Bible Text: 2 Peter 1 | Preacher: Rev. Dr. Lou Saldiveri | Series: Sunday Morning Worship | — Pastor Lou’s Notes —

Intro: Ever since the birth of the church at Pentecost in Acts 2, the church has always had to beware of false teachers. I would like to suggest to you that false teachers are still an ever growing threat in the church today. False teachers tend to be slow working, sly, and self-serving.

In this passage, the Apostle Peter gives us some great cautions into this whole issue of false teachers.

They Will Operate Covertly
They secretly introduce destructive heresies
They deny the Sovereign Lord
Their mission is to destroy God’s work of grace
They ultimately bring destruction on themselves
They are convincing
Their motives are greed and pride
They Will Divide a Church
Ultimately, they will manipulate Christ followers to make a decision of which side you will take
They will destroy a person’s reputation to win others over to their false teaching
They manipulate people rather than minister to people
They play into Satan’s scheme to destroy the testimony of the church and render it ineffective
They Will Be Condemned By God
God will always judge false teachers
He will honor the righteous
He will punish false teachers

Closing: As we come around the Lord’s table, let’s be very grateful for the wonderful and faithful teachers and preachers who speak God’s truth in love. They don’t minister out of selfish gain or deception. Having said that, you and I need to beware of false teachers. Sometimes they come looking good on the outside, but they come with their own agenda for their own glory. You and I need to be students of the Word and be yielding to the Holy Spirit so that God can give us discernment to recognize false teachers.