1 & 2 Peter: Our Living Hope
Ryan Motta
2 Peter 2
“Adam’s first sin was not in eating the forbidden fruit but in allowing the false witness to become a resident of the garden in the first place”
Michael Horton
Four Characteristics of False Teachers
1. Their Method
2. Their Message
3. Their Character
4. Their Mission
“Be on your guard against false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves.”
Matthew 7:15
“For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no great surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will be according to their works.”
2 Corinthians 11:13-15
“The problem is not wolves at the door, but termites in the floor”
Os Guinness
“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”
James 3:1
“False Prophets eye your goods more than your good, and mind more the serving of themselves than the saving of your souls. O they may have your substance; they care not though that Satan has your souls. That they may the better pick your purse, they will hold forth such principles as are very indulgent to the flesh. False teachers are great worshipers of the golden calf.”
Thomas Brooks
“Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts”
CS Lewis
“And gradually, though no one remembers exactly how it happened, the unthinkable becomes tolerable. And then acceptable. And then legal. And then applaudable.”
Joni Eareckson Tada
How to Build a Stable Faith:
1. We must be rooted in God’s word
2. We must submit our entire lives under God’s word
3. We must rest in God’s saving grace
Discussion Questions
- How do we sift through the false messages that inundate us daily? How are we working to root ourselves so deeply in God’s word that we can see through lies and false teachings in light of the ultimate truth?
- God will make all things right. In the meantime, are we paying attention to how we live and are led today? Are we mistaking God’s patience for his acceptance of our choices and our lives?
- Are there any areas of our lives where we are making progress in the wrong direction and need to adjust our course? Are we mindlessly following our hearts in the search of happiness, or are we wholeheartedly submitting our lives to the God of grace and leaning into our new identity as new creations?
“The greatest issue facing the world today, with all its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who, by profession or culture, are identified as ‘Christians’ will become disciples—students, apprentices, practitioners—of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from him how to live the life of the Kingdom of Heaven into every corner of human existence.”
Dallas Willard
“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’”
Abraham Kuyper
“And to the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness”
Romans 4:5