Pastor's Corner

When it comes to advice about financial planning, physical fitness, career planning, etc., there seems to be more voices than there are people to hear them! The same is true with spiritual direction.

In my adult Sunday school class, we’ve been going through the book of 2 Peter.

And in that class we learned that false teachers had infiltrated the churches throughout Asia Minor.

Peter, a man with a true shepherd’s heart, became increasingly burdened about the growing apostasy.

In short, 2 Peter was written to expose false teachers/prophets (And these were false teachers of the worst kind because they were coming in the name of Christ!).

It was written to warn believers everywhere about the doctrinal whitewater they were approaching…and how to navigate them.

In 2 Peter 2:1, we are given the main characteristic that is common with all false teachers who come in the name of Christ. Listen to Peter’s words:

“But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.”

There are several things we learn about false teachers (and false prophets) from this passage.

First, false teachers have always BEEN around (“But there WERE also false prophets among the people…”).

Deuteronomy 13:1-5; 18:20-22; Isaiah 5:20 and many other passages in the Old Testament make it very clear that false teachers/prophets were always around throughout the Old Testament era.

Wherever the truth is proclaimed, there’s the enemy right there bringing his lies to counterfeit the original! Second, false teachers will always BE around (“even as there WILL BE false teachers among you…”).

In Matthew 24:11 & 24 Jesus warned that false Christs and false prophets would be ever increasing as we approach the end of the age.

We are given the same warning from the apostle Paul (Acts 20:29-30; 1 Tim.

4:1-2), the apostle John (2 John 7-10), the apostle Peter here and the entire book of Jude! Third, false teachers secretly bring destructive heresies.

“Secretly bring” comes from the Greek word pareisaxousin, which means “to bring in alongside” or “to infiltrate”.

The idea is this: they would bring many of the true doctrines of Christ, but false teaching about Christ would be “brought in alongside” or “infiltrated” with the true, making it hard to detect.

Certainly this is being done through all of the various cults and isms of our day.

Fourth, the heresies they bring are destructive (“destructive heresies…bring on themselves swift destruction”).

Why are they destructive? They are destructive because they lead them and their followers to eternal “destruction” or “ruin” (apoleias)…a direct reference to HELL.

Fifth, and finally, these false teachers are denying the Lord! How do false teachers “deny the Lord”? There are three main areas of the biblical doctrine of Christ that are “denied” today.

First, they deny the PERSON of Christ…WHO He is as God the Son, the eternal “I AM” who became flesh (John 1:1, 14; Exodus 3:14 w/John 8:58).

Second, the finished WORK of Christ…what He DID on the cross as our Substitute who took the wrath of the Father poured out on Him on behalf of everyone who would ever believe, and His subsequent bodily resurrection for our justification (2 Cor.

5:21; Rom.

4:25).

And third, the WORD of Christ…what He SAID as that which is authoritative, binding and divine in origin; and, in turn, the revelation He would later confer to His disciples by the Holy Spirit after His departure which would then make up the complete “once for all delivered to the saints faith” (Jude 3; Luke 21:33; John 8:51; 14:15, 23, 26; 16:12-13; 2 Pet.

1:20-21, etc.).

So…who do you listen to? If they are a faithful servant of Christ, they will lead you to Him and Him alone who can save you from your sins and take you to be with Him in a place so beautiful that Christ called it Paradise! Do you know Him? You can today. Just turn to Him in prayer believing, being willing to turn from your sins in His power and receive Christ as your Lord and Savior. God help you to make that decision today!

Dean Ellis

Pastor of Evangelism

First Baptist Church, Colfax