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We're continuing our look through 2 Peter chapter 2, day 3 of our look, talking
about how you deal with false teaching, the reality of it in our world. And
starting in verse 10, Peter begins to talk about how you recognize a false
teacher. What are some of the common characteristics you can see in a person
that's not telling you the truth?

Sometimes false teachers can be very engaging, very loving-seeming people, very
positive people, very winsome people, and yet they're teaching you very
destructive lies. So how do you recognize a false teacher? Well, Peter says,
first of all, they despise authority.

That's how you know. In verse 10, this is especially true of those who follow
the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and
arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings, yet even angels.

Although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous
accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord. They despise
authority. They seem to show how powerful they are by despising these spiritual
authorities.

In fact, he also says here, they are bold and arrogant. There's a boldness in
their speech and there's a sense of arrogance that you hear in their speech. You
don't hear any humility in their lives.

Third characteristic, he says, is they blaspheme in matters they don't
understand. In verse 12, they blaspheme. They say lies about things they have
not even really studied.

False teachers, this blasphemy against those truths, against God, it usually
results in a love of arguing. They're often good at arguing, by the way. It
builds their ego and they love to argue.

That's one of the characteristics of a false teacher. They also are creatures of
instinct, he says. In verse 12, last half of verse 12 and 13, they're like brute
beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like
beasts, they too will perish.

They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. In the last half
of verse 13, he says they are people who love to do evil deeds even in broad
daylight. It makes them feel good about themselves, like they can do anything
they want.

He says they carouse in broad daylight. Their idea, Peter writes, of pleasure is
to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their
pleasures while they feast with you.

In verse 14, he says another characteristic is they seduce the unstable with
eyes full of adultery. They never stop sinning. They seduce the unstable.

And then finally, he says they are experts in greed. Last half of verse 14, they
are experts in greed and a cursed brood. Now what I'd like to do today is
instead of focusing on these negative characteristics, I'd like to take a moment
with you to look at the opposite.

What are you looking for in a teacher? These are the characteristics of a false
teacher. What are the characteristics of a teacher who's telling you the truth
from God's Word?

And if you happen to be a teacher of God's Word, ever get a chance to teach
God's Word, what should you cultivate in your life as a teacher? What's
interesting is you look at the descriptions of pastors in the New Testament, you
can see the exact opposite of the descriptions that are here. Instead of being
those who despise authority, the teacher of the truth is somebody who is under
authority.

As you read the New Testament, you find out that they're subject to God. They're
under God's authority, obviously, trying to follow Him. But you also find out
that they're subject to others.

They're subject to each other. The spirits of the prophets are subject to the
prophets. They're subject to the older men in the church.

The Scriptures are very clear about that. They're subject to everybody in the
church. They're serving the church, not being served by the church.

So there's this attitude of a servant and somebody who's truly teaching God's
Word. That's what you're looking for when somebody's teaching the truth. The
fact that there are false teachers is simply an indication of the truth that God
wants to use real teachers.

Anytime Satan does something false, it's because he's trying to counter
something true, something good, something powerful. God has given the gift of
teaching into the church to help you and I to live out God's truth. One of the
questions you have is, "Well, let's just do away with teachers.

Let's just read God's Word for ourselves, then we won't get in trouble. " But
there is a gift of teaching that's needed, and that gift of teaching is to help
me to live out God's Word, to encourage me to live God's Word. So you don't let
the false keep you from the real.

You actually let the false help you to understand your need for the real. But
you're looking for somebody who is a servant. And the attitude that's behind
that, he says that false teachers are bold and arrogant.

The attitude behind that is that they have an attitude of humility. There's a
humble heart that's there. In fact, in one of the descriptions of those who are
the pastor of the church, Paul says that the pastor must not be a recent convert
or he might become conceited.

So when you lead others, when you teach others, whenever you're standing up in
front of others, if you're brand new in the faith, and sometimes even if you're
older in the faith, it's easy to become conceited about that, to think about
yourself, to notice yourself. But once you've done it for a while, you have a
humility about you because you recognize the only way lives are going to be
changed is through God's work. The only way hearts are going to be changed is
through God's work.

So this humility starts to come into your life. This gentleness starts to come
into your life. That's what to look for, the scripture says.

You also want to look for something. I talked about arguments a moment ago. You
want to look for somebody who is not quarrelsome.

The scripture is very clear that a pastor, a teacher of the truth, is not to
argue with other people, is not to be quarrelsome. Now we're all tempted to be
drawn into arguments. I certainly am sometimes.

But whenever I am, God seems to remind me somehow of those verses that say,
"Don't argue. Don't argue about God's truth. Trust these people into God's hand.

Be patient with people instead of arguing. " You do not argue people into the
truth. Arguments actually cause us to separate rather than come closer together.

Cause us to separate into our two separate camps. I believe this, you believe
this. And if you're quarrelsome, you are not teaching.

You are actually pushing people away from the truth while you're feeling better
about yourself. To win the argument is to lose the person. And so they're not
quarrelsome.

You're looking for somebody who is a teacher of the truth, a false teacher,
Peter has said, they are creatures of instinct. They just do what comes
naturally. But the teacher of the truth is spirit-led.

They do what comes spiritually. They allow the Holy Spirit to guide and lead
their lives, to guide and lead their words. They're not perfect.

None of us are perfect. But they are, well as the New Testament says, they are
temperate. They are self-controlled.

It literally says in one of the descriptions of the pastor, they have a good
reputation with outsiders. Now contrast that with the, they carouse in broad
daylight. The exact opposite of somebody that's teaching the truth.

There's this feeling out there sometimes that if somebody is able to do whatever
they want as one of God's servants, that they have great freedom. So I can drink
whatever I want. I can get drunk.

I can be with whatever women I want, you know, as long as I don't cross this
certain line. But the line gets farther and farther and farther out. I can say
whatever I want.

I can speak however I want, use whatever kind of language I want. It shows my
freedom in Christ. That's not what Peter says here.

Those who carouse in broad daylight, who like to flaunt this evil in their
lives, it's a sign of a false teacher. You're looking for somebody who's
temperate, who's self-controlled, because they recognize that they're serving
Jesus Christ. When you look for somebody who's teaching the truth, instead of as
the false teachers, somebody who seduces the unstable, you're looking for
somebody who cares for the hurting.

When they see the hurting people in this world, when they see the poor of the
world, when they see the needy of the world, when they see the persecuted of the
world, when they see the new believer in any church, there's a deep sense of
care for the hurting. And finally, when you look for a teacher of the truth,
you've got to make sure that they're not a lover of money. That's what Paul
tells us.

Now here, the false teachers, they're experts in greed. The opposite of that is
someone who teaches the truth. They don't love money.

If you fall in love with money, you cannot teach the truth, because you're going
to teach to get more money instead of teaching to help people to understand
God's truth and how to live God's truth. I don't want to be an expert in greed.
You don't want to be an expert in greed.

I want to be an expert in faith, hope, and love, like we talked about a few days
ago. I want to be an expert in what God wants to do in my life. So that's what
to look for.

What do I look for when I'm looking for somebody who's teaching the truth?
Somebody who is serving, somebody who is humble, somebody who is not an arguer,
somebody who is spirit-led, somebody who cares for the hurting, somebody who is
not a lover of money but is a lover of people. Let's pray together.

Our Father, thank you for so many teachers of the truth in your church. Thank
you for this gift and so many men and women that faithfully, humbly serve. And
Lord, I pray that you'd help us to hear them.

Instead of being drawn off into some false teaching that makes us feel like we
can have what we want, help us to hear the truth, the truth of what you want in
our lives through these teachers of the truth. Not perfect men or women, but
gifted, gifted by you to help me, to help us to understand your truth. To see
who those people are, and not to follow them, but to allow them through their
gifts to help us to follow you.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Join us tomorrow.

Peter's going to teach us about false teaching by focusing on an Old Testament
false teacher by the name of Balaam.