Lesson 6 – 2 Peter Chapter 2:3-8
Last week Peter instructed us that false teachers would rise up among us. Even though this started during Peter’s time, it’s been going on for centuries and exists still today. It goes without saying, false teachers have the mind of satan and not the mind of Christ. It’s also important we remember that a false teacher is not a person who teaches false doctrine just out of ignorance. False teachers are those people who claim to be Christians, who know the truth, but intentionally teach lies in the hope of promoting themselves and reaping financial gains in the process. Tonight, we will continue our probe into what we can expect from false teachers.
2 Peter 2:3
“And in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”
Greed… (play-on-ex-see’-ah) this word suggests having an uncontrolled covetous desire for money and wealth… this involves the love for money.
These guys are motivated to make God’s people nothing more than merchandise. They don’t have a desire to “feed” the flock, but to “fleece” the flock. This is what they were doing when Jesus cleared out the temple. Jesus cleansed the temple of the money-changers and sellers of merchandise because they had made God’s house of prayer into a den of thieves, manipulating the people out of their money.
There are two recorded occasions when Jesus cleansed the temple. The first time is at the beginning of His public ministry, and the second time was just after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem shortly before He was crucified. How do you think God feels when people of authority within the church only have themselves in mind and not His people?
They will exploit you with false words…
These wolves exploit people for profit. Exploit means “to traffic in,” or “to realize gain from.” Unfortunately, we’re all too familiar with people being exploited; we see this outside the church as well.
From the State Department:
“Human trafficking, also called trafficking in persons, has no place in our world. As both are a grave crime and a human rights abuse, it compromises a threat to national and economic security, undermines the rule of law, and harms the well-being of individuals and communities everywhere. It is a crime of exploitation. Traffickers profit at the expense of their victims by compelling them to perform labor or to engage in commercial sex in every region of the United States and around the world. With an estimated 27.6 million victims worldwide at any given time, human traffickers prey on people of all ages, backgrounds, and nationalities, exploiting them for their own profit.”
In the church, God’s people are exploited through false words, and it’s done by false teachers who simply want to enrich themselves. Interestingly, the English word “plastic” is derived from the term false… (plas-tos’) meaning not completely authentic. We see it all the time with things like wood, metal, or china… all made out of plastic. In a similar way, these false teachers are dishing out “plastic doctrines” to people.
Col. 2:8
“Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.” (NLT)
Words can be twisted to mean anything you want them to mean.
Warren Wiersbe writes, “The false teachers use our vocabulary, but they do not use our dictionary. They talk about “salvation,” “inspiration,” and the great words of the Christian faith, but they do not mean what they mean. Immature and untaught believers hear these preachers or read their books and think that these men are sound in the faith, but they are not.”
It’s all about deception as Jesus said in Matthew 24, “See to it that no one misleads you (or deceives you).” Remember, Peter told us that satan prowls around like a lion, seeing who he can devour. Satan is a liar and his demons are liars. They use the Bible not to enlighten, but to deceive; they know the truth, but deliberately reject the truth.
There’s a story about a liberal pastor who was asked to read a paper at a ministerial conference on “Paul’s views of justification.” He read the paper that superbly presented the truth of the Gospel and justification by faith. “I didn’t know you believed that,” a friend said to him after the meeting. “I don’t believe it,” the liberal pastor replied. “They didn’t ask me for my views of justification, they asked for Paul’s.”
Satan’s goal is to deceive as many people as possible, and he doesn’t care how it is achieved. We see this both inside and outside the church… and he accomplishes these goals through his false teachers.
Acts 20:28-32
“Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 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. And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
We need to always be on the alert for wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Their judgment from long ago is not idle… Peter is letting us know that God condemned these false teachers long ago. They might not see the consequences for their actions on this side of eternity, but one thing is for sure, their judgment is coming.
Romans 1:18
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,”
Once again, Jude 4 can be used here…
“I say this because some ungodly people have crept their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” (NLT)
God’s judgment against every lying teacher is actively accumulating wrath until each person is tossed into hell.
Satan’s greatest ambassadors are not pimps, politicians, or power-brokers, but pastors. His priests do not peddle a different religion, but a deadly perversion of the truth. His troops do not make a full-out frontal assault, but work as agents, sneaking into any opposing army. Therefore, we must always remain vigilant.
Matthew 7:15-16a
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits.”
And their destruction is not asleep… God is never late, never early, He’s always right on time… therefore God’s justice doesn’t sleep, and it is never late.
Bible commentary says, “Peter personifies eternal damnation as if it were an executioner, who remains fully awake, ready to administer God’s just sentence of condemnation on those who falsify His Word.”
2 Peter 2:4
“For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;”
Peter starts verse 4 with the phrase “For if,” which shouldn’t be taken to imply any uncertainty. A better interpretation of the phrase for if, would be the word “since.” Since God did not spare angels when they sinned.
There are three schools of thought with this verse. One, that it refers to their fall with satan in his rebellion against God (you can see this in Ezek. 28:15). Or, another thought is, the sin of angels that is found in Genisis 6:1-4…
“Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”
The reference to “the sons of God” describes fallen angels. In either case, neither has to do with God’s holy angels. And one thing is for sure, if God didn’t spare these fallen angels when they sinned, He wouldn’t hesitate to punish the people of the earth as well.
Hebrews 10:31
“It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
The third way to describe these angels is, that these are the demons who are now loose in the world, working for satan’s unholy purposes.
Eph. 6:12
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
We’ll never know what it is like to be an angel, but I’ve wondered, why would these fallen angels ever rebel against God in the first place, because it had to be so glorious to be with God in His kingdom.
The future for these angels is chiseled in stone…
Cast them into hell, this phrase is a “single word verb” in the Greek translation: (tar-tar-ōsas) it’s the name of the subterranean region that was even lower than Hades (hell), miserable and dark, and regarded by the ancient Greeks as the abode of the wicked dead, where they suffer punishment for their evil deeds.
Tartarus (tar-tuss) came to refer to the dwelling of the most wicked spirits, where the worst rebels and criminals received the severest divine punishment. These demons, Peter says, are committed to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment. The word committed means to turn over for imprisonment. It’s like guilty prisoners awaiting final sentencing and execution at the last day.
Rev. 20:10
“And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
Satan and his demons have a reservation in the pits of hell, but until that time comes, they will be working with all their strength to take down with them as many people as they can.
Does misery love company, or does misery make company equally miserable? I imagine the people who find themselves in hell might have to contend with satan and his demons as well.
2 Peter 2:5
“And did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;”
“And God did not spare the ancient world – except for Noah and the seven others in his family. Noah warned the world of God’s righteous judgment. So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood.” (NLT)
It’s hard to say how many people were around before the flood, but we can safely say that no one, except Noah and his family, survived. In Genesis chapter 6, we see why God did what He did.
Gen. 6:5-7
“The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and He saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry He had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke His heart. And the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing – all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.” (NLT)
Not only did God have to deal with the rebellious angels, but He also saw a world polluted beyond redemption, so God cleansed the world of its evil and corruption.
Genesis 6:11-12
“Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence (ḥāmās). God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.”
When Jesus described the events that will surround His second coming, He says to us in Luke 17:26-27: “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.”
Jesus was pointing out that although the people of Noah’s day were totally depraved, they were not the least bit concerned about what they were doing. They were carrying on the events of their lives without a single thought of the judgment of God. Noah is described in verse 5 as a “preacher of righteousness,” meaning he had spent years warning his friends and neighbors what the Holy God was about to do, but no one listened.
The depravity and ungodly lifestyles of the entire world at that time was enough to cause the Lord to “regret that He had made man.” This leaves us with the question, how does the world today measure up before a holy and righteous God? Jesus said that the world will be much the same as in the days of Noah before He returns to set up His earthly kingdom.
2 Tim. 3:1-5 [Paul gives us some insights]
“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.”
When we see the phrase, “holding to a form of godliness,” this isn’t a good form of godliness. False teachers display a form of godliness that can be considered an outline of Christianity without substance… it’s plastic and superficial. This makes them all the more dangerous. We are truly living in difficult times for sure. Romans 1 describes what it was like during the days of Noah:
Romans 1:28-31
“Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, He abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.”
Did I just read from the book of Romans, or did I read a commentary describing today’s society?
God preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others…
Noah’s life wasn’t easy by any means; he resisted the suffocating evil that was all around him. As with Enoch, Noah walked with God, along with his wife and children.
When we enter into an intimate heartfelt relationship with God through faith in His Son, He becomes our heart’s greatest desire. Not that Noah knew Jesus, but he had a desire in his heart to follow God’s ways and not the way of the world.
Micah 6:8 gives us a glimpse into God’s desire for us:
“He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Meeting with God is not an activity reserved just for Sunday mornings. We are to live in fellowship with Him. A. W. Tozer states that the goal of every Christian should be to “live in a state of unbroken worship.” This is only possible when we walk with God.
Many people attempt to walk with God, but they bring along habits, sins, worldly entertainments, or unhealthy relationships that all detract from an intimate relationship with Him. I believe God’s Word is directing us to always examine our relationship with Him, and that relationship should always be growing.
As a preacher of righteousness, Noah was reaching out to his neighbors, trying to warn them of the divine reckoning that was coming. Enoch spoke of this reckoning as well.
Jude 1:14-15
“It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
There was a flood that was coming…
Flood… (cock-loose-moss’) the word cataclysm derives from this word. Also words like cat·a·clys·mic, or cat·a·stroph·ic. It’s used to emphasize the extent of something bad or unwelcome, and certainly the flood that came was unwelcome. The flood waters rose above the highest peaks on the earth, destroying everything except the ark.
The world does its best to refute what God did… From Cascade PBS they say,
“But as people started to learn more about the rocks they saw all around them, they began to realize that the Biblical flood couldn’t have shaped the whole earth: There wasn’t enough water. There wasn’t enough time. Still, science and religion didn’t part company. When people who were studying the world came up with evidence that was inconsistent with the global flood or a very young earth, he explained, “they started to think that the interpretations one has overlain on the Bible must be incorrect.”
The world will do or say anything to discredit the Bible.
A flood upon the world of the ungodly…
Do false teachers today think they can escape God’s judgment because of their large numbers? A fair question for the ungodly. The fact remains that God destroyed an entire human race, and to think that God would look away from the false teachers’ deceptions is delusional at best. It’s as bad as saying, “there is no God.”
2 Peter 2:6
“And if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter;”
The explanation for verse 6 is pretty clear and to the point. To paraphrase for Peter, he’s saying, “Look at history, see what happens to angels, to people, to communities who manipulate, exploit, and play games spiritually.”
“If God doesn’t soon bring judgment upon America, He’ll have to go back and apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah!” This statement is frequently attributed to Billy Graham, and you can see that it rings true… even more so today since Billy went to be with the Lord.
A.I. didn’t like this statement from Billy, it said; “The comparison between San Francisco and Sodom and Gomorrah is thought-provoking, but it’s crucial to approach it with nuance and empathy. Each city has its complexities, and judgments should be made with understanding and compassion.”
A.I. is right in a sense. When it comes to the sinfulness we see in those around us, we need to extend God’s grace and show His love and compassion to them. This doesn’t mean we condone the sin, but love on the sinner.
Realistically, Peter is presenting a warning to those who are habitually immerged in a sinful life-style.
To destruction by reducing them to ashes…
God’s destruction in Sodom was extensive, and when He was done, there was nothing left but ashes. This was even more destructive than the atom bombs our country dropped on Japan. God’s judgment was so complete that the ruins remain undiscovered, and the cities’ precise location is still unknown.
The word destruction… needs to be seen as more than just a physical death if we look at Jude again:
Vs. 7
“Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.”
God’s judgment not only evaporated the people’s bodies into ashes, but He plunged their souls into eternal punishment. That’s what Jude is saying, “in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.”
Just as we found the angels to be examples, these cities are examples as well.
When the flood waters subsided and the world began to multiply once again, I’m sure Noah continued to preach. Noah would recount what had happened to the world, and we still talk about it today. Noah would preach about righteousness and judgment, and it would be passed on through the generations. Yet the people of Sodom and Gomorrah chose to live in sin and perversion… after all, sin makes you stupid.
The names Sodom and Gomorrah occur 100 times in 21 verses throughout the Scriptures and they are used, as in our verse, as an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter.
Matt. 10:14-15
“Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.”
When we receive warnings in the Bible, we should never take them lightly. This warning is to all future generations… that rebellious sinners living depraved life-styles must not pursue ungodliness, otherwise they will never be able to escape God’s vengeance and everlasting judgment.
2 Peter 2:7
“And if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men.”
God rescued righteous Lot…
Some people might say that this is a contradiction in terms, referring to Lot as being righteous. Perhaps we could say at best, Lot was a marginal believer. Some commentaries say that Lot was “implicitly superficial, selfish, and worldly.” For example, when the angels came to Lot’s home and his neighbors were trying break down his door to have sex with the angels, Lot wanted to throw his daughters to the wolves as it were. Later Lot hesitated when the angels were urging him to leave the city, meaning he wasn’t sure about leaving Sodom and Gomorrah. Even after he escaped God’s wrath, he displayed shockingly sinful behavior, including drunkenness and incest.
John MacArthur says, “To be sure, Lot also showed several signs of the Holy Spirit’s work in his heart. For example, his reverence toward the holy angels who visited him provided a stark contrast to the perverted advances of his neighbors. And, although he was initially hesitant to leave the city, he ultimately obeyed God’s command and even warned his son-in-law about the impending doom. Furthermore, when he finally left, he obediently refused to look back.”
So we can say that Lot, like Abraham, is an Old Testament illustration of justification. Our verse says Lot was oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men.
By this oppression, Lot had a hatred for the sin of those around him; this was a sign that Lot was a true believer.
Psalm 97:10
“Hate evil, you who love the Lord, who preserves the souls of His godly ones; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.”
Sometimes in our flesh, sin might seem attractive, but like Lot, we should find sinful lifestyles as oppressive.
2 Peter 2:8
“(For by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),”
Here we have a parenthetical statement from Peter. Parenthetical means it is a word or words added to a sentence without changing the meaning or grammar of the original sentence. In this statement from Peter, it further supports the righteousness of Lot.
The point Peter was making is as if you found yourself living in the epicenter of a homosexual community and you were stuck there, perhaps because of financial reasons, with no way to get out, you could find that your soul was tormented day after day by their lawless deeds. Yes, you try to be a good witness showing God’s love when you can, but you are surrounded by evil debauchery everywhere you turn. Maybe that’s how Lot felt. We can say Lot was grieved to the point of inner torture.
I’ll close tonight with a thought from pastor Jon Courson, “Peter calls Lot a righteous man who was vexed, grieved, bothered by the pollution and sin surrounding him. This tells me a couple of things. First, we don’t know what’s going on in the heart of a man. We may think, “That guy’s in Sodom, or she’s in sin,” but because we don’t know what’s going on deep within them, we shouldn’t judge them.
“The heart is deceitful,” Jeremiah tells us, “and desperately wicked above all things. Who can know it?”
That’s why the psalmist would say, “Search my heart, Lord, and see if there would be any wicked way in me.” We don’t even have the ability to know our own hearts, much less the hearts of others.
Peter’s account of Lot reminds me that the sins of believers are never mentioned once in the New Testament. In the Old Testament we see, for example, Abraham lying about his wife in order to protect his own skin, Lot’s foolish mistake in moving his family to Sodom, David’s murder of Uriah and adultery with Bathsheba, but in the New Testament there is no record of a believer’s sin. Why? Because under the New Covenant, the work of the Cross renders sin forgiven and forgotten. The Good News of the gospel is that if you are born again, you are justified… just as if you never sinned. Christianity is not based on good ideas or good views; it’s Good News, and I like that… a Lot!”
Because of the oppression of sin around us, we might think God is dragging His feet, but God sees all, He knows all, and His timing is absolutely perfect.