The Characteristics of False Teachers

So let's begin with verse 1 of 2 Peter 2, but there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord, who bought them and bring on them swift destruction.

So what preceded this but? That sure is apical today. Well, we taught that last week, right? About God's Word, how it originated. Yeah, let's go ahead and look back at the last three verses of last week's lesson. So, does someone have an open Bible that could read that for us, please? What verse start with? 19 through 21.

So we have the prophetic words made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts, But know this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever made by any act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit that spoke from God. All right, good. Thank you very much. And then the entrance to verse one of chapter two. And by the way, you know, the division of the word by The chapter and verse was probably not well conceived by the people who were writing at that time, but there were also false prophets. To be contrasted with whom?

The true prophets. The true prophets. And how were the true prophets moved? By the Lord. Thank you. All right, so now we're talking about the alternative kind of prophet. And as we move forward through this text, What are the attributes of these false prophets among the people? Now keep in mind Peter was writing mostly to Israelites who were now New Testament believers, but it reached the Gentile audience to some extent too. What are the attributes of these false prophets? They were, it says, they were secretly bringing in destructive heresies.

I mean, they were bringing in, really they were Judaizers. Well, perhaps even further than Judaizers. What's a Judaizer to you, Margaret? Well, it's someone who brings in Jewish law into the Christian faith. And really the topic of the Book of Galatians, is it not? All right, let's go forward.

I think that the question comes up in this verse a little bit as to whether we can equate false teachers with false prophets. Different Greek terms with pseudo before both. Of course, pseudo, we all know, means false. So, pseudo, by Descalus, is a propagator of erroneous Christian doctrine. So these are false teachers, and I think it's important for us to distinguish these false teachers with false prophets. So an example here is what Paul had predicted, and there's many other examples, and we're going to come back to this in a second, in terms of the frequency of the description of false prophets in contrast to false teachers.

But Paul in Acts 20.29 said, For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. So ultimately we're talking about the false teacher as ones who will in fact be part of the flock but maybe ultimately not in fact teaching good doctrine. But the false prophet is one who acting the part of a divinely inspired prophet utters falsehoods under the name of divine prophecies. So can somebody think of an example of that in recent times? I can think of a couple, but one in particular. People remember James Jones? And perhaps everyone doesn't. Someone want to describe him as a false prophet?

Wasn't that how he coerced the people to take that Yeah, that's right, and it was on, I forget, what was the island, I don't recall the island, but it's interesting because the couple that sold our property up here in the foothills to us, the Stones, one of their sons was actually part of that ministry, and the Stones were clearly blood-borne Christians. These were Christ-loving individuals who are now with the Lord. But nevertheless, they recalled the experience of their son and how he was involved in that whole ministry. And he ultimately was able to leave the island before, in fact, the final disaster had ensued. But nevertheless, that's just one example that we can mention whose life it is. I think it was Guyana, the island. I don't know. Well, anyway, we don't need to ponder that here.

Okay, so you know of trivial interest one of these terms false teachers is mentioned or false prophets is mentioned 11 times and the other one just once. Which one do you think is mentioned 11 times and which one once? This is Bible trivia. I would say false teachers are used 11 times. You had a 50% chance and you failed honey. False teachers lead to false prophets. The reason I gave you the prophecy of Paul in terms of what was these wolves and sheep's clothing as a paraphrase of that, is that the false teacher comes up time and time again, but the Greek term is only used once for false teacher, and that's here in 2 Peter 2, verse 1.

But false prophets, and by the way, they surface in Revelation a lot, which you can imagine, but 11 times false prophets is used and once only false teachers. And again, Bible trivia, forgive me. So anyway, as Margaret alluded to, they will secretly bring in destructive or damnable heresies.

So how does this happen? We're talking about false teachers now. Isn't this going on all over in the Christian world? I mean, right now, you know, all these teachers that are not talking about the truth, they're focused on all other kinds of things but the truth.

Is that purposeful? Sure. I think they believe that. I mean, I think many of them, they don't know the truth. Don't they usually lead through people's emotions and feelings rather than the truth? Sure, I think there's a lot of emotion tied up in this type of ministry, if you call it a ministry.

And keep in mind, as we go back to the verse now, but there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers. Remember, these are different categories of individuals. But Peter really, you know, the false prophets, I think, are going to be perhaps more obvious to the body than the false teachers will be. But do you think it secretly brings in destructive heresies that relates to both of these or just one? Well, they're both destructive. Yes, I agree, Roy. I think that's the answer to that question. How does this happen?

It happens very subtly at times. I think the false prophet we can discern more easily because someone to be claiming to be a prophet of God can be easily recognized by what he or she represents, but ultimately the false teacher can be deceptive. Mike, I think you kind of alluded to that, and Margaret said doctrine. I think sometimes this can occur in error, and some people have said, and I don't know what others think about this, Satan does his greatest work within the body of Christ. or at least the perceived body of Christ.

Anyway, let's go ahead. Is the issue even denying the Lord who bought them really done in secret? In other words, are some of these individuals actually part of the church or ultimately are these all people who have denied the fact that they were bought by the Lord and they're denying that, either openly or maybe even subconsciously at times?

I think all Okay. Other thoughts? A lot of commentators use this particular thought to justify limited opponents versus universal opponents. You're absolutely right, Roy. In fact, I kind of drilled down on that a little bit and decided not to spend a lot of time on that. Some people interpret this first about limited atonement, and they're confused by this. It was interesting.

One of the links I hit was a John MacArthur link, and I only could last 30 seconds into that one. I think Roger mentioned to Macaulay that he spent nothing printed on 2 Peter, but I thought maybe I could turn into a lesson of his on 2 Peter and get his perspective on this verse, but I wasn't able to do that. Maybe somebody else has a link to Macaulay teaching on this, but I don't know that it exists. It's on this website, 2 Peter, but it's not in print, only in audio. Yeah, I tried to find you. I unfortunately couldn't find you yesterday. Alright, good. Thanks, Roger. Maybe we'll just cancel the lesson now and I'll come back and teach this next week.

No, no, no. You know, to secretly introduce this means to kind of be brought in alongside. I mean, you know, so, you know, that's kind of interesting because these kinds of individuals who are false teachers can ultimately be pretty subtle in terms of the way they go about teaching this. And by the way, I think we're all here because we want to rightly divide the word of truth. And so false teachers sometimes know that they're maybe harming the body, but other times I think it may be much more subtle. In Margaret's example of a Judaizer, someone keeps the body under law and not only the great principle of grace we all exist with under.

Galatians 2.4 kind of relates to this aspect, and this occurred because a false brethren secretly brought in who came in, interesting, by stealth, that's a biblical term, by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus that they might bring us into bondage. So this is a perfect example of false teaching. that we are to remain under law. And by the way, I would tend to suggest that that's fairly commonplace in many gatherings around the world. All right, let's continue. Jude 4, another example. Boy, Jude is really, I think it's one for my band. There's only one chapter in Jude.

For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. So, you know, again, they crept in unnoticed, but these are ungodly men. And I don't think this means ungodly men from the perspective of just being ungodly in their behavior. I suspect these are individuals who are not biblically saved.

Everybody kind of think that's the way we should interpret this? I think you have to go to Jude to really bring this out in total perspective, but Jude really deals a lot with this concept of false teachers and false prophets within the body, or outside the body. For certain men have got in a note itself. It's a past fact. Okay, alright. So now of note, the same Greek word that is for heresies is used six times in Acts as sect.

I mean, what do you think of that? So what do we think of sex today? We think of it as a group, kind of a group of people who all have the same belief system. Alright, but when you equate that with heresies the interpretation is not favorable, is that correct? No, correct. And it means that it's not just an individual thought process by one or two people. It's a group of people who all have the same belief system, is how I think of it.

Do you think it might be perceived by some believers who come to Holly Hills that we're kind of a self-determined elite group or a sect? My son Ryan says that. I hope not. I remember hearing someone say that they thought we were a cult. Yeah, actually I've had people say that to me.

You know, the problem is that we're teaching God's Word and sometimes that there are so many places that are not teaching God's Word that, I mean it's sad to say this, it's come to that point where God's Word is somewhat foreign, or is foreign to a lot of people. They don't recognize the truth of God's Word when they hear it, even believers.

It's sad. I agree with you, Roger. I think that's true. And the people that have said that to me are people maybe that I've recommended they come because they wanted more meat in the Word. But then when they come, it's sort of like, as you say, foreign to them because they haven't been really hearing the Word and the truth. So they think we have, you know, they think we think we have this corner on on the Bible, you know, and on the truth. Right.

Would it also be that they lost their knowledge of the Lord's salvation? There hasn't been a communion with the Lord. Well, or they've been poorly taught. I like to think many times people are so poorly taught about who Christ is and who they are in Christ that the teaching is very poor in that area. Just not biblical and not consistent.

And when you get off on, you know, you can get confused. Well, Roger, to build on that, I think, you know, the human flesh is comfortable under law. Actually, the law makes us uncomfortable, but living under law makes us feel self-gratified when we're doing right things, right? And that's kind of the human or fleshly element, and I think that's where wrong teaching has really missed the principle of grace we all live under, right? Alright, we're going to come back to that as we proceed here.

Even denying the Lord who bought them, I mean, So, does that imply that maybe some of these people may be believers, or in fact, were they really not saved and they denied the truth of what Christ has done? Well, here's my question, Mike, and you can build on that. Wouldn't this be obvious? And if so, why not? Denying the Lord who bought them, these false teachers within the body. can we recognize these individuals?

Well, if we're well-taught, and we're kind of back to solid teaching, if we're well-taught, they should be. And actually, we've seen it at Holly Hills, where people have come in, this is not recently, but people have come in and they've had certain ideas, wanted to pass out pamphlets. I remember asking the elders if they could pass out pamphlets on their particular thought or teaching. And we looked at the pamphlets and said, no, this is not biblical. Or they get off on tangents and they want to bring forth their tangent. So, good teaching is a preventative for a lot of those, you know, a lot of things that Peter's talking about here. I think you're right, Roger. Yeah. Well, and all you have to do is go in these megachurches and hear what they're teaching.

And it's so watered down and so It makes all those people feel good. They're puffed up because they feel good about themselves hearing all this health and wealth ministry, all kinds of just garbage. And there's not anything there that's true. I mean, they just don't teach anything about the truth.

Also, the fact that if you're under law, you're under guilt and you're more apt to hide from the Lord. Well to continue this theme, whether or not these people are saved or not, John says it well, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming and is now already in the world. And I think, again, as I alluded to earlier, many people feel Satan does his greatest work within the body, teaching wrong doctrine, false teachers who put us under law, and ultimately being under law.

You know, Margaret's favorite verse, I think, is Colossians 2.20, but that's a great one, but 2.21, if the law is by which we're saved, Christ died in vain. I mean, you know, if in fact living under law or our role to become righteous is to live under law, then his death was worthless. Isn't that something?

I mean, so anyway, so some of these people may be, particularly the false prophets are clearly not of the Lord, but some false teachers may be, others may not be. But if you do not admit that Christ died in the flesh to bring us all to our saving experience, than these clearly are unsaved individuals.

Promised among them to bring on themselves swift destruction. Constable says the destruction of these heretics will be swift in the sense that when their judgment descends it will be sudden, not that it was about to descend as Peter wrote. And then Backham goes on to say ironically the false teachers incurred judgment by teaching that there will be no future judgment And thereby leading themselves and others into immorality, false teachers are better known for what they deny than for what they claim. Now that's one view, and I think some people could use, you know, the grace message in its infinite capability, and I'll come back to that in a second, about continuing in sin that grace may abound. So, and we're going to come back to the verse that deals with that in a second. So as we go on now, Peter says, and many will follow their destructive ways. That means many of us will follow their destructive ways. Think of the church today. Because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.

And in a sense, Roger kind of relates to some of the experiences we've had maybe at Holly Hills. And who are these many, and why do they follow the destructive or pernicious ways of the false teachers? We've kind of discussed this a little bit, but you know, pre-associate your thoughts here a little bit too.

Itching ears, I think it says, in some scripture, I think. Mike, I'm not sure I understood that correctly. Having itchy ears. Itchy ears, gossip? Yeah. All right. I'm not, I'm not sure if that could apply, I think. Some other thoughts. Who, who are these many and, and why, I mean, many could be of us that were, you know, many of us may follow the destructive, pernicious ways of these false teachers. Well, because I... Go ahead, Roy, please. I don't know that... I don't like talking against anyone.

Even MacArthur has good teaching in a lot of places, but the teaching about the security of the believer And the nature that we have from Adam is so destructive that it has led to basically a split among those who believe the scriptures even. That's destructive. I mean, that's what those who do not believe, the way of truth will be blasphemed by them. And that's the kind of destruction I believe that's in view here. But also the word there, will follow their destructive ways, means that we're gullible to these things.

If we don't know the word, religion is so attractive to us. If, oh, I can do that, just tell me what to do and I'll do it. That's religion. Everything I've found on earth is designed to kill me. The food, the medications, and show me that I've been crucified with Christ. Right.

Well, I think seeking the truth of the word of God is why we all gather and why we all fellowship together. And not that we have a corner on the truth, but we believe that as we gather together, the seeking truth is a principle of unending grace. And the law is not able to be kept by the old man to please God. So anyway, we all, I think, are seeking the truth of the word of God and how it applies to our lives.

But following destructive ways means ultimately, I think, being led by world system values, kind of the politically correct position on all issues and how the church relates to that, not having Christ live through us to bring that truth of the true gospel applied to the lives of the body. One thing that might help here is that Christ himself said that it's a narrow gate and he knew that he needed to find it. He did. That's clearly a gospel message that continues to be applied today, doesn't it Roy?

So earlier versions used licentiousness here of the scripture, but I think that's a misappropriation. The term is pernicious in the Greek. And when we think of licentiousness, we think of promiscuous and unprincipled people who are in sexual matters. But again, the Greek term is best translated here as it's stated.

It's pernicious, which really means utter destruction. So people who follow these false teachers ultimately have a doctrine that leads them astray and will be utterly destroyed. Now, for the believer, you know, Mike and Roger have been teaching in 1 Corinthians, and we know from 1 Corinthians 3 that all these things that lead to utter destruction are like wood, hay, and stubble. For the believer, when we stand before the Lord Jesus Christ, we will ultimately not be further dealt with for these utter destructive works that we've been part of. But nevertheless, I think this is not related to simply promiscuous and unprincipled life and sexual matters. It really is more related to all forms of the life that really are not bringing glory to God.

Would that be possibly all the diseases that affect the first Adam? Corona virus. Yeah, that long list. Yeah. Well, Paul gives us that long list multiple times, and Peter is also in this first epistle. So anyway, I'm just going to relate back. This is the verse that I thought I was pulling up before when we were discussing, you know, living, because grace is so great, we're going to live a life just filled with sin. And Paul reminds us, what shall we say then because of this great message? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? And what's he say after that?

Yeah, God forbid. So if in fact these false doctrines are interpreted that we, you know, we're now having a life can be filled with the old man in terms of everything he desires. No, that is a misinterpretation and unfortunately is not scripturally sound. Lilly says, no doctrine, however senseless and monstrous, which under the guise of a religious faith ministers to the sensuous appetites of men, and by the way sensuous doesn't necessarily have to be sexual, will ever want followers. In other words, what he's saying, and I think very succinctly, this kind of message that once saved and there's no repeating price on the cross, we can just live a life that's free, of concern about our sin nature. No, no. And that's what Lilly has summarized, I think, in this very nice, succinct phrase.

So what are the consequences of this? These false teachers and having many in the body go after these, either being under law and utter destruction of failing law in terms of keeping it, or ultimately living a life full of sin because of the cross and everything it's done for him or her. What are the consequences of that?

One leads to death, the other to life. Are you talking about physical death or consequential? Both. There's two aspects, I think, that are involved there in the following verses even. One is separation, we use the word death, and the other is fire, which is torment, discipline forever.

All right, so in our day-to-day existence, as we fall short of God's glory, ultimately that's separation in terms of fellowship. Fortunately, we can confess, get back in fellowship, and that doesn't take our sin for granted, that it's inconsequential. It's already been paid for, and it's now realizing the truth of what Christ has accomplished.

But the long-term consequences for this unbeliever who falls within the false prophet or false teacher reign is clearly not only destruction of their acts, but also of themselves and that will follow in terms of what Andrew is going to be teaching in the next couple of weeks. So the way of the truth will be blasphemed according to the scripture and in Jude 1 10 it says, but these speak evil of whatever they do not know and whatever they know naturally like brute beasts and these things they corrupt themselves. So the concept here is this type of teaching and or response to the teaching by those who listen to it ultimately brings additional corruption. This is self-fulfilling ultimately and the truth for what it is will be totally blasphemed by this kind of behavior or faith or lack thereof.

Alright, let's turn to the last verse for today. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words. For a long time their judgment has not been idle and their destruction does not slumber. You know, I had to read that verse about three or four times. Only three or four, Bob? Yeah, well maybe ten or twelve, I don't know. But anyway, let's see if we can unravel this verse. I find it a complicated verse that really is internally maybe a little bit at times inconsistent, but let's look at it in more detail.

By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words. So in the interlinear Greek shall they is maybe better described in terms of exploiting you with the separate words feigned, which is Greek plastos, so feigned words or insincere words that make merchandise out of you. I mean in a sense the literal interpretation is that these words are insincere and they ultimately make merchandise out of you. I'm not sure why the Interlinear Greek List is that. I'm going to ask the group, describe what you think this complicated phrase means, the idea that covetousness will exploit you with deceptive or insincere words.

Aren't you kind of letting greed rule the show, so to speak? Greed is going to exploit you So it seems like your greed is going to do you in. Or your covetousness. The covetousness is for what, Roger? What's that covetousness? Well, that's a good question. One of the things that's mentioned by a good commentator is that these two words, covetousness and pain, words, are related to each other.

We get the word plastic from them. While you're reading the handout. Have any of you ever used the term plastic to describe something somebody said or a behavior that you feel is just really kind of phony and so insincere? I mean I've got like the mirror. A glass that we looked through. It's darkened. So, Roy, what was your comment?

It's like our credit cards. Plastic money. Well, in a sense, but they do have some value behind them, hopefully, when we use them. But they in themselves have no value, right? I mean, I think that's a literal interpretation of something we're used to day in and day out. And they can be twisted, Bob. You know, you can take their plastic, it's flexible. I think that's the context here. Well, my goodness, we can file bankruptcy every seven years, huh? Well, you know, I think even a better interpretation is insincere. or feigned or phony.

We've all been exposed to people who say something that may be very enlightening from a self-righteous perspective, but we don't see any depth to it. Haven't we all experienced that? We see it a lot in the public world. A lot of people who talk a lot speak a lot And can't we wait until Tuesday's over? Well, we see a lot of that right now.

Oh my goodness gracious. All right. There's one good example, Bob, and actually the method that we look at scripture, and what is the predominant method now? It's nomenclerical in Christendom. In other words, I take it this way, you take it that way, both are okay. Right. Rather than literal, this is what it says. Yeah, and that's not what we're about in our Sunday school or in our body. We want to see how the truth of the Word of God applies to our life and plasticity is not what we're looking for in terms of messaging. Okay, good. Well, we're looking for the truth. What's that, Carolyn? We're looking for the truth.

Absolutely. And again, to think that we're a sect or a cult and have the corn on the tree is just absolutely incorrect. I mean, we're seeking truth, and the truth of who we are is everything about the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything about Christ himself. In fact, this came up. We had some Jewish friends up for dinner the other night, and they're conservative Jews, and they respect our faith, and we were discussing this in terms of the Catholic Church and you know, the body of Christ that is described, and the Catholic Church may have people in it that believe and everything, but you know, just the idea of ultimately that Christianity is one person. It's Christ. And everything else that's attempted to be tucked in beyond him is really Not all plastic, but much of it really is. So anyway, we'll leave it at that.

So for a long time is maybe better translated, now is from old, which is kind of an interesting different twist on that. Now is from old, their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. What do you think about that, the fact that their judgment has not been idle? Do we argue that God's planned, this is, you know, He's planned their destruction in a sense? Okay. And so I think that's right, Roger.

So let's distinguish your judgment from destruction too. So judgment's condemnatory and it's a sentence and it reflects penal judgment. In other words, that's the literal interpretation of this Greek term. But destruction is utter destruction. So when we're looking at their judgment has not been idle, I think they're probably within this group of false teachers and false prophets judgment that has been ongoing. It's something that has related to some sort of condemnation, maybe temporal, but also potentially eternal. But the destruction is ultimately the waste of everything that this type of doctrine and teaching represents.

To whom is this behavior directed? To the false prophets, teachers. Right. So I think in context that's a very simple straightforward answer. And I think it's perhaps related to maybe a broader audience for some of us, Mike, who in fact are swung under this type of false teaching and false doctrine. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. So I think, keep in mind, people who are less truth-seeking and really be swayed by these kinds of false teachers may be more simplistic in their lack of understanding of the truth of the Word of God. Would that be these simple-minded people?

Well, it could relate to that or a simple understanding of the truth of the word of God. So we're going to end here in the next couple of minutes, Roger, but let's compare this with the judgment of the Lord. So the Lord's not slack concerning his promise as some count slackness, but as long suffering towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And that those will be, uh, that's a section of second Peter that will be forthcoming in the next couple of months.

Do you think that the danger of false teaching is greater in our day than it has ever been today? Do you think it's greater now or was it greater in Peter's time? I think it's progressed. Well, what's interesting in our day, we're able to see so much, our view of the world is so complete with the internet and other things, we can see all these things going on that in past times they might be hidden from people because they don't have access to what they're saying. But we have access almost every second to what any person says in the world. I mean, it's just amazing. And not a good thing, I don't think. No, I think you're right, Roger.

You could say that during the early church period there were many Judaizers and perhaps other people with really other doctrines that were really not anything but poor understanding or poor judgment, but then there's the false prophet to really teaching other things, and I think today it's maybe a little bit more subtle, but it's certainly more prevalent. And if so, where do we find false teachers today? Mainly in our churches. Okay. Sad to say. We're at their homes counting money. So here's the final challenge to us as believers. How do we spot false teachers by their form of godliness? And are we capable of doing this? all the time, or in fact, are we sometimes just judgmental? How do we spot false teachers?

By knowing the word. Amen. And by comparing what they say with the word. Be Bereans. As Paul came across in Acts there, the Bereans, they search the scriptures. And we should be that among ourselves and with anybody outside our body, too. And you know that's the problem is that most people who say they're believers and maybe they are because it doesn't you don't have to know a lot to be a believer. All you have to do is believe Christ is who he said and that he died on the cross for our sins. But, you know, most people don't have a clue what the word says because they're not in the word. They're just going to church and listening to whatever is being taught and they're not really doing their own Bible studies.

It's all about the warm fuzzies as Mike would say. All right, well we're going to close now. I'm going to ask Andrew to do two things. I'm going to ask him to give us a just a glimpse of what he's going to cover next week and also to close us in prayer. Andrew, thank you.

Well, we're going to find out what you asked before what the consequences were of all this from one to four, and that's what we're going to cover. I mean, Peter really goes into specific consequences for this false teaching of false prophets. And yeah, it's been planned since the beginning by God, this punishment. So we're going to look at that. And I'll close in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time in your word of second Peter. And just knowing that you are not slumbering as far as punishing false teachers and false doctrines and people who Deny the name of Christ and his work on the cross and we thank you for this study and just name Amen