Mirages & Mists - [2 Peter 2:17-22]

You know, I was a, as most all of you know, I was a deputy sheriff for 21 years in Los Angeles County. And I had some, during the course of those 21 years, some traumatic occasions. I've shared some of those in the past.

But there's almost nothing more shocking than coming into work one day and finding out that somebody you worked alongside has been arrested. That was pretty stunning. And it happened on several occasions.

Some were worse than others. I remember one man, one deputy was arrested after buying a kilo of cocaine from undercover police officers. And you might say, well, that must have been a shock. Not really.

During the break times, he would go out back when they were allowed to smoke. He would go out and he would smoke and he would hang out with all the gang members from the area where he grew up. So when he did that, I just thought, not too surprising.

I think I know of three deputies during the time I was on the department, men that I worked with. And one man or another, whether they were just in another car at the same time I was working or something like that.

But three men who were arrested for child molestation. Pretty stunning to come into work and hear that. Or to see it on the news. That happened once. And one night I worked in, I came into work. I was working in the jail towards the end of my career.

And I came in and I was working in this one particular area of the jail. And pretty much every night we had the same crew working in there. And I came in one night and I said, where is this man? And they said, well, haven't you seen the newspaper?

I said, no. And I said, well, his entire family was involved in trafficking narcotics. And he had been arrested on federal money laundering. Never saw him again. But, you know, even before I was a Christian, I knew that cops were not perfect.

I mean, I was a police officer. I knew that they made mistakes. But some of these things really stunned me. I mean, we were the good guys. We didn't do that sort of thing. But once we understand human nature, the depravity of man, these things are a little bit less surprising.

And so really it isn't that surprising when from within the pews, within the walls, within the confines of the church, false teachers arise. It's surprising because we want to think, hey, we're the good guys.

But we can never underestimate the depravity of man. Scripture talks about false teachers, false teaching. And then on the other hand, sound doctrine over and over and over again. Why? So that we'll be ready for it.

So that we won't be surprised. So that we won't be shocked. So that we won't have to turn to somebody and say, well, didn't you read the newspaper? I would invite you to open your Bibles to 2 Peter. We're going to be looking this evening at chapter 2, verses 17 to 22.

2 Peter, chapter 2, verses 17 to 22. Peter writes these, talking about false teachers. False teachers are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.

For speaking out arrogant words of vanity, they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of corruption.

For by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. For if, after having escaped the defilements of the world, by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them, and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.

For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. It has happened to them, according to the true proverb, a dog returns to its own vomit, and a sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.

False Teachers as Spiritual Mirages and Empty Promises

Now tonight, as we consider this passage, I want to walk you through four questions. Four questions that I'm going to ask about false teachers, so that you will be better able to understand what motivates them, how they operate, and their spiritual barrenness.

So that you will be standing at the ready, prepared to sound the alarm, so you won't be caught off guard when they arise. Four questions that will allow us to evaluate false teachers, and what Peter, by virtue of the Holy Spirit, has to say about them.

First question. These are all yes or no questions. Can false teachers, can those who teach an adulterated gospel, a false gospel, a gospel that cannot save, can false teachers provide spiritual satisfaction?

Can they provide spiritual satisfaction? Well, first of all, in verse 17, I want you to know that they cannot deliver what they promise. Our text tells us that they are springs without water. That's a curious notion.

Springs without water, not bed springs, springs machinery, but a spring as in a well, a bit of water. And in the arid Middle East, in the dry desert that is the Middle East, this is a particularly profound illustration.

These false teachers are mirages. Here's the picture. The picture is of spiritual pilgrims wandering through the desert, desperate for some relief, looking for something to drink, for something to satisfy them spiritually.

They're looking for deliverance from the oppressive world system, from all the sin and all the chaos that surrounds them. And as they crawl through this scorching sand, under this blazing sun, through the blast furnace-like wind, they see off in the distance an oasis, a spring, water.

They move towards it. When they arrive, they find out that that spring was an illusion. False teachers create false hope. That's what they do. They promise new spiritual highs, unimaginable happiness, a life beyond your wildest dreams, everything you could ever hope for.

But then you get there. And the reality is nothing like the promise. What's the most obvious example in Scripture, a contrary example, where someone says, I'm going to give you water and it's going to satisfy you?

Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman in John 4. I'm just going to read two verses so you don't have to turn there. John 4 verses 13 and 14. Jesus answered and said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again.

Meaning this water here in the desert that's just going to fulfill your physical need. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst. But the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.

The truth teacher, the teacher of all truth, says, This is water, this is spiritual water I will give you and you will never thirst. These false teachers promise great spiritual blessing, but they're a dry well.

They have nothing to offer. Those who come to Christ have their thirst slaked, satisfied. Those who follow false teachers receive nothing. Christ sets sinners free from the burden of their sin. He sets them free from the oppressive world system.

These false teachers can do nothing. Nothing. The Lord Jesus forgives, regenerates, reconciles, redeems, grants repentance. Those who come to faith in him are sealed by the Holy Spirit and one day will be resurrected to spend eternity with him.

There's no thirst there. There are no broken promises there. There's no illusion shattered. False teachers are nothing but springs without water. Illusions. They're also faddish. Can they bring spiritual satisfaction?

The answer is no. They have nothing to offer. They're an illusion. Secondly, they are faddish. They're trendy. You have as much of a chance getting a good deal from them as you do getting a good deal watching infomercials late at night.

You have about the same opportunity of having spiritual satisfaction as well. Look at verse 17 again. These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. That word mist or in some translations I believe it's clouds is literally, and this will really rock your world, an atmospheric condition that darkens the sky.

It's just a cloud. It's just an obstruction, a mist of some kind. But this atmospheric condition, note the text well, is being driven for by a windstorm. Again, picture you're in a desert. You haven't had any water.

Here comes the cloud being driven by this wind. The promise of what? Relief from the heat, relief from the drought, relief from the conditions of living in a desert. This is a great bit of wordsmithing here that gives us a picture of the hopes that are raised by false teachers.

And, of course, they do not deliver. They cannot deliver. And what could be more cruel than that? What could be more cruel than to promise great things to needy people and in the end bring them not only nothing but something worse than nothing?

What's worse than nothing? A lie is worse than nothing. It would be better to hear nothing at all than to hear these false teachers. And they are moved by the storm because they are not grounded in anything.

They are moved by forces outside their control. Fads, trends, whatever will work. Whatever marketing survey reveals will get money from the people they prey on. It is not a reach to compare these purveyors of pop religion to infomercials because they will alter, adjust, and finagle their pitch.

They'll fine-tune it until they get just what they want. I don't think it's an exaggeration to call them snake oil salesmen. They are going to sell you whatever it is that you want to hear. They will find out what your need is and they will say they are going to meet it.

But, ultimately, they have no foundation. They have no core. They have no truth by which they stand. So they are free to float, free to be pushed by those winds, and to do as they will. That's what they do.

So is there spiritual satisfaction to be had from these false teachers? No, absolutely not. They are an illusion. They are trendy. They are nothing. Second question. Should believers give false teachers the benefit of the doubt?

In other words, are these false teachers merely misguided? Are they maybe even Christians doing their best and just falling short? Well, Peter doesn't give them the benefit of the doubt. Look again at verse 17.

These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm for whom the black darkness has been reserved. It's not just darkness that has been reserved for them, but it's literally the blackness of darkness.

It's as dark as it can possibly be. You can't even see to turn the light switch off to see that you can't see anything. I mean, there's nothing. When we think about, again, a contrast. If we think about God is light, and in Him there is some darkness, no darkness.

But this black darkness, this blackest of darkness, darkest of darks, is reserved for them. It is a future destination for these false teachers. And I think it makes it abundantly clear that these profane prophets are not with Christ.

They're not going to end up with Him. Their future is not light. It is darkness. They are going to the darkest corner in the pit of hell. Jesus said, by the way, that it was not just darkness, but it was also a place of fire.

Also a place of fire. Again, you don't have to turn there. I'm going to read a couple passages from Matthew. See if these sound like Peter had heard these sermons before. Matthew 8, verses 11 and 12. The Lord says, I say to you that many will come from east and west and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So there we have a picture of that outer darkness, that dark place. And listen in Matthew 13, verses 40 to 42.

So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks and those who commit lawlessness and will throw them into the furnace of fire.

In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. There's going to be a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth. And it will be in a place of fire and in a place of darkness. These are those whom Peter is describing.

Stumbling blocks. Those who cause others to stumble. Those who commit lawlessness. They will forever reap what they have sown. They will be punished for the pain that they have inflicted on others. So many who trusted them, who looked to them for deliverance, for spiritual guidance.

But these were illusions. They were empty promisers. They were nothing. But they will be eternally objects of God's unrelenting wrath. Note also that that hell, the darkness, has been reserved for them.

It is a perfect tense, meaning a one-time action with ongoing permanent results. Again, eternity. But I want you to just keep your finger there in 2 Peter and then turn over to 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1.

In the introduction of this letter, Peter is writing about the blessings that have been given to Christians. Now listen to this, verses 3 and 4. Who, according to his great mercy, has caused us, every believer, to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Verse 4. Exact same verb. Exact same tense. Perfect one-time action with ongoing results. Heaven reserved for every believer. The darkest corner of hell reserved by God. Reserved by His power for false teachers.

Same writer, completely different. Fates, destinies, await those two groups. And it's not just Peter. You can turn back to 2 Peter. It's not just Peter who condemns them. They are condemned by their own words and their methods.

Look at verse 18. Their words condemn them. For speaking out arrogant words of vanity. Arrogant words. I mean, it literally pictures words themselves. I mean, if you can picture these words flying around, you know, as actual big block letters.

And these words themselves are pictured as being puffed up and swollen. Arrogant in and of themselves. They're puffy beyond normal size. It's like they're proud of themselves. Look at me. I'm a verb. These are seriously arrogant words.

You hear some of these false teachers talk, and it's like listening to a used car salesman. Only one that you can't get rid of. One that you can't turn off. You only came in to take a test drive. But the next thing you know, you're signing for the loan.

MacArthur writes, they fool their followers into believing that they possess deep theological scholarship, profound spiritual insight, and even direct revelations from God. They speak out these words, and they sound so authoritative.

They sound so convincing, so compelling. Why? Because they sound like they're smart. They sound like they've got some really great spiritual insights. And maybe even they say, God told me. I've got a few false teacher statements, because I like to spice up these false teacher sermons with some of these.

Listen to this one. As born-again believers, we are partakers of the same promises as those that were made to Abraham through Jesus Christ. That's true enough. For all the promises of God in him, Christ, are yea, and in him, amen.

Unto the glory of God by us. It is the nature of God to bless us and bring goodness into our lives. Then he quotes Psalm 34 .8. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Okay. Sort of. Covenant people live under an open window of God's blessing.

You have a right to live in the land of blessing and prosperity that God will lead you to when you obey the laws of the land. If you are not living under the blessings of the covenant, determine today to be obedient to his commands and see him pour out a blessing you will not be able to contain.

And he's citing here 2 Corinthians 1 .20, Deuteronomy 28, Malachi 3 .10. You know, it's the whole audibilized scripture thing. You know, Malachi 3 .10 and just hut, hut, hut. But listen to this final statement he makes.

Lord God, I bow down before you to worship you and serve you. I submit myself totally to your will. I receive the truth that I am blessed to be a blessing. Amen. Everything he says is predicated upon God being an unending source of money, of earthly financial blessing.

And he says, I will submit myself to you. Well, he says, basically, I will submit myself to you as long as I am blessed, I receive great financial security and wealth so that I may, quote, be a blessing to others.

Is that bowing down? Is that accepting the will of God, whatever it may be? It's not only a great example of hopscotch hermeneutics kind of taking one verse out of context, linking it to another verse out of context, and then making it mean whatever you want it to say.

But it's nothing like what the men of the Bible would say. What was it that Job said? Though he slay me. Another one. This is a little bit older. He says, come on, ye prosecutors, ye false swearers, all hell boil over.

Ye burning mountains, roll down your lava, for I will come out on the top at last. I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam.

A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from him. But the latter day saints never ran away from me yet.

Another one. This is by someone that many would say, or that certainly her followers would say as a Christian. Ellen G. White said this, but if there was one sin above another, which called for the destruction of the race by the flood, talking about the race of man, it was the base crime of amalgamation of man and beast, which defaced the image of God and caused confusion everywhere.

Not only is that unbiblical, it's nonsense scientifically. It means nothing. And I was reading a lot of her this week. And basically she says a lot of things that just aren't anywhere in the Bible. You want to talk about puffed up words, about words that are arrogant.

It is to take what the Bible says, throw it out, and make up your own text. That's exactly what she does. Here's a bit of a 60 minutes interview. One pastor, small p, I guess, preaches his own version of what is known as the prosperity gospel.

That God is a loving, forgiving God who will reward believers, which that part is true, with health, wealth, and happiness. It's the centerpiece of every sermon. Now these are quotes from him. I want you to get a bigger vision.

There are exciting things in your future. Your future is filled with marked moments of blessing, increase, and promotion. God has already ordained before the foundation of the world the right people, the right opportunity.

Time and chance are coming together for you. Why don't you get your hopes up? Why don't you start believing that no matter what you have or haven't done, that your best days are still out in front of you?

They go on during this interview. They say this. It's an appealing, comforting message. It tickles the ears. And he follows it up with advice. If you're not making as much progress as you would like, here's the key.

Don't lose any ground. Keep a good attitude and do the right thing, even when it's hard. When you do that, you are passing the test. And God promises you your marked moments are on their way. These are not the words of Scripture.

These are not the words of God. Not at all. Even as we consider what the Lord said to Job in that passage Brian read earlier. We talk about 1 Peter. We could talk any number of things. Was Paul blessed or cursed when he went through all that he went through?

All the beatings. All the trials. Everything that he suffered on behalf of the gospel. Some would say today that that was a cursing. That he should have probably been sitting somewhere on the Mediterranean in a big mansion living the high life.

It's not the biblical picture. These are false teachers with arrogant words. How about this? This is from allegedly the most correct book on earth. The most correct book ever written says this. For we know that it is by grace that we are saved.

After all we can do. That book is not correct. That is a lie from the pit. And yet time after time these lies are propounded and believed. People are drawn away towards them. Their own words, the words of false teachers condemn them.

And it's not just their words, it's their methods. Again look at verse 18 in our text. Their methods. They entice by fleshly desires. What do you mean by fleshly desires? Well I'm going to explain that in a minute.

By sensuality. Those who barely escape from the ones who live in error. Look at who they go after. The end of verse 18 there. Those who barely escape from the ones who live in error. In other words they target those who are newly saved.

Or maybe they're not saved at all but they're simply trying to reform their lives. They're looking for a refuge from the sinfulness, from the wickedness that surrounds and engulfs their lives. They come to church to reform.

How many people have you talked to during your life, and I'm sure Bruce has had this experience, where you talk to somebody and they say, you know what, you're right. You preach the gospel to them and they say, you know what, you're right.

I'm going to start going to church and I'm going to get my life right. Does going to church save you? Absolutely not. They have a wrong idea. They think that by doing things they can be saved. But they go after these people that are either saved or just not saved, and within the confines of the church.

False teachers are described as wolves in sheep's clothing. Well what do wolves do? They attack sheep, but they attack those that are the weakest. I mean I don't know if there's a strong sheep, but predators, I mean is there?

I think they're all just pretty pathetic. But here's the picture. The picture is of these false teachers, these wolves sitting up on a hilltop watching the flock, watching for those that kind of linger behind, those that are wounded, or those that stray too far from the shepherd.

That's the one I want. That's the one I'm going after. It'll be an easy mark. And look how they do it. It's not a full out assault. They don't just go charging in. They're not flashing their fangs. They're not just trying to go grab them and drag them out.

Again in verse 18 it says, they entice, they draw. They're trying to trap them by fleshly desires. It's clearly a reference to sexual sin, but it's more than that. They want these who are new Christians or marginally involved in the church for some other reason to seek not the self-denial of Christianity.

They don't want them to count the cost. They want them to be pleasure seekers. Hebrews says this, heresy has ever been prone to make its appeals to the flesh to undermine the demands of obedience to the moral obligations of the gospel.

Jesus says, here's the standard. They say, you know what? Not really. You don't have to do all that. You can feel good about yourself and still hang on to your sin. Heretics bait the trap by appealing to those who are vulnerable at their most vulnerable point.

These men and women, and there are many women in this category of false teachers, claim to speak for God. They speak with great eloquence. They use these great puffed-up words. And those who are being tempted are not well-grounded in the truth.

They're weak. One writer says their first teachers had preached to them the importance of purity. These new ones, this new teacher I have, told them that purity doesn't really matter. It's of no consequence.

False teachers are in the business of adulterating the word of God, of changing it, of mixing truth with half-truth, twisting scripture. They won't say half God really said. What they'll do is something like the man did earlier, patching together a bunch of scriptures out of context and twisting them to mean something they never meant.

Should we give false teachers the benefit of the doubt? No. Peter doesn't. God doesn't. He's reserved the darkest section of the pit of hell for them. And even their own words and their methods condemn them, going after the weak.

Question number three, can false teachers provide spiritual help? Can they provide spiritual help? Verse 19, promising them, meaning these weak sheep, these maybe Christians, maybe not, promising them freedom.

While they themselves, these false teachers, are slaves of corruption. For by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. These false teachers have every outward appearance of wisdom. They may well have degrees.

I love these guys when they have all these doctorates and all that stuff and you go, what university did they go to? And it was some side street in, I don't know, Holden. And you just go, I didn't even know there was a seminary there.

Well, there's not. It's a nursing home that has a back room where they print out these degrees or whatever, but they have impressive titles. They may be well-versed in social circles. They may have a lot of foreign dignitaries that appear with them to give them credibility.

They might have entertainers show up and sing their praises. They travel the globe. Today, they're on TV and radio. They drive nice cars, wear nice clothing. By any worldly standard, they have made it.

They're successes. They have access sometimes to political power. They are important in ways that most faithful preachers of the gospel could never hope to be. And even if faithful men could have these things, they probably would not want them.

But this aura of importance, this kind of image of having insight, gives them a platform to offer help to those struggling with issues of sin and just the standard issues of life. But the false teachers promising anyone freedom, promising anyone help, is a bit like a drunk promising to help out an alcoholic.

It is a meaningless offer of help. They tell the weak that they will set them free. But they will only set them free of their sense of guilt. Guilt that they ought to have. If the law of God is written in the heart of every man, and it is, then every single one of us has an awareness of sinfulness.

It's something we call conscience. And when our consciences are aroused, when they are troubled, when that alarm goes off, we dare not ignore it. And the false teacher says, you know what? If you ignore that sound, that five alarm bell you hear in the back of your head, it will go away.

And guess what? It does. It does. That sense of guilt goes away. Anytime you fail to heed your conscience, your conscience becomes dulled. It becomes less acute, and sin becomes more palatable. The Greek tells us that they exist, the text says are, and the verb is literally they exist, in a constant characteristic state of being slaves.

They are slaves of sin. Now think about the irony of that. I can free you. I can set you free. I have the power to give you freedom. Do you? Yes, well, I'm a slave, but I can do it. I can set you free.

I can't set myself free, but I can set you free. They are wrapped in the steel chains of sin, never having been set free by the Son of God, and they promise a freedom that they have no right to promise.

The word corruption, again in our text verse 19, has at its root a word that means a breakdown of organic matter, a dissolution, a deterioration. And here the idea would be inward depravity. In other words, their spiritual condition is completely separate from their external appearance.

Their spiritual condition is really, they are dissolving on the inside. They are becoming worse and worse. They are becoming harder and harder. But that's not how they present themselves. They present themselves as deliverers, as beacons of hope, of messengers of freedom.

But they themselves are enslaved. Their inner man is decaying. Inner man is decaying. Their soul is decaying, not being strengthened. They have been enslaved by the very sins that they cannot shed on their own.

They are entrapped by the very things with which they entice the unsuspecting. Again, look at that verse. For by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. Really is a military picture. If a conquering army came in and took over a city, they would typically take the men, especially out of the city, if they didn't kill them, as a slave.

And so what he's saying, listen, here are the forces of sin coming upon your life. They overtake you and you are carried away as a slave to that sin. Again, the verb overcome. By what a man is overcome is a perfect tense, meaning a one-time action.

They have lost the battle. And it has ongoing, permanent results. They have become permanently overcome or captured. And it's the same of enslaved. They are permanently enslaved. Every indication is that the bondage of these false teachers to sin is without end.

And again, it just mirrors what Jesus said. In John 8 .34, Jesus said, Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. If you habitually sin, you are its slave. So can false teachers provide spiritual help?

Absolutely not. Should believers, point number two, question number two, believers give false teachers the benefit of the doubt? I don't think so. And number one, can false teachers provide spiritual satisfaction?

Absolutely not. Number four, is there any hope for false teachers? Well, I think in the largest sense, the answer has to be yes. As with any sinner, we want all to come to repentance. We certainly know that we don't deserve salvation.

It's only by the grace of God that any of us can claim Christ. But there is a special judgment reserved for false teachers. And there is also a special curse pronounced upon them. Can they be saved? Yes.

If God so wills it. But it seems he's not often disposed towards such grace. I'm not saying that he cannot, but it seems like he won't often do it. Look at verse 20, and I would say that this is kind of a they were of us passage.

For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. These false teachers, this is what they did. They sought to, much like the ones that they pray on.

For whatever reason, they wind up in the church. They are within the boundaries, within the confines. They have made some kind of push away from the pagan world that surrounds them. And for a time, they have had a refuge in the church.

And look again at the text. It tells us that they had knowledge. They had knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. They could easily have mixed into a church service on a Sunday morning. They would have looked like us.

They would have talked like us, and they would have acted like us. But they were not of us, because their hearts never beat with us. The truth never went the 18 inches, as we sometimes say in evangelism, from the head to the heart.

They never believed from the heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. Intellectually, they knew the truth. But their hearts were never transformed. They were never regenerated. They were never born again.

Look at verse 20, the second part of it. They went out from us. They are again entangled in them. In what? In these sins. And are overcome. The last state has become worse for them than the first. Well, after some time, however long it is, we can't say here.

They return to the very defilements. They seem to have escape. And such a change, such a transformation, such a reversal. Some of you have probably wrestled before for points. And when you're on the bottom and you're getting crushed by somebody, and then you're able to reverse them, that's the picture.

It's exactly the opposite. They have flipped the whole situation over. They have from a position of hope to a position of hopelessness. They are in a worse state than if they had never come to know anything about Jesus Christ.

Again, Jesus spoke on such matters. In Luke 11 verses 24 to 26. Now this is intriguing because it has to do with demon possession. And sometimes I wonder about these false teachers. But let's let the text read for itself or speak for itself.

Jesus says, When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest and not finding any, it says, I will return to my house from which I came. Meaning the body from which it came.

And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order as if there's been some kind of reformation that's taken place in this person's life. Verse 26, Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself.