An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders who are preparing to teach Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson on II Peter 2:1-3, 17-19 & Jude 17-23, with the title “Be Alert,” scheduled for Sunday, May 18, 2025. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

George Whitefield was the “Billy Graham” of the 1700s, with a widespread evangelistic ministry in both England and America. But wherever God is working, the devil raises up false prophets, and he did then too. “Hugh Bryan came to believe that God was raising him up … he sent a book of prophecies to the South Carolina legislature in Charleston, including the prediction that Charleston would be “destroyed by fire and sword … before the first day of next month ” Lawmakers promptly called for Bryan’s arrest. But before they caught him, Bryan already failed a test of his prophetic calling. A report printed in Boston said that he had taken up a rod and, Moses-like, attempted to part the waters of a Lowcountry river. He tumbled into the river with the staff in hand, smiting, splashing and spluttering the water about with it, and nearly drowned.’”  (Thomas S. Kidd, George Whitefield, America’s Spiritual Founding Father, p. 180-181) 

I laughed when I read about Hugh Bryan tumbling into the river, showing that he was a false prophet. But false prophets and false teachers are not really a laughing matter. They are Satan’s instruments to deceive and delude people, to distract them from God’s true way, and ultimately, to bring them to hell with him.

Thus the importance of our lesson from today from II Peter 2, “Be Alert” — what we are to “be alert” to are the multitude of false teachers and teachings which are bent on deceiving us.

CONTEXT:

This is our second lesson in the Book of II Peter, where we will spend one lesson on each of its three chapters. Last week we saw from Chapter 1 how God has a plan for His people to grow spiritually, especially through His word.

Now this week in Chapter 2 of II Peter (with some support from the Book of Jude) we see how Peter warns God’s followers against false teachers and their teachings. As we will see, false teachers have been in existence throughout Christian history, and they are surely present today as well, and call for our constant alertness and care.

OUTLINE:

I. The Existence of False Teachers (II Peter 2:1; Jude 17-18)

II. The Characteristics of False Teachers (all 3 passages)

III. The Judgment of False Teachers  (2:1, :3, :17)

IV. Our Response to False Teachers  (Jude 20-23)

TEXT:  II Peter. 2:1-3, :17-19, Jude :17-23

I.  The Existence of False Teachers     (II Peter 2:1; Jude 17-18)

:1 “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you …”.

Jude 17-18, “But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, 18 that they were saying to you, ‘In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.’”

Notice first of all it teaches the inevitability of false teachers. Peter says in :1, ““But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there WILL ALSO BE false teachers among you.”

He references how there WERE false teachers in the past. We see examples of this all through the Old Testament:

— In Exodus 7:11-12 the Egyptian magicians imitated the signs of Moses by throwing down their rods to become snakes

— In Exodus 16, during the Exodus itself, the false teacher Korah and 250 of his followers rebelled against Moses, saying that they were ALL holy and could offer incense to God, not just those God through Moses had specified.

— Jeremiah speaks against the false prophets of his day in 23:16: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; They speak a vision of their own imagination.’”

— In Ezekiel 13:9 God says: “My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations.”

The New Testament likewise continually warns us against false teachers:

— The whole Book of Galatians was written because of false teachers. Paul wrote in Galatians 1:6-7 “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.” I Corinthians is likewise full of corrections to false teachings and practice.

— In Matthew 24:24 Jesus taught: “For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”

— I Timothy 4:1, Paul writes: “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons …”.

— I John 4:1, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” Notice that descriptor “MANY.” There are not just a few, but MANY false prophets in the world! 

So the Bible clearly teaches us that false teachers both have been in the past; are now; and will be in the future: in fact very prominent in the time of the end. 

Are there false prophets and teachers today? Absolutely! They are present and they are abundant. As John wrote, “MANY false prophets have gone out into the world.”

??? DISCUSSION QUESTION???

??? What are some false prophets/teachings that we have seen in our lifetimes??? (You might also ask: ??? Can any of you of a friend/loved one who was/is impacted by a false teacher)

(Of course there are many, so be prepared to share a few examples yourself, and give your group some time to share — but you might also be prepared to limit the discussion at some point so it doesn’t take up the whole class time. But some examples of false teachers/prophets during our lifetime could include:

— David Koresh, who claimed to the Messiah in Waco Texas in the 1990s. He was killed in the infamous FBI raid outside Waco, and his followers believed he would rise from the dead on the 3rd day. But his grave can still be seen today in Tyler, Texas.

(By the way, I heard a comedian say of David Koresh the other day: this guy claimed to be Jesus but he wore glasses! “My Lord & Savior Jesus Christ didn’t need corrective lenses.” He didn’t heal the blind man, and then say, Oh I need to stop by Lenscrafters … Some of these false teachers are so off track it is almost comical. But Koresh and all false teachers are no joke. He was immoral, as we shall see, and his teaching and practice led to death and destruction, as false teachers always do.

— Kenneth Copeland is a false teacher who has been practicing my whole adult life. He promotes the “health, wealth, and prosperity gospel” teaching that healing is guaranteed for everyone in the atonement of Jesus (Isaiah 53 is about spiritual healing, not physical; and Paul wrote “Trophimus I left sick at Miletus” II Tim. 4:20). Copeland also teaches that we are little gods who can speak whatever we want into being.

— Joel Osteen is another false teacher, who lives in a 14 million-dollar mansion in Houston, and teaches that you can have “Your Best Life Now” (the title of his health, wealth, and prosperity gospel book). Genuine Christians do not get our best life now. We often endure great trials and difficulties now — and look forward to our best life in glory with the Lord. Don’t tell Paul, and Peter, and James, and John about “your best life now.” They would be the first to tell you, “your best life now” is not the genuine gospel!

These are just some examples; you know more, and can find examples of many more. Our day is living proof of John’s epistle and Paul’s prophecy, that MANY false prophets and teachers have gone out into the world. As I cautioned earlier, don’t spent TOO much time on this section, but do make it clear that false teachers are indeed all around us today. 

(DIG DEEPER: Tim Challies, at challies.com posted a series on “The False Teachers” that you can find by searching his website. He has articles on a dozen or so false teachers you can study/use for examples/illustrations of false teachers through history to this day)

II. The Description of False Teachers (2:1b-3a, 2:18-19, Jude 19)

Each one of our three focus passage sections include some description of the false teachers:

— II Peter 2:1b “… who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; 3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words;

— II Peter 2:18-19 “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, 19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.”

— Jude 19:  “These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.”

You could just teach through the different qualities we find in these verses, OR you could post these passages on a poster or slide for your group, and ask them to call out:

??? What all do these verses teach us about false teachers? What qualities does it indicate that they have??? And let them point them out, and you can discuss them as they do. (I like this if you have a group that will do it, because it gets them involved, and gives them practice in mining the text.)

(Answers should include:

— they are marked by PRIDE

2:18 speaks of their “arrogant words of vanity”

The false teacher is all about their own pride, ego, popularity, and attention. Compare that to the humility demonstrated by true servants of God, like Peter, who opened this letter in 1:1 calling himself “a bondservant” (doulos/“slave” of Jesus Christ.” Paul repeatedly called himself the same thing, “doulos,” “slave” of Christ Jesus.” 

— IMMORALITY/PROMOTION OF IMMORALITY:

NOTE: it is significant that ALL THREE of these focus passage sections point out that false teachers promote immorality:

— :2 “Many will follow their sensuality”

— :18 “they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality”

— Jude 18, “Following after their own ungodly lusts”

Virtually every false teacher or philosophy ends up in immorality or teaching/justifying immorality.

ILLUSTRATIONS:

— David Koresh, the Branch Davidian cult leader we mentioned earlier, had followers who later related how he was involved in polygamy and the sexual abuse of children. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Bible repeatedly indicates that moral impurity is a consistent characteristic of false teachers. 

— In the early 1900s, Nicholas & Alexandra of Russia were struggling to maintain their rule following a humiliating defeat to Japan. They were also very anxious about the health of their only son and heir, Alexei, who was a hemophiliac.  Martin Sixsmith in his history of Russia, writes: “In desperation, Alexandra enlisted the aid of a charismatic but dissolute Siberian holy man, Grigory Rasputin, who convinced her he could heal her son. Nicholas too fell under the charlatan’s spell, calling him ‘a good, religious, simple Russian … The the voice of the people’. He closed his eyes to Rasputin’s drunken lechery and told his advisers, ‘When in trouble or assailed by doubts, I like to have a talk with him and invariably I feel at peace with myself afterwards.’ At the same time, the tsar seemed oblivious to the real voices of rising popular protest.” (Martin Sixsmith, Russia: A 1000-year Chronicle of the Wild East, p. 170)

Again, Rasputin, this infamous false teacher, was marked by “drunken lechery” and being “dissolute.” This is typical of false teachers. 

You can use one of these illustrations — but you will not have a shortage of others to use, because false teachers are so prone to teach and practice sensuality and immorality.

GREED:

— :3 “and in their greed they will exploit you with false words;”

Greed is the motivation for many false teachers.

ILLUSTRATION:

(New York Post, 12/17/21)“Considered the wealthiest pastor in America — with an alleged estimated net worth of $760 million — televangelist Kenneth Copeland is in hot water after an extensive investigation by the Houston Chronicle revealed how he has been living in a tax-free mega-mansion worth $7 million.”

I already mentioned earlier Joel Osteen’s 14 million dollar mansion. Again there are SO many current illustrations of this in our society. False teachers are very frequently marked by greed. 

FALSE TEACHING:

— :1 “who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them,”

— We saw these false teachers are greedy, and we see in:3 the way they satisfy their greed: “in their greed they will exploit you with false words.” They tell people what they want to hear, to build their popularity and wealth. Even if it means denying Jesus and the true gospel, which they do. Thus the name “health and wealth prosperity gospel,” as opposed to the genuine gospel of the cross of Jesus. 

ILLUSTRATION:

Again this comes from Tim Challies: “The Sermon That Changed Oprah’s Life.” He spotlights Joel Osteen’s sermon, “The Power of I AM” and how it has been the #1-watched sermon on YouTube. But he also points out:  

“… let’s go back over the sermon, and we’ll just watch together all the clips where Osteen talks about Jesus. You can’t make this stuff up. Between the Bible pledge at the beginning of the sermon and the sinner’s prayer at the end of the sermon, Osteen mentions the name of Jesus a grand total of zero times. Do you see what he’s doing? He’s telling his church how to live without ever once referencing the greatest man who ever lived, the one who shows us how to live.  And this is the third reason this sermon is not great. The name of Jesus Christ is missing.”

It’s just what Peter says here: the sermon “denies the Master who bought them.”

( https://www.challies.com/vlog/the-joel-osteen-sermon-that-changed-oprahs-life/ ) 

GENERAL
Jude 19 adds that they:

— “cause divisions” — genuine Christians seek for unity, not controversy and division. (Though sometimes, as Paul wrote in I Corinthians 11:18-19 “I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it. 19 For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you.” Those who stand for the truth against heresy may appear “contentious,” but we do need to contend for the truth of God versus false teaching.)

— “worldly minded” (that fits in with the greed and worldliness the false teachers are characterized by)

— “devoid of the Spirit.” Of course, these people do NOT have the Holy Spirit. They are not saved themselves, and are not led by Him in their doctrine and teaching.

So these are some of the characteristics of false teachers. You could take up the entire session, or even multiple weeks, delving into more of the qualities of the false teachers, but these are several that we see in our verses for today.

III.  The Judgment of False Teachers (2:1, :3, :17)

We see at least three indications in these passages of the judgement that will inevitably come upon false teachers

— 2:1b “bringing swift destruction upon themselves”

— 2:3b “… their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”

— 2:17b  “These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.”

So THREE TIMES in our focus passages for today, God emphasizes the judgment that will come upon the false teachers.

:1b talks about their “swift destruction” — this word doesn’t necessarily mean that it will come about immediately, but that when it comes, it will be swift! 

+x I Thessalonians 5:3 “While they are saying, ‘Peace and safety!’ then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.”

It may appear to them and to those watching, perhaps for some time, that they are getting away with it, but their judgment will come swiftly when it comes. 

Psalm 73 is a great +x here: this Psalm is about Asaph, “the man who almost lost his faith,” as I like to call it. He says he was envious of the prosperity of the wicked, UNTIL God showed him their end. In :18-19 he says: “Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. 19 How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors!” You see that: “in a MOMENT … SUDDEN terrors.” 

Just like Peter says here, it will be “swift destruction.”

A powerful example of this from the Old Testament is the judgment that came upon Korah, who we mentioned as a false teacher from Exodus 16. When Moses pronounced judgment upon him, :31+ says:

“As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split open; 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions. 33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.”

Talk about swift judgment! But God says this kind of thing will happen, eventually, to ALL false prophets and teachers. 

— :1 says their judgment will come swiftly,

— :3 says their destruction is not asleep — it may appear to us sometimes like the judgment due to wicked people is not coming, but it is. (In fact Peter will address this some more next week in Chapter 3!) “Their destruction is not asleep.”

— then 2:17 describes something of their fate when they are judged. It says “for whom the black darkness has been reserved.” 

Several times in scripture, “darkness” is revealed as part of the judgment for sin:

— In Matthew 8:12 Jesus says those who reject God’s kingdom “will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Also 22:13, 25:30)

— Jude 1:6 says “Angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.”

— Indeed the realm of evil is called “the domain of darkness.” (Colossians 1:13)

ILLUSTRATION

In the 1300s the Italian poet Dante Alighieri wrote what has become a classic poem on his fictitious visit to hell, which has become known as “Dante’s Inferno.” In it he writes about the punishments he envisions in hell. He writes that it is:  “A place where nothing ever shines … a place where all light is struck dumb” (Anthony Esolen, Dante, Inferno, p 41, 47)

??? DISCUSSION QUESTION???
??? What do you think of this punishment of the false teachers, that it is in “the black darkness?”???

(Insights could include:

1) it is an ironic and fitting punishment. They lead people astray from the light to the darkness, so they themselves are consigned in the end to “black darkness.” “The punishment fits the crime,” as the saying goes.

2) it is also the opposite of the reward of the righteous. 

Revelation 21:22 says of the future of God’s people, “the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” So heaven is characterized by the light of God’s glory, but hell as “outer darkness.” That is sad and ironic fate of these teachers, and those who follow them. That’s why the matter of false teachers is no trite thing. It is serious. People’s eternity depends upon it! 

IV. Our Response To False Teachers (Jude 20-23)

20 “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on some, who are doubting; 23 save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.”

What’s our response; what should we do regarding these false teachers? Jude lists several things here, first:

— “Building yourself up on your most holy faith”

We talked about this last week from Chapter 1. Grow in the word!

Make sure that you yourself and your loved ones do too are strong enough in the faith, not to be deceived by the false teachers. 

Tim Challies, whom I mentioned earlier, has a great article on his website, call “Counterfeit Detection.” In it he writes how he heard preachers describe how federal agents don’t spend all their time studying counterfeit money, but that they focus on the details of what genuine currency looks like, so that then they can easily spot the counterfeit. Challies, who lives in Canada, decided to test this out. So he went to the Bank of Canada and found that this is true! The first and most important thing they do is study what GENUINE currency looks like — making the spotting of the counterfeit easier.  The woman he met with described it this way:

“She summarized the approach to distinguishing a genuine bill with the phrase, “touch, tilt, look at, look through.” The first step then, is to touch the bill. Because currency is printed on unique cotton-based paper, a false bill will often feel false. She described the most common reaction to the feel of a counterfeit bill as “waxy.” A person may not quite be able to describe it, but it just feels wrong.”

(The web address is: https://www.challies.com/articles/counterfeit-detection-part-1/  )

The offical’s words “it just feels wrong” is very instructive. If you have handled the original enough, the counterfeit will “just feel wrong.” And how appropriate to our dealings with counterfeit teachings? We don’t necessarily need to spend all our time on refuting all the false teachers and teachings out there — that would be all we do! But as Peter says, let’s “build ourselves up in our most holy faith.” Let’s spend a lot of time “handling the genuine currency of God’s word” — and encourage our loved ones to do the same. Then when the false teachers come along with their counterfeits, “it will just feel wrong,” (and the Holy Spirit will help us discern) but it will be based on the word of God. 

Build yourself up in the most holy faith, is the best thing you can do for yourselves and your loved ones.  

Then Jude adds:

— “praying in the Holy Spirit”.  Ephesians 6 tells us how important prayer is in spiritual warfare.

— “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” Remember the true gospel of God’s love for us, expressed in Christ’s death on the cross. HE is the basis of our salvation, not any cultish works or practices.

— And in some of his final words he shares: “Waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.” He says, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus’ return and our eternal life in glory. 

— He also encourages them to lead others to Christ: “snatching them out of the fire.” That’s one of the best things you can do in response to these false teachers. Show others the true way to God and eternal life.

NOTICE:  the focus of false teachers is PRESENT lusts, PRESENT greed — all the temporary things of this world (“Your Best Life Now”!) But Jude encourages the genuine Christian to stay focused on the eternal life Jesus will give us in glory with Him forever. Let’s “wait anxiously” for that, as Jude says, and lead others to Him — and not be distracted from it by the false teachers and their heresies.  

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