Sermon Tone Analysis

2 Peter 2:1-9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stephen Caswell © 2004

 

Counterfeit Bills

 

The United States Treasury Department has a special group of men whose job it is to track down counterfeiters.

Naturally, these men need to know a counterfeit bill when they see it.

/How do they learn to identify fake bills?/

Oddly enough, they are not trained by spending hours examining counterfeit money.

Rather, they study /the real thing./

They become so familiar with authentic bills that they can spot a counterfeit by looking at it or, often, simply by feeling it.

This is the approach Peter takes in his second epistle.

Peter does the same thing.

Firstly, he describes what real Christians are like.

When Peter wrote this letter he was concerned that false teachers had moved into the Church.

But very wisely, Peter described what real Christians are like before he described the counterfeits.

*/America alone has more than 350 sects and cults, and most of them claim to base their doctrines on the Word of God./* Tonight we will see some important things about false teachers.

*/The Description Of False Teachers, The Destruction Of False Teachers, The Deliverance Of The Righteous./*

/Firstly      /The Description Of False Teachers/ /

/ /

/a.

Deception /

/ /

The word */false teacher/* *ψευδοδιδάσκαλος* is a combination of two Greek words, */pseudo/* meaning */lie/* and */didaskalos/* meaning */teacher./*

These men are lying teachers.

They deceive people for a number of reasons.

When I was at Bible College my lecturer from Old Testament Survey warned us about three temptations that Satan uses with more success than anything else.

They are */Gold, Girls, /*and*/ Glory.

/*These are the same motives that inspire them.

*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.

/

/ /

*/Firstly,/*/ false teachers deceive people for fame./

They like people to follow them.

They do it for their own */glory./*

They want to have a position of authority over others.

/How do they get their lies into Bible believing Churches?/

By placing their heresy alongside the truth.

They don't deny the truth to start with.

After a while they remove the truth and leave their heresy to remain.

This is why Peter emphasized the importance of God's Word before he dealt with heresy.

The Word of God came from God and focuses on the Son of God.

The word is inspired by the Spirit and must be interpreted by Him also.

But the false teachers deny the Son of God and spread teaching from Satan./

Is it important what we believe?/

Yes, only the truth sets us free.

* *

Plastic Words

 

In *2 Peter 2:3* we see the false teachers use */deceptive words/*.

The Greek word is *πλαστός*, from which we get our word */plastic/*/./

It refers to something */being mentally constructed without a basis in fact,/* */fabricated, false.

/*Plastic words!

Words that can be twisted to mean anything you want them to mean!

The false teachers use our vocabulary, but they don’t use our dictionary.*

/The Catholic Church has a completely different meaning for repentance and receiving Christ./*

False Doctrine

 

In an examination at a Christian school, the teacher asked the following question: What is false doctrine.

Up went a little boy’s hand, and there came this answer: /It’s when the doctor gives the wrong stuff to people who are sick./

Although the little boy had obviously confused /doctrine/ with /doctorin’/, */he arrived at the correct definition/*.

*2 Peter 2:3a* /By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; /

/ /

*/Secondly,/* false teachers */deceive/* people to make a fortune.

/Would ministers do that?

/Satan's ministers do.

The word */exploit/* *ἐμπορεύομαι* means */to trade, to buy and sell/*.

/False Teachers make a lot of money from peddling their lies./

*/Benny Hinn makes 93 million dollars a year./*

He continually makes appeals for people to support his work.

He promises that God will bless them if they do.

/Why does he need so much money?

What does he do with it all?

/Paul warned Timothy that the love of money is the root of all evil.

Timothy must flee these things and pursue righteousness./

/

/ /

The true minister of Jesus Christ has nothing to hide: his life and ministry are an open book.

He preaches the truth in love and does not twist the Scriptures to support his own selfish ideas.

He doesn’t flatter the rich to make money.

The true minister is described in *2 Corinthians 4:2:* /But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God./ Contrast that description with Peter’s in this chapter, and with what Jude wrote, and you will see the difference.

Don't support ministries that plead for money.

/ /

/b.

Denial /

/ /

*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./

/ /

False teachers are better known for what they */deny/* than what they affirm.

They deny the inspiration of the Bible, man’s sinfulness, Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross, salvation by faith alone, and even the reality of eternal judgment.

They especially deny the deity of Jesus Christ, for if they succeed in this they can destroy the entire body of Christian truth.

Christianity is Christ, and if He is not what He claims to be, there is no Christian faith.

*/They don’t preach Jesus Christ the Son of God and His work on the cross, they deny it.

Bishop Spong/ */is an Anglican minister who regularly speaks world wide.

He denies the fundamental doctrines of the faith./

*/Kenneth/* */Hagan, Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn/* constantly teach heresy mixed with a grain of truth.

* *

*1 John 4:1-3:* /Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.

And this is the spirit of the Antichrist which you have heard that he was coming, and is now already in the world./

It must be made clear that these false teachers are */unsaved./*

/They are compared to dogs and pigs, not to sheep./

/Jesus calls them wolves in sheep's clothing/.

Jude describes these same people, and in *Jude 19* he clearly states, */having not the Spirit/*.

If a person does not have the Spirit of God within, he is not a child of God.

He may pretend to be saved and even preach to others, but eventually he will deny the Lord.

/ /

/c.

Degradation /

/ /

/ /*2 Peter 2:2: */And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.

/

/ /

*1.

They're Sensual*

/ /

These false teachers are snared by */girls/*.

They indulge in sexual immorality.

These teachers claim to be God's servants but in reality they belong to Satan.

Their lives are filled with impurity and immorality.

Jude accused the false teachers of /turning the grace of God into lasciviousness./

Now we understand why they deny the truths of the Christian faith: they want to satisfy their own lusts and do it under the guise of religion./