But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. II Peter 2:1-3

False prophets or false teachers are people who are unsaved and are not teaching salvation by grace through faith. There are three things about which we need to be right. According to the Old Testament, the people were commanded not to mix one type of seed with another seed, not to mix different cloth in the same garment, and not to plow using an ox and an ass together. That was God's law of separation.

The ox and the ass represent the true preacher and the false preacher.

The true seed represents the Word of God. We are supposed to keep the Word of God pure.

Not using different material in one garment is symbolic of salvation.

We need to be right on the man of God, the word of God, and the plan of salvation. The false teachers mentioned in II Peter are unsaved people who were trying to bring something other than the true Gospel from the true Word of God.

The word privily means, to sneak in somebody or something. It means that something is hiding behind something else in order for it to also get in. In this passage we see that damnable heresy had snuck in by hiding behind something that was not a damnable heresy. These false prophets have a false doctrine they want to spread. They know we will not accept it, so they hide that false doctrine behind one with which we do agree.

For there are certain men who crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude 4

The phrase crept in unawares is used for two things in the Bible.

1. It is used for masquerading. It is false teaching being masqueraded.

2. It is used as entering in the side door.

This passage is talking about unsaved, false teachers or prophets telling us that Jesus is not the Son of God, but not putting it up front, or that the Bible is not the Word of God, but not putting it up front.

And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. Galatians 2:4

Our attention is turned in Galatians 2:4 from the unsaved, false teacher to brethren. It says there are certain brethren who have crept in. These are Christian people who have heresy they are hiding behind some truth. They hook us to them with something with which we agree and then we believe whatever they say. Radio and television preachers are often guilty of this. They get us on a subject with which we agree and we let down our guard. Then they teach their false teachings. I am not referring to the basic doctrines, but all doctrine is important. The doctrine of church is important. The doctrine of baptism is important.

If a person is wrong on baptism, that does not make him a false prophet, but if he is wrong on baptism, we ought to beware of his false doctrine. We ought not allow him to sneak in his false doctrine behind those things upon which we do agree. This is the way churches change and the way much of our Baptist heritage has been lost. I will give you a perfect example.

Many false groups publish literature which often start with something with which you can agree. It will talk about the premillennial coming of Christ or the tribulation period. You will think that it must be a good book because it sounds like they believe just like we do. They get in on a doctrine with which you can agree, then you let your guard down, and the false doctrine gets in.

This is what happens to churches. The new evangelicals have many movements which are non-local church. Most of them would never join an independent fundamental Baptist church. Most of them do not believe in our convictions and standards. Most of them belong to denominations which are opposite of all the things for which we stand. Most of them are not interested in our informalism, our altar calls, our preaching, and our old-time religion. They only build their works on other men's members.

They get on the radio and our members become their listeners. They are parasites. They do not get people saved or build churches. They do not believe that the local church is the only true church. They call the true church the invisible or universal church. Most of them do not belong to a red-hot, soul-winning, New Testament church, but they parasite off of the soul-winning church to get prospects for their unique ministry. They use issues with which our people agree to get to our people to help them support their ministries. Let me give you an example of these issues.

A preacher will get on the radio or television and fight Communism. He does not believe like we believe, nor would he be a part of our type of church, but he pulls us in on the one thing about which we agree. We then become his followers. Once we have become his followers, we become more loyal to him than to the local church pastor. This happens because we do not see his faults. He does not live with us day after day. We do not hear him preach several times a week.

I am sick and tired of the institution Jesus started being considered a second-class institution. I am tired of men who do not even go to a fundamental church becoming famous because of one issue. It is the local church that is the hope of this country!

There is a preacher in America who is a member of a denomination that has gone completely liberal. This preacher has gotten into the hearts of independent fundamental Baptist people through his teaching on the home. We all agree that American homes need to be improved. There is nothing wrong with most of what he says, but the problem is that we become his followers and put him above the local church pastor. He is a neo-evangelical who belongs to a neoevangelical church and who is parasiting off the local church.

That is what is happening to our churches. We are falling for people because of one issue.

Many people spread false teaching by getting in the side door of the Bible. For example, Bibles to Russia. I am not against sending Bibles to Russia, but I am not for people sending Bibles to Russia who would not cross the street and tell somebody about Jesus.

Many years ago I got hooked on a radio preacher. He wrote and asked me to be on his board. Foolishly I wrote back and agreed to do so. Somebody saw my name in his paper and wrote a letter to inform me that he is charismatic. I did not know it because he never mentioned it, so I called to ask him if it were true. He hedged a bit, but would not deny it, so I resigned from his board.

Some of our heroes do not believe in our kind of standards, our kind of convictions, our kind of old-fashioned, hell-fire and damnation preaching, our kind of soul winning, our kind of altar calls, or our kind of churches. We ought to send our money where they believe like we believe and are doing what we are doing. Jesus started the New Testament church, and we ought not support those ministries that ignore that church.

The King James issue is often used as something with which we can agree in order to get you into a false doctrine. Not every man who believes the King James Bible has been preserved word for word is a true prophet. There is something just as important as agreeing with you on the Bible.

Practicing the Bible is important too.

What should our attitude be about these people?

We should appreciate them for the good they do. We should be kind to them, but we should commit our efforts to a soul-winning, separatist, independent, Baptist church. The greatest youth programs in America are being built by local churches. The greatest child evangelism programs in America are being built by local churches. The greatest Jewish evangelism programs in America are being built by local churches.

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