Sermon: Boldly Blasphemous 2 Peter 2:10b–22
Boldly Blasphemous 2 Peter 2:10b–22
Truth Taught- False teachers are boldly blasphemous and all who follow after them will meet with their destruction.
Introduction
We begin by acknowledging not just the possibility of false teaching, but the certainty of it. We should not be surprised to find false teaching in the church today. Jesus and the apostles are very clear that false teachers will arise. They promise it. As Jesus says,
Matthew 24:23–25 (ESV)
23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand.
I’m more and more amazed at how much of the New Testament addresses false teaching and false teachers. We are right in the middle of Peter’s section addressing the subject. Jude spends most of his short epistle on the topic. Galatians has the false teacher’s section, 1 Timothy and others.
Paul warns the Ephesian elders.
Acts 20:29–30 (ESV)
29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.
He warns Timothy in 2 Timothy.
2 Timothy 4:3–4 (ESV)
3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
Here in the 2 Timothy passage Paul explains why false teaching is so successful is because in many cases, believe it or not, it’s what the people want. People want lies if those lies make them more comfortable sinners.
Peter joins the refrain to add another voice: “There will be false teachers among you” (2 Peter 2:1).
So, we should not be caught off guard that false teachers have arisen throughout church history and likely have multiplied in our day as well.
We must be able to spot them a mile away if we are to avoid their destructive teaching. What we might find surprising — both from Jesus and the apostles — is how revealing the everyday lives of false teachers are about their falseness. They are not just false in their teaching, but also false in their living. Beneath their doctrinal error, however subtle and deceptive, we will find ethical compromises as well.
This issue of doctrinal error and false teaching is an extremely important issue that we must consider if we are to remain a true and faithful Church.
Disciple Hour: Exodus 24:1–8 The Old Covenant Ratified
Exodus 24:1–8 The Old Covenant Ratified
24 Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. 2 Moses alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”
3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” 4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. 6 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
1. Moses the Mediator (24:1-2)
24 Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. 2 Moses alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”
In order for a covenant to go into effect it must be ratified. Ratified means the agreement or covenant is officially accepted by both parties. God has put forth His requirements and how they are to be applied and lived out in the Book of the Covenant (Exodus 21-23). The Israelites affirm the Covenant by saying, all the Lord has commanded we will do.
Here, God commands Moses to come up the mountain again to worship Him. It’s hard to keep track of how many times Moses ascended the mountain, but when he did, he represented the people as their Mediator. He was the man between heaven and earth. He held our hand and as it were, God’s hand and spoke to God and to us. Moses spanned from a holy God to sinful man.
Here as Moses ascends the mountain again, he does not do it alone. Now that the Covenant is being put into place, God tells him to bring Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and the 70 elders that Moses had appointed to help him govern Israel.
Again, the Lord set boundaries. Moses can approach Me, God said, but all the other smust not. They had to stay back where God was a little safer. Only the Mediator could come into God’s presence.
God had set boundaries to show everyone that He is holy and must be feared. He is a great and awesome God perfect in righteousness. Mankind can only approach God on God’s terms and the way He prescribes. We cannot approach God on our terms.
For us, here are the terms…
1 Timothy 2:5 (ESV)
5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
We approach God through our Mediator, the Lord Jesus or not at all.
Sermon: God Knows How to Judge the Wicked and Save His Own 2 Peter 2:3b-10a
God Knows How to Judge the Wicked and Save His Own
2 Peter 2:3b-10a
Truth Taught- Peter proves from past examples that there is judgement coming for all who rebel against God’s authority and rescue for His People.
Introduction
People who stand against God do so with wrong ideas, perceptions, and conclusions. People who are against God such as the false teachers Peter speaks of here and all other lost people stand opposed because they think either there is no God or God will not or unable to pass judgement upon them. They think there will be no divine retribution whatsoever.
Please Stand
2 Peter 2:3b–10a (ESV)
3b Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
4 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; 5 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 world of the ungodly; 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; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (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); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.
1. Condemnation for All Who Are Outside of Christ (2:3b)
3b Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
The false teachers Peter and Jude were dealing with were saying these very things, literally, there will not be a judgement nor will Christ return…everything is going on as before.
2 Peter 3:4 (ESV)
4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”
We saw from last time that Peter tells these false teachers their judgement and destruction is immanent.
This fact is true for all who are opposed to God, not just the false teachers. No judgement is coming they think. What Peter tells all who are outside of Christ who say there is no judgement, is that their condemnation, their judgment has already been declared or decreed by God.
Notice the time of their condemnation…from long ago. They have been declared guilty by the Sovereign God even before their lies began. To be fair to the text, Peter does not specify when exactly their condemnation was declared but long ago usually means a long long time ago, probably referring to eternity past. In God’s sovereignty He knows the beginning from the end. He decrees certain things and they come to pass. The false teachers were denying God’s sovereignty… even denying the Master (Sovereign Lord) who bought them.
The false teachers say there will be no judgement coming and Peter tells them all, what you don’t realize is you’re judged already. Judgement has been hanging over your head like a dark black thundercloud and it will pour out judgement upon you. It will be swift and immanent.
False teachers were teaching doctrines of false gods. Idols and imagined gods have no power…
Disciple Hour: Exodus 23:20-33
After giving his law to the children of Israel at Mount Sinai, they were about to proceed in their journey toward the land of Canaan. The Lord God had given them plain directions for the regulation of their lives. Now, at the end of Exodus 23, as he is about to thrust them into the wilderness, where he will try them and prove them for forty years, graciously encourages them. He promised his people the care of his infinite love and assured them that he would send the Angel before them to keep them in the way and to bring them into the land he had prepared for them.
1. Our Guardian Savior (23:20-22)
20 “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. 21 Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him. 22 “But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.
There is an Angel in Exodus. This Angel is more than simply an angel but this Angel has special attributes. Who is this Angel?
This Angel was sent ahead to guard and bring the Hebrews into God’s salvation… the place that I have prepared.
The Land of Canaan was specifically created and prepared by God for the children of Israel. It is used in Scripture to represent two things.
· The Land of Canaan represents Heaven. That is obvious, because it is the Land of Promise; and it is used in Scripture to represent our final place of rest with Christ.
· But Canaan also represents the believer’s present life in Christ. That is obvious because there were in the Land of Canaan many enemies and much trouble.
Canaan represents our whole experience of grace, culminating in Heaven’s everlasting glory. Here the lord God promises to send an Angel before us; and this Angel has two specific assignments, two tasks, two responsibilities:
· 1st. It is his responsibility to keep us in the way.
· 2nd It is his responsibility to bring us into the place the Lord God has prepared for us.
Jesus keeps all who are His. He keeps us on the way. What a Savior we have who keeps us on the way! Jesus brings us home…all the way home. He will deliver us to our Promised Land on day. What a Savior we have who brings us all the way home!
He has power and authority. 21 Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice;
But there are two things in our text that make it unmistakably clear that this Angel is our Savior.
· (1st.) in verse 21 we are told that this Angel has the authority and ability to forgive sin.
· And (2nd.) the Lord God declares, at the end of verse 21, “my name is in him.”
He has the power and authority to forgive sin or not to forgive sin. do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression
Mark 2:7 (ESV)
7 “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
He is closely identified with God…for my name is in him.
This Messenger was distinguished from God, yet possesses divine attributes. Therefore, many biblical scholars identify this Angel and the Angel of the Lord, the second Person of the Trinity, the preincarnate Christ. Christ is with His people to lead them and guide them to the Promised Land.
Sermon: Bells and Whistles or Gospel Truth 2 Peter 2:1-3
Truth Taught- False teachers are out to gain a following as they exploit others for personal wealth and fame
Introduction
Peter has addressed the fact that Christ is returning regardless what the false teachers try to tell the Church. He told us that the Transfiguration was proof positive that Christ is coming again because he says it’s the preview. Not only did this preview prove the second coming because he, James and John were eyewitnesses and it is confirmed by their testimony, but the entire Bible is confirmed because Christ the Messiah is the key subject of the Bible. So, he wrote that the word of prophecy is more fully confirmed by the Transfiguration.
His point is, that all of Scripture is 100% trustworthy and true. The Second Coming of Christ is fully confirmed through the eyewitness testimony of the apostles.
Are you fully convinced that the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is God’s inspired, inerrant and authoritative Word? Peter knows that this is a must if the Church is going to combat false teachers. If the Church is not convinced then what argument do we have to refute false claims? We have no foundation and people can say whatever they want and whose to say if they’re right or wrong? With our being absolutely fully convinced of the truthfulness of Scripture we are ready now to address and combat false teachers. Peter is going to show us how who they are and what to look for and what to avoid.
The larger section is very close in content to the Book of Jude. Jude and 2nd Peter are addressing the same issues and we will see similarities.
Please Stand
2 Peter 2:1–3 (ESV)
2 But false prophets also arose 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. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
1. Where False Teachers Come From (2:1a)
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you,
What Peter tells us with the false teachers he has had contact with is that rather than creeping into the Church, sometimes they are already here. They arose among the people.
God’s people have always had to deal with false teachers. At times they can seem very impressive and persuasive. Here’s a text that shows a false prophet may even show the people signs and wonders…
Deuteronomy 13:1-5 (ESV)
13 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
What I want to make sure we see here is that it does not matter what he does. He might even go so far as to perform some miracle among the people. He may give you a sign or wonder but if he proclaims other gods and seeks to get you to follow them rather than the true God, then he is absolutely a false prophet.
Here’s what Jesus said about false prophets and false teachers…
