False or true. Romans 16:17-20 Smooth talkers and deceivers have always been around trying to undermine God's truth and deceive His people. Books that are written and deceitful words spoken sometimes seem to be reasonable at first. There are deadly foes aligned against God's people. They are enemies of the plain Gospel that has been expounded in the book of Romans. Many will claim to have newer and better "revelations" of the Word of God than we have in the scriptures themselves.
Do not give place to them. Do not investigate their teachings to try and find some good in them. "If that light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" The scriptures are plain: "Avoid them," "keep away from them," "touch not the unclean thing," and there are other injunctions to heed lest we be contaminated by their teaching or even associating with them. The beautiful, trusting innocence of new believers is often misguided and misled into a mixture of law and grace, works added to faith, modern thought with scriptural simplicity.
Any teaching we hear needs to be carefully scrutinized and tested to be sure it is scriptural, profitable and understandable. Whether it be words written in a book, available on the internet, listened to on TV or publicly proclaimed, it should be checked out as to its content and purpose. A smooth talker with a charismatic personality can fool superficial listeners who don’t study the Bible.
Teaching sound doctrine from the Bible is the preventative from false teaching. The truth of God will be obvious to those who know the scriptures. The Roman believers were discerning about the truth of God and acted accordingly. Those same people were wise about what was good and were innocent of responding to the evil teaching and practices of the Judaizers whose god was their “belly.” Those who were false teachers emphasized the rituals which were taught concerning ceremonial foods and restrictions and insisted that law keeping was essential to salvation.
Divisions in an assembly of Christians are a work of the flesh. Obstacles are those things that turn us aside from what has been learned by those who first taught us the truth of God from the word of God. Smooth talkers and deceivers will say they have new insights into the Bible message but are really serving themselves and what they can get out of it rather than serving the Lord Jesus Christ. Deceit with smooth talk and flattery are common practices that Satan uses often because it works. People like to be flattered and made to “feel good about themselves.” They will pay attention to almost anything that a deceiver says.
Behind the confusion that results from giving heed to these smooth-talking people is an implacable enemy - Satan, who is either disguised as an angel of light, or challenging truth as a roaring lion. The day is coming when Satan will be crushed beneath the feet of the saints of God. God will do this by means of using the truth of His Word and the Gospel of peace. It is the "God of peace" who will bring this to pass. We cannot expect to be free from these challenges against God's free grace until this age is past and the Lord calls us home. We are to be alert and aware of the various forms of opposition we will be called upon to face.
Those who know the Lord now and follow Him, can enjoy peace now in spite of all the turmoil that is around us and know that victory comes when we are obedient to the word of the Gospel. Those who are faithful to the truth of the Gospel will not be deceived by the distortion of the Gospel by false teachers. The benediction promising the blessing of grace reminds us that the One who was rich and for our sakes became poor, has made us rich by His grace. That grace comes from God through the Lord Jesus Christ and is passed on to us by the work of the Holy Spirit.