The Word Is Alive Second Peter

The Word Is Alive Second Peter Chapter Two Narrated by Tony Gillon

Chapter Two • Summary of Chapter Two • Peter strongly warns of the dangers of false teachers.

Chapter Two • Summary of Chapter Two • Peter strongly warns of the dangers of false teachers. • Peter knows that such people will be severely punished, as will those that choose to follow them.

Chapter Two • Summary of Chapter Two • Peter strongly warns of the dangers of false teachers. • Peter knows that such people will be severely punished, as will those that choose to follow them. • Peter gives a graphic account of just how wicked these people are, but that God can lift his own out of their clutches.

Chapter Two • 2 Peter 2:1-22 – • False Teachers and Their Destruction

Chapter Two • 2 Peter 2:1-22 – • False Teachers and Their Destruction • In this third main section of his letter, Peter engages in a polemic against the false teachers, using biblical analogies to do so. • False teaching was something that had been an issue throughout the early days of the church. They have remained a problem throughout church history.

False Teachers and Their Destruction • 2 Peter 2:1–3 - Influence of false teachers

False Teachers and Their Destruction • 2 Peter 2:1–3 - Influence of false teachers • Peter states there were false prophets before and false teachers now in the church.

False Teachers and Their Destruction • 2 Peter 2:1–3 - Influence of false teachers • Peter states there were false prophets before and false teachers now in the church. • Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves (Matthew 7:15).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect — if that were possible (Mark 13:21-22).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • False teachers are often charismatic and use half-truths to suck people in. • There are also ‘Seekers of Smooth Things’.

False Teachers and Their Destruction • False teachers are often charismatic and use half-truths to suck people in. • There are also ‘Seekers of Smooth Things’. • They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions (Isaiah 30:10).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • 1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them — bringing swift destruction on themselves.

False Teachers and Their Destruction • A false prophets cost the life of a man of God: • The old prophet answered, “I too am a prophet, as are you. And an angel said to me by the word of the Lord: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” (But he was lying to him). (1 Kings 13:18).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • There is a real contrast between the false teachers and the men of God Peter had spoken of in the previous chapter. • The false teachers were the modern equivalent of the false prophets in the OT.

False Teachers and Their Destruction • Her prophets are arrogant; they are treacherous men. Her priests profane the sanctuary and do violence to the law. (Zephaniah 3:4).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • God warned of false prophets: • This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:16).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • God warned of false prophets: • The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The oracles they gave you were false and misleading. (Lamentations 2:14).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • Paul warned of false teachers: • I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears (Acts 20:29-31).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God’s work — which is by faith. (Continued).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk. They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm. We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. (Continued).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers — and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me (1 Timothy 1:3-11).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as if with a hot iron. • (1Timothy 4:1-2).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • False teachers do not have the Word of God or his Spirit within them.

False Teachers and Their Destruction • False teachers do not have the Word of God or his Spirit within them. • Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist (2 John 7).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord (Jude 4).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts (2 Peter 1:19).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter (Isaiah 5:20).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • Some commentators believe the apostles are referring to teachers with a Jewish background but teaching on sexual immorality would have come from Gentiles, so both groups are in evidence as false teachers.

False Teachers and Their Destruction • Secretly. • They will subvert the truth by surreptitiously bringing destructive heresies into the church.

False Teachers and Their Destruction • Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. • (Ephesians 2:19–22).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him (Deuteronomy 13:6-8).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • Anyone who does not speak the truth about God and the Gospel of His Son is teaching false doctrine and will pay the price for it, bringing swift destruction on themselves.

False Teachers and Their Destruction • The false teachers will even deny the truth about the sovereign Lord Jesus Christ who bought them. • Peter apparently uses the language of redemption.

False Teachers and Their Destruction • One opinion is that Christ bought them, but God did not apply this payment to them because they rejected Christ.

False Teachers and Their Destruction • “Damnable heresies are commonly brought in privily, under the cloak and colour of truth. Those who introduce destructive heresies deny the Lord that bought them. They reject and refuse to hear and learn of the great teacher sent from God, though he is the only Saviour and Redeemer of men, who paid a price sufficient to redeem as many worlds of sinners as there are sinners in the world”. • Matthew Henry.

False Teachers and Their Destruction • TheLord who bought them: • Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. (Acts 20:28).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • You were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body. • (1 Corinthians 6:20).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • You were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body. • (1 Corinthians 6:20). • You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men (1 Corinthians 7:23).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • False teachers have their own agenda, which may be to build something for themselves where they will have power and influence, or they may be representatives of Satan.

False Teachers and Their Destruction • 2Many will followtheir shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.

False Teachers and Their Destruction • 2Many will followtheir shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. • Peter warns this will have a huge impact on the church and many will follow the false teachers.

False Teachers and Their Destruction • 2Many will followtheir shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. • Peter warns this will have a huge impact on the church and many will follow the false teachers. • Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character” (1 Corinthians 15:33).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God — having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • Many will follow: • This is a sad fact that has borne the test of time since Peter’s day.

False Teachers and Their Destruction • Their heresy will be characterised in part by their shameful ways or sensuality, Greek aselgeia, which means ‘lack of self-constraint or abandonment to immoral behaviour, which most often refers to sexual sin.

False Teachers and Their Destruction • Even when their drinks are gone, they continue their prostitution; their rulers dearly love shameful ways (Hosea 4:18).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing (2 Corinthians 4:2-3).

False Teachers and Their Destruction • Bring the way of truth into disrepute refers to a degrading of the Gospel truth and its divine subject, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

False Teachers and Their Destruction • Bring the way of truth into disrepute refers to a degrading of the Gospel truth and its divine subject, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. • “And now what do I have here?” declares the Lord. “For my people have been taken away for nothing, and those who rule them mock,” declares the Lord. “And all day long my name is constantly blasphemed” (Isaiah 52:5).

The Word Is Alive Second Peter