2 Peter 2:1. But there were false prophets also among the people,
How true that is still! Be not startled, brethren, as though some strange thing had happened to us in this generation. It always was so, and so it will continue. If there are true prophets, there will also be false prophets; and if there be the Spirit of God, there will be the spirit of evil; and often, in proportion as the everlasting truth is full of power, the everlasting lie will be full of power, too, and will strive mightily against it. That same sun and shower, which shall make yonder wheat to grow, will at the same time cause the thorns also to spring up; and perhaps for a time they may threaten to choke the wheat, until at last the wheat will choke the thistles.
"There were false prophets also among the people,"-
2 Peter 2:1. Even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies,
They always try to do their hateful work privily; and then they ask, "What is all this fuss about? We have not departed from the truth, we are as sound in the faith as any of you are," when they know, traitors that they are, that they are undermining the foundations, and trying to take away the very corner stone of the faith. These " false teachers" will deceive the very elect of God if it be possible; but they are not easily deceived, for God has given them a discerning mind by which they "try the spirits whether they are of God." The Lord Jesus said of his sheep, "A stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers." Sheep though they be, they have discernment enough to know their Shepherd; and the godly soon detect false teachers who privily "bring in damnable heresies,"-
2 Peter 2:1. But there were false prophets also among the people,
How true that is still! Be not startled, brethren, as though some strange thing had happened to us in this generation. It always was so, and so it will continue. If there are true prophets, there will also be false prophets; and if there be the Spirit of God, there will be the spirit of evil; and often, in proportion as the everlasting truth is full of power, the everlasting lie will be full of power, too, and will strive mightily against it. That same sun and shower, which shall make yonder wheat to grow, will at the same time cause the thorns also to spring up; and perhaps for a time they may threaten to choke the wheat, until at last the wheat will choke the thistles.
"There were false prophets also among the people,"-
2 Peter 2:1. Even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies,
They always try to do their hateful work privily; and then they ask, "What is all this fuss about? We have not departed from the truth, we are as sound in the faith as any of you are," when they know, traitors that they are, that they are undermining the foundations, and trying to take away the very corner stone of the faith. These " false teachers" will deceive the very elect of God if it be possible; but they are not easily deceived, for God has given them a discerning mind by which they "try the spirits whether they are of God." The Lord Jesus said of his sheep, "A stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers." Sheep though they be, they have discernment enough to know their Shepherd; and the godly soon detect false teachers who privily "bring in damnable heresies,"-