False Prophets and Teachers
Download MP3If you have a bible, I invite you to turn to second Peter chapter two. It's also there in your worship guide. Ever since I mentioned to you guys a few weeks ago that I was building a table, nearly 500 pound butcher block table, my advertisements have changed on all of my feeds. First, noticed, you know, it was some small things like maybe an advertisement for a new, you know, circular saw, or perhaps an advertisement for a store that sold tools like Home Depot or Harbor Freight. And then I began, though, to get ads for larger items, larger table saws, maybe where I could go and get some reclaimed wood.
Jeffrey Heine:And then this past week, just about every single advertisement has has been been about about a a portable portable sawmill. Sawmill. I did not I've never once thought about a portable sawmill. They're huge. I didn't even know they existed.
Jeffrey Heine:And I cannot tell you how much I need one. I mean, I have now been pouring over these things and and looking them all up. I begin to think, is there any way I could possibly afford one of these things? Maybe I could get one of my girls to drop out of college and use their tuition money. But but I never had those thoughts before.
Jeffrey Heine:It's it's remarkable how those desires started developing in me though. I mean, whatever the algorithms are that AI, you know, is all using it, had me locked in. And I could tell when my my eyes lingered over a little something, and it said, feed them something a little bit more, a little bit more, a little bit more, and now it has led me straight to the MechMax 32 inch portable sawmill with a Kohler four twenty nine cc engine, which has probably been paying for all of it. This morning, we're we're going to look at a passage in second Peter where Peter warns us that there's forces out there trying to lead us down a path. There's false teachers out there who are ever so subtly going to lead us to a place that we never thought we'd go and going to fan into flames some desires that we really shouldn't have.
Jeffrey Heine:Now, the past couple of weeks, if you just wanna, you know, look at second Peter as a whole, Peter has been holding out before us the carrot, if you will, and following Jesus, telling us all the good things and all the benefits. This time, he holds out the stick, and he gives this terrifying picture of judgment of what it looks like for those who do not follow him. We're not gonna read the entirety of the chapter, but we will read a lot of it. We'll read the first 19 verses. But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
Jeffrey Heine:And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them, the way of truth will be blasphemed, and in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment, if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly, if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly. And if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked. For as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard.
Jeffrey Heine:Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme glorious ones. Whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters about which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime.
Jeffrey Heine:They are blots and blemishes reveling in their deceptions while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed, accursed children. Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray.
Jeffrey Heine:They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression. A speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the Prophets' madness. These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them, the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. For speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.
Jeffrey Heine:They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that, he is enslaved. This is the word of the Lord. Pray with me. Father, thank you for your word, and I pray that you would give me clarity.
Jeffrey Heine:I pray that you'd open up our hearts and minds to receive what you would have for us, that you would lead us to life. Lord, I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore, but Lord, may your words remain, and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. Back in June, I was at a neighborhood association meeting that was concerning the rezoning of our property where we were building the new church.
Jeffrey Heine:I'm just supposed to present the plan. Was about to take it was supposed to take a minute, maybe two, in which, you know, I would just introduce myself, say, you know, I'm a resident in the neighborhood, been here for twenty seven years, show the site plan. That'll be the first minute, and then I imagine maybe the second minute, just me, I would spend the time saying, you're welcome to all of the grateful people for removing an eyesore of the city for the last ten years. And let's just say it did not go according to plan. It did not go how how me or anyone else expected.
Jeffrey Heine:There was opposition from the start, angry opposition, wild accusations being made. I cannot tell you the amount of times somebody would say, Now, no offense, and then say the most offensive things, or the amount of times I was called young man. It's like, I'm a granddad. Alright? But, I mean, that wild accusation, things like, we can we're going to build I don't know, we're going to build storage units or car washes, or they even went so far as to say, we're going build adult bookstores or strip clubs.
Jeffrey Heine:That was brought up many times. It was madness. This kept going on and on. And finally, after about thirty minutes, one of the leaders said this, and it was almost like a drum roll. She she she did this on the table, and she goes, Okay, everyone.
Jeffrey Heine:Let's quit beating around the bush, people. And she said, Pastor, what does your church believe? Or let me put it this way, does your church affirm same sex marriage or not? And when I gave the answer, the hate really came out. That's when the vitriol really began.
Jeffrey Heine:And they they did not hide it, and it just kind of went on and on. And it's in moments like that, you begin to think, you know, is there wiggle room? You know, maybe if we slightly changed little bit what we believed, if we maybe if we softened our stance on a few things, if we did that, the persecution would go away. We'd be more palaceful to the church. I mean, even this morning, as I was preaching at the 08:00 service, somebody was going and graffiting our 4th And Spring office across the street with profanities about our church.
Jeffrey Heine:Isn't there a easier path or easier way? That's not a unique temptation for for us. This is something the early church experienced. I mean, there's a temptation for a church to always water down its beliefs, to get with the times, all in order to make itself more palatable to the world. The early church experienced this to an even greater degree than we do because they were completely surrounded by paganism.
Jeffrey Heine:And so just like us, they felt that temptation to change, they felt the temptation to adapt with the times, maybe smooth out some of the rough edges of Christianity, all in order to become more appealing to the world, and let's be honest, also, to make following Christ just an easier path to follow and walk, make it easier to live. And Peter is saying, don't do it. Don't. Yes, if you do if you do it, you know what? You likely will avoid the judgment of others, but you will bring on the judgment of God.
Jeffrey Heine:Which would you rather have? And then, Peter, he he lists out all of the ways that God has judged sin in the past, while at the same time saving the righteous. Noah, the floods, Sodom and Gomorrah, rebellious angels. And he's saying, which would you rather have? Would you rather have the favor of men, or would you rather have the favor of God?
Jeffrey Heine:A little over fifty years ago, an entire generation began casting aside what they saw as the oppressive teachings of the church concerning what they could do with their bodies. We know this time as the sexual revolution. And when this was happening, the churches at the time, they had a decision they could make. Do they stand firm and hold to the clear teachings of scripture concerning this? Or perhaps, they should get with the times.
Jeffrey Heine:Perhaps they should search for some wiggle room. Maybe they could squint their eyes a little bit over certain passages or or certain words, or even better yet, just ignore altogether. Because they feared if they didn't do that, they would lose an entire generation. Well, in an attempt to stay and to become relevant, several denominations, they did decide that they would change, they would drop certain long held orthodox beliefs. I mentioned this a few years back, but I did a wedding for for a church.
Jeffrey Heine:And when I was there, the the pastor of that church gave me a list of scriptures that I was not allowed to read from, not teach even teach, just read from, because he said their church found them not helpful. One of them was Ephesians five, which is the longest section we have in the New Testament about marriage. And I determined right then and there, well, that was gonna be the only text I was gonna preach from. Here's the irony for all of those churches that made those changes to adopt with the times. In their attempt to embrace their culture, they lost their voice to speak into their culture.
Jeffrey Heine:By trying to become relevant, they became irrelevant. And most of their attendance now has dwarfed to where they were just a few funerals away from closing their doors. Because darkness is not helped by more darkness. Darkness needs light. In this chapter, Peter's warning the church, false prophets and teachers are gonna rise among us, and they're going to offer an easier path to following Jesus, one that's gonna seem more attractive, require less sacrifice, less self control, promise you even more freedom.
Jeffrey Heine:And Peter says, don't listen to those teachers because they're leading you on a path that goes to destruction. Verse one, he says this, but false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies. If you read through your Old Testament, you're going to notice that Israel's existence is almost always being threatened. I mean, the the the Philistines, Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Persians, their armies were always right outside of Israel's door. But the greatest threat they ever had to their existence, well, it was never a foreman foreign army.
Jeffrey Heine:It came from their own midst. It was false teachers arising, trying to lead their hearts away from God. And that's what Peter is saying here. The biggest threat to Christianity is not the liberal media, it's not the government, or any legislation that the government might pass that's against our Christian beliefs. It's certainly not a neighborhood association trying to determine your zoning or not.
Jeffrey Heine:It's not even our sin because the blood of Jesus has covered our sin if we go to him. No. The biggest threat to Christianity is when false teachers arise and they tell you that sin is not sin, and that there's no need to even go to Jesus to be covered by his blood, no longer a need to repent and to believe the gospel. Now, you might be here just thinking, that's crazy. Who in the world would actually believe a message like that, a false teacher like that?
Jeffrey Heine:Well, no one would if those teachers, you know, if they actually looked and sounded evil, but they don't. They don't come in through the front door ripping up our Bibles, you know, six sixty six tattooed on their forehead, you know, wearing black Sabbath or Florida Gator shirts. Like, it's not it's not obvious they're a false teacher. They don't come in through the front door, they come in through the side. That's what that word secret means.
Jeffrey Heine:It literally comes in. It it literally means the side entrance. Now, when the serpent tempted Eve, it wasn't obvious, he came alongside her, told her a told her a lot of truth, told her things that seemed wise, was attractive. A false teacher is going to talk about Jesus, grace, freedom, forgiveness, salvation, use all of those safe, comfortable words you've grown up hearing, but they're going to be ever so distorted, just slightly. The vast majority of what they teach is going to be orthodox and true, but there'll be a little deception in there which is going to act like a poison and will destroy the whole body and soul.
Jeffrey Heine:Here's a question though, if those false teachers don't look or they don't sound threatening, how do you identify them? Peter gives us five ways we can identify these false teachers. Let me list these real quickly, and we'll walk through them one by one. These false teachers will first deny their master. Second, they will blaspheme the truth.
Jeffrey Heine:Third, they will be motivated by greed. Fourth, they will remove any need for self control. And five, they will promise freedom, but they will lead you to slavery. Let's look at the first. False teachers will deny their master.
Jeffrey Heine:Verse one, Peter says that they will deny the master who bought them. False teachers are always going to try to downplay the lordship of Jesus. He's going be presented as a person of love, a person of forgiveness, perhaps even one who's worthy of our adoration. And all those things are true, but obedience to him will be presented as optional. You know, there's quite a lot of heresies floating around both now and way back then, heresies about the virgin birth, the deity of Jesus, about the bodily resurrection of Jesus, or his second coming.
Jeffrey Heine:But the false teacher's most basic error is this, they will not submit to the rule of Christ. Jesus is not their master. I once had a woman in my office. She was filing for divorce, and in her own words, she said that her husband has been completely faithful to her, saying he is one of the most caring, loving individuals she has ever met. He's been nothing but kind and good to her, and wants to stay in the marriage.
Jeffrey Heine:And she said she wants to divorce him because she just no longer loves him. And so I said, well, okay. Could you tell me how your decision reflects the gospel? Silence. And I said, do you consider Jesus to be the Lord, heaven and earth?
Jeffrey Heine:Actually, your Lord. She said, yes. Yes. I mean, yes. He he's he's my Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:I said, okay. And so, we went to scripture, and I I walked through Jesus' clear teachings on marriage and how what she was doing was against his explicit command. And I said, so, If he's Lord, you'll obey him. Is Jesus Lord? And I was silent, and she was silent for a long time.
Jeffrey Heine:And then, finally, she just got up and walked out. Hear me. We can acknowledge that Jesus is our master and yet still fall into sin. We do that all the time and will until Christ comes again. When this happens, God gives us this heart of repentance, and we go to the cross, and we ask for his forgiveness, but this woman here, she was knowingly disobeying disobeying Christ without any desire to repent, without any real understanding of the gospel.
Jeffrey Heine:She was denying her master. And Peter's telling us there's false teachers out there who will tell you that's okay because God just wants you to be happy. And hear me, God wants you to be happy. He wants to fill you with so much joy, and that's why he will not allow you to go on to towards this path of destruction. He's gonna redirect you towards a path of life.
Jeffrey Heine:Second second way to identify these false teachers is that they will blaspheme truth. One blasphemes truth when one rejoices in sin, when when one calls evil good and good evil. One of the easiest ways to lead people into sin is to just rebrand sin. Just call it something different. Call sexual immorality just having a little fun.
Jeffrey Heine:Killing an unborn child? Pro choice. Gossip? No, it's a prayer request, people. Selfishness?
Jeffrey Heine:No. No. That's that's self care. A false teacher just re relabel that sin, gets you to to look at it in a different light. They're also going to blaspheme truth by elevating their truth over, at least, or on par with Scripture.
Jeffrey Heine:False teachers are going to use their pulpits or whatever platforms they have to teach their opinions as if they were the word of God. And hear me, often often, these are really good opinions, really good ones about politics, relational advice, whether you should homeschool or not, how you should dress, how you should use your money, I mean, all those different topics, but by teaching their opinions alongside the word of God, they conflate the two. They're putting their words on the same level as the word of God, and that's blasphemy. And some of you you might be surprised to know that I actually have really strong opinions about politics, strong opinions about how to raise children, or gun control, or immigration, you name it. And I think I'm right.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, I really do. I think I'm absolutely right. But if you ever hear me teaching on those things from the pulpit, you need to remove me. You need to remove me. It doesn't matter if I'm right.
Jeffrey Heine:I'm not going to teach from them here. Now, I'm happy if you want to go buy me a beer at Avondale Brewery, and we talk through the night, or come over to my front porch for some sweet tea, and we just talk through all those issues, happy to do it. But not here. I'll teach on those things if they have a very clear intersection with Scripture, what Scripture explicitly teaches us about that, but everything else is just opinion, and my opinion won't save anyone. My opinion won't change a single heart.
Jeffrey Heine:It's not the Word of God. Third way to identify false teachers is that they will be motivated by greed. Verse three, and in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. A false teacher is going to use you to get something for him or herself. They want more, either of money, or more fame, or more power or more respect, but they want something from you.
Jeffrey Heine:They're greedy for more. And I don't have to tell you that there are a whole lot of false teachers out there on the Internet. They just don't go by teachers. We call them influencers. And I'm not talking about, you know, fitness influencers or beauty influencers or how to decorate your dorm influencers, which you apparently have to take out a second mortgage.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, complete side note here, but after graduation last year, Lauren and I went dumpster diving at Sanford. I we going in, we're pulling out it's in our house now. But I mean, as we're doing that, we didn't know it was when the people were graduating it was graduation day. And these students are there with their parents, and I'm sure some of you are probably there, and you're probably with mom and dad, like, hey, I that looks like my pastor over there and his wife in a dumpster, and you didn't know whether it was or not. It was.
Jeffrey Heine:It was us. There are a lot of theological influencers out there, and they're called influencers for a reason. They have a lot of influence. Gotta be careful who you listen to. It's easy to get drawn in to a carefully crafted thirty second long clip that has been targeted for your exact demographic.
Jeffrey Heine:And the more you watch that person, the more it's going to feel like you know them, like like you're buds. But the truth is, you know nothing about them other than what they want you to know about them. Nothing. You have no idea what they're like behind closed doors. No idea how they treat their children or what their marriage is like.
Jeffrey Heine:No idea how they spend their money or what their prayer or devotional life looks like. You really have no idea about anything about them other than that thirty second little clip. Hopefully, some, if not many, of these influencers have very pure motives and teach really good things. I'm hopeful that many do. But can I tell you that the best theological influencers that you can have in your life are going to be the ones you do community with?
Jeffrey Heine:In first Peter five, remember when we were ending that letter, Peter exhorted the elders, and he said, shepherd the flock that is among you. That is among you. Don't shepherd the sheep that aren't among you. Shepherd the sheep that are among you. Why?
Jeffrey Heine:Because it is really important for the sheep to be able to look at your lives, to see how you treat your wife, to see how you spend your money, to see what you do with your time, to see how you live because that's all part of the teaching. And so, you need to be in community with those people because these elders or pastors, they live among you. Another benefit is that when you hear them teach, you get to hear it in community, and you get to process their words in community. You know, last week, we looked at Jesus on the Mount Of Transfiguration. Remember the Father?
Jeffrey Heine:He said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. And that command to listen to him is in the plural. It's you all or y'all. You, Peter, James, John, y'all listen to him together.
Jeffrey Heine:It's the reason our home groups are so important, so you could process the things that you heard on a Sunday. It's just hold up to God's truth or not, but you're processing it in community. Fourth, false teachers typically remove the need for self control. And I'm just going to go ahead and wrap this into the fifth one as well. So they're they're going to remove the need for self control, and they're going to promise you freedom, but will only lead you to slavery.
Jeffrey Heine:In verse 12, Peter calls them irrational animals, creatures of instinct. These are the teachers that tell you to listen to your heart above all else, follow your impulses. If it feels good, do it. God created the animals, and they're supposed to act out according to their instincts and desires, and God created you. Right?
Jeffrey Heine:So you probably should act out according to your instincts and desires. And on some level, it makes sense. I mean, it even sounds liberating, doesn't it? Do what you want. And there is some truth in it.
Jeffrey Heine:For instance, yes, you are free to eat all of the junk food you want, but no, you are not free to then live a healthy life. You're you're free to gamble all of you want. All all your money went, you could gamble it, but then you're not free to live a responsible life. Giving in to your impulses is gonna feel like freedom, but it's gonna lead to a certain type of slavery Because if you cannot master your desire, then it is going to master you. If you cannot exercise self control, then you're enslaved to that desire, not free.
Jeffrey Heine:And it's gonna lead to your destruction. A false teacher is always gonna downplay your need for self control, which is a gift from the Spirit. So when listening to a teacher ask this question, does following what I'm hearing from this teacher, does it require that I be a new creation in Christ, or is it an appeal to an old desire that I used to have? Which is it? Because true freedom comes not from being liberated to sin, it's being liberated from sin.
Jeffrey Heine:You now don't have to sin anymore, people. You've been freed from that. True freedom comes from following Jesus who has liberated you, not just from sin, but also death itself. In this chapter, Peter, he I mean, he's certainly I mean, he holds out the threat of judgment for everyone who denies the master who bought them, but he also holds out forgiveness, joy, freedom for those who recognize that Jesus actually bought them. Not just their master, but the master who bought them, the master who purchased their salvation with his blood.
Jeffrey Heine:Unlike the false teachers of this world, you are nothing more than what Peter calls a waterless spring. Remember who Jesus is. Jesus is the one who said, come to me who thirsts, and I'll give you living water. Jesus, he wants you off that path of destruction no matter how easy it is, and to come and follow him because he is the only one that can satisfy your soul. And that leads us to this table when we remember the master who bought us with his own blood and how he has freed us from our slavery to sin.
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus, on the night that he was betrayed, he he took bread, and he broke it, and he said, this is my body given to you. In the same way, he took the cup, and he said, this wine is my blood poured out for the forgiveness of many. The apostle Paul would later say, as often as you eat of this bread, you drink of this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again. And he will come again. This is how we're gonna take communion this morning like we typically do.
Jeffrey Heine:We're gonna start with those in the balcony, then we'll move down to those who are in the overflow rooms. If you would come down these center aisles, we'll have some stations up here, and if you would just pull off a little bit of bread, and as you do so, you'll hear the words, this is the body of Christ given to you. If you dip it in the wine, and you'll hear the words, this is his blood shed for you. Then after you take, you're welcome to stay up here if you want and and pray, or if you would return to your seat using these outer aisles. And let me remind you of who this table is for.
Jeffrey Heine:It's not for the perfect. It's for the sinner. It's for the sinner who knows their only hope is in the blood of Jesus. And so if that's who, you're welcome to come. You're also welcome to come if you if you don't know the Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:If if if you're not there yet, you are still welcome to come, and as you as you come forward, I just ask you to just hold up your hand, and we won't serve you, but the server will just pray a little blessing over you, and then you can return to your seats if you would like to do that. You don't have to, but you're more than welcome to do that. And I invite you all to stand as the servers come up here, and let me just pray for us quickly. Lord Jesus, during this time, may your children, as we celebrate communion, indeed commune with you, you gave your body in order to create a body, to create your church. Thank you, Jesus, that we get to be a part of this and that you have given us new life, and you have called us your children.
Jeffrey Heine:Bless this time, and we pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen.
