How To Recognize False Teachers

II Peter 2: 9b-16

God will keep the unrighteous under punishment for the Day of Judgment, 

This we covered yesterday. Now we'll see how to recognize these dangerous people.  

Especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.

They "indulge the flesh in the lust of uncleanness" which means that they have trained their bodies to crave what are desires for filthy, unhealthy acts. 

And they despise any kind of authority that is over them, they won't submit to any law or government because they are their own law, their own god.  

Daring, 

Presumptuous, an audacious daring.

self-willed, 

An arrogant self-pleasing attitude; they worship themselves. 

they do not tremble when they revile Angelic majesties, 

They are so hard-hearted that it doesn't faze them to even insult God's holy Angels! How foolish. 

Whereas Angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. 

These holy Angels, who could overpower them easily, have enough sense and humility to not accuse them before God.  

But these, like unreasoning animals, 

These false teachers are acting no smarter than dumb animals. 

born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, 

Animals are made to be our food. 

reviling where they have no knowledge, 

They don't even know what they're dealing with, they just lash out blindly with insults and slander. 

will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, 

As animals are killed for food with no regard for their lives, these false teachers will also be destroyed and suffer punishment.  

suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. 

The painful consequences of their acts affect their health and well-being as a result of their own choices and decisions to do all these unrighteous and evil things. They do it to themselves. 

They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. 

They think they're smart and bold to do openly what used to be hidden away in the dark closet.

They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you,

They are wounding the congregation with their enjoying their twisting of the Truth with their loud, luxurious partying together. To draw us in.

Having eyes full of adultery 

Wandering eyes, looking lustfully at an adulteress.  

that never cease from sin, 

They never stop thinking about her, they keep her on their mind.

enticing unstable souls, 

They draw in people who are vulnerable. 

having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; 

They have made it a practice to put money and pleasures first in their desires. Which has foolishly brought a curse on themselves.  

Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, 

They've veered off the road and fallen into the ditch. 

having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 

Balaam was hired by King Balak of Moab to curse the children of Israel, and God told him not to go. But he went anyway, because he wanted the money. 

But he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with the voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet. 

That's when the donkey talked some sense into him. The story is in Numbers 22 and following. 

God did not let Balaam curse the Israelites, so he had the Moabite women seduce the Israelite men into illicit sex and idol worship, so that they would call the curse down on themselves instead. 

When we decide to disobey the natural laws concerning our own bodies, then we also curse ourselves, and suffer the results in our bodies as illnesses and disorders. And when we allow our thinking processes to wander into selfish and unloving attitudes, then we also suffer that curse with mental illnesses and disorders. 

Every time we rebel against God's good ways, we get into trouble, especially in the spiritual realm. Life itself is spirit. Animals have no soul, but a spirit of life that goes back into the Earth when they die (Ecclesiastes 3:21). And when all the spiritual leaves our physical bodies, all the soul and spirit parts, then our body is dead. 

So to have God's written Word to read and study to understand properly, as God intended it, is to know His ways, His rules that He designed this whole Universe to run by and operate according to it, the Natural Laws; and also the moral laws that He set for us to live our lives according to. 

No one complains about having to obey the Law of Gravity. But our enemy has convinced so many that they can disobey God's standards with no consequences. This enemy has even put into positions of authority those who have destroyed their consciences, and are promoting "alternate" lifestyles, calling them "normal." This is very destructive to our society, and is destroying the very fabric of our civilization. 

And they suffer the consequences of their lifestyle in their own bodies. And they will give account on the Day of Judgment. 

We, as God's children, need to know our Father, and understand His ways. Then we will be able to recognize people who are in positions of authority in the World and in the church, whether they are teaching according to the Truth or are in error. This is not us judging them, but discerning the quality and tone of their teachings. This is very important. God takes all this very seriously, so we should, also. 

O Father, You are so good, and You are so good to us. You are good to all You have made, because we all belong to you, and You want the best for us all, whether we are Your family or Your enemies. While we were still Your enemies, you called us into faith, to be born into Your family. And You are not willing that anyone would perish, because You love us all. 

Father, help us as Your sons and daughters, to be strong in our righteous voice in our own families, in our neighborhoods, in our towns and cities, and in our Nations of which we are citizens. But we are first and foremost citizens of Your Kingdom, so teach us to act like it here. 

And when Your good Gospel of grace has been preached to every creature (Matthew 24:14), and everyone will have a clear opportunity to choose to embrace You or reject You, then You will send Your Son back into this Universe, to set up and establish Your Kingdom on this Earth. 

And every eye shall see, and every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Christ Jesus really is the Lord God of the Universe, our Sovereign King, to the glory of Almighty God the Father. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!