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.  

One of the most popular artists of all time, and one that is particularly favored 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. Obviously, at some point Van Gogh had been exposed to the truth of the Bible earlier in his life, but in his view, the light of the Bible had gone out, and 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 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 as we talked about last time, the enemy of truth is the devil, and he has been working against the truth since the beginning of creation. 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. And he does so ultimately to deprive men of learning the truth that leads to salvation, in order to ensure their destruction. So 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.

And 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. 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. And 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 as we look now at chapter 2, Peter spends virtually the entire 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. And 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, and they are ostensibly from within the church? Maybe if they do some sort of miracle, or claim some supernatural power, then we can believe them. Well, 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 the church at large seems to have many that claim to perform signs and wonders as evidence of a movement or revelation from the Lord. I would remind you that the false prophets of Pharaoh were able to duplicate the signs 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 and the deception of their own minds.” Notice, God said they come in the name of the Lord, that is from within the church.

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.”

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. Thus Paul warned the church when taking communion that if they did so without repentance from sins they were engaging in, that 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 healed and that you might have communion with Him. And His discipline will be enacted 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 theological, it’s ethical. It’s morality. We have seen yet another major denomination succumb to the influence of false teaching, this latest example being the United Methodist church who just a few weeks ago 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 will undoubtedly result in either a split in the denomination, or it will 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 popular. Many of the largest churches in the world are adherents of false doctrine. A lie is often more palatable than the truth. It’s more acceptable to believe a lie than then 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 conducive 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, he 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, bad. 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.

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 planes 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 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 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, talking about a 2000 plus year old book and yet the Lord still hasn’t come back, and He seems to be silent and not concerned 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 swiftly. The door was shut, and those who were outside perished in the destruction by water. 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.

However, I do not want to close this message on such 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 vignettes 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 made 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. 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 for life 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.

Peter is writing to the church at large near the end of his life, in order to shore up the foundations of the church, to strengthen the walls of the church, against the assault of the enemy of the church.  And the enemy always assaults the church in the area of the authority and sufficiency of the Word of God.  The Word of God is always under attack.  It has been since the beginning of the church, and it is even more so today.  

Back in Peter’s day, the assault of false doctrine took the form of Gnosticism.  Gnosticism comes from the Greek word gnosis, which means knowledge.  They professed a false knowledge concerning God which came not from scripture, nor from divine revelation, but from a philosophical and experiential viewpoint.  Thus, Peter makes reference repeatedly in this epistle of knowledge, but especially the true knowledge of God which comes through faith in Jesus Christ.

We have a similar situation in the church today, when the truth of God is set aside for the sake of human philosophy, for the sake of science, and for the sake of spiritual experiences.  So we have today in operation in the church at large, a form of Christianity, which seems to reference many of the same terms and names and so forth, yet i effect it denies the authority of the Word of God.

Now Peter has just addressed a list of virtues that he said were to be applied diligently to our faith.  In other words, he gives a list of things that characterize how we are to live as Christians.  And that’s important, because both in his day and in ours, there is a tendency to think that you can have spiritual knowledge of God, and that alone is sufficient.  There is no need to worry about what you do, only about the spiritual realm.  In fact, one of Gnosticisms’s heresies was that you didn’t need to be concerned  about sins of the flesh.  The flesh was separate from the spirit, and so as long as you were spiritually connected to God, you could do anything in the flesh and it didn’t matter.  And I’m afraid that the same attitude is prevalent today as well in some evangelical circles.  The theological term for this type of thinking is called antinomianism. It’s believing that since salvation is by no merit of your own, when you are saved, your sin no longer matters, or is even recognized.  It’s just a new twist on an old heresy; Gnosticism.

The fact is, God has decreed that without sanctification, that is the process of becoming holy, becoming like Christ in our behavior and attitudes, no one will see the Lord.  (Hebrews 12:14) But make no mistake, there is a constant battle going on in the Christian’s life between the flesh and the Spirit.  Paul cried out in Romans 7:24 “Who will deliver me from this body of death?”  The answer of course is that Christ delivers us from the body of death through the resurrection.  That is when we are finally, truly free from the body of sin and given a new glorified body without sin.  But in the meantime, while we are still in the body, we are told to crucify the flesh on a daily basis, and walk not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.

Now in order to walk in the Spirit, we must walk according to the word of God.  To be obedient to God’s word is counter to the natural inclinations of the flesh.  So to yield to the Spirit and walk in the Spirit, means to walk in agreement with the Word of God.  The word of God is our shield against walking after the flesh.  Psalm 119:11 says, “your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”

As the old adage goes, “This book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book.” And so Peter follows through on his list of virtues, the virtues of sanctification,  by emphasizing the importance of staying in the word of God.  Sanctification, remember, is the life of a Christian.  It’s the abundant life, the fruitful life of a Christian.  The Christian life is not intended to be an initial spasm followed by chronic inertia which is so characteristic of so many  in evangelical churches today.  But it’s to be a progressive, maturing way of life, in which we follow the example set by Christ, becoming more and more like Him in the process.

Concerning this life of sanctification, Jesus said in John 17:17  “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”  So as Peter indicates here, reliance and dependance on the Word of God is necessary for a life of sanctification.

And Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”  That’s the way we live as Christians,  living by the word of God, being obedient to it, walking in it, and trusting in it’s promises and in the process it keeps us from falling and leads us into the paths of righteousness.

So to Peter’s point, he gives us 7 characterizations of the word of God, which serve to establish us in the truth.  The first characterization is what he calls the remembrance of the word.  In the NASB, Peter uses the word “remind” in vs 12, “reminder” in vs 13, and in vs 15 he says “to call these things to mind.”  In the KJV, it uses the word “remembrance” in all three examples, and that’s the basis for the way I make the point.  

Notice Peter speaks of his intention to remind them of the truth, and the need for stirring them up by way of reminder, and then being able to bring to remembrance these things after he was gone.  Peter says that he is fully aware that he will soon leave this world.  That the Lord had revealed to him that his departure was imminent.   Some of us might think that to know the day of our death would be a curse.  We would rather not know when.  I overheard some people saying the other day that they hoped to die in their sleep.  

But on the other hand, what a blessing it was for Peter to know that there was appointed a time for his death, and that the few days he had left were to be used for a divine purpose.  In reality, we all ought to consider our time on earth that way.  None of us know the day or the hour in which we will die.  But one thing we do know, that the Bible says “it is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment.”  We ought to all live our lives in the full expectation that today might be the last day we are on this earth.  And if we truly lived that way, I believe we would live so much more differently. Psalm 90:12 says, “So teach [us] to number our days, that we may apply [our] hearts unto wisdom.”

Did you know that if the average life span is 75 years old, that is 27375 days?  Doesn’t sound like a lot, does it? I am 60 years old.  That means that I have 5625 days left, if I live as long as that standard.  That should motivate us to make sure our lives count for God.

Now how was Peter going to bring about this reminder, this remembrance to the church, especially after he was dead?  Was his ghost going to come back and haunt the church like Ebenezer Scrooge? I don’t think so.  Peter still speaks today to the church via his epistles.  That’s the means by which he reminds the church of the doctrines of the gospel for ages to come. Peter remembered the teaching of Christ, and he writes them down for us that we may be stirred up, that we might know the truth of the gospel, and that at any time we may turn again and again to the scriptures for assurance and remembrance of these essential truths. 

Having the word of God available in our language, at our fingertips, available whenever we need it, is a blessing that we far too often take for granted. This is the word of God.  Listen, we can only really come to know God by the word of God. We don’t worship the word, but we worship through the word.  When we come to worship God, we speak to Him, but more importantly, He speaks to us, and He does so by the scriptures.  And implicated in these verses, is the principle that we need to be reminded on a regular basis.  We need to set aside time to study the word, to be reminded of these eternal truths, and even to commit the word of God to memory.  It is the source of life.  As Jesus said, we live by the word of God.

The second characteristic of the Word of God is that of endurance.  The endurance of the Word. Peter relates this principle in vs 15 saying, “And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind.”  In the providence of God the scriptures have been preserved for us.  Peter’s diligent was in writing it down for that generation and for future generations.  But God has preserved His word down through the ages.  And certainly, the greatest advancement of the gospel came with the invention of the  printing press in the 15th century and then the translation of the Bible into English by Tyndale in the early 16th century.  It was never the intention of God to have His word in only one archaic language which only a learned few were able to read and translate.  Now today, the word of God is available as never before on the internet, radio, television and every language known to man, and yet unfortunately, it is also under more attack that ever, and more neglected than ever.

In 1 Peter 1:24 Peter quoting Isaiah says,  “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was proclaimed to you.”  Some people think that when the Lord returns at His second coming and we are in the glorified kingdom, that there will be no more need for the word of God.  I disagree.  I think that the word of God will continue to have a place of prominence in our worship in heaven.  The scriptures speak of the eternality of the Word.  Psalm 119:89, “Your word, O LORD, is everlasting; it is firmly fixed in the heavens.”  So the Word of God is not something that was created by Peter when he sat down in AD 67 with a pen and paper.  But it’s eternal and it endures forever.  That means that it’s unchanging, it’s never going to be revoked.  It’s promises are something that will never expire.  We can trust it and count on it.

The third characteristic of the Word that Peter gives is the eyewitnesses of the Word. Vs.16, “For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.”  There is a pseudo intellectual type of approach to the scripture which tries to say that a lot of the early stories in the Bible like creation, or the flood, or things like that are actually not literal, true historical events, but they are analogies that were passed down verbally from generation to generation. And I don’t have time today to spend a lot of time on apologetics.  In fact, I’m not even going to attempt to defend the Bible.  I believe God can defend the Bible perfectly fine. I will say though that practically every week I read an article in the news confirming something that the Bible said and yet scholars have criticized as untrue for years.  As more archeology unearths more historical relics, the Bible is never really disproven, but the opposite is true.  For years they said there was no evidence of King David in archeological finds.  But now they believe that there are a number of evidences that he lived.  The fact is though that I don’t depend upon that sort of thing to validate my faith.  My faith validates the Bible, and archeology is trying to keep up.

Peter though is speaking of the fact that the things which he writes are because he and the other apostles were eyewitnesses of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  I’ve noted before that according to civil law, eyewitness testimony is critical to establishing fact.  Someone can be tried and found guilty of murder and put to death on the basis of two or three eyewitnesses.  Paul relates in 1 Cor. 15 that not only did Christ appear  after His resurrection to the 12 apostles, but also to more than 500 witnesses. That’s impossible to refute. And it means that the things of which he writes are facts, they are not clever morality tales.  Peter is writing at a time when many of those people who were eyewitnesses were still alive, and so what he is saying can be corroborated. 

The fourth characterization is the confirmation of the Word. Not only were the apostles eyewitnesses of the life, death and resurrection, but even more Peter says, he, and we know also James and John, were eyewitnesses of the transfiguration, and witnesses of the voice of God speaking in confirmation of His Son.  Peter says in vs.17 “For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”–and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.”  

The transfiguration was important for many reasons.  One obvious reason was that they saw Jesus Christ revealed in His glory as the Son of God. Matt. 17:2 says, “And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.” It was as if the cloak of flesh was made transparent so that the glory of God shone forth from Him, which was a bright as the sun.

The apostle John who was present at the transfiguration said in John chapter 1 vs 14,  “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  It’s amazing that John’s gospel identifies Jesus as the Word which was in the beginning with God.  I don’t know how to describe that.  I don’t fully understand it.  But we know that in some way, Jesus was the personification of the Word of God, who existed in the beginning with God, who was God, and yet who became flesh and dwelt among us.  And Peter, James and John saw the Word of God manifested in all His glory and heard the voice of God confirming that He was His Son, and with Him He was well pleased.  And of course, the other confirmation of the gospel of Christ is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  In raising Jesus from the dead, God confirmed that His life was perfect, His sacrifice was acceptable, and our debt was paid in full.  

The next characteristic is the certainty of the Word.  Peter says, we have the prophetic word made more sure.  The word bebaios in the Greek which is translated as more sure can be defined as stable, fast, firm, sure, trustworthy.  And I believe what Peter is speaking of here is the certainty of the Word.  It’s not obscure.  It’s not unclear.  It’s not the philosophy of man.  It’s not the wisdom of man.  It’s the wisdom of God.

It’s certainty is found in the fact that it was spoken by the Word made flesh, it was confirmed by God on the mountain, it was confirmed by angels, it was testified to by the apostles, it was witnessed by over 500 people, and I believe there is one other, which is that it was written down.  Jesus refers over and over again in His ministry to “it is written.  It is written.” The fact that God inspired the prophets to write down His word makes it more sure.  It’s something we can cross check against other scriptures.  It’s something we can study, evaluate, meditate on because it’s in written form.  It’s not just a verbal tradition that was passed down and added to.  That’s why the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls was so important.  It verified the fact that the Word of God had remained virtually unchanged for over 2000 years.  So it’s a sure word.

Now in addition to the certainty of the Word, Peter adds another, the illumination of the Word. 2 Peter 1:19  “So we have the prophetic word [made] more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.”

Peter’s illustration there speaks to the illumination of the Word by which we can see truth.  “Pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.”

Jesus referred to Himself as the light of the world.  He referred to the gospel as a light set on a hill, which draws people to God. Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”  In the prophecy concerning the Messiah found in Isaiah 9:2 it says, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.”

Salvation is only possible when the Holy Spirit illuminates our minds, and opens the eyes of our hearts to see the light of truth.  Peter says give attention to that light, until the day dawns and the Morning Star, which is a description of Christ, arises in your hearts.   Rev 22:16 says, “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”  Having the illumination of Christ in your heart is the means of salvation, and enables us to understand the scriptures which are the words of life.

Then finally, the seventh characteristic of the Word is the divine origin of the Word.  Peter gives an extremely important statement here regarding the origination of the Word of God. Vs.20 “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is [a matter] of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

Unfortunately, the word translated as “interpretation” there does not give us the best understanding.  Rather than interpretation, it would be better translated as origination.  He’s not talking about interpreting the scriptures, but the origination of the scriptures. That is, it does not arise out of the prophet.  The prophets did not originate it, it came from God.

The context supports this view because the preceding verse says, “We ought pay attention to the word of God.” Why? Because it doesn’t come from the prophets. And then verse 20 says it comes from God. That’s why we ought to give heed to it. So what we have here is a statement of the origination of Scripture, its divine origination. 

Incidentally, the phrase “moved by”  as in moved by the Holy Spirit, means  to be carried along by someone else’s power.  It was often used in reference to a ship being carried along by the wind.  Inspiration is the breath of God propelling the prophet to write the Word of God by his own hand, in his own words, and even flavored by his own experience and personality, but originating from the Holy Spirit.  They were not moved to write by their own designs or their perceived need, but according to the movement of the Holy Spirit in them.

That should remind us of the statement which Jesus made concerning the Word, which I quoted earlier, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”  Our belief is that every word contained in scripture is inspired by God.  And the very words of God are our spiritual food and the means by which we grow  spiritually and are matured spiritually.  And we learned previously  in our study of 1 Peter 2:2 that the goal of our new birth, Peter said, “ like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.”

Our sanctification is not possible without feeding upon the Word of God.  It is sufficient for every need. The apostle Paul, who like Peter was nearing the end of his life, wrote to his son in the faith, Timothy about the importance of staying in the word.  I will close by reading his admonition to Timothy, which I hope you will apply also to yourself.  2 Tim. 3:14-17  “You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned [them,]  and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;  so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”