Daily Archive

In 2 Peter 2 we find the Apostle issuing a warning. He warns specifically about the challenges that are facing the churches he is writing this letter to. Martyn Lloyd -Jones, in his commentary on this chapter, admitted that along with the book of Jude, 2 Peter chapter 2 is his least favorite portion of the Scripture. Why would a preacher, especially a preacher like Martyn Lloyd -Jones, tell us this is his least favorite passage? He explains that the reason he has such a disdain for this text is because it shows how weak, fragile, vulnerable, and needy the church is. It shows us how susceptible we are to be lured away by false doctrine.

Peter gives a warning about false teachers and he gets into the nitty -gritty of their nasty, sensual lives, not just the doctrine they’re teaching. In fact, he doesn’t spend much time on their doctrine. He looks at the fruit of their lives and he says to the church that this is the evidence that we need that there are false teachers among us.

We need to remember that we have most of the New Testament because even while the apostles were still here and alive, there were false teachers being raised up in the church. People said, “We’re apostles and Paul’s not” at Corinth. Others who said, “You’ve heard men teach, but they were wrong and now I have the truth. I have uncovered a mystery. I found a Bible code. I can tell you how to have your best life now.”

We are told to follow this method or to follow that teacher, and so we have the New Testament written to combat and correct those things. And so Peter says, “false prophets also arose among the people” (2 Peter 2:1). Yes, God spoke by prophets. Yes, He inspired them. He carried holy men of God along as they spoke and were moved by the Holy Spirit. “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as 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. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words, their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” (2:1-3).

As we come to this warning and to these challenges that are facing the church, we are going to begin with these first three verses and answer the who, what, when, where and how of false teachers. The Greek there for false prophet is pseudo -prophetai, pseudo, just like it means. It’s false, it’s fake. They’re not real. They’re not called by God. They’re not equipped by God. They’ve not been given a message by God. They are false prophets. They are liars. In truth, they’re not even really prophets – they are pretenders.

Jeremiah warns us, “A horrible and appalling thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy with lying, and the priests have dominion by their own hand; and My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?” (Jer. 5:30-31). “My people love it so” – the problem with false teachers is there are all too many people eager to follow them, who would rather be lied to than told the truth, because lies are comfortable.

Lamentations 2:14 tells us, “Your prophets have beheld for you worthless and ineffective visions; and they have not uncovered your iniquity so as to return you from captivity, but they have beheld for you worthless and misleading oracles.” These are the false prophets that will tell you to your face that they never use the word sin or repent in their preaching. They will tell you that they don’t want to preach anything that would make you feel bad. Again, Martin Lloyd -Jones says that we need preachers today who will preach and tell people things from the Word of God that will lead them to hate themselves and their sin. Because we have to hate all that we are without Christ. We have to repent of it. It has to be detestable to us. And if we only tell people what makes them comfortable, Lloyd -Jones says those are feigned words, they’re fake and they’re not true, and you may feel comfort, but you are not truly being comforted.

You are being lulled to sleep and being given a false assurance. Some complain that that goes completely against the self-esteem gospel. Yes, it does, because our self-esteem has to be crushed at the foot of the cross. And we have to realize that our only boast is in Him. It’s not in us. I don’t want you to feel bad, but I do want you to feel convicted. I want you to feel the power of the truth of the Word of God and the work of the Spirit to know that we need to be healed.

False prophets who come and preach these false and deceptive visions, he said they’ve not uncovered your iniquity. They’ve not confronted your sin. They’ve not told you the truth that you need to hear so that you can be set free from having been a captive. But they’ve envisioned for you false prophecies and delusions. Matthew 24:11, Jesus says, “Many false prophets will arise and deceive many.” He says in verse 24, “For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”

In Luke 6:26, Jesus says, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers were doing the same things to the false prophets.” I think sometimes we have to be careful, especially in the reformed world, as we want to write books and as we love books and as we want our books to be bestsellers. If you know those who have written bestsellers, what you find out is that most people who write bestsellers are either telling flat-out lies or they’re buying all the books themselves to increase the sales so that it looks like they’re writing bestsellers.

1 John 4:1 is the reminder, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” Test, judge, try, examine, ask questions, ask hard questions, and dig in. If you’re going to listen to somebody preaching the Word of God to you, make sure they’re preaching the Word of God to you, and make sure that their life backs up what they preach.

One of the dangers sometimes of the megachurch movement is that pastors are not held accountable and nobody knows how they live. No one can even get close to them. We only know how they preach, and if they can preach nice sounding words, it’s the curse of Ezekiel. God told Ezekiel that the people want to come hear him because they love to hear him preach. But they’re not listening to what he is saying because once they hear what he says, they hate him because they hate God and His word. The world hates the Word of God. The world does not want to and will not submit to the Word of God. The world cannot understand the Word of God (Rom. 8:6-8).

Look for those who are preaching and teaching and living the Word of God, those who need to be tested. I mean, when Paul praises the Bereans for doing what? For questioning an apostle who’s inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Next time, part 2…