Well, good morning to everyone. Thank you for leading us this morning, Mark. Some tremendous hymns! When we were singing some of those, I just love to sing the hymns and see the rich meaning of Scripture in our worship. Welcome to Brian and Dana Phipps; we appreciate you being here this morning. We look forward to hearing what God's doing in Turkey. 

We're continuing our study this morning in the second epistle of Peter. In our text, Peter makes a transition from discussing our salvation—who we are, what we have in Christ, and therefore how we should live in chapter 1—to the threat of false teachers in the church in chapter 2. As we've seen thus far in our study, Peter wants us to know. He uses the word "know," "knowing," "knowledge" over and over in this short epistle. In chapter 1, we saw that he wants us to know our salvation. 

He wants us to understand what God has done in saving us in the new birth and regeneration, the truth that God has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, that we've become partakers of the divine nature, that we've been given exceedingly great and precious promises and have escaped the inner corruption of the dominating, controlling power of sin. Peter wants us to know who we are, he wants us to know what we have in Christ, and he wants us to live in light of, based on these great truths. 

And we see that a fruitful, abundant life that he wants for every believer can only come as we renew our minds to these truths, as we are reminded, as we know these things, and then choose to believe them, to reckon them to be so, to abide in Christ, to trust in God's grace and power to produce righteousness in our lives. But you'll remember in chapter 1 that Peter tells us to exercise all diligence, to be even more diligent, he says. In this battle of the Christian life, this diligence is a striving and agonizing to know and believe the Word of God, to let the Word of God, the Word of Christ dwell in us richly and choose to believe Jesus and look to him, for without him, we can do nothing. 

So the holy life that God intends, that he has made provision for in salvation, comes through the truth. Jesus said in John 17, "Sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth." We are to stand in the truth, we are to know and believe the truth, and we are to speak the truth in love. And just as our weapon in this battle is the sword of the Spirit, the truth of the Word of God, Satan's weapon in this battle is error, lies against the truth. 

And these lies against the truth are most effective in the context of the church—false teachers in the church, right among you in your love feast, Jude says, secretly bringing in destructive heresies and leading away many from the truth. And so, in the second chapter, Peter wants us to know false teachers. He wants us to understand this real and certain threat, and he wants us to be able to identify and avoid those who would teach lies against the truth, denying Jesus, who he is, what he has accomplished in salvation. 

There will be false teachers among you, Peter says. It is certain, it is a reality, and we must know how to spot them, mark them out, note them publicly, as Paul says in Romans 16, warning the brethren so that we are not taken captive by lies and deception but can stand in the truth.

Let's look at our text, 2 Peter 2:1: "But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness, they will exploit you with deceptive words. For a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment, and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly, and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly, and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked, for that righteous man dwelling among them tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds, then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment."

Well, I've given you five points on your outline this morning. First, false prophets. Second, subtle deception. Third, many will follow. Fourth, blaspheming the truth. And fifth, certain judgment.

Well first, we see in our text that there will be false prophets among you. I'd like for you to turn with me to 2 Corinthians 11 as we begin this morning. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. The context here is Paul sort of defending his apostleship, trying to cut off the opportunity of the false teachers in Corinth who were undermining the gospel and his ministry there, leading the believers astray. 

2 Corinthians 11:1: "Oh that you would bear with me in a little folly, and indeed you do bear with me, for I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, for I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it."

If you go down to verse 12 in this chapter, Paul says: "But what I do, I will also continue to do that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works."

There were false teachers in Corinth, undermining, accusing the truth that Paul preached and the Apostle himself. And Paul gives us this amazing, important truth: Satan does his best work. He spreads his greatest lies and leads away the greatest numbers of souls in the pulpits of churches in the context of religion. He transforms himself into an angel of light, and his ministers transform themselves into ministers of righteousness. Religion, the created religions of men, from those who deny Christ altogether to those who claim his name but deny his person or his work, are false churches with false gospels built on lies from the devil. Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 10, that behind these things are demonic influences. And even in the true church, such as in Corinth, false teachers secretly come in and spread their destructive heresies, leading many astray. It's a certainty. 

There were false prophets among Israel in the Old Testament. There were false prophets in the early days of the church, and there are false prophets in the church today. Turn over to Acts 20, please. Acts 20, verse 17. See another example in the life and ministry of Paul. Acts 20:17: "From Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. And when they had come to him, he said to them, 'You know from the first day that I came to Asia in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews. How I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly from house to house, testifying to Jews and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And see, now I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy in the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And indeed now I know that you all among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God will see my face no more.' Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God."

Now here's his instruction, his parting words to these overseers in the church in Ephesus, where he'd spent three years teaching. "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore, watch and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified."

Paul warns the elders of the church. He says, "I know this for sure. Savage wolves will come in among you; even from among yourselves, men are going to rise up. They're going to speak perverse things, different things, things inconsistent with the doctrines of Christ which I have taught you. Therefore you have to watch; you have to watch and you have to beware, you have to know who the false teachers are and run them out. This is a real threat." And Paul said he warned everyone night and day for three years with tears. 

In Romans 16:17, he says, "I urge you, brethren, note those," that means to mark them out, call them out by name, "note those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple." 

We must understand, be aware of the reality of false teachers in the church, and we must have the courage to stand against them and their lies. There's not much of a heart for these things in the church today. Everyone just wants to get along, to not offend, to have unity even at the expense of doctrine. The problem is that doctrine, teaching from the Word of God, tells us who Jesus is and what He has done and the promises that we have in Him. These are the very things that we are exhorted to teach, to know, to remember, to remind, to hold for ourselves, to believe, and if someone begins to teach something contrary to sound doctrine, it's a serious matter. Certainly Peter and Paul thought so. 

Turn to one more passage in 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy 1 at verse 3. Now, Timothy was in Ephesus; Paul had left him there to straighten things out in the church. He had a lot of challenges as a young pastor—false teachers in the church. This is the first letter that Paul wrote to Timothy, 1 Timothy 1:3: "...as I urged you when I went into Macedonia, remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, from sincere faith, from which some having strayed have turned aside to idle talk desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly, for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust."

Paul charged Timothy to teach no other doctrine except the gospel of grace, salvation by grace through faith, sanctification by grace through faith, the hope of glorification by grace through faith. He was to stand against anything that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which he says was committed to my trust.

You know, when I was ordained in this church back in June of 2011, Pastor Krenz made me a certificate of my ordination—well, Mary Ann made it, I'm sure—but they gave me a certificate of my ordination. At the top of that certificate, it says "set for the defense of the gospel." On my bedroom wall, I have that certificate in a frame along with a picture of the potter's hands molding the clay. Every night when I lay down, I look at that picture, and that certificate says, "set for the defense of the gospel." 

That was the calling of Paul in a special way, but it was also the calling of Timothy and Titus and every shepherd of every flock down through the ages. Savage wolves will come in, not sparing the flock. You, Timothy, watch and warn and protect the sheep by teaching sound doctrine according to the gospel. In 2 Timothy 3, Paul exhorts him to give himself to reading and exhortation and to doctrine, to give himself entirely to these things, to teach these things. And he says, in so doing, he will not only save himself but those who hear him.

There will be false teachers in the church. We are here to stand against the lies with the truth—the truth of the gospel, no other doctrine. And we see in our text that their deception is subtle. 

Second Peter 2:1 again: "There were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies." The words "bring in" speak of putting alongside or bringing beside. The idea is that these teachers would teach a lot of truth. They would teach the Bible, they would teach the Scriptures, but they would subtly, secretly bring in alongside the truth destructive heresies, lies against the truth. 

In Jude 1:3, it says: "Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ." He says certain men have crept in unnoticed, subtly, secretly, they come in and they give the appearance of truth teachers, but bring alongside the truth destructive heresies. 

Down in verse 12, he says: "They are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves; they are clouds without water, they make a lot of promises." I remember when I preached through Jude years ago, and Pastor Krenz and I had planted a food plot for his deer hunting back here. It was dry and dry and dry, and we'd get these big black clouds that would come from the west, and we'd think, "Oh, it's gonna rain," you know, and then nothing. It was dry all summer, trying to get that food plot to go. They make big promises, but they don't deliver. He says, "They're clouds without water; they're carried about by the winds; they're late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever." 

The word "spots" in verse 12 gives us a graphic picture. It speaks of a rock hidden just below the surface in a channel. It's subtle, it's deceptive, it's destructive. The ship does not see the hidden danger, and the rock rips open the hull, sinking the ship. This is the imagery that Jude gives us, describing these false teachers in the church, in the love feast, dining alongside and having fellowship with the believers. They come in secretly; they're subtle. They lay their false doctrine and teaching right beside the truth. 

You may have had this experience. You go to a church meeting, and there's a speaker, a teacher there, and he gives a moving, riveting sermon, and you go away thinking, "Well, he said a lot of good things. He spoke a lot of truth," but there was something not right about him. There's something not right about this thing or that thing that he said. And sometimes it takes acute discernment, and this discernment can only come from a commitment to the truth, from the Word of God, and thus we must know the truth. 

In 2 Corinthians 10:3, Paul said, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments," listen to this, "and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." Every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

The knowledge of God comes only from the Word of God, from the truth, and we must be quick to cast down every argument and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. We must take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Turn over to 1 John 2 with me. There's a ton of scriptures on this, so I decided to read a few this morning. 

1 John 2, verse 21: "I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. Therefore, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father, and this is the promise that He has promised us, eternal life. These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him."

John says he is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. We can know that a teacher is false, as Peter and Jude both say, denying the Lord, when he denies who Jesus is or what Jesus has accomplished in His death, burial, and resurrection. 

Paul says they come preaching another gospel, another Jesus. There is another Jesus, one who cannot save, one who is insufficient. And Paul feared as a serpent deceived Eve, so the believers in Corinth might be deceived by false teaching. We have false teachers today who claim the name of Christ but deny who He is. The Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses deny who Jesus is; they deny that He is God. They are anti, they are against Christ and the true Jesus of the Bible. 

We have those who deny His all-sufficient work on the cross, His one-time death in our place for our sins, accomplishing our salvation and satisfying the wrath of God. Many of the mainline denominations that call themselves Christian deny Jesus' work and preach another Jesus. We must uphold the truth of the Word of God concerning who Jesus is and what He has done—the essence of the good news, the gospel itself. 

But Peter tells us in our text, unfortunately, that many will follow in their destructive ways, and the way of truth will be blasphemed. He says there were false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 

It was the same in Jesus' day. He said that the Pharisees were blind leaders of the blind, and yet so many followed them. He said, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for you neither go in yourselves nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers, therefore you will receive a greater condemnation." 

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves." There were false teachers in and among the people of God in the Old Testament, in Jesus' day, in the time of the early church, and there will be false teachers in the church today. They come in stealthily, lay their heresies alongside the truth, and deceive the brethren, and many follow their destructive ways. 

You know, I've thought about this many times. False teaching is a great danger in the church. And I wonder sometimes; you'll meet someone, you know, we have a lovely fellowship here, and I'm privileged to be able to preach freely and preach the truth, and we have our Bible studies and social times, but sometimes when you get out of that bubble and you talk to other Christians, and they say things, and you think, "How could they think that? How could they say that?" And I've thought a lot about that. 

And I think it comes back to a commitment to teach and preach the Word of God verse by verse, book by book, and allow the Holy Spirit to work through that Word to grow and mature Christians so that we might be prepared, as Ephesians 4 says, for the work of ministry. If it doesn't match up with the Word of God, then it's a lie. And if you don't know the Word of God, and the Word of God is not an emphasis in a fellowship and preaching and teaching and study, then people are led astray. And that becomes evident sometimes, what's going on. False teaching is a great danger, and the only way to combat error is by knowing and speaking the truth. 

We also see in our text a great promise, a promise of certain judgment. Verse 1 tells us that they bring on themselves swift destruction. Verse 3 says, "By covetousness, they will exploit you with deceptive words. For a long time their judgment has not been idle; their destruction does not slumber." Jude speaks as well of the judgment to come. He said, "I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their proper domain but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day. He talks about Sodom and Gomorrah as well, and the cities around them in a similar manner, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. He says, behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." 

Back in 2 Peter 2, we see Peter also give illustrations from the past, but he also gives a tremendous promise. He talks about the angels as well and how God did not spare them. He talks about the ancient world where He brought the flood in on the world of the ungodly, leaving only eight souls in the ark. How He turned Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes. How He worked in the life of Lot to deliver him. I love how it says that Lot vexed, in the Old King James, vexed his own soul by living among them. But God delivered him. 

And the promise comes in verse 9 of our text. It says, in light of all these examples that we have, "Then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment." Judgment of false teachers, of the wicked, is certain. God knows how to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment. You know, we look around our world today and we wonder what's going on. It's crazy what's going on in our world. And it seems like the wicked are succeeding. But God wants us to know, Peter wants us to know, that God will judge the wicked and deliver the righteous. 

In Noah's day, it must have seemed that wickedness was winning, prevailing. For 120 years Noah was a preacher of righteousness, and yet only he and his family entered the ark. For so long years, it must have seemed that judgment would never come, but as Peter tells us in chapter 3, God is long-suffering and patient. Why has His judgment not come? Why has not Christ come again? Because He's not willing that any should perish but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth. Evil persisted in the days of Noah, but judgment came, and God wiped out the ungodly from the earth. 

In Sodom and Gomorrah, it says Lot vexed his soul by living among them. Wickedness and debauchery were rampant in these cities, and those who rejected God and shook their fist in His face did not fear. They said, as the mockers of Peter's time, "Where is God? He will not judge." But judgment came in horrific fire and brimstone from heaven that wiped those cities from the face of the earth forever. But notice the promise. Not only does God know how to punish the wicked, He also knows how to deliver the righteous. And so He did with Lot, getting him out of that city before it was destroyed. 

These are important truths for us to know and remember in our world today. We're like David, crying out in the Psalms, "The wicked are succeeding; they are winning; they have no trouble." Or as my mom always said, “The world's going to hell in a handbasket.” I looked that up, by the way, yesterday to see where that came from. All the way back to 1689, the world is going to hell in a handbasket—they were saying. Our world certainly seems to be unraveling at the seams, and wickedness is rampant in ways that we've never seen before. But we need more than ever to remember that God is in control, that He is all-powerful and all-knowing; we can trust Him to judge the wicked; we can trust Him to deliver the godly. 

This is a great promise, and Paul says in Romans 8 that this hope, the hope of our glorification, the hope of deliverance, saves us. What does that mean, that this hope saves us? Well, it saves us from fear. It saves us from doubt; it saves us from worry, now, today, in this present time, to know that He is coming. I love what He says in John 14: "If it were not so, I would have told you." We just need to look to Him, we need to trust Him, we need to take this promise for ourselves. Judgment will come for the wicked; Jesus will set all things right and establish His kingdom on earth. God will deliver the righteous from this evil age. 

I think of our brother, Rich Holm. Rich went to be with Jesus at 2:30 yesterday afternoon. And although his death is sad for us, a great difficulty for Cheryl and her family, God delivered Rich from this world yesterday. And to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And Rich has no more troubles, no more sore hips, no more health problems, no more sorrow or pain. God knows how to deliver the righteous—not only from temptations in this world but fully and finally from this world. If He comes again or if He takes me home, like we sang this morning, Peter is concerned for the church. 

He wants us to know our salvation. He wants us to know who Jesus is. He wants us to know what Jesus has done. He wants us to know the promises that we have in Him. He wants us to know who we are in Christ and therefore how we should live. He wants us to need Him, to remain in Him, to spend time with Him. He wants us also to beware and to be watching, knowing that there will be false teachers and that we must be discerning by the truth, by the Word of God so that we can find these spots in our love feast. We can warn the brethren, and we can avoid the destructive heresies that can so easily deceive and lead astray. 

And so we go back to Peter's words from the end of chapter 1 at verse 19, where Peter said, "And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." 

This book, the Bible, is the Word of God. It is the only source of truth, the only way we can know Jesus, the only way we can have eternal life. It is for us. God has revealed Himself to us through this book, and He has preserved it for us—this book about His Son. Keep it, guard it, value it, study it, know it, believe it, for ours is a battle of truth versus error, of truth teaching, doctrine to expose the lies of the devil. And He has endless lies, but we have the truth. Hold fast to the truth and speak the truth in love, stand firm and reject those who do not tell the truth about Jesus, who He is, what He's done. 

And know, my brother, my sister in Christ, rest in the fact, the promise that God knows how to reserve the unjust for punishment and how to deliver the godly. He is faithful, and He will do it. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we thank You, we praise You for the gospel, for our salvation, for Jesus whom You sent to die in our place to be buried and rise again the third day. And we thank You that for those who believe we died with Him, we were buried with Him, and we were raised to a new kind of life, that You've made provision for us to live a new life, a holy life that shows the transforming power of the gospel that brings glory to You—that's a witness in this world. 

The world is full of trouble; there are wicked men, wickedness all around, Lord. We trust You and believe You and know that You're in control. I just pray that You would help us to focus on what You would have us to do, what You've given us to do—the privilege of being Your witnesses in this world, to speak the truth, to love one another, to believe Jesus, and to be witnesses, Lord, to preach the gospel that men might believe and be saved. 

We thank You for this, and we thank You for Your sufficient grace in our lives. In Jesus' name, amen.