2 Peter 2
Notes
Transcript
2 Peter 2
2 Peter 2
Good morning church! Happy Lord’s Day to you all. If you are joining us on line this morning welcome to you. We have some church family business to take care of before we get into our study this morning, and rather than do it after our service, or in the prayer room, or in my office, we want to do it as a church family to celebrate what the Lord is doing in this place. So this morning I want to begin by reading a passage of Scripture out of 1 Timothy chapter 3.
Before we do, and I loose this slide, we will ultimately be in 2 Peter chapter 2 which is all about false prophets or false teachers, so we have titled our message The Doom, Depravity, and Deceptions of False Teachers. Some of you like that for your notes, so there you have it. But first, we are going to look at one of the sections in our bibles that talks about the Biblical qualifications of a Deacon. We looked at this a while back as we laid hands on and prayed for our newest Elders, elders being Spiritual leaders in the church. Elders are called to preach, teach, and exhort, and deacons are called to basically do everything else.
In fact we find the first mention of the need for Deacons in Acts chapter 6
1 Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution.
2 Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.
3 Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business;
4 but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
So find some good guys. Guys of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, to wait on some tables. To take care of the physical needs of the church, so that we can continue caring for the Spiritual needs of the church. But I want you to see that while we want all our men serving in this church, and I can find something for all of you to do, so you are without excuse.
But there is an actual office in the church, the office of deacon, that is made public and recognizable, so that you who have need know who to ask, and know who you can trust. Here is what it says in 1 Timothy.
8 In the same way, deacons must be well respected and have integrity. They must not be heavy drinkers or dishonest with money.
9 They must be committed to the mystery of the faith now revealed and must live with a clear conscience.
10 Before they are appointed as deacons, let them be closely examined. If they pass the test, then let them serve as deacons.
11 In the same way, their wives must be respected and must not slander others. They must exercise self-control and be faithful in everything they do.
12 A deacon must be faithful to his wife, and he must manage his children and household well.
13 Those who do well as deacons will be rewarded with respect from others and will have increased confidence in their faith in Christ Jesus.
So it is a blessing to us for them to serve in this role and it is a blessing to them as they will have increased confidence in their faith in Christ Jesus.
There are two men this morning that we have simply observed how the Lord is using them in this church, they have been closely examined, they have passed the test and we have asked them to serve the body as Deacons, so would Charlie Hodsdon, and Greg Ramp come up please. Along with our Elders and any other Deacons that are available and not currently serving somewhere else within the sound of my voice.
Pray for them and service...
2 Peter 2 just a reminder that when Peter wrote this letter, it was like you or I would write a letter, from start to finish. The recipient would have read it in full, not a chapter a week, or a few verses at a time. So what we have in chapter two is a continuation of where we have been. At the end of chapter 1 he was talking about the Disciples, the testimony of the Disciples and how we received the sound Word of God. He wrote this...
20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,
21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
These things we have written were Scribed by men, but were inspirited by the Holy Spirit of God. Now he warns. And warning is the job of the Pastor, it is the job of the Elder. If Pastors and Elders only feed the sheep and don’t warn the Sheep, then all we are doing are fattening them up for the Slaughter. So Peter warns in chapter 2 when he writes…just as there were holy men of God,
1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
Ok so Peter is telling us that not only will there be persecution from outside of the church, but we need to be vigilant inside the doors as well because there will be false teachers among you, and they don’t walk around wearing ties that light up announcing them to be false prophets, or wear sandwich boards warning, false teacher, deceiver. They never, ever meet me in the cafe and announce their presence and intentions. Like, “Hello Pastor, I am here to deceive and destroy, I want to tare this place apart, I intend to deceive and destroy and promote my father the Devil. That would be much easier to deal with and much preferred.
But no, they slither in secretly and bring with them destructive heresies. And they are usually the nicest people, that is what makes them so dangerous. They fit in. They seem to know stuff, and they do. Much of what they say will be true, except for the parts that aren’t. Except for the parts that are destructive and that will deceive you.
They won’t do it from up here, they won’t announce it to their home group. But they might invite you to their own little study, on this book, or that book, or maybe even a bible study to go into the deeper things. You know that Pastor’s a good guy, but God love him, he just ain’t very deep. Let me teach you....We read in Titus how to deal with such a deceiver.
10 Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition,
11 knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.
Give them one and only one warning and then kick them out and protect the flock.
Now Peter tells us 2 Peter 2:1
1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
That they bring on swift destruction. Now from our perspective often times it doesn’t seem like it. Oh, I skipped it that part that says even denying the Lord who bought them. Now that is confusing, and I almost think intentionally. Not that the bible wants to confuse, but it communicates the idea that you may not be able to tell. They may appear to be true believers. Think of someone like Apollos, the bible describes him to be an incredible speaker. It says he is “eloquent,” “mighty in the Scriptures,” “fervent in the spirit” and “instructed in the way of the Lord”
But there was a time when a husband and wife, Aquila and Priscilla, who were friends of Paul, they realized Apollos wasn’t teaching correctly. Were told in Acts 18 that
26 So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
So sometimes it can be one that the Lord has bought and they don’t know all that they think they know and that can be the most dangerous if they are erroneously and unintentionally leading others astray. That’s why when we find out you are having a bible study, we may talk to you about it, see what your covering, what are you using for materials, etc. I know some of you don’t like that, and I’m ok with you not liking it, we are still going to do it because we have a responsibility to the Lord for both teaching and warning.
The truth is though even if they aren’t saved, Jesus has paid the price for their sin, they just need to receive that gift. They just need to ask Him to forgive them and He’s already bought and paid for them, the gift just needs to be received.
Verse 2 he continues.
2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.
3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.
Perhaps many of you have thought before that you wished you had lived in a different time, or place, I know some of you are cowboys way deep down inside. Often times we can think that it may have been better to live during this time of the church or that time of the church or in the very beginning when it was so pure. Peter was the one that preached on the day of Pentecost that gave birth to the church and he is saying, there is going to be false teacher among you.
The saddest part to all of this is what he wrote in verse 2 that many will follow their destructive ways.
By covetousness they will exploit you…covetousness will be the tool. They want what you have and they will make it to appear as they have something to offer you and your covetousness of something more will lead to your exploitation. Again we have this description about their judgement and we are told it has not been idle. Even though it may appear that nothing is happening, it is. Their destruction does not slumber. We can sit back and judge God, thinking He’s too merciful, or too patient. But their destruction does not slumber, in fact, it is pilling up. The cost is accumulating. The teacher is held to a higher standard and they are going bankrupt.
Mercy would be to smoke them instantly. I mean if I was God and people were saying things about me that wasn’t true, I think I’d be pretty quick to fire the cannons, but He’s not sleeping and their destruction does not slumber, it accumulates.
Now Peter gives us three examples of God’s judgement occurring and not slumbering. The first is in verse 4
4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;
6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly;
Now I’ve got to stop at verse 6, because I want to say some things about verse 7 and I don’t want to miss what’s here. Again, God has judged in the past and that judgement is currently active.
4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
God did not spare the angels who sinned. We know that that there was a time when a created being, an angelic being, actually a worship leader in heaven (those guys are always worth keeping an eye on!) Lucifer became prideful wanted to ascend to the place of God and he fell from Heaven and took a third of the angels with him. The stupid ones, I think. How could you see God and choose something or someone else?
I know how it can happen to us. Peter told us last week, well we read last week what Peter had written, 2 Peter 1:9
9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
We can become nearsighted. Right? Where we can only see things up close, but we loose our vision for things far away. We loose our sight of the eternal. Or we begin to think well God isn’t doing anything to stop me, so He must not care about it very much. He does, and we will answer for all of it. With either having to pay that price, or Jesus paying it for us.
But these angels, whether it be those that fell with Satan, or some bible scholars think this is specifically the angels that began to cohabitate with mankind, you can read about it in Genesis chapter 6, that it is those guys that have a special place in hell. What we do know is that God did not spare them...
4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
but He cast them down to hell, the word translated hell here is the word tartarus and this is the only place that this word is used. It Greek mythology it was the lowest place in hell, so some think that it is the lowest pit in hades. I’m not sure of that, because Peter could have just said that. What we do know is just what we are told here. It is not hades. But is is some special hell that they are held in now in judgement, bound in chains of darkness, my mind gets kinda dark when I begin to imagine what kind of chains those must be. But they are there now in judgement, waiting to be thrown into the Lake of Fire.
Not all of the fallen angels are there, there is a great deal of evidence that several are on active duty in Washington, D.C. and Old Town, Maine…a second example of judgement is in verse 5...
5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;
2nd example is that the entire world, short Noah, Mrs. Noah, their 3 sons and daughter’s in laws, God judged the whole world and they were destroyed in the flood.
6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly;
The Bible describes Sodom and Gomorrah as a place of great sin, and their sin condemned them to destruction, and in that they became an example to those who might be tempted to go down that path, there is a price to be paid. The wages of sin is death. Now beginning in verse 7 we have an interesting description of Lot. So He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah....and verse 7
7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked
8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)—
9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment,
OK, all of this is true. God knows how to punish the unjust and to deliver the godly, but this example of Lot has bugged me all week. Mostly, I guess because God sees him differently than I see him. You see if I was preaching a sermon this morning on the life of Lot, my exhortation to you would be to not be like him. See Lot was the nephew of Abraham. You can read his story throughout the book of Genesis. But we see in Genesis chapter 13 that Lot and his uncle Abraham had made it to a place called Bethel. God had promised to make a great nation from Abraham. But when they got to Bethel it was quickly realized that there was not enough land there to support both of their herds.
Abraham generously offered to let Lot chose that land that he would take. In this sermon that I’m not preaching on Lot today, I would point out that this choice was his first mistake. Abraham said he could take the land to the right or to the left and the bible says that ...And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere. He looked up and say the lush green on the hills of sodom and that was his choice.
His lifted his eyes and made a choice based on logic alone. Sadly, he didn’t lift his eyes high enough! He should have looked to God, but instead he just looked at the logic, the appearance of things, the financial considerations, the ease to make a dollar or to provide. I can’t tell you how many times I have witnessed men, husbands, and fathers do the same things. They lift their eyes and see and higher paying job, or a home closer to the city, or where they work, they make a choice on the basis of Logic, not upon what the Lord has said.
The problem with Lot’s choice was it was a logical choice to raise cattle, but not kids. For the cities where wicked. And as you read the story of Lot, he keeps getting closer and closer to the city. The bible tells of a time that Lot and his family were taken captive by a rival king, but Abraham rescued him, only Lot returned to the city.
When God decided that it was time and the cities were going to be destroyed, he sent two angels to warn Lot of what was to come and to rescue him. Sadly, this time when we pick up the story Lot is sitting in the city gate. So he has gone from living by the Jordan to moving closer and closer, to his daughters marrying men from Sodom, to now he is sitting in the city gate. That was where things got done. These were the men of power, so now he was involved, he had become entrenched in the culture.
It’s such a horrible story. Lot didn’t recognize the two men to be angels, but thought them to be ordinary men. But knowing how wicked the city was, he invited them to stay at his house. Lot fed them and housed them, but before they were asleep, men from the city came and they wanted to rape these two men, demanding that Lot send them out. Lot is such a mess and so confused at this point that he actually offers to send his daughters out. That’s probably my biggest problem with this description as righteous…you get that I’m sure.
But these evil and wicked men, didn’t want the women, they wanted the men. The angels then struck the men blind and told Lot to get his family out immediately. Here is the problem men, here is the problem husbands and fathers when we aren’t the men God has called us to be. Lot was so compromised that His son’s in laws, men of sodom, thought he was joking. We need to get out the Lord is going to destroy the city, ah, pops, stop kidding around. So they refused.
Lot leaves with his wife and his two daughters. His wife looked back at the city longingly because that was where her heart was and God turned her into a pillar of salt. Men, don’t be deceived thinking you can live in a place of sin, work in an area that you know you shouldn’t hoping that you are going to change things, you are going to be an influence for Christ.
When God told Abraham He was going to destroy the city, Abraham said, but God, You being a Good and Righteous God, surely won’t destroy the good with the wicked will you? I mean if there was 50 righteous men in Sodom you won’t destroy it will you. Abraham was probably thinking well my nephew Lot is there, surely he and his family has had an influence for God…and then he thought about that and said, ah, Lord, how about if there is 5 less than the 50, I mean 45 righteous is worth saving right? You won’t destroy the city for the sake of 45 will you. And God says, no, for the sake of 45 I won’t destroy the city. Abraham keeps negotiating and finally gets God down to 10. I won’t destroy the city for the sake of 10.
Think about that. You have righteous Lot, his wife, two daughters, his two son-in-laws, I mean that’s six people, surely they have shared their faith and shared their God and influenced 4. They had not, in fact his son in laws didn’t make it out, his wife lost, if you read the story he losses everything. He flees to the mountains, his two daughters get him drunk, he impregnates them and they give birth to two sons who become the fathers of the Moabites and the Ammonites, who are forever in conflict with the nation of Israel. Let me read those verses to you again...
7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked
8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)—
9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment,
Although I wouldn’t change my warning to not live like Lot, and If I had lived back then I would have told him if your soul is truly tormented by their lawless deeds then show it by your actions and get your butt out of there. But I am stuck by this last verse, the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations that is for us. See rather than let it bug me that God sees Lot as righteous, I’m sure due to his faith, God accredited to him as righteousness. But do you understand Christian that that is how God sees you? That is how God sees me? When He looks at us He sees Jesus and we are clean. He chooses not to remember our sin, because it has been paid for.
This also tells me, I’m not to judge a book by its cover. Yes, we’re called to be fruit inspectors, to examine a man’s works, but this tells me I can’t judge a man’s heart to condemnation. Verse 10
10 and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries,
11 whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.
So he contrasts the prideful and selfish actions of man to that of the angels, the holy angels not the fallen angels, verse 12
12 But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption,
The natural brute beasts are animals. He is saying these false teachers are driven by the same things, their flesh. Animals only care about satiety, sex and slumber.
13 and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you,
14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.
15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
16 but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.
The story of Balaam is an interesting one. I leave it to you to read it. Balaam wasn’t a false prophet, he was a true prophet of God, but he wasn’t right with God and he basically prostituted the gift that he had been given by God, it says here that he loved the wages of wickedness. Ultimately he is saved by his donkey, you can read all about it in Numbers 22-24, some of the consequences are in 25.
17 These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
This depravity of the false teachers are like wells without water. Empty. When you see a well it brings the promise of water or refreshment. A well without water is just a hole, a pit. You can drop your pail down and hear it hit bottom, thud. Or like dark clouds that fly overhead without bringing any water.
18 For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error.
19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.
They promise liberty while they themselves are slaves…there is not freedom in what they offer, only bondage.
20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.
21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.
22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”
Having chummed up what was corruptible inside them, a dog will go back and sniff it and eventually dig in.
1 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder),
Grace and Peace