WWUTT 352 Bringing Upon Themselves Destruction?

Why is it that there are such false teachers in the world who are allowed to preach their destructive and blasphemous heresies? It's because the Bible says there will be false teachers when we understand the text.

You're listening to When We Understand The Text, an online Bible ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty. Find videos and more at our website, www .wutt .com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky. We're in 2 Peter 2 again today. If you want to open up your Bible and join with me there, we're going to be reading verses 1 -3. We read through the entire chapter yesterday, and if you didn't catch yesterday's episode, I would encourage you to go back and listen to that first.

False Teachers in 2 Peter 2

Today we're going to pick up where we left off yesterday. So 2 Peter 2, beginning in verse 1, 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.

So we basically only got as far as verse 1 yesterday, and there's still some more things in verse 1 that we want to look at today. We're going to go slowly through 2 Peter 2, so that we might be able to distinguish the spirit of truth from the spirit of error, as John talks about in 1 John 4, 6.

And it's in the first verse of that chapter where he says, to test the spirits, for not every spirit is from God, and there are many false prophets who have gone out into the world. And Peter begins this chapter by talking about such false prophets, those who had arose among Israel, had arisen among Israel, and led the sheep of God astray.

In fact, Ezekiel specifically refers to them as false shepherds in Ezekiel chapter 34. And when in John 10, Jesus refers to himself as the good shepherd, and he talks about the hired hands who were not faithful to the sheep, but the good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep.

Those hired hands that he's referring to, the thief that comes to steal and kill and destroy in John 10, 10, those were the false shepherds in Israel that Ezekiel warned about in Ezekiel chapter 34. They were in it for their own gain.

Instead of feeding the sheep, they fed themselves. They were not honest. They were not true. They were not doing this from a pure heart, but there was selfish motivation behind the care that they were supposed to have over Israel.

They led Israel astray, and they themselves were judged because of their wickedness and their sin. We see this also in Jeremiah chapter 29. Now, Jeremiah 29 is famous for verse 11, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil to give you a future and a hope.

That's the ESV version anyway. You probably know it as a plan to prosper and not to harm you. The Lord goes on to say, then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will hear you and understand that this is a prophecy that is being said to the people of Israel.

So God is saying, you will call upon me, but your hearts will be transformed to seek after me and you will pray to me and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

But all of these things that God is promising to Israel is not going to happen for another hundred and fifty years. So this is a promise for a future generation. It is not going to be, it is not going to be seen as fulfilled by the generation that is receiving this prophet, this promise from the prophet Jeremiah.

So so that kind of blows up the way that we tend to use Jeremiah 29, 11 as a present promise for my hopes and dreams of the future, when this is a promise that was being given to Israel for their restoration 150 years into the future.

So so anyway, the prophet Jeremiah goes on in verse 15, speaking the words of God, because you have said the Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon. Thus says the Lord concerning the king who sits on the throne of David and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, behold, I am sending on them sword, famine and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten that they cannot be eaten. I will pursue them with sword, famine and pestilence and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth to be a curse, a terror, a hissing and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the Lord, that I persistently sent to you by my servants, the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the Lord.

Hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel concerning Ahab, the son of Koliah and Zedekiah, the son of Maasaiah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name, behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes.

Because of them, this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon. The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel.

They have committed adultery with their neighbor's wives. They have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. I am the one who knows and I am witness, declares the Lord. So just as God has fulfilled this thing among the false prophets in Israel, so also the false teachers of today will meet a swift destruction in their end because they did not speak the word of the Lord, but they were out to gain selfishly for themselves.

They led others astray with false words, not according to the true word of Christ. And what Peter is assuring us here of at the beginning of chapter two is that they will be destroyed. When Jesus gave the seven woes to the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 23, it wasn't just some kind of a threat.

It was a gracious warning that if you do not turn from your lies, that you are feeding the people of Israel, making them believe that it is by works that they can attain salvation and follow the words that I tell you, then you are going to be destroyed.

But Jesus was gracious with them so that they would know they could turn from their sin and follow him and thus be saved. So we have not only this promise in scripture that if we turn from lies and lawlessness to the truth of Christ and obey his commands, we will be saved and receive eternal life.

We have not only that promise, but we have also this promise that there will be false.

Teachers.

There will be. So when you look at a man like Joel Esteem, who has perhaps the largest church in America, one of the largest churches, and if not the largest network in the world where he is allowed to beam out his false teaching all over the globe.

How is it that a man is able to have the position that he has? Because the Bible says that he will. That's why we have it said for us in second Thessalonians chapter two, exactly why God allows such false teachers to exist and spread their lies.

In second Thessalonians chapter two, Paul is talking about the man of lawlessness. And in verse seven, he says, for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.

And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. In other words, this final battle that we are looking forward to at the day of Christ's return is going to be over like that.

Just as God can speak a word and bring all things into existence, he can speak a word and end all things just as quickly. And so that's the way it's going to be at the very end. With a breath of his mouth, Satan is going to be destroyed with the breath of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse nine, the coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

Therefore, God sends them a strong delusion so that they may believe what is false in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. In Revelation chapter 13, we read about the beast leading people astray, just as Paul is talking about here in second Thessalonians chapter two.

In Revelation chapter 13, starting in verse one, I saw a beast rising out of the sea with 10 horns and seven heads with 10 diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard.

Its feet were like a bear's and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it, the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast and they worshipped the dragon for he had given his authority to the beast and they worshipped the beast saying, who is like the beast and who can fight against us?

And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words and it was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling that is those who dwell in heaven.

Also, it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them and authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation and all who dwell on the earth will worship it. Everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the lamb who was slain.

If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is to be taken captive to captivity, he goes. If anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword, he must be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

That's the first, what, 10 verses or something I read there in revelation chapter 13. So we are told why God allows false teachers to be and utter their haughty blasphemies. It's because he means to bring to destruction those whose hearts are far from God.

There is an ultimate purpose behind why God allows such false teachers to exist and lead the people astray. But Peter warns those with ears who can hear that they may endure. As John said, enduring in the faith of the saints, false prophets will arise among the people just as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, secretly bring in destructive heresies.

So we must understand that the coming of false teachers is not always going to be obvious. We're not going to be able to hear a false teacher and go, well, see, that's a lie. And some people have powers of discernment more fully trained as it talks about in Hebrews chapter five, verse 14, I think is the reference.

Their powers of discernment are trained to recognize good and evil. And Paul talks about this in first Corinthians 12, 10, that one of the gifts of the spirit is an ability to distinguish between the spirits, knowing the difference between right and almost right the way that Charles Spurgeon put it.

So this, this is a gifting of the Holy Spirit to have discernment. And those who can test between the spirits are to be a service to their church. First and foremost, this gift and this ability is to be used in the church for the benefit of the people that you are with in your congregation and growing with together as you hear the word proclaim and you lift up your voices together in praises to your king.

When you know that you have the gift of discernment and by the way, you should also rely upon the authority of your elders and their counsel to determine whether or not you have this gift of discernment and how to grow this in you and perfect this gift so that it would be a benefit to the body of Christ.

When you know that you have this gift, your next order of business is not to immediately go on the internet and start calling out all false teachers. First and foremost, this gift that you have been given is to be a benefit to the saints that you worship with in your church.

This is one of the downsides to the internet. There are lots of benefits that the internet provides. For one, you're listening to this podcast so we can get out solid biblical teaching anywhere that somebody has an internet connection.

That's one of the benefits of the internet. But one of the downsides is it gives people an excuse to think that they can go to church on the internet and not have to interact anymore with the people that they're supposed to be growing with and exercising love with on a regular basis.

We must be in the fellowship of the saints. You must be in church and you must have a greater fellowship with the people that you attend church with than a fellowship that you have online, which is really not any true fellowship.

I mean, there's some fellowship that goes on there, but it's not a true personal fellowship in which you can exercise hospitality or people can see the way that you live and encourage and admonish you according to what they see and they witness in your life.

We must be willing to open ourselves up to the brothers and sisters in Christ that we are growing with in our own church congregations. And part of that growth means exercising a gift of discernment and able to help your brothers and sisters identify who the sound teachers are and who is a false teacher.

We are a benefit first to our own personal church congregation, the body that we are a part of before we are extending the gift of the spirit anywhere else, that particular gift of the spirit. And so this is the way that we are to benefit our church.

And Peter gives this instruction to those churches. And you got to understand, there was no Internet in this period. So they're reading the letters of Peter and they're understanding that this is an exercise that is to go on among us, the ways that we can protect one another from the lies of the devil, from the false teachers who will weasel their way in with destructive heresies, secretly bringing in these destructive heresies.

It's not always going to be obvious. In fact, the obvious heresies are few and far between. And so we must be patient with one another when we warn one another about these heresies. We talked about this when we were in Romans chapter 15 in particular, for the apostle Paul says, we who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up. And we read also in Romans 12, three, four, by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

And so we must be a benefit to our own church congregations, warning against false teachers who are secretly bringing in destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them. Now understand that phrase very carefully, because this is not saying that they openly deny the master who bought them.

They're secretly going to deny the master who bought them. You must listen closely to the way that they talk. Do they actually acknowledge Christ as Lord? Or is there something about their teaching that just really seems to be off in their consideration of who they even believe Christ to be?

This is one of the things that worries me about Andy Stanley's teaching, a name that I brought up yesterday, who I wouldn't outright say is a heretic, but he's got some things in the way that he says that that is really, really fishy.

Like when he talks about how he loves God and he believes Jesus Christ is Lord and he believes the Bible is the inerrant word of God, but yet he doesn't use it. And when he's not telling other people turn from your sin and naming those sins and saying stop doing those sins and follow Christ as Lord and obey him or else you will be destroyed and sent to hell.

When Andy Stanley is not willing to stand before his congregation and say that, it makes me wonder. And I say this very graciously, please don't hear me levying an accusation against him. That is unjust, but it makes me wonder if he denies the master who bought him.

When a teacher is not willing to openly confess the word of God and their submission to that authority and telling others to submit to that authority as well, submitting to that authority to an end that they unashamedly preach the whole counsel of God.

Do they in their hearts deny the master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction and will therefore bring others into destruction as well. 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. Just as we read in Jeremiah 29, how the false teachers were going to be destroyed. Those who led Israel astray and even those Israelites who are listening to the prophets of Babylon instead of the prophets of Israel, they also would be destroyed along with them.

Just as God fulfilled his promise in the past, he is going to fulfill his promise in the future as well. The false teachers that exist among us now will also be destroyed. We must be patient and know that God is doing a work with the things that are happening in the world around us, but for the sake of the saints and their calling as elect, we must teach the sound words of Christ and warn them against false teachers.

Those who have an ear will listen to us and will not follow those false teachers, but those who do not have an ear will not listen to us. I mentioned 1 John 4, 6 at the beginning of the broadcast. Here's that whole verse.

We are from God. John is saying we are from God. The apostles, those who teach the sound words of Christ are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

So those who are in Christ and in his truth and love his truth will listen to the sound teaching from the apostles, but those who are not in Christ will follow instead the spirit of error. So let the hearer know and understand a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

And we will continue with this teaching tomorrow as we continue in 2 Peter 2. Lord our God, we pray for endurance and we pray there would be a protection upon our heart that we would not be led astray by false teachers, but listen to the sound words of the Lord Christ, the message of your gospel, that Jesus came in the form of a servant taking on the likeness of man and became obedient to death, even death on a cross.

Therefore God is highly exalted him and given him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father, Amen.

Work this truth in our hearts and let us be so submissive to it that we cannot help but deliver the full counsel of God to those who will hear and thus turn from their sin and believe and be saved. In the name of the Lord Christ we pray, Amen.