July 11th - Conclusion to Second Peter

Prayer Requests
Summit
Swift Cantrel Witnessing

Lake Acworth Witnessing
VBS
Lucas in Indonesia
Builders

Nelly's Family

Text –2 Peter 3:14-18

Here we arrive at the end of this glorious epistle. Before now I have refrained from telling you that some “scholars” believe Peter didn’t actually write this letter and they think it shouldn’t be in the Bible. The reasons for this are dumb and not worth mentioning, but now that we’ve spent several weeks on this epistle, I hope that you see that it is ingeniously written and is certainly written by God through Peter. If you have any doubt at all, the way in which Peter wraps this epistle up is so well written and powerful that it so thoroughly points to scriptural truths that it has to be scripture.

One of my facebook friends posted an awesome quote this week which said, “Man could not write a book like the Bible, but if man could write a book like the Bible, he wouldn’t write a book like the Bible.” The rhetorical, eternal, and grammatical truths which Peter shares in his short 61 verses are utterly amazing and they point so thoroughly to divine authorship that I am quite tempted to say Second Peter is my favorite book of the Bible.

What event was happening in Peter’s life that caused him to write this letter? He was awaiting execution under Nero. So knowing he is not long for this world, what does he tell us about? What would you tell someone if you were dying next week? Would you talk about movies you’ve seen or what you’re going to have for lunch, or would you make it count? Peter makes it count, what are the four major things he wants us to know?

1. How to be sure you’re saved.
2. The Bible is the sole authority in our faith and practice
3. False teachers will teach apart from the Bible
4. Christ will win and we will partake in his victory

These four things come together BEAUTIFULLY in Peter’s closing, it is a masterful bit of writing. Let’s read 2 Peter 1:1-3:13 though since this is the conclusion to the letter, and the passage we’re looking at starts with “therefore”, which points back to the whole letter, not just the last couple of sentences. This is just like Paul’s therefore in Romans 12:1, he’s not saying, “Therefore, from chapter 11,” he’s saying, “Therefore from everything that precedes.” Here is Peter doing the same thing. (2 Peter 1-3) So now let’s read the conclusion,

2 Peter 3:14-18 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, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

So Peter is going to make 4 major points in his conclusion, the same major points he’s made already in the letter. First of all we want to make sure we’re a Christian; how do we do that? Is it by praying a prayer or signing a card or dating the front page of our Bible? No, it is by growing in grace, by seeing fruit added to our faith. The way we know we are saved is that we are diligent in our waiting for Christ, growing in sanctification, grace, and knowledge. If we are growing in these things, we know we have faith in Christ, and this faith is a result of the grace by which we are saved.

Next is what? Read your Bible. Peter puts it AWESOMELY,

v.15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him…

First of all, which verse is he quoting? There is a huge debate on this, but I guarantee you it is,

Romans 2:4 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?

Why doesn’t Peter say, “In Romans 2:4”? Because our chapter/verse break-ups weren’t added until AD 1558, they are not scripture and they are not inspired, so we need to read complete thoughts and not verses. The Bible is not a collection of Bible verses; it is a collection of coherent thoughts all pointing at revealing one thing: Christ.

But check this out! Peter just called Paul’s writings scripture! This is the standard way of referencing a verse before the chapter/verse beak-ups.

Romans 15:12 And again Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope."

Our Bible was pretty well complete by the end of the First Century, but there are rumors that the Bible wasn’t put together until the Council of Carthage in 397, but that is only when it was declared official…it had been together since the First Century, even as early as the late 60’s (save for John’s Epistles and Gospel which hadn’t been written yet).

Is Peter only saying that one of Paul’s verses was scripture, or the whole collection?

v.16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters.

Do you think Paul read this letter and was shocked that Peter was calling his writing scripture? Not in the least. Last year we went through First Thessalonians, do you remember what was special about that Epistle concerning scripture? It is the only New Testament book that doesn’t quote the Old Testament a single time. There is one major reason for that, that this church was heavily persecuted and all of the Jewish believers had either been killed or run out of town. In this, the Old Testament scrolls were either unobtainable or unreadable…so what does Paul say in that Epistle?

1 Thessalonians 5:27 I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.

Paul knew as early as AD51 that he was writing scripture, since the standard practice was to read the scriptures in the synagogue/church. I wonder what it was like for him to be writing things like this. He wouldn’t be able to make a mistake or erase anything, and the words would have flowed out of his pen.

2 Peter 1:21 …men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Carried along by the Holy Spirit, like if you went swimming in a swift moving river, you’re going to end up where that river wants you to end up. But despite the truth of Paul’s writing, there is another force working in this, men who want to misinterpret this Word.

2 Peter 1:20 no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.

Before we look at the next verse I need to preface it with an illustration. Would anyone in this class like to be taller? Ok, here’s what I want you to do, lay on this coffee table and I’m going to pull on your feet and someone else is going to pull on your hands and we’re going to stretch you out to be taller. What sort of effect is this going to have? At best no effect, and at worst we might break you. Look at what false teachers are doing to the Bible!

v.16 There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

The word for twist is torture, or stretch, it’s trying to make someone taller by pulling on their hands and feet, it’s not an effective way to change a person or the Bible! Who is in danger if we try to stretch you? You are. But look at who is in danger if they torture the Bible to make it say things it doesn’t? It is their own destruction. Peter is pretty harsh again in his description of false teachers, before he called them dogs and pigs, waterless springs, blots and blemishes, terrible sinners, and reprobate for Hell. We saw in chapter 3 that many of these people would claim to be smart, but here Peter calls them ignorant and unstable. The word for ignorant, or unlearned, is purposefully meant to contrast the believer, who adds knowledge to their faith through learning, where-as the false teacher has no faith and does not have knowledge of God. Peter is not alone in being harsh, Paul says,

Romans 1:22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

Literally Paul calls them morons here, simpletons; not by birth, but by choice.

And again Peter affirms that Paul’s writings are scripture, and should be paid attention to, which is important because it will keep us on solid ground.

v.17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.

I think you can make a solid argument here that Peter is elevating his own writing to scripture as well, he knows he couldn’t write such an amazingly God glorifying letter like this, but that the Holy Spirit is writing through him. Because remember in chapter 1,

2 Peter 1:15 I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

That’s this letter! He is giving us a reminder that will keep us holding to our confession, so that we follow Christ and not strange teachings of false-teachers who will preach apart from the scriptures. One of our great tests of scripture is that if it is all written by one person, the Holy Spirit, as it claims to be, then it will all agree and be without contradiction.

Peter can also be said to be quoting Paul in Ephesians 4:13-14 where Paul said through several things, namely unity in the church and the knowledge of the Son of God, we will not be unstable in strange doctrines, and later he says that we will have a steadfast anchor of our soul, the hope of Christ’s atoning death and saving resurrection.

This unity which Paul desired is totally amazing in that Peter is calling Paul his “beloved brother” because Paul was pretty harsh with Peter when Peter had fallen into error in Jerusalem, look at how Paul confronted Peter (Cephas),

Galatians 2:11-14 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?"

But one of the most loving things we can do is correct someone when they are going astray. Proverbs puts this exceedingly beautifully,

Proverbs 27:6-7 Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

All of this points us at holiness,

v.18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Once again this goes back to our first point, how to know you’re a Christian, and it is the summation of the entire letter basically; if we are growing in grace then we know we are in grace. For example, if I plant an apple tree in my front yard and water it and take care of it and it grows up and starts producing crunchy brown apples which taste terrible and have barbs on them and for all intents and purposes look like pine-cones, then do you think that tree is an apple tree?

An apple tree should produce apples, a Christian should produce fruit of the Spirit, summed up in grace. Peter is totally concerned with one of these fruits being knowledge of Christ. It’s not just knowledge, there are a lot of smart people who are totally separated from Christ, who though they know a lot of things are as Paul calls them, morons. Our knowledge needs to be in Christ, and that through our Bible. As our knowledge increases in Christ, our ability to discern liars and heretics will greatly increase;

Hebrews 5:14 Solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

I heard a great quote on the radio this week, the host was putting forth a hypothetical situation of a Christian standing before God, and God asks, “I gave you 70 years and you couldn’t read one book?” We need to constantly be in our Bibles because it is the only way which God reveals himself in these latter days.

And our last point, of the surety of victory, comes in our benediction,

v.18 To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Christ is in control now, even though it looks out of control. Why doesn’t God wipe the world out? It’s because if he did he wouldn’t see every saint come to repentance, we see he is being glorified in his patience just as he will be glorified in Christ’s return, which Peter here calls the day of eternity, the day time ends; the day of his return and judgment of the world in righteousness.

So that is Second Peter, it is an awesome letter, I want to show you three more scriptures that will drive these points home. The first is in Exodus where Moses goes up on Mount Sinai, the people revolt, and God prepares to crush them,

Exodus 32:9-14 And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you." But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, "O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.'" And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

God was totally ready to crush Israel for their sins, but Moses interceded and lengthened God’s patience because if he had crushed Israel, his promises and his patience would have been doubted. He has promised Christ a certain number of saints and if he sent Christ back early then saints would perish outside of salvation. Today Christ, not Moses, is our intercessor.

(Time necessitated we end here, next week we will look at Psalm 62 which will continue the theme)

July 4th - The Coming of the Son of Man

Prayer Requests
Summit

Builders for Christ
Cauble Witnessing
Swift Cantrel Witnessing
VBS Preparation

Mark's broken finger

Kyle's friend Jamie

James open-air preaching at the Braves Game
Lucas in Indonesia

Text – Topical (2 Peter 3:1-15, Acts 1:1-11)

For a number of reasons I want to give you more application this week than just a lesson, although usually the way I give applications is through a lesson, so this might just end up being a more now-driven lesson than the others which are building a foundation for the rest of your life.

I want to first show you a somewhat funny (if it weren’t so convicting) event in the Bible. Real quick, before we get there, I want to fix my stupid archer analogy from last week. It did turn into a pretty good illustration on the other side though, I came up with that analogy in the shower before church last week, and for a split second I thought, “I wonder if the Holy Spirit gave me that?” But then I remembered Peter’s lesson in chapter 1 about paying attention to the Bible because that’s how God the Spirit speaks, and so I didn’t blame my lame analogy on him, fortunately.

I had a friend, who no longer likes me at all, who went all goofy really quick and started reading poetry that God “gave him.” My answer was; first of all, God doesn’t speak outside of his Bible, second of all, if he did then we should staple your poem to the end of Revelation, and third of all, this poem is both grammatically and theologically horrendous. So to blame the Holy Spirit for such bad poetry or analogies is very dangerous and ought not to be done.

But I think I’ve fixed my analogy! If it gives glory to God then I thank him for giving me this itty bitty brain and his awesome book, especially of Second Peter. Peter wants us to learn four big things from this letter, first to know we have faith, second that the Bible is God’s plenary revelation to us, third that false teachers abound, and fourth that Christ will win and we will partake in his victory. So enter archer-dude; if Peter just wanted to tell us those four things he’d just shoot a straight shot into the target, but he gives it to us in a memorable way, so picture this arcing shot. We have four major things, we’ve got our bow-and-arrow, which represents our faith, without faith in our Resurrected Redeemer we’ll never hit our target. Second is our trajectory and velocity, which we learn from the Bible, if we shoot backwards we’ll never hit our target, we’ve gotta be dead on. Third is our stabilization system, the fletching which keeps the arrow from wobbling under varying air conditions. Fourth is the surety of a bulls-eye when Christ returns and saves his saints.

So knowing Christ is going to win what should we do? Sit back and watch the victory? No, let’s check it out. Which is Christ’s last command before he ascended? I bet you miss it, because 99% of the church misses this point, and catching it is vitally important.

Matthew 28:19-20 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

But where was that command given? Look at verse 16:

Matthew 28:16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.

This command was given in Galilee, where did Christ ascend from? The Mount of Olives in Jerusalem; so we’ve got a time disparity goin’ on here that Christ gives another, later, command.

Acts 1:1-5 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, "you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

He told them to stay in Jerusalem and this happened, according to Luke 24, right before he ascended, so this was his last command, to stay until they received the Holy Spirit. That would happen at Pentecost in ten days.

How could they have been disobedient to this command? They could have run off preaching and teaching and forgot to wait for the Holy Spirit. There are no lack of false teachers who do just that, Jehovah’s Witnesses come to mind most readily that they are totally about going into all the world and preaching their false gospel, when they’ve never noticed or even cared that the Person of the Holy Spirit is utterly missing from their ministry. Others are those like Mother Teresa and her ilk who went to India to be nice to people and condemn them to Hell through failing to preach the gospel. (http://www.challies.com/articles/the-myth-of-mother-teresa)

But on the other end of the spectrum are the people who sit around and don’t do anything, even if they believe the right thing, which the church at Jerusalem was so good at doing.

Acts 1:6-11 So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."

It doesn’t give us the time frame, but I don’t expect it was very long from when Jesus was taken from view and the angel asked them why they were standing there gazing into Heaven. His question is the equivalent of, “Didn’t he give you a direct command? Why then are you standing here failing to do what he said?” Afterwards they went into Jerusalem, received the Holy Spirit, and sat around some more, until God sent a great persecution on Jerusalem which scattered them out into the nations.

But here is the modern church, we’re sitting here gazing into Heaven looking for Christ when we’ve got a job to do which we are, for the most part, failing to do. We’re not going to miss him when he returns.

Zechariah 14:3-4 Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward.

He’s not going to be born in a stable the next time he comes, we’re not going to overlook him or miss him, or have to ask him like John the Baptist did, “Are you the Messiah, or do we seek another?” Jesus gave us explicit warning as to listening to “christs” who don’t come in flaming fire:

Matthew 24:5, 23-27 For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will lead many astray… Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, 'Look, he is in the wilderness,' do not go out. If they say, 'Look, he is in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

So then, here is our application, we need to put his Great Commission into action, making disciples and teaching them to obey Christ’s commands, and we have this wonderful promise, that although God the Son has ascended to Heaven, God the Spirit is with us to the end of the age.

So how do we do this? First of all, we need to open our mouths, for faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of Christ. You’ve all heard the unchristian adage, “Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words,” well it’s much more biblical to say it, “Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use an amplifier,” because the gospel spreads through preaching, and who do we preach it to? To ourselves? We need to preach it to unbelievers, and in doing so we have to expect that they will be offended. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is in Mark 6,

Mark 6:3 And they took offense at him.

We need to remember that they crucified Christ for being Christlike, we must go into spiritual warfare expecting this gospel to anger many and cause them to manifest their hatred of the Living God.

Luke 7:23 Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.

I think I’ve shown most of you the video of Kirk Cameron witnessing to the gang members…if I haven’t then I’ve loaded it on the webpage, but just a real quick summary is Kirk walks up to a group of five or six guys, several of which are quite inebriated, he witnesses to them and afterwards one of them gives him a hug.



Two or three years later, they run into one of the guys, let’s watch the follow-up video. (Reader, this video is not yet on youtube revealing that this man got saved, if you’d like to watch it and live close to me, contact me and I will loan you the video) That is a radical change and one of the reasons we go out and preach Christ’s gospel, this guy looked impossible to reach, yet Christ reached him anyways. And we remember that our job is not to make converts, ours is to preach this gospel, and Christ will build his church. Remember from last week that we are hastening the day, and we do so by preaching the gospel.

I want you to think on the two responses that Christ’s return will garner, first from the believer,

2 Timothy 4:8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

We will LOVE his appearing, we will be glad that Christ has returned to call his church home, that he is about to stamp wickedness out from the earth, that our days of sinning have ended, and that every saint has come to repentance.

But look at it from the other side,

Revelation 6:12-17 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"

Elsewhere it tells us that their hearts will fail them for fear, some will be so terrified that they die where they stand. For this reason we must not only deliver a message of a fulfilled life or a great eternity in Heaven, but we must preach the whole counsel of God, warning people to flee from the wrath to come, imploring them to flee to the Christ who is mighty and still willing to save, snatching them in pity from the flames, hating even their garments stained by their sin, teaching them that on that final day they will face their Creator as either an enemy or as a judge, and that their sins will cease and they will either be resurrected to life eternal or torture forevermore.

In doing this we present a high and holy God who judges, but who is also loving, who sent his Son to absorb his just wrath so that we may be adopted into his family. In everything our effort is to make him known so that he receives the glory as a gracious God for saving many, and he receives the glory as a just God for punishing many, for in everything he will receive the glory.

Acts 17:30-31 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.

A failure to repent and believe will be just two more sins which will be added to the books of their consciences.

So how do we do it? (Latter part of class dedicated to discussion and “Way of the Master” style evangelism

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!