Considering the Character of False Teachers

Good morning. I would invite you to turn with me to 2 Peter 2:10-16. For those who do not have a bible, there’s one under your seat, so this portion of text is on page 184.

We’re coming to the home stretch of our annual series Hope for Everyday Life. And this

Fall before our stewardship emphasis we are studying the book of 2 Peter with the

theme of “Growing in Grace and Knowledge” taken from the last verse of 2 Peter which reads

3:18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…

Not too long ago, I had said that Peter had good reason for writing to these believers why he wrote what he did.

The reason why we are to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (ie the Scriptures) is because false teachers were coming into the church under the radar and bringing with them a kind of false teaching that wasn’t just contrary to the teachings of Scripture – it was destructive.

It was destructive because it not only depreciated the Person of Christ. And when Christ is depreciated, the less demand that he has upon our thinking and the less demand he has upon our conduct. By conduct, I am referring to the way we live and move and have our being, in contrast to what these false teachers were espousing that ultimately appealed to their own sinful desires/impulses.

It was a kind of false teaching that’s destructive to the Christian way of life/living and others who would embrace their brand of false teaching that encourage a lifestyle of immorality and licentiousness.

So in verse 17 he said, regarding these false teachers to be on the lookout – “be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness.”

These men were unprincipled in the sense that unrestrained in their conduct - their impulses – lawless in their conduct. That’s essentially what a false teacher is. They’re religious per se, but teaching only promotes ungodliness in their living.

They may say that Jesus is Lord, but what they say doesn’t come alive in their thinking or living. What they have is really a dead faith.

And understand this: because they denied the Lordship of Christ over their lives AND that he was coming back again, they promoted a false teaching that espoused a non-Lordship view. That is, Jesus isn’t really coming back so you can live however you want to live.

The seriousness of this destructiveness being secretly introduced by these false teachers is not an understatement at all. We’re talking about the kind of destructive heresy that is damning – it sends people to hell.

So in [consideration of] Considering the Character of False Teachers, wouldn’t it behoove us to

1 Timothy 4:16 – “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these

things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear

you.”

In other words, perseverance in the truth accompanies the redeemed a genuineness of their

salvation and those who live in conduct to the Faith. But…

I. The old man of sin has a specific nature

A. A way of seeing— “having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin” v. 14

This means “to be thoroughly characterized by something.” Peter is saying that the false teachers who have entered into the church have become so unrestrained in mind – so unrestrained in conduct that they cannot even look at a single women without seeing them as a potential target.

This is the false teachers MO. This is the way they live – this is their lifestyle. There is a well known LGBT false teacher online who believes that Jesus is Lord, but encourages a lifestyle of debauchery in real time, folks.

This man has a huge following who recently debated Christian apologist Dr. James White. You can watch the debate for yourself. But what is so standout about this debate is how this false teacher blatantly twist clearing Scripture text about doctrine, life and conduct into licentiousness – and he does so to his own eternal destruction.

This man really believes what he professes, and many will follow his brand of sensuality. He didn’t start off this way – he was in fact, quite orthodox. But at some point sin crept in and overtook him.

And the question we ought to ask ourselves is whether or not this describes us? Because if we face the music of our theology we rightly understand that we’re still incarcerated our fallen flesh, prone to the kind of false teaching that has the potential to bring about its corrupting influence in our lives.

What our eyes full of? In Paul’s letter to the church at Rome he was writing to a church that was very mature and eager to grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So confident was Paul aware of these believers’ maturity that he says they are

Romans 15:14 And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another

Mestos in the Greek – it refers to a person’s mind being filled with thoughts and emotions whether they are good or bad. So in the case of these believers at Rome their minds were full of what…goodness, right?

That comes with being a follower of Christ with a new spiritual nature – the new man as Paul described for us in Ephesians 4:24.

In James 3:17 describes to the believer what wisdom from above looks like and he contrast that to those who don’t have it at all. To the believer he said that

James 3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy

Mestos – same Greek word. The Greek word for mercy can also translated as compassion. James has in mind a person who is full of…compassion. These kinds of people show deep concern for those who suffer pain and hardship. These people also have the ability to forgive quickly when wronged – why? Because they are full of what, Church – mercy/compassion.^[1]

In Matthew 6, our Lord illustrated for us a way of seeing with the eyes full of something – I believe I’ve referenced this before to you but I think it bears repeating.

Matthew 6:19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, … 20“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, … 21for where your treasure is, there your heart (chest…what you love) will be also. 22“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. 23“But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. … 24“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve (love) God and wealth.

Matthew 6: 22-23 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”

That is to say, our eyes will either be full of light or darkness.

Where’s your orientation?

What trajectory are you headed toward because will love something – what you love follows a particular course. The point I want us all to understand is that false teachers walk after the flesh and not after the spirit.

They teach in order to satisfy their course of action – they teach false doctrine because they want nothing to do with the Lordship of Christ over their lives and which demands that they die to self – die to their own wants – die to their own needs – die to the rule of their own life.

B. A way of loving —“indulging the flesh in its corrupt desires” (v. 10), “count it a pleasure” (v. 13), “loving the wages of unrighteousness” (v. 15)

By the way, the word to “indulge” to means “follow after something…”

For instance…when Jesus said for his disciples to follow him, he meant what he said: leave all other loves and love me and follow after me.

So when Peter refers to “indulging the flesh in its corrupt desires...”, he has in mind a particular course or trajectory which takes them to deeper darkness. The character of false teachers or even false converts is eventually made known because their life and doctrine follow a particular trajectory.

What’s your orientation? Peter said these false teachers had a particular bent – they also had hearts trained in greed.

C. A way of living —“having a heart trained in greed” , v. 14

This is what they live for. They live for popularity – attention – recognition – a following – large churches – success – money – promotions – gifts – livelihood – security, position – leadership – fame – possession.

[consider adding a few more thoughts on this]

All one needs to do is turn on TBN - what’s your orientation, lest we forget the dispositions of our own hearts. That’s why growth and grace in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ produces something so very holy and so very different…. new eyes full of seeing differently, loving differently, and living differently.

Michael Wilcock said that

In the life of God’s people will be seen first of all a remarkable reversal of values. They (God’s people) will prize what the world calls pitiable, and suspect what the world thinks desirable. Michael Wilcock, The Savior of the World: The Message of Luke’s Gospel, 86.

…what’s your orientation?

The second truth when considering the character of false teachers pertains to the old man or

the unregenerate man in he has…

II. The old man of sin has specific summary characteristics.

A. Deceived—“reviling in their deceptions” (v. 13)

In other words, false teachers carouse with the unbelievers of the world and they do so openly. The unbelieving world is not offended at their message but openly embraced. They openly participate in their sinful sexual pleasures and social affairs and drunkenness.

To put it simply, the message they preach and their conduct bears no resemblance of separation from the world, the flesh and the devil – it bears no resemblance of separation from the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.

It’s as Paul described in Philippians

Philippians 3:18-19 “For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.”

What a fascinating passage. Paul was aware of the “many who walk” – the implication being that they have professed faith in Christ alone by faith alone. But there’s one component mission – these people did not walk in the sense that they manifest a growing godliness in their walk with the Christ they profess.

Does any of this describe you here today? Dare we profess Christ as Lord, yet deny him by your deeds? I’m talking about the totality of our lives. What does that body of work say to God’s people and those around you?

So great is the heart of God through Peter that he fervently begs God’s people.

1 Peter 2:11 “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.”

That is to say, hold yourself away from fleshly lusts.

Philippians 3:17 “Join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.

Don’t make a confession of faith without possessing the faith! Don’t be like the false teachers who are…

B. Proud—“despise authority, daring, self-willed, do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, reviling where they have no knowledge.” (v. 10, 12).

False teachers stress rights, freedom, and promise liberty – they stress the right to live how they want to live. Their false teaching begins incrementally. But sooner or later they will be fully manifest for the false teachers that they are.

Not too long ago, we had a guy come here and tell us that he was Yahweh. Then he said God told him that. I said to him “prove it!” You could imagine the look our faces when he said that to us with a straight face – no exaggeration! It was so manifestly obvious that this guy was a false teacher.

Others are not so obvious – well – not right away, anyway…At my former church in Maryland we had a group come into the church who seemed orthodox…but over time it slowly became manifest that they held to a kind of doctrine of perfectionism. The men who held to this belief was “daring, self-willed”, let alone the fact that he had a temper. They took a number of people out of the church and then the group itself eventually turned against one another.

That’s what false teaching will do…it will affect your thinking and what follows one’s thinking is their behavior. And what’s even more peculiar about these false teachers is that they

“…they revile angelic majesties, reviling where they have no knowledge.” (v. 10, 12). What does that mean?

This actually exists today, you just have to know where to look. You will find a good number of these individuals in the charismatic movement. They made exorbitant amounts of money damning demons and supposedly binding them and casting them out, when they have no apostolic authority whatsoever to do the things that they do.

They are no different, really, then the false exorcists in Acts 19:13-16 where they attempted to exorcised a demon out of a man, to which the demon responded

Acts 19:13-16 “And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

To put it simply, the height of their arrogance knows no bounds…and we know what happened to Satan when he attempted to dethrone God Himself – he was cast down. So too will these false teachers be.

Some false teachers are on obvious display while others take a bit more time to show their true colors.

1 Timothy 5:24-25“The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others, their sins follow after. Likewise also, deeds that are good are quite evident, and those which are otherwise cannot be concealed.”

That is to say, we cannot hide who we really are before God and others. Some are so obvious false teachers that they are gone right away while others will come to light as God begins to providentially shine more light on their false teaching and character.

Once false teachers come to full fruition they are as Peter described them as

C. Animalistic—like “unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, a mute donkey speaking with the voice of a man restrained the madness of the prophet (v. 12, 16)

[offer an explanation]

III. The old man of sin has a sure end result—Destruction, v. 12

[offer an explanation]

2 Peter 3:12 But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,

[offer explanation and close on an encouraging note]

[1] See John MacArthur Study Bible, p. 1901