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(upbeat music) - Welcome back to our study of Second Peter. We're in chapter two
this week, day one. Through this book, Book of Second Peter, we're talking
together about how to have a faith that lasts, that stays strong through
anything.

And last week we talked about the first of three principles. First, you've gotta
look inward, not outward. You gotta look at what Christ is doing in you instead
of focusing on your circumstances.

And then we also began to look last week at a second key of the three keys we're
going to see in Second Peter. You gotta look at God's word and not man's word. If
you want a faith that lasts, you can't build it on something that doesn't last,
man's word, you gotta build it on God's word.

God's word lasts, our words do not. And now in chapter two, after talking about
the value of God's word at the end of chapter one, in chapter two, Peter devotes
an entire chapter to talking about the danger of false teaching. Obviously those
who he was writing to are caught up in some false teaching, are in danger
because of that false teaching.

And so he writes to warn them and also by God's inspiration to warn us. Now you
have to think that as he writes to these who are saying truths that come from
men and not from God, that Peter has to be doing this with a measure of
humility. Remember a conversation that Peter had with Jesus once where Jesus was
telling them that he had to go to the cross and die.

And Peter was saying, oh, may that never be. And remember what happened at one
of the places we read about it as in Matthew 16, 23. Jesus turned and said to
Peter, get behind me, Satan.

You are a stumbling block to me. You do not have in mind the things of God, but
the things of men. So here is Peter in a conversation with Jesus, in essence
being a false teacher to the Lord of the universe, saying something that comes
from man and not from God.

So he knew how easily you could fall into this. He'd seen it happen in his own
life. So with this measure of humility that a teacher can fall into this, he
talks about those who have gone past that moment of false teaching to begin to
live a lifestyle of false teaching that's based on their attitude of greed and
their attitude of wanting to use others.

How do you make sure in your life that you don't get caught up in the things of
men, even as you're talking about religious things, spiritual things? Well,
Peter starts with five things to be aware of in the first three verses. Listen
to these verses.

Peter writes, but there were also false prophets among the people, just as there
will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive
heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who brought them, bringing swift
destruction on themselves. Many who follow their shameful ways will bring the
way of truth into disrepute.

In their greed, these teachers will exploit you with stories they've made up.
Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has
not been sleeping. So Peter writes about the truth of false teachers, those who
are in the church, teaching religious sounding things, even biblical sounding
things, but they're not the truth.

And he just says, here's five truths to be aware of. First, he says, there will
be false teachers. He doesn't have any doubt about it.

There will be false teachers among you, he says. Peter warns us, Jesus warned
us. Jesus warned us in Matthew seven in the Sermon on the Mount.

He said, watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly, they are ferocious wolves. So to think that somehow I'm going to live in
a world where there's no false teaching I'm going to have to deal with is lying to
myself, Peter says.

You're going to have to deal with it. There will be false teachers. Second thing he
says is, they work in hidden ways.

They secretly, he says, introduce these heresies. The work of a false teacher, a
false teaching, it is not always obvious at first, especially when you're young
in the faith, but sometimes even when you're seasoned in the faith, it's not
always obvious at first where that twist is leading you, where that false
teaching is leading you. Secretly, these truths are introduced.

Jesus calls them wolves in sheep's clothing. They look like a sheep, like one of
the followers at first. It's not until you look for a while and look more
closely that you see the false teaching.

A third truth that he says about these false teachers is many will follow them.
There will be many who follow them, he says, into their destructive ways. False
teachers teach false things because it works.

It gains an audience. People like to listen to these false teachings. It makes
them feel good about themselves and their pride.

So don't think, don't ever think that just because a lot of people are following
something, even something that sounds religious or biblical, that it therefore
must be true. Many will follow them, he says. He also says, fourth thing he says
is, they are motivated by greed.

Those who continue in their false teaching, he says, I know their motivation. It
is greed. Now it might be greed for money.

It might be greed for power. It might be greed for followers. It might be greed
for feeling important.

There's all kinds of greed in our lives. But the terrible thing about any kind
of greed is nothing is ever enough. Greed always wants more, always has to have
more, because it's all about you and how you feel about yourself rather than
those you are serving.

They're motivated by those greeds of life. Now notice he says, because of this,
they have these stories that they have made up. This week we're going to talk
together about how to not buy the lie that comes from the false teacher, the
stories that are made up.

And then he says, a fifth and final truth about these false teachers, he says,
they're headed for destruction. They're headed the wrong way in life. God cares
about his children, and it will not end well for those who hurt his children
simply for their own selfish gain.

Now, the question for your life is, how do you fight against this? How do you
combat false teachers? There are three things you need to do in your life as you
listen to teaching, as you listen to God's word, three things that will help you
to make sure that false teachings don't creep into your life.

First, you check everything by God's word. I hope everything that I'm saying,
everything the pastor of your local church is saying, everything you hear any
teacher saying, that you go back and you check it by God's word. You don't just
trust what they've said God's word says, you go actually open it up and read it
for yourself.

That's why I like, and we like to read the verses as we go through this each
week. Not just say what the verses said, but actually read the verses to you so
you can check it for yourself. And if it doesn't check out according to God's
word, something is wrong.

If something a false teacher is saying doesn't check out with what other
teachers have been saying about God's word for 2,000 years, they've got some
brand new interpretation no one's had for 2,000 years, something is wrong. It's
not as if they're going to figure out something nobody else figured out in 2,000
years. No, something is wrong.

So you check out everything by God's word. The second thing you do is you follow
Jesus and not the crowd. The fact that many follow these false teachers causes
many to go into destruction 'cause they just follow the crowd.

They do what everybody else is doing. To protect yourself against false
teaching, you follow Jesus and not the crowd. You keep your eyes on Jesus, keep
your eyes on him.

And sometimes that means it'll feel lonely. Sometimes that means you'll go a
different direction than even your friends. Because somehow they've gotten
caught up in some false teaching that appeals to their greed, that appeals to
their pride, but you know it's wrong.

So you just keep following Jesus. Now, if you keep following Jesus, you know
you're going to keep loving the false teacher, you're going to keep loving your
friends, but you're not going to follow your friends. And finally, the third thing
you do is you constantly check your motivations.

False teachers always appeal to our sinful motivations. So if I allow some
sinful motivation to creep into my life, to be there in some hidden place in my
life, Satan knows that. So he's going to bring some false teaching that tells me,
oh, it's okay to have that sin in your life.

Oh, it's okay to want that thing in your life that you know is just selfish.
It's really okay. And a religious veneer, a biblical veneer is put over that
selfish desire and you're caught.

You're caught by the hook, you're caught by the lure. So instead of being
motivated by greed, you want to be motivated by faith, by hope, by love. So how do
you make sure you don't get caught up in false teaching?

It's simple, really. You check everything by God's word. You follow Jesus and
not the crowd.

You check your motivation. So you're motivated by faith, hope, and love. I need
God's strength.

You need God's strength to do that on a daily basis. Let's ask for it right now.
Our Father, we ask that you'd help us to check things out according to your
word.

It's your love letter to us. Help us to read it for ourselves. Dig into it and
see the truth in it.

Jesus, help us to follow you and not the crowd. To recognize that there is no
greater joy than following you. And remember that there is this broad path that
leads to destruction and there's a narrow path in following you.

We want to follow you. And then Jesus, help us to be motivated, not by
selfishness. If there is that motivation in the corners of our lives, help us to
see it and to give it to you and to ask that instead we be motivated by faith,
by hope, by love.

We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Well, join us tomorrow. We're going to talk about
the truth that you can trust God even when there are false teachers.