Although people holding different views might point to different examples, we can all agree that there are many, many false teachers in our midst, using all the modern methods of communication to spread their lies. And, as Peter points out, the church has never been immune from this problem (v. 1). Today, pastors and professors who call themselves Christians regularly abuse their offices, either by denying the Virgin Birth or the bodily resurrection of Christ or by proclaiming the “name-it-and-claim-it” nonsense of the prosperity gospel.

So, why do those who claim to be Christian insist on teaching things that are so obviously contrary to the Scriptures? It turns out that their motives are as ancient as their tactics. Peter warned his first readers against teachers who tell lies, exploiting their listeners because of their greed (vv. 3, 14). And every Rolex-wearing TV preacher, and every faithless tenure-holding professor at a “Christian” college is doing the same thing for the same reason.

Of course, there have always been those who have denied the truth of the Scriptures with another intention: because they don’t want to give up their self-focused, pleasure-centered lifestyles. Peter warned against teachers who follow their sensuality (v. 2), who “indulge in the lust of defiling passion” (v. 10), and who “count it pleasure to revel in the daytime” (v. 13). Instead of following Christ’s example of self-sacrificial, humble service, they try to convince their listeners to give in to whatever attracts or pleases them – because they insist that Jesus wants everyone to be happy.

But those who follow such teachers are eventually and inevitably disappointed. That’s because, at root, they have nothing to offer, providing as much comfort and relief as a “waterless spring” (v. 17). Those who teach people to put their faith in the power of the government, or the pleasure of sex, or the oblivion of drink or drugs are prescribing remedies that have no power to heal the root cause of all our personal and social problems – the problem of self-focused separation from God. Only the sacrifice of Christ can provide such a solution, and that’s the one thing these false teachers are determined to reject.

But to make matters worse, their followers will also share in their punishment in the life to come. For Peter warns us that if God could judge the world with a flood as He did in the days of Noah (v. 4), and if God could rain down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah (v. 6), God can keep His promises not only to “rescue the godly from trials” but also to punish the wicked on the day of judgment (v. 9).

And on that day, no academic or ecclesiastical credentials will serve as an effective excuse, just as no private jet will provide a means of escape. On that day, Christ alone can save us. May we trust in Him and His Word alone today.

II Peter 2:1-22 (ESV)

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.
3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;
5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;
7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked
8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard);
9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,
10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones,
11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord.
12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction,
13 suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you.
14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!
15 Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing,
16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.
18 For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.
19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.
20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.
22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”