Beware of False Teachers!

Confident in Chaos - 2 Peter: Beware of False Teachers! 2 Peter 2:1-16 | September 22, 2024 At this point, there is no surprise that this world is headed in the wrong direction. The truth is under attack. The media, the education system, and the home are under attack. Frankly, this should be expected. But what might be a little more concerning is that it is also happening in the church. This is what Peter is going to warn us about today. We're going to learn more about these false teachers. If you were here last week, we spoke about the witness of God's Word from 2 Peter 1:16-21. It is through His Word that we can combat false teachers. So, what Peter does now, is speak about - in detail in all of chapter 2 - who these false teachers are. This morning, we'll cover the first 16 verses, which are broken into three parts. So, we'll do something a little different this morning, and discuss each part of this passage separately, then we'll come together at the end to discuss some practical applications. Let's first begin with our main idea. I can beware of false teachers by knowing what to look out for. Let's begin first with ... * A warning (vv.1-3) * This warning is found in verses 1-3, let's take a look at what Peter says: 1 BUT FALSE PROPHETS ALSO AROSE AMONG THE PEOPLE, JUST AS THERE WILL BE FALSE TEACHERS AMONG YOU, WHO WILL SECRETLY BRING IN DESTRUCTIVE HERESIES, EVEN DENYING THE MASTER WHO BOUGHT THEM, BRINGING UPON THEMSELVES SWIFT DESTRUCTION. 2 AND MANY WILL FOLLOW THEIR SENSUALITY, AND BECAUSE OF THEM THE WAY OF TRUTH WILL BE BLASPHEMED. 3 AND IN THEIR GREED THEY WILL EXPLOIT YOU WITH FALSE WORDS. THEIR CONDEMNATION FROM LONG AGO IS NOT IDLE, AND THEIR DESTRUCTION IS NOT ASLEEP. * The warning from Peter is fivefold (is that a thing?): o There will be false teachers. * Peter, as we saw last week, and we'll see again shortly, begins by returning what we already know from the Scriptures. * In verse 1, Peter is building off 1:19-21, which told us about the witness of God's prophets. * He reminds us that there were false prophets then, and there will be false teachers now. * What do these false teachers do? o They will bring forth heresies. * Notice how Peter describes this. * First, they are destructive. * Then, he said that they will secretly bring forth these heresies. * Heresy, literally, is a school of thought, so if qualified as a destructive heresy, then it means that it is against the Lord's Word. * Pastor David Guzik reminds us that, "it isn't that their teaching is secret, but the deceptive nature of their teaching is hidden. No false teacher ever announces himself as a false teacher." * Pastor and writer, Charles Swindoll, stated that, "with stealth and cleverness, the 'heretics' offer up alluring alternatives to the truth. Often they do this by rejecting aspects of the truth that are difficult to accept either intellectually or emotionally. They create something much more appealing and seductive, urging others to 'make a choice' as they consider an alternative way of thinking." * Sound familiar? * One of the markings of a false teacher, Peter says, and John agrees in 1 John 1:22, is that ... o They will deny the Lord. * Let's think back, just a few moments ago. * They do this secretly. * They may not say it out loud, but in their hearts, they are denying the Lord. * They may say all the right Christian buzz words like, salvation, God, and Jesus. But they don't mean it in the same manner that the Bible means. * I read this week that they may have the same vocabulary, but they don't have the same dictionary. * Another marking is that ... o They will lead you to destruction. * Through denying the Lord, they not only bring destruction upon themselves, but also to those who follow them. * The term destruction is directly related to judgement - we'll get to that in a moment. * What's destructive about the teaching? * As we saw a moment ago, these teachers will lead you to think differently - against the Lord's will - and will eventually lead you away from the Lord completely. * When they do that, they are blaspheming the Lord. As we see in verse 2. * Finally, we need to beware of false teachers because ... o They are motivated by greed. * This is the cornerstone of the so-called "prosperity gospel" * They will teach that God wants you to be healthy and wealthy * They will teach that if you give them money, God will bless you * The founder of this movement traces back to Oral Roberts. I found this online this week: "one of Roberts' most famous disciples, Joyce Meyer, said this, "When I talked with Dr. Roberts today and we talked about this seed-faith thing, he said...when you give you get a receipt in heaven that when you have a need you can then go with your receipt and say 'You see, God, I have got my receipt from my sowing and now I have a need and I'm cashing in my receipt'" * This attitude towards God is insulting. And it is counter to what we just read in verse 1, where we read that the Master bought them. He paid the price that we cannot pay. * Peter goes on to say that they exploit their followers with this greed. They collect and collect and collect, preying on the weak. Peter affirms this later too, in verse 14. * Peter's warning is clear: beware of false teachers! Thank God Peter does not stop there. He gives us now ... * A promise (vv.4-10a) * This promise comes in the form of more examples. If you were here last week, you would have seen that Peter used witness accounts from the Scriptures to prove his point, and he does here as well. Let's now read verses 4-10a. 4 FOR IF GOD DID NOT SPARE ANGELS WHEN THEY SINNED, BUT CAST THEM INTO HELL AND COMMITTED THEM TO CHAINS OF GLOOMY DARKNESS TO BE KEPT UNTIL THE JUDGMENT; 5 IF HE DID NOT SPARE THE ANCIENT WORLD, BUT PRESERVED NOAH, A HERALD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, WITH SEVEN OTHERS, WHEN HE BROUGHT A FLOOD UPON THE WORLD OF THE UNGODLY; 6 IF BY TURNING THE CITIES OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH TO ASHES HE CONDEMNED THEM TO EXTINCTION, MAKING THEM AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO THE UNGODLY; 7 AND IF HE RESCUED RIGHTEOUS LOT, GREATLY DISTRESSED BY THE SENSUAL CONDUCT OF THE WICKED 8 (FOR AS THAT RIGHTEOUS MAN LIVED AMONG THEM DAY AFTER DAY, HE WAS TORMENTING HIS RIGHTEOUS SOUL OVER THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS THAT HE SAW AND HEARD); 9 THEN THE LORD KNOWS HOW TO RESCUE THE GODLY FROM TRIALS, AND TO KEEP THE UNRIGHTEOUS UNDER PUNISHMENT UNTIL THE DAY OF JUDGMENT, 10a AND ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO INDULGE IN THE LUST OF DEFILING PASSION AND DESPISE AUTHORITY. * Effectively, Peter gives us two promises in this section. o The unrighteous will be judged. o Peter is helping us to remember that God remains faithful. So, he gives us three examples of this. First, * The fallen angels * There are a lot of various views on this section. * Some believe it speaks of the original fall of Satan and his demons that were cast out of heaven. * Others think it may be speaking of a different event altogether. * Fact is, we just do not know. * Noteworthy, this verse - along with Jude 6 and Revelation 5:13 and 9:1-12 - some demons seem to be confined or imprisoned, while others are free. * The point that Peter is talking about here of course, is the fact that even the angels are subject to judgement. His whole argument in this section is that very thing: God is faithful and will judge the wicked. * The next example Peter uses is ... * The wicked ancient world * This refers to the days of Noah, and the judgement that the Lord brought upon the whole earth because of their sin, once again affirming that God will judge the unrighteous. * Finally, his third example is of the destruction of ... * Sodom and Gomorrah * If you need a refresher on this story, take note and read Genesis 18-19 when you get home later. * These cities were ingulfed in wickedness, and God judged them with their destruction. * Not spending a ton of time here, as the second half of the promise is where our hope lies, because that's where we learn that ... o The righteous will be delivered. * First illustrated with ... * Noah and his family * Again, go back to Genesis 6-9 to read his account. * Genesis 6:5 tells us: THE LORD SAW THAT THE WICKEDNESS OF MAN WAS GREAT IN THE EARTH, AND THAT EVERY INTENTION OF THE THOUGHTS OF HIS HEART WAS ONLY EVIL CONTINUALLY. * Then, in verse 8 we read: BUT NOAH FOUND FAVOR IN THE EYES OF THE LORD. * The Bible speaks often about a remnant. A select few that stand out as righteous in a place of wickedness that He will deliver. * Noah and his family were delivered from this great judgement. * We have hope because we know that the Lord will deliver those declared righteous, and He will judge the unrighteous. * The next example Peter uses is that of ... * Lot * Lot was the nephew of Abraham. * He and his family lived in Sodom. * Peter identifies Lot as righteous, and he even describes Lot's heart as he lived among the wicked. He says that he was tormented by the wickedness around him. * If we didn't have this word from Peter, we wouldn't know that, and I think its refreshing. * Because if we're honest with ourselves, we are tormented by the wickedness of this world too - at least we should be. * James, when he writes about cleansing our hands of sin, he writes in James 4:9 to ... BE WRETCHED AND MOURN AND WEEP. LET YOUR LAUGHTER BE TURNED TO MOURNING AND YOUR JOY TO GLOOM. * We should be sad about evil. We should mourn over the condition of the world. * But we should also hate the evil enough to share Christ with them. * Peter reminds us that God is just, and He will judge the unrighteous. Then, Peter then closes this section with ... * A picture (vv.10b-16) * He provides a detailed picture - or description - of what these false teachers look like. Let's read verses 10b-16: 10b BOLD AND WILLFUL, THEY DO NOT TREMBLE AS THEY BLASPHEME THE GLORIOUS ONES, 11 WHEREAS ANGELS, THOUGH GREATER IN MIGHT AND POWER, DO NOT PRONOUNCE A BLASPHEMOUS JUDGMENT AGAINST THEM BEFORE THE LORD. 12 BUT THESE, LIKE IRRATIONAL ANIMALS, CREATURES OF INSTINCT, BORN TO BE CAUGHT AND DESTROYED, BLASPHEMING ABOUT MATTERS OF WHICH THEY ARE IGNORANT, WILL ALSO BE DESTROYED IN THEIR DESTRUCTION, 13 SUFFERING WRONG AS THE WAGE FOR THEIR WRONGDOING. THEY COUNT IT PLEASURE TO REVEL IN THE DAYTIME. THEY ARE BLOTS AND BLEMISHES, REVELING IN THEIR DECEPTIONS, WHILE THEY FEAST WITH YOU. 14 THEY HAVE EYES FULL OF ADULTERY, INSATIABLE FOR SIN. THEY ENTICE UNSTEADY SOULS. THEY HAVE HEARTS TRAINED IN GREED. ACCURSED CHILDREN! 15 FORSAKING THE RIGHT WAY, THEY HAVE GONE ASTRAY. THEY HAVE FOLLOWED THE WAY OF BALAAM, THE SON OF BEOR, WHO LOVED GAIN FROM WRONGDOING, 16 BUT WAS REBUKED FOR HIS OWN TRANSGRESSION; A SPEECHLESS DONKEY SPOKE WITH HUMAN VOICE AND RESTRAINED THE PROPHET'S MADNESS. Let me give you just three characteristics of false teachers from this passage: First ... * They do not fear God. o The second half of verse 10 (which I've called 10b) illustrates this bold carelessness from these false teachers. o They're characterized as narcissistic individuals who place themselves above everyone - to include the angels, presumably the demons are spoken about here, and of course the Authority - the Lord God. o They don't seem to have fear of the judgement that is coming their way. o To put it simply, they are proud. o Next, we see that ... * They take pleasure in their sin. o In verse 14, we see that they were actively hunting for the weak. o Returning the example of the prosperity gospel. o For someone who is poor, or sick, it's easy to tickle their ears by telling them that if they give to the ministry, they will receive health and wealth from God. o In a sense, these teachers are out of control. Peter calls them animals in verse 12, and in verse 15, he says that they've gone astray. o The general purpose in their ministry is to satisfy their own desires. o The reason for that is because ... * They desire sin over everything else. o Peter compares them to Baalam from Numbers 22-24 who was a false prophet who was cunning and self-seeking. He only had a desire to "line his own pocket" as Pastor Steven Cole put it. o Just like these false teachers, Baalam knew what was right, and he knew what he was doing, but he ignored it for his own good. We saw this morning in our main idea: I can beware of false teachers by knowing what to look out for. But now that we know what to look for, let's close with some words on ... FINDING HOPE I want to leave you with three actions that we can take so we can beware of false teachers. * Avoid false teachers. o I struggled with this one this week. o I stand by the premise of it, as it is critical that we avoid false teachers. o And Paul told us in Ephesians 5:11 to, TAKE NO PART IN THE UNFRUITFUL WORKS OF DARKNESS, BUT INSTEAD EXPOSE THEM. o Paul talks about this elsewhere like 1 Timothy 5:19-20, and he himself names them throughout his letters. o Since advising you to avoid these false teachers without telling you who they are seems counterproductive, I'll proceed with caution with some examples. o First, here are two movements to avoid: * Word of Faith * Some things that they hold to include: o Teaching that since we were made in God's image, we share in his divine nature (Pat addressed this false teaching a couple of weeks ago) o God speaks to Word of Faith leaders directly (I talked about this last week) o Faith is a force - think "name it and claim it" * Here are some prominent teachers in that movement: o Joyce Meyer o Kenneth Copeland o Joel Osteen o TD Jakes * The next movement to avoid would be the ... * New Apostolic Reformation * Some things that they hold to include: o Holding to apostolic succession, meaning that they are also Apostles and Prophets o Supernatural manifestations, to include raising people from the dead and actual conversations with Jesus o Some claim to receive "new revelation" from God o There's also a strange practice of taking the anointing of those who have passed away * Here are some prominent teachers and ministries in that movement: o Bill and Beni Johnson - Bethel Church/Music o Steven Furtick - Elevation Church/Music o Hillsong Worship o And the very popular "Passion Bible" o There are others as well, too many to list. o I urge to research before you pick up a resource. o For the record, I don't share this with joy, I share this pastorally. o Next, * Know the real thing. o Let me put it simply for you. o Cling to the Father! * James told us to cling to Him, and run from Satan * Jesus told us to seek first the Kingdom of God * Paul told us to pray always * Paul told Timothy to study * Peter tells us to be ready to give a reason for the hope that we have * Paul told us to sing spiritual songs * Paul told us not to neglect gathering together in His name o If we are not clinging to the Father, we are incapable of doing this. o And we cannot know the real thing. o Finally, * Remember, God is in control. o These are some of most comforting words for me, personally. o When things spiral out of control, that means I'm trying too hard to control it. o I must surrender everything to God. * My concerns * My feelings * My desires * My confusion * My finances * My family * My job or career * My everything Just as Peter already reminded us with Noah and Lot. In the end, the Lord has the final word. So, if you are in Christ Jesus, like Noah and Lot, you have been delivered from His judgement. We already know that the world is wicked, that they are continually trying to control our minds and our thinking, but Peter reminded us that there are also people in the church doing the same. We must avoid them, we must study to know the real thing, and we must remember that God is in control. Many will come and try to steer us away. But we have God Almighty! We serve the Almighty! We serve a God who shows mercy and grace. We serve the God who delivers. We serve the God who gave His only Son, so that we can be reconciled with Him. So, let's align ourselves with the Almighty. Let's pray. 2