If you went to a doctor who diagnosed you with a fatal disease.
And then said to you, you know, just go home and take two aspirin and get a good night's rest. As long as you're sincere. You'd say no, no tolerance is not a virtue in this case. Truth is. And when you're giving people eternal directions, you better be careful.
Counterfeiting is a big industry that seems to rake in lots of rewards, but there are big consequences when those guilty of it are caught. Today on Connect with Skip Heitzing, Skip shares how God's Word equips you with the wisdom to spot fakes. Now we want to tell you about a resource that inspires you to live with unyielding confidence in God. You know Proverbs 31, the go to passage that describes the ideal Christian woman and life.
But let's be honest, that ideal can be as intimidating as it is inspiring. Here's Skip Heitzing with more. Can I just tell you, it's exhausting to just read that, let alone how on earth women could you ever do that?
Well, let me say first of all, you can't do that in a day. He's not giving the 24 hour description of the virtuous wife. This is a woman over time. Get to know some of the most incredible women in the Bible and in history with two inspiring resources. A six message CD collection from Pastor Skip on prominent women in scripture, plus the book Seven Women by best selling author Eric Metaxas. This bundle is our thanks when you give $35 or more to help expand the Bible teaching outreach of Skip Heitzig. Charm is deceitful, beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Call now to request these captivating resources as our thanks for your generous gift.
800-922-1888 or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer. Okay, we're in Second Peter chapter two as Skip Heitzig starts today's study. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to go with some of you on a journeys of Paul tour, where we went to the city of Ephesus where Paul spent three years of his life.
You have to land first at the port city of Kusadasi to get to Ephesus. So I'm walking down the street of Kusadasi and I see a sign hanging down that caught my attention. It plainly said fake watches.
And I thought I have to go. Fake watches. So I was just so intrigued and I was with my tour guide who said, Skip, these watches are like the best fake watches.
They look so realistic. So I went in and I still have mine, by the way, it's after three years, it's working fine. But I was with a guy who had the real version of what I bought the fake version of. He has the real one and he looked at it and he looked very closely and he had a little magnifying glass, looked front and back, waited and he said, you know, I really cannot tell the difference. In fact, if we were to mix these up, I may walk away with the wrong watch.
And I thought, well, that's a thought. But so I purchased it and I was with another friend of mine who knows watches pretty well. And he recognized it goes, oh, that's one of those dah, dah, dah. And I said, actually, it's a fake watch. And he said, wow, it looks pretty good. And then he looked it over and he said, if you opened it up, you could tell. If you look inside, you can tell it's fake. Today we have the opportunity to look inside the mind and heart and results of false teachers, as we'll be told in this chapter. Whenever somebody speaks for a company or an advertisement is shown that represents a company, you expect that there's going to be an accurate description of what that company is all about or trying to sell. It doesn't always work that way, though.
Here's an example. Years ago, when Gerber Baby Food decided to market in the country of Africa, they decided they would use the same strategy that they have used here over the years. You know Gerber Baby Food has on the front jar a cute little Gerber baby, right? And so they thought they'll use that cute little Gerber baby to put it on their jars in Africa. What the Gerber company didn't realize is that in Africa, because of the very high rate of illiteracy, most people, many people, at that time especially, did not read, that companies would place on the labels the contents of what was inside. So can you imagine what it would look like to see a little baby on the front of a jar?
You'd be repulsed by it. And so it didn't really work well. It was the wrong message they were sending. And then there was the case of Pepsi Cola, who was marketing in China, and they wanted to use the slogan, I am alive with the Pepsi generation. But it didn't translate that way in Chinese. It actually said to them, Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the grave. Again, not a great selling point. And then there's the case of the Coors Brewing Company, who wanted to use the slogan that was very successful elsewhere, turn it loose. But when translated into one Spanish-speaking country, it read this way, suffer from diarrhea.
I don't think you're going to want to drink that, right? Now, these are innocent mistakes. Babies aren't in jars and your ancestors won't come back from the grave. But the point is, it did not represent what that company was all about. Anyone who claims to speak for God must represent God correctly, or they will be labeled by scripture, false prophets. False prophets' words are like false labels on the front of jars.
They send the wrong message, wrong information. 2 Peter 2, 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 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.
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. 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 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. For that righteous man dwelling among them tormented his righteous soul from day to day, by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds.
Then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment. And especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise authority. 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 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.
They will receive the wages of unrighteousness. As those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime, 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. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. Welcome to church.
What a heavy passage of scripture to read. And we immediately ask after reading that, why is Peter so harsh? In fact, some of us might say, come on Peter, don't you know that really what's important in life is a person's sincerity? Doesn't matter what they believe, everybody believes different things, as long as you're sincere.
I would answer that by asking you a question. If there was a blind man walking down a path, and that path ended in a cliff, and as he's walking down that path toward the cliff, he hears that you're around and he asks you for directions. And he says, which way should I step? Would it be appropriate for you to say, it doesn't really matter which way you step as long as you're sincere? No, that wouldn't work in this situation, would it? Or if you went to a doctor who diagnosed you with a fatal disease, and then said to you, you know, just go home and take two aspirin and get a good night's rest. As long as you're sincere, you'd say no, no, tolerance is not a virtue in this case, truth is. And when you're giving people eternal directions, you better be careful.
And Peter, like a good surgeon, diagnoses the problem and is ready to conduct surgery. Now the central thought here is this, God loves you enough to warn you about it. God cares for you enough that he would say, you and I discerning what is true and what is not is all important. Think of it this way, God is hanging a beware sign out. You've seen those signs, beware of dog. It's a little chihuahua, beware of dog. Sometimes you better beware of the dog because they'll take you, take you down. Or beware of falling objects or beware of oncoming traffic.
I saw one sign that said, beware, I just turned 16 and I have a license. That is scary. Here's God hanging the sign, beware of false teachers and false prophets. Now as we have read this, I want to make three statements based upon what we just read. In fact, they are three principles, three rules really of dealing with counterfeit teachers and they're simple. Be aware, be assured, be aligned. Be aware of their falsehood. Be assured of their fate and be aligned with the faithful.
All three of these are clearly seen in the text that Peter writes. The first thing though is that we are to be aware of some of the things that would characterize a false teacher, a false prophet. Be aware of their falsehood. Now listen, I went through this text and I counted about 25 things to be aware of.
I'm going to spare you that. I've summed them up by giving you six little things you ought to be aware of. Six little things that are features of common false prophets. Number one, they're always around.
They're always around. Verse one, there were also false prophets among the people. That's the people of Israel. Even as there will be false teachers among you. Throughout all of this scripture, there are warnings that are sounded from the time of Moses to the time of Messiah. Did you know that in Deuteronomy 13, way back in the time of Moses, it's a whole chapter devoted to instructing the Israelites on how to spot a false prophet, a false dreamer, even a false miracle worker. Then the prophet, the true prophet, Isaiah, warns about prophets who teach lies and cause Israel to err. Then there's Jeremiah, the Lord spoke through him saying, the prophets prophesy lies in my name. God continues, I did not send them. I did not command them.
I did not speak to them. And yet they prophesy false visions. See, there's always been false prophets. There's always been false gospels. There have always been fake Christians. And in the end of days, there will even be a false Christ that will be presented.
And why is that? Because that's Satan's M.O. That's his biggest trick in the bag. His number one tactic is deception. That's what Jesus said.
He is a liar and the father of lies. Not only that, but as we near closer and closer to the end of days, you can expect it to proliferate. It's not going to get any better. It's going to get worse, according to Jesus in Matthew 24. Many will come in my name saying, I am Christ and deceive many.
And many false prophets will rise up and they will also deceive many. When you were in school, you learned Newton's third law of motion. You go, no, I wasn't there that day. Oh, you were there.
You'll recognize it when I say it. Every action brings an equal and opposite reaction. And that is also true in the spiritual world. Every action from heaven brings a correspondent reaction in the realms of hell. And earthlings are the crossfire. It's just like when you turn on a light in the summertime on your back porch, all the bugs come. The light of truth shines in this world and bugs will come.
They've always been around. A second thing to be aware of is that they will distort the truth. Verse one tells us, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies. That's a loaded word, isn't it? Heresy. Heretic. We've heard the word.
I just don't know if we know what it means. He thinks about somebody who makes a preferential choice. And the idea here is somebody who chooses something that isn't true.
William Barclay said it best. A heretic is a man who believes what he wishes to believe instead of accepting the truth of God which he must believe. Why would anyone choose something to believe rather than what Jesus said or what the Bible said they must believe?
Here's why I think. All of us, all humans, have a longing to worship something. It's the way God wired us. But because natural man, modern natural man, has any aversion at all to absolute truth, what most people would rather do is simply adopt some generic spirituality. So they'll pick and choose. They'll come to the Bible sort of like a salad bar. And they'll say, I'll take the golden rule. And that love your neighbor as yourself bit, I like that. And oh yeah, that judge not lest you be judged.
Got to have that in there. So basically what they're saying is, I'll take a small order of Christianity please. Hold the guilt.
I'm on a guilt-free diet these days. And that's what is more palatable to believe. And notice something about them. Not only do they bring in destructive heresies, how do they do it?
What does it say? They secretly do it. They'll come quoting scriptures, big smiles as they knock on your door. And they'll say Jesus and all the right words. Nobody knocks or comes up to you and says, hi, I'm your local neighborhood false prophet.
Give me five minutes and I bet I can deceive you. They're not going to come that way at all. Think Little Red Riding Hood.
That's how they'll come. The big bad wolf dressed up like grandma. But first like Little Red Riding Hood to get in grandma's house.
Then after eating grandma, waited dressed up like grandma to get Little Red Riding Hood in the door. They come in secretly. Listen, false prophets will use our vocabulary but not our dictionary. They use the same terms. Jesus, savior, salvation, inspiration. But the meaning of the words that they are using are not the meaning of the words as you know them from scripture.
Same vocabulary, different dictionary. Here's something else you should be aware of. They deny Christ. They deny Christ.
Verse one says, even denying the Lord who bought them. Next time you encounter somebody from an aberrant group, from a false cult, ask them a simple question. Don't argue about all the minutiae about this and that.
Just ask them a simple question. Tell me about Jesus. Who is he? What do you believe Jesus to be? You will discover within moments truth or error. If they deny or affirm Christ. And by the way, when it says here they deny the Lord, it means they contradict the Lord. They say about Jesus what Jesus never said about himself.
So here's the scoop. To deny Jesus Christ is to deny his incarnation, that he left heaven and came to this earth. To deny Jesus Christ is to deny his salvation, that he lived the perfect life that we could never live and then paid the atoning death. To deny Jesus Christ is to deny his substitution, that he bore our sins, that he took our punishment. To deny Jesus Christ is to deny his resurrection, that he conquered death and he promises to us eternal life. And to deny Jesus Christ is to deny his ascension, that he is actually seated at the right hand of God and is worthy of our praise and worship. In a nutshell, Christianity is Jesus Christ. And if he is not who he claims to be, then we don't have a Christian faith. In fact, if Jesus is not who he claims to be, then he's guilty of putting the wrong label on the jar. But if he is who he claims to be and others deny that, now they're guilty of putting the wrong label on the jar.
Something else you should be aware of. They will broaden the way to heaven. They broaden the way. Look at verse 2. And many will follow their destructive ways because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. Do you see the word many?
This tells me that the false teachers will be very popular because they take the narrow way and they broaden it. They make it easy. Now, please don't misunderstand me. It's not some major hard feat to be saved. You just have to trust in Jesus Christ that he paid the price for your sins.
But part of that is the willingness to repent of your sin, to turn from that and turn to Christ. The false teacher comes along and will say, yeah, you know, but anytime you make it so narrow in one way, you just alienate so many people. So let me just broaden it out a little bit. I was in a bookstore. I don't know if there are any bookstores around anymore, but we have one.
That may be the last one. But I was in a bookstore and it was back east. And I was at a book stand where they were featuring a book of a religious leader newly put out.
I won't tell you his name or the name of the book. And there was a young girl who opened the book and started to look at it. She was curious. And then I saw a young man come up beside her and I heard the conversation. It went like this, you ought to buy that book.
It's really good. And here's why. This preacher, he won't talk about sin. He won't make you feel bad.
He won't talk about repentance. What this young man said is, no, this preacher will just tell you how good you are already. That you don't need to change.
And I thought of the words of Jesus who said, White is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and many go in by it. You need to be aware of that. Something else you need to be aware of. They will cover up their motives.
Verse 3. By covetousness they will exploit you. They want something from you. They want power. They want money. They want status. And they will make merchandise of you.
They will exploit you. I've seen this for so many years in obvious things like this. I've been in meetings where I've heard this. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I'm hearing from God.
Yes, there are. Yes, Lord. Yes, yes.
There are 10 people here with $10,000 each. Hallelujah. And I'm going, oh, gag. Give me a break. No wonder Paul wrote to the Thessalonians and said, Neither at any time did we use flattering words nor a cloak for covetousness.
That's the motive. I want something out of you. Many, well, I'll be accurate. Many, many, many, many years ago, I taught a Bible study in Garden Grove, California, right off the 22 freeway and Beach Boulevard. It was a home Bible study that was growing, growing. And one night, I remember a young man came in, smiles in the Bible, and he was there the next week and the next week.
By about the third week, because we didn't know who he was or his background, he kind of revealed who he was after the Bible study. He had been eyeing this cute little girl in the Bible study. And he walked up to her, and I overheard this conversation. He said, The Lord told me that you're to be my wife. Now, how's that for a pickup line? Have you ever heard that one before?
That's new, isn't it? The Lord told me you're going to be my wife. So, she held up her wedding band. She said, I'm already married.
Thank you. And he didn't stop. He persists. He goes, Well, that only proves that you married the wrong person, and you need to leave him and marry me. So, I gave him a good dose of, Thus saith the Lord, right on the spot. But that's exactly the kind of stuff that was happening back in Peter's day.
That's Skip Heising, with a message from the series Rock Solid. Now, we want to share about an exciting opportunity you have to take your knowledge of God's Word even deeper. Going to church is a great way to learn about God, but what if you want to learn more?
What if you want to go deeper? Calvary College offers classes in Biblical studies, classes like Theopoetics, Life and Lessons of C.S. Lewis. Learn more about God and the Bible on your schedule. Take evening classes on campus or online. An education from Calvary College will impact your spiritual life for the rest of your life. Apply now at calvaryabq.college.
That's calvaryabq.college. Do you want to see people come into a relationship with the living God? The way we get to know Him is by knowing His Word. That's why we've made these life-changing Bible teachings available all around the world, and you can help take this broadcast further by giving today. Give now to share the Gospel with more listeners like you. Just visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. That's connectwithskip.com slash donate. Or you can call 800-922-1888.
800-922-1888. Thank you. Tune in again tomorrow as Skip Heitzig shares why living cautiously in your journey of faith is sometimes a good thing. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast all burdens on His Word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
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