This recording is from Willow Creek Church in Witter Springs, Florida, where Dr. Pete Owensin is our senior pastor. Today sermon is part six in a series called Generation Next, a study of the book of Second Peter. This message is titled Liar, Liar, the battle for the truth in the family and is taken from Second Peter chapter 12 verses 11 through 22. Now here's Pete with today's message. Thank you, worship team, as we have been led into the presence of God. Take your Bibles and turn to Second Peter as we continue our study in that book of the New Testament this morning. While you're turning, I'm suspecting that all of your parties are planned and all of your fireworks legal, of course, are purchased. And you are ready for a great weekend with family and friends. And I'm glad you're here. We continue our study in the Second Letter of Peter. It's the only letter in the New Testament, only book in the New Testament that I have never taught on at Willow Creek Church all the way through. And so we're remedying that situation this time as we go through this book. You know we typically teach through books of the Bible here at Willow Creek Church. And the reason we do that, now we do topics from time to time. We teach topics as well, but typically we teach through books of the Bible because we believe that the whole council of God is important for you. And if I just did topics I would probably preach on those topics that I liked the most or know the most about. And you would be spiritually starving at the end of the day. And so we get into the books of the Bible and we study through them. And today we're talking about liar, liar part two. We're talking about something that you, no doubt, talked about at dinner last night, falls teachers in the church. One of those hot topics that I know you've been waiting to hear and just wonder how this is going to meet your deep needs. Well we're not talking about it because you want to hear it because I want to talk about it but because Peter under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit says we need to know about this. We're going to be talking about truth and we're going to be talking about false teachers in the church. I like the person who told me my husband and I divorced over religious differences. He thought he was God and I didn't. Well there are religious differences and there are reasons for that. The text that I'm going to read today, second Peter 2, 10 through 22, is an interesting introduction by various scholars as I read on it this week. One British scholar said this about this text. He called the text that I'm going to read in just a moment, a marvelous passage of magnificent, invective filled with a fiery heat of indignation. Boy that's pretty lofty huh. I would never have come up with a statement like that in American scholar, put it this way. He called this passage a rampage of rhetoric. And as I read it, I'm going to try and fill it with how Peter might say, I mean Peter was not an introvert. Peter was not shy, Peter was not a scholar, he would sit back and he would not just say, now I want to tell you this. Peter was all over the place and I'm going to try and read it as he would because frankly he is upset. And the reason why he's upset, I just want to tell you ahead of time, is because he's a pastor. He's upset because he's a pastor and whenever a pastor's sheep are being told to go jump off a cliff by a false teacher and they start moving toward the cliff, Peter says, no, no, he doesn't sit back and he said, you know, it would be a good idea if you didn't keep going in that direction. He's going to be white hot with indignation at what they're being told to do because it's bad stuff when you're kid. And I hate to admit this but we've got a story in our family past about in our first house when Johnny was this big. And he got in diapers wandered out into the street. Now we were there and we were watching and obviously he's here today so no car got him. But when I saw it, I didn't say, you know, I'd be cool if you came back over here. I mean, I was all over him. I ran after him, I was yelling, I was, well that's what Peter's doing because these people, these people are being led astray. One of our early morning elder meetings, I can't tell you exactly the words that we said but sometimes as our elders were sitting around talking about you and about the things that you have been told by other people, one of our elders said, you know, sometimes I just want to say that is the stupidest dang thing I've ever heard. Of course we're spiritual and kind and sweet and we don't. But sometimes we get stupid ideas in our heads from false teachers. And that's why Peter is white hot with passion and that's why he says what he says in these verses. Second Peter 2, 10 through 22, this is God's word as Peter talks about the false teachers in the church. He says they're daring, they're self-willed, they the false teachers do not tremble. When they revile angelic majesties, whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. But these like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They counted a pleasure to revel in the daytime. Now remember these guys have crept into the church. So these false teachers are doing these things in the church. He said they're stains and blemishes reveling in their deceptions as they corrals with you. Having eyes full of adultery that never sees from sin, enticing unstable souls having a heart trained and greed occurs children. For saking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balam, the son of Bior, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. But he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a dumb donkey speaking with a voice of a man restrained the madness of the prophet. He calls these false teachers mad. These are springs without water, mists, and in Israel that's a very bad thing. Hey, wasn't there supposed to be some water around here someplace? He said they're springs without water, mists driven by a storm for whom the black darkness has been reserved. For speaking out arrogant words of vanity, they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error. Promising them, listen to this, guys, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption. For by what abandones overcome by this he is enslaved. For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them. As it happens to them according to the true proverb, a dog returns to its own vomit and a sow after washing returns to wallow in the mire. And when Peter first wrote that and when it was first read, the people about whom he was speaking were sitting in the congregation. Think of how angry you were at one time and wanted to tell that person face to face to face and you wrote it all down but you didn't say it. Have you all done that? Now imagine having written it all down and wanting to say it and then you said it. It's exactly what's going on here from Peter. Someone has said that Muslims don't recognize Judaism as a religion. Jews do not recognize Jesus as the Messiah. Protestants do not recognize the Pope as the leader of the Christian faith and Presbyterians do not recognize each other at Hooters. I've never gone there so I don't know. But I want you to know what Peter does is he recognizes false teachers and he wants you and me to recognize them as well. And so in this text he gives us three more insights about the false teachers that have crept into this church. Now I want you to know as I talk about these three, I want you to think if you have seen any but not in this church necessarily but around in the Christian community. And we always have people who listen to our CDs who are not in this church who are not Christians who are thinking about Christianity and I want to say to you. These characteristics that I'm going to talk about may be true of other people who are speaking as though they were Christians and they're not. They don't represent us. But we've got to be able to recognize who are the false teachers and who are the true three more characteristics real quickly before we sit before the table of our Lord Jesus Christ. False teachers Peter said are narcissistic daring self will they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties whereas angels who are greater and might empower do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. You remember your Greek mythology remember that Narcissus was the man who fell in love with who himself he fell in love with himself and it was a part of the curse that was put upon him that he would be gazing into a pond of water into his reflection in the water for the rest of his life he was in love only with himself. And Narcissus is someone who is excessively taken with themselves now all of us are pretty self oriented we are we know that we some of us who have a really bad hair day on a particular day can't ever get started well and we all tend to be a little self focused and self conscious. Jesus remember what Jesus said at one time when he said very powerfully as he was talking about loving others he said love your neighbor as as yourself now that's a profound statement that Jesus made because in that statement he's saying I don't care how insecure you are. I don't I don't care how inferior you feel you still have the tendency to love yourself more than anybody else you love yourself first night you two and so that's we all have that tendency but a narcissist has stepped over the line even in a clinical sense a narcissist is someone who is not seeing reality and can't really care about others. I mean there's a narcissism is a clinical term used by psychologists today to speak of individuals who are so self absorbed that they literally do not care about other people and Peter seems to indicate that false teachers who will willingly lead other Christians astray other people astray are narcissists they don't care what happens to you they don't care if they give you false teaching even if it ruins your life even if it hurts your life Paul Johnson in his great book entitled intellectuals gives gives a little biography on somebody we probably all have heard of by the name of John Jacques Russo we've heard about it we've heard that guy's name but we don't know who he was well he was an intellectual in the enlightenment and and he says he says that Russo published a paper as a young man that wasn't very good but that propelled him to celebrity status and one of his contemporary said this is one of the strongest proofs ever provided of humans stupidity that Russo had written this bad paper that was accepted by so many people. But but Johnson says this and it's powerful he said Russo was the first intellectual system listen to this systematically to exploit the guilt of the privileged class he was the first to systematically exploit the guilt of the privileged class and how did he do it how did he do it he said by rudeness Russo was an angry man with deep personal wounds and so whenever he could get into the presence of someone who was literally smarter than him he'd be rude he'd be mean he'd be nasty and they would count out to him thinking that he was an intellectual what he wasn't Paul says that these false teachers intimidate because they are so self focused don't care about you just because they talk about God don't care about you they care about themselves it happened a very very very long time ago but some of you will remember it because you're as old as I am there was a there was a pastor whose name was Jim Jones yeah some of you remember and I hate to say this but he was from California in some of you just said yeah we figured it but it was up in northern California and and he ran a church called the people's temple and the people's temple was a church that really cared for the poor and the underprivileged and they connected with government and got government money to help the poor before a thousand points of light before any of them these common modern discussions about this Jim Jones was helping people right and left until something snapped in him was it the power was it the money was it the title I don't know but I remember him on TV being interviewed and him saying something like people people often call me El El Jan or El Roy he was taking to himself the Hebrew names of God you know where it ended if you remember the story the end of the story was that they ended up in an encampment in Guyana drinking Kool-Aid laced with cyanide and you say that'll never happen it's happened before it'll happen again but you need to understand that when we double with false teachers we are dabbling with someone who really doesn't care about you that's why Peter is so angry he says that false teachers are narcissistic it gets worse he says they're animalistic verses 12 through 14 but these like unreasoning animals born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed and then he goes on and I think we have the text in back of me up here these are very strong words he calls these teachers unreasoning animals and by calling them unreasoning animals what he's saying about false teachers is is not that they don't think as as much as what's going on in them is that they have unhinged themselves and given themselves over to their senses now I want you to know I have a dog and he's a wonderful dog his name is Jake he's a boxer and he's a great guy and I love him and I sometimes and some of you have animals a lot of you have animals a lot of you have animals and you love them deeply don't you when we first got this this great boxer from Alan Duke he looked at me and he said you know you got to figure out your price ahead of time and that was hard because when those animals of ours that we love get sick in all of a sudden to take care of their hernia it costs 450 bucks or whatever you know we kind of go wow how far is my love going to go now what you know that Jake and I have conversations and I look I grab him by the head that big go ahead and I look him in the eyes deeply we don't do this often but I have done it I look him deeply in the eyes and you know what I see right yeah Matthew I see ears I see eyebrows I see a lot of confusion now he's sweet and he wags his tail what's left of it a lot and he's he's sweet and he's but he's an unreasoning animal what he's going to have and I don't know what was somebody called into a preacher and said is my dog going to be in heaven he said I don't know son when you get there whistle and see if he comes there isn't anything going on up there and some of the things he does are very very shameful would you go to the bathroom in front of somebody would you eat and eat and eat anything and everything we're sitting there the other day and there's an napkin on the floor he ate it like that all right the point is that Paul that Peter is making here is that false teachers are animalistic in that all they do is gratify their senses and guys let me ask you this doesn't that sound like our culture today it was the first century culture I'll tell you people have lost their humanity what sin does it unhinges you from the reality that you are made in the image of God and it says go with your senses like an animal bottom line that's what's going on in our culture today it was going on in the first century today people are advocating that you do anything to give in to your senses our culture is not putting any restraint on morality or on behavior the restraint that you'll find is in the church today of Jesus Christ and if they were to take the church off the earth this country this world would be in trouble and so the reality is when you think about false teachers you have to understand that they are trying to tell you to go ahead and just do it as it says here there's some who are always trying to seduce us eyes full of adultery and what that means eyes full of adultery eyes always looking to use someone for my sexual pleasure that's what that's talking about not realizing that people are made in the image of God we're in a very difficult situation today like a woman I know who's leaving her family husband and kids because what about me and the man who I know who just did that false teacher says all right you have to understand what they're really about they're narcissistic and they're animalistic and they're deceptive of course verse 15 for shaking the right way they've gone astray having followed the way of Baelin the son of Bior and on and on it goes they are springs without water mis-driven with by a storm verse 19 is very important promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption by what a man has overcome by this he is enslaved for by what a man or a woman is overcome by this he is enslaved false teachers are so deceptive ultimately you have to understand that the big thing is that what they're advocating to you is freedom but what you will get from the freedom that they offer is bondage listen to what William Barclay said he said the aim of the man or woman who gives himself to such fleshly things is pleasure and his tragedy is that in the end he loses even the pleasure what is more for a while he may enjoy his pleasure but in the end he ruins his health wrecks his constitution destroys his mind and character and begins his experience of hell while he is still on earth you talk to somebody who's addicted and down the road of their addictions and they will tell you that life is hell they will tell you that suicide is very attractive the Bible didn't say that we shouldn't drink alcohol we're a grace church and you know the Bible didn't say you can't drink in fact Paul told Timothy your stomach has problems drink some wine and it wasn't grape juice it was real wine the real stuff Jesus when he made wine at the wedding of Cana of Galilee was made real wine I don't know if it was aged I don't know that much about that kind of stuff all I know is that was real wine okay the Bible didn't say you can't have alcohol but some of you should never ever ever touch it some of you have addictive personalities and you can't deal with it not legalism not legalism but some of you should say so far I don't care what the I don't care what the offering is the reality is if your senses tend to be taken over by anything you got that's the very thing that offers you freedom off I just had that I'm free no you're not students your friends are saying come on let's do this party let's go let's have fun let's come loose I mean you're way from everybody your parents so I just do this they're offering you bondage you don't more more we're seeing young adults graduate from college football and alcoholics we're seeing kids 14 15 more more it's not freedom that's a life of bondage and there's such a deception going on out there and they encourage you to get involved with them the cliche is true misery loves company so true it does who are you around who influences you Peter's tirade is here to tell us that false teachers are deceptive and they want you chained up I don't want to add any more people to my list that I'm praying for about freedom from alcohol or substances or love you guys and I'll pray for you some of you will never ever ever get unhinged from that it's a deception I don't know how these people get into the church but versus 20 and follow and tell us that they do they get into the church and they affect Christians he warns us about these false teachers how do how do these false teachers get into the church what's kind of like those of you have beach houses and moms done that drive you crazy when you come in and they're sand everywhere let me ask you this how does the sand get in there you're surrounded by it how can it not get in there how do false teachers get into the church we're surrounded with it that's going to happen they get in here and so Peter tells us to be careful let me make some applications before we sit before the table of our Lord and the first one is this Jesus said you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is not that everything is going to go great in your life some of you are sitting here today with great pain and great difficulty in your life and I know it but you know Jesus and the reality is what Jesus did on the cross was to die for our sins which separated us from God which enslaved us and when Jesus died for you he kept those chains and he said he who believes is free the father loves you you're forgiven God loves you very very much and the reality is that the road to freedom is through Jesus and knowing the truth is in Jesus the truth is going to set you free he's ticked because the shepherd of the sheep is seeing his people chewed up by the enemy listen most of some of you have been around here for a long time know that I'm more of a Bible teacher rather than the kind of shepherd you know I don't always hold hands really good and I do hospital stuff but I'm not really good at that kind of stuff but let me tell you there are some things I want you to know that I hate and I hate it when you guys are let us stray I shepherd mostly through my teaching but it drives me crazy the thing I lose sleep over when you say which way should I go and I say this way you gave good I'm going this way and I said don't go off that cliff you go it kills me I want you to know I care about you guys in much the same way Peter cared for this group of people here and he calls us to be smart sheep to let the truth so sink into our lives and it sets us free over and over and over every day and we need the gospel of grace every day why we call you to get into small groups why we urge you to stay another hour and get into the adult Sunday school class is not so that you can fill your head with information but so that you can know the truth and that every day when you wake up knowing the truth you can say Lord Jesus set me free today help me to know what is right and what is wrong I'm not saved by doing what is right or wrong I'm saved by faith but don't let me get into the pit taken away by error dads my passion for you guys is that you would so be so know God's word that you would lead your family and engage and it's very easy for us to get so busy at work me too that we're not enough engaged with our families and to bring in to our families the truth and the knowledge of God's word I've had in the bulletin for several weeks about a class I'm teaching in the fall and I got a whole bunch of guys that want to take it and I'm so excited about that I can't tell you because I know that these guys are hungry to know the truth to set their to lead their families men you got to tell your kids you love them you got to tell your daughters that you love them don't let them guess at that otherwise they'll go run after some gorilla boy who will show them some affection tell them you love them and engage their lives with the issues of God's word moms moms I got to talk to you a minute because I know you get tired aren't there days when when your husband finally gets home some of your stay at home moms you're there all the time and you work too you come home and you are ready to just abandon your kids right then and there okay give me three or four hours and I'll be alright don't give up don't give up developing your kids is the most important job an amateur can ever have some works most important tasks you can never have you saw I'm not you know I'm married I got listen it's the truth I will set you free it's always the truth it's Jesus this is communion Sunday and the reality is we don't have to make the gospel practical it is Charles Spurgeon once said the gospel is like a cage lion it does not need to be defended just needs to be let out of its cage and so I say to you today as we take the bread in just a minute remember that Jesus literally died on the cross for you he is the bread of life he is your source of truth every day and he's alive right now to give you that nurture there is a sense in the Lord's Supper that as we partake of Christ through faith the bread of course doesn't change but through faith there is a spiritual encounter with the living God of the universe with the risen Christ take the bread asking him to fill you with his truth fill you with the truth about yourself that you're his and that God is an angry at you and that he deeply desires to set you free every day take the cup remembering that it connects you to Jesus that it is the cup of the new covenant you're not in the old covenant you're in the new covenant the truth is set you free and he'll never let go of you never let go of you because you're his as our elders come forward if you don't know Christ I want to say this come on forward guys I want to say this if you don't know Christ don't take the sacrament don't take the Lord's Supper it's not for you what we offer to you is a savior the bread of life what we offer to you is Jesus and ask you right now to embrace him and accept him by faith and then next time take the sacrament with us but right now what we encourage you to do is to remember there's all kinds of people they want to lead you astray and mess you up and they don't care about you but that Jesus proved that he loved you by going to the cross the proof of love is not so much found in someone who will say do whatever you want but it is found in someone who says I will do whatever it takes to bring you to the Father receive Jesus let's pray Father thank you that you love us so much that you get angry about those that want to hurt your children thank you that you get angry and even through Peter can express some of that anger to us today about those that would hurt your sheep so Father I pray that right now you would make us more and more discerning as your sheep as we read your word Holy Spirit would you make it make sense to us would you help us see how to apply it and now even now as we take of this bread with Lord Jesus you meet us and enable us to know that you are the truth the bread of life that fills us up and sets us free may we look for no other source of nourishment than you or Jesus thank you that you cared so much for the flock for these people who I love who you love more than I do thank you that you love them so much that two thousand years ago you came into this world and died on the cross for them meet us as we take of your body now through faith we pray in your holy name Willow Creek Church is associated with the Presbyterian Church in America our website is www.Willow Creek Church.org and our phone number is 407 699 82 11