Good morning. All right, we're going to be
in 2 Peter, 2 Peter chapter 2. We'll be covering verses 9 through
22 this morning. 2 Peter 2, verse 9 through 22. Now the apostle's being led by
the Holy Spirit and he continues to expose to us the false teachers
which are rising up from the ranks of the Lord's people. And
the Lord Himself, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, warned us
of false teachers and false prophets. He said in Matthew 24, verse
11, and many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. And then he went on in Matthew
24 verses 24 and 25 saying, for there shall arise false Christs,
false saviors, and false prophets and shall show great signs and
wonders insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the
very elect. That's how severe their deceit
is. And he says, behold, I have told
you before. So it's important for us to hear
this and it's important for us to understand because we need
to recognize false teachers. We want to recognize false teachers
that we be not led astray with their error. And also it helps
us understand why so many are led astray. So many fall away
and follow these false teachers and false prophets in their pernicious
ways. And so the apostle warns as well
in this chapter as we go through it, we'll see that there's a
sifting. There's a sifting that goes on.
The Lord will separate and make known His people who are His
true sheep and those who are not His sheep. And that's what
he's saying here in verse 9, 2 Peter 2, 9. The Lord knoweth
how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve
the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. And so God is
sovereign. He's sovereign, and He's able
to do what pleases Him. And one of the things that we
know, not all, but one of the things, is that false teachers
do deny the sovereignty of God and salvation. And that's why
they focus so heavily on the flesh, because that's all they
have. They don't have the Spirit of Christ, they don't understand
the power of the Spirit, and so all they have is a fleshly
doctrine and fleshly teachings, because they have to steer and
manage and manipulate people through fleshly doctrines and
teachings. And so Peter in this chapter,
he's going to detail for us, we'll see it right in verse 10,
two great errors of the false teachers. And we're to understand
that false professors, that is unbelievers, they're going to
fall away. Maybe not every one of them,
some will remain to the end and under a false confession of Christ,
but many will be led astray by these false teachers, and we'll
see in this chapter that we're given examples of this. So our title is Two Great Errors,
and that'll be our first point, looking at these errors, and
then we'll see the examples very quickly, and then what becomes
of these deceived unbelievers. All right, so look there at verse
10, and Peter's going to describe those whom the Lord is targeting,
whom the Lord is making known to us when he says in verse 9
that he's reserving the unjust until the day of judgment to
be punished. And in verse 10 he says, but chiefly Specifically,
them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness. So
this is their first great error. They walk in the lust of uncleanness. And so we see that these false
teachers, they only have a natural light. There's no spiritual light
or understanding that they have. They're not just a spirit of
Christ and they just see things a little differently. They're
walking by nature's light. They have a false spirit. and
they're walking after the flesh. And the scriptures, if you turn
over to Romans 8, Romans 8, they teach us about this walking after
the flesh. Paul says in Romans 8 verse 5,
So you can understand why, if they don't have the Spirit of
Christ, why everything they teach is a very fleshly, carnal, sensual
doctrine. It's things that appeal to the flesh. Because to be carnally
minded is death. but to be spiritually minded
is life and peace. Verse 7, because the carnal mind
is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be, so then they that are in the flesh
cannot please God. We understand, we see that we're
not saved by the works of the flesh. We're not saved and come
to an understanding through carnal, natural faculties that we have. We are saved by the power of
God through the gospel of His Christ. of our Lord and Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how we're saved. And Peter
is speaking chiefly of them that walk after the flesh in the lust
of uncleanness. That is, they're going to say
things, he's warning us, they're going to say things that are
very appealing to the flesh. And it's things that the flesh
can naturally identify with, and and and have an understanding
so we feel like okay I can understand this I can get what he's saying
here and this makes a lot of sense to me and I can I can get
behind that and Paul warned Timothy in first second Timothy 4 verses
1 through 4 he said I charge thee therefore before God Timothy
and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the
dead at his appearing in his kingdom Preach the word, be instant
in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke. exhort with all long-suffering
in doctrine so that we want to know his word. We want to be
in his word. It's good for you to open his
word and read it and pray, asking the Lord, give you an understanding
so that you would have a discerning spirit when anyone's speaking,
even me, that you want to study these things out and know them.
We're not all theologians necessarily, but you want to pray and beg
the Lord to have mercy upon your soul and the soul of your loved
ones and your family that we be led into truth, that we be
led in Christ and rest in Him. And he says, for the time will
come when they will not endorse sound doctrine, but after their
own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching
ears. That is, people do want to hear.
They want to surround themselves with people that are going to
say things that they want to hear. That's why some people,
if you have a big decision to make, you'll keep asking a lot
of people until you hear what you want to hear and be like
well that's kind of what I was thinking anyway I'm glad somebody else
agrees with me and then you go off with that and and that's
not what what we're to do with the things of the Lord because
there's always going to be someone's opinion on these things and Paul
goes on saying they shall turn away their ears from the truth
and shall be turned unto fables. What sort of fables are they
turned to? Well, Paul gives us, just briefly, an example in Romans
3.8 when he said, "...and not rather, as we be slanderously
reported, and as some affirm that we say, let us do evil,
that good may come, whose damnation is just." that's one of the things that
the false teachers are promoting is that hey look, when we're
sinning, when we're falling, when we're doing these wicked
deeds, it just brings about more strongly, more powerfully the
grace of God in Christ. And there have been some that
have said, well that's why Christ came, he's gonna put away our
sin because I'm a sinner. And we are sinners, and there's
no getting away from that. We are sinners, and each of us
sees it in our own heart and in our thoughts and in our actions
all the time. And we don't lose sight of that.
We're constantly falling down before the Lord, confessing our
sin and the corruption of this flesh. But we don't delight in
it. We don't tell ourselves things
like that to make ourselves feel good about ourselves. Well, that's
why Christ came. put away my sin. Yeah, he did
come to put away sin. And we're going to have this
corrupt flesh to the day that we die. But we don't delight
in it. And we're not rejoicing in it
and promoting that and giving ourselves a license to just a
loose and licentious behavior because it feels good to the
flesh. You know, maybe we give up a few things that are easy
to give up, but there's certain things we don't want to let go.
And when the Lord brings it to your attention that It's not
profitable and you see the damage it does to your own soul. Not looking at other people,
you and your sin. The Lord brings you to confess
it and say, Lord, help me and deliver me from the dominion
of this sin. The apostles, they spent a lot
of time helping the children of God understand that we're
not saved by the works of the law. And those who try to blend
in the works of the law with Christ, Paul showed us very well
that they were also bringing in great error when they brought
in circumcision, for example. Just that little that little
work of circumcision, they were showing and confessing that they
had confidence in that. And they were doing it because
they said, well, we've got to circumcise. So they were doing
it for a religious reason, not like is done typically in America
today, where it's for health reasons. But they were doing
these things for religious reasons. And the apostles did spend a
lot of time helping us to understand that our righteousness doesn't
come by our works and what we do or don't do. But then what
happened was there were some who said, that is very appealing
to me. And so they said, well, the flesh
is just the flesh. It's wicked. And so we might
as well just do these things, just give in to them and do this
corruption, practice these corrupt things, because it doesn't matter
anyway. And that's not at all what the
apostles we're saying. And so I just want to look at
a few scriptures so that we could see that they weren't teaching
that. They weren't giving us license to say, ah, it doesn't
matter what we do. If you turn over to Galatians
5, Galatians 5 and verse 16, Paul says, this I say then, walk
in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh,
for the flesh lusteth against the spirit. Galatians 5.17 now,
for the flesh lusteth against the spirit, the spirit against
the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that
you cannot do the things that you would but if you be led of
the spirit you're not under the law so he's saying if we're led
by the spirit we're not led we don't have to look to the law
of Moses to understand how to walk and how to love our brethren
and how to love God and and and walk rightly before him He's
saying, but walk in the Spirit, and you're not going to fulfill
the lust of the flesh. That is, you're not going to
do that fleshly religious thing that is in a lot of people, where
they're very disciplined, and they love the law of Moses, and
they want to look to the law of Moses, because that's their
sanctification. If it's not their justification,
it's their sanctification. And they're still hoping and
trusting in that. He's also saying later on in
Galatians 5, as we'll look, if you go down to verse 19, he's
saying that there are works of the flesh that we're not going
to do. Now, we don't look to the law
of Moses to instruct us how to walk, but we also don't practice
these things in the flesh because the Spirit doesn't lead us to
that. The Spirit doesn't teach us that
it doesn't matter what I do in the flesh because I'm saved by
the blood of Christ. He doesn't, the Spirit doesn't
teach us just to rest and be content with doing things that
are blatantly an offense to the Lord and to his people. He says
in verse 19, now the works of the flesh are manifest which
are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness,
revelings, and such like, of the which I tell you before,
as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such
things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." So it's not
that we don't see these things in our flesh anymore. It's not
that we don't witness and find ourselves caught up in these
things as well but we don't love them and we don't practice them
and we don't we don't can say well it doesn't matter the Lord
helps us and he guides us and shows us delivering us from that
dominion of sin which we once were under when we were just
in a natural light and not having the Spirit of Christ. And the
Apostle John says this as well in 1 John 2 verses 15 through
19. He says, Love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is
in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the
world. And the world passeth away in the lust thereof, but
he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. And we know
the will of the Spirit is that we, the will of God is that we
walk in the Spirit, that we walk looking to the Lord Jesus Christ,
trusting Him, resting in His righteousness for our peace and
our joy and our comfort before the Father, knowing that He justifies
us and He sanctifies us and He keeps us, looking to Him, not
being led astray with false teachers that are saying, leading us off
into sensual and licentious ways, it's just, He'll deliver us from
that. He'll keep us from it. And He'll
also keep us from trusting in the law and our own righteous
religious works that is also very natural to this flesh. And
then notice, if you're there in 1 John, he says, he connects
it to the spirit of Antichrist that's moving in the unbelievers. He says in verse 18, he says,
little children, it is the last time as ye have heard that Antichrist
shall come, even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know
that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they
were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would no doubt
have continued with us But they went out that they might be made
manifest that they were not all of us." So again, you see, just
as Peter warned, they're going to come up from the ranks of
those who profess to believe in Christ. That's why John says,
they went out from us. It wasn't that they were never
part of us. They were once with us and worshipped with us, but
then they got ideas and they started promoting their ideas
and they left us because we didn't adhere to what they were saying.
We didn't believe what they were saying. We went to the scriptures
and saw what the Lord teaches us and shows us, and they stayed
there. They stayed true to what the
Spirit of Christ was leading them to, and that is trusting
in the Lord Jesus Christ for all our righteousness and all
our hope and comfort and joy is in Him. And that's what Peter
is saying if you look back in our text in 2 Peter 2 verse 14. He says, speaking of these false
teachers, they have eyes full of adultery, and that cannot
cease from sin. Beguiling unstable souls, and
the heart they have exercised with covetous practices, cursed
children. They don't desire you, but yours. They want that which you have,
and they want to make it theirs and they want to get a following
and they want to have that praise and that celebration of men worshiping
them and praising them for what they do and how well they do
it. And he says, verse 18, for they
speak great swelling words of vanity. They allure through the
lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, that is licentious,
lustful, sensual behavior. Those that were clean escaped
from them who live in error, while they promised them liberty.
They themselves are the servants of corruption, for of whom a
man is overcome of the same as he brought into bondage. And
so we rejoice in the fact that we have liberty in Christ. We don't want to be brought back
into bondage. And we're jealous for that because
Christ has set us free. When he died, when he sacrificed
himself, he delivered us from the condemnation of the law.
We're thankful for that. And He set us free, He gives
us liberty by His Spirit from the dominion, the reigning dominion
of sin, because it's still present with us in this flesh. And so
He gives us His Spirit to walk by Him, to walk according to
the Spirit, looking to Him, When we see the sin in our flesh,
we confess it to him, and we seek his forgiveness, and we
seek for his power to help us, to deliver us from it. But, having
liberty in Christ doesn't mean that we have liberty to freely
partake of sin. And that's what the false teachers
are saying. We have liberty to freely partake in whatever sin
that we want to, whatever feels good and right, We can partake
of that, and that's what they're saying. And just monitor your
own flesh, because you know how we can be to justify things and
to make excuses for the things that we ourselves like to do,
even when the Lord makes it known to us, that's really, that's
not profitable. And I died to put that sin away.
So, he'll teach us. I'm not trying to say this to
get you all bugged out and have you looking. to the flesh because
it's not by the flesh, it's looking to Christ and being thankful
in Him and knowing that Yeah, he's delivered me from the law
of Moses and he's delivered me to walk rightly before him. Because
no matter what, whether you like it or not, when people find out
this is where you go, you're still bearing a testimony before
them. They still understand, what do
they teach over there that they can so freely do the things that
they do? Now we will offend people, it's gonna happen, because we
all are sinners and we do things in the spirit can cover our sin
and lead his people and guide them and protect his name. He can do that and he's able
to do that but that doesn't mean that we try to push the boundaries
and just say well that's their problem if they think that's
what I believe and we don't care about what we say or how we act
or what we do in front of people and it's not just to put on a
show but You know if there's a real genuine thing. I mean,
the Lord showed me when I was being disingenuine or when I
am disingenuine. He shows me. He makes it known
to me that I'm just putting on a show just to save face. But that doesn't mean that I
want to be like that. I want to be sincere and honest. and truthful with men and women
because this is our very lives at stake here. This is the Lord
Jesus Christ which he saved us from that. So there is an honesty
there in that regard. He set us free from the dominion
of sin, but not that we would freely partake of that lust which
is in our nature, that we each love by nature. So Paul declares
our liberty. He says in Galatians 5.1, he
says, stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke
of bondage. Right? Don't be turned back to
the law. He's saying you have liberty in Christ. As he said
to Timothy, knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous
man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly
and for sinners, for unholy and profane. So we definitely do
have liberty in Christ. We are freed from the condemnation
of the law, and we don't want to put our necks back under that
law as though now we can somehow keep it and do a better job than
before we knew Christ. So that's not at all what we're
doing. We're not going back to the law. But see how he also
says in Galatians 5.5, for we through the Spirit wait for the
hope of righteousness by faith. That is, we're trusting in Christ.
We're looking to Him and walking according to what Christ by His
Spirit is teaching us. And he says there in Galatians
5.13-14, for brethren ye have been called unto liberty, only
use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve
one another. For all the law is fulfilled
in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And he goes on to say in verse
16, this I say then, walk in the spirit and you shall not
fulfill the lust of the flesh. See, so he's saying this is exactly
what the Apostle saying is just because we're free in Christ
doesn't mean that we're free to just do any sin and and do
anything that that we want to do we we care and the Lord has
saved us from that error. So that's the one error. And
the second great error is there at the end of verse 10, but chiefly
them, 2 Peter 2.10, but chiefly them that walk after the flesh
in the lust of uncleanness and despise government. And that
word government is dominion or authority. They despise authority. And what they're despising is
the authority of Christ. They deny that God by His Spirit
delivers us from the dominion of sin, while they also deny
other things. They deny the sovereignty of
God in salvation. They speak very confidently and
very presumptuously of their free will and their ability to
make choices and do things. And they deny the fact that all
we are by nature is darkness and it's corrupt. And so we're
always going to do that which is appealing to the flesh and
is darkness and not light and not peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost. So they deny through their teachings,
the total and utter ruin of man. And they exalt and lift up before
man the free will of man. And so they twist the scriptures,
and they make an idol in their own mind, an idol after their
own selves. And they bow down and they worship
the stump of their imagination, because they make up a god. And they say things like, god
is a gentleman, he would never draw you and cause you to believe
on him you've got to do this all of yourself and so in their
mind faith is the gasoline that comes from from the flesh that
has poured into the engine of salvation and they fire it up
all by their works and by their faith and what they produce in
the flesh what religious things they do and so they're not looking
to the spirit of god they're not trusting in him but in psalm
115 3 through 8, it actually speaks of this. Psalm 115 verse
3 says, but our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever
he hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak
not. Eyes have they, but they see not. They have ears, but
they hear not. Noses have they, but they smell
not. They have hands, but they handle not. Feet have they, but
they walk not. Neither speak they through their
throat. All right, haven't you ever heard that? God has no hands
but your hands, and he has no feet but your feet. That's the
idol of their imagination. They actually, they say things
like that because they're just trying to motivate and whip up
the flesh to get the flesh to do what they need them to do.
And so they say things, and they don't realize that they're literally
describing The the Old Testament idol stumps that they fell down
and worshiped Literally in in that day, but men are just doing
it now and in an imaginary sense They're still worshiping the
God of their imagination And it says they that make them are
like unto them so is everyone that trusteth in them in other
words They're false. They're false professors of the
Lord just like their idols are false. They're not true gods
and so they trust in those things. And Peter says in verse 10, he
goes on saying, presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are
not afraid to speak evil of dignities. And it's presumptuous to say
that God can only do what you allow him to do. No, God is God. He's in the heavens and he does
whatsoever pleases him. He is the Lord. And so it's very
presumptuous for us to imagine that we affect our salvation
or that it's our decision that is actually saving us and bringing
us into Christ. And so what we see actually is
that the scriptures always declare that you see God delineating. God is the one who makes a difference
between the people. And I don't have time to read
it all, but in Acts 13, when the Jews saw the people coming
together in the city to hear the word of God preached, they
became envious. And so they began to blaspheme
and contradict the things that Paul was saying. And Paul and
Barnabas said, look, it was necessary for us to come to you guys first.
But since you put it from you, since you count yourselves as
unworthy of eternal life and you reject what we're saying
we're turning to the Gentiles when the Gentiles heard it they
rejoiced they were glad and it says all they that were ordained
to eternal life believed so you see that being left to ourselves
we always reject the Spirit of Christ we don't want to hear
what the Spirit of Christ says we put it from us but those that
are the Lord's He melts their heart. He gives them the Spirit
so that they hear what He's saying and they rejoice in Him and they
rest in Christ and they want to know Him. They hunger and
thirst for His righteousness more and more. So in 2 Corinthians
4, 3 through 4, these are the types of people that Paul was
thinking of when he wrote there in 2 Corinthians 4, 3, But if
our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. in whom
the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe
not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them." So they are presumptuous
and self-willed and they have no problem speaking of the will,
as long as it's their will that has the rule and the reign and
makes the decision for themselves. And James even brings this out
to us when he says, we shouldn't talk like they speak. We shouldn't
speak with this presumptuous self-will that the world uses. He said, you that say today or
tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year
and buy and sell and get game. And he says, you don't know what's
going to happen to you in your life. And it's a very natural
thing for us to do. It's very easy for us to speak
that way. But he's calling to mind, remember. Remember you're
the Lord's. Don't just go off into this world
and start talking like the world. Remember that you're His and
that He's called you and you don't know what tomorrow's gonna
bring. He said you ought to say, if
the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. And I know
in the flesh, then I find myself, then you start saying, if the
Lord will, and you don't even really mean it. we should mean
it and when you see that you don't really mean it he's calling
to your mind to say we should we should mean it we should say
if the Lord will we should remember the Lord and seek him in these
things in these decisions that we're making not just say it
out to other people so we sound religious but When we say it,
we should remember, Lord, you know, I haven't even sought you
in this matter and help me, give me wisdom and to do that, which
is which is pleasing to you. And if you bless it, bless it,
Lord. And I'm not perfect in that. I'm just confessing to
you my own sin. And I see that in the flesh. And he's calling us. Don't don't
be like that. He's saying, all right now, And
the examples that were given is he gives an example of Balaam. But Jude 11, he gives three examples. He says, woe unto them, for they
have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the heir
of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. So Jude, which is very much like
chapter 2 here in 2 Peter, he gives three examples. And what
all those men did were wicked works in the name of religion.
All of them did wicked works in the name of religion. They
were pretending to be something that they weren't. They were
just liars and deceivers. And what they did was they brought
death upon their followers. So Cain, who slew his brother
Abel, what happened? He was turned away. From the
family, he went out on his own. And he plunged his whole generation,
all his posterity for generations and generations, for some time
into darkness. They didn't know the Lord. It was after Seth was born that
then men began to call upon the name of the Lord. Not from Cain's
line, but in a very literal sense. And Balaam, he put a stumbling
block before Israel that they would stumble into idolatry and
worship the things of their own hands. Korah is that fella in
number 16 that's recorded who riles up the people, got the
people all whipped up to say, Moses, you take too much upon
yourself, and we're just like you, we're holy just like you're
holy, and we can do the things of the Lord. And so they led
astray two other families and 250 followers, and the Lord slew
them all. He opened up the earth and they
swallowed them up, And the people thought that Moses and Aaron
had killed Korah and 250 people. And so they got angry and the
Lord broke out a plague against them and 14,700 died. all thanks
to Korah. So you could see how false professors
do great harm. And Peter says in verse 17, these
are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest,
to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever. They look
good. They look like they have a refreshing
water, like a well or a cloud. It looks like it's going to be
good, and yet nothing comes. It's just empty, vain, dead religion
is all that they have. that that cannot save us all
right and then the scriptures are clear right they declare
to us that there's none other name given under heaven among
men whereby we must be saved it's the Lord Jesus Christ who
has successfully delivered us from our sins and his salvation
is full and free and we're thankful for that in John 3 17 and 18
for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world
but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth
on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God." So all who believe on Christ, they are
delivered from the condemnation of the law and all those who
don't, they are condemned by the law, by the law of nature,
by the law of Moses. They're condemned because they
don't believe God, they don't rest in the salvation he's provided. But these false teachers, whether
they're pointing you in the flesh back to the Law of Moses, or
they're saying, you know what, let's just be free and enjoy
ourselves because it doesn't matter what we do. Either way,
the Apostles... by the Spirit of Christ are saying,
don't go their way. Don't go their way. Yes, we're
saved from the condemnation of the law. Yes, we're saved from
the dominion of sin. So don't practice either one
of those things. Don't look to those things. You
have the Spirit of Christ to lead you and teach you. As Paul
wrote, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are
the sons of God. But we know from the scriptures
that many are led astray. Paul said to the Thessalonians,
with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because
they receive not the love of the truth that they might be
saved. For this cause God shall send
them strong delusion that they should believe a lie. that they
all might be damned who believe not the truth, but at pleasure
in unrighteousness. And so what we find here at the
end of this chapter, 2 Peter 2, at the end of the chapter,
verse 20 through 22, Peter says, 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 therein and overcome,
the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For
it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness
than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment
delivered unto them. But it has happened unto them
according to the true proverb, the dog dog who is never a true
believer is turned to his own vomit again and the sow that
was washed to her wallowing in the mire." I pray that the Lord
would fill us with the spirit and and lead us and guide us
walking looking to the Lord Jesus Christ and that he would that
he would preserve us from their pernicious ways, their poisonous,
baneful ways, because you see how evil it is and how they lead
away from the Lord. And so I just pray the Lord will
bless us to cause us to walk by his spirit and confess him
in spirit and in truth. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord,
we thank you for your spirit, Lord, that you've by your blood
washed us from our sins, and that by your Spirit you've given
us life, you've regenerated us, given us life in Christ. Lord,
we pray that you would fill us with your Spirit and cause us
to walk by the Spirit, that we would walk looking to the Lord,
that we would not seek to be an offense, that we would not
be turned back to the law for justification or sanctification
or any form of righteousness and Lord that you would deliver
us from the error of Wicked men who would then turn us to the
works of the flesh and and the lusts of the flesh Lord deliver
us from them as we see how they're not They're not convenient. They're
not good. They it's not loving our brethren
when we sin against them We pray this in Jesus name our Lord and
Savior. Amen. I