Heresies 8

Overview

Gnosticism: The Ancient Heresy That God Speaks Apart from His Word

Gnosticism takes its name from the Greek gnosis ("knowledge"), and although it appears in many varieties, every form shares one common claim: that God speaks to His people apart from His written Word. Whenever a preacher or believer says, "God told me…" and points to no Scripture, the old Gnostic temptation is at work. It treats every inward tug, strong feeling, or impressive experience as a possible divine message. This error troubled the early church soon after Christ's ascension, resurfaced in the radical wing of the Reformation (Luther dismissed such teachers as Schwärmer—"swarming bees" who buzz loudly but never listen), and continues today wherever audible voices, fresh revelations, or private words from God are elevated above Scripture.

The undoing of this heresy is the witness of Scripture itself. Hebrews 1:1-2 declares that God, who once spoke through the prophets, "has spoken to us by a Son"—a Greek aorist participle indicating a completed action with abiding results. God's revelation in Christ is full and final. Jude reinforces this, urging believers to "contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints" Jude 3—again the aorist, again finished. Scripture has always warned against tampering with God's Word: Deuteronomy 4:2, Proverbs 30:6, and Revelation 22:18-19 all forbid adding or subtracting from it. Even Peter, who saw the transfigured Christ with his own eyes, directs us to something more certain than that vision: "We have the prophetic message more fully confirmed" 2 Peter 1:16-19. The Canon—the 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 of the New—is the measuring stick. Every claim about God must be tested by it.

When this anchor is lost, four consequences follow. First, experience trumps faith: emotional intensity becomes the proof of God's presence, and pastors are pressured to manufacture feelings rather than proclaim the Word. Second, the benchmark of doctrine disappears: a congregation's unity rests on shared experiences rather than shared truth. Third, divisions arise: those who claim direct revelations seem to occupy a higher spiritual plane, leaving other believers to question whether their own faith is real. Fourth, Jesus takes the back seat: the person's experience becomes paramount, and Christ and His apostles recede behind it. How can anyone reliably distinguish the voice of God from the whisper of one's own will—or, as one professor warned, from the whisper of the evil one?

The pastoral comfort here is enormous. You are not on a lower spiritual rung because you don't hear voices in your head. God has called you by name in the waters of Baptism, given you the gift of faith, and placed His own voice into your hands in Holy Scripture. If you want to say honestly, "God spoke to me," open your Bible, read the verse that convicted, comforted, or assured you, and point to it. That is where His voice is found—clear, sufficient, and sure. When someone insists they have received a fresh word from God apart from Scripture, receive it as an opportunity to point them gently back to the Word, where the living voice of God truly speaks.

Transcript

Well, we continue on looking at heresies of old and responses for today. How it ties 0s

in to today. Last week we took a look at the heresy of dothatism. The heresy of dothatism 6s

was the belief that Jesus Christ really didn't suffer, that he couldn't suffer, he couldn't 16s

experience death. It was the belief that indeed that Jesus may look like a human being, but 24s

he really wasn't a human being. He was a phantom. We saw the implications of that heresy. 32s

The implications, of course, of that heresy is if Jesus Christ himself couldn't suffer, 39s

then he doesn't understand our sufferings. He can't enter into and be with us in our 45s

suffering. Well, today I want to take a look with you at a heresy called nostracism. 51s

Nostracism. That is a heresy. Still abounding today. The varieties of nostracism all have one 64s

common theme to it. And the common theme of nostracism is that God will speak to you apart 74s

from his written word. That God will speak to you apart from his written word. You hear it 84s

sometimes when people or preachers will say, God told me. God spoke to me. So it is God's 93s

speaking, the belief, that God will speak outside of his word. It's the temptation to believe 104s

then that every voice that we hear or every tug of the heart or desire of the heart is God 112s

speaking to us, that it might be the voice of God. That's what nostracism is. That apart 121s

from the word God will speak to us. Nostracism really became a challenge soon after the ascension of 129s

the Lord Jesus Christ. And it infiltrated the church and it's still in the church to this day. 138s

Nosis is the Greek word that's at the root of this. And gnosis simply means knowledge, knowledge. 147s

So a common thread then to all forms of nostracism is that there is some secretly revealed 162s

communication that God speaks to us apart from his word. Modern day penicostles is the continuation 170s

of the nostracaracy. The modern day penicostle that believes that God speaks in the audible voice to 183s

them. That is a continuation of the of the heresy of nostracism. Nostracism became a problem also in 190s

the Lutheran Reformation. There was a part of it by a fellow by the name of Carlstad. And Carlstad 198s

was really in charge of what now historians look at and say it was the radical Reformation. 208s

Luther was radical in the sense that he was calling the church back to the Bible. And the 216s

where the church was and where the Catholic church still is today needs to be pulled back to the 221s

scripture. So there is that radical understanding in that sense. Carlstad was radical in a different 228s

sense. Carlstad said that true spirituality is beyond word and sacrament. That indeed God will 235s

speak to us and move outside of those means that he has established. So if someone comes up to 244s

me and says God told me my antenna goes up. My antenna goes up on that because that really is the 256s

heresy of nostracism. Well let's see the undoing of nostracism. Let's go to the book of Hebrews. Good 271s

way to find Hebrews is to go to Revelation. Work backward toward Matthew. You're going to hit 277s

James as you're going backwards and then you come to Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 1 and we'll pick up in 285s

verse 1. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1. Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many in various ways by the 294s

prophets. But in these last days he has spoken to us by a son whom he appointed air of all things 332s

through whom he also created the world. Look in verse 2 there. In these last days he has 344s

spoken to us by a son. In the Greek that is in the form of what is called an heirist 354s

participle. An heirist participle. When you see that form of the Greek show up in the heirist 366s

form as an heirist participle that is talking about an action that is fully completed it's done with. 375s

It was done in past time over. So when you see then in the Greek in these last days he has spoken 384s

to us by a son and the heirist participle. That tells you that he did that and that was his 393s

communication to us. It's the idea that God has finally and completely spoken to us through Jesus 405s

Christ. In other words God has nothing more to say. He's already said it. What about when they 416s

turn to the Holy Spirit and they ask for response there. Let me pin it more precisely. 427s

When the word is codified God has done speaking. When the word is codified. So you have the events 437s

and acts and all of that that is in recording. So when the canon comes into business God has spoken 445s

now through the sun. He has spoken and communicated through Jesus. We see then the apostles taking the 452s

message of Jesus that was communicated to them and now it is done. It is done. Good question. 459s

Okay long ago verse one long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the 468s

prophets. In these last days he has spoken to us airist participle by a son. In other words there 474s

will be no more new revelations. The Nostics say that God has always opened to a revelation. God will 482s

give those words to his church, the word to a to a preacher. No God is full and complete. His 490s

message has been given to us. When you look at some of John's writings they were against the early 499s

Nostics. Go to a revelation please. Chapter 22. Revelation chapter 22 verse 18. Revelation chapter 22 verse 18. 506s

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to them God will add 530s

to that person the plagues described in this book. If anyone takes away from the words of the book of 538s

this prophecy God will take away that person's share in the tree of life and in the holy city which are 545s

described in this book. John's writings then against these Nostics that we're continuing to say 553s

there's going to be new and fresh revelations of God that will continue. It's really not a new idea. 563s

We see that all the way back in the Old Testament. Let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 4. Genesis, 572s

Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 2. You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away 583s

anything from it. But keep the commandments of the Lord your God with which I am charging you. 605s

We're over into Deuteronomy chapter 12 verse 32. Deuteronomy 12 verse 32. 615s

You must diligently observe everything that I command you do not add to it or take anything from it 631s

or Proverbs chapter 30. Right after the book of Psalms, Proverbs 30 verse 6. Proverbs 30 verse 6. 643s

Do not add to his words or else he will rebuke you and you will be found a liar. Do not add to his words 664s

or else he will rebuke you. Luther labeled theologians that said that they could find the spirit outside 673s

of the word. He labeled them swarmer, a German word for swarming and the image was is a bunch of bees 683s

that would make a lot of noise but they would never ever listen. So Luther came right at him and just 695s

called them a bunch of swarming bees. You've got consequences. If you teach people that the 703s

Holy Spirit comes apart from word and sacrament, you've got consequences that then play out 712s

in the life of the people. The first consequence is that experience 721s

trumps faith. Experience will trump and replace faith. So in other words, in order to validate the 731s

presence of the Holy Spirit, one has to have a certain experience or a certain level of emotional 745s

response. Churches historically have kind of gone through this where there would be the crying 753s

pew that if you were truly touched in terms of repentance, you would be overtaken with emotion 759s

and there would be tears. You see this emotionism played out in a lot of charismatic 767s

Pentecostal churches where the elevation is lifted up and the pastor's role is to get people 776s

into an emotional state. Charles Finney, which was a famous revivalist preacher, that's what 784s

Finney believed, that in order for conversion to occur, his role was to whip people into kind 791s

of an emotional frenzy. When experience then takes over. When one's own words then that supposedly 797s

they are seeing takes over. Then what you have is you have experience pushing out the faith, 805s

replacing the faith. Secondly, what happens is you have no benchmark. You have no benchmark. 816s

When experience starts to trump everything, you don't have the benchmark of doctrine. 825s

That's what gives a congregation unity in the end. It's the unity of doctrine. We're a congregation 834s

will be unified around the same doctrine, not around the same experience of it. 841s

So when experience is elevated, that we receive these words of God, that God will speak apart from 849s

His written word, that God deals with us apart from word and sacrament, experience is elevated, 858s

and now all of a sudden you don't have a doctrinal standpoint. The criteria becomes, 864s

well, this person has seemingly had this incredible experience, then it must be from God, 871s

you see, instead of evaluating what they are saying in accordance with Holy Scripture. 879s

Third thing that happens is divisions occur. Divisions occur. Because when people are 888s

maintaining that they are receiving direct messages of the word of from God, then what happens 899s

is the rest of us that aren't getting that start to wonder about our own faith. 906s

And what is portrayed then is that the person is on a different spiritual plane and has reached 913s

a different level than the rest of us kind of folk. I one time listened to a guy, he was preaching, 921s

and he's preaching along and it was coherent sentences. And then all of a sudden he was like, 934s

yes Lord, yes Lord, yes I will tell him that. And I wanted to say, oh knock it off. 940s

Just knock it off because you see his authority, but in good Lutheran fashion, I went like this, 946s

but kind of curled my toes and my shoe and kind of gripped the view. Because you see, once he 956s

starts doing that in the congregation, the congregation then starts going, oh my gosh, he's 963s

getting a direct revelation from God here, I better listen up instead of the exposition of the 968s

word of God. I listened to a preacher one time who got up and said, I have no idea what to say 978s

and I thought to myself, this is going to be interesting. It's going to be interesting. As if now 984s

the spirit is just going to move along. No, it takes about 20 hours to prepare a sermon. 990s

And when you're working on it and when you're diving into the text, the congregation only 997s

gets a small fraction of what you've worked on. Because you start going down all kinds of 1003s

rabbit trails and exploring behind all kinds of doors and all this kind of stuff and it's 1010s

incredibly fascinating. I loved a preach, but if the only thing I could do was study in order to 1018s

be preach, I'd be fine. Because it's the process of preparing a sermon that is so rich. 1025s

So when you get up then, you know what it is you're going to say because you've studied it. 1035s

You've studied the text and you know what it is to say, not a sense of, I don't know what I'm 1041s

going to say, I'm just going to let kind of the spirit move me. You know that's taking the 1047s

preparation of the sermon and kind of throwing it out the window and it's moving to where the focus 1056s

becomes the experience of the person and not the study of the person and the exposition of the 1060s

word of God. So divisions then can occur when all of a sudden the folks in the congregation 1071s

will think to themselves, how come I'm not here in his voice? I must not be on that spiritual 1076s

plane instead of analyzing that what they've just taught about hearing the voice of God apart from 1085s

the word of God is contrary to the Scriptures. Why? He's a part of the Bible. He has spoken. 1093s

God has said what he's going to say and he's recorded it through his apostles and through his 1101s

prophets and we have his word. Fourth thing, Jesus winds up taking the back seat. Jesus takes the 1108s

back seat. So instead of the teachings of Jesus instead of the apostles then pulling together the 1119s

teaching instead of the prophets of old and what God has communicated to them, what becomes paramount 1129s

is the person's own experience and Jesus takes the back seat. God has spoken and God will not 1137s

add to his word. Let's go to Jude, verse three please. Jude is nestled right in front of the book 1148s

of Revelation Jude three. 1156s

There we read beloved while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we share. 1181s

I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all 1189s

entrusted to the saints, contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 1201s

The word there for once and for all in the Greek it's hop-hawks and hop-hawks is a word that 1212s

denotes something done for all time with lasting results. So it's done. It has lasting results but 1223s

that word has been given. And then when you go back in verse three again, half way through, contend 1233s

for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. Guess what that is? It's an 1241s

heirs-passive participle. Heirs-passive participle. What does that communicate to us? It was completed 1250s

in the past. There's no continuing element that word has been given. God has spoken to us. 1256s

Let's go to Galatians chapter 1, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians and then Ephesians. Galatians chapter 1 1264s

verse 23. The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to 1281s

destroy. It's the definitive article. It's the faith that has been trusted, that has been given. 1299s

Let's go to 1st Timothy chapter 4. Keep turning toward revelation. You'll hit the tea books first 1309s

and second Thessalonians and you come to 1st Timothy chapter 4. Verse 1. Now the spirit 1317s

expressly says that in latter times some will renounce the faith by paying attention to deceitful 1332s

spirits and teachings of demons. Notice once again the definite article. Some will renounce 1340s

the faith. You see if one believes that God speaks inwardly then to your heart, to your mind. 1350s

If one believes that how can you distinguish between what is your will and what is God's words? 1358s

How do you distinguish? A professor of mine from seminary said that when folks say God told me 1369s

Satan is a pretty good whisper. He's saying that tongue in chief because he wasn't validating that 1382s

God speaks apart from his word but he was speaking what is it that might be actually a belief 1388s

that comes from Satan himself or he said it's kind of a farmer from North Dakota and he said 1396s

sometimes people confuse indigestion and the Holy Spirit. 1407s

You know there's a whole lecture on that. There was a whole lecture. You see that if we say but 1413s

but I feel this way and to assume that your feeling is God speaking to you. No he will speak through his 1418s

through his word. That's where we hear his voice. Let's go to 2 Peter chapter 1. Good 1429s

way to find 2 Peter is go to Revelation. Turn back. You'll cross over the Johns and then you bump 1438s

into 2 Peter real quick. 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 16. 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 16. 1444s

Peter writes, for we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power 1465s

and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but we have been eyewitnesses of his majesty. 1472s

For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the 1481s

majestic glory saying this is my son my beloved with whom I am well pleased. We ourselves heard 1488s

this voice come from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain. So what he's referring to 1497s

here is the transfiguration of our Lord when the Lord reveals his post-easter glory manifesting that 1503s

to them. So they see Jesus prior to the cross in his post-easter glory. It's amazing, amazing. Verse 18, 1514s

we ourselves have heard this voice come from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain. 1522s

But now look what he does in verse 19. So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed what 1528s

he's referring there is to the Old Testament. We have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. 1536s

You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day 1542s

dawns in the morning star rises in your heart. He's saying there is an even more reliable place to turn 1547s

and that is the Word of God. So here is one who has seen with his own eyes the transfigured 1557s

Lord Jesus Christ they get a glimpse of his post-resurrection glory and Peter says 1566s

but the Word is even more sure. So he turns them right to the Word. Nostek and Pentecostal spirituality 1574s

then is essentially hierarchical. It's hierarchical. There's always someone who claims to have more 1588s

spirit than the other person. And so you've got a hierarchical structure and it is communicated that 1598s

that Word that one gets these direct communications are only coming to certain people then that have 1607s

greater faith. What incredible bondage that is right it's incredible bondage because instead of 1615s

focusing on how Pastor Malonex so beautifully put it in her sermon today on God's action for us. 1627s

We start focusing on what experience we are having and then communicate that experience that 1636s

then validates that God then is supposedly speaking to us. It ignores Scripture, it ignores the 1646s

eras participles and it puts the church on the wrong ground that focuses on themselves. 1654s

When you look at the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament they're called 1665s

the Canon. The Greek word originally means a measuring stick. It's the rule or the standard and so 1672s

everything has to be judged then by the Canon, by the rule, by the standard that has been given to us. 1682s

Just touching on the New Testament every alleged word about Christ that was abounding whether 1693s

oral or written was subjected to the apostolic teaching. Every single word and if the word or work 1700s

could not be verified by the eyewitnesses of the account it was rejected. It was rejected. 1709s

The apostles then were the final court of appeal. Let's go to first John chapter 1. Let's go to 1718s

the book of Revelation then turn left you'll cross over Jude then you hit the John's first John 1728s

chapter 1 verse 3. We declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have 1735s

fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 1751s

The promise in John 14 that the Holy Spirit would guide the apostles in the preservation of the 1759s

word and guide them to record that which they were to record. There are five principles of canonicity. 1766s

Let me just go over this quickly here as we can conclude. Five principles of canonicity. One is the 1776s

book authoritative. In other words does the book come from God? Second is it prophetic? 1783s

In other words is it written by the servant of God? Third is the book dynamic. In other words 1795s

when it is read do you see the effects of it among the people? In other words when you unleash the word 1806s

that word does something to us. In the end when you're preaching when you're teaching you just 1813s

you just get out of the way of the word and you just let the word loose and the word just does what 1821s

the word is going to do. Was it received and accepted as the word of God by the people for whom it 1828s

was originally intended? Is it authoritative? Is it prophetic? Is it dynamic? Was it received 1840s

and accepted by the people for whom it was originally written as being recognized by from being by God? 1848s

As the people of God are in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, on the apostolic witness and 1859s

judgment we see the New Testament coming together as the authoritative message of God. Norman Geisler 1866s

and William Nex in their book write this. The Bible is a book written and collected over almost 1876s

two millennia without each contributing author being aware of how his chapter would fit into the 1884s

overall plan. That's an amazing sentence isn't it? Each prophetic contribution was offered to the people 1891s

of God simply on the basis that God had spoken to them through the prophet. Just how that message was 1899s

to fit into an overall story was unknown to the prophet and even to the believers who first recognized 1906s

it. Only the reflective consciousness of later Christians was able to perceive that the hand of God 1912s

which moved each individual writer was also moving through them to produce an overall redemptive 1921s

story of which God alone was the author. Should we say God spoke to me? The only time you should 1929s

say that is if you have read a passage of Scripture and perhaps you have been convicted of your sin 1946s

and you say God spoke to me and you point right to the to the verse or God spoke to me. Here's 1956s

this word of comfort or God spoke to me and you quote the very verses of the Bible. Does God 1963s

speak in an audible voice? No. No. It denies the witness of Scripture. It denies the 1973s

erist participle. It takes us out of the word of God and throws us into our own experience. So the 1982s

next time someone says God just spoke to me and said it's an opportunity to say you know that's 1990s

the Gnostic Heresy and the church has rejected that and if you want to hear the voice of God 2000s

turn to the Holy Scripture because there is His voice and what God has said. The next time someone 2011s

says God spoke to me and you feel I wish I could achieve that level of intimacy that that person 2021s

has with God that I could hear His voice. What's the matter with me? That the only voice I hear in my 2030s

head is you know I'm kind of hungry or oh I forgot to pick up the milk. No you're not of a 2039s

lesser spiritual plane than that person. For God has called He was own in the waters of baptism. He 2049s

said no ifans or buts about it. He has given you the gift of faith and He places in your hands 2057s

the voice box and the voice box of God is the Holy Scripture. Period. 2065s

you 2097s