Rooted 6 – True and False Prophets

And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. (2 Peter 1:19–2:3)

How do you tell the true voice of God from the soothing counterfeit that feels so good to follow?

A Tragic Period in Israel's History

It was one of the most depressing and tragic periods in Israel's history. God had established His covenant with the people and given them a land filled with blessing. His law was clear: in obeying His commands they would experience continual blessing, but in disobeying them they would experience cursing.

Moses spelled this out plainly in Deuteronomy 28. "Now it shall come to pass, if you will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God... that all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you." But beginning in verse 15, "if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God... all these curses will come upon you and overtake you." The curse is as much a promise as the blessing.

As you follow Israel's history through Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and the historical books, you see a rollercoaster cycle—times of obedience and blessing, times of disobedience and cursing. But over nearly a thousand years, the overall slope slid steadily downward toward idolatry. Their departure from God became so severe that God ultimately determined to bring His judgment upon His people.

Jeremiah and the False Prophets

In the midst of these times God always sent prophets—holy men who spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. They looked at the Scriptures, books like Deuteronomy 28, and they looked at the condition of the nation, and the Spirit moved them to speak. Jeremiah cried out for more than forty years, from his youth until his death, calling the people to turn from their wickedness and idolatry and return to the Lord. Not a single person heeded his message.

Why wouldn't they listen? For one, they loved their sin. Their idolatry was enticing and full of immoral practices they didn't want to leave. The judgment Jeremiah warned of—coming at the hands of the Babylonians in the sixth century BC—didn't seem severe or near. And they loved to listen to a different group of prophets.

In Jeremiah 14, Jeremiah said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, the prophets say to them, 'You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.'" While Jeremiah preached repentance and coming destruction, others said, "Don't listen to that naysayer—he's always so negative. Everything's going to be just fine. Tomorrow will be as today, only more abundant." These were soothsayers—they spoke a soothing message that made everyone feel nice.

God answered Jeremiah in the very next verse: "The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their own heart." That last phrase is important. They prophesied the deceit of their own heart—they were self-deceived. They had bought into their own message because it felt good, sounded good, and drew a crowd.

False Teachers Are Assured

Peter takes this Old Testament reality and applies it to the church. Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, "but there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you." Notice the future tense.

That brings us to our first point: false teachers are assured. It's not a maybe; it's a guarantee, and Jesus Himself prophesied it. Three times in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 He warns: "For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ'" (v. 5); "Then many false prophets will rise up" (v. 11); "For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the very elect" (v. 24).

Nearly every New Testament writer sounds this same caution—Peter here, Jude, Paul, James, John. Paul's last words to the Ephesian elders, recorded in Acts 20:29, warn, "after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves."

They Come In Secretly

Second point: false teachers come in secretly. Peter says they "secretly bring in destructive heresies," and Jude says they "creep in unnoticed." In my kitchen we have a brass U.S. Navy bell, given to us by my wife's uncle who was a commander. At dinnertime we ring it, and you hear the legions of children come running like Pavlov's dogs—we've got them trained. But false teachers don't ring the bell. They don't announce their entrance.

One of the most frightening things is that false teachers don't always realize they are false teachers. As Jeremiah said, they speak the deceit of their own hearts. How can that be? Because they preach a message that feels good to themselves and is appetizing to the people. Paul warned Timothy that in the last days people would heap up for themselves teachers who tickle their ears. False teaching is usually not a message that causes discomfort; it's a soothing, attractive message, so both the teacher and the hearers can be deceived.

Confirmed by the Scriptures

What exactly is wrong with the message? Simply this: it does not align with Scripture. Look back at verse 19: "And so we have the prophetic word confirmed." Peter preached Jesus Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection as the confirmation of the prophetic word of the Old Testament. Paul says the same in 1 Corinthians 15—"Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures... was buried, and... rose again according to the Scriptures." The message must line up with what the Scriptures say.

Peter says we "do well to heed" the message confirmed by the Scriptures—which means if it is not confirmed by the Scriptures, you don't have to heed it. This is exactly what Moses told Israel about false prophets in Deuteronomy: if it doesn't line up, don't heed it, and don't be afraid of it. That requires us to be students of Scripture, able to check the message and confirm that what is taught aligns with God's Word.

Be a Berean

A person who checks the message against Scripture is often called a Berean. In Acts 17, after Paul preached in Philippi and Thessalonica, he came to Berea. The Scripture says, "These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so."

Paul went into the synagogue and told them their long-awaited Messiah had come in Jesus of Nazareth, who died on a cross and rose from the dead—and that he himself had seen the risen Jesus. The Bereans went home and searched the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Two thousand years later we still call people who do this "good Bereans."

Here at Cross Connection we do our best to show from the Scriptures where the truth we share comes from—we're not making things up. But even so, you should be a Berean and search the Scriptures yourself. Be fair-minded; be a noble Christian; heed only those things that line up with the Word.

Destructive Heresies

Third point: false teachers and their teachings are destructive. They "secretly bring in destructive heresies." The word heresy simply means a message that diverges from the generally accepted teaching. Not all heresies are destructive. You might come from a background where you regard a different style of worship—a guitar, drums—as heresy, or a different manner of taking communion as strange. That's "heresy" only in the basic sense of being different; it isn't damnable.

The King James calls them "damnable heresies." A destructive heresy is a divergent teaching that leads to destruction or damnation—a teaching that leads you away from Christ rather than closer to Him. Peter identifies it: they secretly bring in destructive heresies "even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction." The result is damnation.

When it says "denying the Lord who bought them," is this a denial of the lordship of Jesus or of His redemptive work? Yes and yes—either one is bad. If someone denies the lordship of Jesus Christ, they expose themselves to swift damnation at the judgment of God. And if someone denies the necessity or the sufficiency of the redemptive work of Jesus—"I don't need the cross," or "the cross isn't enough"—they too expose themselves to swift damnation.

Heresies Throughout Church History

Would anyone actually teach such things and still call themselves Christian? Church history says yes. As early as the second century, one of the first heresies was adoptionism, which taught that Jesus was not divine—just a man, not God, and therefore not Lord. They said God merely put His Spirit on Him at His baptism. But this contradicts John's Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word... and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." He is fully God and fully man—the hypostatic union.

In the fourth century, Arianism taught much the same: Jesus was just a man and therefore not Lord. Then the pendulum swung the other way. In the fifth century, docetism taught that Jesus is God but not truly human—He only appeared in some spiritual form. The problem is that this empties His redemptive work of its power; it is not a sufficient, fully human sacrifice. Also in the fifth century, Pelagianism taught that human beings are basically good and unaffected by the fall, so by choosing to do good you can save yourself and don't need the cross.

Every one of these early heresies, in the first six hundred years of the church, goes to the very thing Peter warns about: false teachers who deny the lordship of Jesus Christ, or the necessity or sufficiency of His redemptive work.

Many Follow Destructive Teachings

Fourth point: many follow destructive false teachings. Remember Matthew 24—three times Jesus says these false christs and false prophets "will deceive many." Why would someone who goes to church and reads the Bible turn to a teaching that denies the lordship of Christ or the necessity of the cross?

For one, none of us naturally likes to submit to lordship. It's not in my fallen nature to want to yield to Christ as king, director, and Lord of my life. Isn't that the very spirit driving the independence we love in our nation—"no one will rule over me"? Yet we're called to yield to the lordship of Jesus, who is not a harsh taskmaster but a Lord who loves those He calls.

Second, in our fallen nature we love religion. All 7.4 billion people on this planet are by nature religious. You may object that some are non-religious—but they're religiously non-religious, ardently committed to it. This whole mindset of making yourself better through rule-keeping appeals to our carnality, and the atonement of Christ cuts against it. The cross says, "I am unable to fix me; I need a Savior, and He must do it all." Our fallen nature doesn't like that, so we're drawn to teachings that deny Christ's lordship and the work of the cross.

Followers Foul the Witness of the Church

What results when many follow these teachings? "Because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed." Who is the "whom"—the false teachers or their followers? Both. Because of false teachers and those who follow them, the way of truth—Jesus, who said "I am the way, the truth, and the life"—is slandered and blasphemed.

Why do the followers, and not just the teachers, bring this reproach? Because every follower becomes a teacher by the very act of following. Every parent knows this to their chagrin. You see patterns in your children and realize one day they are a mirror—impatient, rude, obnoxious—and you think, where did they learn that? They learned it from me. People follow your lead whether you realize it or not, and the very fact that you go to church means people are learning things about God and the Scriptures from what they see in you.

Fifth point: followers of false teachings foul the witness of the church. We've just entered football season—think of the yellow flag, a foul on the field. Many of you have spoken with a coworker, neighbor, or family member who doesn't believe in God, doesn't go to church, doesn't study the Bible, yet has a strong opinion about God, the church, and Christianity. And so often that opinion comes not from God or the Bible but from people who claim to represent them.

Two Examples

Consider a couple of examples. There is a teaching presented as Christian doctrine in our nation, broadcast from buildings much larger than this, that says God exists in heaven to make you happy, healthy, and wise. I can find that message nowhere in the Bible—but many follow it. So a growing number of people who don't go to church now believe Christian doctrine is all about greed, all because of this false teaching and its followers.

Here's a second example, and I'll give you a trigger warning. There is something that is more a political ideology than a biblical theology circulating in Christian circles—a negative view of refugees, immigrants, strangers, and aliens in our midst. That has nothing to do with biblical theology and is actually against it, because God said in Deuteronomy 10:18 that He "administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Therefore love the stranger." God cares for the defenseless—the fatherless, the widow, the alien—and tells us to be like Him.

We all know John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." But have you heard 1 John 3:16 and the verses that follow? "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth."

There's a growing opinion among the non-religious that Christians lack compassion and love—when Jesus said they will know you are My disciples by your love for one another. Is it possible we ourselves have bought into a teaching that doesn't represent Christ, simply because it came from a pulpit or a radio ministry, even though it doesn't accord with the Scriptures? That challenges me. We need to ask: what do the Scriptures say?

The Heart of False Teaching

What is the underpinning of these false teachings? Peter says, "By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words." The New Living Translation sharpens it: "In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money." Greed and covetousness are the very aspects of my fallen nature, and yours—and that's why these teachings are so attractive to us.

How do we guard against false teachers, false teaching, covetousness, and greed? We could spend a long series on that, but there is one simple thing we can do today. About every seven weeks we partake of communion—taking the bread and the cup to remember His body broken for us and His blood shed for us. Jesus said to do this often in remembrance of Him, so that we are not deceived, as the serpent deceived Eve, away from the simplicity that is in Christ: that God became a man, died on the cross two thousand years ago, and that His death is both necessary and sufficient. We need to remember that, and we need to share it.

Closing Prayer

Father, we ask You by Your Spirit to meet us here in this place as we now endeavor to remember the simplicity of Your body broken and Your blood shed—the necessity of Your shed blood, the sufficiency of Your shed blood—and that You, by the resurrection, are the Lord of our lives. God, help us to hold tightly to these truths and to be those who share them with others. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.