2 Peter 2:1-3 NIV
“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. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.”
False Teachers
What is a false teacher? He or she is someone who teaches
what is false (a lie). But what if a teacher gets something wrong sometimes?
Does that make him or her a false teacher? No! The Bible says we know in part
and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect (Jesus) comes, and we see Jesus
face to face, then we will know fully (1 Co 13:9-12).
So, then, what makes someone a false teacher? They secretly
introduce destructive heresies even denying the sovereign Lord. They know the
truth but they willfully teach what they know is false. And if they naively
teach what is false because that is what they were taught, if then confronted
with the truth, then they deny it, they are responsible to God for the lie they
tell.
I’ve known many preachers who used to teach the truth. They
used to teach the true gospel of Jesus Christ. They preached repentance,
obedience, and submission to Jesus Christ as Lord. But then they started
listening to men instead of to God, and they started following marketing books
instead of the Scriptures, and they began to please the world instead of God.
They compromised truth in order to draw in large crowds of
people from the world, and in order to grow their “churches,” i.e., their
businesses. They diluted the gospel message to make it more attractive and
acceptable to the world and to human flesh, too.
For, they wanted to please humans more than they wanted to
please God, and they wanted to grow their earthly kingdoms more than they
wanted to grow God’s eternal and heavenly kingdom. So, they let pride and greed
rule their hearts, and many denied the truth when confronted, too.
That makes someone a false teacher, when they teach what
they know is false, and they willfully deceive and they scheme in order to draw
people to them rather than draw them to genuine faith in Jesus Christ.
Some of them do this out of pride and greed, while others do
this for the sole purpose to lead people away from true faith in Jesus Christ. Both
are very skilled in deception and in mind manipulation. They are taught this.
For, this is all about deception and marketing, not about leading people to
Jesus.
False Teaching
There is way more false teaching than I am probably even
aware of, for I learn of new things continually. And even all that I know I can’t
possibly cover all in one devotion. But the primary one, which is leading the
masses away from true faith in Jesus Christ, and is thus leading them to hell,
is what is called “the cheap grace gospel.”
Now, it isn’t that God’s grace is cheap. No way! It cost
Jesus his life on that cross to provide us with forgiveness of sin and
deliverance from our slavery (bondage, addiction) to sin. And we must die with
him to sin, be buried with him in death to sin, and be raised with him to
newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and
holiness (Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:24).
So, God’s grace is not cheap, but the false teachers have
cheapened it because they have adulterated it. They have made it less than what
it is. They have made it the opposite of what it is, in fact. Instead of them
teaching we can be free from addiction to sin they are teaching that we are free
to continue living in sin, only now without guilt.
Yes, it is by God’s grace that we are saved, through faith,
and this not of ourselves, not of our works lest any of us should boast that we
somehow worked to earn or to deserve our own salvation. For, we can’t even come
to faith in Jesus Christ unless God the Father first draws us to Christ; unless
he persuades us to follow Jesus with our lives (Eph 2:8-10; Jn 6:44).
But we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for
good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. We were
created to be like Jesus in true righteousness and holiness. We were saved,
too, from our slavery to sin so we would now be slaves of his righteousness
(Eph 2:10; Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24; Rom 8:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9).
So, true belief in Jesus means we die with him to sin and we
live to him and to his righteousness and we are no longer living according to
our flesh. God’s grace to us is not freedom to keep living in sin without
guilt, and it is not freedom FROM repentance, obedience, and submission to
Christ as Lord.
Jesus died that we might die with him to sin and live to him
and to his righteousness, not that we would continue living in sin without
guilt.
Many Will Follow
This cheap grace gospel is very appealing to human flesh
because it requires no death to sin, no obedience to Christ, and no submission
to Christ as Lord. One can merely claim to believe in Jesus, and he is told he
is now part of God’s family, that heaven is guaranteed him, and that it can
never be taken away from him, no matter how he lives his life on this earth.
God is not honored at all with this gospel. Jesus is denied
as Lord and as Savior because he came to deliver us from our bondage to sin,
not to give us permission to continue in our bondage. So, the way of truth has
been brought into disrepute, especially since they accuse the truth of being
false and the lies they claim are the truth.
But this false gospel is what is permeating the church, at
least here in America. Multitudes are claiming faith in Jesus Christ but there
is no fruit in their lives that proves their faith genuine. And that is because
they deny the Lordship of Christ over their lives and they are convinced that
their sins no longer matter to God because of his grace.
And so, they do follow depraved conduct because they believe
God’s grace gives them free license to do so. And this is a big reason why the
church is in such a moral decline and so is our (my) nation. Porn addiction is
on an all-time high. Marriages and families are falling apart. And children are
being sacrificed to the gods of their parents.
And yes, these liars and deceivers are very skilled at making
up all kinds of stories, especially since they are still living in addiction to
sin. So, they will twist the Scriptures to their advantage, and they will teach
them out of context, and they will make up all kinds of false teachings which
the naïve and the fleshly will accept without question.
It isn’t just the false teachers whose condemnation has long
been hanging over them, but it is all those who follow their depraved conduct
and who deny the Lordship of Christ and who willfully and defiantly choose their
own path rather than the path of God.
God is going to judge them and he is judging them via all that he is allowing to take place on a global scale right now. If they do not repent and turn from their wicked ways, destruction is what awaits them, not heaven (Eph 5:3-6; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Rom 8:1-17).
But for us who have died with Christ to sin and who are
living to him and to his righteousness, we have the blessed hope of eternal
life with God.
There’s a Stirring
By Annie Herring
There's
a stirring deep within me
Could it be my time has come
When I'll see my gracious savior face to face when all is done
Is that his voice I am hearing?
'Come away, my precious one'
Is he calling me?
Is he calling me?
I will rise up, rise up
And bow down
And lay my crown
At his wounded feet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yocTjkB6hV8
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