Watchman’s Daily Devotional: Peter and Jude Clearly Laid Out the Marks of False Teachers: Which Are Sensuality, Greed, and Pride (Jude 10,1137; 2 Peter 2:1438). They Are the Same Today

"Where is the line that must be drawn as to what we confront as false teaching and what we tolerate as a difference of opinion." There is not an easy answer. Of course, what is obviously unbiblical doctrine or that which denies who Christ is and what He has done for us must be confronted. The council in Jerusalem had already told them not to compromise in eating food offered to idols and sexual sin. Defiance of church authority must also be confronted so that factions are not formed within the church (Hebrews 13:1736). Peter and Jude clearly laid out the marks of false teachers: which are sensuality, greed, and pride (Jude 10,1137; 2 Peter 2:1438). They are the same today.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Revelation 2:17a This is for all whom God has enabled to hear His encouragement and warnings. At the end of each day, we must ask if we are willing to hear what Jesus personally dictated to us, His body, the church (Ephesians 5:2339).

Do you have an ear to hear?

Revelation 2:4 (ESV)
4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

Revelation 2:10 (ESV)
10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Acts 19:10 (ESV)
10 This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

Revelation 1:11 (ESV)
11 saying, "Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea."

Revelation 3:22 (ESV)
22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'"

Revelation 19:15 (ESV)
15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

Hebrews 4:12 (ESV)
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Hebrews 4:13 (ESV)
13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

New Testament Cities in Western Asia Minor [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980], 35-36

John 7:43 (ESV)
43 So there was a division among the people over him.

Psalm 119:104 (ESV)
104 Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.

Psalm 119:104 (ESV)
104 Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.

Isaiah 43:10 (ESV)
10 "You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.

Numbers 31:16 (ESV)
16 Behold, these, on Balaam's advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the LORD in the incident of Peor, and so the plague came among the congregation of the LORD.

Numbers 25:7-9 (ESV)
7 When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand 8 and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. 9 Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.

Numbers 31:8 (ESV)
8 They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. And they also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword.

Acts 15:20 (ESV)
20 but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.

Romans 14:15 (ESV)
15 For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.

Romans 6:1 (ESV)
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

1 Corinthians 10:32 (ESV)
32 Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God,

Romans 6:1-2 (ESV)
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Acts 15:29 (ESV)
29 that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell."

Acts 21:25 (ESV)
25 But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality."

Revelation 9:20-21 (ESV)
20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk,
21 nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Isaiah 47:10 (ESV)
10 You felt secure in your wickedness, you said, "No one sees me"; your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, "I am, and there is no one besides me."

1 Thessalonians 5:13 (ESV)
13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

1 Corinthians 5:1-2 (ESV)
1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

Galatians 6:1 (ESV)
1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

Proverbs 11:13 (ESV)
13 Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.

John 16:7-9 (ESV)
7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;

1 Peter 5:1-2 (ESV)
1 So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly;

Numbers 22:23 (ESV)
23 And the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand. And the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the road.

Numbers 22:31 (ESV)
31 Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. And he bowed down and fell on his face.

G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, Cumbria: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1999), 250--251.

Hebrews 13:17 (ESV)
17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Jude 1:10-11 (ESV)
10 But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. 11 Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion.

2 Peter 2:14 (ESV)
14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!

Ephesians 5:23 (ESV)
23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.

Isaiah 14:13 (ESV)
13 You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north;

James 4:6 (ESV)
6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

John 6:48-51 (ESV)
48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

Hebrews 13:5 (ESV)
5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Revelation 2

Revelation 19:9 (ESV)
9 And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are the true words of God."

1 Corinthians 15:57 (ESV)
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Genesis 17:5 (ESV)
5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

Genesis 32:28 (ESV)
28 Then he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed."

Isaiah 62:2 (ESV)
2 The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will give.

Revelation 3:12 (ESV)
12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.