Sermon Files
TEXT
INTRODUCTION
Second Peter is about knowing the truth, staying stedfast in it, and not being carried away by error. Chapter 1 builds that foundation: Peter talks about spiritual growth, remembering what they have been taught, the eyewitness testimony of the apostles, and the sure word of prophecy.
Then chapter 2 starts with the word But. Peter moves from the true word of God to the danger of false teachers. That is where we are today: 2 Peter 2:1–2 — False Teachers Will Come.
Peter does not say false teachers might come. He says there shall be false teachers among you. God tells us ahead of time what to expect.
So we need to know what the Bible says about them. Where do they come from? How do they work? Why do people follow them? And how do we know whether somebody who sounds religious is actually teaching the truth?
I. FALSE TEACHERS WILL COME — VERSE 1
Start with there shall be. God is preparing us. False teachers are going to exist.
Then notice where Peter puts them: among you. False teaching does not always come from somebody openly attacking Christianity. Sometimes it comes from somebody close enough to teach Christians, influence Christians, and gather Christians around himself.
Paul warned church leaders about the same danger.
Paul says wolves can enter in, and men can arise from among them speaking perverse things. So being around Christians does not prove somebody’s teaching is right. Peter says among you. Paul says of your own selves shall men arise.
And that phrase among you does not prove these false teachers were saved. It proves they were close enough to the believers to influence them.
Jesus gave the same warning.
So appearance cannot be the test. A nice suit, a big building, a smooth voice, a title, or years in ministry cannot decide whether doctrine is true. The Bible has to be the test.
II. FALSE TEACHERS BRING DESTRUCTIVE ERROR — VERSE 1
Privily means secretly or in a concealed way. They do not normally walk in and announce that they are bringing destructive doctrine. Error can come in sounding acceptable at first.
Peter calls what they bring damnable heresies. Every mistake does not make somebody a 2 Peter 2 false teacher. A saved person can misunderstand a verse. A preacher can be wrong about something. Peter is describing destructive teaching connected with denying the Lord, pernicious ways, and judgment.
Then we come to the difficult words: the Lord that bought them.
Peter says the Lord bought these false teachers. Let the verse say what it says.
Some people use this verse to teach that these men were saved and then lost salvation. But Peter says they were bought; he does not say they believed and received everlasting life. Those are different questions.
Salvation passages put everlasting life on believing in Christ. John 6:47 says the believer has everlasting life. John 10:28-30 says Christ’s sheep will never perish.
So 2 Peter 2 is not teaching that a saved man becomes unsaved. Christ bought them, but the verse never says these false teachers personally believed on Christ and received eternal life.
Later in the chapter Peter describes people who knew the way of righteousness, escaped the pollutions of the world, and then returned. He finishes with a dog returning according to its nature and a washed sow returning to the mire. There was real knowledge and outward change, but Peter never says everlasting life was given and then taken away.
Then Peter says they bring upon themselves swift destruction. God judges false teaching.
Hananiah learned that.
Hananiah made people trust a lie. God saw it, and God judged it. Peter says false teachers bring destruction upon themselves.
III. MANY WILL FOLLOW THEM — VERSE 2
Pernicious means destructive or ruinous. Peter says people will follow their pernicious ways. False teaching affects more than what somebody says; people begin following the course those teachers are leading them into.
And Peter says many shall follow.
That settles something immediately: popularity does not prove truth. A preacher can have thousands of followers and be wrong. A preacher can have fifty followers and be wrong. Numbers settle nothing.
Ahab had plenty of prophets agreeing with him. Micaiah stood against the crowd.
The messenger told Micaiah that everybody else was saying the same thing. Micaiah’s answer was simple: what the LORD says, that is what I will speak.
That has to be our standard.
The Bereans heard preaching, but they checked the preaching.
That is how you protect yourself from false teaching. Search the Scriptures. Do not believe something because Pastor Tapp said it. Do not believe it because your favorite preacher said it. Search the Scriptures whether those things are so.
Then Peter says the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. False teachers do damage beyond the people who follow them. Their conduct gives people a reason to speak against Christianity itself.
Paul describes the same thing.
Bad representatives can make people speak badly about the truth. But Peter still calls it the way of truth. Their wickedness can damage its reputation; it cannot make God’s truth false.
CONCLUSION
False teachers will come. Some will come from close to God’s people. Some will sound convincing. Some will gather many followers. Peter already told us that.
So know your Bible and test what you hear. Do not let popularity, appearance, position, or personality decide truth for you.
And be careful with the term false teacher. Peter is describing people bringing damnable heresies, denying the Lord, leading people into pernicious ways, and bringing destruction upon themselves. Every Christian who is mistaken about something does not automatically belong in that category.
The Bereans give us the right response: hear the teaching, then search the Scriptures.
False teachers will come. Know the truth well enough to recognize the difference.
