"Feigned words"—the Greek word for "feigned" is plastos. Dr Joseph H. Thayer in his lexicon of the New Testament, says that plastos means "moulded, formed, as from clay, wax, stone." Plastos—does that sound like another word you’ve heard? We have a new word, a word that wasn’t even in existence in Peter’s day, yet in a way it was. Plastic—that’s the word Peter uses here. I love that, because today you can buy a plastic pitcher, you can buy a plastic bucket, you can buy plastic dishes, you can buy plastic toys. You can buy almost anything in plastic because plastic can be molded into every possible shape.

May I say this, and I do want to say it kindly. There are also plastic preachers who can be molded and shaped by the people that they serve. They say what their congregations want to hear. They use plastic words. This is the reason that neo–orthodoxy, when it first appeared, deceived so many people. When I came to Pasadena many years ago to pastor a church here, another pastor came about the same time. He was an outstanding liberal who is pretty much known all over the world today. A member of his church attended my Bible class, and she said, "Oh, he is sound in the faith because he uses the same language that you do." I said, "Fine, but does he mean what I mean by it?" She was sure that he did. On Easter Sunday she called me and said, "Dr. McGee, you have been wrong in criticizing this man. He spoke of the resurrection of Jesus today." I asked her, "But did you go up afterward and ask him whether he believed that Jesus was raised bodily from the tomb?" She replied, "I’m sure that that is what he meant." I told her, "I’m sure that he didn’t, but you ask him." The next day she called me, weeping, and said, "You know, he just ridiculed the idea of the bodily resurrection!" So I explained to her, "These fellows use our vocabulary, but they don’t have our dictionary." In other words, they may say something, but the important thing is what they mean by what they say.

Peter tells us that false teachers will speak with feigned words, plastic words, words that are just molded words. They will fit their words to the people to whom they are speaking. They speak one thing to one crowd and then talk differently to another crowd. I know a man who can bring a fundamental message if he is in a fundamental group, but when he gets with a liberal group, he is just about as liberal as they are. He is a plastic preacher—you can pour him into any mold, and he will accommodate himself to it.

What is the motivation for these false teachers? I tell you, Simon Peter puts it right out in the open here: "And through covetousness." They do it because they are covetous. Covetousness is actually a form of idolatry. Sometimes it may be that they are covetous for a position, for a name, for popularity. Many of them are covetous of money.

I am not talking through my hat, my friend. I could give you example after example of the fact that there are many false teachers abroad today, but I will give you just one. I read a report in a very fine Christian publication which tells about a service held by a well known evangelist. They reported that the preacher introduced the evangelist, saying, "He is a man after my heart because he loves money just like I love it." As the evangelist spoke, he was forceful, he was dynamic, and he put on quite a show. For forty–five minutes he did not read one Scripture verse, not even his text. He partially quoted only three or four verses. He used the personal pronoun I 175 times. He referred to Jesus Christ only eleven times. There was laughter every two minutes during his message—he was quite a comedian. When the invitation was given, some twenty young people responded to the urgings of the evangelist and went forward. For what? They had not heard the gospel! This is something that is so prevalent in our country today. The average church member doesn’t know the gospel when he hears it and does not recognize when he doesn’t hear it. This is the tragedy of the hour in which we live. There are many false teachers abroad today.

I urge you to check on all Bible teachers and radio preachers that you listen to. Check on me. Am I teaching the Word of God? Examine the Word of God and see whether I am or not. And check yourself. Every child of God should examine himself to see whether or not he is in the faith.

"And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you." In other words, these false teachers are doing it for money. I personally resent all forms of promotion today. When I return from a trip and sort through my accumulated mail, I will sometimes pitch letters into my wastebasket without even opening them. The name of the organization is on the envelope, so I know who they come from. I’ve been getting their letters for years, although I’ve never contributed to those organizations. I don’t know why they keep sending out all that propaganda, but I do know this: they want to make merchandise of me. It is my conviction that an organization ought to appeal only to folk who are interested in their certain work. There are many fine mission organizations, and there are many fine Christian radio programs, but there are some that are nothing in the world but promotion. One of the marks of a false teacher is that he is a promoter. He is not interested in giving you the Word of God; he is not attempting to help you. He is attempting to get something from you, to make merchandise of you. You are sort of a food trading stamp for him or a luxury car for him.

"Whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not." This is something that has disturbed a great many folk, including some in the Bible. For example, the psalmist was disturbed that the wicked were getting by with their sin—or so he thought. But then he said, "I went into the temple of the Lord." What did he learn in the temple? All he learned in the temple was that God is in charge and He will take care of the wicked (see Ps. 73).

The apostle Paul was mistreated again and again, and he resented it. He would not let the authorities at Philippi release him from jail and urge him to leave town secretly. He was a Roman citizen, and he forced them to do it the right way. But Paul told us not to take vengeance. We are to turn our case over to God. The minute that we try to get revenge we are taking God’s place, because "… Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord" (Rom. 12:19). And if you try to get revenge, you depart from your walk of faith. However, walking by faith does not mean that you are a Mr. Milquetoast whom everyone can push around and treat any way they please. Rather, it means that you can say, "All right, brother, you have mistreated me, you have done this to me, but I’m going to turn you over to the Lord." Paul wrote, "Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works" (2 Tim. 4:14). "The Lord will take care of him. I’ve turned him over to the Lord," Paul said concerning another brother who had mistreated him.

Peter assures us that God will also take care of these false teachers someday. When I heard of the death of a certain liberal not long ago, a man said to me, "Well, he’s better off today than he was when he was in this life." Frankly, I’m not so sure about that because he must give account to God for his life. I would not want to have to go into the presence of God someday and have the Lord say to me, "Look, McGee, you came to a passage of Scripture that time, and you soft–pedaled it because you were afraid of criticism. You didn’t teach it like it is written." God would hold me accountable for that. I will have to turn in a report to Him for my Bible–teaching ministry. May I say to you, you are going to have to turn in an account to God also.

It may look like God is slumbering; it may look like God is taking a nap. He may not seem to be doing very much about these false teachers, but He is, my friend. Habakkuk wondered whether God would do anything about the enemies of Israel, but he found out that in reality God was moving much too fast for him—He was not slumbering at all.

Now Peter will give us three examples of apostates in the past. His first example is of the angels who sinned (v. 4), and it is an exampIe of how the Devil works. His second example is that of the world of Noah’s day (v. 5), and it is the example of the world. The third example (v. 6) is the turning of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, and that is the example of the flesh. We have here the world, the flesh, and the Devil, but Peter puts the Devil first—the Devil, the world, and the flesh. These are the three enemies that you and I need to be aware of. John, the apostle of love, says, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world …" (1 John 2:15, italics mine). "The world" does not mean the beautiful flowers, the mountains, the trees, and the sea. It means the world system down here that is against God—that is what we are not to love.

Peter will talk first about the Devil and about the fact that God in the past has judged angels. The subject of angels and demons is highly debatable and very popular today. In fact, there is too much attention being given to it. Many books are being written about Satan and about demons and all that sort of thing. I suppose they have their place, but my feeling is that the positive side needs to be emphasized more. I have a message that I give, "Who is Antichrist?" and I always conclude that message by saying that I don’t know much about Antichrist and I don’t want to know much about him. The One I want to know is the Lord Jesus Christ. I cannot find anywhere where Paul or any other of the writers in Scripture say, "That I might know the Antichrist…." But Paul does say, "That I may know him [the Lord Jesus], and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings …" (Phil. 3:10). It is life eternal to know God, the Father, and the Son, the Lord Jesus, whom He has sent (see John 17:3). Scripture does not instruct us to know Antichrist or to know all about Satan. It is true that we are not to be ignorant of his devices. We need to beware of him, but we can pay too much attention to him.