The Seduction and Lust of False Teachers (2 Peter 2:1-3)

Jim Osman examines the seduction and lust of false teachers through 2 Peter 2:1-3, warning believers against dangerous deceptions. False teachers operate in a symbiotic relationship with followers who desire teachings that justify their lusts, while teachers gain platforms, money, and power. Peter warns that many will follow their sensuality, thereby maligning the way of truth. These unbelievers are driven by unrestrained immorality, marked by sensuality throughout Scripture.

The Charismatic movement provides the largest environment where such teachers flourish, promoting unbridled emotionalism and doctrinal looseness. The antidote requires believers to live above reproach, making the gospel convincing through transformed lives rather than bringing reproach upon Christ's name.

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Jim Osman

Pastor-Teacher, Kootenai Community Church

What is Kootenai Church Morning Worship?

The expository preaching ministry of Kootenai Community Church by Pastors/Elders Jim Osman, Jess Whetsel, Dave Rich, and Cornel Rasor. This podcast feed contains the weekly sermons preached from the pulpit on Sunday mornings at Kootenai Church.

The Elders/Teachers of Kootenai Church exposit verse-by-verse through whole books of the Bible. These sermons can be found within their own podcast series by visiting the KCC Audio Archive.

False teachers and their followers have a symbiotic relationship. They each get something from the other that they want. The followers get a leader, somebody to take them where they want to go and teach them what they want to hear and justify their lust and their greed and their selfishness, their pride, their sin, and their rebellion. In 2 Timothy 4:3–4, Paul wrote to Timothy and said, “The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” The followers who follow false teachers, they desire the teaching. They are being deceived, that is true, but they don't care about that so long as they are being placated and being told what it is that they want to hear. They turn their ears away from the truth because they long to hear lies, and the false teachers tell them the lies. And as long as the followers are being placated and satisfied, they don't mind being deceived because the deception scratches their itch. The teaching appeals to them and their sensuality and their greed, their pride, and their rebellion.
Now false teachers, they get a following. So they get something from this symbiotic relationship as well. They get a following, a platform. They get affirmation and power. People buy their products, support their ministry, promote their teachings, like their YouTube channel. They get people to exploit. They get money out of it, prestige, reputation, possessions, and sometimes they even use their followers to gratify their own lusts.
So they feed off each other. False teachers and those who follow them feed off each other. There is a market for error, and it pays very well. And the teachers rise up to meet the demand that is there amongst the people. And the people reciprocate by supporting those who meet that demand. The crowd demands the teaching, and the teachers meet the demand. And the teacher demands a following and money, and the crowd that follows after him is happy to meet that demand. So both the teacher and the follower are exploiting and being exploited. Each of them is exploiting the other, and both of them are being exploited by the other. And they are content with that. They both get something out of the exchange, and they both are using the other to get what they want. One gets the lies that they crave and the other gets the money that they crave.
And here's something that will never cease to amaze me. Both of them will cry foul if you step up to them with the truth and rain on their parade. They will both attack you because this symbiotic relationship—they love it to be this way. False teachers pave part of the broad road that leads to destruction. Their followers are on that road. The false teachers are on that road. They're not the only ones on it, but they're certainly on it. In Matthew 7:13–14, Jesus described this: “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
That word translated “destruction” there is the word that is used twice in our passage that we just read, 2 Peter 2:1–3. It's translated there at the end of verse 1 as “swift destruction,” and it's translated at the end of verse 3, “their destruction is not asleep.” It's the same word that Jesus used to describe the destruction that awaits those who are on the broad road. The sad part is that while false teachers and those who follow them are sauntering down the broad road, they are convinced and honestly believe that they are on the narrow road that leads to life, sadly deceived and deceiving, both of them in a symbiotic relationship.
We have in 2 Peter 2 a description, and a vivid one, of these men, what they teach, why they teach it, and how they operate. And we see in these first three verses that there are three marks of a false teacher. First, in verse 1, their destructive doctrines; in verse 2, their depraved desires; and in verse 3, their deserved doom. These men, their teachings are destructive, their character is defective, and their judgment is determined.
And so likewise, there are three errors or three dangers that false teachers pose to the church and to Christians, and we must beware of them. Last week, we looked at the first of these errors, and today, we are looking at the second one. We need to beware of false teachers lest we be deceived by their doctrines. That was verse 1. We looked at that last week. Today, lest we be seduced by their lusts; that's verse 2. And then in verse 3, lest we be exploited by their greed. Those are the three dangers that false teachers pose. They deceive us by their doctrines, they seduce us by their lusts, and they exploit us by their greed.
So verse 2. Let's look at being seduced by their lusts. This is a warning to us. Verse 2: “Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned.” Sensuality is a major mark of false teachers. False teachers have a fascination with sensuality, with sexuality, with immorality, with the lusts of the flesh. They are driven by their basest desires. Peter reminds us of this all the way through chapter 2. In fact, I want you to notice the other places where he mentions these desires.
Look down at verse 7: “If He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men.” There is a parallel there with the false teachers who likewise conduct themselves in sensuality and are unprincipled men.
Look down at verse 10: “Especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.” That is a description of false teachers.
In verse 14: “Having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children.”
Look down at verses 18–19: “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.”
The word that is translated “sensuality” in verse 2 and used throughout this chapter is a word that describes licentious behavior, extreme immoralities, a filthiness and a wantonness. It is a word that literally means without continence or without control. It's the letter a, which means it negates it—without or not—and then selgeia is the word for continence and control. So what this word describes is an unbridled, uncontrolled, and unrestrained desire and lust.
I'll give you an idea of how it's used elsewhere in the New Testament. It's used in Galatians 5 of the deeds of the flesh. “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality.” It's used there. That's Galatians 5:19.
It's used in Ephesians 4:19 to describe unbelievers: “And they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.” Do you hear that? It is the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness, an unrestrained, insatiable, uncontrollable, and uncontrolled lust. That's the word that's used here.
It is used in 2 Peter 2:18, which we just read. It’s used in 2 Peter 2:7 to describe Sodom and Gomorrah, the sensual men of Sodom and Gomorrah.
It's used in Jude 4: “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into sensuality.” Some translations have it “licentiousness.” They take the grace of God and use it as an excuse to pursue immorality in its every form.
Here in 2 Peter 2:2, it is plural, which means that Peter has in mind here multiplied forms of immorality, many different and varied expressions, a licentiousness that takes many forms, sensuality and lust that would include affairs, multiple marriages, inappropriate relationships, bisexuality, homosexuality, pederasty, pedophilia, bestiality, polygamy, polyandry, pornography. And these immoralities are unrestrained. They're unrestrained because the people that Peter is describing here are unbelievers. These are not Christians who are doing their best to battle the lusts of the flesh and fall into temptation with an immoral thought every once in a while. These are unbelievers. Their judgment is not asleep, their destruction is not idle; these are men for whom the darkness of blackness has been reserved forever. These are unbelievers, and so as unbelievers they are not regenerate, they do not have the Holy Spirit, they do not have new affections and new desires. The devil is their father, and they are his spokesmen, and they have no more restraint upon the lusts of their flesh than any other unbeliever would have.
In order to be restrained in your darkened and unredeemed flesh, there must be a supernatural element there, an indwelling Holy Spirit, a new affection, a new heart, a new nature. But in the false teacher, those are not there. They have no ability to mortify sin, no desire to mortify sin, no ability to turn away from it. They are driven by their lust just as any pagan would be, and they love darkness rather than light just as any pagan would. So these are not believing people who simply fall into sexual sin; these are people who are driven by an unrestrained lust, and it is unrestrained because they are unbelievers. And so they use religiosity and Christianity as a cloak for their immorality.
Peter describes them in verse 19: “They themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.” They are overcome by their lust and by their sensuality, and therefore they are enslaved by those things. That's what's being described.
Now, I can speak to that generally, but let me give you some examples or illustrations of this thing going on inside of modern evangelicalism. I'll describe two groups, and if I'm partway through one or more of these descriptions and you're thinking to yourself, “Are you ever going to get to the people who are in your own theological camp?” be patient, stand by, that's loading, but we're going to start with what is the largest Christian cult on the face of the planet, and that is Roman Catholicism. In every area, at every level of leadership, it is led by men and women who are unredeemed because they deny justification by faith and they deny the work of Christ on the cross, and so they teach damnable and destructive heresies that deny the doctrine of justification. And amongst the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church is the largest collection of pedophiles, homosexuals, and lesbians ever collected under one banner inside of Christianity. It goes by the name Christianity, but it is not.
You have within Roman Catholicism unmarried men who are told that the mark of their spirituality to pursue intimacy with God is not to marry but instead to gather together with a bunch of other unmarried men and boys and do ministry together, and the effects of those damnable doctrines are seen in the news media almost every week all over the globe. It is undeniable, it is rampant, and it is obvious, as much as the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church has tried to cover it up.
And there are entire centuries of history in the Roman Catholic Church that are marked by immoralities that would curdle your blood. In the papacy, inside of convents, inside of cloisters, inside of churches, inside of Roman Catholicism, at the levels of its leadership, you have the grossest and the worst immorality, and that is not a modern phenomenon. That has happened over the centuries of the entire Christian Church. Because that is a movement that says you can mitigate the desires of your flesh through asceticism, simply denying yourself certain creature comforts, and Colossians 2 says that asceticism is of no use against the indulgences of the flesh. So unredeemed, unsaved people with no restraints upon their immoralities or their lusts are all getting together, and what do you have?
Now, just in case you're thinking to yourself, “Jim, are you ever going to get to Protestantism?” I am. Within Protestantism, the single largest collection of men and women described in 2 Peter 2, and it is obvious and there is no close second place, is within the Charismatic movement. That is within the larger realm of Protestantism. Charismaticism is the largest expression of Christianity on the face of this planet, and it is big in the United States, in Canada, in North America, but it is even bigger overseas on continents like Africa and Asia and the islands around there and in South America. It is rampant over there. Benny Hinn is bigger overseas than he is in the United States in terms of his influence and his following and his fan base. It is for many people, for millions of people, the only expression of Christianity—and I use that in air quotes—writ large that millions of people around the planet ever see.
The Charismatic movement is marked by and built upon no emotional restraint whatsoever. They are unrestrained in their emotionalism, and the Charismatic movement views unrestrained emotionalism as a virtue, as a mark of intimacy and closeness with God. The more caught up in the unrestrained emotionalism you can get, the more spiritual you must be and the closer to God you must walk.
And the Charismatic movement is built upon a lack of doctrinal restraint. They will claim anything. Charismatic leaders will utter the most bloodcurdling heresies, but as long as they say, “The Lord told me, He appeared to me in a vision, and I went to Heaven and I heard this or I saw that,” they can get away with literal theological murder, and their followers will not question it whatsoever. They can simply claim to have had a vision or a dream or heard a voice or went to Heaven. Discernment in Charismatic circles and inside the Charismatic movement is regarded as quenching the Spirit, and any kind of skepticism is viewed as a modern-day Pharisaism. So they will embrace almost any theological heresy just so long as it comes from a leader who has built his reputation upon walking closely with God.
The Charismatic movement is a movement that is given to and built upon excesses and unrestrained experiences, so should we be surprised then if it also manifests unrestrained lusts, passions, and immoralities? The leaders inside the Charismatic movement are marked by affairs and inappropriate relationships. They can be divorced and remarried. They can step down from ministry and be back into ministry faster than you can say “Todd Bentley.” They're restored that quickly.
The founders of the Charismatic movement—Justin Peters has been here to talk about that. The founders of the Charismatic movement, the people that they regard as their generals, are people whose lives and ministries were marked by affairs, divorces, immoralities, craven lusts, pedophilia, pederasty, and polygamy. These are the people that they revere, that Charismatics revere, those they call their generals. Charismatics overlook these issues and reason that the signs and wonders that those men demonstrate must show that they are men and women of God, that they speak for God, and that they walk with God. I mean, after all, the blessing of God is on their movement. They have millions of dollars and thousands of followers and millions of followers.
There is today, and this is a true statement, no segment inside of Christianity that is more tolerant of sexual sin than the Charismatic movement. They excuse one another, they run cover for one another, they endorse each other, and when one falls, they will restore them to ministry as fast as you can imagine. Theologically, they believe that their hyper-emotional experience is a mark of their intimacy with God, so they can indulge their flesh and walk in wanton immorality and sensuality, then go to a worship service, have an experience, feel an emotion, hear a voice, and that's proof to them that God is still with them and that God is still blessing them. This creates a theological environment where sexual sin is overlooked and ignored and excused.
A Charismatic preacher can be caught in an ongoing, years-long affair or inappropriate relationship in January, he can make some excuses, apologize, shed some tears, and be back on the air by May of the same year. This is how it works in Charismatic circles. Nearly zero accountability for licentiousness. And when you live that way and minister that way, you're going to gather a following of people around you that like leaders who have zero accountability for their licentiousness because then the people can reason that if this is what our leaders are like, then I'm not so bad. I can walk with God too.
Let me give you a couple of examples, specific examples. Several years ago, Ed Young of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas—he launched this whole thing that he called a “sexperiment.” Couples should be intimate seven days in a row. It's supposed to be an experiment, a sexperiment, get it? Ha ha ha. This fad went national all over the country. He did it multiple years in a row. And one of his crowning achievements as part of his experiment was to put a bed on the roof of his church and spend twenty-four hours in the bed, live streaming him and his wife. And while they didn't do anything intimate inside the bed on the live stream, they did lie in bed and answer questions, and they did a Q&A about issues of sexual intimacy between couples. He followed that up with a book on the subject, and it sold well because Scripture says many will follow their ways of sensuality. Now, was he promoting immorality? Was he promoting some sort of gross immorality? No, but you can tell where the minds of these people are by what they teach and how they teach and the language they use, the things that they focus on, the things that absorb their attention and that they use as a platform to build ministry and attention and notoriety.
Mark Driscoll believes that he receives visions from the Holy Spirit that are graphic and pornographic, vivid visions relating to issues of counseling and church members in his own church. Years ago, his books and sermons and public persona were marked by a fascination with sensual topics and subjects, and he was disqualified at a church he pastored in Seattle, Mars Hill Church, but only to step down for a few months. And then he joined a movement that just puts people right back into ministry again. And what movement is that? The Charismatic movement. That's what Mark Driscoll is part of today. So he has renounced his former Reformed theology, being part of our theological circles, and now he's part of a different theological movement, the Charismatic movement, and he's right back in ministry. And to be clear, Mark Driscoll was not disqualified for any kind of sexual immorality, but the things that he preached about, the way that he focused on those things, and the ribald, edgy, worldly language that he used marked him as the kind of man being described in 2 Peter 2.
Now, does this mean that this type of immorality or sensuality does not exist in any other circles? I'm not saying that at all. False teachers find a home in all kinds of places. A couple weeks ago, remember I said that false teachers are in Charismatic and cessationist churches. So even amongst cessationist people, false teachers can find a home. You can find false teachers amongst cessationists and continuationists or Charismatics, amongst Baptists, Episcopalians, Methodists, Nazarenes, Presbyterian, General Baptist, Independent Baptist, Southern Baptist, Reformed Baptist, Baptist Baptist, non-denominational churches, community churches, Bible churches, Reformed, Arminian, Paedo-Baptist, Credo-Baptist, premill, postmill, amill. It doesn't matter. The label's irrelevant. The false teacher can find a home there. The type of men described here will find a home there.
Just this last week, there was all over social media and all over the internet a “Protestant pastor” who went to a good deal of effort to justify his polygamy. Now he made clear that he is not part of the Mormon Church, but he stood proudly with both of his wives and his kids and defended, tried to at least, from Scripture his polygamous relationship with these two women. This is somebody who theologically would be under the broad rubric of evangelicalism. And it's going on today. The guy's a false teacher. He's marked by the sensuality that is described in this passage.
Now, these are just two examples, Catholicism and Charismaticism, of where this type of leadership and these types of men can flourish. But let's be clear, they can be in every theological camp on the face of the planet. And Peter warns us about them. He describes how easy it will be for them to get a following. Look at verse 2: “Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned.” Many will follow them. Not that these men openly promote immorality, advocate affairs, advocate inappropriate relationships, or anything of that nature, but people will follow after leaders that use edgy and provocative and worldly subjects, emphasize intimacy and sensual topics, and focus on those topics for the sake of gaining a platform. Their cavalier attitude toward immorality and among leaders appeals to the lusts of the flesh, something 1 John 2:16 describes.
And people follow after them, buy their books, listen to their podcasts, and adopt their theology, and the student, when he is fully trained, will be just like his teacher. A teacher who appeals to the flesh will never lack a following. Mark it. A teacher who appeals to the flesh will never lack a following. And the teacher who promotes pleasure will never lack a following. And the teacher who excuses their sensuality, they will never lack a following. And so they will gather people around them who follow in the path of their sensuality and use the alleged spirituality and sensuality of their teacher as an excuse to indulge their own flesh. They will be seduced into that way.
Now to back up for a moment, Peter was not talking about the Charismatic movement of his day. As we know it, that did not exist in Peter's day. So he's not describing that. He's not describing Roman Catholicism because that wouldn't have existed like we know it today. So in its context, understand who Peter is describing. He's describing the men that he began to answer back in verse 16 when he said that there were some who denied the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and alleged that such a teaching was based upon fables and myths, cleverly devised fables. And Peter answers that back in chapter 1, verse 16. He addresses it again later in chapter 3 when he says mockers will come up and they will say, “Where is the promise of His coming?” (v. 4) So Peter has in mind a group of people who denied that there is a future judgment at the return of Christ, and therefore that denial of future judgment led inexorably and naturally to a licentious lifestyle. If, after all, you do not believe that there is a judgment to come or accountability for your lusts, then that will segue right into excuse for your self-indulgent and licentious living. So those are the ones that Peter is addressing. There were people who crafted a theology that suited their lusts and made them feel good in their sin.
So false teachers seek always to embed themselves in environments where their unbridled lust won't cost them any followers. And these environments are where gullible people who are never trained to think critically or exercise discernment embrace these teachers and their teaching without any reservation whatsoever. These followers are made to feel good about their own lusts because they see it in their leaders and then they think, “Well, if he can walk with God and live like that, then there's hope for me as well.” And that's what it means to fall into their way of sensuality.
Now, what about normal sexual sin among believers? I've been speaking about people that I think occupy environments where false teaching is rampant, where there are destructive heresies, and those destructive heresies are coupled with people who promote sensual lifestyles and live sensual, unrestrained lifestyles. To do all of that, to say everything I've just said, is not to say that there are no non-heretics or orthodox Christians who fall into sexual sin. True believers do fall into sexual sin. They do. And you can be a Christian and fall into a grievous sexual sin. That happens. It is unfortunate. The way of truth and the character of Christ are maligned when that happens. But just because somebody falls into sexual sin does not mark them necessarily as a false teacher.
So we have two categories of people. We need to think clearly. Sometimes these categories are clear. Sometimes they're not clear. But these are the two categories. You can have a genuine believer who falls into temptation and a snare. He or she does not promote destructive heresies. They're not exploiting anybody in their greed, but instead they fall into an immoral lifestyle and give way to their lusts. That can happen. The pathway out of that is confession and repentance and restoration and the renewal of the heart and the mind.
Then there is a second category, and these are false teachers who traffic in their lusts. Believers may fall into their sensuality. Unbelievers, false teachers, traffic in their sensuality. False teachers are marked by their doctrine, by their sensuality, and by their greed. Those are the three characteristics given here. If you have somebody who's not exploiting anybody, not promoting heresy, but falls prey to lust, then you have somebody who could be a believer who has fallen into sin, or perhaps a false convert who thought that they were a believer but needs to repent and get saved for the first time. But you don't necessarily have a false teacher. A false teacher is marked by these three qualities or characteristics.
We have seen some men in our theological circles in recent years, within the last couple of years, who have fallen into sexual sin, men who have spoken at conferences that we would all gladly attend. We have heard their sermons, we have their books on our shelves. And so the question is, Does this mark them as false teachers? And I don't think so. Maybe they're false converts, but they wouldn't be a false teacher.
Now, sometimes the line between false teacher and false convert and true believer who falls into sin, sometimes those lines can be very blurry and unclear. But ultimately, in all of those cases, time will tell. In all of those cases, whether a false convert, a true convert, or a false teacher, they do damage to the gospel. Look at Peter 2:2: “Because of them [that is, the false teachers] the way of the truth will be maligned.” “The way of truth” there is just a shorthand way of referring to the gospel. The gospel was known in the early church as the way of truth. In Acts 9:2—in fact, eight times in the book of Acts, the word way is used to describe the sect of Christians, the sect of the Nazarenes, the people who followed after Christ. Because Christ was known as the way, the truth, and the life, those who followed after Him were said to have followed in the way or were following the one who was the way or claimed to be the way—that is, Christ. So “the way” just became a shorthand way of referring to Christianity or Christians. The phrase “way of salvation,” “way of truth,” and “right way” were all used to describe the gospel, the way of truth, Scripture, or the Christian church.
Look down to 2 Peter 2. Look at verse 15: “Forsaking the right way, they [the false teachers] have gone astray.”
Look at chapter 2, verse 21: “It would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness.” That's simply a reference to the gospel and the way of truth.
Because of these men, the way of truth will be maligned. Blasphemeo is the word. It means reviled or blasphemed or spoken ill of. We all know how this works. The world sees the false teacher and their followers, and they see that their lives are marked by sensuality and immorality and moral looseness, and then the unbelievers assume that that is true of all the followers of Jesus. And they reason that these men and these women have national ministries, international ministries, they are speakers, they have television programs, radio programs, big podcasts, big venues, big ministries, they write the books, they sell the books, millions follow them—this must be what Christianity is. This must be what Christianity represents.
And then the world reasons that these churches are filled, all churches are filled, with hypocrites and liars, and the name of Christ is besmirched. And they think that the whole thing is a fraud. They assume that because the most prominent and visible of all Christian leaders are charlatans and hypocrites and liars, all Christians must be charlatans and hypocrites and liars. Because by them, the name of Christ and the way of truth is maligned. Their conduct reflects not only upon Christ but also upon true believers. They blaspheme God by their conduct, and the result is that they end up damning unwitting souls who follow after them, thinking that that's what true Christianity is.
And then people in the world and people in the church won't give the true gospel a hearing. And we have all run into people that we have tried to share the gospel with, and they've said, “Yeah, I used to belong to such and such a church, and so-and-so was my pastor, and then he went and he had an affair and got divorced and remarried and went right back into ministry, and I want nothing to do with the church, I want nothing to do with Christianity from this point forward.” These men blaspheme the way of truth.
And Christians who promote their teachings contribute to the delusion by passing along the doctrines and the errors of these men who are mouthpieces for Satan. As innocent as it might be, as unwitting as it might be, when a true believer says, “Hey, I've got something here. I know I don't agree with everything in this book, but, you know, most of it's really good. You've just got to pull out the bones and eat the meat off this,” and you hand that to somebody else, you end up promoting these men that Scripture condemns, who are themselves destined for judgment, and people are brought into their way of sensuality.
How many times have you been involved in a spiritual conversation only to have somebody point out a wolf and something they taught or somebody who followed them, and then paint all Christians with that broad brush? And then you're left there trying to say, “Look, that's not Christianity.” And what's their response to that? “Who are you to say what Christianity is or isn't? How many followers do you have? This guy has a million people following him on Twitter.” And you've got to try and offer a defense and somehow try and get the gospel into that situation and overcome, basically, years of blasphemous thinking and ways of viewing Christ just in an attempt to give them the truth.
Can you see why it is that the most severe language in all of the New Testament is reserved for these men and women? Are you starting to see why that's the case? The hottest fires of Hell, the worst punishments, the severest torment is reserved for those who take the name of God and claim to belong to Him but don't, claim to represent Him but don't, claim to know Him but don't, claim to speak for Him but don't, claim to hear from Him but don't. And their lives and their character and their speech and their motives and their conduct is all one large, egregious blasphemy. This is why Scripture condemns them. Because of them, the one who is the way, the truth, and the life and the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is blasphemed and reviled and spoken evil of. And for that reason, their judgment is not asleep, and their destruction is not idle. It is coming.
Now, I would love to just stop right there and pray, but I'm not going to because a lot of that was really heavy. So now, understanding that all of that was some really weighty stuff, is there a positive takeaway? Do we have some practical things that we can do or remember in light of this description?
Number one, and I'm going to return to this several times before we're done with 2 Peter 2, but we need to be able and willing to identify and to mark and to avoid those who are false teachers. We shouldn't shy away from saying, “So-and-so is somebody who is marked by this.” I mean, look, the description in 2 Peter 2 is very graphic. It is very clear. There's nothing unclear about it. It is given to us so that we might know who these people are and be able to identify them and name them. That's not a horribly evil thing to do. It's actually wise and discerning for the body of Christ to be able to identify the wolves among them.
But second, the antidote for these types of men is really not a mystery. The counter to their blasphemy, the blasphemy of false teachers who live in this way and bring reproach upon the name of Christ, is for you and I to live in such a way as to make the claims of Christ convincing to the world. That's the antidote. It's the opposite. These men live in such a way as to blaspheme Christ, so we must live in such a way that our transformed life convinces others of the legitimacy and power of the gospel. We are called to live in such a way that the way of truth is not spoken against but actually given a good reputation. First Peter 2:9–12:
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
10 for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.
12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. (NASB)
That's the antidote. First Peter is the antidote. Wage war against the lusts of the flesh which wage war against your soul, and live in such a way as to keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that when they open their mouth to blaspheme you and speak evil of you, they have nothing but good to say about you. That is the antidote to the false teacher.
So I ask you this, Do you claim to know the truth that sets men free, only to live in slavery, enslaved to your lusts? Titus 2:7–8: “In all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.” Paul says to Titus in Titus 2:10 that we are to adorn the gospel. Do you know what it means to adorn the gospel? You dress it up. How do you dress it up? With good deeds and a consistent lifestyle. That is adorning to the gospel.
In Philippians 2:15, Paul says, “Prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world.”
First Thessalonians 2:12: “Walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.”
This is our high calling. This is what we get to do. We get to put the gospel on display with how we live above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. We cannot go out and keep false teachers from blaspheming the way, but we can, in our own conduct, in our own doctrine, in our own lifestyle, shine a light upon the glorious gospel of Christ, a light that does not call into question the name of Christ or the glory of Christ. This is why Peter says back in chapter 1, “Be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you” (vv. 10–11). Be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure. Be all the more diligent to add these virtues to your faith (chapter 1, verses 6 and following). This is why Peter began that way. That is the antidote to false teaching and the blasphemy that brings reproach upon the name of Christ.