The Characteristics and Destiny of False Teachers from 2 Peter 2:1-10a

1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, 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; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. 4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; 7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men 8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed,

I. False teachers:

A. Secretly introduce destructive heresies (v.1).

B. Deny the Master who bought them (v.1).

C. Gain many followers (v.2).

D. Cause the way of truth to be maligned (v.2).

E. Indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires (v.10).

F. Despise authority (v.10).

II. False teachers DO the above things because false teachers ARE:

A. Sensual (v.2).

B. Greedy (v.2).

C. Exploitative liars (v.2).

D. Unrighteous (v.9).

E. Reckless (v.10).

F. Self-willed (v.10).

III. Because of what false teachers DO and who false teachers ARE, false teachers WILL:

A. Bring swift destruction upon themselves (v.1).

B. Face the long-established judgment of destruction (vv. 3-8).

C. Be kept under punishment for the day of judgment (v. 9).