Heresiology

There are three characteristics that are consistent across every person I've ever known who was looking for a fight.
1) Some if not all of them Just liked to argue.
2) They believed at some level that they might be wrong and thus were prepared to duke it out from the start, no matter what the issue.
3) They had a much higher view of themselves than they merited. People who do not know them might well describe them as arrogant after meeting them.
Last time we talked about the identifying marks of a heretic; while this week we are going to look at a few more identification marks which pretty well double up to show us some of what motivates them. So in order to help refresh your memory: a heretic:
teaches a different doctrine,
disagrees with sound teaching,
and as a result rejects godliness which the gospel should invariably produce in the life of a true believer.
By rejecting the scriptures they embrace ignorance never examining the end result of their obstinacy. Proverbs 21:16 says, “A man who wanders from the way of understanding will rest in the assembly of the dead.” The end result of heresy is death. Thus it is nothing to be trifled with.
If you return to 1 Timothy 6:4 we step into their motivation.

From time to time you've seen me write that some teaching or even some teacher was particularly heretical. There should be no room for doubt in your mind that my declarations are not based upon something as ridiculous as personal dislike or even of jealousy. I reserve that judgment for someone who falls within the Biblically defined parameters of a heretic. The Bible calls them false teachers among other more derogatory names. They are individuals who through varying motivations from ignorance on one side of the spectrum to greed or worse on the other side teach with an eye on their own self promotion rather than upon Christ and the Glory of God.
I would like to have you turn back to 1 Timothy again this morning. As we enter the home stretch on this brief letter we will encounter heretics, greed, and some final exhortations.

The Battle cry of our time is that truth is relative. You can believe what you want to believe and as long as you believe it sincerely that's ok. However, truth by it's very nature is specific and exclusive. Two competing thoughts cannot be truth. Yet in churches all over the place this morning - there may be a rather large... variation in what is being proclaimed as truth. Not merely because the Bible is a big book but because false teachers and false teaching have not been restricted to the first century church.