THE FALSE TEACHER TEST (7)

7) What definition of faith do false teachers “sell?”
Third Blinder- Seeking Signs

False teachers exploit the blinds spots our traditions create by incrementally altering the Word to say what we want so that we can no longer hear what it says. They preach blinders represented by tangible “signs” that validate our “experience,” making us “feel” God “moving in our hearts” slowly training us to place our trust in what we can see, hear, and experience rather than in the words of an invisible God. Jesus says, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign” (Mt 12.39) by placing their trust in what they see, feel, or hear rather than in the promises of God. Those who seek signs exchange eternal promises about faith, salvation, and obedience for “man-made” traditions like sinners’ prayers, water baptism, church structure, holy days, spiritual “feelings,” religious sacraments, melodic praise, and the such.
The Faith of Abraham

“Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness” (Gen 15.6). When Abe was 75, God promised the old man a child through his wife Sarai. Try as they might, Abe and Sarai could not bear children even though they believed God; therefore, they concocted an idea that perhaps the fulfillment of God’s promise required an “act of faith” beyond merely trusting a promise. At 86 years young, Abe slept with Sarai’s maidservant, Hagar, who bore him Ishmael, whose generations continually warred with the children of Isaac, the son God actually promised, who was born when Abe turned 100. Paul contrasts these two sons stating that Ishmael is a figurative representative of those “under the law,” who “act on faith” by attempting to affirm God’s promises through their actions, while “sons of promise,” “born by the power of the Spirit,” have a faith that derives from hearing God’s promises (Gal 4).

Is Faith Assurance or Insurance?

Abe’s faith in God resulted in two sons who represent two modern perceptions of faith, insurance and assurance. When Abe sought to fulfill God’s promise on his own terms (insurance), it resulted in Ishmael; however when his faith trusted in God’s promise (assurance), the result was Isaac. Assurance is reliance upon a promise not bound by law, like a parent who assures their child they will bail them out of jail. Insurance is a law-abiding agreement requiring payment from the insured and fulfillment of the agreement by the insurer, like car or life insurance. “Faith insurance” relies upon payments—confessions, ritualistic prayers, practice of sacraments, membership, tithes, etc.—and requires God, bound to His Law, to grant us forgiveness, salvation, prosperity, blessing, and any “good” we can imagine. Assurance of faith “comes from hearing” and relies only upon God’s faithfulness to keep His promises. We do nothing to gain assurance, we do everything to pay for insurance.
Selling Faith Insurance

“They mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error” (2Pt 2.18). False teachers sell us a “faith that works” ensuring us that if we don’t attain the objects of our desires, it’s because we didn’t have enough faith. Notice that the target of their preaching are Christians who “are just escaping… from error.” Infants in Christ are easily swayed by “every wind of doctrine” (Eph 4.13); therefore, false teachers implore them to say a prayer, get water baptized, buy a prayer cloth, speak in tongues, give to God till they get from God, and to “work out their salvation” by adhering to every man-made tradition the teachers validate.

“The work of Satan [is] displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, SIGNS, and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason GOD sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie….” (2Thes 2.9-11). Faith insurance provides security as we cling to “powerful delusions” by placing faith in what we do (go to church), say (utter a prayer), or believe (I chose to be saved). False teachers want us to believe it is what we do that saves us, blesses us, and makes God loves us so that we will buy the faith insurance they sell. However, if our faith is ever in what we can see—validated by something we do—it is then that we know we are believing a lie.
Faith is Assurance in God’s Promises

Here’s the truth: “God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth” (2Thes 2.13). This “belief in the truth” is simply assurance that God is faithful to keep His Word, not insurance paid incrementally through adherence to traditions and “works” that “earn” what we can never afford.
False teachers are motivated by money and the praise of people to sell us traditions that act as insurance for our faith.