for that. That brings us to the third element of Paul's warning, which consists of the reality of victory over Satan. The reality of victory over Satan. Look at verse 20. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. Now stop there. Once again, Paul calls God the God of peace. We saw that back in chapter 15, verse 33. which means that He is the source, He is the giver of true peace. But notice three things that the God of peace here will do. First of all, the God of peace will crush Satan. This reality is a promise. It may seem strange that Paul says that the God of peace will do this, since enjoying peace and crushing Satan seem kind of incompatible with each other. If you're peaceful, you know, are you going to be crushing somebody? It seems a little kind of different. However, it's only through the destruction of evil that true peace can be established. And a God of peace is the one that does that. The fact that God is crushing Satan, this is a fulfillment of the promise of Genesis 3.15, where the seed of the woman, talking about the coming Messiah, would crush the serpent's head, the serpent being Satan. William Hendrickson, I believe correctly, states, and I quote, in a sense, it is true that God is crushing Satan right now. A most decisive victory was won on Calvary. There can be no doubt about it, though, that the present passage has reference to the final eschatological victory, again, the end time victory of God over Satan, a victory that will take place in connection with Christ's glorious return. End quote. You see, when Christ returns, he's going to put down all of his enemies. What a day that's going to be, huh? He's going to put down all of his enemies. And on that day, Revelation 11, 15, declares the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever. The second thing that the God of peace will do here is that He will crush Satan under your feet. Under your feet. You see, although it's God Himself who does the crushing, notice here that Satan ends up under the believers' feet. as we join with Christ in His triumph over Satan. We who are co-heirs with Christ are also co-conquerors with Him. And then thirdly, God will soon, soon crush Satan under your feet. Now, this seems kind of a little hollow. being the fact that it's been 2,000 years after Paul wrote this letter. He's saying it's going to be soon. But we've got to remember here that he consistently taught that Christ's return is imminent. It's imminent. And that He could come at any moment. Any moment. The return of Christ is the next event on God's redemptive calendar. Therefore, we need to be ready and we need to be on the alert. Paul then concludes with another short benediction in the form of a prayer wish for the Roman believers at the end of verse 20. Look what he says, the grace of our Lord Jesus. Be with you. Paul gives this same and similar prayers in every single one of his letters. He always says this in some form. As we've seen throughout the entire letter of Romans, the word grace here is the whole of the gospel summed up in one word. Grace. Grace. It's all by the sovereign grace of God. Grace is God's unmerited, unearned favor in granting salvation, as well as every other spiritual blessing that we as believers have in our life. It's all by grace. Those who trust His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, again, their salvation is all of grace. But it's also more than our salvation. It also includes God's sustaining strength that is sufficient for all that we need in our daily Christian lives. As you look at 2 Corinthians 12, where Paul is asking the Lord to take away the thorn in the flesh and he tells him no. You think you just get depressed, you know, and say, well, you know, then I can't go on. I guess I just got to endure to the end. No. Even though the Lord did not answer his prayer, he said, but my grace is sufficient for you. In your weakness, strength is made perfect. And so Paul then shouts out most gladly then, I'll boast in my difficulties and my persecutions, my weaknesses, my problem, no matter what it is, for when I'm weak, then I'm strong. And that's true for all of us. He may not answer our prayer directly. He may not heal us the way we want to be healed. He may not bring back somebody that we want to have in relationship with. He may not answer whatever prayer we're praying. But He's promised that His grace is sufficient, that there is strength to enable us to represent Him and to live a Christian life victorious as we trust Him in the middle of it. You see, that's all by grace. And notice that this grace is of our Lord Jesus. That's where it's coming from. It's from Him. Whereas Paul prays that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ will be with these believers, as well as all of us as believers. Beloved, this is always the case. The grace is always there. Because the Lord Jesus Christ promised in Matthew 28, verse 20, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. He is always with us, and with Him is His grace. In Hebrews 13, verse 5, He declares, I will never desert you. I will never, ever forsake you. He's always there. His grace is always available for us. Our Lord is constantly with us to supply us His sovereign and all-sufficient grace in our daily lives, especially, especially when we are under attack by Satan and his false teachers, his emissaries. But, beloved, we must avail ourselves to His grace by depending on Him. and allowing His Spirit to control our lives if we're going to experience the reality of that sufficient grace in our lives. In closing, false teachers pose a very clear and present danger in our world today, not always physically, but always spiritually. And yet, God in His grace has given us His Word. He's given us His Spirit. so that we would not be deceived by them. We don't have to be deceived if we know the Lord Jesus Christ and we know His Word, even though in the end times we see that there's going to be false teachers that will deceive even the elect. We don't have to be those who are deceived. May each one of us as believers know the Word of God well, and be controlled by the Spirit of God so consistently, because we recognize we can't do it on our own. We can't live our Christian life on our own. Daily, we get up in the morning, we're acknowledging our dependence on Him. Control us today, Lord, by Your Spirit. So consistently, that not only will we be spiritually alert to identify false teachers, but also personally separate ourselves from them in obedience to the Lord.