Just look at where we’ve come thus far in 2 Peter!
Chapter one opens with the wonder of God’s provisions that help us become like him… 3-4
His power
His provision
His precious promises
Our participation in his divine nature
His deliverance from and protection from corruption
Next, we see a beautiful list of 7 virtues we are called to grow in with an exhortation to devote ourselves to this calling and election as we look forward to a rich welcome into eternal glory. 5-11
Finally there is a reminder with great assurance that the gospel of Jesus Christ is a historical reality witnessed to by eyewitnesses and verified by prophetic writings by those who received their message directly from the Holy Spirit. 12-21
That’s chapter 1.
Today we turn our attention to chapter 2. When we do this, we move from looking into the light to surveying the darkness. We walk out of the fair sunshine of the beautiful gifts of God and into the presence of swift destruction and the path of evil.
All of chapter 2 and most of 3 are devoted to exposing and warning against the evils of pseudo-prophets and pseudo-teachers. The Greek here calls them pseudoprophatays and pseudodidaskalos. These are prophets and teachers of falsehoods. Where are they? They are among the Christians within the churches that Peter is addressing. What are they doing there? They are secretly introducing destructive heresy that has the potential of bringing the way of truth into disrepute. What is their agenda? Peter gives us a very long list: They even deny the Lord (1), they are greedy, or covetous (3), they exploit those who listen to them (3), some of them follow their corrupt desires and despise authority (10), they are not afraid to blaspheme angels or God (10-12), they revel in their pleasures and have eyes full of adultery (13-14), they seduce the unstable and are experts in greed (14), they mouth empty, boastful words and appeal to lustful desires (18), they promise freedom, but are themselves enslaved. Etc. etc. etc. Can you imagine these kinds of people as teachers in a Christian congregation?
I just received a packet of clippings from Evelyn LaValley, a sweet little Christian widow from Concord, NH. She sends me these about every week. This weeks clippings were all about the appointment of Gene Robinson, the openly gay priest as bishop in the Episcopal Church. Let me just share a couple of brief lines from two of them.
Katrina Morgan writes: “I congratulate the Episcopal Church for making the right decision on the matter of Gene Robinson. If the acceptance of Gene does indeed cause the schism that many fear, it will be a positive thing for the church. It can only be good to separate from those who use the Bible to condemn the lives of others.”
On the other side: Peter Jensen, an Anglican archbishop from Sydney Australia, stated that the Americans are turning away from the clear teaching of the scriptures.
Christianity Today had an excellent article describing how the liberal leaderships of many mainline Protestant churches are facing a new generation of people who are returning to the Bible as their final authority and who are discovering that their denominational teachings do not pass the test of scriptural, moral and religious standards. False teachers, beware! When people begin to read and heed the Word of God, you will be discovered. Your efforts to destroy the truth of the gospel will be dealt with by God himself. We need to be praying for God to open the eyes of all who are trapped in unscriptural religious falsehoods. We need to know what God says and stand on His words alone as the final authority for life and godliness!
What do you do when you discover that the Bible teaches something that goes against what you have been taught? How do you handle it? What do you do if someone you respect and admire religiously turns away from the clear teaching of God’s Word? How do you handle it? This week and, Lord willing, through the rest of our study of 2 Peter, we will be discussing what the Bible says about false teachers who enter and do their destructive work.
A good exercise for you to help in studying chapters 2 and 3 of 2 Peter, is to go through it and mark all the pronouns: “they” and “their,” and make a note about what Peter says in each case. You will see what these false teachers look like, how they work and some of what they teach.
As a lesson from this text, let’s go back and look at verse one:
2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
In our study today I want us to see two types of false teachers. There are two extremes to be avoided: one of legalism, the other of liberalism.
God’s word has always warned us about false teachers. The very first example we have in the Bible of a false teacher is, guess where? It is in Genesis 3. God had spoken clearly and given plain instruction and warning to Adam and Eve. There was a tree in the garden where they lived that had forbidden fruit on it. God’s word is recorded for us in Genesis 2:15-17
15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
17 "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
God has a way with words, doesn’t he? His word is plain and his commands are understandable. He tells Adam, “Here’s what you CAN do, and here’s what you MUST NOT do, and here are the CONSEQUENCES of disobeying.” This command was given before Eve was created, indicating that Adam was to lead his family to know the word and will of God. Very likely Adam told Eve God’s command after she was created. We see later that Eve knew what God had said. She even quoted him on it, with one very slight change. She gave an addition, which forms the first example of what is called a Pharisaical hedge in God’s word. When the serpent quizzed her about God’s word on eating the fruit in the garden, she told what God had said, but added one little line: Look at chapter 3: 3 "but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ’You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’" Did God say you shall not touch it? No. God said, “You shall not eat of it.” Adding that you shall not touch it is not bad, is it? Only in this way… God didn’t say that. What if God had said, “Whoever eats of this fruit must be put to death.” And what if others communicated that God had said, “Whoever eats this fruit or touches this fruit must be put to death.” Do you see any problem here?
When the Pharisees interpreted and taught God’s laws, they tended to put hedges around the commandments of God. For instance, the Bible teaches that fornication is wrong, so what do we teach our kids to do to avoid situations where they may be tempted? These are hedges meant to protect them from falling into sin, but sometimes these hedges become boundary markers that we treat with as much authority as the laws of God. When God said, “Do not work on the Sabbath.” The Jewish scribes took this command and created definitions of work and built traditions to avoid the sin of work on the Sabbath. Later these traditions were held as strictly as if they were the law of God. Then as time passed even more rules made it impossible to keep the law, so they then built exceptions or loopholes. Eventually their hedges, or religious traditions broke the very laws of God that they were intended to protect! Several examples of this are in the New Testament where Jesus condemns the Pharisees and Scribes. (See Matthew 5:21-48; 15:1-20; 23:1-36). These traditions or hedges became boundary indicators to measure faithfulness of others. Those who kept the traditions of the elders were in good standing, but those that didn’t were criticized and condemned. They tended to produce pride in those who kept them and despair in those who failed. These hedges are the products of legalism and they flourish in an environment that is seeking to define the boundaries of God’s Word with human ideas. Jesus said this about the Jewish leaders of his day: Matthew 23: 23:1 … "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.
3 "Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.
4 "For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
NLB 23:1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples,
2 "The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the Scriptures.
3 So practice and obey whatever they say to you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach.
4 They crush you with impossible religious demands and never lift a finger to help ease the burden.
Jesus told them earlier that their worship was vain because their teachings were but rules taught by men. Jesus had a way with words too, didn’t he? He is the Word of God, you know.
Well, this is our first example of what can happen when someone takes the Word of God seriously and yet adds their interpretations to it and treat them as if their interpretations have heavenly authority.
While we wouldn’t call Eve a false teacher, we do see a slight addition to God’s command in her response to the serpent’s question.
Now let’s look at the other extreme. This next kind of false teaching may come in reaction to legalism, or it may just come from a rebellious spirit.
But look at what the serpent says! He treats the Word of God much more like what is described in 2 Peter 2. He directly contradicts God. He denies the Word of God, just as those false teachers deny the Lord, who is the Word of God. He does just what Peter describes…
Look at Genesis 3:1-5 with me: 1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, ’You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?"
(He’s checking to see if she even knows the Word of God).
2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;
3 "but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ’You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’"
(Now watch this bold but seductive step of denying the Word of God and also blaspheming God by speaking against God’s motives).
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.
5 "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
Look at how this compares with what Peter tells us in 2 Peter 2:
2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.
3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.
And:
18 For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error,
19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.
False teachers and false prophets described here in 2 Peter are doing the work of Satan himself. They are working to destroy the reputation of the people of God so that the work of the Church as the body of Christ may be blemished and ruined.
Their kind has been around from the beginning working to destroy the good works of God. But they will fail! Their work will not go unpunished. Peter gives us 2 clear examples of how God will punish those who do such things and will save those who stand in his truth. Noah and Lot are used as illustrations of this. Verse 9 states the matter succinctly: 9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment,
God knows how to protect his own! He will protect and provide for all who are his. This is also reflected in 2 Tim. 2:17-19. As false teachers are going from bad to worse, Paul states: God’s firm foundation stands with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his and let everyone who confesses the name of the Lord turn from wickedness.”
In the scriptures we see different kinds of false teachers. Those that are actually trying to do God’s will and those who are purely in it for selfish, wicked reasons. Paul once said that some preach Christ out of envy, hoping to cause me trouble, then he says, “But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached! And because of this I rejoice! Phil. 1:15-18
Now listen to me here… There was another group of teachers that Paul said something very different about in this same letter. Phil 3:2 Watch out for those dogs! Those mutilators of the flesh!
You see, there is a difference between the kind of false teachers we read about in 2 Peter and the ones preaching Christ from false motives that Paul mentions in Philippians.
Paul himself had been a false teacher. He had given all his energy to destroying the church because he sincerely believed that Jesus was a phony and that those who followed Jesus as the Christ or Messiah, were leaving the truth and were blaspheming against God. But because he was sincere in his heart, Jesus Christ confronted him and he repented and became the greatest evangelist for Jesus of all time.
We also see three kinds of teachers described in 1 Cor. 3: 11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
13 each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.
14 If any man’s work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward.
15 If any man’s work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire.
16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
17 If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.
There are the teachers who build with gold, silver and precious stones.
There are the teachers who build with wood, hay, and stubble.
Then there are the teachers who destroy the temple of God.
The first one is saved and his works last.
The second one is saved with smoke on his clothes, (as through fire) and his works are burned up.
The last one is destroyed.
There are Christians who are giving their lives for the kingdom of God and building up the people of God with their service and work.
There are Christians who are building poorly. Their lives are not productive for the kingdom of God. They are weak in example and poor in testimony. Some day when they see the Lord they will know that their lives could have been much more useful for his service. They will be saved, but as through fire.
Then there are the wolves in sheep’s clothing. These are dangerous destroyers of the people of God. They evidently have some success in captivating the weak and influencing those who barely escape.
Peter’s letter here calls us to make our calling and election sure. He makes no bones about what is important and how to insure that our faith is useful and productive for the Lord. Most of that information is in chapter 1. But Peter is just as concerned about this matter of wolves among the flock, those that scatter the sheep and devour the flock. His words are plain and clear about their destiny. You don’t have to guess how he really feels about them. His description of them is vivid.
Chapter 2 of 2 Peter gives us a descriptive picture of what the enemy looks like: he’s secretive, selfish, seductive, sinful, slick, and enslaved. Notice the huge difference between the work of the false prophets and teachers and the true teachings of God.
False teachers are secretive and self seeking. The Lord’s servant is up front and self-sacrificing.
False teachers are seductive and boastful. The Lord’s servant is clear and full of grace and humility.
False teachers appeal to the fleshly lusts and promise freedom while they themselves are slaves to sin. The Lord’s servants appeal to the Word of God and the way of holiness and proclaim freedom from sin in Christ Jesus.
False teachers may be charismatic smooth talking clever and convincing speakers, but they tell things they have made up! The make promises of blessings they can’t deliver on! They invent their information and expect you to believe and accept it! And you know what? If you don’t love the truth of God, you will! Listen carefully to 2 Thess. 2:9-11. This guy is very convincing and powerful! His power of deception comes on those who do not love the truth so as to be saved.
Listen Christian brothers and sisters. The best protection against false teaching is to love the truth of God. Look to Jesus, listen to him, learn from him, live by his teachings, love with his love. God has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us to his own glory and goodness! Get busy growing in the Lord! Peter promises that if we have the qualities he mentions there and are increasing in them then we will never fall. Let me say that again. Never fall. Did you catch that? Never fall!
Instead you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
