The Danger of Empty Promises: Discerning False Teachers

• Spiritual Danger Post-Salvation 00:40:18 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor argues that winning the spiritual war (salvation) does not end the danger; believers face daily skirmishes and enemies like Satan.
• The Armor of God 00:43:40 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains the necessity of daily spiritual preparation using Ephesians 6 imagery to combat daily dangers.
• Nature of False Teachers 00:46:10 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor introduces the main point that false teachers are dangerous specifically because their promises are empty and they lack stability.
• Metaphor of Waterless Springs 00:46:23 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains Peter's metaphor of false teachers as waterless springs that look promising but provide no nourishment.
• Metaphor of Mists Driven by Storms 00:48:33 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains the second metaphor, illustrating the instability and lack of doctrinal anchor in false teachers.
• Contemporary Heresies in Evangelicalism 00:50:44 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor cites survey data to show how modern evangelicals have adopted false beliefs regarding universalism, the Holy Spirit, and the nature of Christ.
• False Doctrine and Heresy 00:52:10 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor identifies four common heresies in evangelicalism: the Holy Spirit as a force, Jesus as a created being, humans as inherently good, and universalism, arguing these beliefs negate the need for the Gospel.
• Cultural Compromise 00:55:23 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor critiques both Protestantism and Roman Catholicism for shifting their views to align with culture, using the example of the Pope's 'word salad' regarding same-sex blessings.
• Danger of False Teachers 01:00:27 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor outlines four specific dangers of false teachers: they lead into spiritual fog, use grandiose speech, entice new believers with sensual passions, and promise freedom while enslaving followers to corruption.
• Discernment and Scripture 01:03:37 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor urges believers to evaluate teachings against Scripture, citing Irenaeus and the danger of 'eloquent, swelling rhetoric' that lacks biblical grounding.
• Slavery to Sin vs. Freedom in Christ 01:08:28 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor contrasts the false promise of freedom offered by false teachers with the reality of being enslaved to corruption, contrasting this with the biblical call to become a slave to Christ.
• The Deceptive Nature of False Prophets 01:14:12 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes false prophets as offering eloquent but hollow arguments that bind and hurt people, contrasting them with Jesus who fulfills his promises.
• Cultural Compromise and Silence 01:16:37 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor addresses the temptation for believers in a defiant culture to remain silent or compromise rather than confess and surrender to the truth.

• Sermon Illustration 00:38:23 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses an analogy of landmines remaining dangerous after World War II to illustrate that spiritual danger persists after the 'war' of salvation is won.
• Sermon Illustration 00:40:59 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts the story of the Philippian jailer asking Paul what he must do to be saved, illustrating the transition from being lost to being saved.
• Sermon Illustration 00:47:31 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes a traveler in a desert seeing a shimmering haze, rushing to it in hope, only to find it is a dry spring of sand, illustrating false teachers who promise nourishment but provide none.
• Sermon Illustration 00:48:40 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes early morning mists being driven away by storms to illustrate the instability and lack of doctrinal anchor in false teachers.
• Sermon Illustration 00:50:44 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor cites a survey showing that 56% of evangelicals believe God accepts all religions, 60% believe the Holy Spirit is a force, 73% believe Jesus is a created being, and 57% believe most people are good by nature.
• Sermon Illustration 00:57:52 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the analogy of driving through fog in a valley to explain how false teachers move with the wind of culture, advising believers to slow down and stay alert rather than speeding up.
• Sermon Illustration 00:58:53 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his five-year-old child asking if yellow means speed up, illustrating the danger of rushing through spiritual fog without caution.
• Sermon Illustration 01:03:49 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references Irenaeus, a pastor from the late 3rd century, who wrote 'Against Heresies' to warn that error is always decked out in attractive dress to appear more true than the truth.
• Sermon Illustration 01:06:48 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor quotes Benjamin Disraeli to illustrate how false teachers flatter their followers by talking about themselves, appealing to pride and self-centeredness.
• Sermon Illustration 01:09:39 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses a personal illustration of his inability to watch football due to excessive commercials and hype, noting that he now watches highlights on YouTube to avoid the distraction.
• Sermon Illustration 01:09:39 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about stopping watching football due to the prevalence of betting commercials, noting the irony of helplines for gambling addiction appearing in the fine print of ads that promise easy money.
• Sermon Illustration 01:12:21 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts the tragedy of a middle-aged couple in his church where the husband gambled away their bank account and mortgage, leading to his wife leaving him and their departure from the church.

• Pastoral Charge 00:57:52 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor commands the congregation to remain spiritually vigilant against false teachings.
• Pastoral Charge 01:02:18 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor instructs the congregation to stop listening to speakers who claim exclusive, grandiose revelations from God.
• Pastoral Charge 01:17:20 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor calls the congregation to rededicate their lives to the truth of God's word as a guide for true freedom.

[00:11:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:11:34] Thank you, orchestra. That was beautiful. It's good to see you here this morning. It's a blessing to gather as the family of God this morning. We're thankful you're here. Guests, if this is your first time with us, we're so glad you're here. Our pastor would enjoy meeting you, and if you would, after the service this morning, slip through these double doors that are over here. They're just below the large drum over here, and he will be waiting there to introduce himself, and he would love to meet you as well. We're glad you're here, especially.
[00:12:04] We are looking forward to a busy month.
[00:12:07] The warm days of October are here finally, and we have a lot going on in our church, as you know.
[00:12:13] The Shepherds 360 Conference begins just a week from today, and of course that's a busy time for our church.
[00:12:18] And then at the end of the month, we have our annual Fall Fest.
[00:12:21] This will be our fourth Fall Fest meeting, our event.
[00:12:25] It's a community event where we have invited the community to come and celebrate the fall season coming upon us, a lot of fun activities.
[00:12:34] This year, the event, Fall Fest, will be October 30th.
[00:12:37] It's on the Friday before the weekend, the final weekend of the month.
[00:12:41] And we have, I have three tasks that I need you to help us with.
[00:12:45] You can probably guess the first one.
[00:12:47] It's candy.
[00:12:48] We need a lot of candy for this event.
[00:12:50] The children will enjoy the candy along with other activities throughout the evening.
[00:12:54] But if you could help us with bringing bags of candy, there are wheelbarrows in the back of the, in the narthex below the flags, and we will gather that candy for this event.
[00:13:04] Second of all, we need volunteers.
[00:13:06] It takes a lot of people to put on the things that we will be doing for the children and for their families.
[00:13:12] And so we would love for you to volunteer to help us.
[00:13:15] There's a sign up online where you can go and find out just the exact spot that fits your skills and your age and you'll be able to help us greatly with that.
[00:13:24] And then the third thing is we have invite cards that we have printed out and they look a lot like what you see on the projectors there.
[00:13:30] but these cards are available for you to use.
[00:13:33] Invite your friends, your neighbors, co-workers to come along and enjoy the evening.
[00:13:38] It's a fun evening for the children but you know along with the children many families come, the parents that is and it's really a great family event and we're so thankful for it.
[00:13:47] It's a good chance for them to be on our campus to get to know who we are and most importantly to hear the gospel.
[00:13:53] You see up there the Epic Live that's an event that will be here in this gym and it's an exciting activity for the students, for the children.
[00:14:02] They will have a lot of fun and a lot of activity going on, but most importantly, the gospel will be presented.
[00:14:08] So pray for this evening, if you would, and then help us out with those tasks, if you could, please, also.
[00:14:13] Let's pray together, please.
[00:14:17] Father, we bow our hearts before you this morning, thankful that we can gather as a church family.
[00:14:23] We're grateful for the opportunities to serve that we have before us.
[00:14:27] We pray for the 360 Conference.
[00:14:29] Many men and women will come from around the country and even around the world to have their hearts refreshed and to have their minds challenged, their ministries strengthened.
[00:14:40] We pray that you would be with that conference, that it will be all for your glory and that you will use it to accomplish those purposes.
[00:14:47] We're thankful for the Fall Fest also, the event that we will have here at our church in just a few short weeks.
[00:14:52] We trust that many people will come who don't know our Savior.
[00:14:55] They'll come for fun activities and the candy and so on.
[00:14:59] But, Lord, we pray that they will be here to hear the gospel too, that you would do a work in their hearts in drawing them to yourself.
[00:15:07] Father, we pray for this service now.
[00:15:09] We will praise you with our songs.
[00:15:10] We will give.
[00:15:12] We will hear your word taught.
[00:15:13] I pray that all of it will be done for your glory and honor.
[00:15:16] We pray this in Christ's name.
[00:15:18] Amen.

[00:15:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:15:22] Good morning, Shepherds Church.
[00:15:24] Welcome this morning.
[00:15:25] Let's stand and lift our voices together.
[00:15:28] Our theme this morning is grace, so we sing, this is amazing grace.

[00:15:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:15:54] Of sin and darkness, whose love is mighty, and so much stronger, the King of glory, the King above all kings, the Holy Spirit.

[00:22:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:22:45] You may be seated.
[00:28:17] Grace.

[00:28:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:28:18] More Sunday of just being led in wonderful worship.

[00:37:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:37:26] you might uh you wouldn't be aware of it but so much of it is produced here you can't get a lot of this out of a book in fact the very opening prelude was composed uh written by a member of
[00:37:42] our orchestra who i think just lost his instrument i'm not sure i hope everything's okay back there andrew bowen wrote that and then every hymn all these choruses the way they segue the way they
[00:37:56] change key. All of that orchestration is written by John Milton, our orchestral director. I think we ought to thank them for all that hard work. We are blessed. We are blessed with these individuals. After World War II, I have read that even though the fighting had stopped,
[00:38:23] the danger of removing landmines and unexploded bombs remained a terrible threat to citizens. If you can imagine it, millions of mines remained buried just a few inches below the surface. Many of the locations unknown. Of course, the fronts had shifted during battles,
[00:38:50] vines and bushes and trees and all of that, covering them, now making them very difficult to find. During the war, nations would use prisoners of war to find these buried mines.
[00:39:06] Of course, if a mine moved, was triggered by pressure, it would explode, maiming, even killing them. Many of these prisoners of war died that way. But they still are out there. In fact, just this past year, three children were killed in Syria from a landmine,
[00:39:21] unsuspecting of the dangers they were playing. Teams from the United States and Australia have combined forces to sweep places like Papua New Guinea. They're focused on right now.
[00:39:38] By the way, they're focused on that not 80 years ago, but now, this year. They have already discovered this year 2,000 mines and unexploded ordnance. They estimate that about 25,000 people have died since World War II ended up until this current year. So it remains a danger and easy to
[00:40:06] walk into and be harmed if not killed because of it. I say all of that, it came to mind because it illustrates what we're going to discover today. And that is the truth, the principle that
[00:40:18] danger, spiritual danger doesn't automatically end when the fighting stops. Or I can put it this way, winning the war doesn't mean the danger is over. When you got saved, by the way, I use that
[00:40:38] expression, purposefully, because it's falling out of favor to talk about getting saved. And that's a biblical verb and tense to the verb. The Philippian jailer came to the apostle Paul. He'd heard enough from Paul and Silas. They were singing in that prison and no doubt preaching
[00:40:59] to the other inmates. He heard it all. And then the earthquake occurred. Their shackles fell off.
[00:41:04] they didn't run away. And that was sort of the last thing in the Philippian jailer's mind to know that these men represented the truth. And the Philippian jailer came and he asked the apostle Paul, what must I do to be what? Saved. I'm lost. I want to be saved. Heard enough of the gospel,
[00:41:28] evidently. And Paul answered, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. We can use that past tense verb. You were lost. And then by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, you were
[00:41:51] and you remain saved. But when you came to life spiritually, when you got saved, that wasn't the end of your battle was it that was the beginning that's when it started in fact when you got saved
[00:42:07] you at that very moment made a brand new enemy and that enemy is going to dog your heels all the way to heaven the kingdom of darkness satan and his minions his fallen angels which
[00:42:26] is why Peter tells us to be sober-minded, to be alert, to be watchful. For your adversary, the devil, is roaming about, prowling around, seeking someone to devour, to discredit, to distract, to discourage. Your soul is safe in Christ. In fact, now that you're saved, there is
[00:42:48] now at this moment no longer any condemnation. Romans chapter 8 verse 1. Your status has changed from sinner to saint. In fact, the challenge is to live up to our new status. You are now in his
[00:43:04] hand, Jesus said, the hand of your father. And from his hand, you cannot be plucked. You can't be taken. John chapter 10, verse 29. So in that sense, your redeemed soul is eternally secure in
[00:43:20] Christ, but your life in the world is in daily danger. The war is in a sense for your soul is over, but there are daily skirmishes, the danger of defeats and sin, of discouragement in your
[00:43:40] spirit of disillusionment in your hope, of distraction in your purpose, even the danger of deviance from the word and the pleasure of God. Little wonder the apostle Paul effectively tells us to get out of bed every morning and get dressed in the armor of God. Put on the helmet
[00:44:04] of salvation so that you will think this day biblically. Put on the breastplate of righteousness so that you will live biblically.
[00:44:11] Put on the shoes of the gospel of peace so that you will walk biblically.
[00:44:14] Take up the sword of the spirit and the shield of faith so that you will advance, you will battle biblically.
[00:44:21] Put on the belt of truth so that it all fits together so that everything about your life is governed biblically because the battle is daily.
[00:44:33] It isn't new.
[00:44:35] One early church leader wrote centuries ago that the devil doesn't stop, he will not stop laying down, he wrote, traps everywhere to corrupt the faith and life of the believer. That church leader lived a long time before the invention of landmines,
[00:44:54] but that's what he's effectively warning us of. Satan is laying down landmines in your path who want to influence you, hurt you, distract you, discourage you from that vitality and that joy and that surrender and that worship and that relationship, that fellowship with the Lord you
[00:45:16] experience daily as you surrender to him. Now, with all of that sort of as a backdrop, the apostle Peter is going to ramp up his warning. As we've been learning here, he's going to change
[00:45:28] his emphasis now at this particular verse where we've arrived. So far, he's emphasized the character of the false teacher. And now what he's going to do is emphasize the danger of their influence to the unsuspecting individual, and primarily, as Peter is warning us, to the
[00:45:50] believers. So take your Bibles and turn to 2 Peter chapter 2. And I want to structure our thoughts as we go through these verses by giving you four reasons why false teachers are so dangerous.
[00:46:06] Four reasons why false teachers are so dangerous.
[00:46:10] And first of all, here it is, because their promises are empty.
[00:46:16] Now let's pick our study back up where we left off.
[00:46:18] We're now at verse 17 of 2 Peter chapter 2.
[00:46:23] Peter writes, these, that's a reference to the false teachers, these are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm.
[00:46:36] In other words, they look promising.
[00:46:39] I mean, water is going to be there.
[00:46:44] Nourishment.
[00:46:45] You're thirsty.
[00:46:47] They look like they've got it.
[00:46:49] Problem is, they're not going to produce what they promised.
[00:46:51] In these days, especially in Peter's day, clean drinking water was priceless.
[00:46:56] A spring of water was priceless.
[00:46:58] You own the right to a spring.
[00:47:01] That could cause a tribal war.
[00:47:06] A well of water, go all the way back to the disagreements in the days of Abraham, that could start a battle.
[00:47:15] We just turn on the faucet.
[00:47:18] For them, it was a matter of life and death to have a spring of water in a desert land.
[00:47:23] Peter's metaphor leads us to imagine what it would have been like for a traveler to be in desperate need of water.
[00:47:31] So he looks over in the distance and he sees a shimmering haze.
[00:47:36] and he knows that's got to be water. And so he hurries. He's panting. He's thirsty. He's hopeful.
[00:47:47] He's imagining that refreshing pool of water. He's probably thinking to himself, I'm going in first. And he arrives. It is a spring, but it's dry. He falls to his knees there, and he sees that it's only sand for his thirst.
[00:48:08] And Peter's analogy of spring without water is some one, some ideology that raises the expectation of hope, of nourishment, of refreshment.
[00:48:24] They've got what I want and they're promising but they cannot produce what they promise.
[00:48:33] Peter adds here another metaphor, verse 17, He calls false teachers mists driven by a storm.
[00:48:40] Mists are those early morning fogs that settle in the lowlands.
[00:48:48] A storm arises and the wind of that storm just sends that mist away.
[00:48:56] There is no anchor to fog.
[00:49:00] There's no anchor to mist.
[00:49:02] There's no staying power.
[00:49:04] And that's his illustration.
[00:49:05] He's referring to the instability of false teachers.
[00:49:10] They're always moving around.
[00:49:12] They're taking the pulse of their culture.
[00:49:15] So they're going to believe this, but all the winds of culture, I've got to move.
[00:49:19] I'm going to believe this over here now.
[00:49:22] I've got to shift.
[00:49:23] Paul says in Ephesians 4, verse 14, they're driven by every wind of doctrine.
[00:49:31] Whatever anybody believes out there, I'm going to make sure I'm in the majority opinion.
[00:49:35] I don't want to cause too much trouble. So I'm going to shift. There's no rock solid alliance of their view, whatever they're teaching to God's revealed word. So what are we watching today?
[00:49:50] Let's make it very practical. We're watching the mainline Protestant church leader, hem and haw and fidget when asked basic questions about the gospel, basic questions about sin, basic questions about the exclusive claim of Christ who claimed he is the only way to heaven.
[00:50:12] Watch them dance all around that. That has effectively invaded the Protestant mainline church today, even evangelical churches today, refuse to answer the questions like mist.
[00:50:30] They're moved about by the wind of their defiant culture. I've kept in my file now for about 24 months a survey, and I pulled it out again and saw it the other day as I was preparing this message.
[00:50:44] I thought it'd be a good illustration. These are some of the most common beliefs now among Protestant evangelicals. Now, an evangelical, unfortunately, that phrase doesn't really mean anything anymore, but it used to refer to those who followed Christ. Then evangelicals who claim
[00:51:02] at least they are, are the kind of people that will claim to be Christians. In fact, they're going to come to church every so often. So they're evangelical Christians. Well, 56% of them said that they believed this statement, God accepts the worship of all religions.
[00:51:28] Now that's universalism, in case you didn't know that. That is any sincere religious person will be accepted by God. So they no longer believe that someone can be sincerely wrong.
[00:51:41] now the message is if they are sincere they cannot be wrong 60 of the evangelical survey respondents believe the statement the holy spirit is a force and not a personal being in other words he's just some kind of force out there you tap into he's not the third person of
[00:52:10] a triune God. He's not a real person. He is just this mystical experience or something that comes over you. And so he's sort of like this gaseous element and you get filled up with him and then
[00:52:24] he leaks out. You come back to church and you get filled up again. We're like a gas station dispensing the Holy Spirit. Paul says, be filled with the Spirit. The word means dominated. In fact,
[00:52:36] take it back to the first part. He says, don't be under the control or dominated by wine, but be under the controlling influence, be filled, be dominated by the Holy Spirit.
[00:52:52] Well, the Holy Spirit isn't somebody to whom you surrender. He's just a force out there you got to learn to tap into. Here's another one. 73% agreed with this statement, quote, Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God. Now, that's a form of Arianism
[00:53:15] where it became popular back in the fourth century. It's a popular cult belief that has been repackaged over the centuries. It's repackaged now in different shapes and forms. It's repackaged in Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormonism and Islam. Anybody who believes in the existence of Jesus
[00:53:34] but doesn't believe that he is the preexistent God, the Son. He became when he was born of Mary.
[00:53:44] One more, 57% agreed with the statement, everybody sins a little, but most people are by nature good. In other words, you're not a fallen, unrighteous sinner. You don't have original sin. You don't have a sin nature. You've got a good nature and you just, you know, make some
[00:54:08] wrong choices every so often, which of course makes you wonder why Jesus had to come and die for a world filled with so many good people. Well, the article calls these the four most common
[00:54:19] heresies in the evangelical church. And I would agree they are heresies. The belief that humans are not fallen sinners. The Holy Spirit is not a person. Jesus isn't preexistent as God the Son.
[00:54:38] He was created by God. And universalism, that God will accept the worship of any sincere believer as long as they believe what they believe. These are four false teachings that are now entrenched in the average Protestant church, which means we really have no gospel to offer. And there's no
[00:55:01] need for one, is there? Because we aren't depraved sinners after all in need of being saved. The Holy Spirit doesn't demand of us who claim Christ surrender and obedience. And Jesus is simply one more way to go to heaven. What this really means, beloved, is that the Protestant church
[00:55:23] today has caved to culture like mist that's been driven along by the winds, the storm of a defiant world. That's Protestantism in your generation and mine. Now, on the other side of the Reformation line is no better, Roman Catholicism. I'm trying to offend everybody
[00:55:48] that I possibly can, so I'm covering every base I think. Well, they shift their views continually and have on and by means of the culture around them. In fact, they vary wildly from country to
[00:56:03] country to this day. They take the pulse of culture and then try to dance the line. I watched the current Pope recently try to answer the question on why the Roman Catholic Church is now
[00:56:18] allowing priests to bless same-sex couples. And the answer that I listened as he tried to give it was really no answer at all. It was what we now call word salad. Words, but no cohesion there.
[00:56:33] In fact, he reiterated the official church answer, and I'll quote it for you.
[00:56:38] priests can now give non-ritualized spontaneous blessings to same-sex couples provided that the blessing is not used to legitimize their relationship. I mean, that's fog. That's no answer. How do you bless a homosexual couple without legitimizing their relationship?
[00:57:12] How does a priest bestow on them the blessing of God and then say, well, you're actually wrong?
[00:57:24] These are religious movements and they surround you, beloved, and they're like fog. They're like mists. The last thing we would ever want to do is offend a defiant culture. No, we need to warn them of the truth of God. So stay alert. How do you drive in the fog? How do you drive through
[00:57:52] mist? A street that I have traveled now, my wife and I have lived in this house for about 27, going on 28 years, and I go down the shortest route I can, which is a steep road that goes
[00:58:07] in the little valley and I can make it here in 12 minutes, except on Sunday morning when there are church people in front of me who are poking along and I can't honk because I know they're
[00:58:21] probably going to pull into the parking lot. Well, I traveled on that and it's next to a pond and it often sends mist across that deepest valley part, fog. So what do I do? Do I speed up?
[00:58:40] No. I only speed up at yellow lights, just like you do. Correct? In fact, one day this came to my mind. One day I was driving years ago. One of my children, about five years old, sitting next
[00:58:53] to me, hit a yellow light. I floored it, made it through just in time. And in perfect innocence, my little five-year-old looked over at me and said, Daddy, does yellow mean speed up?
[00:59:06] I said, well, in the Greek New Testament, the word yellow, okay. I said, look out the window that way, would you? And never mind me. That was convicting. Now, as I'm heading down into that
[00:59:18] valley, and I can see from the top, it's fog. I'm going to slow down. I'm going to stay especially alert because a deer, I'm going to be careful. That's what he's telling us to do here as he
[00:59:35] describes false teachers as being like mist and fog that's moved about by the wind of culture.
[00:59:48] Now, if there's any question as to whether God has an opinion on this, if there's any thought in your mind that maybe I'm just being harsh toward all these religious systems out there. If you're wondering, maybe God will just shrug his shoulders and say, you know what,
[01:00:03] you're not all that bad. Come on in and I'm going to take you any way you want to come.
[01:00:07] No. Peter writes next, look at verse 17. For them, that is these who teach false doctrine, for them, the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. I mean, that's chilling language.
[01:00:27] God, unless they repent, is effectively saving them a place in hell.
[01:00:38] Literally, you can render this the blackness of darkness.
[01:00:43] The gloom is how it's translated in ESV.
[01:00:45] The blackness of darkness.
[01:00:47] That's an expression that's talking about the horror of being in that kind of darkness.
[01:00:54] No light at all.
[01:00:56] Being lost.
[01:00:57] Imagine the terror of being lost and you're surrounded by thick black darkness.
[01:01:09] False teachers are dangerous because they're going to lead you into that fog.
[01:01:15] And one day God will expose it all and judge them.
[01:01:18] Secondly, false teachers are dangerous because their arguments are eloquent.
[01:01:22] Notice what he writes in verse 18.
[01:01:24] Just the first phrase for speaking, loud boasts of folly.
[01:01:27] Stop there.
[01:01:29] They speak loud boasts of folly.
[01:01:32] The word for loud doesn't mean they're yelling.
[01:01:37] It has the idea of swelling, exaggerating.
[01:01:43] They're dramatic.
[01:01:45] In fact, that word is used only here in this letter and in Jude's little letter where Jude is describing the false teachers.
[01:01:54] They use grandiose speech.
[01:01:57] I know what God wants for you.
[01:02:02] God has given me a word.
[01:02:04] it. He's given me a revelation. By the way, when you hear anybody talk like that, please turn them off. They're leading you into the fog of their own opinion. It's grandiose. It's impressive.
[01:02:18] It might move the masses. It might sound exciting. They've got something to listen to them. Man, are they convincing or what? I was watching about five minutes of a guy, a podcast, and the other
[01:02:33] day and evangelical, and he's talking about all the missing books that have been, you know, removed from the Bible. And he's wanting those listening to him to go buy them. They've been kept by Egypt. They're Coptic. They're spurious. He mentioned Tobit and Maccabees. He mentioned
[01:02:57] the books of Enoch, which I read just so I can answer the question. It basically redefines justification by faith alone. It's heresy. But these teachers, you think, wow, they've got what I've been missing. And it's impressive. They're going to quote from sources
[01:03:20] and sources I don't know anything about. They've got to get the gab, but their gab is without any guidance. They are smooth, but they are shallow. Evaluate them according to the anchor of Scripture.
[01:03:37] This isn't new.
[01:03:39] In fact, less than 100 years after Peter wrote this letter, a pastor named Arrhenius served the church in what is now modern-day France.
[01:03:49] And he was discipled by Polycarp, and Polycarp was discipled by John the Apostle.
[01:03:56] He was deeply concerned about heresies that were creeping into the church.
[01:04:01] And again, this is the late 3rd century.
[01:04:03] and he wrote a work called Against Heresies, just in case you didn't know how he felt about them.
[01:04:11] Against Heresies.
[01:04:12] And I'll put it on the board.
[01:04:13] This is what he said.
[01:04:14] Error is never set forth in naked deformity, lest being exposed, well, it would be detected.
[01:04:25] But error is craftily decked out in attractive dress to make it appear to be more true than the truth itself.
[01:04:39] Let me tell you the word I've gotten from God, it's actually more interesting than this.
[01:04:48] Eloquent, swelling rhetoric that leaves an impression they are not boring, they are insightful.
[01:04:58] Quoting some hidden source, claiming to have heard directly a word from God.
[01:05:04] They use the vocabulary of Christianity, and then they erase any kind of accountability to sin and surrender to the person of Christ. Their smooth talk is ultimately self-centered.
[01:05:22] That leads me to the next danger. Third, false teachers are dangerous because their invitations are enticing. Notice what he writes in verse 18. They entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error,
[01:05:41] would you notice who their target audience is?
[01:05:44] Those who've just barely escaped the error of their pagan culture.
[01:05:53] He's talking about new believers.
[01:05:55] He's talking about young, untaught, brand-new Christians who escaped, they got out, and guess what?
[01:06:03] Right there by the escape door are the false teachers are going to say, now let me lead you into the truth you need to know. Frankly, your culture isn't all that bad. Don't get too serious about holy living. Now look, you don't want to become
[01:06:19] a legalist. Let me warn you of that. Christianity doesn't have to ruin your party. You can have a little of both worlds. They appeal to the sinful, sensual nature. Of course, in Paul's day, all the
[01:06:32] way up to our day, liberty is turned into licentiousness where you can keep your sin and join the church. False teachers appeal to pride. Ultimately, it's all about you.
[01:06:48] They flatter their followers. Benjamin Disraeli, the prime minister of Great Britain in the late 1800s, made the humorous and insightful comment when he said, talk to a man about himself and he will listen to you for hours. It's true, isn't it? So I want to
[01:07:12] talk to you about you because you matter. You're the only one that matters. I've got the secret so that you can really have the kind of life you really want to have. See, Peter's description here
[01:07:25] is including anything about the passions of the flesh, the fallen nature, and their version of Christianity is that you can have God and you can still live in the sin you choose. And that's because Christianity, again, is all about you. It's about learning the secret, not of God getting
[01:07:43] out of you what he wants, but you getting out of God what you want. I like that religion because that's all about me. This is hailed as true freedom. And that's why Peter adds this one
[01:08:04] final danger. I'll pull out fourth. False teachers are dangerous because their influence perpetuates enslavement. Notice how he puts it in verse 19. They promise them, that is their followers, freedom. But they themselves are slaves of corruption. Look at their lives. They're enslaved
[01:08:28] to materialism themselves, their pride, their sexual escapades, whatever it might be.
[01:08:36] And then Peter quotes a proverb that basically says a person is a slave to whatever has mastered him. He puts it this way, for whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. The truth is
[01:08:49] you're enslaved to someone or something. The Bible puts it in terms of becoming a slave to Christ, who's the only master you want to have. You leave slavery to sin and become mastered by Jesus
[01:09:07] Christ. But they're promising freedom. They distort it. They, Peter says, are offering you freedom when they happen to be slaves to sin. And if you buy into what they're selling, you're going to be enslaved yourself. You're going to fall into that minefield.
[01:09:33] You're going to trigger the trap, and it can harm you. Let me give you an illustration.
[01:09:39] I can personally barely watch a football game any longer and that's a tragedy some of you don't care I understand you but it's just one commercial after another first of all the hype I never
[01:09:58] watched the hype I just want to see the game I had a son-in-law tell me recently you know papa all you got to do is go to YouTube later and you can watch 15 minutes of just the highlights and
[01:10:08] that's what I've started doing. You know, I used to go home and maybe on a Sunday afternoon, I'd, you know, kind of sleep and watch a little football at the same time. And not now,
[01:10:19] because one of the things that really bothered me was that so many of the commercials have to do with betting. It's just one celebrity after another telling you, you're going to make money and we're going to give you free bets. And here's a hundred bucks and one betting platform after
[01:10:35] another, pulling people into that which can very well enslave them. And they look so interesting.
[01:10:45] I mean, it looks so good. I'm not tempted to bet in that particular venue, but I'm tempted to throw something at the television. So I've really kind of stopped watching it. I know it's hard for you
[01:10:57] to imagine I watch football. You think I'm at home and I read the Bible and I fast and wear sackcloth and ashes. Well, that's true, but I actually do watch a little football. Have you ever watched
[01:11:11] those commercials, though, and looked at the fine print at the bottom of the screen? You notice what they put at the bottom of the screen? A telephone number you can call if you buy into what they're
[01:11:24] selling you. For those that have trouble with gambling, here's the phone number. If you listen to that celebrity and do what they're asking you to do, well, there's a number you can call when to get enslaved. That intrigued me. I wondered how many people call that phone number. So I did
[01:11:48] a little research, looked it up. Those helplines are now getting 1,000 phone calls a day. They're expecting half a million in this country alone. Why? Because people bought into what they were selling. People who were really trading one enslavement for another, and then a person calls
[01:12:21] the number and says, I'm trapped. I need help. I remember the tragedy of the middle-aged couple in our church many, many years ago. The husband had gotten involved in gambling, ended up emptying his bank account, had to tell his wife. His wife was devastated. He confessed, attempted to get
[01:12:48] back on the path. A few years later, he had to tell his wife to pack up the house. He'd gambled on their mortgage and lost. She packed up and left him. They left the church. Today,
[01:13:10] I have no idea where they are. That's the nature of sin. It looks like it's going to fulfill a promise. It looks interesting. And somebody that seems respectable is selling it to me.
[01:13:24] it looks fun that's with any commercial about anything it's enticing it's enslaving see the old saying is true sin will take you further than you ever wanted to go it will cost you more than you ever wanted to pay and it'll keep you longer than you ever wanted to stay
[01:14:01] So here's the danger of false prophets, whether they're on television leading you, influencing you, teaching you something that isn't true.
[01:14:12] Whether it's in the pulpit, whether it's in your science classroom where they're telling you error that defies a creator God, whether it's in the break room where somebody's going to brag tomorrow to you about their little escapade they had
[01:14:28] and how you're missing out.
[01:14:31] Their promises can sound good, but it's just sand.
[01:14:36] to thirsty people. Their arguments are eloquent but hollow. They're smooth but shallow.
[01:14:48] Their invitations are enticing but not lasting, not satisfying. And their influence binds people, hurts people, distracts people, steals from people, diverts people, rather than releasing them into true freedom. For Jesus Christ, who is our master, is exactly the one capable of
[01:15:20] fulfilling his promises. He did tell us the truth when he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And it is true that in him, his promise is, you shall know the truth,
[01:15:36] referring to himself and the truth shall set you what free stand with me we'll pray father we recognize that what we believe from your word doesn't make life easier it does make our direction clearer it removes the fog the mist what we believe is difficult to live out
[01:16:37] in a defiant culture, and we are learning these days how to be reviled, mocked, demoted.
[01:16:55] These are days when we who truly believe the gospel are tempted by these landmines to remain silent, to compromise, to even manage our own sin rather than to quickly confess and surrender.
[01:17:20] So may today, Lord, in our lives who claim you, Lord, as our master, may this be a rededication to the truth of your word, the anchor of our souls, the guidebook to truth and life
[01:17:49] and true freedom in you, our Lord.
[01:17:56] We pray it in Jesus' name.
[01:18:01] Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
[01:18:07] Amen?
[01:18:09] Go in grace.