The False Teachers' Condemnation

For Week 28 of our ‘Stand Firm’ Series we took a turn into a hard but important topic that Peter wants his audience to be aware of — false teachers. Here’s what he has to say in 2 Peter 2:1-10a:

1But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachersamong you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Masterwho bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will followtheir sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in theirgreed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle,and their destruction is not asleep.

4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell andcommitted them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did notspare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others,when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodomand Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example ofwhat is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatlydistressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived amongthem day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that hesaw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep theunrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those whoindulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.

We established last week that the dual themes of “faith and works: and :grace and effort” weren’t new to Peter’s readers. They knew them — they were “established” in them. But they needed to be reminded of these things. They needed to be reminded that our discipleship is a cooperation with God and that cooperation is rooted in the trustworthy, authoritative, and life-giving Word of God. It seems that Peter built all of that up to defend the apostolic authority and ministry and, now, to attack the false teachers who were pushing against it. Peter wants his audience to know that the these false messengers were as untrustworthy as their false messages. One of the key take aways was for us to understand what heresy really means. A heresy is more than just a false teaching — it is any opinion that destroys true faith. Armed with that knowledge, take a listen to the Sermon, “The False Teachers’ Condemnation,” and explore just what we have to learn from it and apply in our modern context.

Give the sermon text a read and a listen and we hope to see you this week at a Family Meal and/or a DNA group to dive even deeper.