EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/18/2025 7:35 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “Their Sphere”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: (2 Peter 2:1-a)
Message of the verses: “But false prophets arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you,”
I promise that I will try and look at this verse this evening, as in last night’s evening SD I was writing some things that I thought was necessary, and so I did not get to look at this partial verse from 2 Peter.
I will now begin with a quote from John MacArthur: “Having discussed the sure word of truth (1:19-21), Peter now shifts his focus to the deceptive words of false prophets (chapter 2). The coordinate conjunction but marks this contrasting transition. Through genuine prophets, God has spoken the truth to His people, but, through false prophets, Satan has always tried to obscure or contaminate God’s message. As servants of the Deceiver, false prophets propagate lies and falsehood in their systematic attack on the truth.” Now take a look at the following verse from “2 Corinthians 11:14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”
“Throughout history, these spiritual mercenaries have always plagued God’s flock. Even in the Old Testament times they arouse among the people of Israel, spreading their deceptions and causing devastation (1 Kings 22:1-28; Jer. 5:30-31; 6:13-15; 23:14-16, 21, 25-27; 28:1-17; Ezek. 13:1-7, 15-19). That Old Testament Israel is in view here is evidenced both by Peter’s terminology (cf. Matt. 2:4; Luke 22:66; Acts 7:17; 13:17; 26:17, 23, where similar usages of the people clearly refer to the Jewish people) and his Old Testament illustrations (Noah—2:5; Sodom and Gomorrah—2:6; Lot—2:7; and Balaam—2:15).
“Even during Jesus’ ministry, false prophets were still a serious problem for the Jewish people (Matt. 7:15-20). For that matter, the entire religious establishment was corrupt, with the Pharisees providing the quintessential example of false religion. Here is Christ’s indictment of those spiritual pretenders:
39 But the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter; but inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness. 40 “You foolish ones, did not He who made the outside make the inside also? 41 “But give that which is within as charity, and then all things are clean for you. 42 “But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 43 “Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the market places. 44 “Woe to you! For you are like concealed tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it." 45 One of the lawyers said to Him in reply, "Teacher, when You say this, You insult us too." 46 But He said, "Woe to you lawyers as well! For you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers. 47 “Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them. 48 “So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs. 49 “For this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute, 50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.’ 52 "Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.’”(Luke 11:39-52; cf. 12:1; Matt. 23:13-36; Mark 12:38-40).”
Just as he knew false prophets had assaulted Israel, Peter understood that there will also be false teachers among the church, which tells us Satan never rests, but he can only do what God allows him to do. Now years before, Jesus had predicted that in the last days the church would have to endure a variety of false teachers: See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many” (Matt. 24:4-5; cf. vv. 11, 24).
Now we will look at a similar vein, as Paul warned Timothy in 2 Tim. 4:2-4:
“2 Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”
John MacArthur concludes this section by writing “False teachers arise when the church begins to embrace the worldly culture around it. As a result, congregations no longer desire to ‘endure [hold to] sound [healthy] doctrine.’ God-centered worship and preaching is replaced by man-centered antics and entertainment. A biblical emphasis on sin, repentance, and holiness is replaced by an emphasis on self-esteem and felt needs. People look for teachers who proclaim only pleasant, positive ideas ‘in accordance to their own desires’ because they want ‘to have their ears tickled.’ As a result, these popular teachers (whom ‘they will accumulate for themselves’) will ‘turn’ the minds of the people from the truth, leaving them vulnerable to Satan’s deceptive influence.
“The warning from Scripture is clear; false teachers will arise in the church. In fact, the church is one of Satan’s primary spheres of operation. For that reason, the true shepherd must continually be on guard—constantly studying, proclaiming, and defending the truth, ‘so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict’ (Titus 1:9b).”
Lord willing we will look at the rest of 2 Peter 2:1b in the next SD, which MacArthur entitles “Their Secrecy.”
11/18/2025 8:18 PM
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