A Portrait of False Teachers, Part 2

And such false leaders are Peter's concern as he writes this epistle. This letter serves not only as a warning to them, but a warning to us to set our defenses against such false teachers as are bound to infiltrate with the goal in mind of leading us to slaughter. From the brutal murder of Julius Caesar to Benedict Arnold's betrayal of West Point during the Revolutionary War to Guy Fawkes' failed attempt to assassinate King James, history is filled with the tales of traitorous men. Now, while you may never face a violent betrayal, you might one day have to deal with a spiritual traitor, perhaps even in your own church. And today on Grace to You, John MacArthur is going to help you spot those traitors, those false teachers, and show you how to deal with their lies. It's part of his series that's looking at the New Testament beginning to end.

And now with today's lesson, here's John MacArthur. Turn your Bible, if you will, to 2 Peter chapter 2, the subject of the portrait of false teachers. There has always been, in the history of the church, a major danger to God's people by those who would lead the church to its destruction as agents of the enemy. And consequently, the Scripture has much to say about how God views those who are false, those who pretend to be friends but really represent the enemy. And such false leaders are Peter's concern as he writes to the Christians scattered around the Gentile world in this Epistle. This letter serves not only as a warning to them but a warning to us to set our defenses against such false teachers as are bound to infiltrate, claim to be our friends with the goal in mind of leading us to slaughter. Remember, Satan's most subtle operation is to falsify God's truth from inside the church, to pose as one of us a friend, a sheep like us, thus to deceive, thus to destroy. As Peter pens this second chapter, he unmasks the traitors. In fact, in chapter 1 verse 16, Peter contrasts himself with false teachers already at work in the church when he says, We did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The implication is that there are some who are feeding you cleverly devised fables.

He was aware already that the future was now and that false teachers were active. Paul said it in Galatians chapter 1 very clearly. He said, I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel. There are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. Even though we are an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. Already these false teachers were busily infiltrating the church at the beck and call of Satan. They were the agents of seducing spirits teaching demonic doctrine. Paul in Philippians calls them dogs, evil workers, false circumcision. When you read the pastoral epistles 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, you see constantly in the background the pictures of these false teachers. As I said in the epistle of Jude, the same thing. And so from the very beginning of God working with a chosen people, Satan has endeavored to sow his tares in the midst of the wheat and the false in the midst of the true.

It is his most subtle operation. Now let me remind you of what we noted as we looked at the operation of these false teachers. First we saw the sphere of their operation and we noted that they worked among the people and they now will work among you. These false teachers that Peter is talking about work inside the church. There are false teachers outside the church, of course, in all the false religions of the world, but the most potent, the most destructive to the work of the church are on the inside.

Secondly, the subtlety of their operation. It says in verse 1 that they secretly introduce destructive heresies. Their operation is deceitful, it is subtle, it is undercover, they smuggle in their demon doctrine, they smuggle in their spiritual ideas that are not from God. What they teach is obviously opposite the truth of God and Paul, as I noted, says, and though they be claiming to be a messenger from God, they are evidenced by the characterization of their teaching when it says their heresies are of destruction. They bring destructive heresies. This teaching invented by demons, propagated by these hypocritical liars who are parroting the doctrines of demons, is intended to lead people astray and dam them into Satan's eternal dwelling place.

Satan is trying to collect people for hell, and he wants to work inside the church, not because he can steal the salvation of true believers, but because he can confuse and deceive those who are coming into the church pursuing the truth, and because he can also derail and confuse true believers and render them useless. Now he says that their heresies are of destruction. I need to comment on that word. Destruction is used five times in this letter. Five times in just these three chapters, it always means final damnation. It always means final damnation.

That is its intent. It is used a second time. You'll notice right there in verse 1. It is used again in verse 3. It is used again over in chapter 3.

Its uses refer to final damnation. They bring in teaching that damns souls. Now remember, it cannot dam the regenerated soul, but it can dam those who come to the church in pursuit of truth. By the way, it assumes unsaved people in the church. And if you have problems with that assumption, you need to go back to Matthew 13.

And remember that there are some temporary converts, soil that is rocky, soil that is full of weeds. And yes, we assume that there are many people who come to the church, some seeking truth, who are then confused and deceived by the false teachers. So the sphere and the subtlety of their operation. Thirdly, the sacrilege of their operation.

This is the heart of the issue. The sacrilege of their operation. It is unthinkable, and I suppose that's why Peter throws in the word even in the middle of verse 2. Their heresies are destructive, even denying the master who bought them. That is the sacrilege of their operation. The word even, as if unthinkable, denying.

Very interesting. Now follow carefully because you need to know these words. Denying, our noumenoi, means to say no to. It means to be unwilling. It means to refuse. It's a strong word, to say no to. By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, Hebrews 11 and 24, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He refused to submit to that. He said no to that. That's what the word means.

Present tense indicates a habitual pattern of saying no. These false teachers, watch this, can be recognized because they characteristically say no to whom? To the master who bought them. What does that mean?

This will expose the depth of their crime and their guilt. The word master here is the word in the Greek despotes, from which we get the word despot. That means sovereign lord. It means ruler.

It means master. That is the meaning of despotes, master. The word despot or despotes appears ten times in the New Testament and it always refers to one who has supreme authority.

Now listen to this. Peter is saying the supreme sacrilege of false teachers is that they deny the sovereign lordship of Jesus Christ. They deny the sovereign lordship of Jesus Christ. That's their supreme sacrilege.

Now listen carefully. There are heresies that could include denying Christ's perfection. There are heresies that could include denying the virgin birth, denying the deity of Christ, denying his atoning sacrifice, denying his bodily resurrection, denying his ascension, denying his second coming, denying his future kingdom, denying his eternal glory. Those would be heresies too. But the supreme and unthinkable heresy is to say no to his sovereign lordship.

This is the matter at hand. Here are people who probably won't deny the deity of Christ, who probably won't deny his atonement outwardly, even though they may deny it inwardly, who probably won't take a position against the virgin birth and the bodily resurrection, who may not deny the second coming, may even preach it. They may name Christ, claim Christ, serve in his name, preach his name, cast out demons in his name, do many wonderful works in his name, but they say no to his what? To his lordship.

What does that mean? That means they will not submit their lives to his rule. The issue here, beloved, is primarily not theological.

It is ethical. It is not their theology that unmasks them. It is their morality that unmasks them.

You understand that? It is not their theology that that is covert. It is their morality that unmasks them. And he says they even deny the master who bought them. And that completes the analogy of the despotess. Some people have wondered why he added who bought them. It's because a master, a despotess of a house, bought the slaves and the slaves owed him allegiance as their sovereign. They bore his name. They were associated with his estate, but they refused to submit to his authority.

That's the analogy. This describes those who claim to believe in Christ. They affirm the atonement. They affirm that he bought them with his death. They affirm that they belong to him.

The word bought is agorazo, simply means to buy, to purchase. True Christians gladly affirm they are bought. We gladly affirm that we have been redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. We gladly affirm that we are bought with a price. We are gladly affirming that we have been purchased by his blood. We also gladly affirm that having been purchased, we are under his sovereign lordship. We are his slaves. We are his servants. We obey his word. The true believer gladly affirms that. The true believer gladly affirms I have been purchased by Christ for servanthood. He is my despotess, my sovereign Lord and master, absolute Lord over all that I am and all that I have.

Listen to me. To deny the lordship of Jesus Christ is not to be relegated to second class Christianity. It is to be damned. It is to be damned if it is a true denial of his sovereign lordship.

Why do you say that? Because it says in verse 1, denying the master who bought them, bringing swift damnation upon themselves. It is self-inflicted by a process of persistent rebellion. Quick, sudden, soon. That's what swift means. Quick, sudden, soon, destruction, either by death or by the coming of Christ in judgment.

Now the idea, people, is this is very crucial. When you are identifying a false teacher, sometimes you can't tell by their theology. You have to look past that to their morality. And you are not asking what they affirm, for they may affirm that Christ has bought them. You ask, do their lives demonstrate submission to the sovereign Lord?

Now, the false teachers, they say no to sovereign lordship. They're not interested in it. All they want to do is deceive the people in the church. All they want to do is the emissaries of Satan, whether they know it or not, and some of them know it and some of them don't.

Some know their deceivers, some don't. They are the pawns of Satan to carry out the ruse of deception. They're not interested in following Jesus Christ.

They're not interested in submitting their life to Him. Fourth point, the success of their operation. We've seen the sphere of it, the subtlety of it, the sacrilege of it, now the success of it. Would you please notice verse 2, and many will follow.

Stop right there. Discouraging, isn't it? Many will follow. You know, there aren't even many who go on the narrow way, are there?

Few go there. Many follow the deceivers. Back in Matthew 24, Jesus predicts that in the time of the end, verse 10, many will fall away, deliver up one another, hate one another.

Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Listen, they attract people. They attract people with their talk about Christ and their talk about belonging to Christ, but they don't want to submit to sovereign lordship. They want freedom to live the way they want to live, and so many people are led astray into a kind of Christianity that knows nothing about submission to the sovereign Lord.

Why will they be so popular? Why will so many follow them? Because they can have Christ and they can have sin. They can have Christ, they can have sin. It takes me to the fifth point, the state of their operation, the state of their operation.

Please, back to verse 2, many will follow. Here it is, their sensuality. That is a very strong term, asulgeia. It means sexually immoral, depraved, debauched conduct without restraint, sexual immorality. They preach a Savior, they don't want a Lord.

Why? Because they want to feed their lust. By the way, sensuality here is plural. Their sensualities, their debaucheries, their sexual immoralities. The word is plural, emphasizing all the more that their sexual lewdness was habitual and came in many forms and extremes. They practiced immoralities.

They are the libertines. They are what theology calls the antinomians, against any rules or standards. Saying no to the lordship of Christ and infecting others with that same cheap salvation allows them to be immoral, live any way they want to live. The state of it leads to the stigma of their operation, the stigma or the reproach or the stain or the blot of it.

Tragic. Verse 2, because of them, listen to this again, because of them, the way of truth will be maligned. You know why the world mocks Christianity today? Because it has been maligned by these people who claim to represent Christ but who have habitually said no to His lordship in their lives and they have been unmasked as lecherous, lewd, lascivious, licentious, immoral people.

Because of them, there is a stigma, a blot, a reproach, a stain on the way of truth. God has called for a pure people to bring honor to His name. We are to walk worthy of the one who redeemed us. We are to manifest good works. We're to love one another. We're to live pure, godly, virtuous lives so that Christianity is not maligned. We're to walk as children of light. We're to walk wisely in the world, circumspectly in the world. We're to be like Jesus Christ. I love what Paul says to the Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians 2, 12, walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. But these people abuse grace. They refuse to acknowledge the lordship of Jesus Christ in a practical way in their lives because they want to live a sensual, immoral life. Consequently, they bring disgrace to the cause of Christ whom they claim to represent and they lead, can I say, millions of people into deception. Peter has two other elements for us to consider. Number seven in my little list, the spring of their operation, the spring of it.

What do I mean? The operating motive, the underlying cause. Verse 3, and in greed they will exploit you with false words.

Here's another component that you need to know about. What drives them on the inside to do what they do? Listen very carefully. They're not driven by immorality. They're not driven by aselgeia, sexual immorality. You can do that by yourself.

That's not going to make you a false teacher. There's another component. What is it? Greed. Greed. The driving force of their enterprise to be teachers is not the love of the truth. It's not submission to the Lord.

It's not even sexual immorality. They can do that in the pew. The driving force is money. They can con money out of anybody. They want money. They want money. They want your money. They want anybody's money.

What do they do? They move into the church and because of greed, they exploit you. The word from which we get emporium, which means to carry on business, to make gain from. Here's the best translation, to get rich from. They want to get rich off you.

That's it. They're driven by money, greed. So they come along with fake arguments, plastic theology. It isn't really God's truth. It isn't really Christ's truth. It isn't really what the Bible says.

It's molded to deceive you. Peter's got one more point, the sentence on their operation. Verse 3, their judgment from long ago is not idle.

The verdict, the crima, the judgment, the sentence on them, you can translate it sentence, their sentence set long ago, compared to Jude 4. Their sentence established long ago. You say, what do you mean established long ago? Look, the principle that God is going to damn false teachers was set in place long ago, long ago. That is a permanent principle by which God has always dealt with false teachers. It's always been so. Old Testament, New Testament, today and in the future. And he says, that sentence set long ago against false prophets is not idle.

What does he mean by that? It hasn't run out of gas. It isn't so old, it's now worn out. It hasn't been weakened by time. It isn't ineffective. It isn't inert. It is still valid. It is still operative.

It is still potent. And their destruction, he says, their eternal damnation is not asleep. And he personifies destruction as if destruction were an executioner and he says their executioner hasn't fallen asleep.

He is fully awake, fully awake. Satan's goal? Deceive as many as possible. God's goal? Destroy them all.

Destroy them all. They're all around us. They've always been all around us. We need to be discerning. And I believe before we're done, as I said in this chapter, you'll have the tools of discernment. That's John MacArthur, chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary, helping you identify and avoid being deceived by false teachers. It's part of John's current study on grace to you. It's a collection of landmark sermons that are taking us through the New Testament beginning to end.

Now, John, the messages in this study span nearly a half-century of your preaching ministry through the New Testament, and you've spent thousands of hours reading and studying the 27 books of the New Testament. And I've heard you say you're more convinced than ever that the Bible is true and reliable and authoritative. Yeah, I think what you're driving at is the trustworthiness of Scripture, the authority, inspiration, inerrancy of Scripture.

Absolutely. I believed that when I started many, many years ago, and I believe it more strongly and more firmly now than ever. I've tested the inspiration of Scripture, verse by verse, word by word, through every single word in the entire New Testament.

And not just once, preached through the New Testament, preached through some books twice, and then went back through the same books to write the commentaries, and then from time to time wrote other books on other portions of the New Testament. So I would say that it's a fair test of the accuracy of Scripture to literally spend nearly 50 years pouring over everything in the New Testament and come out to say this is the inerrant, infallible, complete, authoritative, sufficient Word of God. This is God speaking. Every word is pure. Every word is true.

God-breathed. I would love to affirm that for you, and I can do that by offering you a booklet called You Can Trust the Bible. You need to know the Bible is true. Here's a booklet, You Can Trust the Bible, that will give you confidence in the truthfulness of Scripture. Here's the good news, we'll send it free.

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