As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming. – Ephesians 4:14
One way Satan will use trickery and crafty deceitful scheming to oppose the true ministry of Christ is by using deceitful men to advance the truth. Did you hear that? He uses counterfeiters, plotters, and deceitful men to proclaim the truth! Their proclamation of truth is never for God’s glory and the good of the church but that they might gain an advantage for themselves. And we are to discern them. We are to guard ourselves from them.
Now, I want to give you a means that I’m convinced is the primary foundational method whereby you can discern if a person who “seems” sound is really the genuine article or if he’s up to a deceptive ploy. There are sincere believers who may be ignorant and may not discern what’s going on. There are those out there who are set aflame by demons themselves, and they are deceitful men carrying out a deceptive ploy even though they at times are proclaiming sound doctrine.
What is this primary means by which we can expose the false and discern the genuine? Well, I call it the “great clarifier”! The great clarifier of the false and of the genuine is God’s local church. Now I don’t mean any local church; I mean a sound body of believers, a healthy local church that proclaims sound doctrine and ministers in sound doctrine. If you find a sound body of believers where the church is purposing to walk in truth and preach the true gospel, have a healthy membership, exercise biblical accountability and discipline in the body, and all the things that the Scripture says make a healthy church body, then how a person responds to that church clarifies what they are. It’s the great clarifier.
Here is what you should look for in that person’s life: Do they have a deep affection for and a deep devotion to God’s true local church? The hypocritical Pharisees were always exposed when they came in contact with Jesus. The Pharisees would pop in, put on the “Jesus clothes” for a little while and talk about how they agree with His doctrine and mission. They looked like they were pledging an allegiance. But they never would sell out to devote themselves to the forming church that was building around the Lord Jesus. They never bought in. They were always popping in and then back out.
Do you know why they didn’t buy in? They were not humble enough to buy in. To love the church and serve as God intends requires selfless devotion – a devotion only Spirit reborn persons can desire and perform. The Pharisees being counterfeits and not genuine believers had to be in charge or in power or they wouldn’t have any part of it. Oh, they would use the name of Christ and even the teachings of Christ if they thought it might help them gain power or position with the people, but they were not going to join in humbly to be a part of the team. Thus their refusal to unite and humbly corporate in the church family was God’s “clarifying” that, despite what they might say, are not genuine God-sent ministers.