“False Teachers Among You” 2 Peter 2:1-10 June 3, 2012
SI: In our study of 2 Peter, have come to chapter 2.
Before we read, want to prepare you for this
chapter.
Chapter 1 is one of the most
encouraging chapters in whole New Testament,
one of the best descriptions of the
Christian life.
As a Christian you have been
given divine power through Christ,
for moral and spiritual transformation.
Promises of God are the
conduit for applying this divine power to the struggles
and challenges of your life.
As you make use of this
power, you will add to your faith many virtues—
goodness, knowledge, self-control, kindness,
and so on.
And as you add these things,
you gain experiential assurance that you have been
called and elected by Lord—
so no matter what happens in life, you know
who you are and where you stand.
You become a person with
increasing effectiveness and clarity of spiritual vision.
Then Peter reminds believers that God has
given the Old and New Testaments—
to strengthen your faith, and point you to
Jesus Christ and his promises.
In chapter 2, Peter’s
approach changes completely.
He has the very same goal—to make you firm
and stable and unshakable in faith.
Chapter one is encouragement
to avail yourself of God’s power through truth.
Chapter two is a warning of
the eternal destruction that will come to every person
who rejects truth, believes lies, and
therefore fails avail himself of God’s power.
One preacher called chapter 1
God’s carrot and chapter 2 God’s stick.
There are no commands or instructions in
this chapter—
just a terrifying description of what will
happen to people who fall prey
to
false teachers in the church and are not transformed morally and spiritually.
Going to spend three Sundays
on this chapter.
INTRO: Rock climbing is very popular on Lookout Mountain.
People come from all over to the bluffs on
both sides of the mountain.
During the four years I was
in college there were occasionally news stories
about rock climbing accidents—some of them
fatal.
One that sticks in my mind
was a man who was rappelling down a bluff.
His rope was too short, and he rappelled
right off the end of it—
fell to his death.
Obviously, as a climber, he
got lots of things right.
His rope didn’t break so he obviously had
good equipment.
He apparently tied his rope right at the
top, his knots didn’t come undone.
He wasn’t clumsy—he didn’t trip over his
feet and fall over the edge.
But in this one area—just
one—he was wrong and the results were fatal.
And, you might say, that even though he had
all these other things right,
his one error made them all worthless to
him.
Is the same sort of thing
possible in the spiritual realm?
In matters of faith could you believe lots
of the right things but believe
falsehood in one crucial area with
spiritually fatal results?
Could believing a falsehood
be so serious that it makes all the right things
you believe worthless to you when you die
and face God?
According to the Apostle
Peter—Yes!
There are such things as “destructive
heresies.”
If you believe them, they can destroy you.
What is heresy?
Heresy is an attack on any established
Christian doctrine
by someone who calls himself a Christian.
It’s important that you get
this straight in your mind.
Because Peter is dealing with something very
specific.
Heresy is not an outright
denial of the Christian faith.
When a person says: I was brought up in the Christian faith, I
used to call myself
a Christian, but now I believe that that the
whole thing—Jesus and God and
heaven and hell and sin and salvation—is
just a bunch of bologna.
That’s not heresy. That’s called apostasy.
Because the person no longer even claims to
be a Christian.
And he’s not just attacking one doctrine,
but everything.
When a person from another
religion attacks Christianity, that’s not heresy.
When a Muslim says Jesus is not the Son of
God, he did not die on cross.
When a Buddhist says that there is no sin,
redemption, or personal God,
that’s not heresy, that’s just false
religion.
But heresy is when a person
says: I’m a Christian.
I’m a baptized member of the church. I believe in God. I believe in Christ.
But then that person attacks and undermines
essential elements of Christian faith.
Heresy often focuses on a
particular doctrine—like the person of Christ,
or the nature of God, or the way of
salvation, or the authority of Scripture.
It won’t directly deny all the doctrines of
the faith.
But, like the sort rappelling
rope, it will make them virtually worthless.
For example, if you believed that Jesus was
just a good man—not God incarnate,
then that would affect your view of
salvation, and Scripture, and God himself.
Peter has one main point in
this chapter—heresy is a short rope to hell.
Heresies will kill you if you believe them.
And not only you—they have a
radioactive half-life.
Can have negative spiritual repercussions
for future generations.
And so it is purely out of
love that the apostle wrote this chapter.
Yes, it is harsh. Yes, he takes his gloves off.
As we will see next week, he even calls
people nasty names.
But he says these things
because he wants to get your attention.
Don’t treat false teaching lightly. Be alert.
Be careful.
In chapter one, how does
Peter tell you to focus the power of God on your
struggles and challenges? Do you remember?
By believing and applying the great and
precious promises of God.
In other words—through the truth.
This chapter is the flip
side—if you believe falsehood, you won’t have
divine power for moral and spiritual
transformation.
Let’s look more carefully at
the gracious warning.
I want to look at these first 10 verses
under three headings that I think
will be helpful for understanding this
warning.
1. Heresy and the church
2. Heresy and your heart
3. Heresy and hell.
MP#1 Heresy and
the church
My parents have a home in
North Carolina that is located very close to the
the conference grounds of a large Protestant
denomination.
My brother-in-law and I were
once in the bookstore owned by the denominational
conference center. The more I browsed, the more bothered I was
by some of the
books that were being sold in this
store.
Craig, my brother-in-law,
said, “Hey, Andrew, check this out.”
He was holding up a book with the title, Coming Out As Sacrament.
This book argued that coming
out of the closet and openly declaring and embracing
same sex attraction and lifestyle is a means
of grace. Conduit of God’s
blessing.
And the church should
celebrate when a person announces this
in the same way we celebrate the baptism of
covenant child or the Lord’s Supper.
And there were sample
services, orders of worship for church bulletin.
Billy Graham’s wife, Ruth
Bell Graham grew up in this denomination.
Her parents were missionaries to
In fact, you walk past her family home on
the way to this bookstore.
In past generations this
denomination produced some of the greatest theologians
in America, some of the greatest missionary
heroes.
But now, it is a church that
has completely accepted and affirmed homosexuality,
as a way of life blessed by God. There was a heroic resistance for many years,
but in the last two years, that final
resistance has been completely swept away.
Does that surprise you? It shouldn’t.
It should sadden you and sober you.
But it shouldn’t surprise you because Peter
wrote:
There were also false prophets among the
people,
just as there will be false teachers among
you.
There were false prophets in
the Old Testament church.
Moses warned about them, and Jeremiah and
Isaiah deal with them.
And, Peter says, there will be false
teachers in New Testament church.
Sometimes Christians have the
romantic idea that NT church was doctrinally pure.
Even before the Apostles had died, they were
fighting false teaching and heresy.
Paul had to write against
Judaizers in Galatian churches who said salvation
was by faith in Jesus and in keeping certain
Jewish laws.
John had to write two of
letters against a false teacher who denied the incarnation.
Jude and Peter both wrote
against a false teaching that advocated sexual immorality
in the name of God’s grace.
In early centuries after
apostles, false teachings and heresies sprouted like weeds.
There were heresies that challenged the
authority of Scripture, the way of
salvation, the incarnation of the Son of
God, the Trinity, the work of the Holy
Spirit, and every other major doctrine. So many, hard to keep straight:
Marcionism, Montanism,
Gnosticism, docetism
In 4th century,
church came close to being overwhelmed by Arianism.
Taught that Jesus Christ was a created
being, a half-god.
In 5th century,
Pelagianism argued that people are born sinless,
able to respond to God on own, without
grace.
Even today, three major
branches of Christianity troubled with false teaching.
Roman Catholicism, though has
many virtues, has embraced a doctrinal error
virtually identical Judaizers in Galatians
of salvation by grace plus works.
Orthodoxy, Eastern Church,
also has many virtues, but has embraced ritualistic
view of salvation that is clearly condemned
in book of Hebrews.
Protestantism, though there
are many true churches, also many that have embraced
the worst kind of errors—denial of deity of
Christ, denial Christ only way to God,
official declarations that certain immoral
sins are not just not sin, but good.
I have a seminary buddy who
was called to a church in a mainline denomination.
I’ve told you about him before. It’s an old church, more than 100 years old.
He went reluctantly because
from what he could tell there were 2 believers in
the entire congregation. For fifty years, they was fed a diet from the
pulpit
that denied the essential doctrines of the
faith. Children came up in that church
who thought they were going to heaven but
they knew nothing of the truth.
Friend called me once. He was going through old papers, found the
church’s
doctrinal position from 80 years ago—it was
solid as a rock.
Almost made him weep to think how those
words of life had been undermined
so steadily by false teaching. And a once-great church destroyed
spiritually.
The word of God and church
history tells us that heresy could come to PCA
and Christ Covenant. We could give our money to this church, spend
our efforts,
and in two or three generations—heresy could
be taught from this pulpit.
Instead of words of
life—children could be hearing words of death.
Be alert for your church. Be doctrinal people. Know the Word.
Pray for church, pray for her officers—Jesus
Christ alone will preserve.
MP#2 Heresy and
your heart
Why does Christianity have so
many heresies? Where do they come from?
There have been thousands of them.
Mostly the same once reoccur
over and over in new forms. Some are
just bizarre.
Where do they come from?
Listen to what a wise pastor
wrote:
“Why does Christianity produce so many
heresies? Because it claims that its
message is absolutely true—the only true message about God and man—one must
believe it to be right with God, but its message is a message that cuts
directly across the natural sensibilities, tendencies, and appetites of sinful
human beings. And so there is always a
powerful force at work, encouraged at all points by the Devil, to refashion the
message to conform to those human desires.”
Source of all heresies is the
resistance of the sinful heart to the truth claims
of the Christian faith. As he points out, the devil encourages this,
but the
the source is the resistance of the heart to
truth about Christ.
Look at verse 1. “They will secretly introduce destructive
heresies, even denying
the sovereign Lord who bought them.”
What was the source of this
heresy that Peter was opposing?
It was resistance to the sovereign Lordship
of Christ—
his ownership of all people and therefore
his authority to demand obedience.
These heretics that Peter was
dealing with, as we will see next Sunday,
wanted religious justification for sexual
immorality.
Their sinful hearts resisted the truth claim
that Christ is Lord, even over sex life,
and that his standard, as revealed in
Scripture must be obeyed.
Isn’t it amazing how things
haven’t changed in that specific detail?
Look, for example, at any
number of denominations in America or Europe
that have first denied that Jesus Christ is
the way, the truth and the life—
and then look at their stance on sexuality.
Not just a refusal to affirm
the biblical sex ethic—
but then an actual embracing and celebrating
of sexual sin.
Heresy takes many forms—not
all lead to immoral living.
Some lead to very strict living. Adding rules and laws for salvation.
But for the very same reason.
Because of a resistance to Christ. His grace, his Lordship.
Whatever form heresy takes,
it all comes from the sinful resistance of the human
heart to truth about God, Jesus Christ, our
sin, and salvation as revealed in Bible.
The sobering message in this
is that we struggle with sinful hearts,
and we by nature resist the truth—so that
means we are susceptible to heresy.
If you don’t think you are susceptible, then
you are in a dangerous condition.
Do you like to dot your i’s
and cross your t’s? Does that give you
a sense of spiritual security and
superiority over spiritually sloppy people?
You are susceptible to heresy.
Many legalists embrace
heretical views of the person and work of Christ.
Because the biblical Jesus demolishes
legalism.
He shows it up for what it is—filthy rags.
Do you have a tendency toward
sloppiness in spiritual things?
Do you look for excuses in matters of morals
and righteous living?
You are susceptible to heresy.
There are many heretical
beliefs that give justification to anti-nomianism.
Unbiblical views of sin and judgment, for
example.
Are you embarrassed of any
doctrines of your faith?
More and more Christians and
more and more churches are embarrassed
and uncomfortable by the Biblical teaching
that God will damn people to hell
for sins that everyone commits.
Or that God would send people
to hell for rejecting the Gospel.
Hell itself has become an
embarrassment. It cuts across our
sensibilities.
It’s so out of step with the pluralism,
multi-culturalism of our society.
I’ll admit that I’m a product of this
culture. I have a sinful embarrassment
of hell.
That’s where heresies come
from.
They start by ignoring certain doctrines
that embarrass or offend us.
Then you look for a theological way to get
rid of them altogether.
The source of destructive
heresies is right here—our own hearts.
This warning should drive you to repentance.
Repentance of all your questioning of the
truth.
Do you question his grace,
worthlessness of your efforts? Repent.
Do you question the seriousness of sin? Repent.
Are you embarrassed of the truth? Repent.
Repentant heart is one that
is not susceptible to heresy.
MP#3 Heresy and
hell
What is ultimately at stake
in this matter of heresy?
Most people outside the Christian faith
would say this is completely ridiculous.
How can what you believe have any
consequences in afterlife?
Unfortunately, many people in
the church tend to feel the same way.
For many, Christianity is just an elaborate
system for psychological well-being.
Its primary purpose is to help them get
along better in this life.
If that is true, then it
really doesn’t matter if you believe
You can believe Jesus Christ is eternal God
in human flesh.
You can believe he is a half-god, like
Arians of 4th cent, and JW’s today.
Or you can believe he’s just a good man and
example, like liberal Protestants.
The only important question
is—Does it work for you?
If it works for you, helps you cope with
life, that’s all that matters.
But that’s not what Peter
says.
He says very plainly, the
stakes are very high when comes to heresy.
If you believe heresies, follow heretical
paths—
there will be eternal consequences. You will face God’s judgment.
Here we bump right into the
thing I mentioned a moment ago—
the truth claims of Christian faith.
Peter says that this is how
it is—there will be a judgment.
God will hold you responsible for what you
believed about him.
Peter gives three proofs of the final
judgment.
First, says God did not spare
angels when they sinned but sent to hell for judgment.
Must be talking about the rebellion of
Satan—who was first a good angel,
but he rebelled against God, along with 1/3
of other angels, became demons.
Don’t know much about angels—but know more
intelligent and glorious than we.
Peter’s point is—doesn’t
matter how intelligent and sophisticated you are,
if you believe heresy, God will still bring
you to judgment.
Reminds me of a man who was a
colleague of my father.
He attended a famous
Presbyterian seminary in the South that was going through
a major theological shift—away from orthodox
Christianity to universalism.
He told me that the sophisticated,
exciting professors and students where ones who
were the theological liberals. They were following the latest trends in
theology,
which often involved denying the basic
doctrines of the faith.
But there were at this
seminary some students who still believed that the Bible
really was the word of God, miracles were
true, Jesus did really rise from dead.
He said we called those
students the white socks crowd.
Joke was that they were so unsophisticated,
such hicks, would wear white socks
with their dark suits. What did they know? Can’t even dress right.
Peter says if God didn’t
spare angels, not going to spare you no matter how
sophisticated and educated you are in your
heresy.
Second proof, God did not
spare the ancient world, but brought a flood.
Point is that it doesn’t matter how many
people in the church believe the heresy,
God will still hold you responsible for
believing it and will judge you.
He didn’t hold back his
judgment even thought virtually the whole world
was unanimous in their view of morality.
God doesn’t judge by poll but
by truth.
Third proof, God’s judgment
of Sodom and Gomorrah.
His destruction of those cities is, in the
Bible, just a general picture
of the certainty and finality and fierceness
of his judgment.
Point is simply, don’t think
that believing heresies is a minor matter to God.
His holiness is as offended by heresy as it
was by immorality of
This sounds pretty harsh,
doesn’t it? Where’s the grace? Where’s the love.
I wish we were back in Chapter 1.
This is full of grace. It is a gracious warning to Christians to
mind doctrine.
Not only for own sakes, but for sakes of
people you love—
like your children, like fellow church
members.
And did you notice? In the middle of these three examples of
judgment—
two reminders that the Lord will preserve
everyone who shows trust in him by
believing the truth.
Noah—though certainly tempted
to tone down his faith—quit warning people
of coming judgment—was delivered by
Lord. He and his family.
And even
Even
would have mocked God’s moral authority, he believed
the truth.
Christ will deliver and
rescue you if you believe in him as he is offered in Gospel.
He doesn’t rescue perfect
people—Noah and Lot are proof of that.
But he always rescues believers who follow
him as the way and the truth.
CONC:
If you had been on the brow
of Lookout Mountain—
and somehow knew that man’s rope was too
short, what would you have done?
You would have warned him.
That would have been the
loving thing to do.
These words of Peter were not
a power play to keep people under his control.
These were not hateful words directed at
Christians who didn’t agree
with finer points of Peter’s doctrine—these
were words of love.
He learned them from the
source of all love—Jesus Christ.
Remember Jesus said:
Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name claiming,
“I am he” and “The time is near.” Do not follow them.
You’ve been given something
precious—the life-giving words of truth.
Believe them, guard them, pass them on to the
next generation.