Let's look here now at 2 Peter
2. Just read the first three verses. But there were false prophets
also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers
among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even
denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves
swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious
ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken
of. And through covetousness shall
they with feigned words make merchandise of you, whose judgment
now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth
not. And we're going to be looking
at this warning. to beware of false teachers."
There's false teachers in the days of old. Peter had just talked
about the holy men of old that spoke by the Spirit of God. that
the Lord used to pin the Scriptures. And He said there were false
prophets then, and there are false prophets now. That's what
He says in the first verse. There were false prophets also
among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among
you. Look back at Deuteronomy 13.
I want you to see that there's a purpose for these false teachers. I know a lot of people don't
like to talk about this fact, but it's a fact that must be
spoken of. It's a fact that our Lord spoke
through Moses. Our Lord spoke when He walked
this earth. Our Lord spoke through the apostles after He ascended
to the Father. When you love somebody, you warn
them, don't you? When you love somebody, you warn
them about danger. Well, the Lord gave this warning
through Moses. Look at Deuteronomy 13.1. If
there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth
thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to
pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other
gods. And that's the purpose of these
things that false teachers are trying to promote and work up
and show men, is to get you to go after another god. Let us
go after other gods, which thou hast not known. And they say,
let us serve them. This is what the Lord said. Thou
shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet or that dreamer
of dreams, for the Lord your God proveth you. That false teacher
didn't come by accident. The Lord your God proveth you
to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord
your God and fear Him and keep His commandments and obey His
voice and you shall serve Him and cleave unto Him. And that
prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death." That's
what God commanded during this Old Testament dispensation. Put
them to death. Because He had spoken to turn
you away from the Lord your God. We put them to death by turning
from them. We put them to death by not heeding
their word, by staying, cleaving unto the Lord our God. He says,
He's the one that brought you out of the land of Egypt and
redeemed you out of the house of bondage. That false prophet
is trying to thrust you out of the way which the Lord thy God
commanded you to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away
from the midst of you." Put that away, he said. Well, look over
at Matthew 24, 24. The Lord Jesus Christ warned He warned when He walked this
earth. He gave this same warning. Look
at Matthew 24, 24. He was constantly saying, beware
of the leaven of the Pharisees and the scribes. There were false
teachers walking the earth when He was walking this earth, when
God Himself came in human flesh, walked this earth. There were
false prophets and false teachers. claiming to preach in the name
of God. But look what he said, verse
24, Matthew 24, 24. There shall arise false Christs
and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders,
insomuch that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I've told you before.
I've told you this already, the Lord said. Look over at 2 Corinthians
11. Then the apostle Paul, After
our Lord ascended, the Apostle Paul gave warnings to the brethren
as he preached and taught and went about. This church at Corinth
was being greatly influenced by false prophets, false teachers. Look at verse 3, 11-3. Verse 2, he says, I'm jealous
over you with a godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one
husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ."
The believer is married to Christ. He's our husband. We're his bride. His church is his bride and his
people in particular. But Paul said, but I fear, lest
by any means, and that's the false prophet will use any means,
anything that can beguile, as the serpent beguiled Eve through
his subtlety. So your mind should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ, from your eye being single
and set on Christ Jesus, the Lord. He said, I'm afraid that's
for you. I don't want that to happen for
you. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus. You see, this
is what our Lord warned. It's not that they're going to
come saying another name other than Jesus. They may come preaching
a Jesus, one named Jesus, but it's another Jesus. whom we've
not preached, or if you receive another spirit which you have
not received, or another gospel which you have not accepted,
you might well bear with him." Look at Philippians 3.11. You're
right there. Philippians 3.11. And Paul didn't
tire of giving this warning. I'm showing you here that the
Lord gave this warning through His messengers of old. The Lord Jesus Christ gave this
warning when He was here. The Apostle Paul gave this warning.
Peter has given this warning to us. And Apostle Paul said,
it doesn't tire me to give you this warning. Look at Philippians
3.1. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord
to write the same things to you To me, it's not grievous. It
doesn't grieve me to repeat myself, but for you, it's safe. Beware
of dogs. You know what dogs do? They bite and they devour. Dogs
bite, bark, devour. Beware of evil workers. He's
talking about the same thing here. Evil workers, working evil. Beware of the concision. They
want to cut. They want to separate you from
God. They want to separate you from,
make you think you can separate yourself from your sin, make
you think you can, and separate you from the way of truth, from
that way which God's told His people to walk in. And he says,
beware of them, for we are the circumcision. Here's what a true
believer is. We worship God in the spirit.
We've had our heart, the filth and the corruption of the heart's
been cut away and there's been a new heart. given. We worship God in the Spirit,
and here's our rejoicing. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. That's
where our eyes single for Him, and we have no confidence in
the flesh. We're not looking to one another. We're not looking to our wisdom
and our flesh at all. But to find confidence or to
find any kind of confidence, negative or positive, He said
over in Colossians 2.8, let me read this to you. Colossians
2.8, he said, if you've received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in
Him, follow after Him. Verse 7, rooted and built up
in Him, established in the faith as you've been taught, abounding
therein with thanksgiving. And he said, beware, lest any
man spoil you through philosophy, come to you with man's philosophy. and vain deceit after the tradition
of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Why do we not want to turn from
Christ? Look at verse 9. For in Christ dwells all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him.
You're full in Him. It's filled up. It's done. You're
complete in Him as fully as Christ is the fullness that God had
bodily. And He's the head of all principality and power. You're
complete in Him. So you see that this thing was,
it's not something Men tire of being warned about this. We need
to be warned about this. In all times of old, when Christ
walked this earth and afterwards, and so today, we're warned about
these things. Beware. It's not grievous to
me to warn you to beware. Well, now let's see secondly
here. Let's see how these false teachers operate. 2 Peter chapter
2, look there in verse 1. He says, who shall, who privily,
that means secretly, very craftily, with much craft and carefulness,
they'll privily bring in damnable heresies. They come at first
and they appear as God sent messengers. They'll appear like they sent
of God, like they agree with you. Like everything that they're
saying is you're of one mind, of one accord. The Lord said,
beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing.
But inwardly, they're ravening wolves. Every time I read that
scripture, you know what I think about? Remember the cartoon,
the Looney Tunes, when the sheepdog checked in every day and went
out to guard the sheep, and the old coyote, he always put on
that disguise so he looked like a sheep. He'd come walking out
there, you know. He wants to look like a sheep.
He wants to look like a sheep. They preach and they teach with
craftiness, with feigned words, he said, beguiling words. They bring in damnable heresies,
even denying the Lord that bought them. Now, I understand what
that means, denying the Lord that bought them. They are claimed
to preach that they've been bought by the blood of Christ. They
may come preaching they've been redeemed by the blood of Christ,
that they believe they've been bought by the blood of Christ. They deny Him. They deny what
that even means by what they teach and what they preach. They
deny what it means to be bought by the blood of Christ. Not that
Christ actually bought them, but they claim that He did, but
they deny the Lord that buys His people and purchased His
people with His blood. I want you to look over to 1
Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Here's the truth. Now listen to this. This is the
issue. This is the issue right here.
This is what is at the heart of all false teaching. This is
at the heart of it. False teaching is trying to change,
make of no effect, what Christ accomplished on the cross. That's what false teaching, that's
at the heart of every false message. That's what Satan was trying
to accomplish in the garden. That's what every falsehood has
been, to deny what Christ accomplished at the cross. Listen to me, Christ
died for the elect of God. Christ died only for the elect
of God. He knew His sheep and died for
them. He came and died for them. And
Christ accomplished putting away their sin and justifying them.
Christ accomplished that on Calvary Street. And all the elect of
God have been and shall be called through the truth that declares
what Christ has successfully accomplished for God and His
people. That's how they're going to be
called out. Christ is the prophet, He's the priest, He's the king.
He's the king sovereign over all, so that He can direct all,
move all, turn all, change all, work everything good and bad
in providence to bring His people under the sound of the truth.
And He's the prophet who teaches them that truth. And He is the
priest of whom He teaches. then he went into the very presence
of God with his own blood and made complete total satisfaction
to God by his own blood so that his people are complete in him.
And he's the one who does this. A man may tell you in private,
oh, I believe Christ died just for the elect. They may even
put it in a statement of faith. I've read statements of faith
that say, Listen to what they preach publicly. What do they
say when they get up in front of all men? That's the tale of
the tape. What do they preach publicly? Christ, if some man
asks you to teach in some pulpit somewhere or in some classroom
somewhere, and they got men sitting there listening to you from that
church or that congregation, do what the Lord Jesus Christ
did. Get up. And just get it over with. Get
up right off the bat and preach that Elisha wasn't sent to ever
blepper. He was sent to Naaman. Christ
didn't come to save all men. He came to save His elect. That prophet didn't come to every
widow and surreptite. He came to one. Christ got up
and declared He didn't come for all men. He came for His sheep. He came for His elect. And that's
who He laid down His life for. And right off the bat, They said,
let's get him out of here. We don't want that. Just go on
and get up and declare the truth. You'll find out real fast what
people really believe. State it as plainly, as clearly,
as sure, as certain as you can state it. And you'll find out
if men really believe what they claim they believe in private.
You'll find out if they believe it publicly. What's the big deal
about that? Here's what the big deal is.
When men use human wisdom to craft their words and to make
it appear that Christ died for more than the elect of God, the
issue is it makes the justice of God nothing. It makes the
righteousness of God nothing. It makes the very holy character
of God of heaven and earth nothing. because it makes Christ to have
tried to do something. It sounds loving that Christ
wants to save everybody and He went to the cross to try to make
it possible that everybody could be saved. That sounds loving
to a natural heart. But that's not love. Because
the issue here is it starts with God. It don't start with you.
It don't start with what offends you or don't offend you. It starts
with what offends God and don't offend God. The issue here is
God's holy. And He's just, and He's righteous,
and His justice has got to be upheld. His law's got to be satisfied. It's got to be fulfilled actively,
which Christ did. And His people's got to be justified
from all their sin, which Christ accomplished. God sent forth
Him. to be the mercy seat, to make
satisfaction through his blood. That's what he sent him for,
that he might be just and the justifier. This is the issue.
And whatever Christ accomplished at the cross, whatever somebody
says that's off. That's who they're attacking,
is Christ on the cross, what He accomplished, trying to make
Him out to be a failure. A man may not understand that's
what He's doing. A man may be as sincere in his heart that
he's just trying to be benevolent and trying to be sincere to all
men. He may not really understand it, but that's what's happening.
That's what's going on. Look what Paul said, verse 17,
1 Corinthians 1, 17. He said, I didn't come with wisdom
of words, lest the cross of Christ should
be made of no effect. That's why I came and just stated
to you Christ and Him crucified, what He accomplished. Lest the
cross of Christ be made of no effect. Lest Christ be made out
to be a failure. Lest God Almighty be made out
to be a failure. Is that what, if God Almighty
is a failure, you and I got no hope whatsoever. If God Almighty
can be frustrated and not accomplish his purpose and his will to the
I and the T being dotted, if he can't do that himself, me
and you got absolutely no help whatsoever. No, no hope at all. That's the first issue. That's
the unregenerate Man, here's the second issue. Look at Galatians
5. This is the second issue. The
first thing man's trying to do is he's trying to make God bring
him down, bring him off the cross, make him to be non-effectual,
make him to have not accomplished anything. And the second thing
is, is whenever men craft their words so as to make it sound
like, to give the impression, to make a sinner think that the
sinner contributes in some way to our salvation. They've taken
that which is offensive to the sinner out of the cross. Now,
the first thing they're doing is taking the effect of the cross
out of the cross, making Christ out to be a failure. And the
second thing they're doing is making the cross of Christ to
be non-offensive to a man. Galatians 5.11, And I, brethren,
if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? If I told men There's some something
that a man can do. There's some something that a
man can do. And these men had given up trying
to tell men to do something before Christ came, because Christ had
come. Now they were coming and saying, it's okay to believe
Christ, but now except you be circumcised, except you keep
this law and that law, except you do this and do that, you
can't be saved. And Paul said, if I did that,
if I told you one little thing that you could do to make yourself
righteous, to make yourself holy before God, then I take the offense
out of the cross. Now let me tell you this is the
fact. The unregenerate religious man, he cannot bear to hear that
salvation is of the Lord apart from the works of his own hand. He can't bear to hear it because
it diminishes him. It brings him down. But the regenerate
man, the man's been called of God and taught of God, he can't
bear to hear man exalted He can't bear to hear man exalted because
it diminishes his God and his Lord and his Savior. And those
two just won't ever be in agreement. They just won't be in agreement.
The false teacher really believes that if you preach the truth,
that salvation is by the grace of God, that you tell men that
the believer's sins past, present, and future are forgiven. They're
all put away. put away by the death of Christ. If you tell them that everything
required in the law, Christ himself fulfilled the law so that all
your righteousness, all your holy obedience is fulfilled in
Christ. If you tell a man that, folks
will say that's going to lead a man to live a sinful life. That'll make a man just say,
well, then I'll just live in sin. They say that makes a man
live in lasciviousness. And when men say that, they're
making out that the doctrine that God has sent us to declare
is a lascivious doctrine. That the doctrine itself is a
doctrine of lasciviousness, of evil, of wicked, of sinfulness.
I've heard men say that. I've heard men say if you teach
that the believer, born of the Spirit, is fit, he's meet right
now to enter into God's presence, nothing else to be done. If you
tell a sinner that, then he's going to He's going to try to
turn and say, well, then I'm not even going to walk before
him. I'm just going to break every
law and live righteous living and all those things. That's
not so. That's not what the Spirit of
God does in the heart of a believer. It doesn't do that. It draws
a sinner to God, to Christ. It makes him desire to follow
after the Lord and walk after Him in obedience and not walk
after this world. And I've heard men teach also
just the same thing. It's the same doctrine. It's
just a little different form of it. I've heard men say this,
that because Christ died and because Christ did put away all
your sin and because you are forgiven and you are made righteous,
then that gives you license to do those things. You can go out
and do that. Christ already paid for it. That's
not what the gospel teaches. That's not what we declare in
the gospel. Jude said, certain men crept in unawares who were
before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning
the grace of our God into lasciviousness. and denying the only Lord God
and our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Paul dealt with all
the time. I'm going to hurry here, but
let me just show you a few places. Romans 6, 1. This is exactly
what Paul dealt with all the time. Every time he was preaching
and declaring how fully Christ accomplished the salvation of
his people, he had to always state this. Romans 6, 1. What
shall we say then? You mean, and he's answering
the objection he knows a sinner's going to make, a self-righteous
religious man or an ungodly wicked man, he's answering the objection
that man's going to make. What shall we say then? Shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? Shall we sin that
grace may abound more and more? God forbid. First of all, how
shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Christ
has completely satisfied the law so that the law has nothing
to say to the sinner. He's dead to the law and the
law says, satisfied. I'm satisfied with it. So it's
actually impossible for the man who's called God to even live
in what the law calls sin because the law says He's righteous. That man's completely righteous.
The law is fulfilled in Christ, so he said he's righteous. He's
righteous. And not only that, but verse
15, he says, what then, shall we sin because we're not under
the law, but under grace? Shall then we ourselves put our
hand to sin and live in sin and try to be sinful and sinful wretches
because that law has nothing to say to us and because we are
dead to it? God forbid. We're not under the
law in any regard. The law's good, the law's holy.
It's just everything about it's right. Don't murder. Don't commit
adultery. Don't steal. Don't bear false
witness. Don't serve other gods. But know this. Know this. Our Sabbath rest is Christ. It's all accomplished in Him.
And the moment we turn from Him, We break the whole law of God.
We've turned to another God. We've turned and committed adultery
against Him. We've committed murder against
Him. Do you believe that? Let me show you this. Look over at Galatians 2.17. This is what Paul is saying. Peter turned again to the law
when he got up from the table where he was sitting with Gentiles
and went over to another table and sat with them because he
wanted to appear like he didn't eat the same things the Gentiles
ate, which was forbidden by the law. And when he did that, Paul
said this to him. He was doing what he thought
Peter was doing, what he thought was obeying the law. But Paul
said this in Galatians 2.17, If while we seek to be justified
by Christ, to rest in Christ in the full justification he
accomplished, if we ourselves also are found sinners, that's
what Paul called, that's what he was calling this that Peter
did when he just got up, went over and sat at another table
with somebody. He said, if we're found sinners, is therefore Christ
the minister of sin? Did Christ do this? Did Christ
work that? No, God forbid. He didn't. For
if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a
transgressor. That's of me. That is not of
God. That's me, not of him. Paul suffered, he said. I suffered
trouble as an evildoer. People called him evil. They
called him evil for what he taught. Paul wasn't going about wasn't
going about before men breaking the law. He wasn't going about
before men and living in riotous living and all that. He wasn't
doing that. But because he preached Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness, this gospel that draws his people
to him and makes them rest in him, all those self-righteous
religious men said, Paul's an evildoer. He does evil. He's a lascivious man. He's a
lascivious man and teaches a lascivious doctrine. But he didn't. I'm
going to end with this statement. All false preachers and heresies
deny in some way the redemptive work Christ accomplished in some
way. And that's what it means when
they deny that he's come in the flesh. A man in our day is not
going to say, I don't believe that Christ has come in the flesh.
But he denies Christ has come in the flesh by denying what
Christ accomplished when he came in the flesh. That's what it
is to deny he came in the flesh. All right, when you hear something,
preach. Set it all in the light of Christ.
Listen, His eternal Son, He's the eternal Son of God, who God's
determined to glorify. Does He get all the glory? Set
it in the light of His humanity. He came, God in human flesh,
to put away the sin of His people because His people were flesh.
Put it in the light of His sovereignty. He chooses whom He will, He can
pass by whom He will. He can work all things together
for the good of those that love God, for the good of those who
are called according to His purpose. Set it in light of His surety
ship. I'm talking about before the world even was made, the
works were finished, God gave them all to His Son, and His
Son promised to fulfill everything. Set it in light of His perfect
righteousness. Who is the law and the lawgiver
and the fulfillment of the law and the righteousness of His
people? It's Christ. It's not man. It's Christ. Set
it in light of His high priestly work. What's He done? Is He the
high priest or is man a priest? Is He accomplishing it or is
man accomplishing it? Set it in light of his intercession.
He's moved in. He's making intercession for
his people. He ever lives, and he's the intercession for his
people that brings his people together with God. Nobody else,
no man, not me, not you. Set it in light of his exaltation
and his second coming. He's exalted. He's ruling. It's
done. And he's coming back, and he's
going to take all his people to himself. And there won't be
one lost. He shall not fail. Listen to what men preach. Listen
to what men preach. Listen to what they say. All
right, we'll end there.