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Pastor Scott L. Harris
Grace Bible Church, NY
October 18, 2009
False Teachers Shall Come
2 Peter 2:1-10
Introduction
What does the name “Jim Jones” mean to you? For many of you who are young it may not mean anything. For some of you, the name sounds familiar, but you can’t quite place it. Others of you know exactly who I mean.
Jim Jones was an independent minister in Indianapolis from 1953-1964 when he was ordained by the Disciples of Christ. In 1971 he moved his congregation to California and established “The Peoples Temple” in San Francisco and a satellite church in Los Angeles. Membership increased to as many as 8,000. The church was hailed as one of the few groups in the world that gave a true expression of Christian love. This was in part because it was multi-racial which was fairly radical for the 1970’s. The people in the group seemed to truly care about each other and the community. They became very active trying to combat social problems with Jones becoming a popular community activist who supported causes and political leaders with cash and coordinated volunteers. The mayor even gave Jones a seat on the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission and Governor Jerry Brown was seen attending services at the Peoples Temple on occasion.
However, not everything was as it seemed and criticism began to arise. By the summer of 1977 it had reached a high enough level that Jones established a compound and communal farm in British Guyana and about 1,000 of his core supporters moved there to what became known as Jonestown. The concerns of constituents whose relatives were part of Jonestown finally led California Congressman Leo J. Ryan to go there to investigate. He and four others in his party were killed at an isolated airstrip on June 18, 1978 with a few others escaping into the jungle. Jones had anticipated trouble and fearing the end of his ministry and certain arrest, he ordered a “state of emergency” resulting carrying out a mass murder and suicide that had been carefully rehearsed. Only a few that had escaped into the jungle did not die. Over 900 people died, 280 of them were children. Jim Jones body was found with a gunshot to the head. Where did such a man as Jim Jones come from? How did so many people get sucked into the tragedy of “Jonestown.”
“Jonestown” gets our attention because of its graphic nature and the tragedy of so many lives lost, yet in God’s sight, an even greater tragedy are the souls lost to the twisted teachings of the cults. Usually when we mention “cults” we think of groups such as Christian Science, The Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons), Jehovah’s Witnesses and The Unification Church (Moonies). However, there are thousands of other cult groups in existence ranging from large to very small, but all very dangerous.
There are groups like The Children of God, now known as The Family, which was founded by David Brandt Berg, aka “Moses David,” who describe themselves as “revolutionary Christian nomads.” This group requires those who join it to sign a statement that says “I promise to give (to you) all my goods and income, let you open my mail, obey the rules and officers.” Their rules include, “do not leave anywhere without permission, and absence from Bible Study, duties, or witnessing must be for emergencies by direct permission of the officer in charge . . . ‘He sent you out two by two’ – you will never go alone, and always with a veteran with a trainee.” That type of mentality is not uncommon among the cults.
ApologeticsIndex.org and it sister site, Religion News Blog, has over 31,000 web pages on cults ranging from Alamo Christian Foundation to YWAM (which ApologeticsIndex.org reports as having definite cultic traits at some of it bases – though not at others). Some of these are definite cults, others have cultic tendencies, and others aberrant theology or some combination of the two.
Where do all these groups come from? Many of them seem to be close to Biblical Christianity, and yet something seems odd about them. How can they be distinguished from true Christianity? What do they do? What will happen to them and those who follow them? How can you protect yourself from them?
These are important questions! A few weeks ago I talked about The Basis for Belief and I stressed that each one of us acts and behaves according to what we believe to be true. I told you about the tragedy of the man who went sky diving sincerely believing that he was wearing a parachute only to find out too late that he had jumped out of the plane without one. I stressed that the greatest tragedy of all would be to believe something sincerely all of your life, and then only find as your standing before God that what you believed was a lie and you are now doomed to hell. (See: The Basis for Belief – 2 Peter 1:16-21)
The Bible is our basis of truth. It does not lie. It does not contradict itself or anything discovered in the world around us. Every field of study only ends confirming its scientific, and historical accuracy. We also saw that the Bible is not a man made book but a book that is literally “God breathed.” It is the very word of God, the creator of the universe. Yet, even with the Bible as the basis of truth, we have to be careful of men who would pervert its truth and lead us astray.
The prime targets of the Mormon’s, Jehovah’s Witnesses and other cults are those with a Christian background. Have you noticed the commercials put out by the Mormon church in which they try so hard to show that they are the same as any Christian group, except that they also have an additional revelation of the Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon? Or how about the efforts of the Moonies to be accepted by the evangelical community. Every person sitting in this church is a target for these cult groups. Do you know the truth well enough to distinguish it from the half-truths of the cults?
Ronald Enroth in his book, Youth, Brainwashing, and the Extremist Cults, documents the experience of several people with different cult groups. Greg Wilson had graduated from UCLA and was just getting started in reading the Bible for himself. He was searching for “someone who could show me a way of living — the way I thought Christ was telling me to live in the Bible.” That was when he was sucked into The Alamo Christian Foundation.
During the summer of 1971, when the Jesus People revival was sweeping the West Coast, Karen Taylor committed her life to Christ. However, it was not long before she crossed the paths of The Love Family, aka The Church of Armageddon in Seattle, Wash. and was pulled into that cult for several years.
Shelley Liebert of Los Angeles had come to Christ while in Greece. On her return home she found it difficult to be open about her Christianity because she came from a Jewish home. It was not long before she met some people from a group called One World Crusade which was a front organization for the Unification Church. They invited her to a retreat and that is how she soon found herself entrapped with the Moonies.
Marie Leonetti grew up in the Detroit area and attended Catholic Schools through senior high. When she went away to college she was “hungry for Bible teaching.” She ran into some folks who said that they were Christians who read and studied the Bible together. They said the were not a church or religious denomination and they invited her to join them. That began a 22 month journey in which she says, “You no longer think for yourself, You think what you’re told to think. What I experienced when I came out was that it was hard to think: it was hard to put my thoughts together in order to say anything.”
You and I need to be able to distinguish the truth from the lies and half-truths given by the cults and extremist groups. Not only for our own protection, but also for the protection of people like Greg, Karen, Shelley and Marie. People who are searching for answers, but do not know where to look. People who want to follow the truth, but do not yet know how to distinguish the truth from Satan’s lies.
Our first question is where do these false teachers come from? Turn to 2 Peter 2:1 if you are not already there.
Where False Teachers Come From– 2 Peter 2:1a
“But False prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you.” +6The first thing Peter tells us in this verse is that what is occurring today is no different than what was occurring during the time of the prophets. There were true prophets and there were false prophets. Throughout the history of Israel there were those who truly spoke for God and those who claimed to do so, but the actually only spoke their own thoughts and opinions. 1 Kings 22 is a classic example of this. Jehoshaphat, the King of Judah, and Ahab, the King of Israel, were going into battle together against their common enemy, Aram. Jehoshaphat asks Ahab to have one of the prophets inquire of the Lord concerning the battle before they go out. Ahab gathers together 400 of his prophets and asks them about it. All of them say to go ahead and launch the attack for the Lord will give them victory. Then Jehoshaphat asks Ahab if there is not yet a prophet of the Lord that he might inquire of? Ahab replies, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD, but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. Micaiah so of Imlah.” Micaiah ends up telling the kings that they will lose, and they did, including the death of Ahab.
But the point is that there were plenty of false prophets in the land of Israel. These false prophets were not imported from other lands. They came from within the people of Israel themselves.
In the same way, Peter says, there will be false teachers from among you. False teachers do not have to come from other religions. They easily arise from within the visible church by those claiming to be Christians. It is just as Jesus said it would be in Matthew 13. There would be tares among the wheat. There would be that which is evil growing in the same place as that which is good. And this very principle is carried out in our real experiences.
Tony & Susan Alamo began in the late sixties by preaching to the hippies on Hollywood Blvd. They were busy handing out gospel tracts and witnessing to those society had rejected before they learned how they could manipulate such people to their own ends. The Way International was founded by Victor Paul Wierwille. He holds a master’s degree from Princeton Seminary and had been a minister of the Evangelical and Reformed Church.
The Children of God, now known as The Family, was founded in the late sixties by David Brandt Berg. He was at one-time a Bible teacher and itinerant evangelist. He spent his early years traveling with his parents who were evangelists associated with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. After WWII, Berg fell out with leaders of the church he was pastoring. He then dropped out of the organized church with feelings of bitterness and contempt for institutionalized religion. He started working with hippies and drug freaks and began his organization with them.
Charles Taze Russell, founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses began his work in the Adventist movement of the mid-1800’s. Joseph Smith, founder of The Church of Jesus Christ -Latter Day Saints (Mormons) was under Presbyterian influence as a teen and several of the early leaders in Smith’s church came from the Disciples of Christ.
The point here is that the false teachers come from within the church itself. Paul warned the Ephesian elders about this in Acts 20:29-30 saying, “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.” It is just as Jesus, Paul and Peter had warned.
What False Teachers Do – 2 Peter 2:1b-2
The second question is, what will these false teachers do? 2 Peter 2:1-2 continues saying that they “will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words;
The first thing they do is teach heresy. This is the hallmark of a false teacher. It is important to note here that Peter says that these false teachers will “secretly introduce destructive heresies.” The false teachings that they bring in will come in subtlety, quietly, unnoticed. It is very seldom that they begin with blatant heresy. They almost always start off with what appears to be a good evangelical, gospel message. That is true of Jim Jones, but he, and so many others like him, introduced new teachings as time went on. Sometimes it is just a twist in the explanation of a doctrine. Sometimes it is something very close to the truth, but steadily the error grows until it is completely perverted. No wonder Peter made such strong statements in 2 Peter 1 that he was only reminding them of what they had already been taught, that he was telling them what he and the other apostles had been eyewitness of concerning Jesus, and that no prophecy is a matter of one’s own interpretation (2 Peter 1:15-21).
The battle that went on in the Southern Baptist denomination for multiple decades began with just some questioning of some Old Testament texts. This lead to musings about certain prophecies and the historical accuracy of certain Biblical statements. Later on came questioning of the Bible’s scientific accuracy. By 1980, a study of students graduating from the SBC School in Louisville, Kentucky showed that as students gained higher education, the greater their doubts of Scripture with some graduating with their Doctorates doubting the very existence of God. Since that time the conservatives in the SBC were able to change the direction of the denomination back to orthodoxy. It has been a long, hard road for them, but men such as Al Mohler, current President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, have moved the schools back to a solid, Biblical foundation (see www.AlbertMohler.com). The so called “moderates” which are actually theological liberals, have now formed their own associations in which there doctrinal aberrations and heresies are more clearly expressed in their doctrinal statements.
Peter’s point here is that doctrinal heresy comes in quietly in such a way that you would hardly notice. The word for heresy here literally means “their own opinions.” A stark contrast to 2 Peter 1:20,21 that prophecy is not a matter of one’s own interpretation and it did not come by an act of human will. Heresy enters quietly because it starts with the subtle shift away from a commitment that only the Bible interprets the Bible with its corresponding demand to study a Biblical passage according to its historical and grammatical. They elevate the value of their own opinion until their teaching is based on their own opinion instead of the truth dug out by proper interpretation.
Scripture interpreted according to personal opinion is destructive and can cause you to perish. How many millions of people will end of spending eternity in Hell because they believe the Mormon’s lie that Jesus is not eternal God, but the son of God along with Lucifer (Satan) who is his brother. How many more will suffer for believing the lie of the Jehovah’s Witnesses that Jesus is A God, but not THE God. Billions more will suffer in eternal damnation because they have believed the cultists subtle heresy that twists salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus alone into salvation by works. Roman Catholicism does this by redefining grace by those works and then calling them “sacraments.”
Apart from such key doctrines as Christology (who Jesus is) and soteriology (how one is saved), there are also the many millions that will live their lives in misery and never understand the joy of being a Christian because they belong to some group that interprets Christian maturity according to their own lists of do’s and don’ts instead of the personal holiness described in the Scriptures. This is true of both the legalists who lose their freedom in Christ and live bounded by fear, and the licentious who suffer the consequences of living like the world. Heresy, false doctrine, half-truths and lies introduced subtly, quietly into the church produce havoc in lives and keep millions from salvation.
Some of these false teachers are so bold that they eventually deny, reject, renounce the master that bought them. The word “master” here means absolute master as in the owner of a slave. Jesus is the absolute master for as Paul tells us in Philippians 2:10, “every knee will bow . . . and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Jesus paid the redemption price for the world which is why 1 John 2:2 states that He is the propitiation for the whole world. The idea in this verse is that these false teachers will even renounce some of the most basic truths of the word of God. They reject their Lord who is also their creator and redeemer and in doing so they bring upon themselves imminent and impending doom.
The second thing Peter points out that these false teachers will do is entice others to follow their lead into sensual excess / lasciviousness / insolence (2 Peter 2:2a). Some of the early gnostic heresies promoted unbridled sensuality as do many of the modern cults. Jim Jones was documented as being sexually perverted and he led his followers in the same. The same is true of Moses David (Children of God / The Family) [His writings promote an excess of sexuality. In articles titled such as “In the Beginning – Sex!” & “Come on, Ma! Burn Your Bra,” he writes, “We have a sexy God, and a sexy religion, and a very sexy leader with an extremely sexy young following. So, if you don’t like sex, you’d better get out while you can.” It should be pointed out that within their group there is no marriage ceremony. People are considered to be married when they decide to sleep together.] But it is not just the obvious cult leaders who prove to be sensual, it also occurs frequently among those who are aberrant in their theology. Several in the health, wealth & prosperity movement have fallen to their own sensuality, but so have many pastors and leaders in evangelical Christianity. A careful look at their lives usually reveals that though they espouse orthodox doctrine in most areas, there will be excess in some areas and most often in demanding personal control of their churches or organizations which is contrary to the principles of Scripture.
A third characteristic action of these false teachers that accompanies the half truths and lies that they teach is the manner in which they treat the truth. They malign, pervert and blaspheme it because they revile, reproach and hold it in contempt (vs 2b). This reveals itself practically in their lifestyles. The truth is not important for them. They value only what the false teacher proclaims which is their substitute for the truth.
A fourth characteristic about false teachers and its resulting action is explained in 2 Peter 2:3, “and in their greed they will exploit you with false words.” We could also state this verse this way, “and in their striving to get the things they do not yet have, they will make merchandise of you by their words molded to match selling you.” Cults leaders characteristically exploit their followers for their own gain. Greg Wilson, who was caught up in the Alamo Christian Foundation for a time, describes working in the fields as madmen. So much so that he lost 40 pounds as did others, and then they would turn all of their money over to the Foundation. He states, “During the last 3 or 4 months I was there, I never even saw a paycheck.” Greg described the living conditions of 200 men living in a place where there were only two toilets, one sink and one shower. Meanwhile, the Alamo’s were living in a fancy house on a hill, driving a Lincoln Continental and wearing fancy clothes.
False prophets will come, and they are dangerous. But what will happen to them?
What Will Happen To False Teachers – 2 Peter 2:3-10
2 Peter 2:3 continues on to say, “their judgment is from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” In other words, they will be judged and punished, and it is even at work now whether you see it or not. Peter gives several examples to illustrate his point.
His first example in verse 4 is Fallen Angels. “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgement.”
Jude 6 tells us about this judgement, “And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgement of the great day.” While there is much speculation as to what sin these angels committed, for our purposes today, it is only important to note that God is even now punishing them for their sin with their final judgement and punishment of being cast into the eternal lake of fire being described in Revelation 20. Peter’s emphasis here is that God did not even spare angels when they sinned and He will not spare false teachers. Rebellion results in judgement and punishment.
Peter’s second example in verse 4 are the ungodly at the time of Noah. “And [God] 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.”
Genesis 6 tells us that the reason for God’s judgement on the ancient world was because “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.” Because of this God decided to “blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky . . .”
If the ancient world was wiped out by the flood because of the wickedness of men’s hearts, God will not spare false teachers. A heart of wickedness results in destruction.
Peter’s third example in verse 6 are the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. “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 thereafter. . .”
Genesis 18 & 19 tells of the reason Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. Starting in Genesis 18:20, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.” Genesis 19 tells the story of the two angels going to the Sodom. The text there is clear that the sin of the men of that city was homosexuality, and that the men of Sodom were so totally given over to their perversion that even after they were blinded by the Angels their only drive was to fulfill their perverted lust. This is why God completely devastated those cities. If the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were completely destroyed because of their immorality, then God will not spare false teachers. Immorality brings complete devastation.
What Will Happen To Us – 2 Peter 2:5,7-9
But Peter also gives hope even while talking of God’s judgment on the wicked. God is holy and just so His wrath will be poured out on the ungodly, but God is also merciful and gracious so that there is hope of salvation for those that will turn to Him in faith. Peter gives two graphic examples of this.
The first example was Noah back in verse 5. “And [God] 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.” Genesis 6 tells us that Noah was a righteous man in his generation and that Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. God instructed Noah on the way to preserve himself and his family along with a couple of every kind of animal that could not survive the flood that destroyed all other land dwelling, air breathing creatures. Noah and his family along with the animals in the ark were preserved from the destruction going on all around them. If God can preserve Noah in the midst of a cataclysm, then God can preserve you from His coming judgement if you will follow Him.
Peters second example is Lot. “and if He rescued Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them felt his righteous soul tormented day after day with their lawless deeds).” Lot was the nephew of Abraham and he lived in Sodom. For some unstated reason he did not move away from that wicked place though it vexed his soul. God still knew how to rescue Lot from that situation. You may feel like our society is becoming much like Sodom, and there are places that are about the same, but rest assured, the Lord knows how to rescue the righteous even from those situations. God rescued Lot by snatching him out of that place before it was destroyed.
Peter’s Summary – 2 Peter 2: 9-10
Peter summarizes his examples in verse 9-10 saying, “then the LORD knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.”
No matter what your situation, God knows how to take care of you. He knows what you need and when you need it. He also knows the limits of how much you can handle. That is why Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.” God always provides the righteous a means of escape or preservation regardless of the temptations we face including the doctrines of false teachers.
Peter also concludes that the judgement and punishment of these false teachers is sure. We do not always see justice carried out in this life, but we can be sure that God will carry out justice in eternity.
Conclusions
There is one very important point that I want to stress this morning. Peter says that false teachers will come, and they are already all around us. False teachers abound in our land and their messages are easily available in print, radio, TV and the internet. I can guarantee that you will face them because it now takes work to avoid them. Are you ready for them?
While we know that their judgement is as sure as the judgement that has already taken place on those fallen angels, on the ancient world by the flood and by the fire falling on Sodom and Gomorrah, we still must be ready deal with false teachers and their doctrine. We know that God can preserve you like Noah or rescue you like Lot, but you still have to be ready.
Noah was righteous and was preserved from the flood. Noah was kept safe because Noah was quick to hear the truth of God and respond in obedience to that truth. Noah built the Ark even though he did not live in a place to sail it. It took over a hundred years to build it and you can be sure his neighbors and extended family probably treated him as being crazy. But Noah responded to God’s truth and was preserved / kept safe from the destruction of the flood.
Lot was righteous and was rescued from the destruction of Sodom. Lot was not quick to hear and obey what God said. God had to go down and physically pull him out of Sodom. Genesis 19:16 says that the angels physically grabbed the hands of Lot, his wife and daughters and led them out of the city, a city Lot should not have ever lived in.
Are you like Noah? Preserved safe from the dangers of temptation and the dangers of false teachers because you know the truth of God and are quick to be obedient to it? Noah was preserved from the flood and prepared for life after it.
Or perhaps are you more like Lot, either still ignorant of the truth of God or hesitant to obey what you do know? Do you have to be rescued out of the grasps of temptation? Are you a candidate that is ripe for the picking by some cult group’s false teaching? Will you have to be “snatched out” of some heretical group in the future? Lot was rescued, but it was only his life and the clothes on his back. He was not prepared for life following the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and suffered the consequences.
There is a danger from false teachers. Their doctrines are subtle and are quietly introduced. They lead others into the temptations of heresy, sensuality, lies, and greed They are experts at exploiting you for their own benefit. Are you ready for them? I implore you. Study and learn the Scriptures for yourself that God may preserve you and those you influence from the false teachers that abound around us.
KIDS CORNER
Parents, you are responsible to apply God’s Word to your children’s lives. Here is some help. Young Children – draw a picture about something you hear during the sermon. Explain your picture(s) to your parents at lunch. Older Children – 1) Write down all the verses mentioned. 2) Count how many times false teachers are mentioned. 3) Talk with your parents about the dangers of false teachers and how you can be protected from them.
THINK ABOUT IT!
Questions to consider in discussing the sermon with others. What does the name, Jim Jones and Jonestown, mean to you? What do groups do you usually think of when you heard the word “cults?” Why is it so important to have the basis of your belief grounded in the Bible? Why can we be sure the Bible gives us the truth? Who are the main targets of the cults? Do you know of anyone that has been entrapped in a cult? Who are some of the false prophets that occurred in the Old Testament? What are some of the warnings the New Testament gives about false prophets? Who are some of the false teachers of the present time that you are aware of? What is heresy and why is it the hallmark of a false teacher? How do false teachers usually get people to believe their heresies? Why is it important to use the grammatical – historical method to interpret the Bible? What are some of the dangers of believing heresy? Some false teachers even deny “the master who both them.” Who is that master and what does it mean that he bought them? False teachers lead their followers into excess sensuality. What examples of this are you aware of? False teachers malign the truth. Cite some examples of this of which you are aware. False teachers are greedy and exploit their followers. Give some examples of this happening within the United States within the last five years. Peter gives three examples of God’s punishment of evil doers. Who are they? What evil did they do? What is their present punishment? What will be their future punishment? Why did God preserve Noah and how did He do it? Why did God rescue Lot and how did He do it? What is the difference between Noah being preserved and Lot being rescued? Are you prepared to face the false teachers around us? If so, what effect will that have on others? If not, how will you get ready?
Sermon Notes- 10/18/2009
There Shall Be False Teachers – 2 Peter 2:1-10
Introduction
__________- Where do they come from? How can they be distinguished? What happens to those in them?
The Bible is our basis for belief because it is _______ and it comes from God, not man
The cults target those with nominal _______________ backgrounds
Where False Teachers Come From– 2 Peter 2:1a
There were true & false prophets throughout Israel’s ____________ – 1 Kings 22
The false will be _____________ with the true – Matthew 13
False teachers arise from _____________ those professing to be believers – Acts 20:29-30
What False Teachers Do– 2 Peter 2:1b-3
1) They _______________ introduce destructive heresies – – 2 Peter 2:1b
Usually they start within evangelical ____________________ and slowly move to heresy
2 Peter 1:15-21 – true doctrine is ______________ and originates in God, not man.
“_____________” literally means “their own opinions.”
Heresy begins with a shift away from the ________________ – historical method of interpretation
Some heresy results in eternal ________________ – Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc.
Some heresy results in ____________ and lack of Christian joy – legalism & licentiousness
Some false even deny the ___________, their creator and redeemer which will result in their destruction
2) They will entice others to follow their _____________ excesses – 2 Peter 2:2a
3) Their half truths and lies malign the way of ____________ – 2 Peter 2:2b
4) In their greed they __________ their followers – 2 Peter 2:3
What Will Happen To False Teachers -2 Peter 2:3b-10
Three examples of their judgment and punishment
1) Judgment & punishment of ______________ – 2 Peter 2:4
Jude 6 and Revelation 20 – ______________ results in judgement and punishment
2) Judgment & punishment of the _________________ of the antediluvian world – 2 Peter 2: 5
Genesis 6-9 – Hearts of _____________________ result in destruction.
3) Judgment & punishment of ___________ & Gomorrah – 2 Peter 2:6
Genesis 18 & 19 – ________________ brings complete devastation
What Will Happen To Us– 2 Peter 2:5,7-9
God’s preservation of _________ – 2 Peter 2:5 cf Genesis 6-9
God’s rescue of _________ – 2 Peter 2:7-9 cf Genesis 19
Peter’s Summary– 2 Peter 2: 9-10
God can preserve & rescue you from any _____________ – 1 Corinthians 10:13
The judgment and punishment of false teachers is ____- though its full weight may not come until eternity
Conclusions
False teachers ______________ – they already abound around us
False teachers will be ___________. God will ___________or rescue, but we must be ready in the present
_________was righteous and responding to God’s truth was preserved and prepared for life after the flood
_____was righteous but hesitating to obey was rescued but not prepared for life after Sodom’s destruction
Study & learn the Scriptures so that you will be preserved and help ________________from false teachers
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