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 in 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 lengthy passage which might be better studied in smaller bits than what I am going to attempt to do today. But I feel like the entire chapter is one subject, and so I hope to be able to present it more or less as Peter did, in one sitting. I’m not sure if it will serve us too well to spend too much time on each attribute, but taken as a whole I think presents a more comprehensive picture and a more impactful warning. So 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; 16 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 if you will the opportunity 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, and 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, they 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 whom 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 transformation.
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 entice the unwary and naive.
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