The Danger of False Teachers

Transcript

GR 1965
10/09/2016
The Danger of False Teachers
II Peter 2:12-16
Gil Rugh

We are going to 2 Peter chapter 2 and as we noted, it is interesting to me that both Paul and Peter in their last letters as they are anticipating their imminent death as martyrs take significant time in their letter to express their concern regarding false teachers and error that will creep in and corrupt the church. That is what Peter is writing as he writes to believing Jews scattered outside the land of Palestine in various churches and in various places.

He began chapter 2 by saying “But false prophets also arose among the people just as there will also be false teachers among you.” He doesn’t say, “There may be.” The devices of the devil do not change. So he is going to work the same way among you as God’s people in the church as he did in Israel and in the Old Testament, infiltrate and attack and undermine within.

We just observed the Communion Service and were in Corinthians. Come back to 2 Corinthians chapter 11 just as a reminder. 2 Corinthians chapter 11, a passage we have looked at. Paul expresses his jealousy for the Corinthians and he said in verse 3 of 2 Corinthians 11: “I am afraid as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” They had developed a tolerance and openness so that they were even accepting corrupted forms of the Gospel. “If one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, you receive a different spirit which you have not received, a different Gospel which you have not accepted you bear this beautifully;” that idea of tolerance and openness; hard to believe that this is going on in the church at Corinth. Paul is still alive writing these letters and already this kind of attitude has gotten into the church.

Down in verse 13: “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” We noted as we have moved through 2 Peter chapter 2, important to keep this in mind because some of the descriptions of these apostates who have infiltrated the church are so open and so vile you say, “Why would anybody be confused, anyone be deceived?” We are seeing their character. We are seeing what drives them but they just don’t come in with that full display of a drunken, vile, immoral, greedy person that is just so easy to recognize but this is what they are. So we are told that “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light; therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.”

So they come under the guise of being believers and promoting righteousness even though he said in verse 4 they are preaching a different Gospel. So we don’t want to miss what is going on. Satan’s tactics are to dress up his servants when he is going to infiltrate among believers, dress them up as believers and use them to soften up believers, give them an openness and undermine them. That is part of what we talked about even in the Communion Service.

Come over to Jude again. We keep going back to Jude. Jude is just before the book of Revelation so it is only relatively a few pages over from 2 Peter. You have the epistles of John in there but Jude said the same thing, verse 4: “Certain persons have crept in unnoticed.” This has already taken place. He is not talking about something that may happen in the future. “Certain persons have crept in unnoticed, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.”

If they are such ungodly persons, down in verse 16 of Jude: “They are grumblers, finding fault, following their own lusts. They speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.” They have turned the grace of God into an excuse for licentiousness but they have crept in unnoticed. It seems like now you can’t have both of these. How can these people with this kind of motivation, this kind of conduct, this kind of message creep in unnoticed in a church that is supposed to be a testimony of the power of God’s saving grace and the work of the Spirit in their lives?

So come back to 2 Peter chapter 2. That is what he is talking about. These are characterized, they are greedy, they are immoral, they are arrogant. Work through these kinds of things. Part of it can be done, little play on words on the Gospel tune, “Free from the law O happy condition, sin all you want for there is remission,” that kind of idea. Remember we looked and Paul had to deal with that in Romans, Shall we sin because we are no longer under the Mosaic Law? Shall we sin because our sin has shown how magnificent God’s grace is? That as great as our sin is God’s grace is greater. We sing the song, “Grace greater than our sin” and so somehow that gets twisted. We don’t want to be legalistic. We don’t want to be under the law and besides God’s grace is forgiving. So we don’t have to follow some kind of legalistic rules, codes of conduct and we don’t but that doesn’t mean there aren’t requirements for our conduct, things God requires and things God forbids. But someone in the mix confusion develops, division develops and then to try to hold things together, compromise takes place and pretty soon it becomes acceptable. So this is what Peter is trying to prepare the people for.

Remember in verse 9 of 2 Peter he said, “The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation and to keep the unrighteousness under punishment for the Day of Judgment.” So don’t think this is because nothing has happened. You know we have talked about, “Why doesn’t the Lord intervene, what doesn’t He deal?” In his time. He knows how to preserve us through the worst of times.

He has talked about their rebellion against authority. It is a characteristic of godlessness. They speak even against angels. They reject the authority that God has established. We have looked at this when we talked about human government in Romans 13 and other passages. When you rebel against the authorities God has put into place you are rebelling against God. Being ungodly.

Now he is going to turn and not only our arrogance and rebellion against the governing authorities God has given from angels on down the line, they are also ungodly in their conduct. They indulge the flesh. He kept referring to I John chapter 2: “All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life” so that those who are in the flesh cannot please God. The unredeemed person never does anything that is pleasing to God because that root, no matter what his actions they are not done with the desire to please and honor the One and true living God. If that was his attitude he would submit to the salvation God has provided and honor him by acknowledging his lost condition and receiving as a gift salvation in Christ. So he is going to go on and talk about things having to do with their fleshly conduct.

Verse 12 said, “These are like unreasoning animals born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge. They will in the destruction of those creatures be destroyed.” That is connecting them with we know as probably angels in verse 11 but the sinful beings are like animals. That is not a comparison as it could be used wrongly when you call somebody a pig or a dog but in their ability to comprehend spiritual things they are just like a pig or a dog or any kind of animal. They are like unreasoning animals. They aren’t able to sort out spiritual things.

We look around and sometimes as believers we are dumbfounded and I sometimes have said, “Sin makes you stupid.” That’s it. It makes you like an animal in your ability to think. You don’t think spiritual thoughts. It doesn’t say you don’t think religiously but you have no ability to think and reason.

We looked in Corinthians where Paul says, “The soulish man, the man without the Spirit has no ability to comprehend spiritual things.” So that is why we always start with the unbeliever with the Gospel because it is futility. That doesn’t mean we can’t use introductions to talk to them and to engage them but we realize they are not going to comprehend spiritual truth. So we don’t sit amazed at the world is descending into the sewer of vileness. They are expressing what is in their heart, “a heart that is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things.” We say that the world doesn’t understand their sinfulness and they don’t but the sad thing often we as believers fail to appreciate the depths of sin and how sinful sin really is and it leads to improper views. We have to take the Scripture as the guide.

So you come to verse 13 as we have broken in to the sentence here. “They will be destroyed in the destruction.” Where is the unbeliever going? “He will be cast into the hell that has been prepared for the devil and his angels” as Jesus taught in Matthew 25. So “they will in the destruction of those creatures be destroyed.” That is when they will be suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong.

Remember verse 9 at the end of that verse: “He knows how to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the Day of Judgment.” That is where they are going. Then they will be suffering wrong as the wages of wrong. It is sin. “The wages of sin is death” which includes as we always remind people, physical death, spiritual death and ultimately the second death, eternal death, separation from God for eternity in hell. “Suffering wrong as the wages for doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime.” They count it a pleasure. We call this hedonism and we get that from the Greek word here, hedon. We carry it over and pronounce it hedonism. It is living for pleasure, living for satisfying your desires. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. That word revel, they are indulging themselves in satisfying their desires.

That is where we are. We look around at the world and we see what goes on. It is okay because they desire to do it and that becomes the test. If they want to do it, it must be what they really are and it is. The problem is the world has no concept that it comes from a sinful heart. Remember Jesus said, “All these sinful practices come out of the heart of a person.” They are not external they are internal. That heart as Jeremiah said, “Is deceitful and desperately wicked.”

They count it a pleasure to pursue their pleasures in the daytime. The point is they are not even hiding it that much. They have a veneer of righteousness but they are rather open and proud. Too bad for those of you who live under rules and regulations. I appreciate the grace of God so
I get to enjoy the pleasures but I know in Christ I am forgiven, that kind of twisted thinking. It has an element of truth. We are not under the Mosaic Law and ultimately our lives are not driven by trying to keep a code of commandments but there are commandments from Christ. Jesus said the demonstration that you really love Me is that you keep My commandments, live in obedience to Me.

But in this twisted thinking that comes it infiltrates among believers because there is an element that appeals to us. There is pleasure in sin for a season, for a time. If sin wasn’t enjoyable none of us would sin but we do. Why do I get angry? It gives me a certain pleasure at that moment when in time to lose my temper. Oh, I couldn’t help it. I could help it. I keep it under control in certain settings. I may lose my temper at home but when I am at work with my boss I don’t lose my temper. They would fire me. So I can control it. I do things with my tongue since that is the one thing none of us have under control James says but I control my tongue at certain times, in certain places but I know it would get me in serious trouble if I didn’t.

I get stopped for a speeding ticket. I say “Hello officer. My you look smart in your uniform today. I am glad you are out here doing your job, stopping law breakers and this is the first time ever in my life that I have gone over the speed limit. I don’t know what I was thinking.” I can control myself. As soon as they give me the ticket and they are gone I tell my wife what I think of that bum who doesn’t have anything better to do than give people like me tickets. So we control our tongue. We do it all the time.

They indulge and they count it a pleasure. They get fulfilled. This is what they live for, self-indulgence. They revel in it, in the day time. This pursuit of their pleasures they have somehow explained it away. They are stains and blemishes; reviling in their deceptions as they carouse with you. Stains and blemishes.

What is pictured here and it becomes clear as we finish this verse, they mar the idea the fellowship of believers. For believers to accept these, it doesn’t mean unbelievers aren’t welcome to come and hear the Word in our fellowship but they are not accepted as believers. They are not allowed to promote their false doctrines and teachings that would corrupt the fellowship of believers but among the churches these are stains, blots, blemishes on a fellowship that is to be a fellowship of the saints, not of the self-righteous but of those who are desirous of living their lives as those set apart by God, desirous of being holy as He is holy and when we do stumble then we want to get right with the Lord and right with other believers as we move on. But this is what being accepted, chapter 3, verse 14 when we get here in Peter’s letter he will say “Therefore beloved since you look for these things be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless.” So no, this kind of conduct is not acceptable.

Now we may have unbelievers who come and this is their life style. They are welcome to come hear the Word. We want to invite our friends who are unbelievers but we don’t invite them expecting this is where they are going to be comfortable but perhaps in hearing the Word the Spirit will convict their heart and they will respond. We want to be careful. We don’t want them to feel like they are one of us in the wrong sense. We want to be friendly to them. We want to be welcoming to them. We are glad they are here but they are not one of us and that is not a wrong exclusiveness. The church is an exclusive group. It is made up of those who have been called out by God for Himself to become partakers of His character who are saints. “Unbelievers are spots and blemishes reveling in their deceptions.” They are operating out of deceit.

We have the same basic word ‘revel’ in verse 13. “They revel in the day time and they revel in their deceptions.” The self-indulgence and you see they are being deceptive. So in a way you see there is something of an openness about it but it’s done in a deceptive way. They are operating out of deceit. They are acting like they are one of us and this is what gets confusing sometimes in the church. They are acting, yes I think they are sincere. I can’t tell you the number of times I have been in discussions like this in our own church. I think they are sincere. Well if they are teaching what is contrary to the Word and conducting themselves they can’t be accepted. You know it is a serious matter. “They are reveling in their deception as they carouse with you.” That word ‘carouse’ maybe goes too far. It is like the church is a party place. You know here are all the believers gathered together partying. It says they are feasting with you.

Since 2 Peter 2 is so similar to Jude come over to Jude and look at verse 12. “These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves.” The love feast, what we have observed. Then in Biblical times they had a meal as Christ did with His disciples recorded in John’s Gospel beginning in chapter 13 and at the end of that meal Christ broke the bread and shared the cup. We don’t have the meal anymore but have maintained the cup and the bread like we read in I Corinthians 11. This is a feast evidently that had been going on. When they come together for that fellowship meal culminating in the remembrance of Christ’s death they are just there. Their sin is open. Their corrupt doctrine is well known and yet the church saw it as something about being magnanimous, being able to be open and we hear this now in churches. We would say they have gone liberal. They pride themselves. We are an open church. We are welcome to all peoples. We learn from one another’s beliefs. This becomes the move.

When S. Lewis Johnson was here many years ago (who is now with the Lord) many years a professor at Dallas Seminary he said, “Every church, every Christian school goes liberal.” That is the relentless move. As soon as you stop battling against that move you get carried along and it is just that relentless move of the tide, the river carrying along.

How can this be? Here they are, come to the service and everybody hugs and evidently you have that going on in Corinth mixed in among believers and some believers get caught up in it and they will be disciplined by the Lord and it becomes hard. How do you sort out the believer and the unbeliever when you get to this point? And you can’t see the heart, only the Lord does and sometimes you don’t know which is which but those who persist in this false teaching, false doctrine, godless life, that’s why we have church discipline reflecting the Lord’s discipline. That is not acceptable; it is what is going on.

So when we read back in 2 Peter 2 about their carousing you say “Well we wouldn’t do that” but when you put it together and see that word means feasting and you come and see what Jude further clarifies you get the idea what the issue is. They can come and be involved in the close fellowship of the church and be accepted by part of it. That is a corrupting influence.

Verse 14: “They have eyes.” These are immoral people. “They have eyes full of adultery. They never cease from sin.” They are always looking to satisfy their lusts. All that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life and those who are part of this world system, where does it comes from, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the boastful pride of life. That is not just something out there that comes from the hearts of those who are the people in this fallen world. The rocks don’t have those characteristics. The trees don’t have those characteristics but the people in the world who are part of this world system they have the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes. So they have eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin. That is their characteristic. They never cease from sin. If the unbeliever never does anything righteousness, never does good as Paul unfolds in Romans chapter 3, the means he always sins.

It is hard for us sometimes to keep before us the hopelessness of the lost. I know good people and they are kind and they are thoughtful but at heart they are not good people. I don’t say that to be mean. I appreciate unbelievers who have been a help to me in a variety of ways but it should stir our compassion. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they would come to know the Lord because they are lost and on their way to hell? There “goodness” is not acceptable before the Lord. So we have to be careful that we don’t soften in the wrong way. We don’t want to be mean-spirited toward the unbeliever because we understand we were once just like them but Paul reminded Titus to remind the believers in their attitude toward unbelievers, remember you were once just like them. So we don’t look at them because we see ourselves as better and I don’t want to be around these sinners. They will defile me. No, so we are talking about they are not accepted as part of the fellowship of believers that doesn’t mean that you know we don’t want anything to do with unbelievers.

So we keep things in balance but they “have eyes full of adultery. They never cease from sin.” This is the realm in which they live, sin. They work at enticing unstable souls and the primary focus here is on those who are promoting this false doctrine, this false lifestyle. These are the teachers who come in with an agenda. They are promoting this. They are enticing unstable souls. We take it this is talking about unbelievers who are not well-grounded. You know that is why these things, the trials we go through, the tests, Paul told the Corinthians “there must be divisions among you so that those who pass the test, dokimos, who are approved may become evident.” We grow through that. The pressure refines us. “Count it all joy my brethren when you fall into various trials,” all kinds of testings because this produces endurance. They entice unstable souls.

Now Peter back in chapter 1, verse 12 he says, “I will always be ready to remind you of these things even though you already know them and have been established.” That is basically the same word that we have translated “unstable,” the negative of it. For the most part I am writing to those who have been established in the truth but there are those who are not. And in a little different analogy as Paul did to the Ephesians in chapter 4 he talks about those who are children, like children “tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine;” same kind of picture. We are to be grounded in the Word.

Back in chapter 2, verse 14. “They are enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in greed, they are cursed children.” You get the idea Peter cannot say under the inspiration of the Spirit enough negative things about these false teachers who infiltrate among believers. They are cursed children. It is what we call a hebrewism. That is a way of referring to those who are under God’s curse. They are cursed children. They are people who are under the curse of God. They are on their way to an eternal hell and if they would attempt to come in and corrupt the people of God that is the worst of the worse. They were trying to lure the people of God away from faithfulness. They have corrupted the Gospel. They have corrupted the way we are to live as holy people. They are in it for their own selfish pleasure. They have a heart trained in greed. We get the word ‘gymnasium’ from that. They have been working out so that they are strong in greed. They have been trained in greed. They have been doing their training there so they are able to work it. These are not just innocent confused people. These are people with an agenda, cursed children.

We are going to get an example: “Therefore forsaking the right way they have gone astray.” Now note this. These are people who have been exposed to the right way. The right way is chapter 2, verse 2: “Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth.” The way of the truth is another way to say it, the right way, the way that God would have us walk, conformed to His character and obedience to His Word. They are forsaking the right way. They have gone astray.

These are people who have indicated they are on the track and for a time it seemed like they were believers but their character has become clearer. They will become, by the time we get to the end of the chapter, they are like a “dog that returns to its own vomit.” I am not talking about people in some part of the world who never heard the Gospel and have their own false religion. We are talking about people that at one time seemed to be walking the way of truth. They are on the right road but now it has become clear and evident they are not. They have gone astray. “Having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness.”

Picked this up because they have “hearts trained in greed,” verse 14. They are like that false prophet, Balaam. Come back to Deuteronomy 23 and then we are going to come to Numbers but in Deuteronomy 23, verse 4. This is talking about people that the Jews have to destroy, the Ammonites and Moabites and it is because verse 4 the middle of the verse: “They hired against you Balaam the son of Beor.” This is when Israel had come out of Egypt and they are wandering before they go into the land, “to curse you. Nevertheless, the Lord your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God loves you.”

So you see it was the sovereign act of God. He is going to use this false prophet, come back to Numbers 25 before the book of Deuteronomy, Numbers 25 and we don’t have time to read the whole account obviously. It starts in chapter 23 and what happens, this is a false prophet and the enemies of Israel want to hire him because they believe he has supernatural magical powers to curse the nation Israel so that they can defeat them in battle.

So Balaam goes through his ritual. It starts back in 22 but we are just going to pick up in chapter 23 and verses 7-10 Balaam starts to speak but God takes his mouth and uses it to bring a blessing and so he says, “How can I curse Jacob, I can’t do it.” And on he goes. Down in verse 23 God is using his mouth again. “For there is no omen against Jacob, nor is there any divination against Israel.” I mean he says some wonderful things. Verse 19: “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” You read. We don’t have time to go through these chapters but you can see they are offset, the different speeches, the oracles that Balaam gives and they are all have good theology in them because God took his mouth and used it to give a blessing on Israel even though the desire of his heart was to give a curse. He wanted the money. These kings had promised him wealth, honor if he would bring a curse on Israel but God wouldn’t let him do it.

Hold your finger here and come back to Peter. We have to get the next verse so we can wrap up here. In 2 Peter 2 “He loved the wages of unrighteousness but he received a rebuke for his own transgression. For a mute donkey (now here is an unreasoning animal who cannot speak or reason) speaking with the voice of a man restrained the madness of the prophet” and as you are familiar with the account you can go back and read it, the donkey trying to go forward, God had told him not to go, to curse but Balaam wanted to go. Finally God said, “Alright you want to go? Go.” But he is really going contrary to God’s will. So the angel of the Lord stands there. The donkey sees the angel of the Lord, the spiritually blind prophet doesn’t so he is beating on his donkey and then finally the donkey said to him, “Well why are you beating on me? I have been your donkey, I carried you faithfully for a long time.” Then his eyes were opened and he sees the angel of the Lord. He says, “If it hadn’t been for your donkey I would have killed you.” What is God doing here? “He received a rebuke for his own transgression.” God used an unreasoning animal to speak to this false prophet. So where does it go?

You come back to Numbers chapter 25 and Jude has a little variation on this that helps to fill the detail but Numbers 25: “While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. For they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.” The end result of that, God has to punish Israel. So verse 9 of chapter 25 says, “24,000 people die in the plague God sent.”

You know why Israel went and got involved like that? Balaam couldn’t give a curse so he told the king of Moab, “Here’s what you do. You have your Israelite men attracted and involved with the unbelieving Moabite women and the sacrifices they are involved in and then God will have to punish them and He will kill them for you.” That elaborates that. We will see it when we get into chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation as well.

Isn’t it amazing? Here is a man who has had such an impact where God uses his mouth to speak truth even though it doesn’t come out of his heart, uses his donkey to rebuke him, is confronted by the angel of the Lord which is the pre-incarnate Christ but he still is driven by his greed and he knows how to use immorality to corrupt God’s people and corrupt the worship and he was effective. So 24,000 Israelites die of it but when you get over to chapter 31 of Numbers we won’t go there because we are out of time but we are told that Balaam is killed with the unbelieving Canaanite peoples because that is where he belongs.

So it comes to a picture of the false prophet, godless man but you see how deceptive he could be. It’s not he never said anything that was true but what he said that was true never came out of his heart and it was really like an unreasoning animal. Even his donkey had to rebuke him. That’s the picture of something of the spiritual condition. God would use a donkey to rebuke him but then he is still not done. He is driven by his lust, by his desires, by his greed, by his arrogance that he could oppose God and so could tell people. I know how to have God’s people judged. How you could have victory there. Let God do it. Corrupt the people of Israel. Get them involved in immorality. You have some beautiful women here in Moab, turn them loose and draw them into the worship.”

Nothing like a beautiful woman to get you where you don’t want to be. It doesn’t excuse the man. They are all pursuing their desires and are responsible for their decisions; nothing new under the sun. We are 1500 years before Peter and the devil is still working that way. Here is the example. “There will be false prophets among you just like there were among the Israelites and as a result.” Chapter 2 of I Peter said what? “Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned.”

We want to be careful. We want to examine ourselves. We want to be careful for what is acceptable, not acceptable among God’s people. We have to hold the line. We will be viewed as narrow, fundamentalists, intolerant, unloving, bigoted because the unbelieving world does not understand spiritual reality, spiritual truth but we remain faithful and we can continue to give them the truth so that by God’s grace they might experience the salvation from sin that we have.

Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord for the clarity of Your Word. We are saddened even as we read that something of the history of the early church, the difficulties, the conflicts, the corruption that infiltrated among Your people. Lord we want to be discerning. We want to be committed to You. Lord if we are not careful we become deceived. None of us are above that. We take our eyes off You and Your Word and obedience to You, the devil is quick to get hold of us. We pray that we will be faithful to You, that our lives will honor You, that our church will be a testimony of Your grace and what you have done for us in Christ and we pray in His name, amen.