I hope you guys had a good holiday
and a good time off, if you had time off. Alright, we're going
to be in 2 Peter, chapter 2. 2 Peter, chapter 2, and we're
going to be looking at verses 1-9. 2 Peter 2, verses 1-9. He's moved with compassion. You
can see his love for the church because it's the church of his
Lord. His Lord loves the church. It's
his bride. And so Peter knows, he recognizes
that his time, he doesn't have much time left on the earth,
that he's going to be laying down his life as the Lord showed
him that he would. And as a mother who's nesting,
getting ready to be delivered of her child, she begins to prepare
and set things in order, so Peter begins to prepare the church
and set things in order for them that he knows that they need
to hear they need to be prepared and ready for what's coming and
first we see it in this letter the first thing he does is he
reminds them he shows them that everything they need all the
provision has been made for them by God in his son Jesus Christ
and then he takes steps to tell them you need to hear Christ
God showed us that we are to hear Christ and he brings out
what occurred on the mountain of transfiguration when Christ
was transformed before their eyes and shown as glorious before
them. And so we're to hear Him and
then He warns them. In this second chapter, he begins
to warn them about false teachers saying that they shall bring
him damnable heresies. They're going to bring him damnable
heresies. And so that should make us aware
and cause us to listen and to be reminded, this is why we need
to hear Christ, because there's now going to rise up many false
teachers, he's saying. We looked at this a bit last
week, and now we're going to look at it a little further,
because he deals with it for a whole chapter in chapter 2
about false teachers. And so we'll consider their impact,
and we'll see their end. But we also see at the end of
our text the comfort that the Lord has for us, saying in verse
9, the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations.
And so our title is The Godly Delivered. And we'll just have
two divisions, We'll look at this warning, and then we'll
see the Lord's deliverance for His people. So, let's read verses
1 and 3. 2 Peter 2, 1 and 3. But there were false prophets
also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers
among you, who privilege shall bring in damnable heresies, even
denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves
swift destruction. Verse 3, and through covetousness
shall they with feigned words, which is fake made-up stories,
fake made-up words that they're teaching them, that through these
things they'll make merchandise of you whose judgment now of
a long time Lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not."
So Peter warns us here that there's going to be many false teachers
among you. That is coming up through the
church even. Not just from the outside, but
also coming up through the church. And he tells us this because
he heard the Lord say it as well, but he tells us this so that
we're not alarmed, that we're not put off, that we're not confused
by why there's so many divisions and all these different teachings
and different viewpoints and perspectives that people have.
He tells us this so that we're not alarmed by these things because
we've been warned beforehand so that we would know them and
be prepared. Our Lord said in Matthew 24 11
and many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. There will be many false teachers
and many that are deceived. And look there at 2 Peter 2 verse
2. This is what Peter says hearing
his Lord, knowing what his Lord said, he reiterates this to us
saying, and many shall follow their pernicious ways." That
word pernicious means deadly. Many are going to follow their
deadly, poisonous, venomous ways because they inflict the people
with poison. They inflict them with words
that are going to harm the people and bring them to death. And
he says, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken
of. So we find that many are led
astray by these false teachers. And that word, many, calls to
our mind what our Lord said in Matthew 7, verses 13 through
15. He tells us in Matthew 7, he
says, enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, And
broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there
be which go in thereat. So if you're one of those people
that likes to hear and find out what the crowd is saying and
what the crowd is thinking, because you think that there's safety
in numbers, stop. Just stop right there, because
the Lord says many are going the way of destruction and damnation. And he says in verse 14, because
straight is the gate, and narrows the way which leadeth unto life,
and few there be that find it." To which he then stated, which
is what we're looking at in our text of false teachers, he says,
verse 15, beware false prophets which come to you in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. So this is why
Peter is saying the same thing. He's saying there will be false
teachers among you, right? In the church, not just the outside,
but right coming up from within the church. So these people which
make up the many, their ear isn't single to Christ. And we should
take heed to that ourselves. I'm looking at this and thinking,
I want my ear to be single to Christ and to hear Him and because
it's so subtle and so vicious and so deadly that we want to
be aware that these things are among us. They were in the church
back then and they've persisted throughout all these 2,000 years. So their ear isn't single to
Christ's voice, but they're listening to the false teachers and they're
giving them a foothold in there and it's a poisonous, venomous,
words that they're saying so that they begin to cloud the
mind and begin to take us away in our thoughts. And there's
few that go the way that's the narrow way of truth and there's
many that go that broad way to believe a lie. Now turn over
to John 10, John chapter 10, and we'll pick up in verse 25
The Lord answered the Jews, in verse 25, He said, I told you,
and ye believed not, the works that I do in my Father's name,
they bear witness of me. And ye believe not, because you're
not of my sheep, as I said unto you. So the Lord is The Lord
declares the truth to us. He speaks the truth. You need
only look in his word and ask him for guidance and sight and
understanding to see what he's saying and showing us. And he's
shining light on the fact that we ourselves are wicked and that
we ourselves are corrupted in Adam and that we can't save ourselves.
That he himself is the provision that God has made for his people.
He goes on in verse 27 saying, my sheep hear my voice and I
know them and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand." So the fact that he gives us eternal life
is a comfort to us, because if Christ gives us eternal life,
then we shall never perish. Even in the midst of false prophets
and false teachers, he'll enable us to hear his voice and to be
delivered from those lies and be brought out of that which
is deceitful and doesn't lead to life. He's done it for all
of us here, I believe, in bringing us out from under false teaching
and giving us an understanding that all our hope is in Christ. And he brought us through that
confusion. He lifted the veil and the cloud of confusion in
religion and brought us through that and teaching us that all
that we need is found in Christ and he continues to teach us
that so that he cements this further and more and more so. I sat on the gospel for over
10 years under a faithful preacher and the Lord continued to teach
me throughout and deal with my darkness, deal with my grave
clothes, deal with My sin, and the love of this world, and the
love of sin, and the love of darkness, and just the corruption
in my own mind. He dealt with all those things,
and is dealing with these things continually in me, and I trust
in you, His people. So, the Lord knows what He's
doing. And he says, my father which
gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck
them out of my father's hand. I, my father, are one. So that's
a great comfort to us because we know the weakness. We know
the weakness in our mind. We know the weakness in our heart.
We know the weakness of this flesh. And in addition to all
the other enemies, Around us so he's left us with the witness
of his word and of his holy spirit and he tells us in Matthew 24
23 through 25 He says then if any man shall say unto you lo
here is Christ or there Believe it not for there shall arise
false Christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and
wonders In so much that if it were possible they shall deceive
the very elect behold I have told you before Thankfully, he
says, if it were possible, if it were possible. But that's
how subtle these things can be. I wouldn't say this is subtle,
but I remember hearing a guy about a year ago saying that
he was encouraging people to sell everything and to move over
to Jerusalem for some reason, because he was saying that Christ
would appear there in the desert. And all I could think of is,
wow, someone's literally saying these things, actually saying
this nonsense. you know to us it it sounds absurd
because the Lord has given us a spirit and he helps us to hear
that but many people I'm sure believe them and and and did
what he said and and now that time is coming on and and they
must be wondering what I thought the Lord was supposed to be here
and appear here in the desert and and he never did so so what
we see in that is that the true children of God won't be turned
away and even if they are even if there are eyes are on it for
a time. The Lord's going to deliver them
and bring them out of it. But it should give us pause because
there's many sitting in the church that will hear and will be led
astray and will be taken away by these things. It says in Exodus
12, 38, when the children of God were going out under the
hand of Moses, it says that a mixed multitude went up also with them. A mixed multitude. Which, you
almost pass over that, but it's showing that even among the Egyptians,
they saw what the Lord had done among the people, and how he
put a division between the Egyptians and the Israelites, and they
saw that. And they went out with Israel. There was a mixed multitude that
went out with Israel, but they all perished in the way. They
all perished in the desert, not believing. And so the Lord has
given us parables like the wheat and the tares, and we see how
these things grow up together. And Paul tells us that it's not
as though the word of God hath taken an effect, for they are
not all Israel which are of Israel. Neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. He's saying don't be disturbed
or confused by this. There are many that will fall
away because not all Israel is Israel. Not all those that claim
to know me and love me are my people. And so they will fall
away. They'll have other interests
and other things that will cause them to be fearful and afraid
and to depart from Christ or to just be swept away with the
false teachings. And so they'll look to other
other voices and and other things and and were to look to Christ
so those who think lightly of Christ you know those who think
very lightly of Christ that think that this isn't that important
and that this is old or archaic or or doesn't have much relevance
to us now think again because these things are all about us
the there there's many voices out there there's many many many stories, many myths, many
fables, many things being said out there that really are catching
the attention of people who know not the truth and don't believe
the truth. And these things will only continue to come out more
and more and become more of an appeal and more of an interest
to people. I mean, there's a resurgence
of many false teachings that died out long ago. in mystic
religion that are just making their way back into our society. And as much as people say there's
no God, for people who don't believe in God, they sure do
love the spiritual realm and invest a lot of money and show
a lot of interest in things that just corrupt the mind and take
their eyes off of Christ. it so it's there there's definitely
a great danger and many are turned away from looking to the Lord
but the Lord allows for heresies because they serve a purpose
he tells us in 1st Corinthians 11 19 1 they reveal those whom
the Lord approves whom the Lord has taught and raised up to declare
the Son his Son Jesus Christ it says Paul said there must
be also heresies among you that they which are approved by may
be made manifest among you." So the Lord uses heresies to
raise up those that are approved and to make very evident those
that aren't approved, that we aren't to listen to. But then
it also reveals to us what's in our hearts. in our hearts
it shows us it it it it it makes known what we're thinking and
where our hearts are where our interests are and Deuteronomy
13 3 Moses he spoke of false prophets as well and he said
thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet or that
dreamer of dreams for the Lord your God proveth you to know
whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with
all your soul so they may come and talk and we may hear it but
we won't believe it and won't be led astray the Lord will deliver
his people but it proves us it shows us it shows us where we
are it's like the Lord calling to Adam Adam where art thou and
it wasn't because the Lord didn't know where Adam was but it was
to bring to Adam's attention that he was hiding from the Lord
he had perfect fellowship with the Lord and yet now He had sinned,
he was guilty, and he was hiding, and he was far away from the
Lord. And just considering that and
seeing these things, it puts us in remembrance. It puts things
in perspective of what has captured our attention, where our interests
are, and that they're not with a single eye, with a single ear
to Christ, but that we're troubled and moved with many things, many
things that take our eyes off of Christ. And with all these
false teachers, that's the last place we want our eyes to be,
is away from Christ, but rather we want them on the Lord Jesus
Christ and looking Him all right, so let's look at our next point
here God's Deliverance so we see that we know from the scriptures
that the Lord is going to preserve his people He's going to protect
them and instruct them and teach them and lead them in the way
even in the midst of false Teachers who would destroy their followers
and bring them to nothing but we see how the Lord provides
for his people and it says in Back in 2 Peter 2, verses 4 through
6, we see how the Lord gives us several examples of the judgment
which he brought false teachers and those that practice and do
wickedness. He brings them to an end. He
destroys them. And it says in verse 4, here's
the first example, for if God spared not the angels that sinned,
but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of
darkness to be reserved unto judgment, 2, verse 5, and spared
not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher
of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the
ungodly. 3, verse 6, and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an
ensample unto those that after should live ungodly. So the Lord
knows how to destroy, how to bring an end to the workers of
wickedness. But he allows it, he allows it
to go on for a time. But Osamus asks, have all the
workers of iniquity no knowledge who eat up my people as they
eat bread and call not upon the Lord? So the Lord will bring
them to answer. They will be brought into judgment
and have to give account for the things that they've done
and the things that they've said. The psalmist also wrote in Psalm
73, 19 and 20, how are they brought into desolation? As in a moment,
they are utterly consumed with terrors. And a dream when one
awaketh, so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their
image. And so We see how there will
be false teachers and they'll go on for a time until the Lord
determines it's over. It's brought to an end and so
they are brought to nothing. in themselves. So first in verse
four we see the angels who were proud and lifted up and they
sought equality with God and that's very much like a false
teacher who's brazen and proud and thinks he knows something
when he knows nothing. And so he begins to just make
up words and tell you his opinion and what he thinks about how
things are and he may be very charismatic or she may be very
charismatic and they might have interesting sounding thoughts
and ideas and it just leads their followers astray and it says
for if God spared not the angels that sin but cast them down to
hell and deliver them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto
judgment and we know it was pride that lifted up the angels it
was pride that lifted up the enemy of our souls and he thought
he was something when he wasn't he was not God he is not God
and he never will be God and so the Lord destroyed him and
brought him low but we as as men and women as as believers
in the Lord we you know we hear what Paul said concerning the
bishop concerning pastors he says they must be blameless and
he goes on a verse well in first Timothy 3 6 he says not a novice
less being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation
of of the devil. And that's why it's so valuable,
so necessary to sit under the gospel, to sit under a pastor
And because the Lord will use the gospel, He'll use the faithful
preaching of Christ and the gospel so that as we're going through
this life and we see what we are, we see what we really are
in our hearts and how proud we can be, how foolish we can be,
how ignorant we can be. The Lord showed me it wasn't because i'm
not here as a pastor because everything fell into place and
i'm some golden boy and and i always did everything that was right
but rather the lord put my face in the dirt and showed me that
i don't have what it takes I don't I'm not perfect I'm not holy
and righteous in myself I I'm a sinner and that I have pride
and I do foolish things and the Lord shows us that he brings
us to see that apart from him we're nothing and if he just
removes his hand for but a moment we go wandering off into sin
and think foolish thoughts and and get ourselves caught into
all kinds of thorny bushes and all kinds of horrible you know,
areas where we think, what happened? Why am I here? Why am I with
the Lord? You know, even, even in the midst
of thinking that, you know, even in the midst of doing good things,
you know, religious things, reading your Bible and going to services,
just how corrupt and subtle and evil the heart is. And the Lord
shows his, his people that, and he brings us to see that so that
we know what we are and that we don't think of ourselves more
highly than we ought to think. And that's what Paul said, don't,
every man that is among you, he said, not to think of himself
more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly according
as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. So it's
good to be brought low. And, and that's what he's saying
when he said, don't put a novice there because they haven't been
proven yet. They haven't gone through the fiery trials that
prove not to the Lord but to the person what they are and
how great and gracious and mighty the Lord is so that we might
learn to be merciful and compassionate and patient and kind with the
Lord's people because we saw the Lord was merciful and compassionate
and kind and with us and the abundance of grace that we need
so that we can minister and be faithful in preaching Christ,
because we know that's what helped us. It wasn't through whipping
and beating and the law and being disciplined, but rather the Lord
lifted up Christ before our eyes, that we might know Him, that
we might know to lift up Christ before your eyes, because that's
how He teaches you and heals you and deals with you. And then verse 5, For where God,
He spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person,
a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the
world of the ungodly." And we know from that that there was
one family. One family of all the families
in the earth. Every living thing was destroyed and there was one
family that the Lord saved. So what would Noah have preached? What was he preaching? Well,
it says he was a preacher of righteousness. So like the psalmist
in Psalm 10, verses 10 through 12, Noah would have said, my
defense is of God, which saveth the upright in heart. God judgeth
the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. If
he turn not, he will wet his sword. He hath bent his bow and
made it ready. so that we might know we don't
measure up to the righteousness of God. We're not perfect in
our ways, and God's going to destroy the wicked. He would
have said those words. He would have told the people
that we must be perfect and righteous and holy, but he's provided salvation. And it's pictured here in this
ark. get to the ark because the Lord's
gonna destroy this world and they would not hear it no one
would have told them that God does not accept our form of righteousness
he doesn't accept the work of our hands and that come about
by the thoughts of our mind in an hour and in our own dark heart
like Paul said him to the Romans that we are justified freely
by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God. But they didn't hear
Noah, and they all perished in the flood. And then the third
example, in verse 6, he says, in turning the cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah into ashes, condemn them with an overthrow, making
them an ensample unto those that after should live. ungodly so that we're to know
and understand when we look at these examples that God really
truly does hate sin and iniquity he sacrificed the Lord Jesus
Christ his own darling son to put away our sins so that we
don't think lightly of our sin and that's one of the the false
teachings that was going on especially as you look through chapter two
more you see that there are some that would say look we're saved
by grace and and it doesn't matter now what you do your flesh is
just wicked and evil so you might as well just give in to the lust
of your flesh and not fight it any longer because it's all going
to perish anyway and there's nothing to worry about or fear
and then on the other hand you had some that were preaching
the law and that we have to follow the law and so they went right
back to pharisaism and condemning and and and and you know, spurning
others that don't live up to their standard of righteousness. But the Lord shows us that we
need the Lord Jesus Christ and that we're not just to be light
and careless about our sin because sin is corrupting and it brings
death and it leads away from the Lord Jesus Christ. And there
was definitely a very strong teaching in that time. I don't
know where it came in if it was the Nicolaitans or what it was
but there was definitely this idea that that you didn't need. I mean that we were under grace
and so it didn't matter what we do. And Paul said I mean this
is why you see it throughout the letters but Paul said to
the Ephesians in five verses 5 through 7, he said, For because of these things cometh
the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore
partakers with them." But he doesn't turn us back to the law
and that's where so many have gone astray because they look
back to the law and lead people back to Mount Sinai to to you know so that they would
you know think that by looking to the law they can put away
their sin and we're never going to do that it's it's by the spirit
of christ he's given us his holy spirit to lead us and to teach
us and to to show us the things that we do that are just not
convenient and profitable or or a help to anyone so we're
not looking back to the law but we are led by a spirit he does
give us his spirit and so the spirit will show us when when
our eyes aren't upon the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we would
call out upon Him and ask Him for forgiveness and to lead us
and guide us to Christ. Paul said, for if ye live after
the flesh, ye shall die. Whether you're just committing
sin, saying it doesn't matter what I do, or you're looking
to the law, because both are by the flesh. Either one is by
the flesh. You shall die, but if ye through
the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of
God. We're led by the spirit because
this flesh is still weak. It's still lust for the things
that the flesh lusts for. We still want those things that
we want to be comforted with and to partake of. we're not conquerors of these
things by our flesh but in looking to Christ and that's why we declare
what Christ has done that he has put away our sin and that
he gives us his spirit and we're to continue to look to him being
thankful for what he has done for us through the Lord Jesus
Christ and sacrificing himself and bearing the punishment that
we deserved and putting away our sin and purging us of our
sin and destroying the works of the devil because of whom
a man is overcome he's that one servant and so he destroys the
works of the devil in us so that we don't keep thinking well I
You know, we're not ignorant of the fact that the Lord died
for the sins that we ourselves commit. And so the Lord teaches
us that and he shows us, he brings us to light. It's not for me
to say what you need to clean up and it's not for you to say
what I need to clean up unless, you know, I blatantly offend
you and then you come and talk to me about it. You know, it's
not that we're looking at what needs to be cleaned up in one
another, but we're looking to the Lord. And we're encouraging
one another to look to the Lord and to love Him and to continue
on in Him. And he says that, you know, you
see this in 2 Peter 2, verses 7 and 8. He says, "...the Lord
delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the
wicked, for that righteous man dwelling among them and seeing
and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their
unlawful deeds." And we know that quite well, don't we? What
it is to be vexed and troubled. Because we see the wickedness
around us, and we see the wickedness in our own heart, and we see
it in our own flesh, and we see the things that we're drawn to,
and how easy it is to be led into all manner of evil, but
we're vexed by it. That's why we're troubled by
it, because we don't want to do those things. We know that
our Lord died for that, and in my experience, any time I pretended
that I didn't know those things and didn't want to hear those
things. The Lord was faithful to deal with me and show me and
bring me to the point where, by His Spirit, I was able to
let things go that otherwise troubled me in the flesh. And
that's why Peter says, dearly beloved, I beseech you, as strangers
and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Because they do. The flesh still
does lust for the things that the flesh lusts for. So we'll
see, as you read in chapter 2, where there definitely was a
lot of that going on, that it didn't matter if that that you
went off into sinful things and evil practices because it felt
good or felt right. And Peter talks against those
things. you know Paul reminded us for
you've not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but
you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba
Father and that's important for us because it's not about being
fearful and saying you know oh I still got this sin I'm struggling
with and and if I don't kick it I'm going to hell and I better
get this thing straightened out the thing is is that we do we
struggle with it But it's the Lord that that teaches us by
his spirit is how it's going to be put away. And that's why
he says we cry out Abba father daddy. Forgive me for my sin. I see what I'm doing and it's
not profitable. It's not good. And it's really,
it's destroying me inside and it's tearing me up. And so we
cry out to the Lord and we just confess that sin to Him and ask
Him to help us. And He will. He'll teach you.
He'll bring you. It might take years sometimes,
but He doesn't leave it so that we're just content with it and
we don't care about it. And then in verse nine, it says,
the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations
and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.
So the Lord's not going to leave us. He's not going to let us
be destroyed by these things. He's going to soften our heart. He's going to take out that hard
heart of stone that we get. And when we want to be indifferent
and we want to just push on, we want to be right or we just
want to do what we want to do, the Lord knows how to soften
our hearts and he knows how to deal with it. And we may not
want to hear it from another. But the Lord knows how to bring
home the message that each of us needs to hear and teach us
what we need to hear. So keep looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ. It ain't gonna be in the law.
And don't be fooled into thinking that it doesn't matter what we
do. Paul said, shall we sin that
grace may abound? God forbid. And so there isn't
this indifference about our sin, but we know that The Lord, He's
saved us from our sin and He gives us His Spirit so that by
His Spirit we know him by his spirit, we serve him by his spirit,
he opens our understanding that we might understand the scriptures
and see that everything we need for salvation, for hope, for
comfort, for our joy, for our peace and our security is found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so look to him and don't
be discouraged by all the voices that are out there but but trust
him and confess your sin and pray when when you see that your
heart is being led astray by things that you know in your
own conscience or isn't right to do so the Lord he knows how
to teach you that but I pray the Lord will help us as we grow
together not to be Pharisees in any way that's not at all
what I would want to see but that there is a true love for
God and a love for our brethren. Serving him and our brethren.
All right, let's pray our gracious Lord. We thank you Father help
us to hear to hear the voice of Christ to not be troubled
or taken away by all the many voices that Abound in this world
and abound in our lives But Lord help us to see our Lord and our
Savior Jesus Christ and Lord make us tender and and soft to
hear His voice. Lord, lead us and guide us by
His spirit. We pray this in Jesus' name,
our Lord and Savior. Amen.