False Teachers (2)- The Rock Speaks Vol. 2 (6)

2 Peter 2:3–22

[3] And in their (False Teachers) greed 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 and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; [5] if he did not spare 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 Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; [7] and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked [8] (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); [9] then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, [10] and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.

Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, [11] whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. [12] But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, [13] suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. [14] They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! [15] Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, [16] but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.

[17] These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. [18] For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. [19] They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. [20] For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. [21] For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. [22] What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.” (ESV)

Peter's fiery passion just jumps off the page in this section.... he goes off!

This passage has a feeling.... a frustration.... and part of the heart of the pain is where I feel Peter  speaking of Lot... there seems to be a kinship. 

greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked [8] (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard);

And this is a key- am I distressed by the sin in society?... does it torment me to see and hear constant lawlessness? The lawlessness here is the moral law of God.

We can't escape it... the question is am I captivated by it? Do I yearn to join in? Or does it grieve me?

False teachers greedily long to walk in the ways of the world.... they are aligned in spirit with those who live in sin and shame.

Look at the fruit....

exploit others

speak falsely

indulge in lust

despise authority

hardened in blasphemy- no fear of God


how about this description?

irrational animals,

creatures of instinct,

born to be caught and destroyed,

suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing

They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime- they double down in their sin and keep indulging the flesh even though they are wrecked by the lifestyle

reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you

They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!

Like Balaam, who loved gain from wrongdoing

But there is a worse way than everything above… the real fruit of false teachers is the devastation they inflict on others who are weak and struggling:

speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. [19] They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. [20] For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.

Here Peter makes a bold and startling statement:

For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. [22] What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.” (ESV)

So, the Bible answers an old question in a rather different way:

Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?

Here is the answer.... it would be better to not know the way than to know it and abandon it!

The key here is that the nature never changed, pigs and dogs return to their nature.

So the Puritans would say: Faith that fizzles was faulty from the first!

This has been a tough month! The turmoil in our country has grieved me.

And here is a really big problem..... false teaching has made the crisis worse!

I rarely hear 'truth' anymore in public discourse. I hear inflammatory rhetoric that is used like a weapon.

Issues like a deadly pestilence or heart breaking racism can be helped by truthful teaching....

or it can be seeds of destruction that magnify the problem with no real answers.

This is a time for truth.... everything else will be gasoline on a fire......

This is a time for the gospel message as found in the Word of God!