2 Peter: False Teachers

Exegetical Point: Look out for false teachers, they will be judged.

Homiletical Point: Look out for false teachers who deny Christ with their actions and teaching, they will be judged.

Introduction

“Today the only heresy is saying that there’s heresy” That’s what a rapper & pastor from the Sates says. His name is Shai Linne.

“Today the only heresy is saying that there’s heresy”

This is a simple yet intriguing insight.

Our society is pluralistic. And increasingly pluralistic.

We live in a society that is (supposedly) meant to be very tolerant.

Due to may historical factors we have now a society where we treat every idea as valid. Where nobody wants to step on anybody else’s toes. Where, in the name of “love” and acceptance all religious, political and moral propositions are considered as equal, like it was a buffet (you remember buffets? from the before-times, pre-2020?). We pretend that every idea and belief and perspective are just alternate options on a menu. “Choose what you like and no one has the right to judge you for it”

(Now i’m generalizing, but doing so to make a point.)

One of the most horrible sins of modern society is to allege that your morality or belief is superior to another.

Which is ironic because any idea of belief you adopt, communicates to the world that you think others are wrong! Even if that belief is that all beliefs are equally valid!

So, the latest crop of politically correct graduates of the school of culture will say things like “I have my truth and you have your truth”

It’s double-think: holding two mutually contradictory statements to be true at once.

But don’t think that this is just a problem “out there” in the world, this is a problem in our churches. We are affected by the world around us, and catechized into believing many of the same things that are cultural norms, or at the very least, acting as if those cultural beliefs were true in church. Without realizing it, we import all kinds of assumptions and habits.

So in our historical moment, one of the weaknesses we need to be aware of is being unwilling to publicly make truth claims.

This problem of being unwilling to make a stand for truth makes our churches prime targets for false teaching. It can waltz on in with no opposition.

You have your beliefs and I have mine, and we just get along, not rocking the boat.

And you can understand why we do it. We know how small things can turn into big things.

We’ve seen churches divided over theology and practice. We’ve seen relationships ruined because of misunderstanding. We know that “Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue [is] a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body...” Jas 3:5–6.

Anyway, doesn’t the Bible call us to be peacemakers? And to seek unity? And not to stir up division?

YES!

But I fear we may use those noble causes to cover up complacency, and to be cowards. We think that it’s no big deal, and let sleeping dogs lie.

We are to be truth tellers! We are to exhort and warn and rebuke with the truth!

We can’t just get along comfortably while folks around us dawdle straight to hell!

If we need to sacrifice the cosy comfort of “getting along” to that we can rescue others from destruction, so be it!

If we might be accused of “stirring up division” for the sake of saving souls, isn’t that a risk worth taking?

“My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.” Jas 5:19–20.

Souls are on the line. It’s no time for playing nice!

Peter thought the same. He was not going to play nice. He was about to kick the bucket, and he was not messing around getting his final message across! So he wrote to the churches to address the problem that they were having - the same problem that we have - that there were people coming into the church who were saying all kinds of nice and truthful things, but who we also sneaking in half-truths and twisting scriptures and generally deceiving people.

Our cultural context may be vastly different from the first century when Peter was writing, but we need to hear these same words loud and clear.

This is a seat-belt passage. Like when you hop in the car and you put on your seat belt. Then you promptly forget about it. But! When someone crashes into you, you’re sure glad that there is a seat belt there to protect you.

Passages like these are often forgotten, but we need to still have this way of thinking in our spiritual toolbox, so that when the opportunity arises, we’ve already “girded up the loins of our minds”. We’re not about to be tricked into believing nonsense, and we can take comfort in the fact that God will deal with those wolves in sheep’s clothing.

So our passage today focuses pretty heavily on this topic of false teachers. I’ve loosely divided the passage into 4 sections that we can look at each in turn. Peter has a lot to say on this, but for the sake of helping us keep it all in our mind lets call it 4 aspects of False Teachers.

Look out for false teachers who deny Christ with their actions and teaching, they will be judged.

1. False Teachers will Come (v1-3)

Last week’s passage finished with a great reminder of how God delivered this trustworthy message through his prophets of the Old Testament.

Now, Peter is turning to a new theme in chapter 2 where he going to go hard on the opposite of the trustworthy prophets of old - new false teachers.

False prophets were a known problem, back in the day. You may have read about Jeremiah’s day, where there were prophets promising peace to Judah while Jeremiah was telling them the truth from God that Jerusalem would fall. It was a real problem!

But, the problem didn’t go away when Jesus came to the earth and died in our place. He cam bringing the Gospel of Salvation, but there were still those who would manipulate that message:

2 Peter 2:1 NIV

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.

What do they do? They bring in heresy.

We don’t know the exact nature of the false teaching that was getting around in Peter’s day, but the thing is, that’s not important to us. Our temptation would be to focus in on what the false teaching was, but because Peter doesn’t talk about the details, we’re left with the general principles that there will be false teachers, and they will bring in secret false teaching that even denies Jesus himself.

Now it’s probably important that we take a moment to talk about the “H” word: Heresy.

Like many words, it has evolved over the years and so we need to be careful with it. In it’s Greek context it could be used to refer to sects, like denominations, different streams of thought. So it could be used in a neutral or positive way, but it can also be used in the negative sense, like here in 2 Peter. Where there is the truth and the are people who are dissenting, they’re splintering off. It’s destructive heresies. Dangerous opinions. It’s false teaching.

So over time, the church has used the word more and more as shorthand for “untrue teaching”. So while “heresy” used to be dependent on it’s context in Greek, in modern English it only ever has a negative sense, partly because that’s what Peter has done here.

But, don’t go using that word heresy willy-nilly, because throughout the centuries we have come to use the word heresy in a formal sense - a kind of capital “H” Heresy. Heretics are those who believe something so different, they are outside the Christian faith. They are those who oppose the Bible, summarized in central creeds of Christianity. There will be variation in the way that we understand and apply the Gospel, but if you diverge too far you will be considered outside the faith: a heretic.

But that’s not the way Peter is necessarily thinking here, those are developments that came after Peter when things settled down with the formation of the New Testament. Peter here is speaking more casually of bad directions in teaching.

But did you notice, these false teaches, will bring it in secretly. It will be hard to spot. They will be people who are “among you” who appear to be fellow believers on the same journey as you. And then they will secretly introduce heresy.

The devil doesn’t go round with horns and tail, he comes as an angel of light. He’s a deceiver, and those who are his children inherit the family traits.

And the irony is made obvious: they are “denying the Lord who bought them”. If they are Christians, they’re bought by God in Christ, yet, their false teaching denies that master. It can’t fit together! The fact that they’re denying their master, highlights the fact that their place in God’s kingdom is an illusion. They’re impostors.

Their dodgy teaching brings their own destruction.

Here’s the sad part, they will have followers. People will believe them. And not just a few, but heaps!

2 Peter 2:2–3 NIV

Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

Being popular is not a sign of truth (the converse isn’t true either). You can’t just look at the popularity of something and think “they must be onto something”. We’re part of a democracy, so sometimes we can fall into the trap of thinking that the majority rules. Fortunately truth doesn’t care about people’s opinions, or how many adherents there are.

It’s not surprising that bad teaching will attract a crowd: we crave the worldly things, so it’s easy to draw a crowd when the teaching scratches itchy ears. When we hear what we want to hear, we can be drawn after that.

But, the people who follow the false teaching, will negatively impact the reputation of Christians! It’s not just a case of saying, “they’ve departed from the truth, they’re off on another track with their sinful ways”. We get tarred with the same brush.

How often have you had to explain to other people that your Christian faith is not like that group of people over there?

Now it might be easy to get annoyed or angry with those who believe false teaching, but compassion should prevail, because it is deception and exploitation. They’re being tricked and abused.

They’re being deceived and swindled by greedy false teachers.

What are they greedy for? greedy for power, for recognition, for wealth, for worldly pleasure. There are the antithesis of Jesus wrapped in a Christian veneer.

Unlike the true Gospel message, the Word of God delivered from eyewitnesses like Peter, these others make it up - especially when it serves themselves.

God won’t put up with it. They will get the stick. In fact, Peter comforts the people with some examples that show God is looking out for them.

2. God Judges False teachers (v4-9)

It would be easy to despair at this point. Peter has assured the church that false teacher will come. They will introduce false teaching. They will deceive people away from the truth.

But, God has looked out for his people in the past, and has brought temporal judgment on the rebellious. Its a comfort to the church that God doesn’t let this wickedness slide.

2.a Rebellious Angels

2 Peter 2:4 NIV

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;

We’ve spoken about this before, in 1 Peter, that we get snippets in the Bible about what goes on in the spiritual world. There’s a spiritual war raging around us, with spiritual beings who are both loyal to God, and those who are working against him.

Back in the day, there was a notable rebellion of a large number of angelic beings, and it’s probably connected to the events of Genesis 6. But there was a common belief among the Jews that God had basically had a bunch of the rebel ringleaders arrested and held in prison (Tartaros) until Judgment day.

So peter makes reference to that event, reassuring folks that God does act to restrain evil and will bring judgment in due time.

2.b Ungodly people & Noah

It’s a similar story in the days of Noah, God does act to restrain evil and will bring judgment in due time:

2 Peter 2:5 NIV

if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;

All seemed lost in Noah’s day - wickedness was soooo rife that people were described as “every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time” Ge 6:5.

Yet, God’s chosen people, the only people in a world that was stacked against them who were preaching truth and following God, they were saved.

God brought judgment on the rebellious and saved his own.

2.c Sodom, Gomorrah & Lot

God does act to restrain evil and will bring judgment in due time, like he did with Sodom & Gomorrah, where they were twin cities known for their outlandish sin against God, they were like the Los Angeles and Las Vegas of their day, icons of sin.

2 Peter 2:6–8 NIV

if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—

It was such a sinful place to live, that there were roving bands of men who would knock on your door at night and try to rape your guests.

Lot was a light in that dark place, a righteous family in the midst of a rebellious world, and God rescued his people, absolutely destroying the twin cities. Literally raining down fire from heaven to wipe them off the face of the earth. It gives us a glimpse into God’s wrath against sinful rebellion.

So, this is both a comfort to those who follow Jesus, but a warning to those who are opposed to him. Peter continues:

2 Peter 2:9 NIV

if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.

False teachers & the wicked will be judged, and the faithful will be protected.

You can take comfort! If you are in Christ,

if you have put your faith and trust in Jesus, who lived and died in your place, for your sins,

if you have believed that he rose from the dead, and is seated at the right hand of the father,

if you have repented of your sins and are seeking to live a life of righteousness in the power of the Holy Spirit, then you can take comfort that God’s wrath is not on you.

Rebels get God’s wrath, so if you have repented, and joined your loyalty to Christ, you’re on his team, you’re under Jesus care. You have his blessing.

Peter has laid down the hard facts as it concerns the wicked, and comforted the righteous with the sure hope that God will deliver them out of the clutches of these false teachers with those three examples from history.

3. Character of False Teachers (v10-19)

Now Peter turns to what some have called a “tirade”. I wouldn’t use that language, but it is definitely a blunt overview of the character of the false teachers.

As we have discussed several times in recent weeks, fruit follows faith.

True disciples of Jesus, filled with his holy spirit, bear fruits in keeping with repentance.

We’re not perfect people who cleaned ourselves up enough for God to love us, no, we are all sinners who have rebelled against God, in the way we have lived and in our hearts. We were lost and dead in sin until Jesus awakened our souls and showed us himself. He forgave our sin. He poured his amazing grace on us. He washed us of our unrighteousness and now we live for him, even while we still trip and stumble and sin. But, we confess our sin, and continually look to Christ for his grace, resting in his perfection, not our own.

So we put our faith in Jesus, and then good spiritual fruit follows. But where there is no true faith, the flesh takes over.

When people are in Christ, they actively try to put away the things that Christ came to save us from. But people who are fake believers and false teachers look for ways to incorporate worldly ways and into their life under the guise of faith.

Like a tree planted in rotten soil, they cannot bring forth good fruit, but only bad fruit.

So lets have a look at their character. If we looked at every bit of what Peter says, we’d be here all afternoon, so let me just read 10-19, and then comment on some of the themes that pop up.

2 Peter 2:10–19 NIV

This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings; yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from the Lord. But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish. They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”

3.a Follow the Flesh

As I’ve already noted

3.b Despise Authority

3.c Arrogant & Blasphemous

3.d Seducers & Enticers

4. False teachers are worse off (v20-22)

Having come to know truth, and turned their back on it, they are worse off!

2 Peter 2:20–22 NIV

If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”

Why are they worse off? Because they now know better. Everyone in the world knows of God, and their moral obligation to him (it’s written in us and nature), but you’re much worse off if you know the truth of Jesus and then decide to turn away.

e.g. Adults are more culpable than Children...

e.g. People who know the law are more culpable than those who don’t.

Willful disobedience is much worse than

Perseverance of the saints (a.k.a. once saved always saved) - how does that fit with this passage?

The seed that grows up and is strangled out.

What now?

Look out for false teachers.

Don’t be afraid to speak up.

take comfort that God will save his people, even if the whole world has turned aside.