We need to be reminded of the danger of false teachers...

At the church where I serve we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled reminder. During this series, we are spending the month of November looking at a letter that was written by the Apostle Peter and has been preserved and recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of 2 Peter. As we go through this series, our hope and our prayer is that God would move by the power of the Holy Spirit in our heads, hearts, and minds to remind us of several timeless truths about Jesus and the message and teachings of Jesus that we are to always have at the forefront of our lives in a way that results in us living out those truths so as to reveal and reflect Jesus to those around us.

This week, I would like for us to spend our time together picking up where we left off last week. And as we jump into this next section of this letter that has been preserved and recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of 2 Peter, we will see the Apostle Peter remind us of another timeless truth about Jesus and the message and teachings of Jesus that we are to always have at the forefront of our lives in a way that results in us living out those truths so as to reveal and reflect Jesus to those around us. So let’s discover that timeless reminder together, beginning in 2 Peter 2:1-3a:

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. ² Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; ³ and in their greed they will exploit you with false words;

Now to understand what Peter is communicating here in these verses, we first need to remember what Peter stated last week. Last week, we looked on as Peter explained that the writers of the New Testament were not applying the predictions and promises of the Messiah from the message and teaching of the Old Testament to Jesus by their own desire and direction. Instead, Peter explained that these letters were the result of “men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”  Peter’s point here is that what was being communicated by those who were writing these letters was the result of the Spirit of God moving and motivating them to direct their energy and efforts to speak for God through the writing of the letters that we know today as the New Testament of the Bible.

With that in mind, Peter then begins this section of his letter by explaining that during the time in which the writers who communicated the message and teachings of the Old Testament lived, there were also false prophets who attempted to influence people away from the true message and teachings of God and toward their false message and teachings. And just as it was in the times of the Old Testament, Peter explained that unlike the writers who were communicating what we know today as the letters that make up the New Testament, there were false prophets who were also attempting to influence people away from the true message and teachings of Jesus and toward their false message and teachings.

Peter then explained that, just as it was in the times in which the Old Testament was written, these false prophets will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Now when Peter uses the word heresies, this word refers to teachings that were contrary to the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel. And as part of their false teaching, these false teachers denied the master who bought them.

Peter’s point here is that this false teaching disowned Jesus and denied that Jesus had provided the opportunity for people to experience the forgiveness of their sin and the relationship with God that they were created for through His life, death, and resurrection. And as a result of denying and disowning the claims of Jesus and the message and teachings of Jesus, these false teachers were bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 

However, even though these false teachers were bringing swift destruction upon themselves, Peter revealed the influence and impact of their false teaching in verse two. Apparently, these false teachers were proclaiming a message that Peter referred to as sensuality. The word sensuality, in the language that this letter was originally written in, refers to a lack of self-constraint which involves one in conduct that violates all bounds of what is socially acceptable.

In other words, these false teachers were advocating for what is referred to in church mumbo jumbo talk as licentiousness. Simply put, licentiousness, or a life of license, maintains that we can do whatever we want and still be right with God. We can lie, cheat, steal, sleep around and have friends with benefits, because at the end of the day, God will still accept us. And as these false teachers promoted their message of license, many responded by following that message. Peter then explained that, as a result of these false teachers and those who followed their false teaching, the way to the truth will be maligned. In other words, the message and teaching of Jesus were being demeaned and defamed by those who instead embraced these false teachers and their false message of license.

Peter then exposed the true motives behind these false teachers in the first part of verse 3. You see, as these false teachers traveled around proclaiming their false message of license, they often charged a fee to those who came to hear their message. As a result, these false teachers were becoming wealthy. Peter’s point is that these false teachers were motivated by greed, which is a desire to have more than one’s due, which led them to misrepresent the message and teachings of Jesus and to fabricate false teaching that would result in them becoming rich.

And it is here that we see Peter provide for us a timeless warning that reveals for us a timeless reminder about Jesus and the message and teachings of Jesus that we are to always have at the forefront of our lives. And that timeless reminder is this: We need to be reminded of the danger of false teachers. Just as it was for these early followers of Jesus; just as it has been for followers of Jesus throughout history, we need to be reminded of the danger of false teachers. And in 2 Peter 2:1-22, we see Peter reveal for us four different dangers of false teachers that followers of Jesus need to be reminded of.

First, in 2 Peter 2:1-3, we see Peter reveal for us the reality that the danger of false teachers is demonstrated in their influence among people. The timeless reality is that false teachers will attempt to exert influence both inside and outside the church. And the timeless reality is that false teachers will introduce false teaching that will destroy lives. False teachers will introduce their false teaching with malicious secrecy. Their false teaching denies the message of the gospel. Their false teaching will bring destruction upon themselves.

In addition, the timeless reality is that false teachers will introduce false teaching that many will accept as authoritative. Many accept as authoritative their false teaching because their false teaching often embraces a lifestyle of license that produces pleasure for those who embrace its teaching. And as a result, their false teaching often results in the message of the gospel being demeaned and defamed. In addition, false teaching will misrepresent the message of the gospel for the financial gain of its teachers.

Tomorrow, we will see Peter reveal a second danger of false teachers that followers of Jesus need to be reminded of…