Alright, let's begin reading
in 2 Peter 2, verse 1. 2 Peter 2, verse 1. But there were false prophets
also among the people. In Elijah's day, he slew 450
prophets of Baal. 450. And besides those, there
were 400 more that worshipped in the groves. There were false
prophets among the people, even as there shall be false teachers
among you." Now, we're talking here not so much about those
who claim to be preaching in another name of another God. We're talking about those who
claim to be preaching in Christ's name, who claim to be sent of
Christ and preaching for Christ. who privily, privately, carefully
bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought
them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall
follow their pernicious ways, their evil, lascivious, worldly
ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken
of." Now, every false teacher in some way is gonna deny or
diminish, make less of the glorious, the glory of God and the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're gonna diminish the fact
God is just and the justifier. And at the same time, they're
gonna exalt man, gonna exalt man. We preach and we teach. Every time one of God's messengers
teaches and preaches, in every message, no matter to whom he's
speaking, no matter where it is, no matter what the subject
is, no matter what the occasion is, the message is ruined by
the fall. not just hurt a little bit and
not just to the point that you got a little flicker left and
it just needs to be fanned a little bit, ruined, dead, trespasses
and sins, dead, ruined by the fall, and redemption by the blood
of Christ the Lord, that He came into this earth and He bought
He purchased successfully his people particular redemption. He said, I laid down my life
for the sheep. And the Lord God said through
Isaiah, he shall not fail till he set judgment in the earth.
The particular redemption of God's people. His finished work. He hath put away sins by the
sacrifice of himself. He has obtained eternal redemption.
And we preach the the necessity of regeneration by the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit has, it's a must, the Lord Jesus said, a man has
got to be born again of the Spirit of God, created anew, made a
new creature, given a new heart, given a willing heart, given
a desire that Christ have all the glory, that God have all
the glory, or else a man can't even know God, he can't see God,
he can't enter in to these glorious blessings. That message declares,
Thy God reigneth in all flesh as grass. That's what every true
preacher is going to set forth. They're going to set forth plainly,
clearly, truly. Now, what are some of the the
fruits of a false teacher. Well, let's look here now at
verse 2. False teachers will have a large following. Will
have a large following. 2 Peter 2 verse 2 says, and many,
and many shall follow them. Many shall. Our Lord told us
broad is the way and many go therein. It leads to destruction. It's a broad way and many go
in that way. The prophet said, John said in
Revelation 13. He said, I saw one of the heads
of the beast wounded to death and his deadly wound was healed
and all the world wandered after the beast. The Lord spoke through Paul and
he said, the time is going to come when there are a heap to
themselves, heap, heap to themselves, teachers having itching ears
and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall
be turned unto fables, fables. These are men with a form of
godliness, but they deny the power thereof. They'll follow,
many will follow these teachers, these false teachers. Now look
there in verse 2, and it says, they'll follow their pernicious
ways, their lascivious evil ways. And when you think of that, when
you think of evil, and you think of evil ways, I know we think
of immorality, and those ways are evil. You know, the open,
profane sins of men are evil. But we're talking about here
false teachers who have a form of godliness. And we're talking
about their followers who have a form of godliness. That's what
we're talking about. Their ways, notice verse 2 says,
their ways, and it says the way of truth. There are many ways,
their ways, and there's one way of truth, the way of truth. Christ
is that way. I want you to look at verse 10.
Look at verse 10 there. Chiefly them that walk after
the flesh in the lust of uncleanness. Now let me, let me, and you listen
to this, if a man's cleanness, every sinner born in this world's
got to be washed. You've got to be purged. If a
man's cleanness, if he thinks his cleanness comes by himself,
by something he's done, by his cleanness, by his washing himself,
rather than him being washed in the blood of Christ, washed
in regeneration, washed by the Holy Spirit of God, That man
is walking in the lust of his flesh, in the lust of uncleanness. As unclean as the most unclean,
open, profane sin you can think of. That unclean, that wicked,
just uncleanness. And his tenor of his life will
be towards his flesh. That'll be his way of life is
more towards his flesh, doing everything for his flesh rather
than the soul. That'll be the important thing
to him. Because he cleaned himself already. He's good. He's done
everything necessary. He cleaned himself and now he'll
go on doing whatever else the lust of his flesh desires. That's
not the heart God kills. Not to his teachers and not to
his people. And when a man's been washed
by the blood of Christ, washed in the Holy Spirit, he's given
a new heart, he's given a new desire, he's given a new longing,
and he's continually coming to this fountain. He's continually
coming, he's continually seeing his need and continually seeing
his soul's need. That's the preeminent thing to
him. And Christ is that fountain he's ever coming to, ever needful
of. Verse 10, it says here, they'll
despise government. Dominion is what it is. When
the doctrine is taught, the doctrines that are taught by false teachers
is that man somehow has a power in himself to prevent God from
doing something. saving him. When that doctrine's
been taught, that a man has some power in himself to either accept
or reject, to let God or not let God, to do something of himself,
that man despises the dominion and the government of God Almighty. That's what every man is in the
lust of his flesh. It's a despising of the government
of God. And when the man despises the
government of God, he despises God's order of things. God has
an order of things. The teaching of this world makes
the church to have power over God. That's what the teaching
of despising of government is. Make it out to be that the church
has power over God. Teach and make it out to be that
the bride has power over the husband. That the child has power
over the parent. It's upside down. It's a teaching
that they speak a lot of great swelling words about church government
and about disciplining people in the church,
but really all of it is is a lording over people. A lording over people
where a man hasn't been brought himself in his heart to submit
to the Lord, that he's the head, that he has the government in
his hand, that the rules under, he's under the authority of God.
It's a house divided against itself can't stand. where you
find this despising of government, you're going to find a despising
of everything from God to Christ to within the church, within
the home, within civil dominion that God has placed, a despising
of government, a despising of it. A man will not, except by
the grace of God, submit himself to the Lord. The man's heart
by nature says, I will not have this man reign over me. I will
not. I will not. Look at verse 10. It says, presumptuous are they. When the doctrine is being taught,
is that salvation is as easy as 1, 2, 3. That salvation is
as easy as just following a set of steps. It's just boom, boom,
boom, that's it. When that doctrine is taught,
there's no fear of God in the heart, no fear of God in the
heart, no reverence of God in the heart, no being brought down
before God to see that he is, he's the savior, he's the salvation,
he's the life. And men that feel that way, men
that have been taught that way, men that have jumped through
those steps and done that way will presume Well, I'm saved. It's all done. I did this. I
did that. It's done. I'm saved. I presume
now that it's all done. I'm saved. That's it. I did this. I did that. I don't need the
worship of God. I don't need the fellowship of
God's saints. I want saved. Always saved. I'm good. I'm secure. Presumptuous. Presumptuous. Verse 10 says,
and self-willed. Self-willed. If a man does anything
by his own will, anything having to do with salvation, if he does
it by his own will, if he's come to God by his own will, if he's
submitted to God by his own will, if he's cleaned himself by his
own will, if he's done what he's done by his own will, he's self-willed. self-will. The heart had been
broken. The heart had been made contrite. That will of the flesh had been
broken and that willingness to be a servant of God, that willingness
to just to be where God would have me to be. That willingness
is not there if God hasn't done something. There'll be a self-willingness. He'll be proud. He'll be pleased
with himself. He'll be boasting of what he's
done, boasting the church, whole churches boast of their great
successes. the great things they've accomplished,
the great things they've built, the great things they're doing,
all of their greatness. It's self-will is what it is.
It's self-will. Look at verse 10, not afraid
to speak evil of dignities. Where God's not ruling the heart,
sovereign power, men speak so flippantly of God. They just
speak flippantly of God. I'll hear men speaking about
God and it's like It's just men debating back and forth about
things that just don't even matter. Just taking the word of God and
the things of God and just flippantly speaking about God, flippantly
speaking about Christ, making jokes about the scriptures and
about this, this word's holy. God's holy. These things are
holy. We ought to approach these things
with, I guarantee we wouldn't approach God that way. We won't
approach God in the presence of God that way. Not afraid to
speak evil. Just the same way that goes along
with despising dominion, brethren. Dignities that have been appointed
in the church, in the home, in civil government. Look over at
Romans 13. Look at Romans 13. Let every soul be subject unto
the higher powers. For there is no power but of
God, and the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore
resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they
that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers
are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Will thou then
not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou
shalt have praise of the same." Isn't that so? We don't have
any reason to... If this has been made to willingly
submit to God, this is what there's going to be. The tenor of the
life, the way of the life, the conduct of the life will be this. I want you to think about this
brethren that the Lord doesn't save his child and leave him
in the dominion with his flesh having dominion over him. He
doesn't save us and leave us in our sins. We're sinners. There's just no doubt about that
and we hate that sin. We're sinners and we hate it.
But in all our conduct in everything we do, strive, really strive
to live following after righteousness, that which is right, that which
God says is right. Follow after godliness. Walk
by faith, by faith. Walk by love, in love, and patience,
and meekness. Here's why. Look back at verse
two. It says, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil
spoken of. And we don't want that. We don't
want the way of truth to be evil spoken of. We live in a day where
the sovereign, effectual, saving grace of God I mean, the sovereign,
electing, redeeming, regenerating, keeping, predestinating, preserving
grace of God is so mingled with man's will and man's works that
when men hear the truth, men that have followed false teacher,
hear the word of truth spoken, they'll say, no, I don't believe
that. That's evil you're talking about.
When God gets all the glory and man doesn't get any from A to
Z, that's evil? No, that's truth, brethren. And
many have been so abused by false teachers and their followers
that many just have parted all together and just say all of
it's just nothing, nothing. That's not the case with God's
people. Let us strive to walk in an honoring
way, speak of Christ, speak of God, speak of what He's done,
of His works with great reverence and great faithfulness and love
and be that way towards one another, towards every man as much as
we can in this world. Look now back at verse 3. What's the heart of this false
teaching? What would make a man do this? What would make a sinner
want to teach something falsely about God and make followers
want to follow after him? Verse 3. Through covetousness
they shall with feigned words make merchandise of you. This
is the heart of all false teaching, is covetousness. To a false prophet,
the souls of men, he's trafficking in eternal souls. That's what he's trafficking
in. He's looking for popular applause. He's coveting sales. These men always have something
to sell you. There's always something they're
selling. And it's always marked up, whatever it is. They're making
a profit off of it. And it's always... A filthy lucre. Dishonest game. And men not only
do that thinking for themselves in this life, but men, false
teachers, actually think this is enriching themselves before
God. The Lord said, many will stand
before Him and say, Lord, Lord, didn't we do many wonderful works?
Didn't we? Didn't we? Didn't we? You remember
Christ and the rich young ruler? The rich young ruler came to
the Lord Jesus Christ, and he thought himself rich in every
way. He thought himself rich in his
law-keeping. He thought himself rich in that
he had been walked in a right way, and he had. Outwardly, he
had. He thought himself right because
he had lived according to the Ten Commandments. He had lived
according to how God says a believer ought to walk in this world.
But the problem was the heart. The problem was his heart was
covetous. His heart was covetous of being
praised for what he had done. His heart was covetous of a gain
of entering into the kingdom of God by what he had accomplished,
what he had gotten for himself. And this man was rich in worldly
goods, worldly possessions as well. And the Lord told him,
He said, Sell everything you have and give it to the poor
and follow Me. He didn't tell him, sell everything
you have and give it to me. He said, sell everything you
have and give it to the poor. God said this, if I were hungry,
I would not tell thee, for the world is mine and the fullness
thereof. God has nothing He needs from
you and I. Everything we have, we got from
Him. Everything we give, He's given it to us. We're not first-hand
givers, we're second-hand givers. He gives us everything. This
is what I'm saying to you. Brethren, give you to Christ. Give you to Christ. I'd rather
see you here, diligently, consistently, hearing the gospel, seeking Him
in His Word, seeking His face, the glory of God in the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I would rather see you here and
your money absent. than for your money to be here
and you to be absent. I really would. The new heart
that God gives is concerned with the glory of God, the glory of
Christ Jesus, and the good of his people, not personal gain.
Not personal gain. I'm thankful to you. I love you. I'm so thankful for your, you
have generous hearts, very generous hearts, in every way, supporting
this work, in every way, giving yourselves and giving of yourself. I'm very thankful for that. I
want you to know this. I'm thankful that you support
me financially and enable me to give my time to study, to
prayer. But please know this, brethren.
What you set aside for me, it's not set in stone. It's not set
in stone. I gladly decrease that the gospel
might continue with us right here. that you might increase
through the riches of Christ. I want you to turn over 2 Corinthians
12, 14. I just sat and looked at this
this week, and I just found myself asking God to give me more and
more of a heart like this. Listen to what Paul said, 2 Corinthians
12, 14. Behold, the third time I am ready
to come to you." Corinth was a very wealthy place. They were
rich in many ways. And the Lord says the rich are
pierced through with many sorrows. And they were. They were very
sorrowful. This is one of the places, as rich as it was in
material things, that just was very lax in supporting the supporting
ministers that were sent there, ministers that came there. Paul
knew that. Paul knew that. Look at this. He said, I'm coming
to you a third time. And he said, and I will not be
burdensome to you. That's the purpose and the heart
of God's message to take the burden off you, not put the burden
on you. I won't be burdensome to you,
for I seek not yours, Not seeking your stuff. Not seeking yours. Not covetous
for your stuff so I can make it mine. I'm not covetous there. I'm not looking for that. But
you. But you. Seeking you. Why? For the children ought not
to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.
You see that? This is one place where a covetous
man will say, yeah, I'm glad for Paul to compare himself to
a father there. A covetous man will say, yeah,
I'm glad he did that. But a self-willed man who despised
government, he'll hate that when it comes to Paul saying, now
obey this. You follow after the Lord. But he said, The children ought
not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.
Look at this, and I will very gladly spend and be spent for
you. I'll very gladly spend of myself
and be spent for you. And even when this is the case,
look, the more abundantly I love you, the less I'll be loved. That's a heart. That's the heart
God gives to his servants in the pulpit and in the pew. That's
the heart God gives. Well, I think we'll just stop
right there.