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Amen.
Well, please remain standing for the reading of God’s word.
Tonight we can, or this afternoon I should say,
we continue our consideration of Second Peter
and we are finally in Second Peter chapter two
verses one through three.
That’s my sermon text for this afternoon.
That begins on page 1207.
I’m gonna begin reading in chapter one verse 16
and read through chapter two verse three
to kind of fill out the context a little bit.
So once again, let us hear with reverence and awe,
the word of our God.
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths
when we made known to you the power
and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
For when he received honor and glory from God the Father,
and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory,
this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.
We ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven,
for we were with him on the holy mountain.
And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed
to which you will do well to pay attention
as to a light shining, a lamp shining in a dark place
until the day dawns and the morning star rises
in your hearts, knowing this first of all,
that no prophecy of scripture comes
from someone’s own interpretation.
For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man,
but men spoke from God as they were carried along
by the Holy Spirit.
But false prophets also arose among the people,
just as there will be false teachers among you
who will secretly bring in destructive heresies,
even denying the master who bought them,
bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
And many will follow their sensuality.
And because of them, the way of truth will be blasphemed.
And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words.
Their condemnation from long ago is not idle
and their destruction is not asleep.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God endures forever.
Please join me in prayer.
Almighty God, Heavenly Father,
we thank you for the gift of your spirit.
We thank you that you have breathed out the scriptures
by your spirit and you spoke of old.
Holy men of God spoke as they were carried along
by the Holy Spirit.
We thank you for the true prophets and apostles
through whom you conveyed your word to us.
But Lord, we would ask that as we turn our attention
to this passage, which warns us of false prophets
and false teachers, that you would grant us the grace
to be attentive to what the spirit is speaking to us
in this portion of your inerrant word.
And we would ask Lord that you would root and ground us
in the truth of the gospel, the truth of your word,
that we might not be led astray,
but indeed that we might continue by grace through faith
in that narrow way that leads to life,
that way who is Jesus himself,
the way, the truth and the life.
We pray these things, Heavenly Father, in Christ’s name
and all of God’s people said, amen.
You may be seated.
In your sermon outline, you’ll notice that there are
quite a number of words to choose from
that you can keep track of in my sermon this afternoon,
truth, teachers, fruits, covetousness and condemnation.
Well, dear friends, our text for this Lord’s Day afternoon
needs to be read in light of its immediately preceding
context and that immediately preceding context,
which is basically the end of chapter one,
going from verse 16 through verse 21 of chapter one,
that preceding context highlights the origin
and the trustworthiness of the prophetic scriptures.
Peter has pointed his readers to the holy scriptures
as the entirely trustworthy source of God’s truth.
And it is the entirely trustworthy source of God’s truth
because it is God’s word.
But here, beginning in chapter two,
Peter turns his attention to warning his readers
about the danger of false teachers
who will seek to draw believers away
from the truth of God’s word and to draw them
into falsehood and speculation
and into godless ways of living.
And so what we have here is we turn our attention
to our passage for this afternoon.
We have here, first of all, a warning about false teachers,
a warning about false teachers.
And let me read this warning once again, verse one.
Again, remember, he’s already spoken
about the truth of God’s word
and how true prophets were spoken,
were carried along by the Holy Spirit
so that they spoke the word of God.
But he says here in verse one,
but false prophets also arose among the people.
And here he has in view the Old Testament false prophets.
There were true prophets that God raised up
in Old Testament times to convey his word to his people,
but there were also false prophets
among the covenant people of God.
Well, just as that was the case in Old Testament times,
he goes on to say,
just as there will be false teachers among you.
It’s basically saying don’t expect things
to be different in that regard.
This is a warning.
It’s more than just a warning.
It’s actually a warning slash prediction, if you will,
because he doesn’t just say,
yeah, look out for false teachers.
They may come along.
No, he says there will be false teachers among you.
That should grab their attention.
That should grab your attention and my attention as well.
And observe what he teaches us here
about the kind of individuals
that these false teachers would be.
It says that they will secretly bring in
destructive heresies,
even denying the master who bought them,
bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
It says they will secretly bring in destructive heresies.
Observe here, friends, that secrecy, craftiness, deception,
these are characteristics of false teachers.
False teachers and false prophets don’t go around
wearing a sandwich board that says,
hey, watch out, folks, warning, I’m a false teacher.
Don’t listen to me.
You may lose your soul.
No, they don’t wear a t-shirt that says,
attention, false teacher.
No, they cloak themselves
in an air of orthodoxy and godliness.
False teachers are generally characterized
by a basic dishonesty and deceptiveness.
They’re almost never forthright
and transparent about their real beliefs
or their real motives.
They’re masters of subtlety, secrecy, and equivocation.
Again, they may use orthodox lingo, orthodox language,
but they use it as a cloak to disguise their heresies.
Oftentimes, and we’re approaching Easter time
down the road a little bit,
and oftentimes, as Easter comes around,
you’ll sometimes see a feature in the news media,
a liberal clergy will be asked
about the resurrection of Jesus,
and oftentimes, you’ll hear such liberal clergy say things
like, oh, yeah, of course I believe
in the resurrection of Jesus.
They don’t mean, however, by that.
I believe that Jesus rose bodily from the dead.
The same body that went in the tomb came out of the tomb
by a sovereign miracle of God.
No, that’s not what they mean.
They rather believe that it’s a nice myth,
a nice story, a metaphor for the arising of new hope
from the midst of despair.
That’s deception.
That’s equivocation.
If you were to go into many of these preachers’ churches
and hear them preach from the pulpit,
they might sound altogether orthodox.
They may say, yes, we believe in the resurrection of Jesus,
a wonderful thing, but then they hide, oftentimes,
from their own congregants that they don’t really mean
what most of their congregants mean.
After all, if they were too honest and too forthright
with their beliefs, they might lose some of the donations
coming into the church.
I know that sounds rather cynical,
but we are Calvinists after all, aren’t we?
Don’t we believe in total depravity?
People are deceptive, and sometimes even professed preachers
of the gospel can be lying deceivers
and wolves in sheep’s clothing.
So these, we have here a warning prediction.
There will be false teachers
among the professed people of God.
Just as there were false prophets in the Old Testament,
there will be false teachers in the visible church
in this new covenant era.
And so Peter’s warning the people.
He’s warning his readers, and the spirit through Peter
is warning us to be aware of that.
And notice that false teachers,
either by their practice or by their profession,
are said to deny the master who bought them.
It says, even denying the master who bought them.
It’s interesting, that term master in the Greek
is the term from which we derive our term despot.
Now, when you think of a despot,
what do you typically think of?
In our language, that word obviously carries
a negative connotation.
A despot would be someone who’s oppressive
and authoritarian in their exercise of authority.
But the way that it’s being used here,
it simply highlights the sovereignty of the Lord.
And this despot, this divine despot, this master
is said to have bought these false teachers.
Now, what does that mean?
What does that mean?
Does this mean that Jesus died on the cross
to redeem these false teachers?
False teachers who will ultimately be condemned and be lost?
Some of our Arminian and generically evangelical friends
will point to this passage and say,
see, this proves universal atonement.
This proves that Jesus died for absolutely everyone
because even false teachers, even they were bought
by the blood of Christ, we’re told.
Well, how did we respond to this?
In other words, does this verse support the doctrine
of so-called universal atonement and deny
our reformed understanding of particular atonement
or definite redemption?
Well, friends, the answer is that reformed
and Calvinist interpreters of God’s word
have offered a number of plausible alternatives
to the so-called universal atonement interpretation
of this passage and this language.
Let me just offer you a couple examples.
Some would argue that Peter is simply describing
these false teachers according
to their own profession of faith.
They did profess to be followers of Jesus.
They did profess Christ as their savior.
They professed to be bought by the Lord
and Peter is simply describing them according
to their own profession of faith.
The reformed commentator Simon Kistermacher holds this view.
In his commentary, he writes of these false teachers.
He says, were the false teachers recipients
of God’s saving grace?
Apparently not, for they repudiated Christ.
If we look at the words denying the sovereign Lord
who bought them in the light of the broader context,
we discover a clue.
We notice that at one time these false teachers
professed the name of Christ,
for they said that they knew him
and the way of righteousness.
And he refers us to chapter two, verses 20 and 21.
And let’s pause and look at those verses.
Just skip down to verses 20 and 21
and let me read those verses to you.
It says this, for if after having escaped the defilements
of the world through the knowledge of our Lord
and savior, Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them
and overcome, the last state has become worse for them
than the first, for it would have been better for them
never to have known the way of righteousness
than after knowing it to turn back
from the holy commandments delivered to them.
Then getting back based on that, Peter goes on,
I’m sorry, not Peter, Kistermacher goes on to say
of these false teachers, they made it known
that Jesus had bought them,
but they eventually rejected Christ
and left the Christian community.
Hence their denial of Christ shows
that they were not redeemed.
So one view that is pushed by reformed theologians
and commentators is that, well, yeah,
Peter is not denying the efficacy
and the perfection of Christ’s atonement.
He’s not saying that those who ultimately end up in hell
such as these false teachers,
that they were genuinely bought or redeemed
by the blood of Christ.
But others argue that Peter really,
and the language here that Peter uses makes it clear
that he’s not speaking of being bought
in the sense of being redeemed by Christ’s blood,
but rather in the sense that the Lord as despot,
as sovereign master had in some sense delivered
the false teachers in a temporal way
that fell short of eternal salvation.
It’s interesting to note that in the immediate context here,
there’s no direct reference to the blood of Christ.
Christ is called the master, the despot,
and in some sense is said to have bought
these false teachers.
But how is it that he has bought them?
Has he redeemed them in the sense of salvation?
Well, if he has, they won’t be lost.
Remember friends, our savior did not accomplish
a half salvation.
He’s not a half savior.
He’s not a savior who failed in his mission.
If Jesus died for your sins,
you are saved from your sins.
You are redeemed from your sins.
Jesus Christ is not a failure.
Not one drop of his blood was shed in vain.
Not one soul for whom he salvifically died.
Not one soul will be lost.
We do not believe in a savior who is a failure.
We believe in a victorious savior
who has accomplished the redemption of his people.
So in what sense can these false teachers be said
to have been delivered or bought?
Well, again, I think the clue is found in verses 20 and 21
that I just read for you.
You see, these false teachers had at one point at least,
professed Christ as their savior and Lord,
and had united in membership with the visible church.
In that sense, they were delivered
from the corruptions of the world.
There are members of the visible church
who are not truly born again, who are not true believers.
We can’t judge the heart.
We’re not called to judge the heart.
We’re simply called to, in the judgment of charity,
judge the outward profession.
And if someone makes the credible profession of faith
in Christ as their Lord and savior,
uncontradicted by their life,
we accept in the judgment of charity
their profession of faith.
But it’s possible to profess Christ
and not actually trust him,
not actually possess him, if you will.
But even so, even in the case of the unregenerate
in the visible church,
they come under the moral influences of the gospel
and the moral influences of Christ’s church.
And in that sense, they are freed
from the corruption of the world.
They are bought, if you will, from the world’s corruption.
Again, as verse 20 says,
for if after they have escaped the defilements of the world
through the knowledge of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ,
they are again entangled in them and overcome,
the last state has become worse for them than the first.
Would have been better for them
not to have known the way of the righteousness
than after knowing it,
to turn back from the holy commandment,
which there in this context, holy commandment,
is referring, I believe, to the gospel call
and the gospel message that had been delivered to them.
And then he uses the proverb,
the dog returns to its own vomit
and the sow after washing itself
returns to wallow in the mire.
But friends, whichever of these views is correct.
The point is that there’s no compelling exegetical reason
to interpret the phrase, the master who bought them,
in a way that would undermine the clear biblical teachings
about the absolute efficacy
and perfection of Christ’s atoning work,
or in a way that would deny the doctrine
of definite effectual atonement.
Again, the point here, beloved,
is that these false teachers deny the lordship
of Jesus Christ, either by their lips or by their lives,
probably in both ways.
And what will the result be?
We’re told in verse one
that they will face swift judgment.
They denied the master who bought them
bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
They bring it upon themselves.
They deserve it.
They have earned the wrath of God
because of their heresy and apostasy from the truth.
We learn next in our passage
about the following and the fruit of these false teachers,
the following and fruit of false teachers.
It goes on to say, and many will follow their sensuality,
and because of them, the way of truth will be blasphemed.
How many will follow their sensuality, their wickedness?
Well, it says many.
This is instructive, beloved,
because false teachers often have large followings.
We live in a culture that values the big, you know.
We Americans, we like things big.
We like things, we’re impressed by bigness.
Not necessarily, that’s not necessarily
the case with the lord.
It’s not the multitude or the bigness that matters to God,
it’s faithfulness and truth that matters to the lord.
Many will follow their sensuality, we’re told.
The truth or falsehood of a cause
cannot be judged by its popularity.
Truth cannot be discerned merely by counting noses.
This reminds me of what our Lord Jesus taught
in his Sermon on the Mount,
in Matthew chapter seven, verses 13 and 14.
Let me just briefly read those verses.
Jesus says, enter by the narrow gate,
for the gate is wide and the way is easy
that leads to destruction and those who enter by it
are many, for the gate is narrow and the way is hard
that leads to life and those who find it are few.
Who is or what is this way, this narrow way?
Well, the narrow way has a name, his name is Jesus.
Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life.
No one comes to the father except through me
and that’s why few find that way
because few are willing to humble themselves
and admit, Lord, I can’t save myself.
I can’t contribute anything to my salvation.
I have no hope of salvation apart from grace,
apart from Christ.
It takes a humbling, sovereign, regenerating work
of the Holy Spirit to humble you to the point
where you recognize, nothing in my hands I bring
simply to thy cross I cling.
Now, what can we learn here about these particular
false teachers of whom Peter is speaking?
There are different varieties of false teaching.
There’s legalism and Galatianism and Pelagianism
and there’s also Antinomianism and libertanism.
What particular kind of heresy is Peter dealing with
in his second epistle?
Well, what we can learn here is from the language,
it’s clear that these particular false teachers
were what the theologians sometimes describe
as Antinomians.
Antinomians, which literally means against the law
from the Greek term nomos, which means law.
An Antinomian basically teaches that,
well, hey, because we’re saved by grace,
because Jesus died for our sins
and we’re saved by grace alone,
therefore we have no obligation to keep the law of God.
In fact, the grace of God is an excuse for sin.
So let us sin that grace may abound.
That’s the basic position of the Antinomian.
And that seems to be the particular heresy
that Peter is addressing here
because these heretics are described
as those who are characterized by sensuality
as we see in verse two.
Many will follow their sensuality.
The New King James Version translates it
as their destructive ways, the NIV translates it,
their shameful ways.
And so we see that they have large followings,
that these particular heretics and false teachers
were Antinomian.
And what is the fruit of their teaching?
Well, the fruit of the false teacher’s behavior
was to bring the way of truth into disrepute.
It says in verse two, because of them,
the way of truth will be blasphemed.
Because of it, the way of truth, again,
notice how the Christian way is described here.
It’s described as the way of truth.
It’s interesting that in the early days
of the Christian faith,
the Christian faith was often called the way.
And that makes sense, doesn’t it?
Because again, Christians are those who follow
the Lord Jesus who said, what about himself?
He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father except by me.
But again, think about how the shenanigans
of well-known, highly public religious leaders
who have fallen into serious, scandalous sin,
think about how such shenanigans have given Jesus
and the church a black eye.
I’m old enough, and some of you may be old enough
to remember, remember good old Jimmy Swaggart,
and Jim and Tammy Baker back in the day.
I know I’m dating myself by mentioning those
particular false teachers.
Remember, Jimmy Swaggart had, I think,
a run-in with a prostitute, and he professed repentance.
He got up in front of the camera and put on a big show
of crying tears, and I think his denomination
made him stop preaching for about six months.
But I think he’s still out there today,
and then, of course, you’ve got Jim and Tammy Baker.
Well, you’ve also got, in more contemporary times,
you’ve got the various clergy abuse scandals out there
that have scandalized so many.
You think about public figures, leaders,
who have not only stumbled into sin
and withdrawn from ministry in genuine repentance,
there’s always restoration, you know,
at least restoration to Christ in the church,
not necessarily to church office in such cases.
But when you think about those whose lives
are characterized by unrepentant sin and sensuality,
getting out there and using the pulpit
to line their pockets and to take advantage
of gullible people, think of how these kinds of men
have been used by unbelievers as an excuse
not to take Jesus Christ or the gospel seriously.
It is very sad, it’s grievous.
And so we learn of these men that because
of such false teachers, the way of truth will be blasphemed.
You know, we live in a time when more and more
of our neighbors and coworkers and friends
have very little exposure to Christianity.
In fact, there are secular neighbors out there
who’ve never once entered a church building,
never once experienced a real Christian worship service.
And I have to wonder, what do some of these people think?
What do some of these folks think
when they think of what Christianity is about?
Imagine getting your picture, your idea of Christianity
from TBN, turning on Christian television
and looking at these prosperity preaching charlatans,
whooping it up on stage, rolling around in the aisles,
spewing forth nonsense and trying to get your money.
And that’s probably what a lot of people,
a lot of secular nuns today, N-O-N-E-S,
probably think Christianity is all about.
You say, oh, you’re a Christian.
Probably puts you in that mental category.
Okay, you’re one of those crazy people.
False teachers bring the gospel of Jesus Christ
into disrepute.
They blaspheme the gospel in the eyes of unbelievers.
Because of them, the way of truth will be blasphemed.
And that is why our passage ends with the final point
that I’m gonna make this afternoon
as we observe the covetousness
and condemnation of false teachers.
The covetousness and condemnation of false teachers.
Verse three.
And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words.
False words.
Their condemnation from long ago is not idle
and their destruction is not asleep.
In other words, their doom is certain.
Even if it’s not immediate, it isn’t idle,
it’s not asleep, it is most certain.
We see the covetousness of the false teachers
being mentioned here at the beginning of verse three.
Peter describes such false teachers
as greedy and exploitative.
They often seek to take advantage of gullible
or ill-informed folk.
That’s always a sad thing, isn’t it?
Now, of course, let me say something though
about gullibility and being ill-informed.
Well, when false teachers through their smooth words
and their deceptiveness lead sinners astray,
these false teachers are deeply guilty in the eyes of God.
But brothers and sisters in Christ,
remember you and I have a duty to be discerning.
If you are allowing yourself to be led astray,
if you are allowing yourself to be gullible,
if you are not testing the spirits
and grounding yourself in the word of God,
you bear responsibility too
if you’re taken astray and led astray.
You bear some responsibility too.
So let us be discerning beloved.
Let us be in the word.
Let us be grounded in the truth of the gospel,
the truth of God’s word that we may not be gullible
or led astray by these slick false teachers.
Peter describes them again as greedy and exploitative.
And notice that one of the ways they do this,
lead people astray is with false words.
The New King James translates it as with deceptive words.
I like how the NIV translates it.
With stories they have made up, stories they have made up.
One of the characteristics of some false teachers,
you’ve heard about padding your resume, right?
You’re trying to find a job
and you don’t have much on your resume.
So you kind of like make yourself look better
than you actually are, which is dishonest.
And if you’re a Christian, you shouldn’t do that.
But in any case, people do that.
They pad their testimony.
They kind of make up stories about themselves
to put themselves in the best light possible.
Well, we can say of false teachers
that they will often pad their testimony
and they will often come to you with amazing stories
about great exploits of the faith
that they have accomplished.
A perfect example of this would be a fellow by the name,
maybe you’ve heard his name before,
Joseph Smith, remember?
The so-called prophet and founder of the Mormon religion,
author of the Book of Mormon,
although he claimed to get the Book of Mormon
from, I forget which angel it was,
the angel Moroni or Moroni,
I don’t know how it was pronounced,
but in any case,
if you know anything about the Mormon religion,
the narrative, the historical,
allegedly historical narrative that you read of
in the Book of Mormon
has not been corroborated at all by any real history.
Joseph Smith cooked this up in his brain,
made up stories out of his own imagination.
And that’s one of the things that false teachers will do.
And so they’re covetous, they’re exploitative,
and they lead gullible souls astray with false words,
with stories that they have made up.
This passage, sobering passage ends in verse three
with a declaration of the condemnation
of these false teachers.
After describing them and their negative influence,
it says their condemnation from long ago is not idle
and their destruction is not asleep.
Now, some might latch onto that word destruction
and say, aha, see,
yes, they’re bad and they will be destroyed,
but that means they’ll be ultimately annihilated, right?
No, friends, read further in the context here.
The ultimate fate of unrepentant false teachers
is not mere annihilation.
It is eternal conscious torment in hell.
God does not want his truth messed with.
We dare not mangle, manhandle, mess with,
twist, distort the word of God,
especially as that word reveals the gospel,
the good news of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Peter speaks solemn words here.
And this is a very, again,
I know this is not a popular doctrine today.
It’s not a doctrine that I feel easy with either,
to be honest.
How can you say that you have a heart
if you are comfortable with the doctrine of hell?
I believe the doctrine of hell.
We should believe and we confess the doctrine
of eternal conscious punishment for the unrepentant wicked
because the Bible teaches it.
The Bible is true.
Jesus himself, more clearly than anyone else
in holy scripture, taught the doctrine
of never ending conscious eternal torment.
Trillions and trillions and trillions and trillions
and trillions of ages, of trillions of years
of never ending burning torment.
That’s what the unrepentant wicked will face.
It will not end.
And some say, oh, that’s not proportional.
That’s not proportional.
How’s that proportional or just punishment?
When we say things like that,
we forget that God is a God of infinite holiness.
We forget how infinitely holy God is
and how utterly awful and horrifying sin is,
especially the sin of leading precious souls
astray from Christ.
False teachers are spiritual murderers
and no murderer has eternal life dwelling
in him.
And so let us take to heart this warning
about false teachers.
Let us avoid them like the plague because they are a plague.
Let us pray that we ourselves would stand strong
in the truth and let us realize the fate of those
who teach false heresies and who lead God’s sheep astray.
Their condemnation from long ago is not idle.
Their destruction is not asleep.
Unless sovereign grace intervenes and brings them back
from the brink of destruction and brings them
to their knees in repentance, unless that happens,
they face eternal destruction from the presence of the Lord.
But praise be to God that Christ has redeemed us
by his blood.
And he’s given to us the truth of his gospel
and let us stand in that truth.
Let us avoid false teachers and let us embrace
and persevere in and continue to trust the biblical gospel.
You will better be able to detect the false
if you immerse yourself in the truth.
So immerse yourself in the truth of the gospel
and build your life upon Christ.
He is the rock of our salvation.
Rest in him alone for your salvation
and you will receive the gift of eternal life.
Praise be to God.
Let us pray.
Our Lord and Father in heaven, sovereign and eternal God,
we thank you and praise you that you love us enough
to warn us.
We thank you, Lord, that though your word in places
can be difficult and challenging, yet you reveal your word
to us out of love for us and you instruct us
that we might continue to cling to Christ
and Christ alone for our salvation.
Lord, we pray that you would help us as a church
and help us as individual believers to build our lives
upon the rock solid foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the truthfulness of his inerrant,
infallible, authoritative word.
We pray these things in Jesus’ name
and all of God’s people said, amen.
As we close our time together, let’s rise
and we’ll sing as our closing hymn number 404,
The Church’s One Foundation, 404.
And four.