Almost 20 years ago I put on the TV while I was getting ready for church. As I watched, a gentleman was explaining what the Bible said would be taking place in the end times. As I watched I was drawn by the teaching ability of this individual discussing truths I was familiar with from the Scripture. However, as he closed his message he mentioned Jesus in a way that put a question in my mind as to whether this person understood who Jesus really was. Only at the end of the presentation it was shown that Herbert Armstrong’s Worldwide Church of God put out this material. I didn’t know what they believed then but as I researched it I found that this cult taught that Jesus became man by completely giving up his Godhood and then later took it up again after his resurrection. This contradicts the truth that Jesus was both fully man and fully God.. And that though He submitted Himself to the will of the Father He never divested Himself of His deity.
This morning Peter discusses the treachery of false teachers. As we discussed previously Peter has laid the foundation for the truth of the Gospel before he begins to speak about false teachers. This whole chapter is dedicated to warning against false teachers and we will look at what Peter has to say about them over the next few weeks.
The key idea of this passage is that the pernicious ways of false teachers are evident to the cautious believer. The presence of false teachers should not alarm us but should cause us to recognize the truthfulness of Scripture (that has foretold this) and the coming reprisal against these individuals.
I. The Characteristics of False Teachers
The first truth that Peter describes in this passage is the characteristics of false teachers. In verses 1-3 he notes four of their characteristics.
A. They Produce Divisions
The first characteristic of false teachers is that they produce divisions. Peter notes this in verse 1. There he says, “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies.” One Bible dictionary describes this word “heresies” as a division brought about by personally motivated disputes. That is these false teachers seek to use their personal differences between themselves and the leadership to cause division in the church. It is personally motivated because they are seeking to exert some kind of authority over people by bringing up perceived deficiencies in the church leadership. How does Peter say they go about this? He lists two qualities of these divisions that false teachers create.
1. Secret
The first quality he mentions about these divisions is that they are secret. Peter says these false teachers secretly introduce them. A false teacher doesn’t immediately spring into the middle of a group of people and begin to spout his or her complaints against the pastor or other church leaders. But they look for someone with whom they can share their load. And as they find an audience for their divisive talk they build their faction.
Eventually they come to a point where they think they have a large enough following to go public with this and lead people off into their side to do whatever they want (get a new doctrine endorsed by the church, oust the pastor, etc.).
There is an example of this in the book of Numbers. As Moses was leading the nation of Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised Land, the people began to have doubts about going into the Promised Land because they saw the people they would have to fight would be very tough. They lost faith that God was going to take care of them. And because of this God told them that they would die in the desert, as they spent the next 40 years there and their children would then enter the Promised Land. Some people thought that this was the last straw. They weren’t going to stay in the desert and would go back to Egypt. They thought that Moses was being too dictatorial and he should cut them some slack. And in Numbers 16 a group of about 250 leaders in the nation, a man named Korah being at their head, and said, “Why do you exalt yourself above this assembly of the Lord?” He took his group and approached Moses to oust him from leadership.
Now there are a couple of important details we must see in this event. First, it was the Lord who exalted Moses as leader of that group. Moses didn’t take on the assignment. He initially fought the assignment. But God was the one who used Moses to bring the plagues on Egypt and to part the Red Sea and to give the Israelites water and food in the desert. God had exalted Moses. He wasn’t self-appointed. Second, notice the number of those who were causing trouble. 250. The total population of the whole group was probably between 1.5-2.5 million people. But it took just a few to challenge his leadership. And the charge that they were bringing against Moses was a charge that wasn’t true. It was a charge that wouldn’t hold. But this is what took place. Korah secretly introduced his divisive intentions and when he thought he had enough people he went public. But all the while Korah secretly planned and plotted until the right time.
I think this is instructive for us in that we need to make sure we leave no room for this to take place in the church. When someone seeks to plant dissention in your mind against someone you need to crush it immediately. When they ask, “Do you think the pastor is right in doing that?” or “Why is it that the deacons always do that?” you need to say, “Have you spoken with them about this?” or “Would you mind that I told John you had a question about his action?” Often Satan’s attempts to divide our church are so subtle that we miss just what is going on. If you notice that someone has a difficulty with me or a teacher or another person in the church you tell them that they need to speak to that person and no one else so that you don’t become party to a secretly introduced heresy.
When I was in seminary one of my professors mentioned an incident that had happened in his church. It was a rather large church and one of the Sunday school teachers was upset at a decision the pastor had made. So this teacher told the Sunday school class that they would not give their offering into the church offering but would put it all toward the Sunday school offering for only their projects. This teacher led the class into division by this example. It started out secretly and then affected the whole church.
2. Destructive
The second quality Peter mentions about these divisions is that they are destructive. “They secretly introduce destructive heresies.” The importance of this is the result that ensues from such a situation. Destruction. When false teachers come into a church there can be a great deal of destruction that takes place. People may be hurt and people may leave. I think the Scripture places much emphasis upon unity in the local church because Satan is constantly seeking to minimize its effectiveness through division. There is great destruction that can take place within the church because of the division brought about by these false teachers.
B. They Put Out False Doctrine
The second characteristic of false teachers is that they put out false doctrine. This is what Peter details next. He says that they “even deny the Master who bought them.” I think what Paul says in 2 Cor. 11 is instructive for us. In verses 13-15 he notes, “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. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.” And earlier in the chapter he says that Satan sought to lead people away from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Much false teaching often centers around the person of Christ. False teachers will say many right things. But they will have the central teaching about Christ all mixed up. This is what Peter is saying when he declares that they are denying the Lord who bought them. They don’t understand the simplicity that is found in the Gospel and they miss the true identity of Christ, who is the Lord who bought them.
What they misunderstand is that Christ is the One who has paid the debt for their sins but they will deny this. They will fabricate some fantastic plan in which man must do the work of salvation that Christ has already completed. They will formulate a list of traditions that must be accomplished for a person to earn their salvation when salvation has already been purchased for them.
False teachers put out false doctrines. Remember that if someone is teaching something that isn’t clearly taught in the Scripture beware of the false teacher.
C. They Promote the Flesh
The third characteristic of false teachers is they promote the flesh. In verse 2 Peter says, “Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned.” These people lead others into the indulgence of the physical appetites. Perhaps sexual immorality is mostly in view here but other appeals to the flesh and its comfort cannot be ruled out.
These teachers are indulging the flesh and are probably those that Paul describes in 2 Timothy 4 when he says that people will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires. They won’t want to hear the Word of the Lord but people who are saying things they want to hear.
In this church, as we proclaim the Word of God, we may offend some people. I do not intend to offend anyone because I am being personally offensive but I must not tailor the message to the desires of the people. The truth will offend. And we must understand and expect that. I will not apologize for what God says in His Word. You wouldn’t go to a doctor who would refuse to tell you the truth because it might offend you or hurt you? How you can get cured unless you hear the truth? And you don’t go to a doctor and tell him what he can say to you do you? “Now doctor, you may not tell me that I have cancer.” But do you know that there are people who tell their pastor (I haven’t experienced it here), “Don’t preach against lying; don’t preach against sexual sins; don’t preach on giving.”
Now some people offend others because of the way they present the message. We must all be careful that we adorn the Good News of the Gospel with as much beauty as it deserves so that when others will not listen we will know that it wasn’t because we were offensive but it was the heart of the hearer that refused to listen.
Paul had said that the time will come they accumulate teachers. They won’t be content with just one person telling them that it is OK to indulge the flesh but they will want many. The reason is that most people still have a conscience. The conscience troubles them when they do wrong. And it takes many voices to silence the conscience God has given us. So they will accumulate teachers to tell them what they want to hear.
1. They are popular
Peter makes two observations about the fact that these false teachers promote the flesh. The first observation that he makes is they are popular. The verse says, “Many will follow their sensuality.” The way of the flesh has always been a popular one. Any time that someone promises everything this world has to offer and includes with it the promise of heaven too then people by the cartloads are willing to jump onboard. These people miss the true Gospel that promises heaven to those who will trust in Christ with repentance. It is in recognizing Scripture like Hebrews 12:14 which says we are to “pursue holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” Or 1 Peter 4:2 that we must “Live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men but for the will of God.”
This way that calls for no repentance and no putting off of our sinful nature is not real Christianity. These false teachers identify anything that calls for putting away sinful desires, “legalism.” It is because they mistake the free grace of God with a license to sin. Watch what you want, listen to what you want, do what you want is what these people bring to the table as their practical theology. And this is very popular with people. They think can keep their worldly desires and be Christians.
And this brings us to the next observation. The second observation Peter makes of these false teachers who promote the flesh is that they profane true Christianity.
2. They profane true Christianity
At the end of verse 2 Peter says, “because of them the way of the truth will be maligned.” You see people find that hypocritical Christianity is a convenient excuse for not giving their lives to Christ. I can remember back in 1987 when the Jim Baker PTL scandal exploded. If you remember the Bakers and others were exposed as having been involved with taking millions of dollars from people giving to that ministry. At that time I had recently become a Christian and our college group used our spring break to do some outreach work to help a small church in Savannah, Georgia. While I was passing out Gospel tracts to people one gentleman said, “What about Jimmy Baker?” as if that would excuse him from believing in Christ. I assured him that when he would stand before God, God would not ask him about what Jim Baker did but only about what he did with Jesus Christ.
False teachers profane true Christianity because they make a mockery of it. People see what they are doing and are turned off from Christianity because they don’t know any better. They broad brush Christianity together, true and false, and they don’t want anything to do with it. It then takes much work and patience on the part of someone else to bring that person to recognize that there really is a difference between false Christianity and real Christianity. There is a difference between Christianity that makes a mockery of God and Christianity that is vibrant and produces real change in the life of a person. I recently was visiting someone in the hospital and asked the nurse who came in if she was going to go to church on Easter Sunday. She replied that she had not gone to church for a real long time because she had a real bad taste in her mouth from religion. She had gone to a religious school in childhood and one of the teachers had put her in a closet when she had done something wrong and said, “This is what hell is like.” She said that she didn’t want to know an angry God like that. I said, “Oh I am so sorry that that woman gave you a bad example of who God is. Let me tell you that God so loved you that He gave His only Son so that whoever would believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Then I said, “God doesn’t want to throw us in the closet. He doesn’t take pleasure in sending us to hell. Jesus went into the closet for us. He took our sin on the cross.”
I happened to see her again this week on my visit. And on my way out I went up to her and said, “Remember Jesus went into the closet for you.” She smiled and thanked me. You see some false teacher caused the way of the truth to be maligned in her eyes.
And false teachers will profane true Christianity and this will cause people to malign the true way of Christ.
D. They Seek to Profit Financially
The final characteristic of false teachers is that they seek to profit financially. Peter notes in verse 3, “In their greed they will exploit you with false words.” These people are also doing what they are doing for money. Their greed drives them to dupe people into lining their pockets with money. Even the word, “exploit” that Peter uses can also be translated “to carry out business.” These individuals are not in this to serve but to get rich from their “ministry.” Paul says in 1 Tim. 6 that there are people of depraved mind and depraved of the truth who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.”
These people abound on TV. I’m sure that you know of some of them. Do you remember when Oral Roberts said that God told him if the people on TV didn’t give him 7 million dollars God would kill him. He didn’t make the 7 million and of course Roberts didn’t die. But I’m sure that there were some people wishing for it. Any way you have to be suspect of someone who claims to have a healing ministry and spends millions of dollars to build a hospital.
These false teachers are seeking to exploit people by making an appeal to their heart to give. They are bilking people out of their life savings while they themselves are living like kings.
And their teaching shows the depravity of their thinking. I think it was Fred Price who said that Jesus drove a Rolls Royce and so should you. These hucksters say that if you are not rich it is because you don’t believe God’s promise that you should be rich. And if you only give them a thousand dollars they promise that God will give back to you thousand times that. This is foolishness and you need to stay away from the diabolical fiends who declare this nonsense.
II. The Certainty about False Teachers
Now lest you get discouraged at what Peter is saying about these false teachers that abound look next at the certainty of false teachers. There are two truths to keep in mind concerning these false teachers that have cropped up in our midst.
A. There have always been religious imposters
The first truth of which Peter reminds us so that we don’t lose heart is there have always been religious imposters.
There is a tendency in the human spirit to think that today is different from yesterday. That somehow yesterday was a better and more quiet time and that those who came before us didn’t experience what we have experienced. Yet Peter says, “There were false prophets among the people.” We can see this that, as we looked at earlier, there were false prophets among Moses’ group. There were those who were seeking to usurp his authority. There were false prophets among the ministry of the other prophets such as Isaiah and Jeremiah. And in 2 Chronicles 18 only Micaiah was the true prophet out of 400. These true prophets had to contend with them. The apostles saw false prophets arise in their midst. There was Diotrephes who fought with the Apostle John, there were others that Paul called false apostles. They too wrestled with individuals who sought to disrupt the work of the church.
And what do we see? The false prophets were popular, they promoted sensual worship, they stole power, divided the people and they were thieves. Don’t get discouraged as if you are going to get overrun because, as we are going to see next week, God knows how to rescue to righteous out from the midst of these people. Don’t worry God will direct you who are His children by His Word.
B. They will receive their proper judgment
And the second truth of which Peter reminds us so that we don’t lose heart is that they will receive their proper judgment. At the end of verse 3, Peter declares, “Their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”
These false teachers will not get away with anything. They will reap their reward for those whom they have cheated, those whom they have seduced, those to whom they have lied, and those whom they have slandered in order to divide God’s people. Remember God says, “Vengeance is mine says the Lord.” God will certainly right all wrongs. If not during this time on earth then in the judgment.
Here is crux of the matter. How can we be assured that these false teachers will not ultimately deceive us? There are two things that we need. First, you must be born again. If you have never been born into God’s family then you are open to all kinds of deception in the spiritual realm. But the apostle John in his letter says to every believer that the Holy Spirit’s anointing upon us teaches us the truth and in this we can have assurance.
But where do we find the truth? We seek it in the Word of God. The believers in Berea checked everything the Apostle Paul said to see if it was so and we too must do this very thing. You must look into everything everyone says to you as to how it relates to the truth of the Scripture. You must not even take my word for it but you must compare what I say with the Scripture. And if it doesn’t seem right then speak to me about it. We ought to have a love for the truth and a love for hard questions. And we ought to be able to discuss the truths we hold so dear not with malicious tempers in mean-spiritedness (because we can’t back what we say with Scripture) but in kindness and love getting to the heart of the issues and discerning what are the important issues and getting them right.
So to avoid being led the wrong way by false teachers you must be reading the Scripture and filling your mind and heart with it and when someone puts forth error God’s Spirit will warn you of it through the Word of God.