November 18 Living with Troublemakers (False Prophets) II Peter 2 The church has faced attacks from outside as well

e as well as inside since the early days of the church as we see from Peters writings. Persecution from outside the church comes from governments, opposing religious groups and those who are impacted financially when saved people turn from their sinful practices. The result of outside attacks has resulted in purification and growth of the church. Internal attacks are actually more serious. False teachers and disruptive immature Christians have caused division, ineffectiveness, scandal and sometimes even closing of local churches. Church leaders should listen to constructive criticism but should take a strong stand against false doctrine and ungodly behavior. We should be able to respond constructively to troublemakers but reject their ideas and methods. We need to be able to recognize false doctrine.

Question: How do we recognize false doctrine? (Know the truth by studying Gods Word. God revealed in the Old Testament law that He would always provide a true prophetic voice and through Christ in the New Testament, He provided the ultimate prophetic voice.) Read II Peter 2: 1-3 Peter is saying that just like there were false prophets among the people of Israel, there were also false prophets in the early church. Satan remains the same throughout history. He uses people inside the church to speak untruths to disrupt the work of the Lord and discredit the message of Christ even to the point of denying the truth about Christ. Immature believers or unsaved people can be misled by these false teachers. Peter accused the false teachers of deliberately exploiting believers because of their greed. Love of money, not love of God, motivated these false teachers. Their teachings offered false hope in exchange for money. An example in our day is the prosperity preachers who claim that giving money to the work of the Lord will guarantee them financial and spiritual blessings. o They are twisting Gods promises. o God does expect us to give financially to His work (tithe). o He does promise blessings as a result of obedience in every area of our lives, not just giving financially. o He does not guarantee a return of financial blessing to everyone. o Returned blessings may be physical like good health or spiritual through gifts of the spirit. o God doesnt always provide an outpouring of financial blessings because He knows some people cant handle it and it would cause them to turn away from Him. In verses 4-8 Peter warns the false teachers of his time with examples of Gods wrath of the wicked in the past. Gods character never changes.

God punished the disobedient in the past and He will punish the wicked in the present and future. He uses the example of the disobedient angels who were thrown out of heaven with Satan. His point is if God punishes the angels, He will surely punish disobedience on earth. God is also just in that He saved Noah and his family from the flood because they were obedient. God also saved Lot when He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha. In verse 9 he reminds them that God knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations but to punish the unjust in the day of judgment. In verses 10-11 he is stating the judgment for those that walk after the lust of the flesh (in disobedience). Peter is making these references to the Old Testament events to remind the believers to stand firm in their belief of Christ and to remind the false teachers of what awaits them as punishment for blasphemy of Christ.

Read verses 12-13 What Peter is saying is these false teachers were not living as those who are created in the image of God but rather like animals blindly pursuing their basic appetites.

Question: What do you think would be the reaction in our congregation if Br. Bruce would speak this strongly to those in our church who are living sinful lives which is a negative testimony to non-believers? They may not be going around teaching false doctrine but the example of their lives disputes the laws of God. Believing Gods revealed truth leads to a life of holiness and obedience to His ways. Rejecting Gods truth by living a lifestyle of sin sends a false message to unbelievers that you can be a Christian and live any way you want. In verses 14-18 Peter goes on to describe what will happen to those who reject the truth. He says these false teachers often prey on weak or new believers which will carry a very heavy penalty of judgment. In verse 19 Peter refers to freedom which according to Scripture results in obeying Gods will for our lives. False teachers lead people to believe that freedom means freedom from authority and the license to do whatever they want. We know that the desires of the human heart always leads to enslavement to sin, not freedom. In verses 20-22 Peter is saying it those who accept Christ or claim to accept Christ but turn away and practice sin, it will go harder on them in judgment than if they had never claimed to be followers of Christ in the first place. This lesson reminds us that not all people who profess to be Christians in the church are really born again believers. These false teachers had a head-knowledge of Christ but did not have a personal relationship with Him. They will incur a greater judgment than those who knew the truth but chose to reject salvation.