Difference Between False Teachers & False Prophets (2 Peter 2)

Moore's Corner Church

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I'm sure you would feel the same. I just love the word of God so much.

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I love the teachings of Jesus and his apostles so much.

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I love the truth of God so much. That's why I hate false teaching so much is because I love

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God's word. And I hate to see it distorted, but let's open up to 2

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Peter chapter two. But this is gonna be lesson number three. In our discernment series this week, we're gonna be looking at the subject of false teaching.

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Next week, we'll look at the subject of false prophecy. And some people have wondered,

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I think somebody asked me a little while ago, what's the difference, if any, between false teachers and false prophets?

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Is it the same thing? It's not really the same thing. There's some overlap.

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I realize some people would use the term synonymously, but I think there is a difference between a false teacher and a false prophet.

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So tonight we'll look at false teaching. Next week, what it means to be a false prophet.

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But just to give a short definition, a false teacher, this is a definition I found,

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I agree with it. A false teacher deceives by distorting or misapplying the revealed word of God.

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A false prophet deceives by claiming to receive new words from God.

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So the false teacher misuses scripture to make it say something it doesn't say.

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The false prophet, they may do that too, but the false prophet is claiming some new revelation or new prophecy.

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So you see there is a distinction between false teacher and a false prophet.

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So we're gonna look at 2 Peter chapter two. This is an entire chapter dealing with the subject of false teachers.

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So let's just read through the whole chapter and then we'll go back and look at the verses individually.

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But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the

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Lord who bought them and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.

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By covetousness, they will exploit you with deceptive words. For a long time, their judgment has not been idle and their destruction does not slumber.

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For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment and did not spare the ancient world, but saved

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Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly and delivered righteous lot who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked.

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For that righteous man dwelling among them tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds.

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Then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.

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And especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority.

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They are presumptuous, self -willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, whereas angels who are greater in power and might do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the

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Lord. But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand and will utterly perish in their own corruption and will receive the wages of unrighteousness as those who counted pleasure to corrals in the daytime.

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They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls.

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They have a heart trained in covetous practices and are accursed children. They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but he was rebuked for his iniquity, a dumb donkey.

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Speaking with a man's voice restrained the madness of the prophet. These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

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For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lust of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error.

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While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption, for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.

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For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning, for it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.

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But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, a dog returns to his own vomit and a sow having washed to her wallowing in the mire.

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So does that give you an idea of at least how Peter felt about false teachers?

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Yeah, I mean, that's some pretty serious language there. So 2

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Peter is an entire chapter dedicated to this subject of false teachers.

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If you read it, if you're familiar with the book of Jude, you can see how the two are very similar.

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Some people think that one was kind of basing their letter off the other, we're not sure which was first.

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But I've told you before, the subject of false teachers, false prophets, it's a major theme that runs straight through the

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Bible, whether it's Moses who talks about it, Jeremiah dealt with it, Jesus, Peter, Paul, John, Jude.

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I mean, every single New Testament epistle deals with this subject, except the book of Philemon.

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So it's like the entire New Testament to some degree is dealing with this topic.

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And yet it's something that often gets ignored today in the church.

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I think one reason is because it's the type of subject that you kind of have to name, okay, maybe who are the false teachers?

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And as soon as you name somebody, there's bound to be somebody who listens to that person. And so I think people don't wanna talk about it because they know someone inevitably will get upset.

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I think that's the main reason why it's ignored. But let's just go through some of these verses to see what

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Peter says. We're gonna look at the marks of a false teacher. How do you identify a false teacher?

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What are they really, what are they doing? What are they after? What's their motivation? So verse one, he says there were, but there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will also be false teachers among you.

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So Peter's audience is largely Jewish Christians. So they would have been familiar with Israel's history, how false prophets were a major problem all throughout the

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Old Testament. The people had to determine who's the true prophet and who's the false prophet.

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Because there was always somebody, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, but for every true prophet, there were probably a thousand false prophets, right?

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And it's easy for us to look, we just open the Bible, Isaiah was the true prophet, we can point to it.

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But if you were living back then, you didn't have that luxury. You had to discern who's telling me the truth, who's the true prophet and who isn't.

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So he's saying, just like it was back then in the Old Testament, through Israel's history, the same problem, you're gonna have the same problem in the church.

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And isn't that true? Isn't that a major problem even right now that we have to deal with false teachers?

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So remember, false teachers are not false prophets. They're not claiming to receive a direct revelation or some prophecy from God.

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They're really mangling the scripture, taking it out of context. We say twisting the scripture and making it say something that it's not.

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So we're all clear on the definition of what a false teacher is and what they do. So they're somehow distorting

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God's word. Yeah, Greg. So the people that are saying that's only a guideline and they're not the truth?

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The Bible, you mean? Yeah, if they say the Bible is not the word of God, it's the word of man,

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God's ideas are in there, sprinkled throughout. The Bible is really written by men.

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It's not God's word. Yeah, I mean, that would be a clear example of a false teacher.

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Someone who says that, I mean, they're almost not even a wolf in sheep's clothing because if they're denying the

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Bible's true, it's almost like, but there are a lot of pastors of churches that would say that.

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So yeah, I mean, that would be an example, I suppose. Anyone else? Okay, so we know what we're talking about.

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If you're a member of this church, you know the term heresy. Notice what Peter says about the false teachers.

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They will secretly bring in destructive heresies. So the term heresy doesn't get used a lot today.

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It's basically somebody who causes division. A heretic is someone who causes division.

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So heresy is a divisive doctrine, okay?

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It's something that is taught in the church. It's not biblical, and because it's not biblical, some people that buy into it are gonna be arguing with the

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Christians that that's not true. Yes, it is, and it creates maybe a church split because somebody's teaching divisive doctrine.

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I mean, that's what heresy is. So if I taught, like, let's think this through. If I got up from the pulpit next

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Sunday, and I said, you know, I've been really looking at some of these verses in the

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Bible, and I don't think Jesus is the only son of God. I think that Jesus was just a man, and I think, right?

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If I taught that, would some people be upset Sunday morning? Yeah, right.

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Yeah, that's an extreme example, but you understand, like, false teaching makes people upset.

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It's, yeah, it's divisive. So false prophets, they would claim to get their teaching straight from God, but the false teacher is taking what's already there and twisting it.

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All right, let's turn to Matthew chapter four, and this is a really great example of false teaching because, well, first of all, here, it's actually

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Satan who's quoting the Bible, and we'll see that Satan, he knows the

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Bible, but when he quotes it, he takes it out of context, and that's really what false teachers do.

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They might have the Bible open, they may be reading it, but they're taking it out of context.

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So we're gonna read Matthew chapter four in just a minute, but if you remember 2

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Corinthians 11, the apostle Paul was dealing with false teachers, and he called them ministers of Satan, remember that?

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So Satan himself quotes the Bible to Jesus. So Paul says, you know, it's no surprise if his ministers present themselves as ministers of righteousness.

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So they're trying to manipulate people by taking the Bible out of context, usually to get money.

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That's a big problem, money and power. And what's Satan want here?

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Satan wants power. Satan wants Jesus to bow to him so that he can be, you know, that he can be king, essentially.

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All right, Matthew chapter four, verse one, then Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

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And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights afterward, he was hungry. Now, when the tempter came to him, he said, if you are the son of God, command that these stones become bread.

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But he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

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So we see the devil tempts Jesus, and Jesus responds by quoting scripture.

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And that's a good approach. When you're tempted, you should, you know, scripture should come to mind.

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Quote it out loud if you have to, but that's a good approach. And the devil notices that.

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So next time he decides he'll quote scripture. Verse five, so then the devil took him up into the holy city, set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, he shall give his angels charge over you.

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And in their hands, they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.

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So what's the devil doing? Oh, if you're the son of God, you know, prove it. Jump off the temple.

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God can't allow you to die. So the angels will have to catch you and lower you down to the ground.

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So the devil quotes Psalm 91, 11, and 12. And he takes a

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Psalm that if we were to turn there, the Psalm is about safely abiding in the presence of God, trusting in God.

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But the devil twists that, or at least he, you know, twists the application as a way to justify putting

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God to the test. Okay, should we put God to the test?

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Should we test God, tempt God? Well, you notice what

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Jesus says in response, verse seven. He says, it is written, again, you shall not tempt the

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Lord your God. So was the devil using scripture accurately? I mean, he was using it for his own purposes to try to manipulate

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Jesus into doing what he wanted him to do. So false teachers, this is their whole deal.

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They take the Bible. See, I'm up here with the Bible. I'm spiritual, look at me. And people maybe trust the minister, the preacher with the

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Bible open, but he maybe subtly or obviously, depending, he'll twist the meaning, take it out of context in order to try to get you to do something.

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And again, usually it's to give him money or to exalt himself or just to have control over people.

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And in cults, you know, people, cult leaders, they twist the Bible just to have control over people's lives, every little area of their life.

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So I love that Matthew chapter four is an example of somebody in the

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Bible, the devil taking verses out of context. So you see what he did, totally mishandling the word of God.

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All right, now let's turn to 2 Corinthians 11. But the point is, if Satan is willing to quote the

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Bible, it should really come as no surprise that evil people would quote the

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Bible for their own purposes, right? I mean, some of the most evil people in the world are

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Christian ministers. I mean, they're not really Christian ministers, they're false teachers, but it's like some of the worst people in the world, they either go, you know, to Hollywood, Washington, D .C.,

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or they enter the ministry. Like, these are some of the worst. 2

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Corinthians 11, 12 through 15, Paul says, but what

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I do, I will also continue to do that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast.

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Basically, there were people that were claiming to be apostles when they were not. And Paul says in verse 13, for such they are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.

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Did you know there are people today, right now, who claim to be apostles of Jesus Christ?

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And maybe you know their names, maybe you don't, but there are people right now claiming that. But Paul says, you know, it's no surprise, it's no wonder, verse 14, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.

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Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness whose end will be according to their works.

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So if it was happening then, and the church was receiving false teachers and listening to them, so much so that they were really questioning, is this

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Paul guy legitimate? Who's ever heard someone in a church or a pastor kind of denigrate the

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Apostle Paul? Oh, this is a big thing. I heard one woman, it's usually, you know,

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Paul is the one who made those statements about women not, you know, being silent in the church. That's not a popular thing.

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I've heard female pastors really rip into the Apostle Paul. So Paul is kind of like the most hated

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New Testament figure among feminists. But that's something that was happening back then, and it still happens today.

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All right, go back to 2 Peter chapter two. But you see the statement, these people are, this isn't my opinion, these aren't my words, according to Paul, at least, they are ministers of who?

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They're pretending to be ministers of Christ, but they're ministers of Satan. Now, does that mean they're preaching about Satan?

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You know, receive Satan as your Lord. Is that what they're doing? No, they would say positive things about Jesus.

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They would even say they believe the Bible probably. So you have to watch them.

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I mean, they are clever, and they can really pull the wool over people's eyes. As I've said many times, no false teacher ever admits they're a false teacher.

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Even if you can point it out that they're taking things out of context, and you show the video, they're never gonna admit it.

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They'll always have some response. No one in the history of the church has ever admitted to being a false teacher, right?

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So they can be very slick. 2 Peter 2 .1. Again, false teachers will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the

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Lord who bought them. This would indicate they're claiming to be Christians. Commentators think

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Peter is maybe using sarcasm here that they claim they belong to Christ, but the

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Lord who bought them, they don't really belong to him. But we see that they do claim to be

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Christians. What did Jesus call? Well, he said this about false prophets, but he called them what? Wolves in sheep's clothing.

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So they're pretending to be Christian ministers, but he says they bring swift destruction on themselves.

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So what does that tell you? Like these people are not saved. Like they're not just a little bit off.

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And we have to be careful just because somebody takes a verse out of context.

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I mean, let's face it. Somebody could make a mistake and misunderstand the context or just repeat something that they hear.

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I suspect every person in this room has probably quoted a verse or at some point in their life said something that, okay, that really wasn't in the right context.

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That doesn't make everybody a false teacher, but it's when somebody is, you know, they're in a ministry, they're preaching, they're doing it consistently, they're admonished for it, and they don't listen.

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Like it's been pointed out. They don't take correction. They continue to do it. That's where it becomes, you know, at the level of a false teacher.

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Because anyone can misunderstand the context of a verse. This would have to be something more serious.

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Has anyone ever taken something out of context, you realized it later on? Yeah, I mean, it's pretty common.

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So we don't want to be quick to judge like every little thing, just kind of jump on people.

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But when someone has a ministry and they've been doing this for years and people have brought it to their attention, they don't listen, then that's a different situation.

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Verse two, many will follow their destructive ways. They're convincing a lot of people because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.

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By covetousness, they will exploit you with deceptive words and we see this is very strong language.

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For a long time, their judgment has not been idle and their destruction does not slumber.

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So we don't know what they were doing. Were they denying the virgin birth? Were they denying the humanity of Christ?

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I think in the epistles of John, there's some evidence they were denying Christ's humanity. In Galatians, we know that false teachers were teaching a perverted gospel.

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Remember, they're adding works to the gospel, the works of the law, circumcision.

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So if you preach a gospel where it's salvation by faith plus works, that makes that person a false teacher.

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So let's just try to think who would be, in our society right now, who would be the perfect example of a false teacher?

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Joel Osteen. Okay, who did you say? Joel. Joel Osteen.

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Joel Osteen definitely takes verses out of context. If you listen to other pastors,

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I could give you my opinion, but if you listen to other pastors, a guy like Mike Winger is a very well -known

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Christian YouTuber, a pastor in his own right, and he says, no, Joel Osteen, I disagree with him, but it does not rise to the level of false teacher.

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He says, Joel Osteen preaches the true gospel. He's not a false teacher, but he does take things out of context.

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Other people, like John MacArthur, would say, no, he definitely is a false teacher.

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So you get disagreements with him. I think one thing that Christians would all agree on,

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I think, Bible -believing Christians, that the Pope is a false teacher.

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Okay, because I want to have unity here tonight. Is there something that hopefully we can agree on? Because the

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Pope does not claim, as far as I know, to hear directly from God.

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So I don't think he's a false prophet. I've never heard him claim some new revelation, but he does quote scripture out of context, like really, really bad, really bad.

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Let's turn to Matthew chapter 16, because this is one of those, one example

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I can think of just off the top of my head, somebody asked the

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Pope, Pope Francis, about the death penalty, and historically, the Catholic Church supported the death penalty.

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I mean, they carried it out for hundreds of years, but he's against it. So he said,

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I'm against the death penalty because of the Bible, he said. I believe the Bible. And do you know what verse he quoted to speak against the death penalty?

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Exodus chapter 20, he said, well, the Bible says, thou shalt not kill. And I'm thinking to myself, all you have to do is keep reading.

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Let's say someone in Israel murdered somebody. What was the penalty? Death. So does he not know that?

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Of course he knows that, but he has no problems just taking things out of context, because he can get away with it.

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And all the Popes have gotten away with this. Matthew 16, here's a passage that they definitely twist.

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Matthew 16, starting in verse 13, when Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, who do men say that I, the son of man, am?

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So they said, some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

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And he said to him, but who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, you are the

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Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said to him, blessed are you,

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Simon Bar -Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven.

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And I also say that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades, or hell, shall not prevail against it.

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And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

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And then he commanded his disciples that they should tell no one that he was Jesus Christ. Okay, now what does this have to do with the

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Pope being a false teacher? Popes, they all hold to the same position, they would all say the same thing.

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They justify their position of the papacy, because have you ever read about the

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Pope in the Bible? Yeah, it's interesting, in the Bible there's no cardinals, there's no archbishops, there's no monasteries, no nuns, no monks, none of that.

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A lot of that's from Eastern religion, the monks and the monasteries. But the whole concept of the papacy, it's not in the

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Bible, and everybody knows it. So when, if the Pope were confronted, well, where do you get this idea that you're the head of the church, and you have all this authority over the church?

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He would point to this passage in Matthew 16. So when Jesus said to Peter, thou art

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Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, Peter was the first Pope. And since he's the first Pope, Jesus is giving him the authority of the papacy, and that's been going down through the ages, passed on from Pope to Pope, and now

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I hold the position of Peter as head over the church, and I have authority over. Is that stated in the text?

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I mean, it's such a bad argument, like it's not there by any stretch of the imagination, but what is that?

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He's taking a passage, he's twisting it, infusing his own doctrine, and making it say something that it's not.

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It's a passage exalting the person of Christ as the son of God, and Peter realizes it, and you know,

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Peter, you realize it, because God showed, but that's what it's about, but they turn it into a passage all about the authority of the papacy.

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And obviously, they and their priests teach salvation by faith plus what? Work, so again, that would be another clear example of what a false teacher would do.

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All right, so 2 Peter, let's go back to 2 Peter 3, we're almost done, there's a lot of things

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I could say, but the number one motivator of what a false teacher is trying to do, they're trying to get your money.

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What did Peter say? By covetousness, right? Verse three, by covetousness, they will exploit you with deceptive words.

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Verse 14, they have eyes of adultery that cannot cease from sin.

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Ever notice how some of these, you know, it's, I say televangelists, because they're kind of the most obvious group, not all of them, just because someone's on TV doesn't mean that, but a lot of the modern day false teachers are these guys on TV.

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You ever notice how there's so many sexual scandals among these guys? Always. Always, yeah.

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Back in the 80s, there were two guys, Jim Baker, Jimmy Swagger. They brought more reproach upon the body of Christ than hardly anyone else.

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I have a whole list of Christian leaders saying about Jim Baker, he is the worst testimony in church history, they say about him.

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Went to prison, sexual scandals, all of it. You know, Benny Hinn, same thing.

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Gets caught, you know, gets caught with a woman that's not his wife, and these people, there's no accountability, and they just go right back into the ministry.

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Some of them never even step down. But one thing a lot of these guys have in common, they all, if you listen to them preach, it's all about money.

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Whatever the sermon is, whatever the passage of the Bible, it always comes back to money, and it's about donating to my ministry.

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Another man, he would be maybe more of a false prophet because he claimed to receive revelation from God, but you know,

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Jimmy Swagger, Jim Baker, embezzling money, all of that,

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Jim Baker did that. Oral Roberts, remember he claimed to see a 900 -foot tall

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Jesus who said, "'You have to raise $8 million by March "'or

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I'm gonna kill you.'" Remember that? No, it sounds like Oliver's travels. We're gonna get the pictures.

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But his followers, you know, were deceived. They love the guy. We don't want our beloved

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Oral to die. So they ponied up to $8 million for this faith healing center or whatever, this hospital.

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And long story short, the hospital closed and it was a massive disaster.

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But you know what the unbeliever does? See, the average person in the world can see

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Benny Hinn on television or any of these people, and they know what that is. They say, this is a con artist.

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They're quoting the Bible. And I don't know if the unbeliever can spot when something's out of context, but they know these people are frauds.

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They know they're con men. They know they're just trying to get money. But there's a lot of Christians that,

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I don't know if they're gullible. I don't know what it is that draws someone in, but it does so much damage to the body of Christ.

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Desperation. Yeah, desperation. But ultimately, I want something,

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I need something, whether it's healing or I want money, I wanna be rich too. And they're willing to give these people their donations.

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By whom the way of the truth will be blasphemed is what Peter says.

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So a lot of people blaspheme the name of Christ. They think Christianity is a joke.

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Christianity, they're all a bunch of frauds. That's what they think because this is what they see on television.

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So this is what false teachers do. They bring a massive amount of reproach to the body of Christ.

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Verse 17, they are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

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Jude says clouds without water. So they appear like they're gonna bring something of great value, but it's really just an illusion.

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They promise blessing, but all you end up with is, all you get is dryness.

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One last thing, two more things, we're almost done. Verse 18, they speak great swelling words of emptiness.

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Have you ever listened to a preacher and he's lifting his voice and the things he says, they sound profound, but when you think about what he's saying, it's like he's not really saying anything.

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It's just, it's nonsense. It's what do they say, a word salad, right? So if a preacher says something like God is moving, this is some examples

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I got. God is moving. The Holy Spirit is about to bring breakthrough.

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The atmosphere is shifting, so you need to get in position. You need to get in alignment with God because his anointing is about to fall in this season of your life.

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This is your moment. Breakthrough is here. Will you receive it? Like, you know, these are great swelling words.

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They sound significant, but it's not biblical. He's not really saying anything. You know, you're gonna get something.

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Something is coming and it builds the excitement, but at the end of the day, there's nothing of any substance there.

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So that's what, that's the type of thing false teachers do. So what do they do?

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Number one way to spot false teacher, they're always coming back to money.

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Number two, I would say a big red flag. They almost never go chapter by chapter, verse by verse through the

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Bible. Topical sermons are fine, okay? But if it's always a topical sermon where it's like one verse and they use a word in that verse as like a springboard to talk about what they want to talk about, that's a pretty good indicator.

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So always talk about money. Hardly ever go chapter by chapter, verse by verse through the Bible. If they're self -appointed or there's no accountability, they can be involved in a scandal and like nothing even happens.

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Okay, that's a bad, a bad sign. But yeah, always, always talking about money.

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The three P's, they want power, they want prominence, and they want prosperity.

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So they want power, fame, and cash. One last thing, because the prosperity preachers are probably, the guys on TV, we're talking about with money and all this, to me, this is so obvious.

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Unbelievers can spot it a mile away. You probably understand this by now, I'm sure. I'm sure you understood it long before.

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But one other way people are engaging in false teaching, this is kind of a,

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I don't know if it's new, but I'm noticing it more and more, where love, the concept of love is used as sort of a justification for anything and everything.

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So the phrase, love your neighbor. Well, you need to support this, this cause or this lifestyle or this sin or this, because after all,

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Jesus said, you need to love your neighbor. So that person is, because everyone's your neighbor, right, in this scenario.

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So whatever they're doing, you need to accept it because love your neighbor. Who's heard something like this?

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They quote love your neighbor to pretty much justify anything and everything.

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So in conclusion, Peter ends the chapter by saying, verse 22, but it has happened to them, the false teachers, according to this true proverb, a dog returns to his own vomit and a sow having washed to her wallowing in the mire.

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If you remember what Jesus said, you will know them by their what? Fruit. So if someone's a false, if they're truly a false teacher and they're against God, if that's part of their nature, they're against God, they oppose

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Jesus, it's gonna come out eventually, right? Dogs can be nice pets, they can be cute, but you know, have a dog long enough, they're gonna do something disgusting, right?

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That's all there is to it. You can take a pig, wash the pig, put perfume on the pig, put a nice little bow on the pig and the pig looks so cute, but the pig's gonna go back to rolling around in the filth because that's what pigs do, it's in their nature.

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So false teachers, eventually, if you pay attention, it's gonna come out.

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Something will be evident that yes, this person is a false teacher.

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And notice what Peter says going into chapter three, so we'll end with this. He says, beloved, I now write to you in the second epistle in both of which

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I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder that you may be mindful of the word spoken by who?

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Spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the

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Lord and Savior. So what's Peter saying? He's warning about false teachers, then he returns to scripture.

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Okay, scripture was written, Old Testament written by the prophets, New Testament written by the apostles.

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So this is our responsibility as Christians to know the word of God.

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In a way you can do that, I always, I haven't said it in a while, but I'm sure you used to hear this a lot.

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When you come to church, what do you bring with you? I know you have your cell phones now, but you bring your

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Bible and wherever I'm at, oh, I already know what it says, I don't need to open.

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Well, maybe, but you should always have your Bible open and follow along.

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Oh, well, we can trust Pastor Mike. Yeah, I'm telling you, yes, you can trust me not to take the

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Bible out of context, but that's what a false teacher would tell you, right? Yeah. Yeah. So whoever, a person that may need to bring their

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Bible to church, whatever the pastor's preaching, they need to have the Bible open and they need to examine what he's saying, is he getting this from this?

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And if what he's saying isn't lining up with this, if it's a consistent pattern, if it's opposing this too, and it's brought up and he doesn't correct himself,

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I mean, that's the church that people need to get out of. So always focus, always go back to God's word, read the

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Bible, test everything in context. If you do that, you'll never be led astray.