The Characteristics of False Teachers (2 Pet 2:17-22)
Speaker: Rev Dr Quek SY
Date: 21 Jul 2019

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Sermon notes taken by:

Haw Hui Jen

There may be those who teach wrongly due to a wrong understanding of a doctrine, but when they know that they are wrong, they will immediately repent and change their wrong teaching to the correct one. These are not false teachers. False teachers, on the other hand, are those who “make merchandise” (2 Pet 2:3) of people. They deliberately teach the wrong doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ, thus deceiving their hearers. As a result, the false teachers and their followers are lost and will have no salvation because the only way to salvation is through the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 2:17-22 reveals three characteristics of false teachers:

1. Danger (2 Pet 2:17-18)

False teachers make empty promises giving people a false hope of salvation. They are likened to wells without water” and clouds that are carried with a tempest” which do not lead to provision of water. False teachers are condemned because they teach a false gospel. An example is the health-and-wealth gospel. It focuses on the physical health and material wealth of people. As a result, they do not know the true Gospel of Jesus Christ that Jesus came to live and die on earth, to take away our sins, so that we can be saved to live a holy life to glorify God.

2. Deeper bondage (2 Pet 2:19-20)

Believers of the false gospel will think that they are saints, when they are still living under the bondage of sin. Thus, when presented with the true gospel, they will reject it thinking that they are already saved. The false teachers will continue to deceive them and lure them into thinking that they are living godly lives when, in actual fact, they are living in carnality and growing deeper in the bondage of sin.

3. Damage souls (2 Pet 2:21-22)

Those who follow these false teachers will continue to believe in their false gospels because their eyes are blinded. They may talk and look like Christians, but they are not true Christians for they do not believe in the true gospel. Their hearts will be hardened to the point that they can never see the true Jesus Christ, and thus cannot be truly saved.

True believers of Jesus will study God’s Word diligently and walk close to God so that they will not be deceived by false teachers. Let us be very careful of these false teachers and their deception in these perilous last days.



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