Here is the great evangelical disaster – the failure to stand for Truth as Truth. There is only one word for this - accommodation: the evangelical church has accommodated to the world spirit of the age. F Schaeffer says, "Truth carries with it confrontation. Truth demands confrontation: loving confrontation, but confrontation nevertheless.  If our position is always accommodation regardless of the centrality of the truth involved, there’s something wrong.”
This is so important because the reality is that our doctrine has eternal implications.  When Paul warns Timothy of false teachers, he explicitly ties sound doctrine to the gospel (1 Timothy 1:10-11). This is because the gospel requires faith and repentance . If we distort Jesus, then the object of our faith is not the Savior, and if we distort His commands, then God-honoring repentance is impossible.
1. False Doctrine is Subtle: There are two types of teachers in the world: true and false.  Both claim to tell the truth. Jesus said that despite their sheep-clothing cover-up, we’d know them by their fruit (Matthew 7:15).  Listen to these words from Jeremiah: An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes? (Jeremiah 5:30-31) When our ears are tickled and our hearts are preyed on, do we reject it or do we “love to have it so”?
2. False Doctrine is Powerful: Paul says to Timothy: “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.  Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (1 Timothy 4:16)
Bad doctrine is powerful too! That’s why condemning false teaching is not a matter of winning arguments or feeding egos, but clearly (and lovingly) warning people. Do we treat false doctrine like lethal poison? We should …
3. False Doctrine is Dangerous: Any doctrine that is contrary to the Gospel is damning. If we buy into it we will spend eternity in hell. That’s what Jesus told the Pharisees “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.” (Matthew 23:15)
So guard your lives – be careful - it’s a matter of forever!