The Greed of False Teachers

Praise the Lord. It’s good to see everyone this Sunday morning. I feel like I just spoke to you on the first day of the of the month and here we are halfway through already. So, we are on our second series. We’re on a series now of false teaching. We’re on part two of this series. So, I want everyone to turn open their Bibles to the New Testament. We’re going to Second Peter chapter 2:3. Second Peter chapter 2 verse three. I’m going to read it here in a second. We got the KJV, I believe, up on the screen. I’m going to read from the NIV. Second Peter chapter 2:3. In their greed, these teachers will exploit you with false words. In their greed, these teachers will exploit you with false words. If you remember from the first week that I started this series couple weeks ago, we talked about what the basics of false teaching is. We said how we have to be on guard constantly because false teaching is so cleverly disguised. I I hope you remember that berry example I gave you. On the surface, things look so good, but on the inside is poison. False teachers preach something that sounds so good. It sounds scriptural, but it’s only the half-truth. If you don’t know the whole truth of the Bible, you will miss the little lies in between, the false teaching in between. We also talked about the church. The local church is the pillar on and foundation of the truth. So if false teaching creeps into the local church, it can cause division. It can cause chaos. Today we’re going to take it a step deeper. I was thinking of an analogy on how to say this. And the best thing I can give you is it’s like peeling an onion. You know, when you take off one layer of an onion, there’s another layer and then another layer. So this morning, we’re going to talk a little bit about this verse from second Peter because in this verse that we read today, we’re going to learn about one of the main reasons why there is false teaching out there. Second Peter chapter 2:3. I’m going to read it again. In their greed The Greed of False Teachers -, these teachers will exploit you with false words. See, first and second Peter is written by the Apostle Peter. to the churches of Asia Minor, which is current day Turkey. This second letter, Peter is writing at the end of his life. It’s a end of ministry, end of life letter. And if you read second Peter, almost the entire letter is about false teaching. And then when you get to the end of second Peter, he is reminding everyone, be on your guard. You have to grow in the knowledge, the faith and holiness of because Jesus is coming back for his church. So when we read this verse, Peter is talking specifically when he says they in this translation it says they with feigned words that they is referring to false teachers. So the next question, why are preachers, why are pastors, why are evangelists, why are they teaching the wrong thing when they know the right thing? Why do people teach the wrong thing? And Peter answers that question right in the verse. And the reason is greed. See, most false teachers don’t start off as false teachers. They count they start off with a true intention. They have a true heart to bring souls into the kingdom of God. They may have a theology degree. They may have well knowledge of the word of God. They learned the truth. They know what sound doctrine is. At one time, they were called for a specific ministry. But somewhere along the line in wanting to be build God’s kingdom, their attention got distracted. Their ministry became a career or a profession instead of a calling. That’s a whole message of its own. And their heart wandered away because of this one word, greed. So what is greed? Greed is an intense selfish desire. Many times when you hear the word greed, you think about money. But greed applies to a lot of things. You can be greedy for wealth. You can be greedy for power, for influence. But ultimately the the main reason behind greed is this. You have this desire. And that when I say desire, insane, insatiable desire to have what others have. See, greed is a consequence of living in this fallen world. Go to the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve started off really good, created in the image of God. God, they were walking with God. They had a relationship with God. They had access pretty much to everything in the Garden of Eden. Then the devil came in and planted a seed. He planted a seed of greed into Eve’s heart that she deserved something more. She needed something more. They had everything. But she this listen to what the serpent says. Genesis 3:4. You will be like God, knowing good and evil.” And Eve got this idea in her in her head. I want something more. I want to be like God. What I have is not enough. I want something better. I want something more. The desire for better or for more is where the origin of greed started. And that’s why humanity fell and sin came into the world. Why do you want more? Why do you think you want more? Because you’re not satisfied with what you have. You’re not content with what you have. There is a need for more money. There’s a need for more material possession. There’s a need for more power. There’s a need for more influence. You see, when a heart is greedy, they are no longer satisfied even with God. Because you know what they’re going to say? When I have want more money, I’m good. I have power. I’m good. I don’t need God. I have influence. I don’t need God. Because money and power and influence they become your god. They become your idol. See in fact the Bible describes greediness. This concept of greed as idolatry. Because greed is not just that you want something. You have an idolike obsession that you are replacing that item, whatever it is, instead of worshiping God, you are going to worship that because that’s how badly you need it. Listen to what Paul says in Colossians 3:5. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature. Here’s the list. earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. Greed is carnal. It is earthly. It is of not of God. So when greed replaces God as your provider, you no longer trust in God. And now your trust is in material things. Your trust is in money. Your trust is in influence. And your trust is in power. This is what happens to church leaders. But this is what happens to regular Christians. Everything else in this world can become your security instead of trusting in God. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6 24, you can’t serve both God and money. Jesus is saying you can only give your heart to one thing. There’s no middle ground. Either you’re a servant to money and money is your master or you’re a servant of to God and God is your master. You can’t have both. So when you see a false teacher that is teaching in greed or having or consumed by greed, don’t be fooled to think that God is exalted. Jesus said, “You will either serve me or you will serve money.” If you choose to serve money, making more money becomes your heart priority. And that’s what greed is. Greed is a heart issue. From the beginning of time, God, if you look throughout the Bible, and there’s so many verses, God has demanded the heart of his people. He doesn’t want your tithe. He doesn’t want anything else from you other than your heart. First Kings chapter 8 verse 61. I’m going to read one of those verses. There’s so many verses in the Bible. One verse. Let your heart be fully committed to the Lord your God to live by his decrees and obey his command. This verse pretty much is saying God wants your undivided heart because it’s your heart that sets sets the course of your destiny. Your heart determines your destiny. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 11. I’ve read this verse before here. Ecclesiastes 3:11, he has put eternity in their heart. What does that mean? God created the human heart with the divine purpose. There is more than just today. There is more than just now. More than there is more than the riches that you can make in this world. There’s more than the influence you can have in this world. There is a divine purpose that you are here beyond this earth. And the here’s the thing, the devil knows that. The devil knows that you have a divine purpose. So what he’s trying to do is trying to distract you from that purpose. He wants your attention not on eternity. He wants your attention on today, now. Your momentary needs. Greed is about the present. It’s about now, immediate gratification. Greed has no concept of eternity. The devil, you know, many people wonder, you know, I I don’t I’m not that bad of a person. See, here’s the thing. The devil doesn’t need you to become an atheist. The devil doesn’t need you to commit murder. You don’t have to physically bow down to an idol. The devil just needs your heart. He just wants your heart. He just wants to convince you to misplace your focus instead of God. Your focus is elsewhere. That’s all it takes. He wants you to live your best life right now. Make as much money as you can right now. Get as much influence as you can right now. See, when money and influence and power become the priority of your heart, God is gone and now those things have come in. And even what the Bible says doesn’t matter to you. The Bible says Jesus said in Matthew, “Do not store treasure for yourselves on earth. Store up treasures in heaven.” But if your heart is full of greed, you don’t care. You want money to keep coming in. You want more influence, you want more wealth, you want more status. Greed replaces the care for following true doctrine. The Bible doesn’t matter. The truth of the Bible doesn’t matter. If false teaching is making me money, is making me wealthy, it’s making me powerful, you will go down that road because it all revolves around greed. Listen to what Paul says to young Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 6:9. 1 Timothy 6:9. We’re just going to read one one sentence of that. Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many grief. When you are craving money, when you are eager for money to be rich, you have this desire for power, this desire for influence. This can happen to anyone, but especially those in spiritual leadership. This c it can cause you to wander from your faith. The most important thing in the world is your faith. And your eagerness for money, your love for money could cause you to wander from the faith. Paul said they are wandering from the faith because they are so eager for money. Let me give you an illustration so you can better understand. And when I say illustration, this illustration I’m going to give you is completely made up. So take it in that sense. I brought my checkbook with me today and I’m going to write a $25,000 check to one person here. But for you to get this check, you have to do one thing for me. You need to call the police and you need to tell them exactly what I’m going to tell you to get this check. You need to say to the police that you saw a beige Kia van on the highway going over a 100 miles an hour and the license plate on that van was GZA6WY. Some of you are laughing because it sounds familiar already. You need to say that you saw this van going so fast it almost hit another van. And the driver of that van goes by Pastor Manu Thomas. You need to tell them exactly where he is. 2733 East Broadway. And he’s sitting in the front row in a nice black suit. If you do all of that, I will write you a $25,000 check. So, for 25,000, how how many of you would do that? It’s very quiet, pastor. I think they’re thinking about it. It’s okay. You work in a prison. Just do the ministry from the other side. Um, most of you most of you will think about it. Why? Why are you most of you even just thinking about it? Because with $25,000, you can do a lot of things. You can buy a new car. You can go to Italy like Philip Uncle did a few years ago. Head off to Italy. your kids’s college tuition. You could do a lot of things. So, when I said $25,000, even if it’s pastor money, you guys like, “Okay, some of you are thinking, “Oh, I can never do that to our pastor. I’ve known him for a long time. I’ve eaten his delicious lamb chops at Thanksgiving. I’ve had conversations with him. I have a personal relationship with him. I can never do that. But this is exactly what Judas’s scariot did. If you read the book of the Gospel of Matthew chapter 26, he betrayed Jesus for how many pieces of silver? 30 pieces of silver. That is the equivalent of four month wages. Modern day equivalent, four month salary. is what he betrayed Jesus for. Judas literally led the Roman soldiers exactly to where Jesus was. Remember who Judas is? Judas was one of the 12. He was handpicked by Jesus. Matthew chapter 10. Listen to this description of the disciples in Matthew chapter 10. Matthew 10:1 Jesus called his 12 disciples to him and he gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. Judas was one of the 12. Judas was empowered. Judas cast out demons. Judas healed the sick. Judas was raising the dead. He went out to preach. He was with the other 11 disciples doing all these miracles. But greed started to build in his heart. He saw the ministry that Jesus was doing as financial gain. And then he started to steal. He started to steal from the money bag. John 12:6. You all know the situation in that that passage. Mary takes expensive perfume and pours it on the feet of Jesus. And Judas’s response was what? Why was that perfume not sold and that money given to the poor? Why did he say that? And it says right in that verse, he wasn’t interested in the poor. He was a thief. He used to steal out of the money bag. Because if they sold that perfume, by the way, that perfume was worth one year salary. The wages of one person for one year was the price of that perfume. Judas knows if they go sell it, that money comes to the money bag. The disciples had a bag, a communal bag, a money bag that they would take money from that to give to the poor. But Judas had this habit. He would take a little bit for himself each time. He would dip into it. Judas knows if this perfume gets sold, that money of the perfume goes where? Straight into his own pocket. This is the Judas that walked, talked, preached with Jesus. This is the Judas that was empowered by Jesus. And greed drove him to betray Jesus that he knew so well. Now the question is why was Judas carrying the money bag in the first place? Weren’t there other better disciples to carry the money? How about giving it to Nathaniel? Jesus said, “Behold, an Israelite in whom there’s no deceit.” That’s a good candidate to hold the money back. How about John? John is the disciple that Jesus loved. He could hold the money. How about Matthew? Matthew is probably the best candidate. He has financial experience. He was a tax collector. He should be holding the money. But Jesus allowed Judas to hold the money. Jesus knew very well that Judas was stealing money from that bag. Because Jesus even called Judas, “Have I not chosen you?” This is from John chapter 6. Have I not chosen you one of the 12? And yet one of you is the devil. He was referring to Judas G. It was not poor judgment on Jesus’ part to have Judas handle the money. Jesus did that intentionally. He knew Judas was stealing. Why did he do that? Why did Jesus allow it? Because Jesus in Judas, Jesus was trying to show us an example of what loving money can do to you. You can’t serve God and money. And Judas was the real life example of that. Judas love for money took over his heart and his relationship with Jesus didn’t matter anymore. Judas took this 30 pieces of silver and he probably thought, I can do a lot of things with 30 pieces of silver. It’s going to keep me happy. It’s going to keep me secure. Money gives you that false sense of security. You feel like you’re set to go the more money that you make. But we know the end of the story of Judas. He was so convicted in shame and in guilt that he killed himself. How many people in the Bible once feared God? How many men and women who once feared God turned their back against God because of greed? Judas is one example. Balam, Ananas and Sapphira, King Saul. That’s just a few names. They once served God. They were once loyal. But once greed crept into their heart, they turned against God. Peter, this verse that we read today in second Peter chapter 2:3, Peter was part of that 12. Peter knew who Judas was. Peter saw the result of what Judas did. False teachers are so after greed, they don’t care about their calling. They don’t care about their purpose. They don’t care what the word of God says. They don’t care about their relationship with Jesus. All they want is money. And once they have this attitude of greed, they only have one goal to take money to exploit the church of God, the flock of God. So what does that word mean? What does that word exploit mean? Different translations have different uh words there to talk about exploit. But in NIV it uses that word exploit. Exploit essentially means to take advantage of. Let me give you another illustration so you kind of understand what what Peter is meaning here. Many years ago I had a patient who was a funeral director. You guys know what a funeral director is. He helps arrange funerals. When a death happens, he takes over and helps everything from arrange the service to pick out the casket to pick out the burial ground. And I remember, you know, I would ask him about his job. And he told me something very interesting that really stuck to my mind. He he said he said, ‘Hey Joe, you know, you won’t believe how easy it is to excel a very expensive casket to someone who’s lost someone. Why? Because they’re so emotionally vulnerable. He said, “I’ll go and I’ll show them two caskets. I’ll show them an $800 casket and I’ll show them a $15,000 casket.” And usually people pick the $15,000 one. He’s like, I don’t need to do a sales pitch. I don’t have to convince them because they are so emotional over their loved ones death. They’re so vulnerable. Their headsp space is so vulnerable. They don’t make they make emotional decisions. They don’t think through the price, so they throw all their money. Why does it matter to a dead person whether you picked an $800 piece of cardboard or a 14,000? They don’t see it anyway. It all goes into the ground anyway. And he was telling me, I don’t do anything to stop them. If they want the expensive one, then he’ll sell them the expensive one, even though it’s all the same. That’s what exploitation is. That’s what taking advantage means. See, he’s after business. His business needs to make money. He’s not attached to anyone. A funeral director is not attached to anyone. He’s just looking to make money to run the business. This is the same condition of false teachers. They will catch you in a very emotional and vulnerable moment in your life. either you’re in pain, physical or emotional pain, or you are suffering. And they will say, “I have a word from God for you.” And usually goes like this, usually something very positive. God wants you to prosper. God will open the windows of heaven for you. God is going to give you guaranteed physical healing because healing is the right of all believers. Many times they twist scripture. You’ll hear false teachers say these lines, by his stripes we are healed. By his stripes we have we are healed. Has nothing to do with physical healing. Nowhere in the Bible do you say do you see anywhere where physical healing is guaranteed. You’ll never hear false teachers say, “Jesus commands you to take up your cross.” They’ll never say that. You’ll never hear a false teacher say, “My grace is sufficient for you because my power is made perfect in weakness.” Because all you’re going to hear from false teachers is these three words: blessing, prosperity, healing, deliverance. They are trying to promise you a world where there is no suffering. So what? So what do they want from you? So you’ll put a nice check into their pocket. That’s their goal. They know that. So they will exploit you in your most vulnerable moment. They are not there. There are pastors. There are preachers. There are evangelists. They are not there to minister to you, to feed you. They are there to exploit you. They’re not interested in ministering to you. They are wanting to get something out of you. They want your money. They want to use you to build their kingdom. Remember a true shepherd, a true shepherd, a true pastor, a true preacher, they will preach the truth of scripture. They will rebuke, they will correct regardless of who gets offended. And this is a gentle reminder to every leader in this church, every spiritual leader in this church. Whether you are a pastor or an elder or a deacon, a Sunday school teacher, or you’re on the worship team, we are not here for ourselves. We have no personal agenda. We are not here to build our own kingdom. We are here to minister to God’s people. We are here to serve God’s people. We are here to feed them with the truth of scripture. A false teacher doesn’t think that way. He’s looking constantly to see what he can get out of the flock. Look at the life of Jesus. Forget everything else. Look at the life of Jesus and his ministry on earth. What did he say? As the good shepherd, John 10:1, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd.” The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Markap 10:45 Jesus said, “Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, to give his life as a ransom for many.” What was Jesus’ ministry about? It wasn’t to exploit people. It wasn’t to take advantage of people. If you look from the Gospel of Matthew to the Gospel of John, Jesus constantly chooses purpose over popularity. Jesus constantly chooses his divine mission over public approval. After every miracle, Jesus intentionally would tell that person, “Go to a quiet place. Don’t tell anyone.” because he’s not interested in making a spectacle. There were points in Jesus’ ministry. You can read this in John chapter 6. It’s quite an eyeopening chapter. John chapter 6. When you read it, Jesus, people are coming to Jesus for food and for healing. Jesus starts teaching them and you see that after the teaching, some disciples left and they never came back. The crowd left, they never came back. Why? Because Jesus teaching was too hard for them to digest. It was just too much. The crowd left. There were some followers of Jesus that was ready to make him a king. They wanted the Romans gone. But instead of accepting this offer to become king, Jesus focused on the sp his spiritual kingdom, not an earthly kingdom. That was the ministry of Christ. That is what ministry is about. But is that what we see today? Church leaders now are choosing popularity over purpose. They’re choosing public approval over speaking the truth. Even Jesus lost disciples. When he spoke the truth, even people walked away from Jesus. But what is our condition today? What is the condition of the Christian world today? The biggest churches that you will see preach a soft, watered down version of the gospel. The problem today is not just false teachers. The problem today is not that just false teachers have greed. Greed is also inside the church. Greed is inside the flock. The people that are within the church also have the same motive of greed. That’s where we’re in trouble. Listen to what Paul says to Timothy. We read this verse last time. 2 Timothy 4:3. The time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to hear what their itching ears want to hear. We are in a time and place, dear children, dear church, people want to hear an entertaining message. People want to hear things that are comfortable. They don’t want to be challenged with biblical truth. No one wants to preach about sin. No one wants to preach about hell. No one wants to preach about repentance because that requires too much. If I preach to you about changing your lifestyle, that’s too much. Instead, today’s messages all revolve around blessing, healing, deliverance, breaking generational curses. Now, there’s new ideologies that are in the church, new doctrines, new beliefs, in your vulnerability. Dear church, in your emotional state, in your suffering, in your pain, do not let new ideas take root in your heart. Do not let false doctrine take root in your heart. Do not add to the Bible. Do not subtract from the Bible. The Bible, that Bible that you hold is all sufficient. Listen to this ver word from Proverbs. Proverbs 30 5 and 6, every word of God is flawless. One translation says, “Every word of God is pure. Do not add to his words or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.” When you say statements about God that is not true, when you teach false doctrine, when you preach the false teachings that you see out there and you lead other people astray, God will prove you wrong. God will prove you to be a liar. And I’ll tell you something, a lot of prosperity gospel teachers say this about God. God has guaranteed you blessing. God has guaranteed you healing. And many people followed those things for many years. But if if you go right now to these same churches, they’re starting to empty out very quickly. Those churches that preach prosperity gospel are emptying out. Because people have started to realize this isn’t true. There’s no truth to name it or claim it. There’s no truth to the prosperity gospel. Satan’s highest priority is to pull you away from truth because Satan cannot destroy the Bible, but he can distort it. He can twist it. He can add to it. He can subtract it from it. And he uses false teachers as his tool. I reminded you two weeks ago that the pillars and the foundation of truth is the church. And those pillars have already been set. It doesn’t matter what prophet comes into this church. It doesn’t matter who has what dream. It doesn’t matter what what vision they see. They cannot add or subtract to the word of God. The message of the Bible is greater than any messenger. This is what Paul said in Galatians. For those of you in the Bible study, we discussed this from Galatians chapter 1:8. Even if an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than what we preach to you, let him be under God’s curse. Even if an angel comes down from heaven, look at the extreme of that. Forget that. Forget angels. How many humans have come and preached something false and that we tolerate that on our pulpit? And here’s the thing, and don’t don’t get me wrong, dear church, but I’m going to I’m going to tell you a little bit more bluntly. False teachers enter the church so confidently and misuse spiritual gifts. They misuse tongues. They misuse prophecy. They will come and tell you, “I had a dream. I had a vision.” And the church falls in love with dreams and visions. They forget what’s coming out of their mouth. They forget what’s coming out of a false teacher’s mouth because we become so enamored. We’re so in love with tongues and prophecy. When we hear false doctrine, we forget everything else. Listen to what Paul in Acts 17, the writer of Acts 17. We know this verse very familiar. The Berean Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica because they received the word of Paul with eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see if they were so. These Jews became Christians after examining what Paul had to say daily. Paul had all the spiritual gifts. He had tongues. He had prophecy. He had healing. But the verse doesn’t say they examined him for his gifts. They examined what came out of his mouth. Paul was very educated. Those Jews could have just said, “Oh, he’s got a PhD. He is very educated. Let’s just believe him.” You don’t believe people based on their education. Bethl Church, Bethl Christian Assembly. We need to be a church that examines the word of God daily. Every time a pastor preaches, every time we get a visiting pastor on this stage, speaking from this pullpit, go home and look through the Bible. Discuss what you heard with your children. Let’s bow our heads this morning. Let every Bible be closed. Let’s bow our heads. Why did I start this series on false teaching? Because we should never tolerate God’s word being misrepresented. We should never tolerate the name of Jesus being misrepresented. What may seem as harmless. What seems sometimes it’s not a big deal can really damage you. It can teachings can damage our younger generation. Our job is to equip our younger generation. Yesterday morning we had a discussion in our youth group about inherited faith. Our parents, the parents here, you have a faith. You put your kids, you bring your kids to church every Sunday. You want them to learn the path that you learn. You want them to walk in the path that you’re walking. At some point, that inherited faith needs to become individual in their life. But being a Christian is not about copying everything your parents do. They need to know what is true, what is false. They need to know that there is a world out there that will want to put the false doctrine into them. Because if you don’t teach your children what is true and false, I guarantee you the world will. The world will waste no time putting the wrong thing into their heart. Like Judas’s Scariot, you can walk. You can talk with Jesus. You can pray. You can even be empowered. But the moment your heart becomes greedy, you can no longer serve Christ. Dear church, you have to guard yourself against what is wrong, what is false, even if culture says otherwise. Even if majority says otherwise, we are responsible to bring to lead people to Christ. the true version of Christ. In this day and age, everyone is excited about anointings and breakthroughs and outpourings, curse breakings, slaying in the spirit, and people are being fooled that these mystical practices will cure them of their illnesses. I literally spend my entire Sunday evening watching Sunday services across the entire country. All the live streams is what I watch and you can see a trend of what’s happening in churches. The faith has become a big business in this world. Why do people walk away from the faith? It’s not because they hate Jesus. They see a misrepresentation of Jesus. We need to be h very careful how we preach the gospel to unbelievers. We need to be very careful how we teach the word to believers to our younger generation. We cannot add or subtract from the word of God. The word of God is powerful already as it is. Listen to what Galatians says. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm. Do not let yourselves be burdened by the yoke of slavery. When you add to the Bible, when you add new rules to the Bible, you will be under bondage. Dear dear child of God, dear parent, dear dear everyone that is here, if you feel like you’re trapped sitting here in church, if you feel like you’re under bondage, you are following the wrong gospel because the gospel of Christ does not put you under bondage. We cannot exploit people. We cannot allow people to be exploited. Souls are too precious. So let us be a church that stands to defend the truth. Let us pray. Father God, we thank you for the word you have given us this Sunday. As your people go from here, they’re going out into the world, into their schools, into their work, with their friends, with their colleagues. We pray that they put out the truth of your word. Cover them with a shield. Protect them from the evil one. When Satan comes disguised as the angel of light, give them discernment to understand your word and the truth of your word. We thank you for this service today. Cover us under the shelter of your wings. And all of God’s people said, “Amen.