There Will be False Teachers Among You (Rev. Rich Stratton)

There Will be False Teachers Among You (Rev. Rich Stratton)

“There Will be False Teachers Among You”

2 Peter 2:10b-17

(Rev. Rich Stratton)

Series: “You’d Better Know the Truth”

Henderson’s First Baptist Church

Take your Bibles this morning and open them to 2 Peter chapter 2. In the church bible

you can find your place on page 818.

A few weeks ago Bro. Todd began a series through this little letter and as we studied

through chapter 1 we were encouraged to remember that believers are partakers of the

divine nature, that we are changed by Christ, that we are kept by Christ, and that we

have the power to live for him according to His Word.

Chapter 1 was indeed a great encouragement! And now that we are walking through

chapter 2 we see that Peter has moved from encouragement to warning. In verses

1-3, Peter warned that there will be false teachers. There will be those who warp,

stretch, and manipulate God’s Word for their own selfish gain. He warns that there will

be many who follow them. And in verses 4-10 he warns that the reward of these false

teachers will be the punishment and judgement of God.

These are serious warnings! There will be false teachers, notice that in 2 Peter 2:1,

there will be false teachers. This is not a speculation, this is not a warning to you just

in case, this is a warning to all believers that we will encounter false teachers.

And since we will without a doubt encounter false teachers, Peter wants us to be able

to recognize them. He wants us to be equipped so that we will not be among the

many who “will follow their destructive ways” as he warns many will in chapter 2 verse

2.

So in our passage today, 2 Peter 2:10b-17, we have Peter telling us how to recognize

false teachers. We have Peter sharing with us the characteristics of false teachers that

we should be looking for and guarding against.

10 They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries,

11 whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling

accusation against them before the Lord.

12 But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of

the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption,

13 and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to

carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own

deceptions while they feast with you,

14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls.

They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.

15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the

son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

16 but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice

restrained the madness of the prophet.

17 These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the

blackness of darkness forever.

Pray

Sometimes we fail to see this warning that Peter gives concerning false teachers as

one that directly affects us. We labor under the false idea that we will always recognize

false teaching when we see it. We incorrectly assume that false teachers will be

obvious. After all, aren’t they all TV preachers who promise I will get rich if I send them

all my money? Or aren’t they all members or leaders of cult groups? Or aren’t they all

liberal theologians? These kind of high profile false teachers are often easy to

recognize.

But what about those that are more subtle? What about those who are not in the spot

light? What about those who make their false teaching sound sensible? What about

those whose teachings might even seem to have a ring of truth? What about those

that make sin sound acceptable and make the Bible sound flexible? False teachers

most often get others to follow them one slow compromising step at a time.

So we need to be able to recognize them. And Peter gives us 5 characteristics of false

teachers. Five characteristics that will help us to identify them and steer clear of their

destructive teaching.

The first characteristic we see is arrogance.

I. False teachers are arrogant. (vv. 10b-11)

Look with me again at verses 10 and 11.

10 and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and

despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil

of dignitaries, 11 whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a

reviling accusation against them before the Lord.

Last week Spencer looked at the first part of verse 10 as he walked us through the text

showing us how God is able to protect the righteous and how He will punish the

unrighteous. The unrighteous “who walk according to the flesh in the lust of

uncleanness and who despise authority.”

Peter uses this as a jumping off place to begin to outline the character of these

unrighteous false teachers. He says that they despise authority and those who despise

authority are by definition “arrogant.” They do not want to be under anyone’s authority

but their own. They do not have any regard for or any understanding of power and

authority outside their own. And in the second part of verse 10 and in verse 11 Peter

gives us an example of their arrogance.

Peter says that the false teachers are “presumptuous and self-willed.” That means

they are boldly arrogant, full of themselves. And to prove such Peter says that “they

are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries” according to the NKJ which is not a

particularly clear translation here. The ESV renders it this way…

Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas

angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous

judgement against them before the Lord.

That is a little better but it is still a difficult passage but when it is looked at in context it

becomes pretty clear. Peter is singling out an example of the false teacher’s

arrogance. He is saying that they are so arrogant that they are not afraid to dismiss the

power of Satan, demons, fallen angels, and even hell itself. The dignitaries, glorious

ones, celestial beings as some translations have are fallen angels.

We know this because in verse 11 Peter says that angels (that is the angels who are

not fallen) are more powerful than these glorious ones, these fallen angels, yet even in

their power they do not dismiss the fact that judgement on them is reserved for God

and that God has seen fit to let them have power here on earth for the time being.

Jesus himself calls Satan, “the prince or ruler of this world” in John 12:31, 14:30 and

16:11. And John says that “the whole world is under the control of the evil one” in 1

John 5:19. The power of Satan, other fallen angels, and hell is very real. Something

recognized by Jesus, the angels and the apostles.

Dismissing this power then is arrogant, dangerous, and heresy. Yet it is something that

is common among false teachers and even makes its way into churches.

Last week Spencer mentioned a man named Rob Bell. In 1999 Rob Bell started Mars

Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan. By 2011 it had become a megachurch with

11,000 members in attendance weekly. He was major writer of student ministry

curriculum and a sought after speaker. He was a rising star in the evangelical world.

Then in 2011 Rob Bell tipped his hand as a false teacher. He authored a book called

Love Wins. In the book he questioned the literal reality of hell and suggested that in

the end everyone will go to heaven regardless of their beliefs because the love of God

trumps everything else.

Folks, this is arrogance. This is someone who is willing to cast aside huge portions of

Scripture in order to support his own errant theology. This is what it looks like to

arrogantly dismiss the power of Satan and hell, who by the way is loving every minute

of it, and at the same time dismiss the truth of the Word of God.

This is also what it looks like to be led astray by a false teacher. Folks, he was

preaching weekly to a group of 11,000 people. Now to their credit about 3,000

members left immediately when the book was published and eventually he was forced

to leave the church all together. But the point is, how many of those 11,000 people

were led astray? How many other bits of heresy got fed to them over a period of 12

years?

But we don’t even have to look on such a large scale to see this kind of arrogant false

teaching. Have any of you ever been taught that if you resist the devil he will flee from

you? Some of you might say yes, and the Bible says as much in James 4:7.

Yes, James 4:7 does say “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” But that does not

mean that we have the power or the right to speak directly to the devil and send him

packing because we don’t. The context of that verse actually fits with exactly what

Peter is saying.

But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: God resists the proud, But gives grace to

the humble. Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw

near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify

your hearts, you double-minded.

When we read James 4 verse 6, all of verse 7 and verse 8 we see that James, like

Peter is saying that it is God who has power over Satan not us and in order to weather

the storms he sends we must draw close to God from whom Satan will flee. Satan is

never going to flee from us, but he will flee from God who will send him packing on our

behalf. We do not order Satan around, we run to God who does so for His children.

So false teachers can be recognized by their arrogance. Secondly…

II. False teachers are foolish. (vv. 12-13)

Look again at verses 12 and 13…

12 But these, like natural brute beasts (that is creatures of instinct) made to be caught

and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in

their own corruption,

13 and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to

carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own

deceptions while they feast with you,

Peter is saying that false teachers have no real spiritual knowledge. Just as an animal

is dependent upon its own natural instinct, which is not real intelligence, so these false

teachers are dependent on only what they can now naturally. They rely completely on

their own natural intelligence. They speak evil of, or try to explain away the things that

they do not understand. Peter is saying that they are spiritually ignorant.

These are people who reject the wisdom that James points out that God will grant to all

who ask and instead rely on their own knowledge and end up teaching destructive

heresy.

Let me return for a moment to Rob Bell. After leaving Mars Hill he did not repent and

return to the faith. Instead he has continued to foolishly reinterpret scripture to his own

standards. Just last month he was interviewed on Premier Christian Radio where he

was to plug his new book. But the interviewer asked him to clarify his recent remarks

in support of gay marriage. Let me read you a couple of the questions and Bell’s

responses:

“Do you believe that this is an area where actually God is ahead of the church, that

affirming same-sex partnerships is actually a God thing and that we will eventually all

get to see that in the course of time?”

Bell: “I think it’s time for the church to acknowledge that we have brothers and sisters

who are gay and want to share their life with someone. This is a part of life in the

modern world and that’s how it is. And that cultural consciousness has shifted, and

this is how the world is and that what’s happening for a lot of people,

The interviewer then asks Bell to explain how his response can be held in tension with

what Paul says about homosexuality in Romans 1:27. Bell’s response is to say Paul

was concerned with the sin of idolatry and that the other things he mentioned were not

really the things he was concerned about. So the interviewer then stops Bell with the

following question:

“There’s two gay men at the church in Corinth, they’re having sex together, they’re not

worshipping idols. Paul’s gonna say, ‘That’s great guys, go for it, we need more of

that …’ Is that what you believe is true of Paul?”

Bell: “I think Paul didn’t have that cultural framework or conception operating around

him. I think he had men and boys. I think he had temples. I did not think he was talking

about what we’re talking about in 2013 which is two committed people in a same-sex

relationship. So I would start there,”

Folks, this is foolish. It is foolish to think one can change God’s Word in order to make

allowances for sin regardless of what culture says. And Peter goes on to say that false

teachers are so foolish that they don’t even try to hide what they are doing. They are

like those who carouse in the daytime. In other words they have no shame. They are

not holding to their heresy in private. They are not trying to slip under the radar so no

one will know. Instead they are “feasting” with believers. They are in fellowship with

believers attempting to sway others to follow them.

But Peter warns not to follow them because he says “they will perish in their

corruption” and that they “will receive the wages of their unrighteousness.” Do you

know what he is saying. He is saying they will reap what they are sowing. As they

attempt to lead others to destruction they are insuring their very own.

Peter says that they are spots and blemishes the very opposite of how he describes

true believers in chapter 3 verse 14 as blameless and without spot. Peter says that

false teachers are foolish because only a fool walks headlong in the daylight to his own

destruction.

False teachers are arrogant, they are foolish and…

III. False teachers seek pleasure. (v. 14a)

In the first half of verse 14 Peter points out the sensual nature of false teachers.

14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls.

Here Peter uses the sin of adultery or sexual sin to illustrate the sensual nature of the

false teachers. He is making the point that these false teachers are consumed with

worldly pleasure and worldly happiness, with no regard for eternity.

He says that they cannot cease to sin. In other words they move from sin to sin, and

back them up with any false teaching or heresy that is necessary to in order to stay

happy. But notice Peter says that they are always trying to entice, or bait others to

follow them or even to engage in some type of sin with them. That is where the real

danger of the sensual nature of the false teacher comes into play.

They teach that God wants you to be happy. They teach that God wants you to be

healthy. They teach that God wants you to prosper. My question for them is, How do

they know God wants these things for you?

Never do we find in the Bible that God wants us to be happy in this world. We find that

He wants what is best for us, we find that He wants us to be content, we find that He

wants us to take joy in Him and the promise of eternity. But never do we find where

God wants us to have health, wealth, and prosperity in this world.

God always wants what is best for His children, but only He knows what is best.

Sometimes it may be happiness and sometimes it may not, sometimes it may be health

and sometimes He may know why it is best that we don’t have health. And when we

realize this then we are not so concerned about happy anymore because we have joy

in God and knowing He is in control.

The reason false teachers insist that God wants us to be happy is because that is what

they want more than anything else and they cannot stop chasing it.

False teachers are arrogant, they are foolish, they seek pleasure and…

IV. False teachers are greedy. (vv. 14b-16)

Let’s look at this in verses 14-16

They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.

15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the

son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

16 but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice

restrained the madness of the prophet.

They have a heart trained in covetous practices. In other words they are greedy, they

want what is not theirs and so like those who are always seeking pleasure they are

headed for destruction. They are as Peter says, cursed children. They will not receive

the blessing of God but will instead endure His wrath and punishment.

Peter then goes on to illustrate a greedy and covetous heart in the Old Testament

account of Balaam and the donkey (Numbers 22). This is a story that we often

misunderstand so we sometimes think of Balaam in a positive light as someone the

Lord used. Peter and the people he was writing to did not understand it that way and

rightly so.

Balaam was a prophet but not in the since of the typical OT prophet like Isaiah or

Daniel. You see Balaam’s thing was to be a prophet for hire. He feared and consulted

the Lord only when it was profitable for him to do so. When the Moabites sent for him

to curse the Israelites he did consult God and God told him not to go because the

people were blessed. When the Moabites came again with an offer of even more

money he went back to God as if to say “are you sure I shouldn’t go because they are

paying very well.” Again God told him not to go unless he were asked again in the

morning (NKJV). Balaam then takes it upon himself to assume they will ask again in

the morning and saddles his donkey and heads off to meet the Moabite king. God

however is unhappy with his disobedience and greed and sends an angel to stop him.

And here we pick up with the story we all learned in Sunday School. The Donkey sees

the angel and tries to avoid it three times and three times Balaam hits the donkey. The

third time God allows the donkey to speak and ultimately allows Balaam to see the

angel himself. God then uses Balaam to curse the Moabites rather than the Israelites,

even though it is not really what Balaam wants to do. The story ends there but we do

see Balaam one other time when he is killed by Moses and the Israelite army in

Numbers chapter 31 when he is again siding against Israel with the Midianites.

Peter uses the account of Balaam to show the destruction that follows a covetous and

greedy heart. The destruction that will come to false teachers who want what is not

theirs. They might covet money (as Balaam did), they might covet fame or they might

even covet the acceptance of the world (which is not something believers are to be

concerned about). But in the end none of the things they gain through their indulgence

will matter. In the end their unrighteousness will be restrained and their punishment will

come.

Finally, we see that…

V. False teachers are empty. (v. 17)

The first four characteristics deal with the actions of the false teachers. Arrogance,

foolishness, pleasure seeking, and greed.

In verse 17 Peter shows us a characteristic that deals with what they have to offer.

17 These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the

blackness of darkness forever.

He tells us that the false teachers are empty. They have nothing real to offer. They may

seem to have what you are looking for, they might seem to be able to offer something

that will fill a need in your life.

But ultimately, Peter says they are like wells without water. He gives the image of a

thirst traveler who is overjoyed at the promise of water when he sees a well but is left

without fulfillment when he finds the well is dry. Or they are like storm clouds that are

blown toward a drought parched land giving hope to the farmers only to pass on the

wind without so much as a drop of rain.

So they offer no hope for others and and they have no hope themselves. They are

headed toward the gloom of darkness forever. They will be judged according to their

empty works.

Folks, these are people we do not want to follow and they are people that we do not

want to be. So let me quickly give you with three ways to protect yourself from false

teaching:

1. Know, love, and trust the Word of God.

If you want to avoid being influenced by false teachers know the Word. Spend time in

your Bible. Know what it says. Double check what others tell you about it. Also you

have to love and trust God’s Word. You must trust that God knows what He is doing

and that He has given us everything in the Bible for our good. He is not trying to keep

anything from us. He is not trying to deprive us of anything good. We have to trust

that through His Word He is pointing us toward himself and toward what is best for us.

Secondly, if you want to protect yourself from false teaching…

 

2. Resist the false wisdom of the world.

Don’t allow the push of the world around you to compromise your beliefs. We are

bombarded daily by people telling us that the Bible is not true. Maybe not in those

words but that is what they are doing. That is what folks are doing when they say

along with Rob Bell that the culture can dictate the meaning of the Bible. Folks, the

meaning of the Bible does not change just because the world in its faulty wisdom

changes.

Hold fast to the truth and resist the false wisdom of the world. And finally if you want

to protect yourself from false teaching and from becoming a false teacher…

3. Recognize that you are a teacher.

Every believer is teaching someone. Not just preachers and Sunday School teachers.

You are teaching someone. It may be your friend, your neighbor, your coworker, your

spouse, or your children. Someone knows you are a Christian and they are taking their

lead from you. Are you holding strong to the faith? Are you living the truth of the Word

of God? Or are you testing the waters of false teaching by embracing the wisdom of

this world and leading someone else away from the truth? Let me finish with a quote

from J.C. Ryle that speaks to this matter:

“We are always influencing those around us, in one way or another, either for good or

for evil, either for God or for sin. They see our ways, they mark our conduct, they

observe our behavior, and what they see us practice, that they may fairly suppose we

think right.”

We are all teachers, teaching all the time. The question is what kind of teacher are you?

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