After interviewing some 15,000 youngsters on his show "House Party" in the 1950’s, Art Linkletter compiled the funniest interviews in a book titled Kids Say the Darndest Things! Here are a couple of the best ones:

What does you mom do? Answer: She’s a Sunday School teacher.

What does she do for fun? A: She plays poker and drinks beer…

Another young man was talking about his Dad’s profession. "My Dad’s a cop who arrests burglars, robbers and thieves." Linkletter asked him, "Doesn’t your mother worry about such a risky job?" He answered, "Naw, she thinks it’s a great job. He brings home rings and bracelets and jewelry almost every week!"

Oops! After so many of these unexpected answers, Linkletter shared this interesting insight in the opening of his book:

"Children under ten and women over seventy give the best interviews … for the identical reasons: They speak the plain unvarnished truth. They dish it out in no uncertain terms, with heartfelt emotion coloring each phrase. No concealing, flattering, hypocritical editorializing… If you don’t want the truth - better not ask them!"

In many ways that same thing could be said for God’s Word. One of the characteristics that I love about God’s Word is its tendency to give us the plain, unvarnished truth. We see God’s people with all their warts. We see Moses rebelliously striking a rock to get water and losing his entrance into Canaan. We see David sinning with Bathsheba in a moment of weakness and then see his life begin to spin out of control. We see Peter correcting Christ, denying Christ and then years later showing racial favoritism in Galatia. God’s Word never seems to pull its punches.

But, not only does God’s Word show us those who follow God in all their weakness, it shows those who oppose God in all their evil. This morning we are going to look at a passage that is harsh, that is condemning, that is downright nasty in its condemnation of a group of people: FALSE TEACHERS.

Some of the most scathing words in all of scripture are reserved for those who would twist God’s Word and teaching and use it to cause those are honestly seeking God to stumble.

The OT spoke of False Prophets.

Jeremiah 23:16-20 [READ]

And it goes on for another 20 verses!

But, in many ways none of them holds a candle to the scathing indictment which Peter brings against these evil workers. In 2Peter 2 we find perhaps the most graphic denunciation of false teachers that can be found anywhere in Scripture.

So, be prepared as we dive into the cesspool of false teachers this morning. But, it is important that we do so. Names like Jonestown, Heavensgate, Branch Davidians, the Solar Temple and most recently the "Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God" in Uganda seem more and more commonplace. They are the most extreme. They are the ones that make the headlines with their mass suicides and other extreme beliefs. But the false teachers of our day are seemingly everywhere.

But this is nothing new. The writers of the New Testament and the church fathers of the early centuries of the church were constantly fighting the spread of false teaching. So what does it look like? How can you recognize a false teacher? What does God say about them and what will be the result of their false teaching? These are the kinds of questions that Peter answers in 2 Peter 2:1-22.

Turn in your Bibles; Take out your sermon outlines…

1. False Teachers: Their DESTRUCTIVENESS

Chapter one ends with Peters statement about the ministry and writings of the true prophets of the Old Testament. We saw last week that Peter said that these prophecies did not originate with the prophets, but with God through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Now, Peter turns from the ministry of these true prophets, to the false prophets who were present then and now.

READ PASSAGE

Some things seem to always be with us. False Teachers are one of them. From the very beginning when the Serpent deceived Eve, their have been those energized by the serpent’s lies that have sought to deceive those seeking to follow the truth. Whether it be the Gnosticism of the first century or the New Age movement of our day, false teachers will always abound. In fact the scriptures seem to indicate that as the time of Christ’s return approaches we will even see an increase in the number of false teachers. Paul says that people will "heap up for themselves" teachers who will tell them what they want to hear.

who will secretly bring in destructive heresies,

even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.

Now this one grabs our attention. Is Peter saying these false teachers are believers? No! He is saying that they are people for whom Jesus died. Jesus paid the price for their sin, but they are denying that sacrifice and they are denying Jesus and therefore face swift destruction. The escape from that destruction is available to these False Teachers, but they reject that escape because they reject Jesus. And they deny the basic beliefs that undergird the gospel:

They may deny the deity of Jesus Christ as the Jehovah’s Witnesses do and thus deny the atonement.

They may teach that man can become a god like the Mormons and many in the New Age and thus deny the need for atonement.

They may teach that Jesus’ sacrifice was a mistake and an obstacle to God’s plan thus creating the need for a new messiah as the Unification church teaches.

Ultimately they will inevitably deny some aspect of God’s redemptive plan, whether it be man’s need for salvation, the deity of Christ, the blood atonement on the cross, the resurrection or salvation by grace through faith alone. They teach heresy. They pervert the doctrines of the church and destroy the redemptive plan of God!

d. They promote sensuality (v. 2)

While this may not always be the case with every cult or false teacher, it is amazing how often it is true. The word that is translated "destructive ways" in the NKJV, is more literally a word for sexual immorality. The point Peter is making is that these false teachers were leading people into lives of immorality. Some of this came from a teaching that the physical part of man was unimportant and could never be redeemed anyway. They taught that it didn’t matter what you did with your body, so you were free to sin.

By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words;

I worry today about the big business that is modern Christianity. Never before in the history of the church has there been so much money to be made by the sale of the "Christian" stuff. There are two great dangers that it brings.

The danger of tripping up good men and women because of the lure of wealth. They begin with a desire to serve God and can get caught up in the money game and next thing you know they are serving their own selfish desires.

The second danger is the opportunity for wealth will draw in those who are not believers at all who will disguise themselves as Christians in an effort to become rich by peddling their false teaching.

The Doomsday Cult in Uganda - apparently people started getting killed when their prophecy of the world ending on Dec. 31st failed to come true. When members started asking for their money and possessions back, they started disappearing.

2. False Teachers: Their DOOM

Peter uses three examples:

Fallen Angels: This is most likely a reference to the angels who sinned in Genesis 6:1-6 and mated with human women who gave birth to a wicked race of half man and half demon children. These are the angels that Jude says, "did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode…" Peter tells us that these angels were cast into "Tartarus" a place where they are bound until the final judgment at the Great White Throne. Apparently these angels, unlike most demons, are not free to move about on the earth.

the Ancient World: Because of this sin and the wickedness that ran rampant throughout the world, God chose to destroy the world in a flood.

the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah: These two cities were synonymous with immorality and perversion. God destroyed these cities so completely that their destruction appears to be something similar to a nuclear devastation.

The first principle out of these three examples is that God is not hesitant to enact his judgment when the time is right. God is not like the parent who constantly warns of a punishment but never quite carries through on the threat. God has brought his judgment on the wicked in the past and He will surely do it in the future! And these false teachers will certainly face the punishment for their sinful behavior. And that punishment will be severe. So much so that Jesus says it would be better if they could just tie a millstone around their neck and drown themselves in the sea!

God will not mess around with false teachers their end will be swift and decisive.

In two of the three cases, God chose to separate the righteous from the unrighteous prior to his judgment. Of course in the case of the fallen angels, this wouldn’t be applicable. But in the case of the ancient world, God saved Noah and his family. In the case of the cities of S & G, God spared Lot and his family.

Peter states the principle clearly in v. 9 [READ]

3. False Teachers: Their DEPRAVITY

a. Their Excesses (:10b - 16)

Peter makes it clear that they were far from what God intends His people to be. They are wretched and evil.

READ :17

They promise refreshment and offer nothing. Like a dry well or a cloud that gives no rain - they are empty promises that offer nothing but judgment! A judgment that for them is sure and decisive.

These are sobering words. They are not easy things to say or to hear. We like to talk about God’s love and His mercy. But just as surely as God is loving, he is just! Just as sure as He is merciful, He is also the one who will condemn those who reject His salvation offer. God does not make empty threats.

This is a stern warning. We must be careful about who we follow, whose teaching we listen to. The false teachers are all around us spreading lies and deceit and sin.

NEXT WEEK:

4. False Teachers: Their DUPES

But as we close our study this week, what are some principles that we can take with us. How can we keep from being duped by these destructive deceivers? Chuck Swindoll suggests three simple steps: Stop, Look and Listen:

STOP: Refuse to blindly accept someone else’s teaching just because others have been "blessed" by it. Stop long enough to make a serious study, comparing what is being taught with what the Scriptures teach.

LOOK: Take a careful look at the life of the main spokesperson. Are the fruits of the Spirit evident - humility, love, self-control? Or do you see more of the counterfeit - greed, sensuality and dissension. Don’t be wowed by someone who sounds intelligent or wooed by someone’s charisma!

LISTEN: Pay attention to what is being taught, the words that are being used and how they are defined. And listen to what’s NOT being said.

I would add a fourth (this is the one us men never want to do):

ASK DIRECTIONS: When in doubt, ask a trusted Bible teacher or pastor. If you have some questions, get them answered, don’t just make assumptions.

But, there is one other thing that is essential: get to know Jesus intimately and personally. There is no better defense against the counterfeit than the real thing!

Ben Patterson once wrote:

The American Banking Association once sponsored a two week training program to help tellers detect counterfeit bills. The program was unique - never during the two-week training did the tellers even look at a counterfeit bill, nor did they listen to any lectures concerning the characteristics of counterfeit bills …. All they did for two weeks was handle authentic currency, hour after hour and day after day, until they were so familiar with the true that they could not possibly be fooled by the false.