Thoughts In 2 Peter – Number 7 - A Look At Peter’s Exposure Of Destructive Wolves/ False Teachers – 2 Peter 2:1-3 Series

THOUGHTS IN 2 PETER – NUMBER 7 - A LOOK AT PETER’S EXPOSURE OF DESTRUCTIVE WOLVES/ FALSE TEACHERS – 2 Peter 2:1-3

[1]. INTRODUCTION

Peter had a lot to say about false prophets and teachers. WHY WOULD THIS BE SO?

Firstly the composure of Christians is at stake because the false teachers, the missionaries of Satan, unsettle the faith of believers. The Lord wants us to be established in faith, not being tossed around by every notion of man and doctrine that the devil’s men invent - Ephesians 4:14.

The second reason is that the work of the Lord is hindered as men fight over schisms and erroneous teaching. Church History teaches us that the early church of the first few hundred years had to combat one heresy after another, and as it did so, its purity was affected and the gospel thrust declined. The church became formal and institutionalised, bound by creeds and rituals.

The third reason is that false teaching and heresy are like filthy blobs of putridness that sully the spotless Bride of Christ here on earth. This is heartache to the Lord who loved the Church and gave Himself for her. We are all affected in some way by heresy and false teaching. It may be in our churches; we may have to combat it and that causes friction; people we know as friends are being led down the wrong path and away from the Saviour.

WHO IS TO BLAME FOR THE SITUATION?

Let’s be honest. The eldership of the church is responsible. The early church did not have ministers as we know happened in later years as one man over the church. There was a plurality of elders, but as we pass from the first century, men got themselves into positions with a single bishop over them. This began the one-man ministry and it became a snare for the churches.

I asked who is to blame for all this problem and mentioned the elders who were responsible for the spread of heresy among God’s people. That is not being harsh and I have a reason for saying so. Look at this very important passage –

{{Acts 20:17 “From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church,”}}. Then Paul addressed them -

{{Acts 20:29-31 “I know that after my departure SAVAGE WOLVES WILL COME IN AMONG YOU, not sparing the flock AND FROM AMONG YOUR OWN SELVES men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.”}}

Paul knew very well that wolves would sneak in and savagely destroy the purity of correct biblical doctrine. This was not a surprise at all as the Lord taught that would happen in the Parables of the Kingdom in Matthew 13. The Tares followed the Sower; the heresies followed the pure teaching of the Apostles.

Satan always has the counterfeit for the true. In every single aspect of the bible the opposition is the opposite. For example, God created the heavens and the earth. The opposite – a big bang without any god creating it. God established heterosexual marriage. The opposite – homosexual marriage is now the way. God created all the species on earth. The opposite – mindless, chaotic evolution created it all. God established boundaries and told Adam the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was out of bounds, and in the day they ate of it, they would die. The opposite – Satan who said to Eve, “You will not die.”

The pure gospel was preached, and Satan introduced the impure gospel.

What was most disturbing in what Paul said was this – {{Acts 20:30 “and FROM AMONG YOUR OWN SELVES men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.”}}. This was most galling for all this trouble, and the wolves, would ARISE FROM WITHIN, from the body of people in the churches.

What I do want to draw attention to is the next verse - {{Acts 20:31 “Therefore BE ON THE ALERT, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears”}}. That was the basis of failure. They did not stay on the alert. The Ephesian elders I suppose were not too bad as later on in A.D. 96 John wrote to them and said this – {{Revelation 2:2 “I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles and they are not, and YOU FOUND THEM TO BE FALSE.”}}

However from among the churches heretics arose because the elders had gone to sleep and were not alert; they were careless and looked to personalities. It is one thing to say this about the churches of the past but what about the churches today? Most of the problem lies with not knowing right from wrong anymore as the early Church did.