The pattern of false prophets, 2 Peter 2: 10-22

This is a relatively somber and difficult passage that we have before us today. Peter devoted an entire chapter to the subject of false prophets. If it was an appropriate warning for his day, how much more is it relevant to us today when the church at large has practically abandoned the truth in favor of political correctness?  I believe  the key to understanding this entire passage is found in the phrase at the beginning of vs 10: “those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority.”  Everything in this passage is predicated on this description.  Peter is speaking of false prophets and those that follow false teaching.  And there are two key attributes that define both the false prophets and those that follow them, and that is they walk according to the lusts of the flesh, and they despise authority. 

Peter isn’t writing anything new.  He’s just restating what he has said from the beginning, even from his first epistle.  That there is a true knowledge of God which leads to transformation, sanctification, and glorification.  And there is a false knowledge of God which claims spiritual life, and promises the blessings of spiritual life, but which by-passes the path of sanctification, or holiness, which the gospel teaches us is inherent in the true knowledge which leads to salvation.  In other words, false prophets teach that you can live according to the lusts of the flesh, whereas the true knowledge teaches that you die to  the flesh so that you can walk in the Spirit.  If you’re claiming Christianity but walking according to the lusts of the flesh, then Peter is indicating that you are not truly saved or at least very deceived.

And tied closely to that, is the other attribute which is that they despise authority.  God has established certain authorities that citizens of His kingdom are to submit to.  But those that are not really citizens of the kingdom of God despise such authority.  And I will tell you what authorities he is speaking of.  He’s talking first of the authority of the Word of God.  Submitting to what the Bible says is not a negotiable part of the Christian life.  In fact, it’s impossible to walk in the Spirit if you disregard what the Word of God says.  Because the Holy Spirit is the author of scripture and He cannot deny Himself. 

The life in the Spirit is what Peter referred to in chapter one as partaking of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption of the world by lust.  False prophets though teach, either by rote  or by example, that you can live in the Spirit and still walk in the world.  And this type of false teaching is damning and destructive, and that’s why Peter is so worked up about it, and spends so much time identifying them, so you don’t become deceived yourself.

And another area of authority is in the area of leadership in the church.  Show me a person who thinks that they don’t have to submit to the authority of a local church, and particularly the leadership of the church, and I will show you a person who is out of God’s will, at the very least, and very likely may have never truly been saved.  To say you are independent, that you don’t need to be under the sound teaching and discipline of a godly church, is to despise authority that God has given for your edification, sanctification and maturity.

Paul speaks to this necessity in Ephesians 4:11-12 “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” Godly pastors are given to instruct, rebuke, correct, teach and lead the flock of Christ, and to despise that authority is to effectively put yourself out of the flock, like a lost sheep who has wandered away from the fold, and is easy prey for the wolves in sheep’s clothing to take advantage of.

Now several characteristics of those who teach false knowledge are given for us here in a rather lengthy passage. But we will look briefly at each attribute in the order that Peter gives us.

The first characteristic of these kind of false teachers and their followers is presumption and pride.  A presumption is an arrogant assumption of truth, when in fact there is no support for it.  Presumption is often accompanied by pride that you have a knowledge which in fact is not true knowledge at all.  And in this principle, Peter gives us an illustration of presumption from these people’s false knowledge of the spiritual world and the spiritual warfare that we are engaged in. 

Notice the second part of vs.10:  “Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.”  If you have spent any time watching some of the fake healers and false prophets on television, (which I am not recommending by the way) then perhaps you have heard them refer to binding Satan.  The Bible doesn’t teach us to bind Satan. 

In fact, doing so can result in a powerful lesson in humility as evidenced in Acts 19, which talks about the seven sons of Sceva who attempted to bind the satanic spirit in a man, and yet they did not truly know the Lord.  And the demon said, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.”  It was evident that the demon did not recognize the Spirit of Christ as being in them and so they were overpowered by it.

Jude speaks to this same principle in Jude vs 8 “Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"  But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.”

Beware of those people who disregard the proper authority that God has established in the church, and yet claim some sort of supernatural authority, especially in regards to the spirit world. Pride in supernatural “abilities” or claims of such, are marks of false prophets, and notice that there is built into this warning a measure of destruction.  Vs12 “But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong.”  They claim to be spiritual, to have supernatural gifts, but in fact they are living in sin, and thus will suffer the wages of sin, which the Bible says is death.

There was a young man in a certain church in the 70’s, who seemed to evidence supernatural powers in regards to the spirit world.  And this church experienced phenomenal growth as a result of this man’s abilities to do things which were purported to be of the Holy Spirit. In fact, I believe he was a practitioner of spiritism and hypnotism.  The Bible says to test the spirits because there are many spirits which are gone out into the world to deceive and destroy.  And in this man’s case, after a few years of ministry, it became evident that he had been living a secret life of homosexuality.  And not only his ministry was destroyed, but he lost his life to the AIDS epidemic.

Notice Peter references the outcome of false teachers in vs 13, “suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong.”  This is the key, as I told you a few minutes ago.  It’s simply walking in the flesh, living in sin.  Walking in the flesh is the antithesis for holy living in the new life in Christ, and it’s a sign that such false prophets are teaching a false knowledge.

Now the next group of attributes attest to that.  Peter says their practices are sinful. Regardless of what they say, it’s what they do that really defines their spiritual condition.  First, notice they are partiers. Now I realize that word has 21st century connotations, but nevertheless, that’s what Peter is saying; they carouse with you, they revel in the daytime.  Vs.13, “They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you.”

What that speaks of is a type of sin that is not ashamed.  It’s bold, it’s arrogant.  It’s not done under the cover of darkness, but it’s done in public.  It’s saying, “this is how I am, and this is what I do, and I don’t have to be ashamed of it.  Instead I am proud of the way that I am.”  I’ve even heard some go so far as to say, “this is how God made me.” As if to blame God for their sin.  One of the more visible manifestations of a false prophet or a false disciple is that they don’t call sin, sin.  They don’t acknowledge sin.  They don’t preach about sin.  And that’s because they practice sin and they like it.  They love the darkness rather than the light.  And so they try to twist scripture to condone their sin, and they try to change laws to legalize their sin, and they try to change church doctrine to approve of their sin.  Peter likens that to partying in the daytime, in plain view.

Now this predilection to sin is further borne out by the next verse, vs 14, “having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children.”  This reference to adultery is not necessarily speaking of marital adultery, though it could include that, but as James says in James 4:4, it’s a lust for the world.  James says, “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”  They love the world, and that constitutes adultery towards God.

To love the world means that you love the things the world offers, you love the money that is the currency of  the world, and you love the things that money can buy.  And if you look at the lifestyles of the false prophets and their disciples, it’s evident that they love the things of the world - the mansions, the private planes, the custom made suits, etc.  And the irony is that they are so bold in their lusts that they even try to pervert the gospel so that it supports their lavish lifestyle, and they claim that that is a blessing from God. I heard one false prophet on television not long ago try to defend asking for millions of dollars because he claimed that God wanted him to have a private plane.  They claim that God wants to give them riches, and so they are just believing what God has promised them. They teach the prosperity gospel, which claims that God wants you to live luxuriously in this world.  That’s what Peter means by saying, they have a heart trained in greed. Instead of having a heart trained in righteousness, they have trained it in greed.

The next characteristic of false prophets and their disciples is found in vs15 “forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the [son] of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;  but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, [for] a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.” 

Notice first the phrase “forsaking the right way.” Again, this phrase reiterates that the major characteristic of a false prophet is that they live in sin.  The sin that is identified here is the sin of loving money, even if it comes through unrighteousness.  Now it’s a temptation to try to preach a message about Balaam at this point, who is a prototype of a false prophet.  There is a lot that can be learned through looking at his life and how he ended up being destroyed by his sin. But time will not allow me that luxury this morning.  I would encourage you though to read Numbers 22 when you get a chance for yourself.

But allow me to give you the Cliff notes version this morning.  Balaam was a prophet who lived during the time of the wilderness journeying of the children of Israel.  And a king named Balak tried to hire Balaam to curse the children of Israel.  But when Balaam tried to do so, God restrained him and prevented him from cursing, and in fact he ended up prophesying a messianic blessing on them instead.  And there is a part of that story which Peter references here, which is when Balaam’s donkey spoke to him to prevent him from being killed by an angel for attempting to circumvent God’s will.  

Now some people have a problem with that part of the story.  Incidentally, just last week on the news there was a story of how archeologists found an inscription with the name Balak on it, presumably from this very king. Anyhow, there are still many people who don’t want to believe this story because of the reference to a donkey speaking.  I heard a story of a skeptic one time who was speaking to a Christian, and said, “You believe all those stories in the Old Testament?” He said, “Yes I do.” Do you believe that the donkey of Balaam spoke?” He said, “Yes I do.” He said, “I’d like to see you make an donkey speak.”  And this Christian was quick to reply, “I’d like to see you make a donkey.” The real difficulty skeptics have is in believing in a Creator God. 

The problem with Balaam was that he loved the wages of unrighteousness.  He loved money so much that even though God told him not to curse Israel, he still found a way to get paid to curse them.  It turns out that even though God prevented him from cursing Israel, later on he gave advice to Balak that the way to get Israel to be cursed was to let the young women of his nation seduce the young men of Israel.  And when the men of Israel ended up taking these foreign women as wives, their wives managed to seduce Israel to worship idols. And so God brought a curse upon the people as a result.  So Balaam got paid for unrighteousness. 

The other part of the story though is when God renewed the Israelites, and they finally went in and wiped out that enemy kingdom, they also killed Balaam the prophet who was at that point living with them.  And so Peter says, he received the wages of unrighteousness, which is death.  Peter says, false prophets and their disciples are to be known by their love of the wages of unrighteousness.

The next characteristic of false prophets and their followers is that they make false promises.  They promise things that they can’t deliver.  vs. 17 “These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.  For speaking out arrogant [words] of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error,  promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.”

Jesus said that He was the source of living water which satisfies men’s souls.  True knowledge is equated to the water of life.  It gives life. But false prophets Peter says are like clouds without water, wells without water.  They have the appearance on the outside as things from which should come water, but inwardly they are dry.  They are like the fig tree which Jesus cursed because it did not have figs, yet it gave the signs of figs.

False prophets promise a more abundant life, but because they don’t follow the truth they don’t have life to give.  I’ve used the analogy many times about a medicine which can cure a disease.  But if you start taking out certain vital ingredients, it no longer has the power to cure, but is merely a placebo; something that merely appears to be medicine,  but is lacking the ingredients necessary for healing.  Such is the gospel.  If you avoid calling out sin, if you avoid repentance, if you avoid teaching about holiness and righteous living, the end result is medicine that no longer has the power to heal.

Peter says that they entice the naive by arrogant words, prideful words, words that promise to “empower” them, but actually it only leads to more enslavement.  Notice he says they promise them freedom but actually they themselves are enslaved to corruption, which means sin.  Sin always seems like freedom. It’s often packaged as such.  And yet how many of those “harmless few drinks,” end up in enslavement to alcohol? How many times does a recreational use of drugs, just for fun, end up in enslavement?  How about the freedom of sexual permissiveness?  How often does that end up in some form of enslavement? Peter says, “by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.”  And I would ask you, to what are you enslaved?  Are you a slave of Christ, or a slave of the devil?  A slave of Christ lives a life characterized by righteousness, whereas a slave of Satan leads a life characterized by sin.

Jesus said that the truth would set you free, but the opposite is also true, that a lie will make you a prisoner.  And  that imprisonment is what he is referring to in the last few verses.  Vs 20, “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.  For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.  It has happened to them according to the true proverb, "A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT," and, "A sow, after washing, [returns] to wallowing in the mire.”

Notice the word “escaped” there in vs 20.  Many of these folks thought that through religion they could escape the defilements or the captivity of sin.  They were attracted by the light of Christianity, by the hope of Christianity.  But they don’t really accept the truth of Christianity, but just see it as becoming a better person, or turning over a new leaf, or getting religion.  As Paul said in 2 Tim. 3:5, they have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof. In other words, they are attracted to some form of moral reformation, but they have stopped short of a spiritual transformation. They have some degree of knowledge about Christianity, but there has never been a conversion.  

And Peter says that though they appeared to escape their sin initially, eventually they are again entangled in their sin, and then it overcomes them and even destroys them.  They will go back to the corruption of their sinful life just like a dog returns to his vomit, or a sow returns to wallowing in the mire.  That’s a tragic indictment of those that follow false teaching. The truth will set you free, but only the whole truth, not a partial truth. The missing ingredient for the life that Christ promised is not in moral reformation, it’s not in intellectual knowledge of Bible facts, it’s a spiritual rebirth which is originated by God through the power of the Holy Spirit, resulting in a new heart, a new outlook, new desires, a new submission to God that comes through the Spirit of God who lives in you and gives new life to you.  

Make no mistake, the life that Christ speaks of, the true way of Christianity can only come through a spiritual rebirth.  Then and only then will you be able to live the life of righteousness that God expects from us.  That supernatural rebirth is spoken of in  Ezekiel 36:25-27 which says, "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.  "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”  Having the Spirit of God within us is the only way to be free to walk in the ordinances of God.

The same thing is spoken of in Jeremiah when God speaks of the laws of God being written on your heart. Jer 31:33 "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”  

The false prophets and false disciples who are living in sin, who have tried to redefine sin, or avoid sin, cannot live the life that God has called us to live, because they are trying to do so in the flesh, and the works of the flesh are in opposition to the works of righteousness.  But, as Peter has so aptly reminded us here today, the fruit of the righteous is righteousness.  If you are truly God’s people, then you will be holy, because He is holy.  And the telltale signs of the false prophets are that they continue to be enslaved to sin and corruption of the world.  I trust that today’s message helps you to better recognize the false prophet and the false teaching that is so prevalent in the world.  Remember Jesus and the apostles all warned that false prophets will arise from within the church, from within the ranks of Christianity.  They may look like Christians on the outside, but examine their works, and be careful of their words by which they twist or add to the word of God, in order to proclaim a false gospel.  

The nature of false prophets, 2 Peter 2:1-9

One of the most popular artists of all time, and one that is still very popular today, was a man by the name of Vincent Van Gogh.  In 1885, at a time when society was embracing science’s view of evolution and long held beliefs in the Bible were under attack, Van Gogh painted a picture which he called Sill Life with Bible.  In the painting, against a dark background there is a large, open Bible on a table with a candle beside it which has burned out.  In front of the Bible is a small book, painted in yellow, of which the title is legible.  It is a book written by Emile Zola, called The Joy of Life.

According to Van Gogh’s own interpretation, the Bible belonged to his father, who had been a Protestant minister, and he had painted the picture a few months after his death.  Next to the Bible, he placed his own copy of “La joie de vivre” by Émile Zola. Van Gogh saw that novel as a kind of 'bible' for modern life. Placed together, the two books symbolize the different philosophies between Van Gogh and his father. Van Gogh had been exposed to the truth of the Bible earlier in his life, even briefly entered the ministry himself, but in his view, the light of the Bible had gone out, and it was replaced with a humanistic philosophy that seemed to offer a life of joy. 

Sadly, however, for Van Gogh this humanistic philosophy never produced the joy of life he had hoped for.  He spent much of his years on earth in depression which he tried to drink himself out of.  And just five years after completing that painting, he committed suicide.  

Proverbs 14:12 says there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the way of death.  However, in contrast to the way of death, Jesus said He was the way, the truth and the life, and that the truth would set you free.  But Jesus also said that the devil “was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” So Satan is the enemy of the truth.  His purpose is to distort the truth, to malign the truth, to tempt man to think for himself, to make his own decisions, and ultimately, to disregard the authority of God’s Word.  Satan’s purpose is to deprive men of learning the truth that leads to salvation, in order to ensure their destruction.  But in this passage,  Peter is giving us a contrast between the true knowledge which leads to life, found in chapter 1, and the false knowledge which leads to death, as described in chapter 2.

Now as we discussed last week from the previous passage, the absolute authority and sufficiency of God’s Word is critical for the life of a Christian, that we would become mature and sanctified in the truth by obedience to it. So the strategy of the devil is to undermine and attack the Word of God which he does on two fronts simultaneously.  The first line of attack is from the world; by the philosophy of the world, by the science of the world, and by the culture of the world, of which Satan is the architect.  And that attack has proven to be very effective at attempting to destroy the credibility of the Word to the world at large, the vast number of people who are unsaved.  As a result the world scoffs at those who believe that the Bible is actually God’s Word or has any relevancy whatsoever. 

The second line of attack from the enemy is from within the church.  The church, like most institutions, is more vulnerable to attacks from within than from without.  And so to accomplish this insider’s job, the devil uses false prophets and false teachers to deceive and defraud the church. So having already talked about the necessity of the Word, and the divine inspiration of the Word, now Peter turns his attention to warnings about those who are working inside the church to attempt to undermine the authority and sufficiency of the Word.  And so Peter spends virtually the entire 2nd chapter on this subject of false teachers and false prophets and the resulting false knowledge which leads to destruction.  

As I have pointed out before, it only takes a minor difference in a compass reading to set a ship far off course.  A couple of degree difference in a course setting on a ship leaving the port of Baltimore for London will result not only in completely missing the destination, but also very likely end in shipwreck as well.  The devil knows this quite well, and that’s why he strategizes to distort and deceive through false knowledge. 

So in our study his week, in these first 9 verses, Peter gives us the first two major points of his warning against false knowledge.  In the first three verses, he tells us nature of false prophets.  And then in the next five verses we will look at today, he gives us three illustrations of God’s judgements against false teachers. Let’s look first at the nature of false prophets.

The first characteristic of false prophets is that they come from within the church.  Look at vs 1, “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you…” False prophets arise from within the ranks of the church.  This is what makes them so readily received and makes their teachings so deceitful.

Jesus said in Matt. 7:15 "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”  What Jesus is indicating there is that false prophets appear to be sheep on the outside, according to their appearance and associations, but inwardly, they are opposed to the truth, and working against the truth.

So how do you recognize that someone is a false prophet if they look like a believer, they claim to be a believer in Christ, and they are from within the church?  Well, maybe if they do some sort of miracle, or claim some supernatural power, then we can believe them.  But Jesus warned against that as well in Matt. 24:24 "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”   That’s a prudent warning, especially today when Christianity seems to have many that claim to perform signs and wonders as evidence of revelation from the Lord. I would remind you that the false prophets of Pharaoh were able to duplicate the miracles that Moses did. And I believe that many of the so called manifestations of the Spirit in the church today are not of the Spirit of Christ at all, but rather the anti Christ.

I will tell you the way to test the prophets.  By the Word of God.  God’s Word is the test, if they are distorting the truth, or disregarding certain scriptures, or claiming an experience or knowledge that supersedes what the scriptures say, then they are false prophets and you cannot trust what they have to say.

God spoke to the people of the Old Testament through Jeremiah saying in Jer. 14:14 "The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility also and the deception of their own minds.” Notice, God said they come in the name of the Lord, claiming to speak from God.

The second characteristic of false prophets is that they teach destructive heresies. Vs 1, “there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.”  The end result of their teaching is destruction not only for them but for those who follow them. Now that may take the form of spiritual destruction as Jesus described in Matthew 7, saying that many who performed miracles in Jesus name, who said “Lord, Lord,”  at the end of the age when they appear in judgment Christ will say, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.”  Or it may be a reference even to Christians, speaking of destruction of their life here on earth either by discipline from the Lord, or by the inherent consequences of disobedience to God’s laws.  As I quoted Jesus saying while  ago, “there is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof is the way of death.”

The apostle Paul spoke of someone in the church who was living  in disobedience to the commands of God, and he turned him over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit might be saved.  1Cor. 5:5  “I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”  God will judge His people.  Peter said, it is time for judgment to begin with the house of God.  That’s why Paul warned the church when taking communion that if they did so without repentance from sins they were engaging in, then for that reason many of them were sick and a number sleep.  That means the judgment of God was upon the church for coming to the assembly with unconfessed sin in their life.  That is still a principle that is active today in the church, by the way.  God wants you to confess and repent of your sins, that you might be restored and that you might have communion with Him.  But His discipline will be directed towards those that are His children so that they may share in His holiness.

Notice that the destructive heresy that Peter is referring to has to do with denying the Master who bought them.  What the word Master indicates there is the right of the Lord to rule over them.  There are many who are willing to accept the deity of Christ, to let Christ die for them, to let the Lord forgive their sins, but they are not willing to let the Lord rule over them.  The heresy is that they deny the right of sovereign lordship of Jesus Christ.  That means they will not submit their lives to His authority and  rule.

The issue with such people is not just theological, it’s ethical.  It’s morality.  We have recently seen yet another major denomination succumb to the influence of false teaching, this latest example being the United Methodist church who only narrowly avoided formally adopting a pro LGBTQ agenda for laity and the clergy in their international conference.  But for all intents and purposes the denomination accepted it here in America and it has resulted in a split in the denomination, and it will undoubtedly cave in to the pressure from the homosexual advocates in the next election.  And I’m afraid that will result in not only the destruction of the denomination, but such a decision will destroy many people that follow such teaching as well.

The third characteristic of false prophets is that they will deceive many. Vs.2, “Many will follow their sensuality.”  Many people will follow them because they are teaching a popular doctrine. Many of the largest churches in the world are proponents of false doctrine.  Because a lie  is often more palatable than the truth.  It’s more appealing to believe a lie than than truth because it better suits our nature.  The lie is what we want to believe, because it’s what pleases our flesh, it’s what appeals to our senses, to our lusts, and it is more attractive to the culture.

Notice Peter says that they follow false teaching because it appeals to their sensuality.  False prophets often couple their teaching with an appeal to the senses.  It sounds good.  It’s set to sentimental or sensual music. It feels good.  It’s good to look at.  When Satan came to Eve to deceive her, he appealed to her sensuality.  Specifically, Gen 3:6 says, “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make [one] wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”  Notice how much emphasis is given on an appeal to the senses as justification for disobedience to God.  And that’s part of the appeal of false teaching. It appeals to the lusts of the flesh.

They don't want to accept any moral restrictions to their sinful desires and their sexual indulgences.  Jude says about false prophets in Jude 4, "They have turned the grace of our God into licentiousness."   That means they live immoral lives and they say, "Well, it's all covered by grace."  That’s licentiousness. What they don't want is the Lord getting in the way of their lifestyle. Verse 7 of Jude says, "Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these, indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh."  He’s speaking of homosexuality, as well as just blatant immorality.

Because of their love of sensuality Peter says the way of truth will be maligned. In other words, they speak ill of the truth.  They are hostile to the truth. What that really speaks to is the tendency among those in rebellion to call what is good, evil.  To call what is love, hatred.  To say what is right is actually wrong.  To say that those who follow the truth are actually the embodiment of some sort of sexism, or bigotry, or chauvinism, or racism, or any other type of ism that maligns those who believe the truth of God’s word. 

And because the truth convicts them, it makes them angry.  They end up hating the truth and loving their sin. I think that is very evident today in the culture.  The world is increasingly hate filled towards anything or anyone representing the truth.  They don’t even know why they hate them so much, but the very mention of conservative values cause them to practically foam at the mouth in their hatred.  That’s a common characteristic among those that do not want the Lord to rule over them.  That want to subvert the word of God to suit their own lifestyle and they hate anyone or anything that opposes them.

One final characteristic of false teachers is that they are greedy.  Vs 3, “and in their greed they will exploit you with false words.”  Greed may mean that they are trying to take advantage of you financially, and so they seduce you to follow them with false teaching.  Or it may include greed for power, for control, for prestige, and so they tell you what you want to hear in order to subvert you to follow them.

I would suggest that the majority of the false prophets I see on television seem to be motivated by greed.  They live wanton, luxurious lifestyles, flying private jets and living in mansions overlooking the ocean. As I told some of you a few weeks ago, Benny Hinn has a multi million dollar mansion overlooking the Pacific next to the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Laguna Nigel, CA.  I had  a business partner many years ago who unbeknownst to me took our capital and flew to see Benny Hinn for a private prayer consultation.  Benny Hinn charged him $10,000 a session.  Can you imagine?  That’s greed.  And greed is the mark of a false prophet.

Peter says they exploit you.  That means they take advantage of you.  They are in the business of building an empire for their own profit, and they seduce you by the enticement of a false gospel that appeals to your senses and fleshly lusts.  And they do so, Peter says, by false words. A false gospel.  By twisting and skewing the gospel for the purpose of taking advantage. 

But the truth is, Peter says,  that such false teaching doesn’t lead to freedom, it doesn’t lead to joy, it doesn’t lead to life, but rather it leads to destruction and judgment.  Vs. 3, Peter says, “their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” What he means is that the principle of God’s judgment against false prophets is still in effect.  It’s not been done away with in the New Covenant.  God will still bring every word, and every action under judgment.

Now in the next 5 verses, Peter gives us three illustrations of that judgment and destruction which happened in the past, as an indication of the certainty of the judgment which will come even today upon those who deceive and lead people astray.  First, he speaks of God’s judgment against errant angels.  Vs 4,  “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment…”  

Angels are supposed to be messengers of God.  And in this first illustration, Peter is referring to the angels who sinned in Genesis 6, when the sons of God looked upon the daughters of men with lust and took them and raised up a demonic offspring. Jude, which parallels Peter’s epistle to a great degree says this: “[Jude vs 6] “And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.” 

The message is clear.  Even angels who transgressed against the boundaries set forth by God to protect men and women will suffer the judgment of God.  Those angels in particular are set forth as an example to the rest of the angelic world being held in captivity in the deepest pit of hell for the last 6000 years.  And I believe that the judgment against them is so harsh because in the process of their sin, they took advantage of a weaker, more naive person and corrupted them.  I believe as well that false teachers who claim to be messengers of God will be consigned to the hottest part of hell. 

The second illustration is regarding the ancient world at the time of the flood. Vs 5 “and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly…”

The status of the world at that time is described in Genesis 6:5 “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”  This really speaks to the subject of apostasy.  Peter tells us that Noah was a preacher of righteousness.  For 120 years Noah preached to all who came to see the ark that he was building far from the sea.  Noah must have certainly seemed as crazy as any preacher of the gospel seems today, who talks about a 2000 plus year old book and yet the Lord still hasn’t come back, and God seems to be silent and unconcerned about the events of the day.  

But as Peter reminds us, the day of judgment did come against the ungodly, and when it came it came suddenly.  The door was shut, and those who were outside perished in the destruction of the flood.  Peter tells us in chapter 3 vs 1-7 that there is coming another day of judgment, but this time it will be by fire and not water, and the heavens and earth will melt with an intense heat. The Lord is not slow about His promise, but is patient towards you, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

There is a third illustration of judgment and destruction, found in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Vs 6 “and [if] He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing [them] to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly [lives] thereafter.”  Everyone is familiar with the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.  They are an example of what the Bible refers to as gross immorality. 

Jude 1:7 says,  “just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these [that is the angels mentioned in the previous verse] indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.”

Remember that false teachers and their followers are characterized by sensuality, by sexual immorality.  And so Peter is saying that God’s judgment fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah as an example of how His judgment will come against those who promote such things.

But I do not want to close this message on a note of only judgment this morning. I hope you realize that the subject matter at hand  is instructed by the text before us.  And it is a somber, sobering text that serves as a warning to the church.  But inculcated in these three illustrations of God’s judgment, are also three vignettes of God’s deliverance and mercy.  In two of the pictures we see that God calls some in history righteous.  In vs 5 Noah and 7 others  are called righteous and as a result God rescued them from the destruction that came upon the world. And then in vs 7, we see Lot, who even though he was living in the midst of a very evil people, he was called righteous by Peter no less than three times, and again, God rescued him from the destruction that came upon the city.

These three examples portray the hope of the gospel.  That those who by faith and obedience trust in Christ will escape the judgement that is coming upon all mankind.  Faith in Christ means that through the substitutionary death of Christ God credits Jesus’ righteousness to us, and our sins upon Him, that we might be declared righteous before God.  That’s the hope and promise of salvation.  And that gracious gift of salvation is available to all who call upon Him in truth.

Notice that the title Lord which Peter gives here is not the Hebrew acronym for Yahweh, or Jehovah which is usually in all caps.  But it’s kyrios, meaning Lord and Master, Sovereign, the One to whom someone belongs.  The One who not only comes to judge but to save as well.  By His grace we are called to follow His truth, and grow in respect to our salvation by sanctification in the Word.  Our hope is found in submission of our life to Him as our Lord and Savior. In submission to Him we find joy and the abundant life of which He spoke.  I trust that you have accepted and believed in Him, and will follow Him in obedience, and not be deceived by the strategies of the devil which serve  only to deceive and destroy.