How Do You Spot a Fake? | 2 Peter 2:10-22
How Do You Spot A Fake?
Grace Christian Fellowship
2 Peter 2:10-22
Introduction:
It has been such a great study through 2nd Peter. I have enjoyed the different
sermons and perspectives each week. One thing has become clear that Peter has
really been focusing in on these false prophets. And this week he is going to turn
the volume up to 10 as he helps us to answer the question, How do you recognize
a fake?
Peter is going to use extremely vivid language to express this issue with false
prophets. And one thing that I was thinking about this, is this picture is really not
what Peter thinks about false prophets. A better description is that this is what God
thinks about false prophets as revealed through Peter. It’s not just that Peter has an
obsession with exposing these fakes, but God himself, is perfectly revealing his
hostility toward these evil men. I think its important to remember, its not just Peter
talking.
One of the coolest things I remember learning when I was in Old Testament was
when were studying the prophets in the OT. And I always thought of prophecy
working like this: God gives a vision to the prophet, prophet writes it down or tells
people what God has said.
But did you know that sometime God did that differently he actually gave the
prophet a vision, and then prophet wouldn’t speak, but they would begin to
essentially act out the prophecy in an unspoken or unwritten way. And sometimes
this would happen over the course of years!
One example is Ezekiel
• The Toy Siege: He drew the city of Jerusalem on a clay brick and built a miniature
siege wall around it. He then stared at it to symbolize God's judgment.
• The Starvation Diet: He lay on his left side for 390 days and his right side for 40 days
to bear the sins of Israel and Judah. During this time, he ate rationing bread baked over
fuel made from feces to represent impending starvation.
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• The Haircut: He shaved his head and beard with a sword. He burned one-third of the
hair, struck one-third with a sword, and scattered one-third to the wind to show the fate
of Jerusalem's population.
• The Baggage Pack: He dug through the wall of his house at night and carried his
belongings on his shoulders while covering his face. This acted out the future captivity
and flight of King Zedekiah.
I don’t consider myself a prophet, but I have to admit as I was preparing for this
sermon, I felt like God was making me more real to me in a New Testament
prophecy kind of way, by using those around me. Now don’t get nervous, I
promise I’m going to fill this in and it’s gonna be okay.
I’m going going to go back just a bit a read to you verse 9, because the rest of the
text is really describing something that is said here.
9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the
unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,
So the text says God know how to keep the “unrighteous under punishment”. The
reference here is back to these false prophets.
We will see in the following text that Peter wants us to know some characteristics
of these false prophets. This because he knows this is a problem that we will have
to deal with. Just like the early church, we too have false teachers. We need to be
able to identify them. To understand them how they work, what motivates them.
10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise
authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious
ones,
A defining characteristic is that they indulge in lust, and they despise authority.
This is a person who doesn’t receive correction. Part of being under church
leadership is submitting to the authority of the church. The pastors of a church are
spiritually responsible for the congregation that they serve. To be part of a church
is to submit to the authority of that church’s leadership. One of the first things we
see is that these false leaders despise this kind of authority.
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They also lack a reverence for spiritual things. Both good and evil. “Do not
tremble”. Most of what I read translates these “glorious ones” as fallen angels or
demons. There is a certain amount of respect required, or treating these things
carefully. However, these false prophets lack that and delt with these thing
flippantly.
11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a
blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord.
Now we see “angels”, who are greater in might and power than these fallen
angels, the text says they don’t dare deal with these spiritual beings in the way
these false prophets do. They in effect place themselves above the angels by
daring to do this.
I think what Peter is trying to convey here is there is a certain arrogance about
these false prophets. There is a general lack of respect for Spiritual things both
good and evil. It is a dangerous way to do this. We can think of this in modern day
terms as someone who dabbles
12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and
destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be
destroyed in their destruction,
This verse is the one that stuck with me this week. What are false teachers like?
They are like irrational animals. Animals are very interesting creatures. You don’t
have to teach a fox how to be a fox. The mother fox never says, okay kits this is
how you hunt. This is how you hide. Like well designed computer programs they
execute their foxiness to perfection.
Notice the contrast in this language between a teacher, who is often called a pastor
or a shepherd of a flock, and a false teacher who is described as a predator of the
flock. I can’t help but think of how Jesus described them in Matthew 7:15
[Mat 7:15 ESV] 15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's
clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
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I think Peter uses this language because he doesn’t want us to fall into the trap of
trying fix them. Or even to just get along with them. He wants us to see that they
are dangerous creatures. They cannot be changed. You cannot ask a fox to be nice
and not kill your chickens. He is a creature of instinct. This is the picture of the
false teacher.
They are born to be caught and born to be destroyed! Wow! Always a predator.
Back in verse 9, who can do this “The Lord knows how”.
Next Peter points to the boldness in which they sin.
13 suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to
revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions,
while they feast with you.
They are bold to do wrongdoing even in the daytime, not waiting for the cover of
darkness. They are blots and blots and blemishes, the word can be translated as
scab. So when they show up to a function, to a gathering, they literally stain it and
deface it with their mere existence.
Verse 14 is particularly disturbing to think about.
14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls.
They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!
2 Characteristics used to describe them. First eyes of adultery, hearts trained in
greed.
Their eyes are “full of adultery”. What an expression. Everywhere they look,
every woman they see, is a lustful object of adultery. The hunger that they have
for sin is unrestrained. They have been given over to the flesh and it has taken
control of them in a way that cannot be stopped.
The phrase “entice unsteady souls” I think is disturbing. This points to an
exploitation of the vulnerable. Like a predator they will look for those who are in
need, perhaps financially, perhaps emotionally, or even spiritually, and the false
teacher sees opportunity for exploitation. I think in our day and time this could be
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taking about homeless people, victims of domestic abuse, those who are
financially vulnerable, elderly, children. The false prophet sees these as
opportunities to satisfy both his lust and his greed.
I am reminded of the fox we have been dealing with around our house. How he
selects his prey. When the fox looks to attack a chicken, he doesn’t go for the big
strong rooster. He goes for the one that seems week. Easy to exploit. The one who
is maybe not standing with the group. Maybe a little smaller and slower than the
others.
Or if the fox is going to attack the kittens he goes for the one who is most trusting.
The one who maybe is more gentle. This is the way the false teacher fulfills his
desires.
The motivation of greed was true in Peter’s day and it is still true for us. That is
why Peter warns us.
I will never forget when I lived back in Alabama we had a local network that had
broadcast “Christian” content 24 hours a day. I sometimes we would sit in watch
in total disbelief. They would do things like sell objects that they called
“anointed”. All you had to do was call in and give them your credit card number
and they would put your “anointed prayer cloth” in the mail for all 29.99 plus tax.
And they would make big promises for how you would be blessed if you called
and got one. Predators, false teachers, exploiting the vulnerable.
The founder of the church of scientology L. Ron Hubbard is attributed with this
quote, “If you want to make money start a business. If you want to make a lot of
money then start a religion.” False prophets motivated by greed. The church of
scientology raises about 1⁄2 a billion dollars a year. When he died in 1986 his estate
was estimated at over 26 Million dollars.
We also see that they have hears that are “trained in greed”. It’s interesting that
Peter uses this word “trained”. Its from the same Greek work that we get the word
gymnasium from. The false teacher exercises his greed muscles. He trains them he
develops them so that they perform like an athlete trains for an event.
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This is great Peter is going to use some imagry from the OT to make his point
about these false teachers.
15 Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of
Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, 16 but was rebuked
for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and
restrained the prophet's madness.
If you go back to the book of Numbers you will recall that the children of Isreal
were about to go into the promise land. They were camped just outside. The King
of Moab was nervous about the strength and the numbers of them so he
summonsed Balaam, who was a prophet/sorcerer to pronounce a curse on them.
Now Balaam in Peters analogy is the one being compared to the false prophet.
Now God told Balaam not to do this because they were his people.
So the King gave Balaam even more money and he reluctantly agreed to go.
But on the way, God put a fierce angel in his path that was holding a sword.
Balaam was blind and couldn’t see the angel. The donkey gets scared and runs
while Balaam is beating the donkey half to death because he doesn’t know what is
going on. And then through a miraculous work of God the donkey begins to speak
and the presence of the angel is revealed to Balaam.
Balaam was a man with evil intentions. A profit for hire if you will. Motivated by
greed and money he set out to destroy the people of God. Peter says that is just the
same was as the false teachers are.
17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of
utter darkness has been reserved.
These false teachers are not what they appear to be. Like a waterless tream. A
place that you expect to find refreshment, but they are empty. They are not what
they appear to be.
They are like a storm that blows up and appears that it is going to provide
significant rainfall only to bring a cloud or a mist with no substance.
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18 For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh
those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.
19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For
whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.
Some people use these last couple of verses as a proof text that people can lose
their salvation. They say see there in verse 20 the know Jesus and then in 21 they
are in worse shape than ever. There is only one problem with that. We know from
earlier that these false prophets do not know Jesus. They never knew Jesus. In fact
Peter made it clear back in verse 12 that they are ignorant and were born for a
purpose of being destroyed. That doesn’t sound at all like someone who was
redeemed. So lets look at this.
20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them
and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
To some degree they have escaped the “defilements of the world” because they
have infiltrated the church. In order to do that, you must pass the duck rule. Look
likes a duck, quacks like a duck, it must be... So they pass the duck rule. They are
part of the church so in a physical sense they have some security and fellowship in
that role.
How did they get in this position. In order to be a teacher, these people had to have
some knowledge of Jesus Christ. They had head knowledge enough that they
could fake people off. The problem is that knowledge of Jesus is not the same as
faith in Jesus. You can be here today, memorize scripture, be baptized, fully
understand the gospel, and be full of Bible knowledge and guess what. You could
be lost. If you have not trusted in Jesus by faith. Placed your faith in Jesus. Then
you cannot be his child. That is where these false teachers are.
Peter says having this knowledge has put them in a place that is “worse for them
than the first. This is a very interesting truth that is taught in scripture. Your
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eternal punishment is proportional to the amount of knowledge that you have.
Look at the next verse.
21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of
righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment
delivered to them.
Having knowledge of the truth and rejecting it is a much worse position than one
who never heard the truth in the first place.
Peter closes this chapter with 2 final thoughts about the nature of the false teacher.
His like 2 animals. the dog and pig. In bible times both of these animals were
considered pretty nasty. Dog’s really weren’t cute cuddly house hold pets. They
dwelt in the streets and dumps ate garbage and carried diseases. So Peter borrows
from imagry from proverbs and tells us that this about the false teacher.
22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: "The dog returns to its own
vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire."
Peters point is that this disgusting nature is just a part of who they are. You can put
lipstick on a pig, but its still just a pig. It reminds me of what he said in verse 12.
They are “creatures of instinct”. And the instinct is wickedness. True false teachers
will never change who they are. They were born to be destroyed and God will
fulfill that mission with completeness.
When we think about these false teachers or false shepherds if you will. They
pretend to protect the flock, but they are wolves in sheeps clothing who have
infiltrated the flock to destroy it from the inside for their own lust and greed. But I
want to give you the other side of that story. There are bad shepherds, we need to
be able to spot them, that is why Peter is telling us this. And we need to be ready to
listen to the good Shepherd and the people he is using to speak truth into our lives.
Brooke and I were sitting on the back porch a couple days after we lost 2 of our
chickens. We finally were brave enough to let them out to free range around the
yard, but we gave Joe the task to shepherd the chickens. Don’t let them get near the
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woods. They didn’t learn to stay away from the woods as soon as we let them out
man they tore out running strait for the spot that was most dangerous where the
others were killed. So Joe had his hands full. And after a few minutes I noticed Joe
had gotten a broom stick and he was using the broomstick to guide the chickens
away from the dangerous tree line and push them back into the green grass where
they weren’t in danger. And Brooke and I were watching, and I said (out loud).
[Psa 23:1-4 ESV] 1 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not
want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3
He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 4
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,
for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
So many times we are just like those chickens. We run to danger. Exactly to the
place where we shouldn’t be. And the Lord has given us Shepherds good
Shepherds to guide us. But we have to listen to them. Ultimately though, The Lord
is our Shepherd. And just like Joe with his broomstick he guides us back to green
pastures that he has prepared for us.
[Jhn 10:11 ESV] 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life
for the sheep.
Closing Prayer/Communion