Thank you for allowing us to
be here. What a beautiful day you've given us today. And Lord,
we just thank you for allowing us to be able to come here and
to worship thee and to hear thy word preached and to gather together. We know that it's a privilege
and it's an honor. for we who are your people. We
pray that you would speak to us through your word, that the
Holy Spirit would illuminate the scriptures and teach us the
things of Christ. May you be glorified and magnified
today in all that we say and do here, in Jesus' name, amen. Today we'll be in 2 Peter, chapter
2, but I'd also like us to read the last three verses of chapter 19. Don't ever forget
that these letters were originally letters. They didn't have chapter
breaks like we have, and they were written as letters. So with
that in mind, I'd like us to read verses 19 all the way to
verse 9 of 2 Peter, starting in chapter 1 and then going to
chapter 2, verse 9. We have also a more sure word
of prophecy, whereunto ye do well, that ye take heed as unto
a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and
the day star arise in your hearts, knowing this first, that no prophecy
of the scriptures of any private interpretation. For the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of men, but holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. But there were false prophets
also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers
among you, who privately shall bring in damnable heresies, even
denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves
swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious
ways by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken
of. And through covetous shall they, with framed words, make
merchandise of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingereth
not, and their damnation slumbereth not. 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 in judgment, and
spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person,
the preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the
world of the ungodly, and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
into ashes, condemn them with an overthrow, making them an
example after those that after should live ungodly, and delivered
Lot, and deliver just lot vexed with filthy conversation of the
wicked. For that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing
and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their
unlawful deeds. The Lord knowing how to deliver
the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust until
the day of judgment to be punished. Last week we considered the last
two verses in chapter one where we saw that we have A more sure
word of prophecy. And we saw that no portion of
scripture is of any private interpretation. Of any private interpretation.
Scripture will always back up scripture. Scripture will always
back up scripture. And we should always, what we
believe should always come from what the scriptures say. always
from what the scriptures say, and we proclaim that alone. God's
gospel preachers, we preach what the Bible says. That's what we
preach, what the Word of God says. We also consider that the
scriptures were written by various men over a stretch of time, and
they were moved by the Holy Spirit of God to pen the words that
we have today in the scriptures. This book, beloved, is authored
by the Holy Spirit of God. This book is authored by the
Holy Spirit of God. And this book is not by the will
of man. The scripture says there, but
holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Now we know that from the first two men who were born into sin,
which are Cain and Abel, there always has been and there always
will be two religions. There always has been and there
always will be two religions. And we know that's grace or works. And we know from our studies
in the past that Cain typifies all unregenerate men, typifies
all unregenerate men, their foolish attempts to gain favor with God
by their own works, by their own works. And we know from our
studies in scripture that Abel typifies God's sovereign grace
bestowed upon all the elect of God by giving them faith to look
to God's sacrificial lamb the Lord Jesus Christ, because he
offered the proper sacrifice. He offered a proper sacrifice,
and it was accepted by God. Now there's nothing new under
the sun. There's nothing new under the sun, beloved. Nothing
new under the sun. Since Cain and Nabal all through
mankind, this has not changed. There's only been two religions,
either grace or works. And man will always try to gain
merit and favor with God by their works. As long as they are unregenerate,
as long as they're in the natural state, man will always try to
gain merit and favor with God by their works. And we don't
have to just look in the scriptures to know that, do we? We just
have to look at our own lives, where we were before the Lord
saved us. I tried to gain merit and favor with God by my works
when I was in religion. And God showed me by His grace,
just as He showed you who are believers, that all our works
are like filthy rags in His eyes. He will not accept any of them.
He will only accept the perfect righteousness, perfect obedience. And there's not one of us here,
or not one person on the top side of this earth that can do
that. But see, unregenerate men don't know God. They don't know
the things of God. They don't know who He is, because
we didn't know. And we don't look down on them, because we
were in the same place. So therefore, they try to work
their way to, now whether they call it heaven, or nirvana, or
whatever they call it, It's all still the same. It works for
them. Until you're born again by the
Holy Spirit of God, and God gives you an understanding of who He
is, and what we are, and who the Savior is, then we'll never
know who God is, other than that. But when He does, oh my, then
we say ourselves, We're unprofitable servants. I was talking to Donny
Bell this week about that. We were talking about just how
unworthy we are. We're just such sinners. All
of us. We're all just a bunch of sinners. Saved by the grace of God in
Christ. The scriptures say here, but
holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
The only way those men are holy is in Christ, is in Christ. So unless God is pleased to create
a new man, a natural man, an unregenerate
man, unless they're born again by the Holy Spirit of God, by
the miracle of the birth, they will not change. Why? Because natural man has no ability
to change. No ability to change. None at
all. We cannot change who we are in
our natural state. But praise God, that which is
impossible with man is possible with God. It's possible with
God. Our great sovereign God, he's
immutable, and he cannot change. Therefore, he has mercy on whom
here have mercy. He has mercy on whom here have
mercy. And aren't you thankful, beloved, that his mercy endures
forever? Forever. It's unchanging. Therefore, his mercy towards
his people is unchanging. It'll never change. And we know
from scriptures that His mercy to us, even though we don't always
see them, are new every morning. Are new every morning. My. So
we see here Peter, right after assuring the believer that they
have a more sure word of prophecy, now he's going to warn them about
false teachers. Look at verses 1 to 3. But there
are false prophets also among the people, even as there shall
be false teachers among you, who privately shall bring in
damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and
bring upon them swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious
ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be spoken of.
And through covetousness shall they with framed words make merchandise
of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and
their damnation slumbereth not. Now man again, in his natural
state, will not submit to the things of God. They will not
submit unto the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as a matter of fact, in modern
preaching, that's totally left out. They don't even talk about
the righteousness of Christ. Why? Because they're trying to establish
their own righteousness. So natural man always tries to
establish their own righteousness, which is basically saying they're
trying to gain merit and favor with God by their works. Now
some become false prophets, some become false preachers, while
others follow their pernicious ways, Peter here brings forth
in the text. Now think upon this. Unless a
man or a woman is born again by the Holy Spirit of God, they
would rather believe a lie than the truth. They would. You know how I know that? Because
I was there. Someone told me about God's elect
and grace one time, and I told them they were crazy, back when
I was religious. You know what? I didn't know
what the scripture said. So they'd rather believe a lie
than the false, and they'd rather, therefore, this is why the false
preachers have no problem getting an audience and getting a big
crowd. You tell people what they got
to do, and you're going to get a big crowd. You tell people
lies, they're going to flock to you. Just look at Joel Holstein. He's got a whole stadium full
of people. There's one for you right there. Turn if you would to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. We'll look at verses 7 to 12.
The false teacher, beloved, has no love for the truth. The false
teacher has no love for the truth. And those who follow them have
no love for the truth either. How do we know? Because God sends
them a strong delusion that they might believe a lie. That's what
the scripture says. Look what the scripture says
here in 2 Thessalonians 2 verses 7 to 12. For the mystery of iniquity doth
already work, only he who now letteth will let, until he be
taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be
revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his
mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.
Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all
power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness, and them that perish." Because look at this.
They receive not the love of the truth. They call the truth
a lie. They won't receive the truth. They won't receive the truth.
Because they receive not the love of the truth. What? That
they might be saved. And for this cause God shall
send them, look at this, strong delusion that they should believe
a lie. Oh my. oh my goodness, that they all might be damned
who believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
See, they won't submit to the righteousness of God. And when you tell them the truth,
they recoil. I did. Until God, by His grace,
opened my eyes and I was born again by the Holy Spirit of God.
Now I love the truth. But I know. When you're unregenerate, and
someone tells you about election, and you're religious, and someone
tells you about election and justification through Christ
and him alone and not by anything you do, you recoil. Recoil. But when you are born again by
the Holy Spirit of God, you embrace that truth, and you love that
truth. They receive not the love of
the truth, it says there. Now there are multitudes, thousands
and thousands of religious people who are on their way to eternal
torment, allowing themselves to be deceived by false prophets.
Hundreds of thousands of professing Christians are right now in that
same camp with them, and they're being entertained on their way
to hell. And they're loving every minute
of it. They think they're all right. and we were right there with
them, I was, till the Lord saved me, till he delivered me from the
prison house of unbelief. We were in unbelief at one time,
loving our sin, we may have been religious, we may not have been.
No difference though, held by the power of Satan, and by our
sin, and by the power of darkness, and it took the sovereign power
of the Lord Jesus Christ in him alone to set us free." And he
set us free, didn't he? He set us free. Oh, my. By the grace of God, and not
alone, we are saved by grace. We've heard the voice of the
great shepherd through the preaching of his word, and we're no longer
listening to the voice of strangers. We're no longer listening to
the voice of strangers, the voice of false preachers. No, we don't
want to have nothing to do with that. And we know the difference
now. We know the difference now. Let's
read verses 1 to 3 again and take note of a clear warning
from God concerning these false preachers who teach false doctrine. Peter, and remember Peter's writing
this by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. But there were
false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be
false teachers among you, who brively shall bring in damnable
heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon
themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious
ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken
of. And through covetousness shall they with framed words
make merchandise of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingereth
not, and their damnation slumbereth not. So we can know them by their
evil doctrines that they preach and teach. They bring in damnable
heresies. And the word here, damnable,
and the word, perniscuous, is the same Greek word. Is the same
Greek word. It means destroying, utter destruction
of vessels, ruin, the destruction which consists of eternal misery
and hell. That's what the Greek means. And we see their motive for what
they do is gain. Covetousness. Covetousness. In our text it says they make
merchandise out of their ears. They make merchandise out of
their ears. Their goal is not the glory of God. Their goal
is not the glory of God. Nor the good of the church. But
their own gain. their own glory, their own personal
satisfaction. They do not know Christ, beloved.
And they do not love Christ. And false prophets were among
the people before Israel became a nation of God's chosen people.
And false prophets were among the Jews and throughout the history
of the Jewish nation. And our text tells us that false
teachers are also among the Christian church. Wherever the truth is
preached, there be those who oppose the truth. These false
prophets tickle people's ears, they have success in their evil
ministry, but our Lord tells us what's waiting for those false
preachers and for their followers. Note in verse 1, they bring upon
themselves swift destruction, swift destruction. Also notice
in verse 3, whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not,
and their damnation slumbereth not. So these false teachers
and their followers, who are nothing more than unbelievers,
nothing more than unbelievers, will cause strife and division.
They try to persuade true believers to their ungodly ways of thinking.
Oftentimes they use human reasoning, unscriptural logic, and carnal
arguments to promote their self-righteous ways. And so this is, Peter's
given us a warning. He's given us a warning. And
these false teachers, they twist scripture. They twist scripture. They quote isolated passages
of scripture. See, this is why it's important
to read scripture in context. They twist isolated portions
of scripture, which will ultimately lead to their destruction. and
the destruction of those who follow them. And false teachers will be successful
in deceiving some professing Christians to believe their false doctrine
and follow their teaching, which will again lead to their destruction.
But as one grace preacher, I like what one grace preacher brought
forth. He says, it is not possible to deceive God's elect We might,
like the foolish Galatians, be temporarily turned to some false
doctrine, but God, the Holy Spirit, will not allow God's enlightened
children, his born-again people, to turn their eye of faith from
Christ for very long. He'll always bring us back. He'll
always bring us back. He'll always lead us to the truth. So let every safe sinner, Give thanks to God. Give glory
to God. Give glory to God for His free, sovereign, electing,
keeping grace. Give Him the glory, beloved.
Give Him all the glory. Give Christ all the glory. And
let us always remember this. I love these words. He that began
a good work in us will perform it until the day of Christ. Who
is the one who began a good work in us? Our Sovereign God. Who is the one who will continue
to do a good work in us? Our Sovereign God. And here,
perform it until the day of Christ. Oh my. Turn, if you would, to
1 John, Chapter 4. 1 John, Chapter 4. John gives a warning over here.
In 1 John, Chapter 4, And I'll read Jude 4. Jude says
this, for there are certain men crept in unawares who were before
of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace
of our God into lasciviousness, which is lawlessness or immorality,
and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Look
what John writes over here, though, in 1 John chapter 4, verse 1.
He says, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits,
whether they are of God. Just because someone makes a
profession, don't just... Because many false prophets are
gone out into this world. False preachers and false teachers
are among us, and they creep in unawares, unawares to us,
but not to God. But not to God. As one grace
preacher said, he allows his enemies to come amongst us for
his glory and for our good, ultimately. Turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians
chapter 11. 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Paul is here rebuking the Corinthian
church as they were observing the Lord's Supper in the wrong
way, and because of that, it was causing division within the
body, and strife within the body. So Paul writes them, and he says
this in 1 Corinthians 11, verses 17 to 21. Now in this I declare unto you,
I praise you not, that ye come together, not for the better,
but for the worse. For first of all, when you came
together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among
you, and I partly believe it. So there was divisions within
the body. Look at what Paul writes here, though. For there must
be also heresies among you, that they which are approved might
be manifest among you. When you come together, therefore,
into one place, This is not to eat the Lord's supper, for in
eating every one taketh before his own supper, and one is hungry
and another is drunken. But look at that scripture there,
for there must be also heresies among you, that they which are
approved may be manifest among you. The true gospel preacher will
never compromise the truth. Will never compromise the truth.
Therefore, the mouth of the gainsayers must be stopped. So let us not be ignorant of
the wicked devices of God's enemies. Their tactics have not changed.
First, they attack the truth. They attack the truth in any
way they can. And they usually play on human
emotions. They do this because God's word
means nothing to them. It means nothing to them. And the truth is not in them.
foolishly argue against the truth. They argue against the truth.
Always remember this, that we who make up the body of Christ
are only sinners saved by grace. We're only sinners saved by grace.
And we're saved by God's amazing grace though, aren't we? That
grace is amazing. It's amazing grace. We all have
faults. Every one of us. Every one of
us has faults. And you don't have to give us
a careful examination to see our faults, do you? None of us. But as the scriptures proclaim,
love covers a multitude of sins. Love covers a multitude of sins.
First Peter 4.8, it says this, and above all things have fervent
charity, which is love. Fervent charity. among yourselves. For charity, love shall cover
the multitude of sins. As God's born-again children,
we're to overlook the faults of others. We love one another. We love
one another. And we forgive one another. We
forgive one another. Why do we forgive one another?
Because we love one another. Because we love one another.
And by God's grace, we defend one another. We defend one another. And we forgive one another because
our God has forgiven us. He's forgiven us. He's shown
his great love to us in what Christ has done for us. It's
been manifested. Oh, what love and mercy has come
to we who are believers in and through Christ and Christ alone.
And we love one another, we manifest mercy by being kind to one another
because of our love for Christ. Because of our love for Christ.
And we believe and we openly confess our belief. We believe what the scriptures
proclaim, don't we? We believe that. Look over in 1st Peter chapter
1. 1st Peter chapter 1. 1st Peter chapter 1, verses 18 to 23. And we know this about all God's
people, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with
corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation
received by tradition from your fathers, So we're not redeemed
by silver or gold, and we know that our brothers and sisters
aren't redeemed by silver and gold, right? But with the precious
blood, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb
without blemish and without spawn. See, we know our own faults,
but we look to the one who's faultless. We look to the one
who's sinless. We look to the Lamb of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And we're purchased, we who are
his people, are purchased with his blood. And we love one another
because we know that every one of us who believe are purchased
by that same blood. That blood's precious. That blood, because of that blood,
All my sins are forgiven. Because of that blood, all your
sins are forgiven. You who believe. Because of what our Savior did
for us. Therefore, we love one another. We defend one another. We're
one body in Christ. We're the same Spirit. Look at
that. But with the precious blood of
Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, perfect,
sinless, spotless, who verily, now here we go, who verily was
foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest
in these last times. And remember, who's Peter's writing
to? Peter's writing to the elect, to God's blood-bought saints.
And it says, who is manifest for you. Oh. That's honey for the believer's
soul, isn't it? For you. Revealed. Manifested. Revealed in God's timing. And then look at this. Who by
Him do believe? In God. He gave us the faith
that we have in Him. It's a gift from God, given to
us by the Holy Spirit of God. that raised him up from the dead.
Well, we know from scripture that he's raised for our justification. Wonderful. And we know, and we
love our brethren because we know that he's raised for their
justification, too. Oh, my. It's absolutely wonderful. Raised him up from the dead and
gave him glory. Oh, he's seated at the right
hand of the Father. He is reigning and ruling in majesty right this
second. And he will continue forever. That your faith and hope might
be in who? God. Not in ourselves like it used
to be, but in God. In God. The Lord Jesus Christ is God
incarnate in flesh. He came to redeem his people
from their sins. That your faith and hope might
be in God. See the false teachers, they
teach things that you got to do. So your hope then becomes
in yourself. That's really true when you boil
it down. But God's preachers, we proclaim the only one who
can save sinners. And our desire is that your hope,
your faith, and your hope might be in God, might be centered
right on Christ. He's the only Savior of sinners.
No other one. Look at this, seeing you have
purified your souls and obeying the truth through the Spirit
and the unfrained love of the brethren, love of the brethren,
unfrained love of the brethren, Sincere, that means. Sincere
love for the brethren. See that you love one another
with a pure heart, fervently. Look at this, being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed, but of
incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever. Born again by the Holy Spirit
of God. So we believe, The Word of God. We who are God's
people, we believe the Word of God. Not just the word that is
read, but the gospel that's preached from the word. Not just the gospel that was
preached, but the gospel that has been preached by gospel preachers
since the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We believe that. The gospel is God's instrument.
that he uses to deliver his elect from the power of darkness. The gospel is God's instrument
that he uses to mature us in the faith after we're born again
by the Holy Spirit of God, to keep us looking to Christ, to
keep us looking to him, to keep us looking to he who is the author
and he who is the finisher of our faith. It's him. See, that's
the gospel preaching just points you right to Christ every single
time. Every single time. And the gospel is what God also
uses to reveal damnable heresies. Because God's people know the
truth. And when some false preacher starts popping off over here,
you go, that's wrong. I believe in a finished, complete
atonement. That's done by Christ and Christ
alone, plus absolutely nothing from me or anyone else. And we
know the difference. We know the truth. You know what? Only because God revealed it
to us. It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. Oh,
give God all the glory. If you're one of his people,
give him all the glory for revealing this to you. Because we'd never
know it without him. Oh, to God be the glory. Glory
to his name. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for allowing us again to gather and look in thy word, O Lord.
Oh, what a wondrous truth, the truth of the gospel, salvation
in thee and thee alone, O Lord. With absolutely nothing from
ourselves, justified by thee, O Lord, and thee alone, clothe
in thy perfect spotless righteousness. Hallelujah to your name. Glory
to you, Lord Jesus. In your name we pray, amen.