Sunnyside Grosvenor Sermons

We have been working our way through the book of 2 Peter. One of the dangers or advantages of working through a book, depending on how you look at it, is that I end of preaching on passages of scripture that I would not otherwise choose.

If I were looking for inspiration, I would not choose today’s passage. If I were looking for a passage to teach from, I probably wouldn’t use today’s passage. However, Peter thought this topic was so important that he dedicated a third of this book to it. God thought this so important that it was included in the cannon of scripture. So I am assuming that God wants you to know

2 Peter 2:1 (NLT)

There were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves.

God wants you to know that there will be false teachers in the church. The Old Testament is full of examples of people who claimed to speak for God but did not. I am currently reading through the book of Jeremiah in my devotions. In that book the false prophets got lauded by kings, and Jeremiah the true prophet got thrown in prison.

There were false prophets amongst the people of God in the Old Testament, and there will be false teachers amongst the people of God now.

Now I know there are two sides to this. There are a handful of you, who like me, spend much of your time as a Christian teacher. The warning in this chapter is clear – don’t become a false teacher.

The other side, and the side Peter is mostly addressing is for the people in the church. This is a warning. There are going to be false teachers, don’t be mislead. Just because someone is saying they are teaching in Jesus’ name, doesn’t mean they are actually teaching in Jesus names.

The destruction that comes with false teaching is devastating. Peter is trying to spare you pain. As we walk through this passage together, I hope you can see the traps that Peter points out so that you can avoid them and spare yourself pain.

I want you to note where this comes in Peter’s letter. In 2 Peter 1:3 He has told us that we have everything we need for life and godliness. That provision comes through our knowledge of God and our faith in his promises.

He then goes on and tells us how to live well.

2 Peter 1:5–8 (NLT)

5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.

8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So we have what we need for life and godliness, and we are adding to our faith these provisions. Then he goes on to say pay attention to scripture. We looked at that last week.

Do you see what Peter has done? He has set up the foundation from which to handle false teachers. Through God’s provision, through how they live, and through their reliance on scripture, they have what they need to deal with false teachers.

But in spite of the fact that they had what they needed to deal with false teachers, Peter still took a third of his book to talk about them.

As I have been thinking about this passage of scripture this week, I have been wondering who is more gullible – or maybe I should put it – more susceptible to false teaching – the audience that Peter was initially writing to, or those of here, who live in the middle of the information age.

The Church that Peter was writing to, did not have the whole N.T. Sure a number of the letter that Paul wrote,

2Peter 1:12-21

2Peter 1:5-11

2 Peter 1:1-4

John 11:17-44

John 14:1-14