This is the Truth Network. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Welcome. To the Wednesday in the Word podcast, equipping our leaders of this great weekly Bible study held at Dario, our wonderful, gracious host. all across North Carolina.
This is to equip, encourage, and guide you as you prepare to teach the word and guide the discussion at each location each week. And we continue our journey now through the book of Daniel. Here we are with today's special guest, Dr. Sam Horn. If God can speak through a donkey, Surely.
He can speak through me. How many of you in ministry and others have humbly and honestly made that statement. because it is a truth and this week Peter is going to talk about brute beast. He's going to talk about a talking donkey. from numbers 22 through 24 and he's going to talk about Hogs and Dogs.
As he goes after these sinister apostates that are attacking and beleaguering the believers. in the first century church. Dr. Sam Horn. It is quite a Set of verses here, these 11 verses in 2 Peter chapter 2.
Verses 12 through 22. They are very stern, they're very convicting. And I tell you, very tragic to think. About what was going on with Peter's day, but even in our day to day, sir. Yeah, you know, Peter is spot on, isn't he?
As me, stop and think about there is a timelessness. to these New Testament documents. Uh, the story of Jesus never gets old, the story of the gospel never stops refreshing. And the life it gives never stops being abundant. It never tires, it never deflates, it's always constant.
And so it shouldn't surprise us. To find out with the eternal nature. and the ever-present nature of these wonderful blessings. That there isn't also an ongoing attack that comes against them. And that's certainly been true in Peter's day, it was true in Peter's day.
It's been true throughout church history. And it's been true in our day, the individual attackers may come and go. The nature of their attack, the particular expression of it may change from culture to culture or century to century, but behind it all is an ancient enemy. who has never changed. Jesus warned us about him.
He said he was a deceiver, a liar. Instead, the source of lies. rests with this deceiver. And his goal is to not just deceive people, but actually to destroy them. He seeks to devour them, to murder, and to kill them.
Jesus actually used those terms. to describe our enemy. Peter says he's like an enraged lion wandering about hunting. In other words, he is seeking down, hunting down believers to destroy them. And we get to 2 Peter.
Beginning in chapter two, when we find out about these false teachers. Who are the instruments that Satan uses, the voice pieces, the voices. And the hands of Satan to bring about this destruction in the church. And in the life of a believer.
So I think these chapters, or these verses rather, that we're looking at are incredibly important for us. And Dr. Horn, I opened the notes with these kind of scary questions. You know, what what do you do when you see A prominent well-known evangelical Christian pastor. Endorse unbiblical same-sex unions.
And then you see another Very handsome, sharp dressed. Televangelist. denying the authority of scripture. What about the star of the youth group? Who everyone said, this guy's gonna be the next Billy Graham.
He's gonna be the next Billy Sunday, he's gonna be the next great Christian scholar. He comes back from his first year of seminary. denying the scripture. And falling into all kinds of perversion and anti-biblical thinking. Dr.
Horne, the There's an old adage: if you can't beat them, join them. And that's kind of. leads us into the sin of Balaam, which we'll get into in this passage, but Before we jump in. To the old the old he's an old devil with old tricks up his sleeve, and they're deceptive and they're brilliant. And a lot of these false apostates are very smooth talking and very good looking and attractive.
promising wealth. But Peter drops the hammer on him. And he really hits them hard. He calls them brute, beast, and all kinds of things, and talks about a special. Darkness reserved just for them.
There are levels of hell and punishment, friends. And so this should be.
sobering, but also should challenge us all to have people in our lives who are truth checkers, who have discernment And to make sure we're grounded in the truth.
So before we get into the exact passage, these 11 verses, we'll do a review of those verses for our, or a preview of those verses for all of our teachers of Wednesday and the Word. Any pastors, anyone that just is digging through and journeying through this wonderful epistle of 2 Peter. Can we do quickly a review? Pastor Horne, take us through where we've come through through Peter, real quick. You know, the rich abundance of his divine nature, giving us all these things for life and godliness in chapter one, and then in chapter two, the.
You know, he's already gone after these charlatans early on. Take us to where we've been as we get into where we're going. Yeah, sure. Quickly, in chapter one, as you mentioned, we have these incredible, wonderful blessings. that come into our life and these great and precious promises.
from God that give us everything we need for life and godliness. And by the time we get to the end of the chapter, We find out What the means. By which these promises are made available to us and known to us, and how we actually go about adding to our faith, it's all tied. to what we do with this more sure word that we have been given that Peter talks about. In verses 16 through 21.
And we find out that the more sure word, That Peter relies on even more than his own experience, his own eyewitness and ear witness. Is the Spirit's witness, the inspired word that God gave. When holy men of old wrote down what the Holy Spirit spoke to them, not as typewriters, not as mechanical dictates, but rather as. Men that were carried on by the Holy Spirit to write down what the Spirit was communicating for Christ to his church. And we're told to pay attention to those words, to live by those words, to examine those words.
Because they don't come. from someone's own interpretation. but by the Holy Spirit. And then we get into chapter two. And immediately Paul says, or Peter rather says, Hey now, let me just stop.
We're going to come back to this amazing word that you need to grab and you need to hold on to, and it's going to grow you in grace. And you need to be aware that just like Israel, who got the Torah from God, the amazing words from God that were given to Moses, just like Israel experienced. False prophets who came in to try to undo that word, undermine that word, deny that word, disregard that word. and lead others to do the same. Just like it happened in Old Tasman Israel, it's gonna happen in the church.
And that's what you see in verse one of chapter two. False prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, and they're going to do the same thing. They're going to bring in heresies. They're going to deny the master who bought them. And they're going to bring on themselves.
Swift destruction. And then Peters is a very sober thing. in verse 2 many will follow their sensuality And because of them, those who follow the sensuality The way of truth will be blasphemed. And then he goes on in verse 3 to say that these false teachers are going to also use words. The Holy Spirit is going to use words to grow you.
These false teachers are going to use false words to destroy you. And so we're going to find out. As we get into this passage. That Peter is going to spend a lot of time warning us about these false ministers and these false ministries. he's going to describe their defective ministry.
He's going to talk about their deceptive messages or methods, rather. He's going to talk about their deviant message. and he's going to reveal the defiled nature of their ministries. And so We're going to get a firsthand look up close. At the danger that is ever present in the church.
And you mentioned at the beginning.
Some of these ministries that look so good on the outside. You know, when you show up, they've got the big buildings. You walk in, it feels alive. There's so many people there. A guy gets up front and he opens up his mouth, and out come smooth words.
And when you when you leave there, you feel good. and you have no idea that your faith has been undermined. And the thing you most need for light. has been robbed. from you by these teachers.
Well Yeah, so Dr. Horn. One of the sermons I listened to preparing for this week was Dr. Sproll. He's just so good.
He taught through 2 Peter, and he said: The greatest danger to the children of Israel was not the Philistine outside the camp. but the false prophet who came from within the camp. Correct. And so there's these counterfeiters. And as we look and as we kind of preview these 11 verses, and we don't have to go.
you know, word for word per se. But the David Jeremiah Study Bible. gives in the 22 verses in this chapter. He has 22 different distinct marks of these. Characteristics, attributes, traits of these false prophets, these apostates.
And Dr. Horn, I think. It would be helpful for everyone, including me, including this teacher. For you to help us look at these verses specifically 12 through. you know, 12 through 22, the final verses of this passage.
How can we break these down? I really liked the alliter the alliterated D's that you gave us a second ago. How do we break these verses down? And then again, teach them with good discussion. with good questions to to point people back to the text and ultimately back to the truth.
You know, I think a high point for me. was when I looked at this This one of these attributes of these false prophets is a well. They're like a well without water. You picture this Middle Eastern, arid, dry. Culture and country and topography, and you're traveling, you see this well, you're like, oh, we're not gonna die today because if you don't have water, you die.
And they get to that well. And there's nothing but sand. and dirt and rocks in it. And you contrast that with the living water that Jesus offers us. You know, so they're pointing to, they're saying, hey, come drink of this.
And all it is is poison or nothing.
So take us through. That's just one of many. And I kind of threw that one out as to kind of wet the appetite of our listeners. I can't contain myself here, man. It's so rich.
But take us through these, will you, Dr. Horn, real quick, just to preview these 11 verses and how we should break them down and kind of think through teaching them. Yeah, so let's do one at a time and I'll do one and then we can talk for a minute. But so the first thing I would say is that these verses. Help us understand what a defective ministry and what a defiled minister looks like.
By helping us understand the appearance that they disguise themselves with, there is an appearance. That Peter exposes that these teachers use to disguise and conceal themselves. And so let me show it to you. They claim, for example, to be true knowers. And teachers of spiritual truth verses one and two alerts you to that, right?
There will be false. teachers among you And they will secretly bring in destructive heresies. In other words, they're going to look to set themselves up as spiritual leaders. They're going to look for ways to spread their teaching. And they're going to look for people who will listen.
and follow them. In other words, they're not going to identify themselves as deviant teachers. They're going to put themselves right next to true teachers. They're going to engage in worship with God's people in verse 13. we we read to go down to verse 13 they count it pleasure to revel in the daytime Their blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions.
While they feast with you. The word feast there. is is not having a party, it's a reference. To the Lord's Supper in the first century, these were full-out meals. that you would have.
And Paul had to deal with the Corinthian church. for their misuse of those meals. And so here are these false teachers. And they have disguised themselves by claiming to be knowers and teachers of truth and actually engaging and participating in worship. Along with God's people.
In verses 10 and 18, they appear to be very religious. They don't tremble when they revile. uh angelic ministries verse 10. They blaspheme the glorious ones. In other words, here are angels.
And instead of being reverentially fearful, about addressing them, they speak to them as though they control them. They speak great words of emptiness. You can see that in verse. or speaking loud boasts of folly. They entice by sensual passions of the flesh.
Those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.
So they claim to be knowers, they claim to be teachers, they participate in worship. And they appear to be very, very religious. And they are super concerned with freedom. Look at verse 19. They promise freedom.
But they themselves are slaves of corruption. And so here are These false teachers who have come in among God's people. And they are appearing to have spiritual knowledge. They are worshiping with God's people. They appear to be very religious and very, very knowledgeable and powerful.
And they are concerned about the freedom. of God's people. And so these are the things they use to cloak. I mean, think about the false teaching. And the false ministries that you know of.
And here would come people who are extremely knowledgeable, highly educated. They are well spoken in the broader Christian community. And they want to free you from the bondage of thinking that homosexuality is a sin. How could anybody in today's enlightened world Thank you. That homosexuality is a sin.
How in the world could you countenance the idea that a God of love would send anybody to hell? How in the world could you countenance the idea as an enlightened person living 2,000 years after Jesus was born and gave his life on the cross, how could you think that he would ever send a Muslim to hell? How could you ever think that he would send those nice people who come to your doorway and knock on your door? To tell you about the lesson of Mormonism or the lesson of Jehovah's Witnesses, how could you ever believe that God would ever judge them as a God of love? And so you have these errors that are showing up in the church.
And they are are they sound so right. Because we know that God is love. And we know that he sent his son as the love gift to the world. And so they come with the appearance of truth. And so that's the first thing I would say Stu.
So there is actual you know pat uh teachers who are false teachers, who are They are uh wolves and sheep's clothing, which which incidentally What what do what kind of what kind of clothes Who wears sheep's clothing?
Well, the shepherds. That's the shepherd's clothing. Shepherds. Are able to benefit from the shearing of the sheep, and they use the extra to weave their own cloaks and whatnot.
So they have every appearance of being a true pastor. No no Whether it's a liberal college or divinity professor, and no false pastor is going to get up and saying, Now, everyone here today. My goal is to send you straight to hell. Dr. Horne, they never would say that.
They actually promised the opposite of that. Correct. But there is. Connected in their lifestyle, in how they carry themselves. connected to their message.
There's a sensuality. There's a deceptiveness. There's no accountability. Many of these have no one that they answer to. They just say, I have a word from God, and this is it.
This is what God's will is for your life. And so, Peter. And all these things, the ways he describes them. Dr. Horn.
Even to the point, verse, you know, some folks say, Well, this is these people were saved and they lost their salvation. And they people that draw that conclusion, which I believe is a false conclusion. But I have good brothers who may disagree with me on that. But they take this verse 20. For after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
they are again entangled in them and overcome. The latter end is worse than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered them. The language here is similar to that of Hebrews 6, similar to that of Hebrews 10. where they once tasted the enlightenment.
But Dr. Horn, talk about how important this is. That these were more of the folks in 1 John 2 that were with us and a part of us, but they went out from us because they were never of us. Talk about. your perspective on these apostates Being apostates, false prophets who true never were truly.
saved as opposed to describing people who lost their salvation. Can you address that? Because that is kind of a hot potato that will come out of this. Sure.
Well, I think there's a really important thing to observe, and that is to find out who the them. is in the text. They promise freedom right who who who is the they rather and who are the ones who are slaves to corruption. And in the text. I think you're talking about the false teachers.
I think it's the false teacher. That we are looking at here, and we are told some really significant things. About these false teachers. First of all, we're told that there is a judgment reserved for them. We are told that they deny the master who bought them.
We are told that they Literally, they are indulging the lusts of their flesh. And they are despising authority. They are like irrational animals. Born to be caught and destroyed, they blaspheme about matters of which they are ignorant. and they will be destroyed in their.
Destruction, suffering, wrong as the wage or recompense. for their wrongdoing. It is very clear in the text. that Peter wants you to make, Peter wants to make really clear. that these false teachers are not true believers.
So the question about whether or not they ever were Is one we can set aside for a moment because, as Peter describes them, when they stand up to teach. They are not believers. These false teachers that Peter is warning about. who deny the Lord. and who who deny the doctrine.
That he has put before them on a consistent basis. are going to to bring upon their head a a horrific destruction and devastation Right. My personal belief. is that you can enter in like Judas did into the very presence of the Lord. You can have experiences with the Lord.
You can speak the language. Nobody knew that Judas was a problem. Until after. And so I believe that Judas is an example of a false disciple who never was a disciple. He followed the Lord for a reason.
There was something he wanted. and hope to obtain And he used. He used his relationship and his position to Jesus to get it. And of course the scriptures make clear in Judas's case what it was.
Well, I don't think Judas was an isolated case. I think there are many false teachers. who come into the midst of God's people. And they know the truth. They use the truth.
They are familiar with the truth. Go all the way back to the beginning of chapter two, and Paul compares the New Testament false teacher to the Old Testament false prophet. And so here's my question. In the Old Testament, you had false prophets who knew the law of Moses. They understood what it was to worship.
You know, Yahweh. They knew all of the commands in the law. And they were experts. at using parts of the law to justify unbelief or unbehavior. or immoral behavior.
And we would never say that those false prophets were true Israelites. Even though they were physical Israelites. And I would say that even if you have false teachers in the church, I would never call them true Christians. And I think that's Peter's point.
Well, and Peter, it's interesting. Peter was with the Lord in Matthew 26 when Jesus himself said about Judas being a son of perdition. And he said it would have been better for him. And note that Peter uses the word better here as well. Yes.
It would have been better that he would never have been born. And so, you know, Judas did the great deeds in Matthew 10. He, you know, he went with a 70. He could have raised dead people. He could have done all those things.
And he would have been like those in Matthew 7. Where Jesus told that, you know, Jesus took us to the end, and he said, Many will say in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not, you know, do great signs and did we not cast out demons in your name? And he says, Depart from me, I never. Knew you. It's interesting that Judas Simon the sorcerer.
Others in scripture, Matthew 13, clearly the parable of the seeds, only one of the four took. The other seeds, one of them showed forth fruit immediately, but was strangled, choked out by the cares of this world, by the weeds of this world.
So. You have that here, Dr. Horn. And you have it, it's very interesting. Uh, this idea of greater darkness facing them, which is tragic, you know.
And Jesus talked about levels of hell. I mean, he said he'd be better off. For Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, and they were perverse and evil as it got, bringing down fire and brimstone, which we studied last time. In 2 Peter earlier on in chapter 2, comparing the false, you know, the judgment in that day and how Lot was spared. But Jesus said it'd be better off for Sodom and more in the day of judgment.
Than Corazon and Bethesda, who had seen the works of Jesus and they saw the miracles of Christ and they heard the gospel proclaimed. and yet they denied. the one who came to die for them.
So these false prophets who have taken it's work, it will be. Dr. Horne, is it based on scripture? Is it. safe orthodox to say that hell will be hotter For those who took the truth.
twisted the truth. and promulgated that Trying to basically fleece the flock of Christ. You know, I agree with that, Stu. I do believe that can be greater. Chastisement on a false teacher than on the person who was carried away in their error.
but there will still be chastisement on that person who rejected the truth. And so I would never want anybody listening to these podcasts to think: well, you know, I wasn't the false teacher, I was just the one. who was affected by it.
So I really don't have to worry about God's judgment. God's judgment at any level is horrific. It is fierce, which is why he sent Jesus. And I think that's the hard thing in this text. That is so horrific is that these false teachers are denying the one God sent to rescue them from his judgment.
They're turning from him and they're turning people from him. And we know, and this is why I come back and say: I don't think these false teachers are true believers ever. I think the parable, our proverb rather, at the end in verse 22, the dog returning to its vomit. And the sow, the pig, after washing herself. Returns to wallow in the mire.
I think what's being said there in that proverb is that unless you change, the internal nature of something. It remains the same and eventually will go back to what it was. In other words, the gospel does an internal transformation. And even though we battle with some of the same sins that overtook us when we were unsaved. We are internally different, and we are progressing in our growth and holiness, and we are growing stronger and more committed in our battle against our own personal sins.
We are. Holy people, we are saints. who struggle with sin. But a sinner who has never been saved. His internal nature hasn't changed.
And it doesn't matter how much religion you put around that person. His internal nature is going to still want the same things he's always wanted. And these false teachers were driven by a desire. There were aspirations that drove them. And you can see this really quickly in verse 15.
If you go to verse 15. They perceive the right way. Having gone astray. They followed the way of Balaam. The son of Beor, who loved gain.
from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression. a speechless donkey speaking with a human voice restrain the madness of the profit. And so, in other words, Peter says, let me pull off the cover here. And let me show you what's driving, what's at the root. Of these false teachers.
They are driven by their flesh. The word bayor there, B-E-O-R. is a play on words. with uh with the Hebrew word that means flesh. What drove Balaam?
He was a false prophet, wasn't even an Israelite. What drove him? was a desire for the reward That Balak the king promised. Remember this story? Balak says, I got to get.
Israel cursed. I need a profit. who's not too particular to come up and do that. And I'll give you a wagon load of treasure. And Balaam said, I'm your man.
And off he goes. He is not driven. by the well-being of God's people, and he's not driven by the truth. He's driven by his own flesh. And so he's going to get up and say, I'm only going to do what the Lord told me to do.
I'm only going to tell you what the Lord said. I can't do anything else. And he's going to use those words. To kind of cloak himself as a true prophet so he can get the wealth.
Now, what happened? To Balam is actually God did a shocking thing, and he actually restrained the folly of this. Prophet and actually opened up his mouth, and out of Balaam's mouth came truth. Amazing truth. Just like out of the mouth of a donkey came truth.
out of the mouth of a false prophet came truth that the false prophet never intended to communicate and certainly didn't believe and it cost him what he had hoped to get. And later on in the book of Numbers, because of his... uh his blasphemy against God. And his destructive nature to God's people, God judged him and killed him. Because after he gave these amazing prophecies about Israel.
The king is so angry with them. Balaam says, wait a minute. I have a different way for you to destroy them. If you'll go down there and introduce. These pagan women who worship pagan gods.
To them and get them to intermarry, then God will judge them. And that's exactly what happened. Balaam had no interest. in the truth. He had interest in the treasure.
And I would just say it to you this way. If you really want to know what's driving a false teacher, it's typically not the truth. It's typically something he values, something he treasures, whether it's power or wealth or prestige. or a following, he is going to do whatever it takes. To get that.
Yeah, and it says the actual words Peter uses here, verse 14, or verse 15, he loved the wages. of unrighteousness. And, you know, so they're, these are. These signs, these are telltale signs of false prophets. They've got a...
They've got a real hang-up with the covenant of marriage. You know, they're seducing women. They're They're uh there's a they're all they're open, very open about sensuality, sexuality. violating God's beautiful covenant of marriage. They would say that marriage is Bondage.
Why would you, you know, God wants you to be happy? Why are you married to that lady? Why do you, you know, of course, God wants you to be happy. Let's get you, you know, let's get a divorce, which is a violation. Of God's covenant.
And then The money thing, Dr. Horn, you hit it on the head. You know, it's just, it's just, it's tragic, but it's fascinating. That Peter Opens this diatribe against these false prophets in the second part of this chapter, verses 12. Through 22, our passage this week on our Wednesday in the Word podcast.
Dr. Sam Horn's with me. I'm Stu Eberson. Dr. Horn, he opens this.
Calling them brute beasts.
Okay.
So they're just kind of, they're tone deaf to anything, right? They're tone deaf to the good guys, they're tone deaf to the bad guys. They're brute beasts. He closes. With calling them hogs and dogs.
You know, hogs return to their vomit. As sweet as those cuddly fellers are, they will go eat that throw up. It's nasty. Maybe they like seconds. I don't know what it is, or leftovers.
I don't even want to go there. And then these hogs, you know, you can't put lipstick on a pig, or you can, right? But it's still a pig. In the middle of this passage between the brute beasts, which are these awful false prophets, and And these hogs and the dogs is a speaking donkey. And what's fascinating is in the story of Balaam, you just did a great job recounting.
And by the way, I went and read this morning. Numbers chapter 22. all the way through thirty one. And when you look at it, Dr. Horn.
This donkey had more this jackass had more sense Than the prophet that he carried. And three different times. You know what? Yeah, it's crazy. Three different times, he's going through a narrow pass.
And the donkey sees the angel with a drawn sword. The donkey turns away first time, runs into a field. Balaam rebukes him, beats him. The second time, the donkey just We see it through a narrow pass. The donkey turns and rubs the prophet's leg, crushes it against the wall of the canyon, and Balaam just wails on him and rebukes him.
The third time, the donkey just drops, he just sits down right there, plops down. And the donkey speaks and says, Hey, have I not been a good pet? Go read the words of this donkey. They're profound. They're far more truthful, and they're far more true.
Than the only other animal that spoke, the serpent, right, in chapter three of Genesis.
So you have profound words coming out of a donkey. More profound than that of the prophet. The bizarre thing is the prophet actually prophesied truth. In fact, those that just celebrated Christmas. We honed in on a prophecy that I believe the Magi would have picked up on.
The star That was a scepter of Judah. Numbers 22, verse 17.
So there was true prophecy.
So it shows you. That even a A false prophet can speak truth because the Holy Spirit put that word in him. And, you know, and so you know, 20. It was coming out of his mouth. Yeah, it was coming out of his heart.
Certainly, was it not coming out of his heart? Not from his heart. And you see, and this is real important, Dr. Horn. Maybe one of the most important things.
For everyone to understand these counterfeiters that is rampant today, The sin of Balaam. Because when you get past the talking donkey, And when you get past the the true prophecies that came out of his mouth that weren't from his heart. When you read Jude and when you read Revelation chapter 2. Where this sin of Balaam keeps coming up, and you read the fate of Balaam. I mean, it says that Balaam, the son of Beor, was slain by the sword.
In numbers 31. You know, he was you know, along with a bunch of these um these uh Midianites. He suffered a horrible fate, and he is in the league of these false prophets. But the sin of A simulation. The sin of these false prophets saying, Hey, I'm just going to kind of look like a good pastor.
dressed like a good pastor with that sheep's clothing, And Sound like a good pastor. use the language of good pastor. But Dr. Horn, there are parents that seriously think they send their kid to a rogue. False.
Bible-denying divinity school.
Well, my kid's going to help them. My kid's going to convert them back to the truth. Why is that kind of thinking so damnable and scary, Doctor Horne?
Well, because it comes from the mouth of somebody who purports to be a teacher. And because we have raised up a generation of people in the church who don't know the truth. They're easily fooled by someone who claims to know the truth. Speak the truth. And looks like they have the outward success of someone.
Who would be a spiritually minded person? And that's why I think here in the text, there's a couple of things I really want to point out. There are some attitudes. that mark these kinds of people. They marked Balaam.
They mark Judas. They mark the false prophets. You can go back and study the false prophets that spoke up against Jeremiah. And against Daniel, you can see them in even Jesus' day in the Pharisees, they were marked by arrogance. They were marked by willfulness.
and they were marked by sensuality. And you can see that right in the text. If you go back to verse 10. Um They are described as indulging in the lusts of defiling passions. and despising authority.
They are bold and willful and do not tremble as they blaspheme. the glorious ones. In other words, They they come across As these really spiritually powerful people, but when you start getting into their life, you see there's an arrogance there. that that they they are pres they are they're building their ministry around them Whenever you see a ministry that's built around one person. And the whole ministry is dedicated.
toward the preservation of the name of that person. Or of the ministry of that person. I'm not saying that person's a false teacher. But there's a danger there. There's a warning light.
that happens there. And that's the arrogance. They're self-willed. In other words, they're not going to be ruled. Think about.
How many pastors In recent years, have built these huge ministries with no accountability. The elders in their church don't even go to their church. They're in other states. Their churches are like Businesses, they're set up like corporations. Nobody knows.
How the money is spent. There's no accountability. for the pastor or the elder. And this is certainly not how the New Testament describes. how church how the church of Jesus Christ ought to work and how it ought to be structured with him as the head.
And so, you know, we could name names. There are podcasts that are described. In great detail, the fall, the rise, and the fall of empires like this, led by willful and presumptuous people. And then the third thing is they're sensual. They are involved in the very sins sometimes that they preach against.
Or they're involved and they're captured by the very sin that that Jesus came to deliver his people from. Think about the inordinate wealth. that many of these men have accumulated to themselves. and how they use and abuse people in an effort to keep that wealth. how they will resort to deception.
to try to get people to keep giving.
so that they can accumulate even more wealth. I mean There are credible stories and ministries where people are supposedly healed. By this evangelist who has this knowledge from God, and then you find out he's actually being fed that knowledge through an earpiece. And he's presenting it as though it were coming from God. And these men have no conscience.
Meaning they can stand up in front of thousands of people and say, I have a word from the Lord, knowing full well the word they have from the Lord is actually coming from their assistant out in the parking lot who just talked to somebody who's got such and such a problem. And so these men are just bound over to their sensuality. Sexuality may not be sexual in nature, it just may be the desire of the flesh. I want the power and the prestige and the jet. and the car and the mansion and all the rest of it.
And this is not the mark of a true shepherd. It doesn't mean that a true shepherd can't live in a nice house or own a nice car or be paid a wage that is commensurate with some of the men in his church who run successful companies, et cetera. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about men who refuse accountability, men who put themselves forward with arrogance. And they live by their senses.
And Peter said, This is how you recognize a false teacher. They oftentimes sin openly and boldly. You know, they get cognizant. And it's nothing. It's like, oh, well, you know, that doesn't really matter.
And so. In five weeks, they're back again, or they started up a new church. And I understand that there is a way back from certain sins. And not every sin is a ministry ending sin for pastors, but these people are bold and open about it. It's not even.
It's like, well, you know, I'm sorry I did that. It was a mistake. Yeah, let's just go on. Um There's a uh a church in our area that Was pastored by a pastor who became, you know, an alcoholic, just was openly drunk. And had to be disciplined out, and not too long after, started a new church called the Second Sort of.
I don't remember the name of it, but the idea was second chance.
Well, of course, God gives second chances, He's given me more than two chances on many things as He has you. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the kind of individual who doesn't really care. About his sin, and when he's exposed, it's just a speed bump to get over. We got to get the image specialists.
Uh, sort of the spin doctors in so that we don't lose this money train that we've got going or this ministry train that we've got going. And if we've got to change the name or move its location, uh, then so be it. And Paul says, These people are false teachers. Wow. Dr.
Horn, take us home with some hope. I think about on the positive side. Paul's final chart. You know, this is Peter's. As it were, his memoirs.
These are kind of his final words, his last epistle. great man of God, the great rock, Christ who restored him three times and dispatched him to really shepherd the flock. And that means protecting the flock. That's why we would spend so much time on such a crucial passage. That's why it's in Holy Scripture.
Paul said, look, he said. He said uh Preach the word. What a simple admonition, but it's so important in chapter 4, verse 2 of 2, Timothy: be ready in season and out of season. Convince. Rebuke, exhort.
With all long suffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. According to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers. And they will turn their ears away from the truth. And be turned aside to fables, but you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions.
Do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. These are Paul's words, they're similar to. To the charge Peter's gonna give us later on in his epistle. Dr. Horne, your word of encouragement out there to pastors, to leaders.
On the importance of having that truth detector and the importance of. grounding rooting yourself. And being thoroughly equipped unto every good work by the all-inspired Word of God. Can you take us home with a charge, Dr. Horn, on the positive side in a milieu of uh culture that's rampant with these false Teachers that are saying what we want to hear and spewing out all this awful false doctrine that really is blasphemous, but it's all cloaked.
in this pabl of motivation and TED talks and You know, being happy, being wealthy, and all that stuff. Give us a good positive charge, will you?
Well, there's a lot of hope, brother. And in verse 21. Peter says, it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness. Then after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. He said, Well, how in the world is that hope?
Well, there is a way of righteousness. And there is a holy commandment. And the way of righteousness and the holy commandment. Are revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ. And that's why in verse one of chapter three, Peter says, This is the second letter I'm writing to you, beloved.
In both of them, I am stirring up your mind, your sincere mind, by way of reminder that you should remember. That means to hold on to. That's just not in your mind. Remember, remembering in the Bible is a moral thing that you would hold on to the predictions of the holy prophets. and the commandment of the Lord And the savior through your apostles.
In other words, You have a way of righteousness. You have a holy commandment. It's in the word given to you by the apostles who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Hold on to it. Remember it.
Review it. Live it out. Embrace it. Give yourself to it. Because in it you will find Hopefully.
And lies and an abundant entrance in the midst of all of this error. In some ways, Stu, this is the greatest day to be a Christian. This is the greatest time to be a Christian. It's hard. I mean, think about Daniel.
And think about the world in which he lived. Yet for him, it was the greatest moment. It was the greatest platform to live out his faith. And Nebuchadnezzar is in heaven today because Daniel held on to the holy word and the righteous way. And who knows who we might be instruments in bringing to Jesus when we hold on to the holy word and to the righteous way.
And that's my encouragement. There is a holy commandment and there is a way of righteousness. And we have known it. and it has been made known to us by jesus through his holy spirit in his word so that's why as a pastor I get up every Sunday. and preach.
You know, I don't want to get up on Sunday and just tell a story or give a cool illustration or a nice little video clip. and make people laugh because there are people in that. audience Who are struggling? Sin has overtaken them. Their marriage is about done.
Their kid just walked out the door. They just found out their other kid is gay. And they're coming to church desperate for a word from God. And in many, many churches. They're going to sit and they're going to listen to a man who's going to give them false words.
May God help us so that when they come to our churches. They don't sit in a pew and hear empty words or fluffy words or our own words. but that we would give them, as your teachers are doing every Wednesday. the words of hope and the words of life that come from Jesus. I love that.
Amen. And I love the word you gave there: focusing on the true shepherd. There are so many counterfeit bills. There are so many false teachers. Just go into any bookstore.
You'll see a proliferation of rurally. Just awful stuff and stuff that looks so close to the truth, but so far from it. But, Dr. Horne, if we focus on Jesus. He is the all-sufficient one.
That completes us in Colossians chapter 2. He is the chief shepherd. He's the overshepherd. Our shepherds need to be under the authority of Jesus Christ. And of course, under the authority of their elders and the leaders in the church, And they need to be guided by God's word.
And God's truth in drinking from the well of living water, Jesus Christ Himself. He offers all of this for us. And that's the beauty of the gospel. What he has done for us. to bring us to him.
And as we draw closer to him, the lightness The light, his light will repel the darkness. Dr. Horn, man, thank you so much for sharing today. Will you take us out of here with a prayer? Yeah, amen.
Lord, thank you that you have given us truth. And in that truth, you have warned us about error. and you inspired Peter to write these words that we would take care. that we would not be carried away with the error of lawless people. and lose our home stability and I pray that that would be true for Stu and for me and for every one of the men and women who teach your word every Wednesday morning and for those that listen.
Lord, help us to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
so that we would live in ways that would bring him the glory. both now and forever. And we'll pray these things in His name. and for his glory. Amen.
Thank you, Dr. Horne, and thank you for joining us for this Wednesday in the Word podcast. Learn more at wedintheword.com. Follow us on YouTube. Facebook and all social media, including in Stu Graham, and be encouraged, stay in the word.
Read it. Share it, study it, memorize it. meditate on God's Word. Every word of God is pure. He is a shield to those who put their trust in him.
Proverbs 30 verse 5.
