SPEAKER_00: We are excited to hear what the Lord has for us.
SPEAKER_00: Forgive me if you've heard me tell this story before, but years and years ago, probably 15 years ago, I was in the market for a new car, and I did something that I have never did previously, and I have not done since.
SPEAKER_00: I decided after looking and um looking online and you know the usual places that you look to find a car, I found one that seemed kind of interesting to me, but it was on a used car lot.
SPEAKER_00: So I don't, when I say used car lot, I don't mean like the local dealership sells used cars.
SPEAKER_00: I mean like the weird commercials that you see online and like weird commercials on TV of like crazy weird guys dressing up as goofballs to sell you a car.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I mean.
SPEAKER_00: So I went to this used car lot because I was kind of interested to see if this car that they had that I was interested in was any good.
SPEAKER_00: So I was even interested enough that I decided to bring a buddy with me just in case I wanted to actually purchase the car, but I didn't want to sell them my car so we could both drive a car home.
SPEAKER_00: So we get there, it was a little bit further away, it was actually down in Ohio, like the Toledo area.
SPEAKER_00: This was that was my first mistake.
SPEAKER_00: So Ohio.
SPEAKER_00: Um and I drove, we drove down, got on the used car lot, parked my car, and the two of us walked into the sales office, and there were three, there were three sales guys in the room, and um one of them greeted me, and I told him, he's like, What brings you in?
SPEAKER_00: And I told him which car I was looking at, I was kind of interested in.
SPEAKER_00: And he was like, Oh, yeah, okay, I I think we still have that one.
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you have a seat?
SPEAKER_00: And so me and my buddy sat down and we were um we just started I started asking questions about this car, and then all of a sudden there's a little bit of rustling.
SPEAKER_00: So one of the guys that was sitting at the next door um sales desk got up and went outside.
SPEAKER_00: And about 30 seconds later, uh, the guy's desk that I was at, his phone started to ring, and he goes, Do you mind if I answer this?
SPEAKER_00: Sure, that's fine.
SPEAKER_00: Found it a little odd, but I was okay, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: He proceeds to answer the car and he goes, Oh, it's interesting that you call about that car.
SPEAKER_00: Um I uh yeah, we still have it.
SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, it's great shape.
SPEAKER_00: Uh looks great.
SPEAKER_00: Just drove it the other day.
SPEAKER_00: Really brilliant car.
SPEAKER_00: Um, what's funny that you ask about that one is there's a gentleman sitting at my desk right now that's actually in here to talk about the same exact car.
SPEAKER_00: So I don't know if it'll be here.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it'll be here if you come, but I I'm not I'm not quite sure.
SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, maybe we'll see you later if we don't have that one.
SPEAKER_00: We've got other cars for you, but yeah, this one, that one is still technically here.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we'll see you later.
SPEAKER_00: Click.
SPEAKER_00: And he looked at me and he goes, Man, that's like the fourth or fifth call I've had about that car today.
SPEAKER_00: It's really a hot car.
SPEAKER_00: You if you want it, you really you you should probably jump on it.
SPEAKER_00: And I went, Oh, is that oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00: Uh well, could could I test drive it?
SPEAKER_00: Sure, you could test drive it.
SPEAKER_00: So we get in the car and and we drive around, everything seemed okay.
SPEAKER_00: And I thought, and I'm glad I thought this, but I thought, oh, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I should really try to like open this thing up and take it on the freeway and see see what happens.
SPEAKER_00: As soon as I hit the gas to like get going, it started shaking and it made this heinous noise that sounded like it was a bomb was about to explode.
SPEAKER_00: And I looked at my buddy and he looks at me and he goes, Are we safe?
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I don't think so.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't think so.
SPEAKER_00: So we drove it back, obviously, and I dropped it off, and he was like, Pretty great car, huh?
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, No, not really.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but uh, so feel free.
SPEAKER_00: I'm glad so I said, I'm glad that you guys got so many calls on that.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's for somebody else, it's not for me.
SPEAKER_00: We walked back to my car, and my buddy looks at me, and I'll never forget his face, and he goes, Do you think that whole thing was kind of like a show?
SPEAKER_00: Were they were they manipulating us?
SPEAKER_00: I was like, Yes, I do.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for asking.
SPEAKER_00: Got in the car and drove away.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I was reminded of that story this week because let's just say, let's paint the scenario a little bit differently.
SPEAKER_00: Let's say I did buy the car.
SPEAKER_00: Let's say that that was convincing to me.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, oh man, this is a really hot car.
SPEAKER_00: I should probably buy this because everybody wants it.
SPEAKER_00: It must be a really good deal.
SPEAKER_00: And then I get home and I open up the I start driving it, and it it starts to sound like a bomb's gonna go off, and then it actually does explode on me, and I'm sitting at the on the highway, like I would be incredibly upset.
SPEAKER_00: And say I started to think critically, and I was like, oh man, I think that they were playing me.
SPEAKER_00: I think that they were trying to exploit me, I think they were trying to take advantage of me.
SPEAKER_00: Then what would happen?
SPEAKER_00: It's like, man, I would feel like I we need justice.
SPEAKER_00: I gotta call whoever that guy is on the news that goes the better business guy to go talk to those guys.
SPEAKER_00: Like I, this guy, they need to be like brought to justice.
SPEAKER_00: This is a problem.
SPEAKER_00: And I started to think about these are there's scenarios like this that happen to us all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Where we either we see it happen to other people or it happens to us, and we feel like we've been taken advantage of, and we feel like we've been exploited, and we feel like, and like that need there needs to be some justice for that problem.
SPEAKER_00: What's interesting is that is in some ways the the question that is posed that, and and something that Peter is going to examine a bit this morning.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna examine the idea of there are these, again, there are these false teachers that are that are from within the church that are trying to teach false things and lead people from within the church astray.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe some of them have actually caught on to it and they're like, these guys are trying to manipulate us, these guys are trying to exploit it.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter affirms that and then says, but don't worry, they will be taken care of.
SPEAKER_00: So, like I said, this this passage that we're gonna be in is an important passage this morning, but it does come with some heaviness.
SPEAKER_00: It does come with some stuff that, quite frankly, some sometimes we don't really want to look at.
SPEAKER_00: But then there are other times where we're like, we really want to look at this because we want justice to be served.
SPEAKER_00: What if I what if I decided to take matters into my own hands?
SPEAKER_00: And I go back and I've got eggs and I just start egging the place.
SPEAKER_00: Like, what we want it to be taken care of.
SPEAKER_00: So Peter, to Warner, he's gonna dive into this a bit.
SPEAKER_00: He he's he's kind of given his thesis statement in many ways for in chapter one, and now he's gonna take aim at some specific false teachers and what they're doing and what God will do about it.
SPEAKER_00: Directly before this passage, Peter talks about authority and what authority we ought to live by.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Everything must be measured by Scripture and not the other way around.
SPEAKER_00: And he says in verse 16, just to kind of recap, he says, For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and the coming of the Lord of Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesties.
SPEAKER_00: So what he's saying is that we were, we did not follow cleverly devised myths.
SPEAKER_00: This wasn't just some bedtime story that we were told.
SPEAKER_00: I walked with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I saw him die.
SPEAKER_00: I saw him buried, I saw him resurrected, I saw him ascend to the Father.
SPEAKER_00: I saw all of these things.
SPEAKER_00: We didn't, this isn't some sort of clever, like we're not trying, this is not a myth, this is real.
SPEAKER_00: I saw it, we saw it.
SPEAKER_00: So we're not following that, but what are we following?
SPEAKER_00: Who are we following?
SPEAKER_00: So let's dive in this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Second Peter chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna chunk this out a bit.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna start talking through verses 1 through 3.
SPEAKER_00: Here we go.
SPEAKER_00: But false teachers also rose 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.
SPEAKER_00: And many of 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.
SPEAKER_00: Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
SPEAKER_00: So we do not follow cleverly devised myths, Peter says.
SPEAKER_00: But then he does say, But there will be those of you that will follow cleverly devised myths.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying here in verse 1 that false prophets rose among the people.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about the Old Testament, that there were false prophets that rose among the people of God that spoke something like it was coming from God, but it was contrary to God.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, just like there were prophets of old that were false teachers, there are prophets of old.
SPEAKER_00: There are false teachers among you even now.
SPEAKER_00: And the implication for us, even this morning, is that there will be false teachers even among us, even now.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, This is what they'll do.
SPEAKER_00: They'll secretly bring in destructive heresies and deny the master who bought them.
SPEAKER_00: He uses secretly very astutely and importantly here this morning.
SPEAKER_00: It was intentional.
SPEAKER_00: False teachers do not normally announce that they're going to teach something that is incorrect or contrary to God when they say that they're speaking before God.
SPEAKER_00: They don't announce, hey, hello, my name is Trevor, and I'm a false teacher, and I'm here to destroy your faith.
SPEAKER_00: They don't announce themselves that way.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're Trevor, if your name's Trevor, it's not you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, I said Trevor.
SPEAKER_00: I was gonna say John, and I thought, oh, that might be a two on the nose.
SPEAKER_00: He's not even here to defend himself.
SPEAKER_00: They don't say that, but but they but when they come, they'll secretly teach heresies.
SPEAKER_00: They maybe a slight shift in emphasis or a neglected doctrine or a distortion of grace or a denial of judgment or teachings that give people permission to indulge in the flesh, indulge in themselves, all while still feeling spiritually secure.
SPEAKER_00: Many believe that these teachers were that Paul Peter is talking to specifically, were denying the truth that Jesus would return to judge the living and the dead.
SPEAKER_00: So the false teaching likely included something along these lines.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is not coming, really coming back in judgment, so you can live however you want.
SPEAKER_00: These kinds of teachings are destructive and they don't bring life, they destroy life.
SPEAKER_00: Now, deny the master who bought them is the other idea.
SPEAKER_00: There are, this is a debated verse.
SPEAKER_00: There are those that read it one way, and there's others that read it a different way.
SPEAKER_00: You know, in some ways, is Peter talking about a false teacher who lost his salvation, those who deny who master, they deny the master who bought them, or is this a case of someone who is self-deceived potentially?
SPEAKER_00: There are there are ways to read this in different ways, and different people will give you different answers.
SPEAKER_00: The one thing that I would say, I'm persuaded, as you read all of Peter's teachings, including 1 Peter and 2 Peter, I am I have a hard time concluding that this is a proof text.
SPEAKER_00: This is a proof text that would teach against eternal security.
SPEAKER_00: That is my persuasion.
SPEAKER_00: There are people that would disagree with me.
SPEAKER_00: But I will quote one of the commentators that I read this week that I found helpful.
SPEAKER_00: He said, What Peter must mean is that false teachers identified themselves as Christians in the eyes of others, and perhaps even in their own eyes, that they had been bought by the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: But living a lie and not accepting Jesus' Lordship or authority over themselves made it clear that they never really belonged to the family of God in the first place.
SPEAKER_00: Before we continue on, I do think it's important to further highlight that these false teachers are not just wrong, they are destructive.
SPEAKER_00: The people say that they are speaking for God and on God's behalf and are exegeting the scripture, but extremely isegeting the scripture.
SPEAKER_00: So reading what they want into it and then pulling out the meaning that they want.
SPEAKER_00: People that do that are not just wrong, and we're not having a difference of opinion, like, well, you might think this or you might think this.
SPEAKER_00: There are some secondary issues that we can disagree on, but the primary gospel issues, if you want to go read Galatians chapter 1 and see what Paul has to say about people that add to the gospel or take away from the gospel, what he thinks should happen to those kinds of people.
SPEAKER_00: But when we do that, that's not just difference of opinion, that's destruction, that's evil.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what we're talking about here.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Peter is talking about here.
SPEAKER_00: It's not something to mess around with.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
SPEAKER_00: So instead of following the word of the Lord, scripture, the account of the apostles, many will be deceived and follow their what?
SPEAKER_00: Sensuality, Peter says.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, they will not be able to control themselves or their desires, their appetites.
SPEAKER_00: They will follow whatever feels good to them in the moment.
SPEAKER_00: Because they've been given license to do so by a false teacher that says, Jesus isn't coming back in judgment.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to worry about that, so just do you.
SPEAKER_00: They will live in excess.
SPEAKER_00: The idea of unrestrained desire, shamelessness, or moral license in many ways, it is connected to sex as well.
SPEAKER_00: Their teaching is attractive in many ways because it tells people that their flesh, it tells some, it tells their flesh that what they want they can have.
SPEAKER_00: So when Peter says because of them the way of truth is blasphemed, he means that their behavior and the reality that it sucks people in and that their teachings are attractive, it actually distorts the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: So when Christians start to follow that idea, when Christians start to say that whatever you want to do is fine, God just wants you to be happy.
SPEAKER_00: When we start following the, it distorts, he uses blasphemes the gospel, distorts it, it makes it into something that it isn't actually.
SPEAKER_00: And it damages the truth and reputation of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: So when Christians or Christian leaders claim Christ but live in greed and sensuality and arrogance, manipulation, outsiders, people that are not of the faith, look and say, Christianity itself must be corrupt because they're all following whatever they want.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here in verse 3, Peter gives us a mark and highlights a motivation behind these false teachers, greed.
SPEAKER_00: So he says they will exploit people because of their greed.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, they want something from you.
SPEAKER_00: They want your money.
SPEAKER_00: They want what power you can give them.
SPEAKER_00: They want influence over your life so they can get what they want from you.
SPEAKER_00: They want.
SPEAKER_00: They want all for themselves.
SPEAKER_00: False teachers do not shepherd the flock, they use the flock.
SPEAKER_00: That is a major biblical distinction between true and false spiritual leadership.
SPEAKER_00: So true shepherds feed the sheep and false shepherds feed on the sheep.
SPEAKER_00: We spoke of this on Palm Sunday when Jesus makes the claim in John 10 that he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.
SPEAKER_00: This is the voice, this is the shepherd that we want to follow, not false shepherds that want to communicate to you that whatever you want to do is totally fine and good, because they're distorting something about what real freedom is and what freedom from sin is, and freedom to be in service to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The last sentence of verse three is where Peter makes a turn.
SPEAKER_00: Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
SPEAKER_00: So he starts to, he he he describes in many ways what is going on here in verse 3, in verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: So they follow that what if we fall prey to them, this is what will happen to us.
SPEAKER_00: And he starts to then make a turn as, and this is what's happened to them in the past, these false teachers that claim the name of God but teach things contrary to God.
SPEAKER_00: This is what's happened to them in the past, so you can expect what will happen to them in the future.
SPEAKER_00: God is not asleep at the wheel, like it may seem sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: And to prove his point, he gives us three examples.
SPEAKER_00: And they are weird and funky examples, to be clear.
SPEAKER_00: The longest sermon I've ever preached here, nearly 60 minutes, everyone was asleep.
SPEAKER_00: It was really fun for me up here.
SPEAKER_00: Uh was I preached on in in our Genesis series, I preached on Genesis 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.
SPEAKER_00: So the whole flood narrative.
SPEAKER_00: And two of the examples that are given that Peter gives as to how Jesus, how God is going to treat the wicked and false teachers, the the two examples he gives, I covered in that sermon.
SPEAKER_00: So if you want to dive deeper into some of this stuff, feel free to do that.
SPEAKER_00: It's on our website.
SPEAKER_00: It is, there is access to that.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna dive super deep into it today, but if you want to, feel free.
SPEAKER_00: And the third one John preached in Genesis 19, you can go look at that as well.
SPEAKER_00: We are we're gonna go over this briefly, but I if you want to go deeper, you can.
SPEAKER_00: We just won't do it today.
SPEAKER_00: So the first example, 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: So his first example is this example of fallen angels.
SPEAKER_00: Now we can get into the details another time, but he's saying God did not spare the angels that sinned against him, and so he will not spare the false teachers that are trying to deceive you.
SPEAKER_00: That is the point of this.
SPEAKER_00: That's going to be the point of all three of these examples.
SPEAKER_00: God didn't spare this, so he's not gonna spare that.
SPEAKER_00: Now, there are two real options here.
SPEAKER_00: Originally, Satan's fall with fallen angels that could be talking about that, or it could be talking about Genesis 6, which is a very weird interaction that is described for us, that Moses describes for us, where fallen angels showed no restraint, found human women to be very attractive, and made them their wives.
SPEAKER_00: And God saw this as evil, and in many ways it was one of the things that made God say, I need to bring a flood, because this has to stop.
SPEAKER_00: So again, it could be one of those two things.
SPEAKER_00: Not totally sure, but either way, evil, and it did not go unpunished.
SPEAKER_00: It did not, God judged that as wicked and dealt with it.
SPEAKER_00: And so the false teachers at this time that when this was written, but also today, they will be judged like that.
SPEAKER_00: If even angels were not exempt from judgment, false teachers will not be either.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: He goes on again.
SPEAKER_00: If.
SPEAKER_00: So verse 4 started with if.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 5 starts with if.
SPEAKER_00: 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 earth, uh, upon the world of the ungodly.
SPEAKER_00: Here again, but this time he pairs judgment and rescue.
SPEAKER_00: So God judged the ungodly world through the flood, but he did preserve Noah and not just Noah, Noah and seven others.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things that he's drawing out here when he talks about Noah Noah and he calls him a herald of righteousness, is that it took six, 120, I'm sorry, 120 years for him to build the ark.
SPEAKER_00: Long time.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things that he did while he was building the ark is he preached God.
SPEAKER_00: He preached repentance.
SPEAKER_00: We have to stop going that way and we have to turn to God.
SPEAKER_00: We have to, we have to repent.
SPEAKER_00: And nobody listened to him except for these seven people.
SPEAKER_00: His family.
SPEAKER_00: Peter's showing that God is both capable and has taken extreme measures to destroy sin and also to preserve, and also to rescue.
SPEAKER_00: Noah's not merely a boat builder, he was a preacher, a witness, a testimony of righteousness in a corrupt generation.
SPEAKER_00: God is Able to preserve his people even through judgment.
SPEAKER_00: He gives that example.
SPEAKER_00: That is the second one.
SPEAKER_00: And the third one is Sodom and Gomorrah.
SPEAKER_00: Again, another if.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 6 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.
SPEAKER_00: And if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked, for at 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.
SPEAKER_00: So he gives this third example of Sodom and Gomorrah that serves as two different purposes.
SPEAKER_00: He shows that they that God condemned them to extinction because of their sin, but also as an example to the rest of creation of what would happen if we live like those cities.
SPEAKER_00: And he zooms in on what happens there through the person of Lot.
SPEAKER_00: Now again, your mileage may vary on Lot.
SPEAKER_00: It's funny that Peter and the New Testament keeps calling Rot Lot Lot Rot Lightchus, Lot righteous.
SPEAKER_00: Because he's kind of a goofball and he gets a lot of things wrong sometimes, but I think in some ways that's even part of the point.
SPEAKER_00: But he zooms in on Lot, who is distressed by the sensuality and the conduct of this wicked city.
SPEAKER_00: And if you remember Genesis 19, he is, again, not an obvious hero, but Peter calls him righteous not because Lot was flawless, but because he belonged to God and was grieved by the wickedness that was around him.
SPEAKER_00: But this scene in Genesis 19, where he is sitting at the city gate, and there are two angels that God sent to the city to observe and see what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: He sees these two come towards the city, and there's not any indication necessarily that he knows they're angels, but he does notice something unique about them, and he runs up to them and he's like, hey, why don't you guys come hang out with me in my house?
SPEAKER_00: And they're like, no, no, we're just gonna go uh hang out in the city center, the city square.
SPEAKER_00: And the lot's like, no, no, no, you don't want to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Trust me, you don't want to do that.
SPEAKER_00: You you gotta come to my house.
SPEAKER_00: And as he leads them to his house and he gets them inside, all it says, all of the men, young and old, noticed, watched them go into the house, and then tried to break into the house to take advantage of them.
SPEAKER_00: It is an insane and sobering scene at the same time.
SPEAKER_00: And Lot is in the middle of all this, and he is grieved by what is happening, all that he's seen and all that he's heard.
SPEAKER_00: And as a result, God says, I am going to destroy these cities.
SPEAKER_00: But he preserves life.
SPEAKER_00: And he rescues Lot.
SPEAKER_00: So these look at these three scenes.
SPEAKER_00: Peter said, if three times, then there has to be a then.
SPEAKER_00: If this, if this, if this, if God dealt with sin, judged sin, but also rescued the righteous, then what?
SPEAKER_00: Verse nine.
SPEAKER_00: Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.
SPEAKER_00: In many ways, this verse is the heart of the passage.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter is saying, if all these examples, if all of that is true, which they are, then the Lord knows how to rescue and the Lord knows how to judge.
SPEAKER_00: God knows how to rescue you and God knows how to judge.
SPEAKER_00: So, in other words, God knows how to do both of those things, and more importantly, he will do both of those things because he already has, and he's doing it, and he will do.
SPEAKER_00: God knows how to rescue the righteous from their temptation to save them, and to, and God knows how to stamp out the unrighteous and keep them under control until he returns fully and finally to judge us all.
SPEAKER_00: And our last verse this morning is a summarization of the false teachers in many ways, and we'll go into further detail next week.
SPEAKER_00: He says this, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.
SPEAKER_00: So all that was true then, when I dealt with sin then, I will deal with them, these false teachers, these false prophets, the same way who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.
SPEAKER_00: These false teachers, they do not fight sin.
SPEAKER_00: They feed it.
SPEAKER_00: They treat grace as permission rather than power for holiness.
SPEAKER_00: They despise authority that includes rejection of divine authority, apostolic authority, and moral accountability.
SPEAKER_00: They do not want a Lord, they want a religious language without submission.
SPEAKER_00: They want to be able to get something from you, and they know they can use words that are in God's word to get you there.
SPEAKER_00: They want the benefits of spiritual influence without the burden of obedience.
SPEAKER_00: They refuse to deny themselves, and they they are unfamiliar with self-sacrifice and self-denial.
SPEAKER_00: These concepts are foreign to them.
SPEAKER_00: They are unfamiliar with the idea of accountability or authority, the idea of someone above them or something above them, or a God who care who or God in general, someone who is grander, bigger, and more powerful than them.
SPEAKER_00: They are unfamiliar with this and they are unwilling to submit to it.
SPEAKER_00: They wouldn't say that to you.
SPEAKER_00: Not with their words, maybe, but with their lives, they would.
SPEAKER_00: And the truth is, this is very, very, very, very applicable for today, is it not?
SPEAKER_00: Now quickly, let's remember Genesis 3.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of Genesis in 2 Peter here.
SPEAKER_00: God creates his image bears, humanity, Adam and Eve, and he says, You may eat of every tree in the garden, but you may not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
SPEAKER_00: The day you eat it, you will surely die.
SPEAKER_00: So he says three things.
SPEAKER_00: You can eat of any tree, not that tree.
SPEAKER_00: If you eat that tree, you'll die.
SPEAKER_00: And very subtly, serpent, Satan, the original deceiver, the original false prophet, the original false teacher.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Did God really say that?
SPEAKER_00: You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?
SPEAKER_00: He starts to twist his words.
SPEAKER_00: He's trying to not just plant some doubt, it is plant the idea that God's word can be challenged.
SPEAKER_00: Can be questioned.
SPEAKER_00: It's up for our judgment.
SPEAKER_00: Satan was very subtly calling into question the goodness and generosity of God just by asking a question.
SPEAKER_00: Did God really say that?
SPEAKER_00: And then he goes even further.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, God's trying to keep something from you.
SPEAKER_00: There's something that you don't have access to that he's trying to keep from you.
SPEAKER_00: If you eat it, you'll actually be like him.
SPEAKER_00: The first false teacher was the serpent, was Satan, and his first doctrine was simple.
SPEAKER_00: God's word cannot be trusted.
SPEAKER_00: God's judgment will not come, and sin will make you free and happy.
SPEAKER_00: This is exactly the pattern that Peter exposes in 2 Peter chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: False teachers secretly bring in destructive heresies.
SPEAKER_00: They deny the master, they appeal to sensuality, they exploit people with false words, and they convince people that judgment either isn't real or it's not urgent.
SPEAKER_00: He's naming an ancient strategy.
SPEAKER_00: Peter shows it that these lies, what they look like, where they lead, and why the people of God must cling to the real truth, to the true reality, as Paul puts it in Colossians.
SPEAKER_00: I said earlier that God knows how to judge and he knows how to rescue.
SPEAKER_00: I will say the next logical thing is not just that he knows how to, but God will judge the wicked and he will rescue the righteous.
SPEAKER_00: God will judge the wicked and he will rescue the righteous.
SPEAKER_00: He knows how to do both and will do both.
SPEAKER_00: So in many ways, this passage is meant to be a warning to a false teacher, but also an encouragement to us and a challenge to us as believers.
SPEAKER_00: An encouragement to say, if you're righteous before God, he will rescue you.
SPEAKER_00: But it's also a challenge to ask yourself, am I in right standing with God or not?
SPEAKER_00: Have I trusted in Jesus for the forgiveness of my sins?
SPEAKER_00: Have I made him Lord and Savior in my life?
SPEAKER_00: The fate of the false teacher and the followers of the false teacher will be the same as their master Satan.
SPEAKER_00: Destruction and separation from God and all things that are good.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Peter's telling us this morning.
SPEAKER_00: There's a couple implications that I want to draw out briefly, as briefly as I can before we move into a time of communion.
SPEAKER_00: The first thing is this false teaching is dangerous because it makes sin feel safe.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not.
SPEAKER_00: False teaching is not always denying that Jesus existed or openly rejecting Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it sounds like this you can have Jesus without repentance.
SPEAKER_00: You can have grace without holiness, you can have salvation without surrender, you can have spirituality without authority.
SPEAKER_00: You can follow your desires and still call it freedom.
SPEAKER_00: Peter says that kind of teaching is destructive and evil.
SPEAKER_00: And again, Paul affirms this in Galatians.
SPEAKER_00: Go read Galatians 1.
SPEAKER_00: Paul does not mince words.
SPEAKER_00: Another thing is God's patience should never be mistaken for permission.
SPEAKER_00: So in other words, the false teachers seem to assume judgment is not coming.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter says, judgment may seem delayed, but it is not idle.
SPEAKER_00: God's patience is meant to lead us to repentance, not permission.
SPEAKER_00: Another thing, God knows how to keep his people, we've seen here.
SPEAKER_00: This passage is full of judgment, but it's not hopeless.
SPEAKER_00: Noah was preserved.
SPEAKER_00: Lot was rescued.
SPEAKER_00: God, the godly are not forgotten.
SPEAKER_00: People are for people grieved by cultural wickedness, church scandals, spiritual deception, all of it.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 9 is deeply comforting.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord knows how to rescue the godly, not might know, and not trying to figure out.
SPEAKER_00: He knows how, and he's already provided a way in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And lastly, the church must recover holy discernment.
SPEAKER_00: Peter's not encouraging paranoia, but he is encouraging watchfulness.
SPEAKER_00: He does not want Christians to be gullible and allow themselves to be moved with whatever wave is coming.
SPEAKER_00: The church must recover discernment.
SPEAKER_00: Holy discernment is love for Christ, love for truth, and love for people.
SPEAKER_00: It's the ability to say, because Jesus is precious, because his word is true, and because souls matter, we can't be careless about what we believe or about what we tolerate and who we follow to shape us.
SPEAKER_00: This can't be a willy-nilly thing.
SPEAKER_00: Discernment is spiritual sobriety.
SPEAKER_00: It's what love does when truth matters.
SPEAKER_00: So if a parent is discerning about who watches their children, that's not the parent being judgmental, that's a parent being discerning.
SPEAKER_00: And the truth is, there are, if I listed all of the false teachings that are coming up right now from within the church, we'd be here all day.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm not going to do that.
SPEAKER_00: But there are false teachings that are bubbling up, and there always will be false teachings that are bubbling up.
SPEAKER_00: That we have to be discerning as we search the scriptures, as we pray, as we are in community with each other, to be able to navigate them and see them and call them out.
SPEAKER_00: There are those from within the church that would say the goal of all of life is to have as much power as you could possibly get, as much money as you possibly get, to be as wealthy, to be as healthy.
SPEAKER_00: And that self-denial and self-sacrifice are not part of it.
SPEAKER_00: If you're sick or if you're struggling with something, it's because you don't have enough faith.
SPEAKER_00: That is destructive.
SPEAKER_00: It's venom.
SPEAKER_00: There are those from within the church that is even bubbling up this idea of you just need to be your best self.
SPEAKER_00: If you think that this thing that God is trying to quote unquote keep from you is hurting you, then just give in to it.
SPEAKER_00: You do you.
SPEAKER_00: And they'll have scripture to back it up.
SPEAKER_00: I think of a particular congressman, state commerceman in Texas that is very well spoken.
SPEAKER_00: Thoughtful, comes off very well, and teaches very dangerous things.
SPEAKER_00: That if the church were to follow those things, they would find themselves in the same kind of fate as the false teachers who are teaching it.
SPEAKER_00: We have to recover discernment.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It is about self-denial, it is about self-sacrifice and believing that God's ways are better than our ways.
SPEAKER_00: I tell you this because this just scratches the surface.
SPEAKER_00: There are false teachers who distort scripture and nullify the gospel all over the place, and we have to be thoughtful.
SPEAKER_00: One of the callings of the true church is to spot them, call them out with grace and love, but in a stern way.
SPEAKER_00: Where we see false teachings.
SPEAKER_00: We have to say that they're false.
SPEAKER_00: There's too much at stake.
SPEAKER_00: Peter's point is clear.
SPEAKER_00: God judges wickedness and rescues the godly, but the gospel shows us something even deeper at the cross.
SPEAKER_00: God judged wickedness and rescued sinners through the judgment-bearing death of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: God rescues the righteous one in the place of the unrighteous us, so that the unrighteous us can be rescued and made righteous in him.
SPEAKER_00: That's the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Peter says the Lord knows how to rescue the godly, and that is true, but the glory of the gospel is that God also knows how to rescue the ungodly without compromising his holiness.
SPEAKER_00: He does it through Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The symbol of the heinous and horrible death of a cross on a cross is now a symbol of love and grace and mercy.
SPEAKER_00: Only Jesus could have done that.
SPEAKER_00: And how thankful we are that he did.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says that there is no one righteous other than Christ, but this is the beauty of the cross.
SPEAKER_00: He makes us righteous even though we don't deserve it.
SPEAKER_00: He gives us his grace.
SPEAKER_00: God will judge the wicked and he will rescue the righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: False teachers exploit false words.
SPEAKER_00: Exploit with false words.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus saves by the true word.
SPEAKER_00: False teachers use people for their gain.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus gave himself up for our good.
SPEAKER_00: False teachers promise freedom while hiding chains.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus bears our chains to make us free.
SPEAKER_00: False teachers deny the Master Jesus, obeys the Father all the way to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: False teachers lead people towards destruction, and Jesus enters destruction to bring his people into life.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Because God will judge the wicked, but he will also rescue the righteous.