A helpful doctrine to appeal to in this regard is the doctrine of the Fall. Martin Luther was well known for having said that redeemed Christians are "Simul Iustus et Peccator" or "At the same time righteous and a sinner". Although Christ has broken our bondage to sin, we are still susceptible to sins in which we don't treat others as we should. Gossip, as one example, misapprehends the reality that every day you and I (and everyone else), could easily have plenty of fodder that could be a matter of public gossip. Just consider many of the thoughts and desires you had this week, and what if they were to be projected on a screen for all to see? All of us would be ashamed. What if your family and neighbors could see everything you have thought? Why is this worth considering? Because every time we gossip and belittle, criticize and disparage others what we are doing is postulating that others have sin or weaknesses that you regard as not having in yourself. And when we do this are we taking our own sin seriously? We think ourselves too highly. The fact that we continually and desperately need the gospel as much as any other should therefore keep us humble as we consider any good gifts we have. Keeping this in mind, especially when you are communicating the gospel, will drive up your empathy to others, since we are a needy people.

Related Resources
Love or Die: Christ's Wake-up Call to the Church by Alexander Strauch
The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God by D.A. Carson
How to Love Difficult People: Receiving and Sharing God's Mercy (CCEF)

Downes:
How have you dealt with church members or students who have been attracted to, or taken in by false teaching?

Michael Horton:
‘Pastoral sensitivity and prudence is required in order to know whether a fellow-Christian needs ‘Law’ or ‘Gospel’. (A terrific discussion of this is found in William Perkins’ The Art of Prophesying.) So an obstinate person who persists in heresy should be warned with the threat of excommunication (as Paul treated the Galatians).

However, a struggling Christian who has been exposed to false teaching must be corrected with patience and love. This person is a bruised reed or a flickering candle, and we know how Christ treats them – for to some degree, we are all in this catagory.’

Men must interpret to the best of their ability each particular part of Scripture separately, and then combine all that the Scriptures teach upon every subject into a consistent whole, and then adjust their teachings upon different subjects in mutual consistency as parts of a harmonious system. Every student of the Bible must do this, and all make it obvious that they do it by the terms they use in their prayers and religious discourse, whether they admit or deny the propriety of human creeds and confessions. If they refuse the assistance afforded by the statements of doctrine slowly elaborated and defined by the Church, they must make out their own creed by their own unaided wisdom. The real question is not, as often pretended, between the word of God and the creed of man, but between the tried and proved faith of the collective body of God's people, and the private judgment and the unassisted wisdom of the repudiator of creeds. — A. A. Hodge, A Short History of Creeds and Confessions, 1869.

In order to be able to expound the Scriptures, and as an aid to your pulpit studies, you will need to be familiar with the commentators: a glorious army, let me tell you, whose acquaintance will be your delight and profit. Of course, you are not such wiseacres as to think or say that you can expound Scripture without assistance from the works of divines and learned men who have laboured before you in the field of exposition. If you are of that opinion, pray remain so, for you are not worth the trouble of conversion, and like a little coterie who think with you, would resent the attempt as an insult to your infallibility. It seems odd, that certain men who talk so much of what the Holy Spirit reveals to themselves, should think so little of what he has revealed to others. - C.H. Spurgeon, Commenting and Commentaries, 1890.

But still ye will say I can not understand it. What marvel? How shouldest thou understand, if thou wilt not read, nor look upon it? Take the books into thine hands, read the whole story, and that thou understandest, keep it well in memory; that thou understandest not, read it again, and again. If thou can neither so come by it, counsel with some other that is better learned. Go to thy curate and preacher; show thyself to be desirous to know and learn, and I doubt not but God - seeing thy diligence and readiness (if no man else teach thee) - will himself vouchsafe with his holy spirit to illuminate thee, and to open unto thee that which was locked from thee. — Thomas Cranmer, Preface to the Great Bible, 1540.

And considering how hard a thing it is to understand the holy Scriptures, and what errors, sects, and heresies grow daily for lack of the true knowledge thereof, and how many are discouraged (as they pretend) because they cannot attain to the true and simple meaning of the same, we have also endeavored both by the diligent reading of the best commentaries, and also by the conference with the godly and learned brethren, to gather brief annotations upon all the hard places, as well for the understanding of such words as are obscure, and for the declaration of the text, as for the application of the same as may most appertain to God's glory and the edification of his Church. — Geneva Bible Preface, 1560.

The phrase “total depravity” (not an expression of Calvin’s but a phrase descriptive of his view) has an unfortunate ambiguity about it. Many who are exposed to that terminology for the first time suppose it means Calvin taught that all sinners are as thoroughly bad as they possibly can be.

But Calvin expressly disclaimed that view. He acknowledged that “in every age there have been persons who, guided by nature, have striven toward virtue throughout life” [Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2.3.3.]. Calvin suggested that such people (even though there are “lapses . . . in their moral conduct” are of commendable character, from a human point of view. “They have by the very zeal of their honesty given proof that there was some purity in their nature” [Ibid.]. He went even further: “These examples, accordingly, seem to warn us against adjudging man’s nature wholly corrupted, because some men have by its prompting not only excelled in remarkable deeds, but conducted themselves most honorably throughout life”

Nevertheless, Calvin went on to say, such thinking actually points the wrong direction. Instead, “it ought to occur to us that amid this corruption of nature there is some place for God’s grace; not such grace as to cleanse it, but to restrain it inwardly” [Ibid.].

"Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ ... So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord."

Read the rest of this entry...

"It should be a rule with us to have nothing to do with any man or ministry that errs in regard to the way of salvation in Jesus Christ. Whatever good a man may do along other lines, he has done the greatest conceivable harm if he errs at this point. 'It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea'" (Matt 18:6) - Joel Beeke

What principles should we apply so that we keep ourselves from being deceived?

"I think that the number one principle in seeing through the subtlety of error is learning to handle truth in its biblical context. As someone has said, 'A text without a context is a pretext.'- it is a lie! It is often pretty clear to any discerning mind when a text has been wrested our of its comfortable context in order to say what someone else wants it to say. When I listen to many preachers today and they state something which makes my hair stand on end, I will often wait for them to prove it from the Bible. I often find that all I need to do is dig around the verses they would have quoted and I find that there has been a gross misapplication of Scripture. The Holy Spirit was saying one thing when He inspired the sacred writer, and the preacher is saying something totally different.

When the context is not able to help, the second principle is that obscure passages of the Bible must be interpreted by those passages of the Bible that are more perspicuous. In other words, Scripture does not contradict itself sinice its primary author is the Holy Spirit. So, if a false teacher quotes Scripture to suit his situation but it contradicts the clear teaching of another passage of the Bible, it should send all the warning signals that you are in danger and ought to tread carefully. Is that not how the Lord Jesus handled Satan when he tempted him using the Scriptures in Matthew 4? Jesus simply referred to other Scriptures that were clearly being violated by the meaning that Satan was putting upon the Scriptures he was quoting. We should do the same!" - Conrad Mbewe

Risking the Truth: Handling Error in the Church by Martin Downes Now Available!

These men reflect on this key issue in relation to their own lives, pulpit ministry, local church leadership, seminary training, denominations, the impact of the academy, Evangelicalism, contemporary trends, history, creeds and confessions, and specific doctrines that are currently under attack. They know each other personally, or at least by reputation, and share a mutual esteem for one another's work. Together they represent a prodigious literary output.

There is personal reflection on these matters, lessons drawn from experience, and practical advice. The interviews are introduced by a primer on heresy and false teaching, and concluded with a chapters on why “Being Against Heresies Is Not Enough” and “What Really Matters in Ministry: Directives for Church Leaders in Acts 20.”

Contributors include: Carl R. Trueman, Tom Schreiner, Michael Horton, Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, Derek Thomas, R. Scott Clark, Tom Ascol, Guy Waters, Kim Riddlebarger, Ron Gleason, Sean Michael Lucas, Iain D. Campbell, Gary L. W. Johnson, Conrad Mbewe, Geoffrey Thomas, Joel Beeke, Robert Peterson, Michael Ovey.

“It is a privilege to introduce and recommend this unique book. …a very distinctive contribution to the early twenty-first century church. Martin Downes has assembled an all-star team…”
--Sinclair B. Ferguson, Senior Minister, First Presbyterian Church, Columbia, South Carolina

As most of my readers know, I did not always embrace the reformed faith. For the first 20 years of my Christian walk I was fairly convinced of synergistic theology, though I would recoil at the idea of labeling it as such. In my mind, I just believed the Bible, or so I thought.

I was recently having a discussion with a gentleman through e-mail and he was lamenting the fact that I no longer believed as he does (he is a synergist). He said my problem was that I gave false teaching a chance to wreak havoc in my soul by exposing myself to it – by listening to it. He then wrote “Faith comes by hearing. If you keep hearing something you start to believe it.” He thinks of reformed theology as falsehood, and so using this verse (Romans 10:17), was seeking to show the source of my error, namely that I should never have listened to reformed theology.

Leaving the discussion about reformed theology aside, is what he wrote correct? Does hearing something mean that you will believe it? I would suggest not, and go further to say that his view of Scripture is incredibly low to say such a thing. The obvious implication of his words is the concept that we believe anything we hear. But is that true? I have heard many things in life that I do not believe. Some people in England believe Manchester United are the greatest soccer team in the land, when it is clear that this title belongs to Liverpool alone. I could hear someone talk of the Manchester team in such glowing terms all day and all night for a week, and never believe the bald faced satanic lie. I jest, of course (slightly anyway - after all the Manchester team are called "The Red Devils") - but the point is still a valid one. We do not believe everything we hear - even something we hear repeatedly. It is God Himself who gives the gift of saving faith (Ephesians 2:8,9) - it is not the product of our natural humanity, however many times a person hears the Gospel preached.

To actually stop and research the matter to find the answer was a difficult process for me. That is because, quite frankly, I had assumed what the answer was for the first 20 years of my Christian life. Yet in taking the time to pray, study and research the matter, I finally came to see what was staring me in the face all along. My traditions had blinded me to it. The fact is, we all have traditions and as one man rightly said, those most blind to their traditions are those who do not think they have any.

Coming to understand the clear biblical message of foreknowledge and God's Sovereign grace in election has blessed my life immensely. I often meet people who share the exact same experience. Once blinded, now they can see the truth, and they find themselves seeing it on almost every page of the Bible.

I am not reformed because of allegiance to a theology, or because I seek to interpret the text through a man made theological system. No, I am reformed because of my allegiance to the biblical text. I believe reformed theology because I believe this is what the Bible teaches.

I was deeply grieved with the sarcasm and mockery expressed by a young opponent of reformed theology on the video below, but feel it is still worthwhile to post this because of the sheer weight of the answers given to the claims made against it. This is what comes through loud and clear. As Dr. James White explains, for the Arminian, the phrase "those whom He foreknew He predestined" (Rom. 8:29 is translated to mean "those whose actions of faith God foresaw - on the basis of those actions of faith, He predestined".... reading that boat-load of theology into that verb (foreknew) is a classic example of eisegesis. It is importing a huge concept that you are not deriving from the context in any way, shape or form. My challenge (to the Arminian) is to demonstrate where God ever foreknows actively, as an active verb, the actions of people in the future in this way." The fact is, it is impossible to do so. The correct meaning of the term is clear and it does not support the Arminian concept. - JS

Monergism Review: We spent a good portion of the evening last night watching this new training DVD from John Piper on TULIP and were not dissapointed. This is definitely a mature John Piper and far excels his earlier teaching on the subject which many of you may have heard on MP3. We highly recommend this study, especially if you wish to watch, study and discuss this with a small group. There is a study guide available that goes with the DVD for this purpose.

The aim of the DVD and study guide is to explore biblical teaching on the sovereignty of God in salvation. If you know John Piper, he is not into systems, but lets the text of Scripture drive his interpretation. During the course of the study you get to hear the great struggle Piper went through when changing from being an staunch Arminian to a Calvinist. We highly recommend this study to all who would love to persuade their skeptical friends of the precious truths of God's effectual and indelible grace to His people whom He deeeply loves.

Description: Sixteen, 30-minute DVD sessions with John Piper instruct groups in the five points of Calvinism so that they will uphold God’s Word regarding God’s saving work.

They are the fundamental tenets—better known as the “five points”—of Calvinism, and they are abbreviated as TULIP: Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, Perseverance of the saints.

John Piper walks study groups through each point in this DVD and its companion Study Guide, discussing the implications and the issues from a fully biblical perspective. Piper’s 30-minute DVD teachings cover topics that include the meaning of “total” in total depravity, doing missions when God is sovereign, Romans 9 and the two wills of God, and ten effects of believing the five points of Calvinism.

This sixteen-session, guided group study equips facilitators, teachers, group leaders, and pastors to help their members understand the all-important differences between Calvinism and Arminianism. It also calls them to hold fast to biblical truth regarding God’s salvific work in his people’s lives.

Available at Monergism Books

- Joseph P. Braswell

Step 1: When you find a broken link click in the small box next to the link.