Well, thank you guys again for leading us in worship this morning and for some good songs. We're continuing our study this morning in the second epistle of Peter in chapter 2. This is a hard chapter; these are hard words, and it's a difficult message to preach, but it's important for us to understand what Peter's trying to teach us here. 

It's a stunning chapter concerning false teachers and the danger that they present in the church. The interesting thing about these false teachers is that they, as Jude says, have crept in unnoticed. They are in the church; they are fellowshipping, dining with the saints in the love feast of communion. They are deceptive, destructive, as we've seen already in our studies, drawing men away with false doctrine that leads to destruction. 

There were false teachers in Peter's time, as there were in the Old Testament in the nation of Israel, and Peter promises there will be false teachers among you in the church. We see many stark warnings in the scriptures from Jesus, from Paul, from Peter, and Jude about false teachers and false doctrine. Paul called the elders from Ephesus to meet him in Miletus, and he said, "I know this: after my departure, savage wolves will come in, not sparing the flock." Jude gives us a parallel description to the words of Peter here, emphasizing the deceitful nature of these liars. 

They work their way into the church; they cause all kinds of destruction. And my friends, it's no different today. We see it all the time, and sometimes we don't even know. They can be very deceptive and difficult to discern. And that's why Peter is writing to us these important instructions so that we might know, that we might recognize false teachers, that we might warn the brethren, and call them out and cast them out of the church. 

We will see in our text this morning that these false prophets have an evil character in nature; they have indwelling sin that dominates and controls them, an evil motive to enrich themselves and satisfy their lusts, and to lead men astray, away from the truth, away from the straight road. They also have a disgraceful destiny: certain destruction and judgment, forever in the lake of fire. 

It is vital that the church holds to sound doctrine, that we watch, that we know the truth so that we can recognize error, and we can avoid the lies of false teachers and their pernicious ways. We must note them out, call them out, and make sure everyone knows when a false teacher threatens a true church with lies that lead men astray, causing division and destruction. 

Paul said this in Romans 16:17: "I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them." Paul said in Acts, "I am innocent of the blood of all men, for I did not cease to warn you night and day for three years, teaching you the whole counsel of God." Who is warning in the church today? Who is protecting the flock of God from savage wolves? Who is emphasizing the word of God above all else in worship, teaching, and preaching? This is our calling, my friends. 

The threat is real and serious. We must know who these false teachers are and be able to spot them in the church. Let's look at our text together, 2 Peter 2:12. Peter says, "But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand and will utterly perish in their own corruption, and will receive the wages of unrighteousness as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices and are accursed children. They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but he was rebuked for his iniquity; a dumb donkey speaking with a man's voice restrained the madness of the prophet. These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh through lewdness the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption, for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But as it has happened to them according to the true proverb, a dog returns to his own vomit and a sow having washed to her wallowing in the mire." 

Some graphic words from Peter for us this morning. I've given you four points on your outline. First, the character of false teachers. Second, the motive of false teachers. Third, the false promise of false teachers. And fourth, the true nature of false teachers. 

Well, first in our text we see the character, the nature of these men. 2 Peter 2:12 states that these false teachers are “like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed.” They speak evil of the things they do not understand and will utterly perish in their own corruption. They will receive the wages of unrighteousness as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots, stains, blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices and are accursed children. 

Notice the language concerning the infiltration of these false teachers into the church and their good standing in the fellowship. They are spots and blemishes. These words mean stains or marks. They carouse in their own deceptions while they feast with you. Jude says they are rocks just under the surface of the water in a shipping channel, hidden. They have crept in unnoticed. 

We also see that the word "corruption" characterizes these teachers. They are corrupt to the core; Peter says, "twice dead, pulled up by the roots." But Peter says they have escaped the pollution of the world by coming into the church. They are not regenerate; they are corrupt on the inside, filled with sin, completely dominated and controlled by indwelling sin, past feeling, unable to discern truth, corrupted by their lies. But they are in the church. The word "pollution" is an outside thing, but "corruption" is an inner cancer. 

They have escaped the pollution of the world, finding safe haven in the church, but they are corrupt in their nature, beasts, he says, "made to be caught and destroyed." Peter uses some vivid language here. He compares the false teachers to natural brute beasts. 

And the analogy is this: animals live by instinct according to their nature. The wording here speaks of a lack of reason, of intellectual thought, of discernment. Take a pig on our farm. I love pigs; they're my favorite. And pigs have individual personalities and preferences and propensities. But let me tell you, it's difficult to reason with a pig. 

The pig is driven by three things: sexual desire, hunger, and jealousy. God has put those instincts into that animal, which drive its actions and allow it to live and thrive as a pig. But he's not a creature of reason. He's not interested in listening to your ideas or your plans or even what you might like him to do. That pig was created, was born for a single purpose: to die, to in his death provide food for us, sustenance, protein. 

We can enjoy him along the way; we can take care of him, we can scratch his nose, and give him a good life, treat him with respect and care and love. But that pig is here for one reason: to die. This is the analogy that Peter makes. 

These false teachers are so consumed with their lust, with their sin, living by natural instinct and desire, they have absolutely no control over the sin that lives in them and consumes their every thought and motive. They would best serve the church by being destroyed, taken away. Like a natural brute beast, they were made to be caught and destroyed. 

They are corrupt; they are rotten to the core. Peter says they count it pleasure to carouse with you in the daytime. These false teachers don't wait until dark. Remember John 3, where John says in verse 18, "He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe in Him is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, but men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed." 

Men with any conscience at all do not come to the light and expose their evil deeds. But these bold and blatant beasts consider it pleasure to carouse, to live in luxury, to live in licentiousness, to speak lies, and lead men astray right in broad daylight, even in the context of the church. In short, they have no shame. And yet so many follow their ways. 

Back in verse 10, Peter said they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries. And Jude gives us a clarifying statement on this in verse 8 of Jude 1; he says, "Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries." He uses the same words here, and here's what he gives as his example. 

"Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation but said, 'The Lord rebuke you.'" But these false teachers speak evil of whatever they do not know, and whatever they know naturally like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. 

This is such an interesting truth about false teachers: they are unbelievably presumptuous. The dignitaries here that Peter speaks of, as we learn in Jude, are Satan and his demons. Now a right-thinking, reasoning man who knows and lives according to the Scriptures, who has the Holy Spirit and Jesus living in him and is trusting in the Lord, knows that he has no business messing with Satan. In fact, even Michael the archangel would not bring a reviling accusation against the devil, but said, "The Lord rebuke you."

Dignitaries, Satan and demonic forces are far beyond our scope and power. The Lord must handle these things. Peter says even the holy angels do not bring a reviling accusation against them but say, "Lord, I'm leaving this to You." But these mere men, these unregenerate men who cannot even control the sin in them, are bold and presumptuous. They do not hesitate to rail against the devil and the demons. They do not know what they are doing, Peter says. 

We see this vividly illustrated in the Word Faith movement. Men like Kenneth Copeland, Ken Hagen, and so many more. My friends, they are in the so-called church. They are on television and YouTube representing Christ, and they are false teachers. They are like natural brute beasts. They teach lies, lead men astray, and they are not afraid to delve into the spiritual realm and take on Satan themselves. How presumptuous they are. 

You can go on YouTube and watch false teachers like Copeland wrestle with Satan on stage. Blind Satan. Fight the demons. Rebuke them. I watched for about 10 seconds just for research purposes, and he started screaming and yelling. He said, "I demand Satan be bound. I execute judgment on COVID-19 to remove itself from this nation. I demand there be a vaccine right now." Who is this guy? What fools. What a mockery they make of the gospel, of the church, of Jesus, of our Lord and Savior. And yet so many follow in their ways. 

We see true believers getting caught up in the deception, speaking positive confessions, finding Satan behind every tree. I heard one teacher say, "If your car breaks down, there's a demon in your radiator." My friends, this is serious business. These are Satan's ministers masquerading as ministers of righteousness. And they are in it for the money. They're in it for the power. They're in it to fulfill their lusts and desires. 

Peter says they have hearts trained in covetousness. For so long it's been about the money. They cannot cease covetous practices—conniving, scheming, boldly speaking lies. Peter says they've gone in the way of Balaam. You remember Balaam? He was a prophet for hire. He was in it for the money. And they promise whatever they have to promise. They twist the Word of God however they must in order to get the money out of the people. 

They have eyes full of adultery. They cannot look on a woman without thinking lustful thoughts. Two things that we see consistently throughout the Scriptures concerning false teachers are greed for money—they're in it for the filthy lucre—and sexual immorality. These two things consistently characterize the false teacher. 

And what have we seen over the years as men bring reproach on the name of Christ? These are evil men, but they're in the church and they're leading many astray with their false doctrine and example into confusion and confounding the gospel. Think about the witness. 

When I was looking for the Kenneth Copeland video on YouTube, I saw a spot with Joe Rogan talking about Copeland and how creepy and demonic he is. He made this statement: "But Copeland is a billionaire, and I'm sure he has many women." How damaging are false teachers to the cause of Christ? If they represent Christ in the church, then they bring destruction and division and a false witness that inoculates lost souls to the gospel. 

I remember when I was first saved, my mom was really concerned about her nice Catholic boy and what he was doing up in this strange church. She told me a story about when she was a little girl in Texas, and down the street there was what she called a holy roller church. She said she and her sisters, when they were just little, used to go and stand on their tiptoes and peek in the window and watch people scream and roll on the floor and cluck like chickens. She said, "You're not doing any of that, are you?" I said, "No mom, we just wear robes and kill sheep; that's what we do." 

But what a witness. Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 14. He says if someone comes in, you're all acting this way, they're gonna think you're crazy. He says what matters is prophecy; what matters is speaking forth the truth, the Word of God, to convict men, to convince them of their sin, and lead them to Christ. 

Sometimes false teachers are very academic; they're overly educated, deep teachers, they have a system that's all worked out, they are respected among men. They say things like, "Well, you wouldn't understand all of this; you wouldn't really be interested in these things." 

Let me tell you something, I'm interested; are you interested? I'm interested in the depth of the Word of God, don't tell me I'm not interested. They gain positions of prominence because of their degrees, their associations, how many conferences they've been to. Obviously, it's not true of all academics, but sometimes false teachers can take this form.

Sometimes false teachers are universalists; everything is positive, everyone's going to heaven, God is here to meet your needs. Men like Joel Osteen. False teachers can take all kinds of forms, but we know them by their character in nature, and we know them by what they teach. The proof is in the pudding, my friends. 

Teachers are to teach the Word of God; they are to serve the flock of God, and their motive is to be love for God and love for men. Their purpose is to equip the saints for the work of ministry. You don't have to watch these guys very long to see that's not what they're doing. 

False teachers are in it for the money; they're in it for the power, the prestige; they're filled with pride, and their motive is for their own belly, and to lead men astray after themselves. True teachers love the Word of God; true teachers love the brethren; they serve and study and prepare that they might rightly divide the Word to give the sense of it because they know and trust that God works through His Word, His truth, to prepare the saints for the work of ministry. 

Well, next we see the false promise of false teachers, verse 17 of our text. Peter says, "These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption, for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage." 

Well, we see this over and over with false teachers: a licentious teaching, a licentious life. They allure through the lusts of the flesh. God wants you to be happy; God wants you to be healthy; God wants to fulfill your needs. You can live however you like; you are under grace. They promise liberty through false teaching, but Peter says they themselves are slaves of corruption. 

Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." It's only the Word of God, the power of God, that can sanctify. "Sanctify them by Your truth; Your word is truth," Jesus said. These false teachers speak great swelling words of emptiness. I love that phrase. 

You can see them up there pounding the pulpit, speaking great swelling words. Pastor Krenz used to call it soap bubbles. There's no truth. You're not sure what he said when he sits down. There's no clear message, just a bunch of fine-sounding arguments, great swelling words, empty promises. I think of Benny Hinn. I saw an article about him in India not too long ago. 

One and a half million people came to see Benny Hinn. I've been to India, and I've seen the poverty, the low classes, the leper colonies, the slum dwellers, the native tribes. They live in abject poverty with nothing. Outcasts of society, disease and sickness plague these groups of people, and Benny Hinn and his ilk go there and make great promises of health, wealth, and prosperity. 

I saw him come out in a white suit with bright lights preaching this garbage, extracting from these poor people the last of their rupees, and he goes home on his private jet to his mansion and never thinks about the people in India again. They are wells without water, clouds tossed by a tempest. 

We had this summer—so hot and dry in May and June and then again in August. Our first crop hay was down 60%. Our second crop totally failed. We had no rain. Sometimes clouds would form in the West, and we would hope, hope on the promises of those clouds coming from the West, and then they would just disappear, break apart. Clouds without water, no fulfillment of the rain that they promised for a parched earth. 

This is the way false teachers are. They appeal to the carnal nature of man with their teaching, promising fulfillment, promising liberty, but there's no substance to their words, there's no fruition to their promises, only disappointment. And the sad thing is that by false teaching, they are brought into bondage. 

Paul warns of this in Colossians 2:8: "Beware, lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ." He gives us the positive instruction in that same passage at verse 6; he says, "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him." 

How is it that you received Christ Jesus the Lord? By faith. How are you to walk? By faith. "So walk in Him, rooted, and built up in Him, established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving." 

"For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith, in the working of God who raised Him from the dead. 

And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross, having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it." 

You see, Jesus is the fullness. He is sufficient. He has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Don't be drawn away by false teaching that appeals to the flesh, that leads to licentiousness, that takes you captive and brings you into bondage. Seek God. Seek to know Him, to know the truth, to know His Word, and know and understand that liberty comes through salvation, through regeneration, through an abiding relationship with Christ, through renewing our mind to the Word, letting the Word of Christ dwell in us richly. 

He is able to do all things, and His will is perfect. Don't set your mind on the things of the earth, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. The temporal things are not what matter, but the eternal. The false teachers that make their way into the church are always appealing to the temporal. They're always appealing to the carnal, to fleshly desires. 

Beware and reject these things. Learn what it is to know the grace of God, to live for Him who died for us, and to love God and love others, and to be a witness in this world. These are the things that truly matter. False teachers are always drawing you away from the simplicity that is in Christ. 

Turn over to 2nd Corinthians 11 with me. 2nd Corinthians 11:2, Paul explains this. "For I am jealous for you," Paul says, "with a godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband that I may present you as 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." 

My brothers and sisters, don't put up with it. Judge all things by who Jesus is and what He has done. Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Don't put up with those who do not teach the clear message of the gospel and the importance of a holy life of witness focused on Jesus and Jesus alone. 

When we talk about false teachers in the church, we're not talking about a mere problem of doctrine or a misunderstanding of some minor thing. You must remember this; it's hard to take; it's hard to imagine, but we know it's true. False teachers in the church are unregenerate. Paul goes on in that chapter to say they are ministers of Satan, and their goal is destruction. 

"While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption, for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he's brought into bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worst for them from the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: a dog returns to his own vomit and a sow having washed to her wallowing in the mire." 

Here we see the true nature of false teachers. They have escaped the pollutions of the world by coming into the church but they are corrupt in their nature, unregenerate. They know the gospel but they reject it, and they seek to lead men from it. Peter says it would have been better if they'd never known. They are lost; they are controlled and dominated by indwelling sin; they have rejected the gospel, rejected Jesus again and again; they stand in pulpits, they hold up Bibles; they are presumptuous, they are self-willed, they are bold blasphemers, and they feast with you in fellowship. 

How frightening. What danger exists in the church? There are those that Paul describes in Ephesians 4, where he says they live in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness. 

We must understand that if a man does not preach the truth, does not speak the Word of God from the pulpit, does not exhort to live the Word of God, and does not point men to Jesus continually, then that man is a false prophet and he's a great danger to the church. It's who he is. 

We talked about that pig on our farm; Peter brings her up here. Now, you can wash that sow up; you can clean her up; you can buff her out, put a ribbon in her hair. I've watched the kids do this at the fair, soap them up, wash them, brush them, put a little perfume behind their ears. They bed them in sawdust and constantly clean up after them so they won't get soiled. 

But my brothers and sisters, you can dress them up on Sunday and put them in a suit and stick them in a pulpit, and they can laugh and carouse with you in the basement luncheon and make a show of themselves and gain accolades and praises from all the people. But the rest of the week, they live in licentiousness. They lust; they're greedy and manipulative; they draw men away after themselves; they cause division and destruction in the church. 

My old sow will go straight to that mud puddle when she's hot; she loves it. It's who she is. And have you ever been awakened at 3 a.m. by the retching sound of your dog heaving, choking? You try to move, but it's too late; vomit all over the floor, and you lay there thinking, "Oh no." 

And you have to get up, but you don't want to clean it up, so you lay there a second more, and then all of a sudden you hear it in the darkness and the silence— to lap it up. My friends, that's who he is. He's a dog. He doesn't mind rolling in manure. He thinks it smells nice. He'll bring it to you and tell you how nice he smells. He's a dog. She's a pig. 

And they are lost men in Adam, with seared consciences, controlled and dominated by sin and lust and greed, with ill motives to enrich themselves at the cost of others, and they hate Jesus. They hate the truth. They are pigs and dogs, lost and destined for the lake of fire. We must not let them exist in the church. 

And in this day of the internet and YouTube and social media, access to any and every false teacher is available. We must all the more teach the truth in this place and warn and call out those who teach lies so that we might not fall prey to the devil's schemes, but rather would continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of God, that we would continue to be fruitful, that we would live in grace, experience liberty for the glory of God, and as a witness to men. 

False teachers are in the church. Know the truth so that you might spot them, and note them, and kick them out, and not be taken captive by their lies. This is the call that Peter gives us in our text. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank You that You tell us the hard things and that You tell us the truth. Thank You that You've given us Your Word, Your truth that we can study and renew our minds to and know and grow and just depend on You and know that You have everything under control. 

Help us to be faithful today, just to be faithful today, and help us to be discerning that we wouldn't be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, taken captive by hollow and deceptive philosophies, but that we might know and believe the truth, that we might live according to the truth, and be a witness so that men might believe and be saved. For Your glory, in Jesus' name, amen.