The Truth of False Teachers
The Truth of False Teachers
2 Peter 2:10b-22
Summer is a time for family vacations. Our family goes to the beach every year. We have gone ten years in a row. This year, I forgot my beach towel. How could I forget my beach towel? I have been going to the beach for ten straight years and, yet, I was still unprepared. When you take a trip, you must prepare for it. As parents we ask our children, “Did you pack your…fill in the blank?” In other words, “Are you prepared?”
The Chrisian life is a journey. We are all traveling to the celestial city. Are you prepared? The Apostle Peter knows he will die soon, and he wants to make sure the church is prepared for the dangers of the journey. He wants to make sure they are prepared for false teachers. His aim is the same as mine this morning. Are you prepared to spot a false teacher? Are you prepared to stand against a false teacher? Are you prepared to save those seduced by a false teacher?
I have been going to the beach every year, yet I was unprepared. We all need reminders. I pray I will help remind you to be prepared for false teachers.
Traits of False Teachers
Peter prepares the early church for the journey by describing false teachers. He wants the church to understand the character of a false teacher. He provides lots of details on these false teachers, and I have grouped them into three buckets.
Lovers of Power -
Peter begins his description,
Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. 2 Peter 2:10b–13a
These false teachers were pronouncing judgments against fallen angels. Peter describes them as bold and willful, having no fear to slander the glorious ones, most likely referring to evil heavenly beings or fallen angels, the same angels he referenced in verse 4. Those angels who did not listen to the Lord but followed their own desires and took women as their wives.
Angels, who are greater in power and might than the false teachers, would not consider slandering these beings, but the false teachers had no fear. They may not have feared them because they didn’t think they existed, or they simply did not think they were a threat. Either way, they wanted to demonstrate their power over them, even though they had none. One of the characteristics of false teachers is that they make great boasts. They claim great knowledge and great power. They boast in what they know and, according to Peter, what they don’t know.
False teachers often try to give themselves more power and authority rather than giving it away. Our congregation has a plurality of elders, so no one man has all authority. It is a shared authority to protect the congregations against those who want to accumulate power for themselves. Most false teachers stand alone on top of their churches and attack anyone who threatens their power.
Watch out for those who love power.
Lovers of Pleasure
Peter continues to identify false teachers by showing their pursuit of pleasure.
But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. 2 Peter 2:12–14
False teachers do not often speak of denial. They are hedonists who believe the pursuit of pleasure is the most important thing in life. They are driven by their passions and desires and not by reason or logic. They are like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, with eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin.
These false teachers look at everyone as a potential mark to satisfy their sexual desires. They lust after them. They are so driven by pleasure that they are never satisfied. The text says they “revel in the daytime”. To “revel” is to enjoy oneself in a loud noisy manner especially with drinking and dancing. They pursue pleasure in broad daylight and notice how Peter points out, ‘while they feast with you.’ This is most likely a reference to the Lord’s Supper. They are living and indulging in sin while they are claiming to be God’s people. I pray that if you came this morning as one who is reveling in sin, you would take great caution as you come to this table. Jesus told His disciples that God’s people are not lovers of pleasure but lovers of God.
If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
What does it profit a man to gain all the pleasure in the world and forfeit his soul? Matthew 16:24–26
Beloved, I believe the love of pleasure and indulgence is one of the greatest dangers in our culture. My fear is that many teachers are paving the way to pleasure by making man the center of the Gospel. They are focusing on the blessings of God rather than on God alone, who is the blessed, and only Sovereign, King of kings and Lord of lords. Too many teachers focus on what God has to offer rather than on God himself. This paves the way for people to think that the Gospel is about them and their needs and their desires rather than about God, His glory and the cross of Jesus Christ. We must be prepared for the overt and covert ways the Gospel is subverted to something other than what God has intended.
Watch out for those who love worldly pleasure.
Lovers of Payment
False teachers love money. As Peter has already said, ‘in their greed they will exploit you with false words.” False teachers love to be paid. Peter compared the false teachers of his day to the ancient false teacher of Israel.
They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! Forsaking the right , they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. 2 Peter 2:14b–16
Peter uses a play on words when describing Balaam, calling him a son of the flesh. Balaam was willing to offer false words so he could pad his pockets. Jesus said to the church at Pergamum in Revelation 2:14,
But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. Revelation 2:14
Balaam did not care for truth; he was only interested in what served him and his comfort. Beloved, the main aim of many teachers is not to care for and protect the sheep but to fleece them for their own gain. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, leading many astray. You cannot be a lover of God and a lover of money. God alone demands our worship.
Watch out for those who love payment for their ministry.
Targets of False Teachers
We need to be able to spot false teachers for ourselves but also for others. We need to watch out for those who love power, pleasure, and money, but we also need to help others watch out for the same thing. False teachers target a certain kind of person. 2 Peter 2:14, “They entice unsteady souls.”
Entice Unsteady Souls
Unsteady souls are those who are not grounded and rooted in the truth, and false teachers use their loud, empty boastings to entice the weak.
These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. 2 Peter 2:17–18
The false teachers were going after those who recently came to the church from the world. False teachers try to sound orthodox so they can seduce people to false teaching. Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons both claim to be Christians while both deny the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Beloved, we have to help new believers grow in faith and sound doctrine. We have to bring people close to us in order to teach them the way of truth, to teach them how to study the Bible, to teach them how to take all teaching and weigh it against the Word of God. False teachers go after unsteady souls because they are easy targets. We have to recognize the unsteady souls in our midst and strive to protect and warn them.
Entice Uncontrolled Souls
Jesus has told us to deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Him. But too many of us have a hard time denying ourselves because we live in a culture that celebrates indulgence.
They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.
2 Peter 2:19
False teachers are slaves to sin. They are controlled by their love of pleasure and money. They base their decisions on what they want rather than what God wants.
Our culture promises freedom but leads to slavery. Our culture is sharing myths about life, note how one pastor describes them:
Every second, our phones tell us, You can become wise if you keep swiping (Myth) and You are the center of the universe (Myth). Hollywood tells us, There is a better story than the one you’re living in (Myth), while seeking to provide an escapist alternative. The myth that happiness is the reason you live, work, and relate and the quickest route is through acquiring more [happiness, and] faster leads us to purchase countless items we don’t need through Amazon now. My congregation is buying into these lies. So are my children. So am I.
Do you know the myths of our culture? The myths of sex, food, and consumerism are all about desire and unbridled pleasure. Older men and older women are both taught to train the young generation in self control. When we lack self control, we are preparing our hearts for the lies of false teachers. False teachers want to entice you with the passions that lie within you. If you do not practice self control, you are preparing your heart to drift from the Lord.
A man without self-control
is like a city broken into and left without walls. Proverbs 25:28
If you do not have self-control, how can you protect yourself against your desires? If you can’t put your phone down for an hour, you may be in danger. If you always go back for seconds during your meals, you may be in danger. If you always stream the next show, you may be in danger. If you don’t deny yourself your small desires, you may be preparing your heart to be enticed by false teachers. False teachers are seeking uncontrolled hearts by enticing them with the promise of freedom from restraint.
The promises of false teachers are empty. They are waterless springs. They promise water that satisfies but only give broken cisterns. Jesus Christ is the only one who can satisfy your deepest longings. Remember the conversation with Jesus and the woman at the well? The woman was trying to satisfy her desires with sexual freedom but was enslaved to sin. Jesus said to her,
Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. John 4:13–14
Jesus is the only one who can provide water so that you will never thirst again. He can offer eternal life because He denied himself and went to the cross to pay for the sins of anyone who would believe in Him.
In the desert, the serpent promised Jesus worship and worldly pleasure. But Jesus denied himself and trusted in the Word of God. He lived in perfect obedience to the Father. He lived a life of denial so that you and I could be free. Jesus lived a perfect life but died a sinner’s death. He was dead and buried. but God raised him from the dead. The promises of Jesus are not empty promises. They are true. He has promised living water that wells up to eternal life. If you turn from your sins and trust in Jesus, you will be saved. If you deny yourself, and follow after Him, He will save you. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Jesus will find it.
Hear how Paul describes the worldly freedom of unhindered pleasure and what it leads to,
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:20–23
Are you a slave to your desires? You are in danger. The freedom the world offers is actually slavery. The only One who can make you free is Jesus Christ. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Truth of False Teachers
Peter wanted to prepare the church for false teachers by reminding them what would happen so they would not follow them. They will have their day.
They will be destroyed
Do not join ranks with false teaching because you will perish with them. Hear what Peter says will happen to these false teachers.
But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. 2 Peter 2:12–13
These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. 2 Peter 2:17
For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 2 Peter 2:20–21
Beloved, do not follow false teachers. They promise freedom, but they are slaves to sin and will face destruction. Do not join the losing team. They look like they are in the lead, but they will lose [like the Falcons].
They will be disclosed
It says they knew the way of righteousness but turned back. Peter says, their nature was never changed for, the true proverb has happened to them, “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow [female pigs], after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.” People will always act according to their nature. These false teachers may have looked the part for a time, but in the end their true natures were disclosed. They were not believers. They were never born again.
Beloved, true believers want to follow God and obey His word. False teachers want you to follow yourself and obey your passions. Who will you follow?
Quick applications:
Be prepared for false teachers. They love power, pleasure, and money. They hate the truth and hate you.
Protect others from false teachers. Sound doctrine is a community project.
Deny yourself. It is good for your soul to hear and heed the word, “No.”
God will destroy false teachers. Do not judge things before their time. They will have their day.
God will save his people. If you lose your life for Jesus, you will find it. Jesus offers living water and eternal life. Drink to the last drop.