The Lord Jesus led me to read
2 Peter 2 (Select vv. ESV).
But there were also false prophets among the people,
just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce
destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing
swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and
will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will
exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging
over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. Vv. 1-3
There are multiple
destructive heresies making their way around in Christian circles, but there is
one primary one which is leading many people astray and to a false hope of
salvation and eternal life with God, based on a lie. It focuses on the fact
that, in Jesus’ death, he took our place and our punishment that we might be
set free from condemnation, forgiven our sin, and have the promise of heaven
when we die. So far so good, right?
Yet, the lie is that they say
that all we have to do to have heaven guaranteed us as our eternal destiny is
to acknowledge the existence of Jesus Christ and/or his sacrificial death for our
sins on a cross, and then all we have to do is just accept his grace or his
forgiveness of our sins. Yet, they completely leave out the need for
repentance, submission, and obedience to Christ and his Word. And, they
completely leave out death to sin and living to righteousness, which was the
reason Jesus died for us on that cross, that we might be free from the control
of sin and live for Christ (Ac. 26:16-18; Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; Eph.
4:17-24; 1 Pet. 2:24).
Since this gospel does not
require repentance or obedience to Christ, it gives free license for lasciviousness,
and then it even tells its adherents that God is pleased with them no matter
what they do, and that he smiles on them even when they are steeped in sinful
practices, self-deceived, and living to please their flesh, while ignoring the
Spirit of God.
Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to heap abuse
on celestial beings; yet even angels, although they are stronger and more
powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from
the Lord. But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They
are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and
destroyed, and like animals they too will perish. Vv. 10b-12
These teachers of what is
false also heap abuse on those who are living godly lives and who are teaching
the true gospel message. They will either try to convert them to their way of
thinking, and will try to get them to compromise their faith and to accept a
diluted gospel message, or they will attack them, and accuse them falsely of
teaching works-based salvation or of being legalistic or of being
self-righteous or hypocritical, etc.
The reason they abuse those
who are living righteously and who are teaching what is right is because the
godly lifestyles of the righteous expose the lies of the unrighteous, and they
expose the sinful behaviors of these false teachers, and that serves as a threat
to the chosen sinful (addictive) lifestyles of these false teachers, and so
they attack back, to try to frighten the follower of Christ to submit to them
and not to Christ.
They will be paid back with harm for the harm they
have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are
blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.
With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable;
they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! They have left the straight way
and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages
of wickedness. But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal
without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s
madness. Vv. 13-16
These false teachers are
enslaved to all sorts of evil practices, and they will stomp on anyone who
serves as a threat to their sinful lifestyles. Because God has not yet called
them to account for their wicked behaviors, they feel empowered to continue in
them, and they will even do them out in the open, convinced that they will not
be caught. They have no fear of God and no conscience about wrongdoing or fear
of consequences or punishment.
They have no conscience about
lying, cheating, stealing, gossiping, slandering others, committing adultery,
leading others into sin, and leading others away from pure devotion to Christ
to follow after lies, etc. They will join in your fellowships, talk like they
are genuine believers, pray with you, etc. while they are still holding on to
addictive behaviors and living for self, and they have no conscience about that
whatsoever.
They are conniving, manipulative,
often charming, winsome people who easily persuade the naïve to follow their
lies. They may even make a show of following the right way, while they live
just the opposite. And, if you serve as a messenger of God in confronting the
lies and exposing them and proclaiming the truth, they may, like Balaam, beat
you verbally or in other ways in hopes that you will cease in opposing their
destructive behaviors.
These people are springs without water and mists
driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. For they mouth
empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh,
they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They
promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people
are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” If they have escaped the corruption
of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again
entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were
at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way
of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the
sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A
dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing
in the mud.” Vv. 17-22
These false teachers would
lead you astray to believe that you can have eternal life with God and be
forgiven your sins absent of godly repentance and obedience and submission to
Christ and his Word. But, what they mouth are empty words which appeal to the
lustful desires of the flesh. The gospel of our salvation has been diluted by
these liars and deceivers for the very purpose to appeal to human flesh, and to
“make nice” with the world.
They do promise them freedom
in Christ based on a lie. They promise them that God will forgive their sins,
and that they have the hope of eternity with God in heaven and that nothing can
ever take that away from them. But, those are false promises, because they are
not based in the truth. The truth says we must die with Christ to sin and live
to him and to his righteousness, and that we must walk (in lifestyle) according
to the Spirit, and not according to the flesh, if we want to have eternal life
with God.
There is a warning here to
anyone who has made a profession of Christ as Savior and Lord of their lives,
but not just a profession, but who genuinely trusted in Christ as Savior and
Lord. If we listen to these lies, and we think now that we can be saved and
have eternal life with God and yet walk in sinful lifestyles, and that God is
going to just sit by and do nothing about it, then we are wrong.
The Bible speaks of judgment
beginning with the house of God. We also read in Revelation 2-3 of how Jesus
warned 5 out of 7 churches of failure to repent of their sins, that it would
result in judgment which would come upon them in some form or another. So, we
need to take this warning seriously.
Yet, we should not fear these
liars and deceivers who would come against us and who would abuse us because we
expose their lies and because we teach what is truth. For, they can destroy our
reputations with their lies, and they can say all manner of evil to us or about
us, and they can kill our bodies, but they can’t kill our souls. So, we should
not fear them or what they might do to us, but we must remain faithful to God
in doing what he says and in saying what he gives us to say, even if they do
heap abuse on us in return.
When I Am Afraid / An Original Work
October 17, 2016 / Based off
Psalms 56-57
When I am afraid, Lord, I
will trust in You.
Your Word, Lord, I praise. I
yield my life to You.
Enemies pursue me, slandering
Your Name.
Lord, have mercy. I trust in
You. Hear my cry today.
Lord, I love Your Word. It
comforts me today,
As I look to you, and bow my
head and pray.
You are Christ, my Lord. You
saved me from my sin,
That I may walk, Lord before
You, purified within.
Steadfast is my heart, O God,
I sing of You.
I will praise You, Lord. To
You, I will be true.
Oh, how great Your love. Your
faithfulness endue.
Be exalted, God of heaven.
Glory be to You.
Saturday, January 13, 2018,
2:22 a.m. – Thank you, Jesus, for this teaching from your word. May we take it
to heart, and apply its truths to our lives.
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