1st and 2nd Peter
Tested by Fire: Lesson 6
Read Chapter 2
What do you notice about the following two passages?
2 Peter 2:1
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
Jude 4
For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
Idolatry, men’s visions, false christs, worship of angels
2 Peter 2:1-3:4 and Jude 4-18 are very similar in content. Each author used different words to get across much the same point. Watch out for false teachers! Perhaps when Jude was writing, he remembered what Peter had written and used similar thoughts to get across his point.
It is likely that Peter wrote first since he wrote that “there will be false teachers among you ” (2 Peter 2:1), while Jude wrote that false teachers “have secretly slipped in among you” (Jude 4).
2:1-3 Warning
False teachers and their false teachings have been around for a long time. Identify the false teachings described in the passages below.
Numbers 25:1-3
1 While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, 2 who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate and bowed down before these gods. 3 So Israel joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them.
Jeremiah 23:16
16 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.
Matthew 24:4-5
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.
Colossians 2:18
18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.
Which of the following false teachings are destructive and why?
A. Denying that Jesus is God
B. Denying that Jesus died on the cross
C. Denying that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
D. Denying that the Lord created the universe in 6 normal days
E. Denying that people receive Christ’s true body and blood in Communion
All false teaching is destructive. Some (A,B,C) are more immediately destructive to faith. A person may hold to false beliefs (like D or E) out of weakness or misunderstanding and still be a Christian. However, those false teachings still harm faith. Anytime someone denies what God says in his Word, it is harmful to their faith.
According to verse 3, what is the motivation of the false teachers?
Greed—for money, power, fame
How has this sinful motivation brought “the truth into disrepute”?
When a supposed Christian leader’s greed is exposed it makes all Christians look bad. People think that all pastors want is money. People think that Christians are hypocrites because the self proclaimed leaders are immoral.
Sometimes it looks like the false teachers are winning. They have huge followings, big budgets, and seem to get away with deceiving many people. The Lord tells us that he is not sleeping on the job. He knows what is going on. Condemnation is “hanging over” the false teachers and their “destruction has not been sleeping.”
2:4-10 Examples of previous judgments
· Angels that sinned
Who are these angels?
Satan and the demons
What is their judgment?
Sent to hell.
Who did God protect by this judgment?
People. Satan is limited by God.
· Ungodly
people at Noah’s time
Why were they judged?
Their thoughts were only evil all the time (Genesis 6:5)
What was their judgment?
God sent the flood to destroy most of the living things on the earth.
Who did God protect by this judgment?
God protected Noah and his family. He also protected his promise of a Savior to come.
· Sodom and Gomorrah
Why were those cities destroyed?
The people there engaged in all kinds of wickedness and unbelief.
Who did God protect by this judgment?
God protected Lot and his two daughters as well as protecting the surrounding areas from those wicked people.
Was Lot a “righteous man”? Read the passage below before answering.
Genesis 19:6-8
6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”
God’s grace is amazing! He calls Lot a “righteous man.” God’s grace is amazing! He declared us to be righteous through Christ even when we were sinners.
Romans 5:6-8
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
2:10b-16 Denunciation of their wickedness
The false teachers of Peter’s day thought they were much smarter than everyone else, even than “celestial beings.” Can you give examples today of people who think they are smarter than God?
Scientists
Atheists
False teachers
Even in Las Vegas, most of the wickedness goes on under cover of darkness or inside a building at least. The people Peter writes about are doing these wicked things in “broad daylight.”
Why is the end of verse 13, “feast with you,” so shocking?
These people were among the church and flaunting their wickedness there as well.
Jude also writes about this feasting together. The “love feasts” were fellowship meals that often included the Lord’s Supper.
Jude 12
12 These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead.
You can read more about Balaam in Numbers 22-24.
Evaluate the following article. Is this church carrying out the Great Commission?
|
Tampa Church Is The Nation's Fastest Grower By
MICHELLE BEARDEN
mbearden@tampatrib.com Without Walls International jumped several spots in the annual ranking by Church Growth Today, a Missouri- based independent research firm. It was listed 10th-largest in 2004. ``We're totally astonished,'' said the Rev. Randy White, who founded the full Gospel, multiracial congregation with his wife, Paula. ``It has to be the hands of God.'' |
It is not possible to know if this church is proclaiming the Gospel in truth from this article. The size or growth of a group does not indicate its faithfulness to God’s Word.
2:17-22 Doom of the False Teachers
“A man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.” Unbelievers do not think they are slaves to anyone. They are the masters. They decide how they will live. No one tells them what to do. Yet, they are slaves. What are some things that enslave and master people?
Career, Sports, Money, Sex, Drugs, Alcohol, Greed, Fame, Power, Family
Christians are not slaves to sin anymore. Who is our master now?
Christ is our loving Master. We serve out of love not fear of punishment
Romans 6:22-23
22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Why is believing in Christ and then falling away worse than never believing at all?
Which would be worse? 1) Having a check for $10 million and losing it or 2) Never having the check. Knowing that you threw away heaven would be worse than never knowing that you had it.
Jesus also points out in Luke 12 that there will be some who suffer more in hell than others, though all will suffer.
Luke 12:47-48
47 “That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. 48 But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
Peter gives us two memorable images to end chapter 2. What is the point of those illustrations?
These are descriptions of the teachers who were Christians but then fell away and taught falsely. They went back to their old ways.
It is also a warning for us. Why would a Christian want to go back to the mud and vomit of unbelief?
A little history
What percentage of Turkey’s nearly 70 million people is Christian? Why?
Muslim 99.8% (mostly Sunni), other 0.2% (mostly Christians and Jews)
The Christians in that area experienced all the persecution Peter discussed in his first letter and his second letter. First they were persecuted by the Romans. Then false teachers plagued the area for many years.
One of the first false teachings was Gnosticism. These teachers held that there was more knowledge out there than was in the Bible. Do you know any false teachers/religions who teach that there is more revelation than just in the Bible?
Mormonism, Islam
Other false teachings that swept through eastern Christianity were attacks on the Scriptures, denying the deity of Christ, denying that Christ had a human nature, and denying that Christ had a divine nature.
Then the Muslims attacked. Their armies soon spread and Christians either had to flee or die or live under the Muslim rule.
God preserved his truth through all of these attacks. The Gospel is still being taught in truth throughout the world.