Five Reasons for the Condemnation of False Teachers (Part 2)

[0:00] We know we've been studying for some time that there are men and women in pulpits today who engage in spiritual deception.

[0:27] their condemnation has already been settled in heaven. It's just a matter of time. Their condemnation is deserved.

[0:43] When we closed last time, I read five reasons that I stole from John MacArthur on why that condemnation is deserved. That's where we're going to begin this evening.

[0:56] And we're going to mention their presumption as false teachers. 2 Peter 2, 2-10-13.

[1:09] Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they blaspheme glorious ones. Whereas angels who are greater in strength and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.

[1:30] But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct, to be captured and killed, blaspheming where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, suffering unrighteousness as the wages of their unrighteousness, considering it a pleasure to revel in the daytime.

[2:02] They are stains and blemishes reveling in their deceptions as they feast with you. Now everyone in here knows that Satan used to be called Lucifer.

[2:20] He was living in heaven with other angels, and especially in the presence of the triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

[2:31] We also know that Lucifer rebelled against and sought to change the established order, even declaring that one day he was going to be above the Most High God.

[2:51] What would cause an angel, a created being, to rebel against God?

[3:04] Well, the short answer in Lucifer's case was pride. And we all know that pride cometh before what? A fall.

[3:16] Here is God's description of Lucifer found in Ezekiel chapter 28, verse 17, God is speaking, your heart was lofty because of your beauty.

[3:33] You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. The ground talked about there is the earth.

[3:47] He got booted out of heaven to earth. I put you before kings that they may see you. Well, there we have the ugliness of pride put on display before the face of God.

[4:07] Now, I don't personally make it a practice of watching the false teachers in our day. It would be easy to do.

[4:18] There's a lot of them. But if I catch a fleeting glimpse of Kenneth Copeland or Benny Hinn or Rodney Howard Brown or Jesse Duplantis or Joel Osteen, and we shouldn't leave out his wife either in that definition, and of course there's a host of others, the one thing that comes through is outrageous pride.

[4:49] And pride comes before a fall. Our passage also describes these men and demons that are behind them, always there in the shadows, as daring and self-willed.

[5:09] Another word for daring is reckless ones. It is as if there is a competition going on. One mark of a false teacher is their fake condemnation of Satan and demons.

[5:30] False teachers want to have their own way. Self-will denotes that they are conceited and defy God in exalting themselves.

[5:44] Peter points out that not even God's holy angels bring any type of reviling judgment against Satan and demons.

[5:55] Even though these holy angels are greater in strength and greater in power than demons and false teachers. That reminds me of Jude, verse 9, which says the following, But Michael, the archangel, when he, disputing with the devil, was arguing about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke you.

[6:33] That's how Michael, the archangel, took care of it. He left him in the hands of the Lord. Michael, the highest ranking holy angel, knew who was more powerful than all the creatures combined.

[6:52] And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Michael was most wise to allow the Lord Jesus to fight this battle with Satan over the dispute concerning the body of Moses.

[7:08] Now there's a great lesson there for all of us. people think they've been called to contend with devils or demons.

[7:19] You say it all the time in extreme charismatic circles. Let Jesus fight that battle. Give that to Him. I think the greatest hymn ever penned by mortal man was a mighty fortress is our God written by Martin Luther.

[7:40] I love every line. But for our purposes tonight, the third stanza stands out. And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us.

[8:07] The prince of darkness grim we tremble not for Him. His rage we can't endure. For lo, His doom is sure.

[8:21] I love this last sentence. One little word shall fell him. It could be like a giant oak or redwood tree coming down.

[8:31] That little word that will fail Satan will not come from us, will not come from holy angels.

[8:46] It will come from the Lord Jesus Himself. Back to Peter. when false teachers blaspheme God and attack God's holy angels, they are behaving like unreasoning animals.

[9:08] And as such, animals react to a stimuli. They react. God has pre-programmed animals in their genetic code.

[9:24] In that regard, they are not rational. They are not there saying, well, I think I'll do this today and tomorrow I'm going to do this. They're pre-programmed. They are creatures of instinct.

[9:40] False teachers behave like spiritual pretenders. false teachers. They present themselves as teachers sent from God. But nothing could be further from the truth.

[9:57] Now how can we identify these guys as being false teachers? That would be good to know. So how do we identify them?

[10:08] By what they say. We take what they say and compare it to the truth of God contained in Scripture.

[10:20] And if it's wrong and erroneous, they're false. It's real simple. And where are these guys going to end up? Well, they're going to end up in the lake of fire.

[10:34] That possibility doesn't excite me, by the way. Why? That is the place where they must endure the fury of God for intentionally distorting the Word of God.

[10:50] That is what happens to false teachers who act presumptuously. And second, we have the practice of false teachers.

[11:00] second part of 2 Peter chapter 2, second part of verse 13 to 14, they consider it a pleasure to revel in the daytime.

[11:14] That's an interesting thought. And then the Holy Spirit says, they are stains and blemishes reveling in their deceptions as they feast with you having eyes full of adultery and unceasing sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed.

[11:42] They are accursed children. Now the Apostle Paul gives us very wise counsel. You can get this in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 beginning in verse 5.

[11:56] And Paul says this, we are not of the night nor of darkness. So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be awake and sober.

[12:12] For those who sleep, sleep at night. And those who get drunk, get drunk at night. There were men in more modern times, but also some in very ancient times that wrote extensively about the Roman Empire.

[12:36] One such was Edward Gibbon. He published six-volume work on the history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.

[12:47] This was published between 1776 and 1788. Interesting, part of the history of the Roman Empire had to do with the debauchery of pagan Rome.

[13:04] And it was. Of course, look at all the Caesars they had that were that way. Historians reported that Roman society was tolerant of all kinds of aberrant conduct as long as it was done under the cover of darkness.

[13:28] They didn't want people to see it. Conversely, such conduct was disapproved if it went on during the daylight hours where it could be observed and condemned.

[13:42] And Peter reports in his inspired words that false teachers considered it a pleasure to revel in daytime. This was true in Peter's day.

[13:57] It's true today. Many of us here recall several years ago the rise and fall of Jimmy Swaggart. He was a prominent Pentecostal preacher.

[14:11] He was caught publicly convorting with a prostitute. Well, his denomination didn't like that.

[14:23] He was, in those days, part of the Assembly of God. And they disciplined him. And he thought the discipline was too harsh. They suspended him for three months from the pulpit.

[14:37] I remember Dr. McCarland said, that sounds like a vacation. You know, but they suspended him for three months. He thought that was much too harsh for a man of his stature.

[14:48] So he resigned and went out on his own. Well, he survived, but his $150 million empire basically did not.

[15:01] Parts of that started shutting down. In Peter's day, he referred to these practices as stains and blemishes.

[15:12] the false teachers openly rebelled within the church by reveling in their deceptions. Now, false teachers have long participated in the fruit of sin.

[15:29] Much of this conduct was done in public. False teachers openly promoted wicked lifestyles in the lives of those who were under their teaching.

[15:39] Peter tells us that such men were in open rebellion by promoting wickedness in the lives of their followers. There is a shift in public carousing to the promotion of a lifestyle that involved private matters and private thoughts.

[15:59] Peter said that false teachers had eyes full of adultery. These men were spiritual frauds and lacked any morality or spiritual control.

[16:13] That's a terrible indictment for that age and it goes on today. Peter gave his most dinging indictment by referring to these men as the cursed children.

[16:27] In his commentary on 2 Peter, Dr. MacArthur refers to false teachers and false prophets many times.

[16:39] I remember one thing that happened years ago, many years ago. John MacArthur sitting in his office, the secretary came in and said there's a young pastor on the phone who would like to talk to you.

[16:52] John agreed. He didn't know him. He got on the phone and he said, Dr. MacArthur, I'm in town. Would it be possible for me to come by sometime and visit you for about 30 minutes?

[17:05] He said, are you free this afternoon around 2 o'clock? He said, yes sir. He said, come on by. So the guy went in. He was a real young guy in his first pastorate in another state.

[17:20] And he said, I was caught in a relationship with my secretary and I have been put out of my church.

[17:32] My wife moved back home to live with her parents until we sort out what we're going to do. And to say the least, she's not very happy.

[17:45] And he said, my question for you, I was immediately dismissed in my first pulpit ministry. And he said, I've got to figure out what I'm going to do and I have a question that I know you'll be honest with me.

[18:01] Do you think I can ever preach again? That was his question for Dr. MacArthur. And John said, I think you get one shot at that.

[18:15] And if you ever violate your ministry, it's pretty much over for you. He said, you've got to understand something. I tell young pastors this all the time.

[18:26] Not me, John. He said, we all hang by a very thin thread. And if that thread is snapped, it's over.

[18:38] Well, this young pastor, he was just crushed. And he said, but Dr. MacArthur, nobody knows who I am. And John said, but God knows who you are.

[18:54] And he said, it's not a question of forgiveness. It's not even a question of having a role in the church. But the pulpit ministry is a whole different thing. Because what do men and women see when you ascend and stand in that pulpit?

[19:13] they see Jesus Christ. And that's why it's so monumentally devastating for churches to have to go through that.

[19:25] And I never heard whatever happened to him. I assume he took it to heart and left. The third thing about false teachers, John called this the premium of false teachers.

[19:38] 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 15 and 16, forsaking the right way they've gone astray. Having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but he received a rebuke for his own lawlessness, for a mute donkey speaking out with the voice of a man restrained the madness of the prophet.

[20:08] You guys remember Sunday school when you were little? Apparently, premium, as best I could find out, was an old English word. One time it was used widely.

[20:22] It speaks of an inducement to do something. If we use the word in terms of an inducement or a motivator, we must remember we're highlighting in Peter's text false teachers.

[20:36] In their case, the premium was personal gain. That's what they were in it for. We've already seen this in 2 Peter 2. Here it is again.

[20:47] And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Their judgment from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep.

[21:01] Peter gives his readers a real life example of a false teacher that forsook the right way and the right way is always obedience to God's word.

[21:17] And the example that Peter gives us is Balak and Balaam. Now I know you guys remember that from Sunday school when you were kids. I don't know if I still teach that or not.

[21:29] We did. In Numbers chapter 22, verse 6 verses Then the sons of Israel set out and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan opposite Jericho.

[21:46] And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. So Moab was in great fear because of the people for they were numerous and Moab was in dread of the sons of Israel.

[22:03] Then Moab said to the elders of Midian, Now this assembly will lick up all that is around us as the ox licks up the grass of the field. And Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time.

[22:19] So he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pithor which is near the river in the land of the sons of his people to call him saying Behold a people came out of Egypt Behold they cover the surface of the land they are settled opposite me so now please come curse this people for me since they are too mighty for me perhaps I may be able to strike them down and drive them out of the land for I know that he whom you bless is blessed and whom you curse is curse now try and grasp what's going on here and I think some of us can search our memories as youngsters learning about those two false teachers Balaam and Balak and Balaam is a classic example of a false teacher and he was available for hire he put a little shingle up outside his office and that means he was well motivated by financial gain so

[23:30] Balaam was hired by Balak the king of Moab to curse the Israelis because they were seen primarily as a military threat and Balaam claimed to speak only the words that came from God but that was a lie God allowed an animal that Balaam was riding to speak a human language and to issue a rebuke but concerning Balaam and his conduct so in essence Balaam was so greedy that his love of money made him act irrationally Balaam entered into all sorts of sin to accomplish the mission of cursing the chosen people of God and it all failed ultimately Balaam suffered the death penalty for his actions and next we're going to look at the prophecies of false teachers verses 17 to 19!

[24:44] this will sound like another book in the Bible which I'll tell you what it is in a moment if you don't already know these are springs without water and mists driven by a storm for whom the black darkness has been kept for speaking out arrogant words of vanity they enticed by sensual lusts of the flesh those who barely escape from the ones who conduct themselves in error promise them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption for by what a man is overcome by this he is enslaved these words should sound familiar they are very similar to those penned by Jude the half brother of Jesus I sometimes think Jude sat down and visited from time to time with Peter they compared notes well there are three features to the ministry styles utilized by false teachers and first they are authoritarian the prophets prophesy but they do so with lying and the priests have dominion by their own hand and my people love it so but what will you do at the end of it that's

[26:20] Jeremiah 5 31 false teachers and false prophets try to domineer over a church at the same time they are quick to denounce and silence any who would challenge or question their authority one almost universal trait among false teachers is their lack of appropriate credentials most have never been to seminary they've never studied the biblical languages like Hebrew and Greek their ordination is almost non-existent or certainly lacks credibility often they lack a governing board elders deacons whatever there are no elders overseeing the church or critiquing the pastor if he needs it second they're man center in Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 16 thus says

[27:29] Yahweh of hosts do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you these are the false teachers they are leading you into vanity they speak a vision of their own heart it does not come from the mouth of Yahweh the sacred name of God and third they treat scripture with contempt thus says Yahweh stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths where the good way is and walk in it and you will find rest for your souls but they said we will not walk in it Jeremiah 6 16 well we're going to close with this the last thing we'll look at tonight the perversion of false teachers for if they are overcome this is 2nd

[28:33] Peter chapter 2 verses 20 to 22 for if they are overcome having both escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and having again been entangled in them then the last state has become worse for them than the first for it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them the message of the true proverb has happened to them a dog returns to its own vomit and a sow after washing returns to wallowing in the mire if they can pull it off the fake teachers would like to appear religious and closely aligned with Jesus that usually involves women and money it would have been much better for them to have not been involved with righteousness and holiness if that's the path they choose and they can't fake it among their followers

[29:54] Peter gives one of the most graphic portrayals of a false teacher comparing him to dogs and sows well using these examples brings to us a very clear message no matter how hard they try false teachers and false shepherds return to the filthy dog and they return to the unclean pigs and we must avoid them at all costs and point them out to the church let's close with a word of prayer thank you father that you would bring us together lord we love your word may it speak to every heart in here bring us back safely lord that we may continue our study in your word we pray all of this in jesus name amen

[31:06] Thank you.