Beware False Prophets

Did any of you come in here hurting? Not physical but maybe the pain of a child who knows the truth but lives contrary to it. Or the pain of facing change you never asked for. Maybe you are like so many who are caring for their spouse/parent on the downward slide toward the inevitable need for more care than you feel you can provide. Those hurt dont they?

Can I offer you some hope for the hurt? Embrace the privilege of being called to the Throne every day to intercede for your child. God says He is working in your child, just come spend time with ME. Trust the truth of a life that is here today and gone tomorrow, fading like the grass or passing like a vapor. Whether you are concerned for yourself or for that spouse or parent, you were not created for this world, but the one Jesus is preparing for you. This hurt is temporary. That GLORY is eternal.

Why we go book by book. I have to preach the hard stuff.

No prophecy was produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as the Holy Spirit...

2 Peter 2 ESV

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. 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, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. 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. 17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. 18 For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

False prophets lack divine authority, promise peace when God threatens judgement and will, themselves be judged by God.

False teachers follow the pattern of Satan deceiving Eve: Question God - Did God say…?, Deny God - You will not surely die, Substitute the lie - You will be as gods.

These false teachers are what their name implies: FALSE. Unsaved. Dogs and pigs, not sheep. Jude clearly describes the same people in v19 when he states ‘having not the Spirit’. Without the Spirit of God one is not the child of God. Peter wrote this to a church, but these had secretly deceived their way into the church. They did not come professing faith in Jesus Christ, but teaching doctrines that were contrary to scripture.

But our text says they were bought by the Lord. Remember Jesus is the merchant who purchased the whole field that He might acquire the treasure in it. Truly, only those who believe take advantage of His gift of salvation, but his death was in fact sufficient for the whole world. He was the propitiation even for those who reject and deny Him. This makes their condemnation even greater!

So what were these teachings considered false? This entire text builds around the first three verses. How false teachers’ motives lead their followers astray. They used sensational tactics to deceive immature believers. The promise of ease, peace and pleasure was/is attractive to those on milk.

Destructive heresies, denying the Master. If we deny any part of Jesus, we deny all of Him. The test for a religious movement is always “What do they do with Jesus?”. If He is considered anything less than God in the flesh, perfect sacrifice for sin, raised on the 3rd day, returning soon - then the religious movement is considered a cult. When false teachers lead us to false theology/doctrine our belief of who Jesus is becomes less. If He is only love, we miss the holiness or righteousness He desires to grow in us. If He is only just, we miss the compassion and beat people over the head with a set of rules.

This is always a gradual process. Posing a ‘parallel ideal’ that is really at odds with scripture. Teaching ‘cultural truth’ alongside scriptural truth. All too soon scripture is replaced with culture. Man tired of paying for oats began to mix sawdust with the oats to feed his mule. Worked for a while but by the time the mule was satisfied with sawdust he died! When truth is replaced with ear tickling, the same happens to the church. We are promised He will never leave or forsake the believer, but the lampstand can be removed from the church! They are called destructive heresies because these teachings will truly destroy the church!

Causing followers to follow their sensuality. Licentiousness - having license to sin. Pendulum from legalism to this because of a misrepresentation of grace. But with a definite sexual connotation. Let’s consider this for a moment. We see false teachers with large followings. Many are being lulled into a false sense of righteousness because of them. We see false teachers condemned across the board. What we may be missing is the condemnation of false teaching as in this scripture. Here’s what I mean.

Most recent polling of Evangelical Christians find 50+% believe sex with a casual acquaintance to be acceptable depending on the circumstances. We are shocked. We are appalled. But are we? When our grandson or granddaughter decides to live with their girl/boyfriend before they get married we justify it. Maybe not with our words but with our actions. And scripture is clear: sex is to be inside the good and safe boundary of MARRIAGE! Anything less caves to the sensuality Peter condemns here.

When we look like the world; our divorce rate the same, we use loopholes in business practices because of greed, our abortion percentage is HIGHER than non-Christian population. When we look like the world the way of truth will be blasphemed.

What have the ‘protestors’ been chanting? Rather derogatory toward our Jesus.

End of the chapter - their end would be worse than the first. Like the house that was swept clean in Jesus’ parable. The false teacher was false because he had a false experience. They had knowledge of salvation and could talk a good game, but apparently lacked a true saving experience.

Some will use this set of verses to teach apostacy as an option for true believers. But to do so they have to ignore the other letter Peter wrote to the same group of believers!

So what do we do with this?

Repent. Agree with God. He is right and when our lives dont match, we are wrong. If our minds resist, ask God for help in repenting.

Be in the Word. We MUST know the difference. When the believer knows the truth, the counterfeit is glaring!

Let there be a difference.