So, I wonder if you've ever caught yourself just getting lost down an internet rabbit hole
just looking at optical illusions.
I find that optical illusions are really fascinating.
There is something strangely intriguing by the fact that my brain is getting tricked
into seeing something that isn't quite there.
You know that what you're seeing, or you think you're seeing, is not there,
and yet you think it's there.
You look at something and it's just not what it seems.
If we go to the next slide, for instance, the llama that you see there is not ringing a bell.
That leg holding a bell is actually just a llama behind it.
It's not what it seems.
And this lady in the next one, she's not hovering over the sand on some magic carpet.
Of course, that's just the shadow of a flag that's nearby.
So, it's not what it seems.
And the next one, the next lady, she's not a half-dog lady.
She's just wearing something as black as the dog behind her.
And then finally, believe it or not, that is not a 10-foot-long cow.
So, you might have guessed it.
I reckon there's probably two cows behind that building.
I put that one just to please Lisa.
So, it's not what it seems.
And it's not what it seems in the next slide is,
are the words that just kept coming to my mind as I started this passage in 2 Peter.
The more I read the passage, the more it seemed to me as if Peter was just screaming these words at every turn.
As he describes the character and the actions of these false teachers.
It's not what it seems, brothers and sisters.
They are not what it seems.
Now, if you listened to Archie's sermon last week,
you will know that the whole of this chapter, chapter 2, is a warning against false teachers.
And I think in chapter 1 already there were signs that Peter would have addressed the issue of false teachers.
Because he says there that he knows he's about to die.
And in verse 10, he worries that then people might stumble.
And then in verse 16, still in chapter 1, he reassures the church that he didn't follow any cleverly devised stories,
as he puts it, about Christ's future coming.
It sounds like someone had been disputing that and had been spreading rumors that Peter had been making things up
and that his second coming wasn't real.
And so, in the first half of chapter 2 that we looked at last week,
Peter introduced us to the problem of false teachers.
And he told us in no uncertain terms that there will be false teachers,
that they will seduce people, that people will follow them.
But also that the false teachers are condemned by God and will not escape judgment.
And in today's passage, he expands on all of this,
but giving us an incredibly helpful description of how these false teachers live
and how they act amongst the members of the church so that we can recognize them.
And he doesn't go into the details of what these false teachings are.
These false teachings are being spread.
There are hints like the denial of the second coming that I just mentioned,
but otherwise what we get from Peter is more of a list of common traits of false teachers,
which I think is great because I reckon that if we'd known exactly what those teachings were,
that these specific false teachers were spreading back then in the context of that culture at that specific point in time,
we maybe would have been tempted to only label those specific heresies as false teachings.
Whereas what Peter does here is equip us to identify different false teachings,
any false teachings, including the kind that we'd expect in this part of the world in this century.
And so what he does is give us a sort of identicate of the false teacher,
an identicate that will apply no matter what specific nonsense they happen to be preaching where we are.
And so as he puts together this identicate for us,
he warns us that false teachers are not what they seem.
And we look at this in three sections.
Verses 10 to 12, they're not as wise as it might seem.
Verses 13 to 16, they're not as righteous as it might seem.
And verses 17 to 22, they're not as free as it might seem.
And so Peter is telling them, these people will do all they can to sound wise to you.
And they might think themselves righteous.
Maybe they might even look the part.
And they'll want you to believe that their lives are free from any restrictions and any limitations.
But they're not any of these things.
It's not what it seems.
So if we look at the first section then, they're not wise.
Now one thing you might have noticed as Alistair read the passage is that Peter really does not hold back in attacking the false teachers.
He uses such strong language.
In just a couple of verses, he says to the false teachers here just in this first section alone,
that they're bold and arrogant, that they're blasphemous, that they're like unreasoning animals,
that they're creatures of instinct, that they are born to be caught and destroyed.
And in verse 12, that like animals, they too will perish.
And he will come time and time again in this passage to the fate of false teachers.
He'd already told us in last week's passage that they're under judgment.
And today he keeps reminding us of what awaits them here in almost every other verse.
So he clearly wants this, the way that they will end, just to really get into our hands.
So why are the false teachers anything but what you would expect of a teacher?
I'm sure one of the first words that comes to mind thinking about teaching and teacher is wise.
Why are they anything but wise?
Why are they like unreasoning animals?
It's because they're not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings.
Now we don't know exactly what it was that the false teachers said and about what celestial beings,
but the most common interpretation is that they blasphemed against fallen angels.
Peter did mention fallen angels just earlier on in the chapter in verse 4,
or perhaps against the devil himself.
But what we do know based on Peter's words is that they're showing incredible arrogance
by speaking of angelic powers in ways that the angels themselves won't.
And so they might try and appear wise to those that they want to entice
by speaking so boldly and by coming across as so confident,
like they know what they're talking about.
But verse 12 says that the truth is they blaspheme in matters that they do not understand.
And so if what they're doing is not wisdom, it's not wise,
what is wisdom according to the Bible?
I'll go to a verse that many of us will be familiar with in Proverbs 9, 10.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
So wisdom is realizing that the Lord is above everything else,
and that the Lord is as loving and merciful as he is just.
So we should fear the Lord and live accordingly.
And of course, if we are the Lord, we should only fear him.
Fearing God means recognizing his authority, his glory, his majesty,
and then as a result of this understanding, strive to live in obedience to him.
So of course, we should not fear the devil in the same way,
because our allegiance is to God, and he's already won the battle against Satan.
And yet, by behaving the way that they do, these false teachers,
by heaping abuse and celestial beings,
they're showing that they're actually not grasping the seriousness of evil.
The power that Satan still does have on humanity by way of temptation, of course,
at this point in time, while we still live in a broken world that is dominated by sin.
And so if we underestimate the devil, like they do, then we underestimate sin,
and that's how we open the door to it into our lives.
Someone at my old job underestimated the risk of this link that they got in an email,
and they did what they always teach you not to do at any training course about phishing emails,
and they clicked on the link, and then they got to this fake web page,
and they entered their password they thought they were getting into their inbox,
and they were in the scammers.
They were going through our emails, and they were emailing our clients,
asking for our invoices to be paid into our new bank account.
We underestimated the risk, and we let the scammers in.
And the false teachers behave just as scaredlessly.
They don't wash their mouth when they talk about the spiritual beings,
about things that they do not understand,
and in so doing, they're lessening in their mind the seriousness of sin.
So I think Peter is warning us that if we come across someone who's trying to convince us
that we can laugh in the face of the devil,
that we can think that he's a thing of the past,
someone that belongs in fairy tales only,
then we should run away before we too start thinking that way,
and we make ourselves even more vulnerable to sin than we already are.
And I think it's absolutely not uncommon for us, unfortunately,
in this country and in this day and age,
to come across people trying to convince us,
or maybe to convince our children in school,
that of course God exists, or maybe gods exist,
and, you know, they're pretty much just an anonymous someone,
someone, someone good living in the clouds,
maybe living in a tree.
But evil beings?
No, they're not a thing.
They're just something superstitious.
And as wise as these teachings might seem,
of course these people would be way more eloquent than have just been,
but they can sound intriguing sometimes and even wise.
It's not what it seems, Peter says.
That is not wisdom.
And if any of these teachings infiltrate in our heads,
if they get into our heads,
there are many ways that then as a result we can end up underestimating the power
that evil can have in our everyday lives.
There are a lot of ways that we can arrogantly believe and behave
that we have the strength in ourselves to overpower temptation.
And we all have different weaknesses.
We all have different ways that we let the guard down
and we open the door to sin.
And so for some of us, it will be about frequenting certain people
who have a negative influence on us.
For some others, it will look like getting too close to alcohol
or certain contexts where there's too much of it.
And I'm sure you can all think of your own examples.
It could be gossiping.
It could be lust.
It could be greed.
And so let's be watchful.
Let's not let the attitude of any false teachers
who are too casual about that spiritual war
that we know is definitely going on between God's army and the devil's.
Let's not then be contagious.
Let's not then let them infiltrate in our heads.
We want to be wise by fearing the Lord.
We won't fear the devil because we are in the Lord,
but we do take the devil's intentions seriously.
And if he was ready to tempt Jesus in the desert,
he's certainly here ready to tempt us at our every step.
And so we want to be ready for him by living wisely
and by fearing our Lord, by showing obedience to him.
In the second section in verses 13 to 16,
the false teachers are not righteous.
Again, Peter immediately reminds us
the false teachers are condemned by God.
If you look at verse 13,
they will be paid back with harm for the harm that they have done.
And then again, he will not hold back
when it comes to the language that he uses to describe them.
Their blots and blemishes, they revel in their pleasure.
They never stop sinning.
They seduce those who are unstable.
They're experts in greed.
They're an accursed brood.
It's like Peter really wants his readers
to just feel disgusted at the thought
of what these people are doing.
And if the false teachers are trying in every way
to pass for good people who can't show us the way,
then Peter is doing all he can to make it absolutely clear
to the church and to us that they are just scum.
That's not what it seems, people.
Whatever nonsense these teachers are telling you
about themselves and about God,
verse 14, they never stop sinning.
They're experts in greed.
And so he, Peter, might not tell us anything
about these teachers' doctrines,
but he tells us a lot about their strategies
to entice people.
They attend church events
because he says they will feast with you,
in verse 13.
And so maybe that's one of the ways
that they want to appear righteous,
by going to church.
But the motives behind their attendance of church
should send a chill right down our spine.
While people are enjoying fellowship together,
while they're eating together,
like we do at our church lunches,
for instance,
those wonderful opportunities we have
to just enjoy fellowship together,
to take more of an interest into each other's lives,
to encourage each other as we walk with the Lord.
It's at these times that these cowards come in
with their eyes full of adultery,
verse 14, seducing the unstable.
And so these words here specifically
paint a picture of sexual sin,
of people who have stopped even trying to resist sin.
And they use even church meetings
to try and satisfy their desires
and to prey on the vulnerable.
And so who knows,
maybe they were convincing people
to join in their sin
by preaching that it doesn't matter how much you sin
because we're already saved,
or maybe going back to the second coming
that it doesn't matter how much you sin
because there's no second coming.
We've been left to ourselves.
Jesus is gone.
He's not coming back.
Just live and be merry.
No judgment day for anyone.
And then in verses 15 and 16,
Peter compares them to Balaam.
Now, Balaam was a prophet that we read about
in the book of Numbers,
in chapters 22 to 24.
Balak, the king of the Moabites,
knocks at his door repeatedly,
asking him to please go and curse
the people of Israel for him.
Now, Balaam is not a false prophet
because he does prophesize
what God tells him to in the end.
He won't curse Israel.
He will only bless Israel
as God commands him to.
However, his heart is not right with God.
And God sees right through him
as he accepts Balak's invitation
to go and prophesize
because Balaam's mind is clearly set
on the money that comes with this service.
And so God will humiliate him
by letting his donkey rebuke him.
That's what Peter is referring to.
Just when Balaam is very close
to being killed by this angel for his actions
and the donkey actually saves him
by refusing to go near the angel.
And so since Peter compares
the false teachers to Balaam,
it's fair to think that perhaps
the false teachers were getting money
in exchange for their services
that they were offering people.
And so again, it's not what it seems.
These false teachers will try
to make people believe that they're righteous,
but they're not.
And in verse 15,
the opposite of being righteous,
Peter will say that
they have left the straight way.
They're lustful, greedy people
who have left the straight way.
Now, of course, for the sake of clarity,
none of us are righteous in themselves.
But 2 Corinthians 5.21 tells us,
for our sake,
he made him to be sin who knew no sin.
God made Jesus to be sin who knew no sin,
so that in him we might become
the righteousness of God.
And so through Jesus,
we become the righteousness of God.
And what we're called to do is,
if we look at 2 Timothy 2.22,
flee the evil desires of youth
and pursue righteousness,
faith, love, and peace,
along with those who call on the Lord
out of a pure heart.
So we're called to pursue righteousness.
And the false teachers we're seeing
are doing anything but pursue righteousness.
They've let all inhibitions go
and are pursuing only pleasure.
And in broad daylight, Peter says.
So I've got a couple of direct applications
for us here.
Number one,
are the teachers we're listening to
pursuing righteousness?
And number two,
are we pursuing righteousness?
So when we decide to listen
to someone online,
someone who's allegedly a Christian
telling us how to live a Christian life,
are we considering
if they're walking the walk themselves?
This is a point that Archie made
last week as well,
but I think it's worth making it again.
I think it applies to these verses as well.
Online resources are amazing
on so many levels.
They give us access to so much knowledge.
And we've seen during the pandemic,
one of the amazing things
that they can do is make church
at least partially accessible
to those who are housebound.
And of course,
I myself have used resources
to put together this talk.
But they do come with a warning.
And the same is valid for books
or really anything else
that comes from people
that we don't know personally.
Because the danger is that
these are people
that we don't do life together with.
We don't get to spend time with them,
to enjoy fellowship with them
in the same way that we do
with our fellow brothers and sisters
in our local church.
And so we want to make sure
that we're exposed
to the message of people
who are pursuing righteousness.
Because words can be deceiving.
Bible verses can be twisted
to fit around
what people want you to believe.
And rubbing shoulders with someone
can be a very effective way
to see past those deceiving words.
Of course, it can be
a very effective way.
We can all hide our sin
in our personal life.
We can deceive
by way of appearances too.
But I'm sure that,
for instance,
finding out that
a certain pastor
is buying himself
a private jet
with the money
that he's making
out of preaching,
that would make us
probably second guess
what he was preaching
in the first place.
And while this is
an egregious example
from the world
of the prosperity gospel
false teachings,
and it won't always be
as easy to know
if those that we listen to
live in accordance
with the gospel
in pursuit of righteousness,
I think we should
always do our due diligence
as much as possible
when we're reading
or listening to strangers.
And we should look
for evidence
of a godly life.
And then, of course,
we should look also
for real knowledge
of God.
Are the teachings
that we're listening to
rooted in the Bible?
And that's why
at Bransfield,
you'll always hear
anyone who's speaking
from the front
ask you to please
keep your Bible open,
to follow along
in the passage.
We'll be referring
to verses all the time.
And that's really
the bare minimum
that we should expect
of those that we listen to.
So are the people
we're listening to
pursuing righteousness?
And then when it comes
to our own lives,
are we ourselves
in pursuit of righteousness?
Do we strive
to live lives
in obedience to God
with Jesus
as our model?
And then in our third section,
Peter now warns us
that it's not what it seems.
False teachers
are not free.
They're not as free
as they would like us
to think.
Far from it.
Again,
he's got very strong words
for the false teachers.
He has two very powerful
illustrations.
The first one
is that these people
are like springs
without water.
What is more disappointing
than a spring
without water?
You think you've finally
found the water
and then there's none.
You walked all the way
to that spring
in the heat
of the desert.
You're sure
of that relief
that it's finally
to come
and now you're
back to square one,
still parched
and not knowing
where to go from here.
That's what false teachers
are like.
They promise solutions.
They promise freedom,
joy,
wealth,
health,
peace,
whatever it is
that they're promising
and they have
none of it.
In second illustration,
they're like mists
driven by a storm.
There's just no weight
to their words
where they say
it's empty,
it doesn't stick
and it just disappears
in the air
because there's just
no truth to it.
And now compare
what Peter is saying
about the false teachers
here with what he said
in his previous letter,
1 Peter 1, 24, 25.
Again,
a verse that we'll
be familiar with.
The grass withers
and the flowers fall
but the word of the Lord
endures forever.
What a contrast.
Then again,
Peter reminds us
in verse 17
of what the false teacher's
fate is.
These dried up springs
are destined
to eternal death.
Blackest darkness
is reserved for them.
There's a lot of
creative language
he's telling us
that they're going to hell
in like 20 different ways.
So why are they not free?
Because as they claim
to be able
to free from your poverty,
to use another
prosperity gospel example,
they're slaves
of their own greed
at the same time.
As they promise
to free you
from your sense of guilt
by not putting
any restraints
on the desires
of your flesh,
they're slaves
of their own lust.
This is the example
of someone telling us
that we're saved
so we can do
what we like now.
Or maybe
they'll do the opposite
as they promise
to free you
from your sadness
for the mourning
of a close
him relative
by praying
X number of prayers
to X number
of saints.
They're slaves
of their own
legalism.
That's people telling us
that we're saved
by actions.
And the list,
of course,
can go on.
So verse 19
is key here.
They promise
freedom
while they themselves
are slaves
of depravity.
For people are slaves
to whatever
has mastered them.
And he's already
told us,
hasn't he,
what masters them.
It's lust,
it's greed,
it's arrogance.
And then,
to add to this
already bleak picture,
they entice people
who are just escaping
from those
who live in error.
Verse 18.
People who are just
escaping from those
who live in error
are new converts.
And in verse 14
in the previous section
he said,
they're seducy and stable.
And so the sad reality
is that these false teachers
know exactly
what they're doing.
They're very intentional
when they go about
identifying their victims.
They prey
on the vulnerable.
And Peter knows it
and he's warning
the church.
And we,
members of
Brunsfield Evangelical Church,
we should take this warning
just as seriously
as hopefully
Peter's original audience did.
We have a duty
to look out
for our brothers
and sisters.
If we know of anyone
who's going through
a particularly vulnerable
time in their lives
or if we have
new converts
amongst us,
we must look out
for them.
Did we hear
that they're reading
a book with some
questionable teachings?
Did we hear
that they're listening
to that misleading podcast?
Did we hear
that they're going
to that Christian
student association
even in meetings
that are infamous
for being particularly
lenient when it comes
to tolerating sin?
Let's go speak
to them
in love
but without beating
around the bush.
Let's expose
those false teachings
for what they are
for their sake
because they might
need just that.
Because the false teacher
is offering to them
and to us
an idea of freedom
that is entirely
worldly.
And that type
of freedom
is so tempting
to all of us
because it appeals
to those same instincts
that made the first man
and the first woman
sin.
It appeals to our
arrogance.
It appeals to our
desire for independence.
It appeals to
our desire to be
independent even
from God.
And so a false teacher
will promise joy,
freedom,
but in reality
all they're offering
is judgment.
That judgment
that Peter keeps
telling us
their run
into words.
And then Peter
concludes the chapter
by pointing out
that the sad reality
is that these teachers
seem to have
accepted the gospel
at least from the outside.
They were certainly
exposed to it
and yet
they got entangled
in that corruption
again
and they went
right back
in.
Just like a dog
going back
to its vomit,
just like a pig
going back
to rolling
the mud.
And it would
have been better,
strong words,
verse 21,
it would have been
better for them
to not have known
the way of righteousness
than to know it
and turn their
backs on it.
What a sad
reality.
And just for the
sake of clarity,
I don't think we're
talking about losing
salvation here.
We're talking about
someone who was a dog
and remained a dog.
We're talking about
nominal Christians.
Because hopefully
we all know
that being a church
member does not
save us.
Being a church
goer does not
save us.
The change
has to be
within.
And so let's
conclude by looking
at the real
freedom.
If the false
teachers cannot
offer us
freedom,
who can?
1 Peter 2,
16,
leave as free
people,
but do not
use your freedom
as a cover-up
for evil.
Live as God's
slaves.
Leave us
free people,
leave us
God's slaves.
Very
counter-cultural,
maybe even
counter-intuitive.
Being God's
slaves is
freedom.
Freedom from
the power of
sin and
from the
power of
the law
because of
Jesus.
And we're
not saying
that we're
free to
sin as
much as
we please
just because
there's
Jesus up
there interceding
for us.
But we
are free
from eternal
death because
he's already
died in our
place.
And so
we as
Christians
decide to
become a
slave of
Christ and
we do that
with joy
because we
recognize that
it's God who
created us and
he knows way
better than us
what it is that
we need.
So we're going
to remember
later Jesus'
death on the
cross by
taking communion
together and
that's exactly
how he
bought us.
That broken
body,
that spilled
blood is how
we become
slaves of
Jesus if
we accept
his sacrifice
and if
we surrender
to him.
Let me
conclude by
acknowledging that
this is a
tough passage
just like
last week's.
Peter just
keeps reminding
us of the
end that
awaits these
false teachers
and it's sad
because we
never rejoice
when hearing
about lost
souls and
it's sad
because of
the damage
that these
false teachers
can do to
churches all
over the
world to
lives that
were going
in the
right direction
and were
sidetracked
by them.
But the
good news
is that while
Peter reminds
us of the
death that
awaits the
false teachers
in doing
that he
also reminds
us of the
life that
awaits us
if we remain
faithful to
God.
We must not
feel like we're
immune to
false teaching
we must be
in communion
with God
to know what
true knowledge
of him is
and to
recognize that
in other
people.
But as we
do live in
communion with
him let's
not forget
that we're
getting closer
and closer
to the day
that we will
be in his
glory.
Let's pray.
Father we
thank you for
these words
by a wise
man
because he
feared you
these words
by a man
who was
in pursuit
of righteousness
who wanted
to do
right by
you.
We just
thank you
because we
know that
being Jesus'
slave,
being bought
by Jesus
is the
real
freedom.
God
and we
pray
Father that
you will
protect
every single
person who
comes through
these doors
Father
from false
teachings.
Help us be
a church
that is
rooted in
your word.
Help us be
a church
that has
discernment
and knows
how to
spot false
teachings,
anything that
deviates
from the
real gospel
Father.
help us
just stay
close to
you.
Help us
be a light
to those
around us,
to those
within us
who are
vulnerable.
Father may
your spirit
keep doing
the work
that it's
doing in
us Father
and may
it really
help us
just pursue
righteousness
by
using
Jesus as
a model
Father
in our
everyday
lives.
Amen.