THE TRUTH ABOUT FALSE TEACHERS

2 PETER 2

Adapted from a David Owens sermonhttp://www.sermoncentral.com/print_friendly.asp?ContributorID=&SermonID=155626

The story of Roger Harlow is an interesting one. Most people in Kewanee, ILL.,

regarded Roger "Tank" Harlow as a shining example of civic spirit. Known for his easy

smile and chummy manner, the 47-year-old insurance agent was more than just a

successful businessman.

Voted Most Likely to Succeed by his 1967 classmates at Wethersfield High School, he had gone on to become an energetic officer

in the Kiwanis and Elks clubs and a Sunday-school teacher at Zion Lutheran

Church. “He was one of the most community-minded around,” says dentist Doug Tomlinson, who first met Harlow in 1978. “The kind of guy who did the work

when you needed things done.”

As it turns out, though, Harlow didn't limit his civic activities to what other people

needed. Police say that for more than 15 years he was the most accomplished

burglar in Kewanee, a tightly knit manufacturing community of 13,000 located 45 miles northwest of Peoria, where almost

no one locked their doors.

In August of 1994, to the astonishment of local residents, Roger Harlow was arrested and charged with stealing from the homes

of even his closest friends.Confronted with the charges, Harlow

admitted he was virtually a one-man crime wave, having taken at least $100,000 in

coins, collectibles, jewelry and other valuables from his neighbors.

Harlow picked his targets carefully, using the comfortable rhythms and routines of small-town life to his advantage. Patrick

Murphy, a printing-products salesman, says Harlow invariably golfed alone at the

Midland Country Club. “He'd play whatever hole was open, jumping from the 8th to the

15th and back to the 6th,” says Murphy.

“We thought that was just Roger, but now we realize he may have been going into

houses along the course.” Harlow also had a reputation for being chronically late for

meetings, a gambit that police believe gave him time to enter the homes of the people

who were waiting for him elsewhere.

Henry County prosecutor, Ted Hamer, offered a simple motive: “Greed.”

“To think that someone you knew for 18 years could steal from you is quite

amazing,” says Patrick Murphy's wife, Sandy. “It's almost like you don't want to

trust your friends anymore.”http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/

0,,20104998,00.html

The judge did decide on a mere two decades of imprisonment, rather than the 50 years requested by the prosecutor, or the firing squad sought by a few of Tank's

still teed-off victims. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1995-05-29/features/95052900

52_1_trucks-knox-college-open-road/2Roger “Tank” Harlow was truly a wolf in

sheep’s clothing.

Let’s spend a few minutes thinking about the story of James Warren Jones, better

known as Jim Jones. Jim Jones was born May 31, 1931, in Lynn, Indiana.

Jim Jones had become enamored by communism and frustrated by the

harassment communists received in the U.S.

This, among other things, provided a seminal inspiration for Jones; as he himself

described in a biographical recording, “I decided, how can I demonstrate my

Marxism? The thought was, infiltrate the church. So I consciously made a decision to

look into that prospect.”

Although he feared a backlash for being a communist, Jones was surprised when a Methodist superintendent helped him into

the church, despite his knowledge that Jones was a communist. In 1952, Jones became a student pastor in Sommerset

Southside Methodist Church in Indianapolis, but left that church because it barred him from integrating African Americans into his

congregation.

In 1954, Jones began his own church in a rented space in Indianapolis, at first naming

it the Community Unity Church. In 1959, the church joined the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and was

renamed the Peoples Temple Christian Church Full Gospel. This affiliation was a

successful attempt to both raise the dwindling membership and restore the

reputation of the organization.

Jones preached of an imminent nuclear holocaust, and that the surviving elect

would then create a new socialist Eden on earth. In 1965, he predicted this would

occur on July 15, 1967. Accordingly, Jones preached that the Temple must move to

Redwood Valley, California.

Jones led approximately 140 members, half of whom were black, to Redwood Valley in July 1965 and officially opened church in

Ukiah. The addition of deputy district attorney Timothy Stoen greatly increased the Temple's credibility in the area, quickly

increasing membership.

Jones began deriding traditional Christianity as "fly away religion," and rejected the Bible

as being white men’s' justification to dominate women and enslave people of color. Jones authored a booklet he would distribute in the Temple titled "The Letter Killeth," pointing out what he felt were the

contradictions, absurdities, and atrocities in the Bible, but also stating that the Bible

contained great truths.

Jones preached that the "Divine Principle" equated with "Love," and Love was equated

with "Socialism." He stated that the Bible only contained beliefs about a "Sky God" or "Buzzard

God," who was no God at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peoples_Temple#cite_note-q134-0

By the late 1960s, Jones began at least partially openly revealing in Temple

sermons his "Apostolic Socialism" concept. Specifically, "those who remained drugged with the opiate of religion had to be brought to enlightenment — socialism." Jones often mixed those concepts, such as preaching that "If you're born in capitalist America,

racist America, fascist America, then you're born in sin. But if you're born in socialism,

you're not born in sin."

After Jones became the subject of criminal investigations, particularly regarding his

alleged diversion of cult members' donations for his personal use, he and

about 1,000 followers relocated to a commune (Jonestown) that he established

in Guyana (1977).

The Temple had leased almost 4,000 acres of dense jungle from the government. They

established an agricultural cooperative there, called the "Peoples Temple

Agricultural Project." They raised animals for food, and assorted tropical fruits and vegetables for consumption and sale.

During the late 1970's, Jones had been abusing prescription drugs and appears to

have become increasingly paranoid.

Rumors of human rights abuses circulated. As in most high-intensity religious groups, there was a considerable flow of people

joining and leaving the group. Tim Stoen, the Temple attorney and right-hand man to

Jones left to form a group called Concerned Relatives. They claimed that Jonestown was being run like a concentration camp,

and that people were being held there against their will.

These concerns motivated Leo Ryan, a Congressman, to visit Jonestown in

November of 1978 for a personal inspection. At first, the visit went well. Days later, on November 18th, about 16 Temple

members decided that they wanted to leave Jonestown with Congressman Ryan.

So while Congressman Ryan and the others were waiting at a local airstrip, some

heavily armed members of the Temple's security guards arrived and started

shooting. Congressman Ryan and four others were killed and 11 were wounded.

The following day, Jones orchestrated the mass suicide of 912 followers, who were compelled to drink cyanide-laced punch.

Jones died the same day of a bullet wound to the head.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_JonesJim Jones was a wolf in sheep’s clothing,

indeed.

Let us turn our attention to 2 Peter, chapter 2.

Peter spends the entire chapter addressing false teachers. He wants us to be able to

recognize them and to understand how they work. Peter also wants us to understand

that God knows who the false teachers are and that they will be punished for the harm

they have inflicted.

Furthermore , Peter wants us to understand that God knows who the true believers and true teachers are and knows how to deliver them. Let’s read the entire chapter and then

notice some of the specifics.

2 Peter 2:1 NET But false prophets arose among the people, just as there will be false

teachers among you.

These false teachers will infiltrate your midst with destructive heresies, even to the

point of denying the Master who bought them. As a result, they will bring swift

destruction on themselves. 2 And many will follow their debauched lifestyles. Because

of these false teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. 3 And in their greed they will

exploit you with deceptive words.

Their condemnation pronounced long ago is not sitting idly by; their destruction is not

asleep. 4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but threw them into hell

and locked them up in chains in utter darkness, to be kept until the judgment, 5 and if he did not spare the ancient world,

but did protect Noah, a herald of righteousness, along with seven others, when God brought a flood on an ungodly

world,

6 and if he turned to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah when he condemned them to destruction, having appointed them

to serve as an example to future generations of the ungodly, 7 and if he

rescued Lot, a righteous man in anguish over the debauched lifestyle of lawless

men, 8 (for while he lived among them day after day, that righteous man was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds

he saw and heard)

9 — if so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from their trials, and to

reserve the unrighteous for punishment at the day of judgment, 10 especially those who indulge their fleshly desires and who

despise authority. Brazen and insolent, they are not afraid

to insult the glorious ones, 11 yet even angels, who are much more powerful, do not bring a slanderous judgment against

them before the Lord.

12 But these men, like irrational animals — creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed — do not understand whom they

are insulting, and consequently in their destruction they will be destroyed, 13 suffering harm as the wages for their

harmful ways. By considering it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight, they are stains and blemishes, indulging in their deceitful pleasures when they feast together with

you.

14 Their eyes, full of adultery, never stop sinning; they entice unstable people. They have trained their hearts for greed, these cursed children! 15 By forsaking the right path they have gone astray, because they followed the way of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,

16 yet was rebuked for his own transgression (a dumb donkey, speaking

with a human voice, restrained the prophet's madness).

17 These men are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm, for whom the utter depths of darkness have been reserved. 18 For by speaking high-sounding but empty words they are able to entice, with fleshly desires and with debauchery, people who

have just escaped from those who reside in error. 19 Although these false teachers

promise such people freedom, they themselves are enslaved to immorality.

For whatever a person succumbs to, to that he is enslaved. 20 For if after they have

escaped the filthy things of the world through the rich knowledge of our Lord and

Savior Jesus Christ, they again get entangled in them and succumb to them,

their last state has become worse for them than their first.

21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of

righteousness than, having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment that had

been delivered to them. 22 They are illustrations of this true proverb: "A dog

returns to its own vomit," (Pro. 26:11) and "A sow, after washing herself, wallows in the

mire."

False Teachers DescribedThe first thing we notice is that false

prophets and false teachers have always been around and they always will be. Paul

spoke to that same reality in Acts 20:28 NET Watch out for yourselves and for all

the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his

own Son.

29 I know that after I am gone fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the

flock. 30 Even from among your own group men will arise, teaching perversions of the truth to draw the disciples away after them.

31 Therefore be alert, remembering that night and day for three years I did not stop

warning each one of you with tears. The next thing I want us to notice is the

way false teachers are described. What are their motives and methods?

One thing we notice is that they often come from within the congregation, rather than from without. In verse 13 Peter says that:

they are stains and blemishes, indulging in their deceitful pleasures when they feast

together with you. In the passage we read a moment ago from Acts 20, Paul warned of the same thing: 30 Even from among your

own group men will arise, teaching perversions of the truth to draw the

disciples away after them.

Another thing we notice is that they often work secretly; subtly and behind the

scenes. False teachers don’t want anyone to notice their activity, so it isn’t overt and

obvious. They attempt to make their teachings look a lot like the true teachings

so that no one notices the subtle difference. That’s why they often target new Christians,

who may not know any better.

Peter points out that they are “denying the Master who bought them.” The most destructive and damning of all false

teaching is the corruption of the truth about Jesus.

But beyond misrepresentations of Jesus there are the misrepresentations of grace

and discipleship. They teach that there is no need for repentance. They teach that certain behaviors are not sinful. They

promise freedom, but deliver slavery – sounds a lot like Satan.

Everything they teach sounds great, but Peter says These men are waterless

springs and mists driven by a storm. Jesus is a spring that wells up to eternal life. John

4:13 NET Jesus replied, "Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty

again. 14 But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will

become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life."

From those who believe in him will flow rivers of living water.

John 7:37 NET On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, Jesus stood up and

shouted out, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and 38 let the one who

believes in me drink. Just as the scripture says, 'From within him will flow rivers of

living water.' " (Isaiah 58:11)

But the false teachers give nothing because they have nothing to give. They are like junk food that tastes great but has no nutritional

value.

Notice the motives of false teachers that Peter mentions. Peter pointed out that

greed is often a major motive. Verse 3: “…in their greed they will exploit you…”

Verse 14: “…They have trained their hearts for greed…” Peter illustrates his point with

the story of Balaam. (Numbers 22-24)Balaam loved money and was willing to

pursue it instead of obeying God. So God used a donkey and an angel to get his

attention.

Closely linked to greed was lust and sexual impurity. Sadly, many false teachers use

their position of trust to prey upon people to satisfy their lust.

They target the weak and vulnerable. Verse 13: …considering it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight…indulging in their deceitful pleasures when they feast together with you. 14 Their eyes, full of adultery, never stop sinning; they entice unstable people.

Let’s notice one final characteristic of the false teachers – they are arrogant. Verse

10: they …indulge their fleshly desires and who despise authority. Brazen and insolent,

they are not afraid to insult the glorious ones … Verse 12 But these men, like

irrational animals — creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed —

do not understand whom they are insulting, and consequently in their destruction they

will be destroyed,… We don’t have to understand everything Peter meant by their behavior to understand that it was all about pride and arrogance. Humility is a key and sign of godliness and spirituality, pride and

arrogance are not.

False Teachers DestroyedPeter saw no hope for these false teachers; their doom was sealed. Verse 1 …they will

bring swift destruction on themselves. Verse 3 Their condemnation pronounced long ago is not sitting idly by; their destruction is not asleep. Verse 12 …like irrational animals...

they will be destroyed… Verse 13 …suffering harm as the wages for their

harmful ways.

Verse 17 …for whom the utter depths of darkness have been reserved.

Peter spends 5 verses in the second paragraph giving three examples that

confirm the fact that God’s judgment on false teachers is sure. The first example had to do with the angels who disobeyed

and were sent to hell.

4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but threw them into hell and locked them up in chains in utter darkness, to be

kept until the judgment, I wish that Scripture revealed more about how the angels

disobeyed, but it is not necessary to know the details to understand the message: God

judges rebellion and will not spare those who reject His will – not even angels.

The second example had to do with the flood (Genesis 6-8) and how every living person and thing died except those on Noah’s ark. 5 and if he did not spare the ancient world,

but did protect Noah, a herald of righteousness, along with seven others, when God brought a flood on an ungodly

world,

The third example had to do with God’s judgment and destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah; where everything and everyone was destroyed except Lot and his daughters. 6 and if he turned to

ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah when he condemned them to destruction,

having appointed them to serve as an example to future generations of the ungodly, 7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man in anguish over the

debauched lifestyle of lawless men,

These examples are given to drive home the point that God means business. God

didn’t spare the angels. He didn’t spare the world during Noah’s time. And God didn’t spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Similarly, God will not spare these false

teachers and those who join them.

It is sobering to realize that a person can be on the right track for a while, but then can go astray and lose what they had. Peter

says that they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. He says: 21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment that had been delivered to

them.

22 They are illustrations of this true proverb: "A dog returns to its own vomit," (Pro. 26:11) and "A sow, after washing herself, wallows

in the mire."How serious, and how sad.

But let’s end on a positive note, because Peter wants us to know that this same God

who knows how to punish the false teachers also knows how to preserve the

faithful.

In two of the stories Peter pointed to about the destruction God brought, he also

pointed out how that God delivered the faithful. God did not spare the ancient

world, but God protected Noah and seven others. God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, but He rescued Lot and his family. Peter concludes his point saying: 9

— if so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from their trials…

True Believers Delivered

God certainly knows what He is doing. God knows who are faithful and true to His will, His ways, and His Word. And God knows who have gone astray and are outside of His will. Certainly we are saved by God’s

grace, and there is room for some misunderstanding and error. It is

presumptuous to believe that any one of us know it all and understand it all perfectly, and get it all right. But how wrong can we

be and still be saved?

We must leave it with God – He is the only perfect Judge of these matters.

But in the meantime, each one of us is responsible for what we believe – we must love the truth. As Paul wrote, each one of

us must Make every effort to present yourself before God as a proven worker

who does not need to be ashamed, teaching the message of truth accurately. 2

Timothy 2:15 NET

Elders are also accountable to God for how they lead and teach the Lord’s church. It is

their job to guard the flock from false teachers and false teaching. One of the

qualifications for elders is: Titus 1:9 NET He must hold firmly to the faithful message as it has been taught, so that he will be able to give exhortation in such healthy teaching and correct those who speak against it.

There will always be false teachers and teaching, but we can know the truth and stand firm in it. Let’s be sure we stay with the Lord on the right way. Let’s be sure we understand the truth about false teachers.

May the Lord protect us from wolves in sheep’s clothing!