Beautifully sung, Cheryl. Thank you. That is
a great hymn, isn't it? Not really a hymn. What
would you call that? A song of exhortation, I
think. And just potent thoughts put together
in those lines. How many of you can remember
singing that a long time ago? We'll say, how
long? Just a long time. Me too. I like that.
Thank you. And thank you for your ministry tonight,
all of you. Let's open our Bibles together to
2 Peter chapter 2. We're going to look at this
text that deals with false teachers again tonight.
You remember that Peter's concern in this book
is that we grow in Christ and by growing in Christ
he means more than that we would know more about
the Bible. or more theology. Not that those things
are unimportant. I don't mean that at all. But
what He means by growing in Christ is that we
become more like Christ. The grow and the grace
and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ means
that He be seen in our lives more readily. He
has given us a pattern for that in chapter 1.
You remember that it begins With faith and ends
with love and there are all kinds of qualities
in between and he says give diligence to add
these things To your life Because if you do that
you'll be growing in Christ and You'll not be
unfruitful for God you'll be usable to God in
this world and there will be a reward waiting
for you by and by But as he talks about growing
in Christ, he warns us that growing in Christ
is not automatic. There are dangers that we face,
among them false teachers. He talks about these
false teachers in chapter 2. He says that they
are those who deceive the people of God. They
deny the Son of God. They defame the truth of
God. And he reminds us that they face certain
doom. Certain judgment will come to false teachers
just as certain deliverance comes to God's people.
As he describes the false teachers, he first
tells us about their character and their conduct.
And these words sort of summarize what he says
in verses 10 through 14. He says about them in
the first place, they are fleshly. They live
out the lusts and the desires of their flesh.
They're rebellious. They're arrogant, ignorant,
immoral, deceitful, and greedy. Just the kind
of people you want as your next door neighbor,
right? The words, the description that Peter
uses here is almost without parallel in the New
Testament in denouncing a class of people. I
mean, He exposes them. He strips them bare. He
says exactly what they're like in their character
and what they're like in their conduct. He's
going to continue telling us about them as we
pick it up in verse 15. He does this with pictures
and with parables. The pictures come first, and
that's what we're going to talk about tonight.
Verse 15 says, They, the false teachers, have
gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam,
the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness.
But he received a rebuke for his own transgression,
for a dumb donkey, speaking with the voice of
a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.
These are springs without water and mists driven
by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been
reserved. For speaking out arrogant words of
vanity, they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality,
those who barely escape from the ones who live
in error, promising them freedom while they themselves
are slaves of corruption. For by what a man is
overcome, by this he is enslaved. Verses 20,
21, and 22 deal with some parables. that further
describe for us the false teachers, these verses
would probably constitute the most difficult
portion of the book of 2 Peter. And so we're
going to wait till the next time to deal with
those and pray that if the Lord please He might
come before we have to deal with them. But tonight
we're going to deal with verses 15 through 19
and we're going to examine some pictures of these
false teachers. Interesting how he describes
them by way of pictures. You'll notice that he
sort of draws the line in verse 14 as he describes
their character and conduct. And he says, the
bottom line is this, accursed children. Accursed
children. Literally, it means children of destruction.
And it is a Hebrism, which means that it was
a Hebrew expression that meant God's curse. Beyond
them. Strong language. He damns them is what
he does. That's strong language from the Apostle
of Jesus Christ. Now maybe the mention of the
curse that he pronounces on them that brings
to mind this first picture. It is a picture from
history. A picture from history. Verses 15 and
16. By the way, Peter has drawn upon history
previously in the book. You remember in chapter
1, he went back to that historical setting on
the Mount of Transfiguration when our Lord was
glorified and Peter was there along with James
and John and he tells about that in a few words.
In chapter 2, he goes back further than that
to the Old Testament. He speaks about the angels
that sinned and the days of Noah and how God
delivered Noah. And he talks about Sodom and
Gomorrah, which are not fictional cities. They
were real cities that existed in the Valley of
the Plain, in which God judged. At the same time,
however, he delivered Lot, the nephew of Abram.
And so Peter is used to using history. Now he
brings up another figure. It is a man that I
have always found enigmatic and mysterious myself.
The man Balaam. Balaam. You read about him primarily
in Numbers, chapters 22, 23, and 24. Peter just
sort of summarizes what happened with Balaam.
He speaks about this man, the son of Beor, who
loved the wages of unrighteousness, as he puts
it. Balaam, this Old Testament man, was a Gentile.
He was not a Jew. He lived during that period
of time when the children of Israel were about
to enter the promised land. The Moabites were
quite upset with the presence of the Israelites.
They were intimidated by this vast multitude
of people who had come up now out of Egypt and
wandered through the wilderness and were about
to set foot into the... the land of Canaan. And
the Moabites were east and south of there, and
they felt very threatened by the Israelites.
And so Balak, who was the king, sent an emissary,
a group of people, to search out this prophet
whose name was Balaam. Balaam lived in Mesopotamia,
or Aram. It was quite a ways from Moab. But he
had a reputation. Balaam was what we might call
a prophet for hire. The thing that I find so
mysterious about him is that he knew how to get
in touch with God, the true God. Warren Wiersby
says about him, he could get messages from God,
but he led people away from God. Interesting.
Balak said to Balaam, Come down here and curse
the people of Israel. I'm afraid of them." Well,
God said to Balaam, no, no. Don't do that. So
Balaam sent the messengers back to Balaam with
the message, no can do. Won't be there. So Balaam
sent another group, a larger group back and offered
Balaam more money and more honor. to please come.
Well, God saw them coming, of course. And this
time, God gave permission to Balaam to say yes.
It was not God's directive will. God had already
declared that, don't do it. But now, perhaps,
as a test of Balaam to expose his heart, God
says, go with him. Well, Balaam was all too happy
because this meant money. He was going to get
rich, be an honorable man, because of the King
of Moab. Until the next day, he saddled his donkey
and headed off for Moab. But they came to a vineyard,
and the road was narrow. And as they were going
along, the donkey began to act very strange and
nearly brushed Balaam off. Balaam didn't like
that and so he began to beat the donkey. And
they went on a little bit more and the donkey
again acted very strangely and brushed up against
the wall. Balaam really got mad. He beat the
donkey some more. Well see what the donkey saw
and Balaam didn't see was the angel of the Lord
who stood right in the way. And he was frightened
by that. Balaam didn't see that. But as he was
beating the donkey, the donkey turned around
and spoke to him. Why are you beating me? In
essence. Don't you know I'm the donkey you've
ridden all these years? Why are you beating me?
And you wonder who the donkey is because Balaam
responded and answered him. I mean, it's one
thing to have a donkey speak to you. It's another
to talk to him, to answer him. And then the Lord
opened up his eyes. And he saw the angel of the
Lord, and the angel of the Lord then spoke to
Balaam. Well, Balaam went on. When he got there,
he went through these elaborate rituals, building
altars and offering sacrifices, but he could
not pronounce out of his mouth a curse upon the
Israelites. Try and try and try again. He could
not do it. because God kept putting into his
mouth words of blessing upon the people of Israel
and judgment upon their enemies. And of course,
Balak wasn't real excited about that, King of
Moab. And finally, Balaam, because he couldn't
pronounce a curse, shared with the King of Moab
how he could corrupt the people of God. He said,
you go and... be a good neighbor to them. And
you decide to have a good neighbor policy. And
you exchange people and invite them over to your
feasts. And you go to their feasts and get them
to commit immorality. And you will compromise
them. And you will corrupt them. And he went
back home. In chapter 31 of Numbers, you will
read that Balaam was killed. He was executed
by God because of what he did. God put him to
death because of that counsel. Well, that's the
historical background now that Peter is picking
up on. He says, Balaam, the son of Beor, loved
the wages of unrighteousness. You see, he was
a prophet for hire. He was a false teacher, a
false prophet, and willing to sell his services
for the highest bidder. He received rebuke for
his own transgression by the donkey, it says
here, speaking with the voice of the man. It
speaks of the madness of the prophet. The word
here means he was just beside himself. Sin is
that way. It leads us to insanity of a sort.
Peter now is saying these false teachers who
are afflicting you are like Balaam. who knew
the right way but deliberately forsook it for
the wages of unrighteousness. The way of Balaam
that is mentioned here is using mercenary greed,
whether it be for money or for honor, as a motive
for religious service. allowing greed and covetousness
to be the motive. That's the way of Balaam. False
teachers have a price. In Jude, verse 11, there
is a phrase called the error of Balaam, which
may be technically different. The error of Balaam
may be described as selling oneself for money.
the making of money out of false religion. And
then in Revelation 2, 14, he is mentioned again,
and there it says that it refers to the teaching
of Balaam, which may have been his counsel to
Balak to compromise the men of Israel through
intermarriage and immorality and idolatry. It
was defilement of God's people, the forsaking
of their command to separation and lifestyle
difference. the teaching of Balaam. What we're
talking about here in the greed and the immorality
and the deceit and the teaching to be like the
world, all of that is a part of false religion,
whether it be mainstream apostate Christianity
or it be cults, it's all a part of false religion.
But Peter says, if you want to know what false
religion is like in your day, and it's true of
us today as much as it was then in the first
century, go back and look at Balaam. A lot of
comparisons, he says. Kenneth Gangel says in
the Bible Knowledge Commentary, the false teachers
like Balaam had sinned so long and so intensely
that their sin had become a form of insanity.
Also today many people have so thoroughly given
themselves over to avarice and debauchery that
their lifestyles are spiritually insane. Money
and sex, even in the name of religion, continue
to bring spiritual ruin to many people. To my
mind when I read that comes a preacher in Louisiana.
But he's not alone. David Wheaton says the new
Bible commentary revised, Balaam is the prototype
of the false teacher who seeks good rewards or
popularity by persuading people that God's standards
can be lowered. Many of the mainstream churches
are of course seeking to do this in their national
conventions and conferences. to say, well, God's
word doesn't really say this is wrong or that's
wrong. That was for then, this is now. We must
interpret it in the light of our culture today.
And blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And God's standards
are lowered and eventually completely dismissed
as being totally out of date. False teaching.
False teaching. Now following the picture from
history, Peter says, let me tell you more. He
says, consider these pictures from nature, verse
17. He said, they're also like springs that are
without water. Of course, in a desert region,
an oasis is very important. These caravans would
travel for days with their water supplies aiming
towards a specific oasis so that they could replenish
their water. And when they would see that oasis
coming, they marched with great expectation of
fresh water, being able to fill their supply
again. But when they got there, if there was
no water, it was great, great danger. They might
all die. It was devastation. Peter says that's
the way false teachers are. They make promises
that they can't deliver. They do not produce
what is expected of them. They can give nothing.
because they have nothing to give. They are bankrupt.
They are void of anything spiritual. How opposite
of our Lord. By the way, the word he uses here
for springs is the same word that Jesus used
in John chapter four, where he talks about the
spring of living water that he would provide,
that he would be. And again, in John chapter
7, the living water that comes out of those that
are truly His, but not so of false teachers.
Furthermore, he says of them, they are like a
mist driven by the storm. He may be saying about
the same thing as he did in the first picture
here from nature, that you see a cloud coming,
you see this roll cloud, let's say, and you think,
oh, we're going to get some rain, and then nothing
happens. But I wonder, too, if he isn't talking
about a fog, a mist that rolls in. Have you ever
seen that in San Francisco? It is one of the
most amazing things I have ever in my life. See,
it frightened me the first time I saw it. Late
one afternoon, when the fog came rolling over
the, what do they call them, the hills there,
down which is the Pacific Ocean. The fog apparently
builds up on the ocean side of it, and when it
gets high enough or whatever, it comes rolling
over the hills. It's the most amazing thing.
And high winds, 30, 40, 50 miles an hour, bring
this fog in like rivers of mist. Well, I wonder
if he isn't saying here that these false teachers
do not enlighten, rather they obscure. They obscure
the minds of people. Like a storm, they are unstable.
They are restless. They are transient. They blow
with the currents of time. They lack direction.
That's why we're commanded in Ephesians chapter
4 to build up one another, to edify one another
so that we are not tossed and driven by the winds.
We are to be mature, to grow up. What he's saying
here is that these men, this is according to
Dr. David Payne, I quote him, these men have
no value, no goal, and no future. You say no
future? That's right. Because he says, for whom
the black darkness has been reserved, the gloom
of darkness, is what he says. And he's talking
about hell. It's the same idea as back in verse
four, where these angels who sinned are being
kept. There he says, in pits of darkness. Here
these false teachers are promised a doom in eternal
hell. Their destiny is darkness and judgment
because of their false teaching. Pictures from
nature. He says, that's not all. He says, I want
to give you another picture. And he gives us
now a picture from commerce. verses 18 to 20.
He says, they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality.
Now this is, I think, deliberately put here by
Peter. What did Peter do before he was an apostle?
Fisherman, right. Fisherman. This is the word
for baiting a hook. So Peter is drawing upon
the livelihood that he knew best. the commerce
that he understood fishing. And he says that
they entice, they bait the hook for people they're
trying to get to follow them with fleshly desires
and sensuality. They seduce, just like you seduce
a fish. You don't just throw the hook out there.
You put some bait on it to make that fish want
to bite. And so it is with false teaching. You
don't just throw out false teaching. You put
something on there that's going to attract people.
And people are attracted by fleshly lusts and
by sensuality. When I think of this, to use a
different picture, I think of a barker at a fair.
We went to the Minnesota Fair for a few hours
this year. And one of my children desired to
go down into that farthest region, the nether
region of it, where you walk through all of these
games. And you finally come to the sideshows
down there. And these tapes are playing. Didn't
used to be tapes. Used to be live. But these
tapes are playing. Come in and see this woman.
Whose head was chopped off in an automobile accident
But she is alive they've been able to keep her
alive see it So did I a Few years ago Back when
I was in high school. I don't was the same woman
or not down at our fair But I saw her several
years ago when I was a kid I went into this,
I thought, my goodness, how can this woman be
alive? She has no head. So I went in there, and
sure enough, there she was. You say, well, it
was just a dummy. No, no, people were tickling
her feet, and she was kicking at him. She was
real. And then she had this contraption over
her neck that was breathing for her and causing
her heart to beat. Most amazing thing I'd ever
seen in my life. Then the man said now if you
want to see how we do this pay us another dollar,
and you'll find out I Thought hey, I've paid
one why not another so I stayed to see how they
did it Fascinating let me tell you it was fascinating
Boy was I a sucker That wasn't the first time
and I'm sorry to say it wasn't the last time
for the sideshow, but not for some other things
I Was enticed into that by a barker who stood
out there said you cannot believe what's good
in here And that's just the way these false teachers
are. Hey, you can't believe this kind of a life.
Man, you can be yourself. You can have all the
fun and games you want to have, and a little
religion too. You can find out the deeper things.
You can come to know the Christ who is in you.
And you can live, oh, you can have fun. And they
bait the hook out there with the kinds of things
that entice the natural man. But who are the
victims of this enticement? He says, those who
barely escape from the ones who live in error.
There are some who feel that these are people
who had been enlightened as to Christ, but who
had not yet received him. And that's possible.
It's also possible he's talking about brand new
converts. And I want to understand it that way
tonight for an application reason. And that is
that often it is people who are brand new converts
who are the ones entrapped in false religion
and cults. It is amazing how often that is true
that a person will receive Jesus Christ and within
a few days there will be a knock at the door
with a couple of people selling magazines. Or
something else happens to try to ensnare that
person who has just barely escaped sin, to try
to ensnare them to come back. It's amazing how
many times that happens. The tactics that are
used, he describes in verse 18. He says they
use arrogant words of vanity. It's interesting.
He says these are words that are just swollen
beyond what is natural. weird and bizarre in
their claims. It kind of reminds you of Shirley.
What's her name? Yeah, that's the one. Arrogant
words of vanity. And then he says, by fleshly
desires. By the way, that was a major problem
in the Roman world, as it is in ours today. It
took a lot of patience and time. an effort to
inculcate Christian ethics in the new believers
in Rome. Because immorality was just a part of
their whole religion. It was a part of their
whole way of life. And so it took time. And so
Peter's very concerned that these new babes who
are just beginning to get out of this old pattern
into Christian behavior are now being enticed
to come back by false teachers in the name of
Christianity. He says they promise freedom. They
promise freedom. By freedom, it means here license
to sin. Without any restraint on their sinful
impulses, these teachers are saying there is
no obligation to you for any kind of discipline.
It's just the opposite of what Peter's been saying
in the book. If you're going to go in Christ,
you've got to be diligent. You've got to be diligent.
You've got to give yourself to it. These other
people are saying, don't worry about diligence.
Just come on. Have a good time. That was attractive.
It was effective. But the facts are that these
same people who are promising freedom, he says,
are themselves slaves of corruption. And he gives
us the principle, he says, for by what a man
is overcome, by this he is enslaved. And these
false teachers were indeed overcome by the very
sins that they were baiting the hook with. for
others. Well, my point tonight in bringing this
part of the chapter to a close is that we need
to be alert because there is so much that is
offered today in the name of Christ. You go into
a bookstore like B. Dalton or Walden Books and
you go back and you look at the religion section.
Or you look at the New Age section now, which
usually is much larger than the religion section,
and you can find just about any doctrine you
can imagine in those bookstores. And people are
buying that stuff. They're drinking it in. They
think that this is real, true religion. We need
to be alert to it, understand that this is a
false religion that leads to condemnation. And
at the same time, we need to be diligent ourselves
to grow in Jesus Christ so that we don't become
unwitting victims of this kind of enticement.
Well, next time, if the Lord doesn't come first,
we'll talk about the parables. He says, for after
they have escaped the defilements of the world
by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, they are again entangled in them and
overcome the last state. has become worse for
them than the first. That's tough. We'll talk
about it, Lord willing, next Sunday night. Let's
pray together. Lord, I thank you for these words,
strong words from Peter, warning us. I pray that
we will not be naive, that you will deliver us
from believing every spirit that comes along
using the name of Jesus. even those who say Jesus
is Lord. God give us, I pray, discerning minds
as our minds are renewed by the word of God.
And may we be diligent to grow, grow up in Jesus
Christ and grow up with one another so that we
may not be led astray and tossed to and fro by
every wind of doctrine. In Jesus' name I pray,
amen.