June 27th - Surety of Victory

Prayer Requests
Dan, Dave, and Channing Preaching

Tyler Preaching Wednesday
Swift Cantrel Witnessing - esp. Linda
Lucas in Indonesia

Hannah Singing

4th of July Witnessing

Text – 2 Peter 3:1-15

I had planned to spend some more time in Second Peter 2, but I think for the most part we’ve covered the important parts of that chapter, and I know how tedious it can get when the teacher teaches on the same topic multiple weeks in a row, so we’ll just do a quick review and move onto the fun part, which is in chapter 3.

If there is one thing I dislike most about our modern Bible it is the chapter and verse break-ups, this is especially evident today as we look at one of the most misquoted verses in the Bible. As I researched this passage I couldn’t find a single person who looked at the thought of Second Peter 3, but only people that looked at single verses, which is utterly dumb.

It is important that we see Second Peter as one book and not as three chapters or sixty-one verses, because if there is any book in the New Testament that is so pointed at where it is going, it is Second Peter. Another book like it is Romans, which really is masterfully written to give you an exceptional theological lesson in chapters 1-11, then gives you a perfect application in chapters 12-16. First Corinthians is also a good example, that we see how utterly wrecked that church is in chapters 1-14, that they’re having sexual immorality problems, money problems, communion parties, cliques are forming, people are speaking in gibberish, everybody talks at once in the church services, and marriages are falling apart, and it all comes to a head in chapter 15 to show that the reason for all of the other problems was a denial of the resurrection of both Christ from the dead, and the believer after death.

Second Peter has a gorgeous progression to make four major points really well so that they are memorable for you. Does anyone remember what those four points are? How to know you’re a Christian, how to grow in knowledge by reading your Bible, the danger of listening to men instead of the Bible, and Christ’s return and the sureness of his victory.

We’re going to see that in Christ’s return is also a definite proof that God will save his saints, just as we saw last week that though God crushed Sodom and Gomorrah he saved Lot. One thing I forgot to mention last week requires approaching that topic again. First, when Sodom and Gomorrah are mentioned in books other than Genesis, what are they normally used to demonstrate? God’s ability to make a complete end, even extinction, of the wicked. But which was the sin that the Bible says they were partaking in which showed their complete depravity? Homosexuality. After praying about last week’s lesson I really think it’s important that I share one last point which we missed last week.

Romans 1:27 the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

I have to share that the life expectancy of a homosexual man is two-decades less than the life-expectancy of a heterosexual man. There is both a temporal and eternal penalty for this sin, there are many diseases and infections which are only spread through promiscuity, especially within the homosexual lifestyle. I want to make sure you see that this is not just a sin which God picked out at random to pick on, but there are many reasons for it. Who could possibly dislike the guys on Will & Grace? They seem so nice, and definitely have a lot of love, but we need to remember the dangers of this sin and realize that it is really a horrible sin against God and humanity, and we must not give approval to those who practice it.

But just as we saw that God was willing to spare Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of the righteous, so are we going to see today that God has a patience which has a purpose, and unfortunately one which many mistake for inaction or nonexistence.

2 Peter 3:1-15 This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation." For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation…

In verse 1, Peter affirms that this is the second letter he has written, which is the first letter he wrote? First Peter…that’s a crazy coincidence that his first letter is called the first and his second letter is called the second! Does anybody know which is the third letter he wrote? I believe quite surely that he cowrote Hebrews with Paul, with Luke as the amanuensis. Which Gospel did Peter heavily influence? Definitely Mark and probably Luke as well.

The important part here is that Peter is pointing us back to his first letter, do you remember what the major theme is in First Peter? It’s the resurrection; added into that is a surety of Judgment Day, that this life is not all there is, but that we live a life of godliness looking forward to eternity.

1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Peter reminds us in verse 1 that he is speaking to believers, by using the term, “beloved”, which references Christ’s beloved and the brotherly bond within the church. This is hugely important as we look through his passage that it is to believers.

In the last days scoffers will arise, and the reason they will scoff is in verse 3 for their sinful desires. Let’s let Paul tell us which these desires are:

2 Timothy 3:1-5 Understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

v.3 They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation."

This is what is known as “uniformitarianism” or the belief that God does not intercede or cause massive changes to the world, that natural processes have been going on since the beginning, which here clearly references the future religion of Darwinism with the idea of the Big Bang. Paul gives a similar warning about avoid science falsely so called. In order to believe in uniformitarianism a person has to deny the Flood, which is exactly what Peter is going to say they will do.

v.4-7 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

Peter’s favorite Old Testament event, without a doubt, is Noah’s flood. He references it three times making three major points with it. Here he is comparing the effective end of that world to the total end of this world, and the fact that the unbelievers will overlook that fact. Do you know how long Noah was building the ark? 120 years, it was over a century between when God said he would deluge the earth and when he actually did, and during that time no doubt Noah was ridiculed and God was blasphemed. I wonder if they had celebrations every year to make fun of Noah’s boat that he wasn’t using because there was no flood. But they mistook God’s patience for inaction.

v.8-9 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

God is willing to wait, he is outside of time, he has a plan and a purpose to accomplish before he will pour out his wrath. His patience is amazing and meant to lead us to repentance.

Romans 2:4-5 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

God is waiting for something very specific to happen before Christ returns to judge the world and for the whole world to be burned up in wrath. Before we look at what that is, let’s look at what God was waiting for before he deluged the world in Noah’s day. When we look at the genealogies in Genesis 4 and 5 we something interesting, that Cain’s genealogy is quite wicked, and Seth’s is quite godly. Cain killed his brother, then went out from God’s presence, Lamech was the first one to say, “If one wife is good, then two wives must be extra good.” On the other side we have Seth who led his family to follow God, he had a grandson named Enoch who walked so closely with God that he never died, Enoch had a son named Methusaleh, and Methusaleh had a grandson whose name was Noah who God found favor with. Without a doubt this is my favorite verse in the Bible, it doesn’t add much to our lesson today but I really want to read it:

Genesis 6:5,8 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

What is special about Methusaleh? He’s the oldest man who ever lived, how old did he live to? 969. What is special about when he died? It’s when the flood started. The Bible isn’t clear to exactly when the flood started, only an approximate time, but I wouldn’t be surprised that when Methusaleh breathed his last, the first raindrop fell. The Methodist church believes Methusaleh died in the flood, but it’s hugely important for Peter’s lesson that we see that he died and then the flood.

So what was God waiting for to send the flood? The last righteous man on earth besides Noah to die. So now what is God waiting for to send Christ back to earth? The last of his elect to become a saint, to reach repentance. What would have happened if Christ had returned fifteen years ago? None of you would have even existed, let alone reached repentance! God knows exactly how many will believe and Christ will come back at the exact moment that the last of his saints reaches repentance.

He doesn’t want all people to reach repentance and he certainly is willing that some perish, because many do perish, and what God wills will come to fruition, else he wouldn’t be sovereign and omnipotent.

Romans 9:22-23 God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory…

v.10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

So we see a world prepared for destruction, when with a tremendously loud sound the sky will roll back, Christ will be seen, and he will wage war on his enemies. Let’s read my all time favorite verse:

Revelation 19:11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

At that precise moment we will have his heavenly host of angels gather his saints from all corners of the globe and save them from the destruction to come, at which time it is described that Christ will trample out the winepress of his enemies and he will be covered head to toe in the blood of those who stand against him.

So then we are faced with what we will set our affections on, will it be things of this world, a nice house, a nice car, the body we are currently wearing? Peter tells us exactly where to set our affections.

v.11-13 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

If this world will pass away, then we ought to set our affections on the new heavens and new earth, on the Righteous and Resurrected Christ, growing in holiness and godliness and calling everyone to repentance. Here is what is neat for us that Noah couldn’t do anything about. What needed to happen for the flood to start? Noah needed the Ark, which he had, and every righteous person had to die. Methusaleh’s son, Lamech (not the same Lamech of Cain’s side) had died some five years earlier, and so only Noah and Methusaleh remained. Peter tells us not just to wait for every saint to reach repentance, but also to hasten that day, to hurry that day up. How do we do that? By preaching the gospel! If you witness to someone and they repent and they are the last saint, you could see the heavens opened! Then for all eternity you can bear the crown of calling the last saint to salvation.

v.14-15 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation…

The Father knows what he is doing, and so we continue to grow in grace, being sanctified, living as exiles in this world seeking the welfare of the city we are sojourners in, calling everyone to repentance, and we’re not mad at God for failing to send Christ back, rather we rejoice in his great patience which will result in every single one of his saints reaching repentance, and then the end will come.

Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Oswald J. Smith has a fantastic quote which says, “We speak of the second coming; half the world has never heard of the first.” Robert Moffat said on his missionary journeys to India, “I have sometimes seen in the morning sun the smoke of a thousand villages where no missionary has ever been.”

And finally, this prophecy and surety of return is not given for us to stand looking towards Heaven, it is to motivate us to action. William Varner, a professor at the Seminary where I want to pursue my doctorate, put it this way, “Prophecy is not given to form a calendar, but to form a character; a character of prayerfulness, watchfulness, honesty, and holiness.”

June 20th - Sodom and Gomorrah

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Camp Results and those who made professions
Dave in NOLA - Lucas in Indonesia
David in California

Text – 2 Peter 2:6-8



[Camp Discussion]

Since I anticipated a lot of students who would be in class that haven't been with us in the beginning chapters of Second Peter, we're going to look at the principles of Second Peter 2, but from a stand-alone topic, which is Sodom and Gomorrah. If ever there were a topic that should have a manuscript that your parents could read, it should be this one, but due to camp circumstances I did not prepare a manuscript, so we are recording this so the audio will be available to your parents.

1. Introduction
_a. Abraham
_b. Lot
_c. Separation
2. Sodom and Gomorrah
_a. Wicked (Genesis 18:20-21)
__i. Christ's Descension
__ii. Hebrews 4:14-15
_b. Homosexuality
__i. Romans 1:26-27
__ii. Revelation 21:8
__iii. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
___1. Why do we focus on homosexuality as the biggest sin?
___2. Is it first or last? Is it written in red?
__iv. Average of 2,100 partners
__v. Oscar Wilde "Bring me a minister"
_c. Genesis 19:5
_d. Sodom and Gomorrah elsewhere in the Bible
__i. Quoted dozens of times throughout the Bible, almost always points to God's wrath and ability to crush a nation, instead of homosexuality
__ii. Jude 1:7 and 2 Peter 2 point it at homosexuality
3. Salvation
_a. Genesis 18, Abraham intercedes
_b. Genesis 19, Angels save Lot and his two daughters and wife
_c. Righteous Lot? 2 Peter 2:6-8
__i. Daughter issue (twice)
__ii. Distressed over the grievous sins
__iii. Obviously was sinful and made major mistakes
__iv. Covered under the covenant and called righteous
4. Condemnation
_a. Lot's wife
_b. Hebrews 12:1-2 (Look ahead to plough a straight line / run a straight race)
5. Application
_a. Hebrews 13:14
_b. Hate sin, show charity to the sinner
_c. Homosexuality is a horrendous sin, but not irredeemable
_d. God's wrath will awaken (this is the transition for next week)
_e. A complete end of enemies
_f. A miraculous salvation

June 13th - Righteous Indignation

Prayer Requests
Summit
Camp!

Nelly's Mom's Recovery
Lucas to Indonesia

World Cup Missionaries

Text – 2 Peter 2, Matthew 23



As we continue our look at false teachers I want to take a brief step outside of 2 Peter 2 to see how Jesus handled false teachers, because last week we saw that Peter got MAD at these greedy liars, and I want to ask you the question today, are we justified in getting mad?

Psalm 4:4 Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.

It is more than possible to be angry without sinning, if we look at Psalm 7 and about 89 other Psalms, we see that God is angry with the wicked everyday. But we need to ponder our motives and make sure we’re angry for the right reasons, and not just because we have been wronged, but because Christ and his church have been wronged.

Before we watch Matthew 23, let’s see how we’ve gotten to this point. We’re working our way through Second Peter, so let’s look at it.

Who wrote Second Peter? Peter.

Was this written early in his life or late? Late.

What are the four main purposes of this letter? To know how you’re a Christian, to know where to look to find out about God, to beware of false teachers, and to trust in Christ that he will ultimately win.

How do you know you’re a Christian? Your faith in the resurrected Christ is bearing fruit.

Where do we look to find out about God? The Bible.

Anywhere else? Dreams? Visions? No.

What are the two major distinctives of a false prophet? Greed and sexual deviancy.

Something new, do we have the authority to name names and call a false teacher out? Yes. Some want to play the Matthew 18 card on calling out false teachers, but that passage on church discipline is totally about when you are personally wronged, you don’t have to know someone to declare them to be an antichrist, as evidenced by John calling out Diotrephes:

3 John 1:9-10 I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.

A false teacher I failed to mention last week is Jesse Duplantis, this man is without a doubt one of the most wicked false prophets operating today. He isn’t the most popular because he’s quite flamboyant and weird and so far people are avoiding him, but he is blatant in his lies about God. For example, he preaches on Adam naming the animals in Genesis 2 and says God didn’t know what the animals were and needed Adam to tell him. He also claims to have gone to Heaven like the Apostle Paul; where Paul was all humble about it and says he can’t describe what he saw, Jesse is blatant and describes what he supposedly saw with impossible details. It is astonishing that people will believe stuff like this, because it is radically opposite what the Bible teaches.

But which comes first? The false prophet or the people who will listen to a false prophet? A little of both; Paul says the wickedness of people comes first and they heap to themselves false prophets who will tickle their ears. However, we also see false teachers arising apart from a church and trying to pull people away from the truth.

Matthew 24:24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

So how do we respond to these false prophets? Should we give them hugs and overlook their blasphemies and just assume they are Christians? I got into a huge argument this week with someone who thinks Joel Osteen is just a really confused Christian, but a Christian none-the-less. Joel Osteen is an antichrist, he is not only on the broad road to destruction, he is a tour guide on that path.

Others include the false prophet Mohammed (who had a six-year old wife), Oprah, Ghandi, Pope Benedict, and a thousand others who are murdering souls.

So we get mad, like Peter, and as we’re going to see now, like Christ. A little bit of context first: the main false prophets of Jesus’ day were the Pharisees, these guys took the law, which is meant to point us to a Saviour, and twisted it to make it seem like they could go to Heaven by it. The Bible says to keep the Word at the forefront of your mind.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Instead of keeping the commandments of God at the forefront of their minds, they tie it to their head. It’s pharisaical in the most literal sense of the word, that they display their own righteousness in the most blatant of ways, utterly missing the true intent of what the Bible means.

Watch Matthew 23 from the Matthew Visual Bible

Matthew 23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you— but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

"Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.' You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? And you say, 'If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.' You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

It sort of kills the whole girly boy Jesus persona, doesn’t it? We’re talking about eternal souls and the glory of Christ here, we need to get mad when it is warranted. Check out one of God’s most cutting questions to self-righteous Job:

Job 40:7-8 Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?

Will we condemn God to justify ourselves? Will we lie about him for earthly riches? We must not, for what does it profit a person to gain the whole world and lose their soul?

(Skipped for Time) Let’s look at one of Peter’s case-studies:

2 Peter 2:15 Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing,

Balaam was a sorcerer turned prophet; the king of Moab came to him to pay him to curse Israel. Balaam hired himself out but God wouldn’t let Balaam to curse Israel. Balaam was told not to go, but went anyways; his greed overlooked the direct command of God. Balaam didn’t really gain anything of lasting substance, and ultimately died in battle as an enemy of God:

Joshua 13:22 Balaam also, the son of Beor, the one who practiced divination, was killed with the sword by the people of Israel among the rest of their slain.

So these false prophets are assured of destruction, and they lead many astray. Paul really points at this well when he’s talking about the fruits of repentance, naming that anger against sin and justice against sinners is one of those fruits.

2 Corinthians 7:10-11 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.

Two of the fruits of our salvation are a desire to see justice done, and to be angry over sin. Peter doesn’t explicitly list these in his grouping of fruits, although I think you can make the argument that these fit quite comfortably under virtue.

One of the places this manifests itself most clearly, which is definitely keeping with Peter’s intent, is in doctrinal purity and standing against those who presume to speak for God but tell lies about him and claim to receive extrabiblical information. These are the people who say, “God told me…” or “God is leading me to…”, and we get angry about their false teaching because that is NOT how God works today according to 2 Peter 1, where he has left us his perfect will through the Bible.

Jesus cleansed the temple, Paul stood in front of kings and the Caesar, James preached from the top of the temple when told to recant his beliefs, Peter and John were beaten for preaching Christ and afterwards they went and preached Christ some more. In history we see John Knox standing up to Mary Queen of Scots and making her cry, we see beautiful counsels like the one at Dort which condemned the heresy of Free Will, we see the fight for the Southern Baptist Convention to bring it back to biblical authority. The SBC is literally the only denomination to have died theologically and then later to see a resurgence in conservative and biblical principles.

And which doctrines do we stand up for? Do we pretend that there are essentials and non-essentials, or do we stand on biblical authority. Jesus was mad in Mark for people using the temple complex as a short-cut, something minor was worth him standing for. John Calvin had a group come to him called the Libertines, these were people who believed that since Christ paid for all of their sins, they should sin all the more so that grace would further abound. Their lack of holiness showed their lack of conversion. They came to Calvin wanting to take communion. He positioned himself between them and the table and told them in order to get to the bread and wine they would have to kill him.

Every doctrine is essential and worth fighting over. Jesus played no stupid games of “Let’s just agree to disagree.” He instead requires people to seek the truth or perish in their sins.

John 8:24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.

(Skipped for Time) So lastly let’s look briefly at verses 5-9 in Second Peter and whether or not this whole ordeal of false teachers is inside of or outside of Christ’s ultimate plan, whether or not we will all die in our sins or if he is able to save.

2 Peter 2:5-9 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,

Peter gives two awesome examples of the world going astray after wickedness, following ungodliness, and shows that in these debacles he saved exactly whom he intended to save.

Genesis 6:5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Before the flood things were TERRIBLE, we don’t have specifics, but we know that everything done was only evil. Today we are exactly the same except for a tiny small remnant of believers who are able to do good through the power of the Holy Spirit. We are like Noah in my favorite verse,

Genesis 6:8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

And though God put an end to the ungodly, he brought Noah and his family through the flood. He saved exactly whom he intended to save. Peter really loves the Noah story, he mentions it three times and really uses it to make his points well.

We will be saved through baptism into death just as Noah was saved through the flood; just as the flood came upon everyone, so does death come to everyone, but since Noah was in the ark and we are in the Ark of Jesus Christ, we will arrive safely on the other side while the ungodly utterly perish.

Then check out Sodom and Gomorrah, we’re going to spend a whole lot of time on this next week, but just to make the point that Peter is making, both of those cities were totally destroyed, yet Lot who lived there was saved because God wanted him saved.

God is able to rescue us in the midst of the same things that put an end to the unrighteous, even the wickedness of false prophets. So your application is to make your calling and election sure, to make sure you are saved in Christ, then live out a Christlike life which is permeated with love of righteousness and anger over wickedness, which is charitable and humble and watchful and active, loving justice and mercy, seeking the godly repentance that leads to life, both in yourself and in those whom you minister to.

June 6th - False Prophets

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron and Summit in General
Camp
Dave and Brooke first week
Ben and Holly first/second week
Ashten - Breanna and Drew
Lane Kidney Stones
Jack Anderson Heart Stint

Text – 2 Peter 2:1-22

Before we start I want to share something that I found by accident which we talked about last week, when we talked about Hermeneutics. Who remembers where that word comes from? From Hermes, a mythical messenger of the Greek gods. Well check out this verse:

Acts 14:8-12 Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet." And he sprang up and began walking. And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, "The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!" Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.

Afterwards Paul and Barnabas straightened out the confusion and pointed Lystra at the True and Living God, but we do well to remember that our job is actually more important than Hermes' job, because we deliver the Words of Eternal Life, and not just some trite little mythological message about some divine drama.

So moving on, I struggled with how much of Second Peter 2 to teach today, because there are a lot of very interesting details in this chapter, but it is also one complete thought, so today I think we'll do well to look at the whole chapter, then next week, and maybe the week after that, we'll look at the smaller details.

So first of all, let's do a quick overview of Second Peter. Why has he written this letter? Because he is about to die. What does he want to tell the church with his last letter? How to know you're saved, that the Bible is the authoritative Word of God and that we compare everything against scripture, then he is going to warn us about false prophets, and finally he will point us at Christ's impending return.

Second Peter is a very well written letter with definite flow and movement, he knows where he's going and he gets there quick. There are only three chapters, but they fly through because he's building to crescendo that ultimately Christ wins, despite what we're going to see in chapter 2. So let's read the whole chapter.

2 Peter 2 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.

Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: "The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire."

v.1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies,

Peter's first point is the "but" which he is coming from the thought that the Holy Spirit wrote the Bible, but there is no lack of false teachers who teach lies about God, the lies we'll see are coming up.

It is important to note that these false teachers bring in their heresies secretly, not waving a banner and blowing a trumpet; they sneak them in, sometimes possibly not even knowing they are doing so. There is no lack of false-teachings through the church as a whole, I want to let Peter do most of the talking, but just real quick the big false teachings we run into are a denial of the Trinity, a denial of our complete inability to save ourselves, and a denial of God's anger towards the sinner. There are obviously many more, but these are the three that I believe show themselves most often. Every heresy that comes in is destructive, some more than others, and some small heresies, like perhaps the idea of transubstantiation, that the bread and blood of the Lord's Supper are literally his body and blood, point to much bigger theological problems, like the finished Work of Christ on the cross.

vv.1-2 even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.

This is one of the more difficult passages in the Bible to understand, because it can't mean what it sounds like it means, because it would contradict dozens of other passages that say Christ will save exactly whom he has bought. I don't want to spend too much time on this passage, although I do want you to know that it has a perfectly legitimate meaning and doesn't contradict anything. First of all, the word for "bought" is not the same word in other places which denotes Christ's saving work; in those places it is Time, here it is Agorazo, it's not redemptive, it probably means that Christ is the owner of all things, even false teachers.

The word of Master is not Kurios like we see saved people referring to Christ, but is Despotes, which refers most likely to a Master who owns Slaves.

Peter leaves this verse somewhat ambiguous for a purpose, I believe, to point to a lot of different false teachers. There are false teachers who preach a different Jesus by making up things about him, overemphasizing some parts of his character and ignoring others, or it can also refer to various church leaders like John Shelby Spong who are virtually atheists.

2 Corinthians 11:3-4 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.

Not every time someone says Jesus or Christ are they talking about the real Jesus Christ. There is a wicked and crazy Puerto Rican who claims to be Jesus in Miami, but he's definitely not, despite his name being Jesus.

Because of these false teachers the way of truth is blasphemed, or cursed. It's not enough that the world hates Christ for who he is, but these false teachers also present a greedy and conniving Jesus and that makes the world hate him even more.

v.3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words.

Greed is almost always the driving motivator behind the false teachers. Many also love the fame, theatrics, and power they get, but ultimately it all comes back to the money. (Cf. 1 Timothy 6:10) Just yesterday I was watching The Blasphemy Network (TBN) and the guy literally said, "God says if you have $1,000 then send it in, then $1,000 will be the least your ever have, or hold onto it, and $1,000 will be the most you ever have." Besides their greed look down to verse 10, 14, and 18:

vv.10,14,18 especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority...They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin...They entice by sensual passions of the flesh...

Another aspect of false teachers is sexual deviancy. The one thing all cults have in common besides ignoring the Bible is gross sexual sin; David Koresh, Benny Hinn, Todd Bentley, and a multitude more who led and lead people astray have sinned grossly with their bodies while in the ministry.

Very rarely will they just come out and say what they want, but sneak these disgusting heresies in. Know that God loves sexual purity and has confined the wonderful gift of sex to be used rightly between a husband and wife. Any teacher who stumbles on this point ought to be fired immediately before the problem can escalate. Know that we don't have rules like modest dress because we want to make your lives miserable, but because we don't want you to sin against Heaven and your own bodies. Many false teachers utterly ignore this point.

vv.3-4 Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;

We see that they are not beyond Christ's reach to punish, their condemnation is forthcoming. Other parts of the Bible actually make it out that God allows these false teachers in the church to prove a point for believers, that sin is wicked and disgusting and destroys things; it grows a healthy hatred of sin in the believer when they see this wickedness.

It also provides another point that it leads false converts out of churches where the Bible is preached and serves to purify good churches; albeit false teachers will still infiltrate. For example, I knew two people who seemed to be following Christ when the economy was up and they were well fed and happy, but when they lost their jobs they ran off after these false teachers who promised them health and wealth and showed that they were actually not true believers at all. One thing I want you to see is that the problem doesn't start with the false teachers, it starts with people's wicked desires, and from there they find people who will preach what they want preached:

2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

God also has no problem SENDING these false teachers to wicked churches as punishment:

2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

We're not going to read verses 5-11 today but save them for next week; these verses affirm that God is able to save the righteous and condemn the wicked from Old Testament proofs; a real quick summary is that we should care more about our own beliefs and teaching that seeking out every false teacher; although we should be aware of them. A person could potentially get so caught up chasing after false teachers to not realize they are one themselves! As Peter said in chapter 1, we are to make our own calling and election sure.

It is important to remember that we are all sinners and evil in the sight of God, that apart from Christ's righteous saving work which is attributed to us, we would face the same righteous judgment; so the distinction is not how we live, but whether or not Christ has saved us.

vv.12-16 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

I love Peter's passion, he gets MAD at their evil deeds and teachings, point us at another Old Testament example of Balaam who sold his soul for a couple of bucks by offering to curse the people of God, which he failed at, and still lost his soul. Read about it in Numbers 22-25, and we'll try to talk about him next week if we have time. One of the neatest things about his story is that God had total control over what he could and couldn't say, and we see that God is restraining even the most evil of people and that everything that happens is well within God's purposes.

v.17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.

I think next week we'll read Matthew 23, but the next few verses are paraphrases of Christ's great condemning speech to the Pharisees. A waterless spring would be like me setting up a well in the middle of a desert and calling people over for a drink, and when they get there, they realize that I'm just pouring sand in a glass. These false prophets make all sorts of promises but since they are not preaching the true God and repentance from dead works, there is no Living Water to be had.

vv.18-19 For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.

This is why Peter is so mad, because people who potentially are seeking some escape from the defilement of sin find these false preachers who instead of pointing them to the saving work of Christ, point them at legalistic principles for salvation...give money...do stuff...don't sin...have faith in your faith...and these inward focused things cause people to be all the more captive in their sins. Beloved, you should have charity, you should give money, you should do good deeds, you shouldn't sin, but none of these save you and you should not be trusting in any of them, but they should be natural outpourings from the faith you have in the Living Christ who paid your ransom on Calvary's cross, who quickened your soul through his resurrection, for if the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed.

Ironically, a recent poll showed that followers of prosperity preachers are considerably poorer than Evangelical Christians. God doesn't particularly care if you're poor or rich, and he may make you rich for the sole purpose of you giving it all away, for he has given us an abundance so we can give out of that abundance.

2 Corinthians 9:7-8 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

vv.20-21 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

Here we see a gradation of Hell, that those who knew the truth and rejected it will have a worse time than those who didn't know at all. Christ spoke of this thusly:

Luke 12: 47-48 And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

The lowest part of Hell is for teachers who teach something other than the truth:

James 3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

This doesn't just apply to religious teachers, but all teachers, so the next time you hear a teacher whining about not getting paid enough or being under appreciated you tell them that I said when they do a better job glorifying Christ by teaching the truth, then we'll pay them more. Until then their condemnation is just and their destruction is not idle, and Psalm 58 actually says we'll rejoice on Judgment Day when God's vengeance is poured out on those who set themselves against God.

All of this, of course, assuming they do not get saved before they die. If they are saved, transformed from a sinner to a saint, then we will rejoice in God's great mercy that he redeems sinners, of which I am foremost. But if they are not changed, verse 22 will be true of them,

v.22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: "The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire."

Without a doubt the grossest thing my dog does is throw up and then a few minutes later come back and un-throw-up her food. Something the body rejected somehow becomes appealing after a little time has passed. Similarly these unconverted temporarily reject sin, but upon second glance decide that's actually what they want.

A sow is a pig, have you ever heard the phrase, "I'm sweating like a pig." That statement is TOTALLY false, because pigs don't sweat, they can't sweat, so in order to cool their flesh, they go and roll in the mud. The unconverted, who temporarily dabble in Christianity but who aren't converted will eventually fall back into sin to satisfy their sinful desires.

So in conclusion, just as there have been false teachers in the past, so will there be false teachers today and until the end of the age. We must test everything against scripture, using it as our final authority, trusting wholly in Christ and not in works to save us. Our salvation will bring with it the natural tendency to seek after righteousness and strive for holiness, and we must identify these false teachers and reject them and warn others of them.

The most popular today are Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn, Rick Warren, T.D. Jakes, Joyce Meyers, Brian MacClaren, Rob Bell, William P. Young (The Shack), Andrew Wommack, Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, and Paul Crouch, but this list is definitely not exhaustive. Avoid them and tell your friends to avoid them!