The false teachers, he also says, are bold and arrogant. They’re driven by desire. They walk according to the flesh and uncleanness. They despise authority. And he says they are presumptuous and self-willed. The word for presumptuous there means to be daring, to not be careful, to have no regard for warnings, to go and to presume. Really, it is an audacious arrogance, as the way one commentator put it. Deuteronomy 18:21-22 says, “Now you may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?’ When a prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.”

Moses goes on and the Lord goes on in Deuteronomy to say, what? If a prophet prophesies and it doesn’t come to pass, just one time, they prove that they are a false prophet, and that is the death penalty in Israel. Put them to death. There are a lot of people who think that sometime between Deuteronomy and now, God’s standard changed and that people. Listen, I read this in a systematic theology book, trying to determine what the gift of prophecy is in the New Testament, and the actual percentage was put on it. And it said that if you can be right in your prophecies, 70% of the time or more, you can be assured that you’re listening to the Holy Spirit. I’m sorry, the biblical ratio is one miss. You’re out. You’re not speaking for the Lord.

That’s it. It’s over. Now, I’m not saying we need to go out and kill false prophets, but it sure would make it simple, wouldn’t it? Well, then who would be left? We have to be careful not to claim to be speaking for the Lord unless we are speaking the Lord’s word. False prophets, they had one chance and that was it. But they’re bold and they’re arrogant. They claim to speak for God and they’re leading people astray and they’re bringing factions into the church and Peter’s warning them.

He knows that he’s not going to be around much longer to protect the church and he wants them to know they’re coming. And this is how you know because of their attitude, their self -willed. Literally the phrase means to be working to please self at all costs. Actually the word involves being stubborn. “I am going to stubbornly pursue pleasing myself. That means I will say whatever I have to say to get the result that I want.”

You ever wonder why false teachers can change which they teach all the time? Because if you go back and listen, well, you said this, but now you said this, but now you said this. Well, which was it? Well, then the Lord told me to say this, but then it changed, and the Lord told me to say this, and then it changed, and the Lord told me this. What happened? Probably offerings dropped. That’s what happened. I’ve got to find something new to say to get people back in, to scratch those itching ears, to hit the right spot, to get the funds back to where they need to be.

It’s enough to make us angry because we read it in Titus 1:7, in the qualities for an elder in the church, an elder, a pastor “For the overseer must be beyond reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of dishonest gain.” This is the description in the New Testament of the character of someone who’s to be teaching the Word of God, not self-willed.

In Philippians 1, Paul wrote, “Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me affliction in my chains. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice.”

And Philippians 2:3, Paul writes, “Doing nothing from selfish ambition or vain glory, but with humility of mind regarding one another as more important than yourselves.” When we look at false teachers and their nature, at the fruit that their teaching produces, we see this self-will, this selfish ambition. And he goes on, he says, not only are they presumptuous and self-willed, he said, “they do not tremble as they blaspheme glorious ones.” They’re not even afraid to speak evil of dignitaries.

Is he just talking about earthly authorities? Is he talking about church authorities? The word “glories” is used in the scriptures and other places to refer to angels. And he says here, they are presumptuous and self -willed. They do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones. They slander without fear. They will talk against authority in the church, in the government, in the heavens.

They’ll even talk against angels because they have no fear of angels. Now listen to this. How arrogant, how audacious, how proud do you have to be not to be afraid of angels? Because every time an angel appears in the New Testament except for a few times, what do they say? What’s the first thing they say? “Do not be afraid.” And it says these false teachers have no respect, no fear for authority, even on the angelic level.

Now think about what they’re teaching. He’s already talked about the fact that these false teachers are slandering Christ because they’re saying He’s a liar. He said he’s coming back and he didn’t come back. So they’re not afraid to say, Jesus isn’t coming back. He didn’t tell you the truth or we misunderstood Him. They’re also telling the church there’s no reason to fear the judgment. “You don’t have to be afraid when judgment’s coming. You don’t have to flee the wrath. Come. Just rest. Rest in your confession. You’ll be fine. No need to fear.” And there is no fear. There’s no respect for any authority.