Open the Bible

Colin Smith: If we jump around the Bible, only choosing the bits that we want to hear, if we are Bible channel hoppers, we will not have everything that we need for life because we are not hearing everything that Jesus has to say to us. We become kind of malnourished Christians.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. And Colin, I know that we want to make sure that we don't become channel-hopping Christians. We want to know what Jesus had to say, not just the parts that make us feel good, but everything he had to say to us so that nobody ends up being a counterfeit Christian.

Colin Smith: Yeah, that's right. And we're looking at Second Peter chapter two. Not the easiest part of the Bible, but a very important part of the Bible. And we don't want to skip it for this reason: it speaks about false prophets. It speaks about false teachers. How would you identify a false prophet?

If you heard someone say something about "Oh, Jesus died and rose" and so forth and then was going on as a false prophet, what would be the marks of what they were saying that would twig your mind and heart to say, "I'm listening to something that's going completely in the wrong direction"? Well, Second Peter chapter two is one of the passages in the New Testament that gives us exactly the characteristics and marks of those who mislead the people of God. And so I think it's a very important subject for us to get into today.

Steve Hiller: All right, so let's get right into it. As you just heard from Pastor Colin, we're in Second Peter, chapter two, as we begin our message.

Colin Smith: Quick summary of what we've learned so far from this letter: that God has given us everything we need for life in knowing Jesus and God has given us everything we need for knowing Jesus in the Bible. That's a quick summary of Second Peter chapter one.

And you have all that you need in Christ because you participate in the divine nature. In Christ, the Spirit is given to you. And in Christ, you escape the corruption that is in the world caused by lust, by evil desires. In Christ, sin is no longer your master. It is your enemy, but no longer your master. So Second Peter chapter one is all good. And you might wish that the letter ended there.

But it doesn't because alongside truth, there is error. Close to the genuine, you will find the counterfeit. Mixed with the wheat, you will find the weeds. And outside of heaven, there is hell. And Second Peter chapter two is all about counterfeit Christianity.

Now, let me just have a little parenthesis here because it's important for us as a congregation to understand why we do what we do, why we approach ministry in the way that we do in this church. We're committed to the expository preaching of the Bible, which means that our normal diet in our services in the ministry of God's word is to work through Bible books in a kind of systematic way.

I have to tell you that there are some weeks when I am a little tempted to wish that it were not so. And this week is one of them because Second Peter chapter two is one of the hardest chapters in all of the Bible. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones sort of encouraged me when he said this in my reading this week.

He says of all the chapters that are found in the entire Bible, the second chapter of Second Peter is among the most terrible. Of all the chapters in the Bible, anyone who enjoys reading a chapter like this, he says, must surely be abnormal. So if you read this and you think, "Oh my," at least you know you're normal. At least you know you're normal.

Now, this reminds us, I think it's very easy to understand why many churches today take a channel-hopping approach to the preaching and teaching of the Bible. You know the channel-hopping bit? At least all the guys in the congregation know about this. We sit down on the sofa, and what do you have in your hand? You have the remote when you put on the television.

And what do you do? You ask the question in your mind, "Now, what's on that I want to watch?" And you watch for a few minutes and then what do you do? You flick the channel and say, "What else is there? I'll go into something else because I'm losing interest in the thing that was there."

Now, that is fine when it comes to television. Actually, moving off a channel is sometimes essential. But it is not good when it comes to the Bible. If we jump around the Bible, only choosing the bits that we want to hear, if we are Bible channel hoppers, we will not have everything that we need for life because we are not hearing everything that Jesus has to say to us.

We become kind of malnourished Christians. And if you're a malnourished Christian, you don't have the energy, you don't have the muscle, you don't have the resistance to spiritual infection that you need. And what is true of an individual also can be true of a church.

A church that simply picks from the Bible the things that people most want to hear can only ever produce weak Christians. I mean, we all want to be affirmed. That's just in human nature. But if a church lives on a diet of affirmation and only affirmation, the Christians will not develop the muscle or the marrow that is needed for a healthy Christian life.

Now, if this church took a channel-hopping approach to the Bible, you can be sure you wouldn't be hearing a sermon on Second Peter chapter two. But we are committed to hearing what God has placed in the scripture, whether it immediately appeals to us or not. Give me some encouragement to tell me that you agree with that this morning. Is that right? That's where we are.

Now, I'm working on the assumption today that if the Holy Spirit moved Peter in his last letter to the church to spend one-third of it on the subject of counterfeit Christianity, then this must be something of great importance for the church in every age and therefore, by default, of great importance for us in this church today.

And so with that introduction, I hope you will have your Bible open and let's apply ourselves to what God is saying to us here. Now verse one: there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. That's a definite statement. It's a matter of history that there were false prophets among God's people in the Old Testament.

You remember what the penalty was for false prophecy? We spoke about that last week. The truth was that the people rarely had the will to deal with false prophets, and so instead of being restrained or cast out from the community, they multiplied and just read the Old Testament. You will find that false prophets caused untold spiritual damage to the life of Israel. Now says Peter, in the same way, there will be false teachers among you.

Now, notice the phrase "among you." Who's he writing to? He's writing to the church. And he's saying to local churches like ourselves, ordinary congregations and gatherings of Christian believers, he says there will be false teachers among you.

So he's not talking about the false teachers that New Age folks that turn up on television and so forth. We expect that. He's saying, "No, I'm addressing a much more serious problem, and that is counterfeit Christianity within the local congregation, within the gathering of a church just like this."

Now, this reminds us that, of course, there is no such thing as a pure church this side of heaven. The wheat and the weeds grow together, always. Warren Wiersbe, perhaps one of the most gracious of Christian writers, puts it this way: Satan, he says, is the counterfeiter. He has a false gospel preached by false ministers producing false believers.

And Satan plants his counterfeits wherever God plants true believers. That's the principle of Jesus' parable of the wheat and the weeds. Wherever the wheat is planted, the enemy comes, Jesus says, and he plants the weeds among the wheat. Wherever God is doing a work in any church, Satan will always plant weeds beside the wheat.

So this is the issue that's before us in Second Peter. It's relevant for us as a congregation. We are not exempt from this. No church in any time or place ever is, can, or will be. And the obvious question is how can you then recognize a counterfeit Christian? How do I know that I am a real Christian and not a counterfeit?

Steve Hiller: What a question to have to pause on. But we'll take a look at the answer to that question: how do you know that you're not a counterfeit Christian, but a real one in just a moment. You're listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called Everything You Need for Deliverance.

You know, Open the Bible is a listener-supported ministry. We're able to be on the station because of your generosity. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to say thank you by sending you a copy of Pastor Colin's brand new book. It's a 30-day devotional called Grow in Love, a third book in our series: Grow in Faith, Grow in Hope, and now Grow in Love.

To find out more or give online, come to openthebible.org or call 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365. Or again, our website is openthebible.org. Back to the message. Here's Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: How do I know that I am a real Christian and not a counterfeit one? Well, that's what's before us today, and we're going to look at seven general characteristics of the true and false believer, then one distinguishing mark by which we may know that we are in the faith, and then two ultimate outcomes.

So first then, seven general characteristics of true and false believers, authentic and counterfeit believers who you will find in a gathering of a church like this. Remember Second Peter chapter one's been describing the true. Second Peter chapter two is describing the false. You put the two alongside and you see some very obvious contrast. The first is that the true and false operate with different sources.

Chapter one and verse 16, Peter says, "We did not follow cleverly invented stories." But if you look at chapter two and verse three, the false teachers exploit you with stories they have made up. We don't invent what we're saying. It's the word of God, Peter says.

But the false teachers, they are not drawing primarily on the word of God. They are developing ministry on the basis of their own creativity rather than on the basis of the word of God. The false teacher makes up his own message.

There's a different message, therefore. What is the substance of the message? For the true teacher, Jesus Christ is central. We have everything that we need for life and for godliness, how? Through our knowledge of him. It's through Jesus Christ that we have everything we need for life. So Jesus Christ is at the center in the true teaching.

But the false teacher pushes Jesus to the margins. Chapter two verse one: they will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them. Notice the word "secretly." You don't expect someone who is counterfeit to walk into a church and just openly deny the Lord Jesus Christ.

They'd never have any influence that way. And so what happens is it's much more subtle. There's just a movement away from the centrality of Christ. If you listen very carefully to what the false teacher is saying, he talks a lot about how your life can change if you connect with other people, have accountability—all of these good things.

But if you ask the question, "Is Jesus Christ really at the center of what he's saying? Would what he's saying still be true if you took Jesus Christ out or if he'd never existed?" The answer is Jesus is not essential to what he's saying. It's basically sociological. It's basically people in community.

And Jesus Christ is somehow at the margins, not at the center. And therefore he does not get the glory. And that is one of the key distinctions between the true and the false. The true and the false are in a different position, thirdly. The true Christian escapes the corruption in the world caused by evil desires, chapter one and verse four.

But listen to how Peter describes the counterfeit, chapter two and verse 19: they promise freedom but they themselves are slaves of depravity, because a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. So two very different dynamics at work here.

The true believer is one who is escaping the corruption that is caused by evil desires. The false believer is one who is mastered by the corruption of evil desires and his position has not changed. Fourthly, there's a different character.

The true believer we saw from chapter one and verse five, he is pursuing goodness and knowledge and self-control and perseverance and godliness and brotherly kindness and love. What is the counterfeit Christian marked by? Well, verse 10: arrogance, slander. Verse 14: experts in greed. Eyes full of adultery, verse 14.

And notice in verse 10 that Peter especially underlines that the false teacher, the counterfeit believer, is one who despises authority. In other words, if within you there is a deep and intense despising of authority, you always fight it, you need to check your spiritual condition. That is not saying something that is encouraging about where you are at. That's what we learn here.

Fifth, the true and the false make a different appeal. And if you're listening to a Christian teacher or you're listening to a Christian counselor, it's always worth asking the question, "What are they appealing to here?" The true teacher appeals to scripture, chapter one and verse 19.

We have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you'll do well to pay attention to it. Why should you listen to what I am saying, the true teacher says? Because it's the word of God. But when you come to the false teacher in chapter two and verse 18, notice that he appeals to the lustful desires of sinful human nature.

In other words, while the true teacher shapes his message by saying, "What is in God's word and how can I say it well?" the false teacher starts from saying, "What do people want to hear? What is really going to ring the bell with the folks?" and works from there. This is a distinguishing mark: appealing to the fallenness of human nature.

And then there's a different fruit. What fruit comes from these ministries? What fruit grows in the lives of these different people? The true believer, chapter one and verse eight, we saw is effective and productive in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus.

But the counterfeit believer, chapter two and verse 17, is like a spring without water. What a phrase that is. Promising much, delivering little. A spring without water. And then, of course, there is a different end. If you ask about the ultimate end of a true and a false believer, this is the most disturbing contrast of all.

Chapter one and verse 11: the true believer receives a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But the false believer, chapter two and verse one, will experience swift destruction. And their condemnation has long been hanging over them, verse three. Their destruction has not been sleeping.

Now, only an abnormal person would find any pleasure in this, but we're trying to take into our minds and hearts here what the word of God is saying. And remember that our Lord Jesus Christ said that on the last day, there would be many who had been involved in ministry in his name and he would say to them on the last day, "Depart from me. I never knew you."

Many who'd been involved in ministry in his name and he would say, "Depart from me. I never knew you." Now, who are these people? Well, surely they are the ones that Peter is speaking about here: the counterfeit believers who he's saying will be found in every church. The weeds planted alongside the wheat.

And there are these great differences between the true, the authentic, and the counterfeit; the true and the false. The counterfeit believer professes some kind of faith, has some kind of experience, but it's a different source, it's a different message, he's in a different position, different character, different appeal, different fruit, and a different end.

Now, that leaves us with the obvious question, "Boy, how can I be sure that I am a true believer?" Now, we're going to come to the answer to that question clearly in just a moment. But I want just to make two applications before we leave this distinction between the true and the false.

The first is this: the word of God says to Christian churches, there will be false teachers among you. Is there anyone who really thinks that when the word of God makes such a categorical statement about the true and the counterfeit being alongside each other, that somehow this is nothing to do with us and that we would never know anything of that here? Is anyone who's arrogant enough to think that? Surely not.

What this means then is that the church needs to be protected. The reason that the church needs to be protected is that amongst the many wonderful people who come through the doors of the church each year, there will be some who would do the church more harm than good.

They may seem the nicest people in the world, but they do not believe in the authority of the Bible and they do not believe in the exclusivity of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They have religious interest and they want to be involved in ministry, but they have a different source, a different message, a different position, different character, different appeal, different fruit, and a different end.

And we must welcome such people because they need Christ as much as we do. But we must not allow them to have influence within the church. And part of the responsibility of pastors and of elders is to protect the flock of God. Remember Paul said there are wolves who would come in sheep's clothing.

And if we've understood this important teaching that Peter gives in his last letter to the church, you'll understand that the church needs to be protected. You will be very grateful to those who are charged with that heavy responsibility and you will pray for them as they discharge that for the good of the flock. Is that clear from this passage of scripture?

There's a second application and it's simply this, and you might be able to use this evangelistically even this week. Have you ever talked with someone who said that they weren't going to follow Christ because they'd seen that some people who say that they follow Christ are hypocrites? Ever heard that argument as an excuse for not believing?

Well, I think Peter just blows that away and really gives us the way to answer that. I mean, isn't that the strangest, strangest excuse for not being a Christian? "I'm not going to follow Christ because some people who claim to do so are hypocrites or are inconsistent."

Look, what Peter teaches us here—there will be false teachers among you—just makes it plain to any mature person that skeptics will always be able to point to inconsistency and hypocrisy and failure in one way or another that takes place within the church of Jesus Christ.

But listen: the existence of the counterfeit is never a reason for rejecting the true. And Peter's kind of saying to us here, "Come on. Grow up. Don't be so naive." Of course there will be counterfeit Christians, and you will be met them and you will be disturbed and disappointed by their example.

But what else would you expect in this fallen world? Don't be so naive. And don't miss what's real just because you have seen what is counterfeit. And let's be done with that nonsense as an excuse for you staying away from real faith and real following of Jesus Christ.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and the first part of a message, Everything You Need for Deliverance. Today, really looking at seven characteristics of a counterfeit Christian. Next time, we're going to begin by looking at one distinguishing mark of a genuine believer and then two reasons that real believers in Christ can have hope.

Well, if you ever miss a broadcast in our series, Everything You Need for Life, you can come and listen online at openthebible.org. There you can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. Again, that's at openthebible.org. Another way to listen is to get the Open the Bible app and listen to Pastor Colin's teaching on demand. If you don't have the app yet, you'll find it for free at your app store.

Well, Open the Bible is a listener-supported ministry. That's just what it sounds like. It's your generosity that allows us to continue bringing you Pastor Colin's teaching. And as you give a gift of any amount, we'd love to send you a copy of Pastor Colin's brand new 30-day devotional book called Grow in Love. And Colin, what's one thing that you'd like people to take away from this book?

Colin Smith: Well, I think that most of us feel that we need to grow in love, especially when it comes to loving those with whom we deeply disagree. But here's the question: do you think it's possible for you to become a more loving person than you are right now?

See, the thing is, if it simply depended on what you can generate from within yourself, the answer would have to be no. Our love would depend on our experience and if we hadn't been well-loved by others, well, we wouldn't be able to give love to others.

But the good news is that love really can be learned. It's possible to grow in love and God's Holy Spirit is given to every Christian believer for this purpose. So the thing I'd want people to take away from this is the wonderful hope that as you experience the love of God poured into your own heart by the power of the Holy Spirit, so you will be better able to love others really well.

Steve Hiller: Well, we want to send you, as our way of saying thank you for your financial support, a copy of Pastor Colin's new book, Grow in Love. You can find out more online at openthebible.org or you can give your gift over the phone by calling 1-877-OPEN-365. Again, that's openthebible.org or 1-877-673-6365. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening and I hope you'll join us next time.

This program is a listener-supported production of Open the Bible.

At Open the Bible, we're grateful for like-minded organizations committed to sharing the gospel around the world. And to that end, I'd like to commend the work of Global Fingerprints. You know, in the book of James, God calls us to help orphans in their distress. That's a clear command, but it's not always clear how we should obey it.

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