2 Peter 2:1-22 Embracing the One They Deny

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Peter’s Opening Exhortation to Know Christ and His Word

Please open up your Bibles to 2 Peter 2. If we were paused and if we were going to look at chapter 1, which we're not going to today, but if we looked at it, it would not take long to conclude that this letter, 2 Peter, it was written to the believers.

You'd find that out quickly. It was written to those who had obtained a faith, a God-given faith by the righteousness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. See, these people, they shared the same gospel truths that the apostles did and that we do if we're in Christ Jesus.

All right, and Peter stresses this point over and over in chapter 1. He calls them back to knowing the truths and promises that God delivered to them in His Word. And this is where our text begins. I share that the beginning part, it's so hard to start in the middle, in the middle of a book, right?

But here, chapter 2, in light of everything he shared with them about knowing Christ, he basically throws cold water in the face of his audience with this contrasting chapter. He shows them the extreme danger that surrounds them.

And he warns against those who did the exact opposite of what he was calling his heroes to do in chapter 1. So please follow along as I read these warnings and descriptions of these false messengers who did not rest on God's Word, who did not trust in God's Word, and who did not know the God who gave this Word.

Okay, so we'll look at 2 Peter 2 1 -22. And church, this is a heavy chapter, but listen, even in the midst of this reading, for the grace that God gives. Listen for the grace that He gives His people.

All right, let's read. 2 Peter 2 1 -22. The 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.

And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them, the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation is from long ago, it is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept by judgment, and if He did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought the flood upon the world of the ungodly, if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, He condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what He was gonna happen to the ungodly, and if He rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked, for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, He was tormenting its righteous soul over their lawless deeds that He saw and heard.

Then, if He did all those, then the Lord knows how to rescue His godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous from the punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.

Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, the greater in might and power, do not pronounce blasphemous judgments against them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant will also be destroyed in their destruction, suffering wrong as a wage for their wrongdoing.

They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls.

They have hearts that are trained for greed, or in greed. Accursed children, forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but he was rebuked for his own transgression.

A speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness. These are waterless springs, and mists driven by a storm. For them, the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. For speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh, those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.

They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that is he enslaved. For it would have been better, I'm sorry, skipped ahead there, verse 20, for if after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.

For it would have been better for them to have never known the way of righteousness, than after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says happened to them.

The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire. Church, this is a heavy chapter. Please pray with me. Lord, I thank you for your word. I thank you even in these heavier, harder chapters.

I thank you for the truth that you share. These are hard, but these are truths that we need to hear. And in your perfect timing, I trust that you gave this message today. Please, Lord, as we look at these judgments and these condemnations of these false teachers and really, really people who don't know you, Lord, I pray that the gospel will be lifted that much higher as we look across the scape of this dark chapter.

May the light of your truth and the light of your son shine brighter and brighter as we read word by word. Lord, we need you to do a work. We pray that you give us the words that we need to hear today from this text.

We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Alrighty, please reopen your Bibles to 2 Peter chapter two. As you guys heard earlier, if you heard me read the passage, this whole chapter is primarily about false teachers.

And I'll be honest, as much as I dreaded the idea of preaching this section, I really am thankful. It's just for this opportunity to share its truths and warnings. You know, I feel that today, this is God's perfect timing for this message.

I couldn't have orchestrated a better time to deliver this, really, even if I would have tried. I didn't plan to be here. I picked 2 Peter a while ago and slowly working through it. And I was asked to preach today, and here we are.

We're one day, less than a day away from 2024. And likely, because of it, as a result, probably all of us have some sort of a reading plan in place, right? And I think that's a good thing. Everyone agree?

I hope everyone has some sort of a plan for this coming year to be in God's word. But I do ask, why? Why is that great? Is it because you feel that the truths contained in God's word are at least as important as the food that you daily consume?

Is that why you're planning on reading God's word? Or do you feel that God's word is more of an option for you? Something that you read when you're forced to or guilted to, kind of almost like you did with your vegetables as a child, right?

I'm confident that as God's children, we know our need for this word. We know our need for God's daily provision through his holy word. I trust that along with Peter's urging in chapter one, that we grab God's word every morning, every evening, whatever that is, and we read this word over and over and over again, because we know we cannot survive without it, right?

These words, when properly understood and applied, they inform every area of our lives, from whether you eat or drink or anything you do, it should all be done for the glory of God. Right, God's word is our lifeline.

Can you say the same? Right, Peter certainly thought so. His entire first chapter was all about that idea. And he even concluded this letter in chapter three the very same way. If you glance, you don't need to, but if you glance at the end, you would notice he left his readers with these words.

He said, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Don't stay where you're at. Grow, continue to dive in. And in between these two chapters of Peter calling us to these truths and back to these truths, this is where we find this chapter, this long, dark, hard chapter.

And I'll be honest, I don't think the second time through is gonna be any easier for me to present it, but here we go. Notice in verse one, please follow along. I want you to see that these words are not coming from me.

They're coming from God's word, okay? Notice in verse one, the stark introduction to these false teachers. Notice this, this is contrasted by Peter basically saying this. He basically says, I know I spent the entire first chapter telling you to know Christ and continue in his word, but notice what it starts with.

He says, but, but these false messengers, they're opposed to everything Peter just said, right? These wolves did not know Christ. They didn't continue in God's word. And these deceivers, they have always been among God's people.

And you know what? They always will be, right? At least until the Lord comes back. Think about it. False prophets, false words, or accurately, were in the garden. You remember? Did God really say, was the question answered.

False words were among the apostles. Before that even, they were among the Israelites. They were among the early church. And false words are still among God's people today. If you're bored sometime, be careful going down this road, but do a search for a verse on the internet.

You'd be amazed how many false messages pop up. You need to scroll forever before you find a reliable source, right? Look at Christian colleges. How many have yielded to political correctness in woke ideology, right?

How many denominations have sold their birthright in the name of quote, love. And now they're teaching a false gospel, right? And in church, it's not just out there. False messages could walk through those doors and be here and recast.

And a terrifying thing is, is false messages could even rise up among us, right? Wherever there is truth, error is close by. You can count on that. Error will always use bits of truths as it undermines the gospel message.

Does Peter have your attention? Are you asking who these false teachers are? Do they come in wearing a little name badge that says Wolf? Do they announce their arrival, give an ample time to prepare for their terrible message that they're gonna bring?

No, no, they don't. But if we look at verses one through three, Peter gives us descriptions of who they are. The details of what they're doing will be further defined as we come to verses 10 through 19.

But here in verses one through three, we get an insight of how to spot them. This is important. Look again at verse one. Peter says, errors are typically brought in secretly. You see that? Secretly among the brothers.

Little twists, little changes. Now, sometimes errors, false teachings, they come in and they're blunt and obvious. These heretical teachers come in boldly proclaimed. And those are easier. They're way easier to spot.

They're way easier to combat. But many times, these errors, they appear as small little tweaks, small little errors. Example, you ask? I'll give one just simple, right? All it takes is a little bit of law added to grace, and guess what?

We have no more gospel. The book of Galatians, if you're familiar with it, and if not, maybe that's an idea to read this year. The book of Galatians powerfully defends the gospel by exposing and correcting these errors.

And those distinctions, they're worth defending. Because anytime we deal with false teachers, there's a very, very clear them, us distinction. You hear that? Anytime we're dealing with false teachers, there's very clear them, us distinction.

And it is that stark of a difference from one main reason. And that reason is Christ, our Lord, our Savior, our only hope of righteousness. He is our master. But notice, again, verse one, these false teachers, they bring in destructive heresies.

They even deny Jesus, the master who bought them, or so they claim he bought them. Their denial of Jesus as Lord and master, it proves that he is not their Lord and master, but they don't even know him.

And that is the problem. They've claimed our Lord. They don't know him as Lord and Savior. They yell, grace, freedom! They live in bondage to their sin. They profess salvation, but they do not possess it.

And this will play out in the remainder of this chapter as we go through it. We'll see them bring upon themselves swift destruction. You may be wondering, are false teachers really that dangerous? Notice, notice in verse two, many, see that?

Many will follow their sensuality. In verse 18 that I read earlier, we know that these wolves will entice by sensual passions of the flesh. We also know that they teach supposed freedom. They teach freedom in Christ.

And what do they teach it in? To sin. They say we have freedom now to sin. And the result, the result of their error, look at it again in verse two. Many will be tempted. Many will be led astray. Right, their lives will produce the errors that they consume.

Their sensuality will be the result of the way of truth being blasphemed. Think about that, church. How many times have we, we look around, how many times have we seen people identifying with Christ, yet willfully and proudly opposed to him and his holy word?

How many times have we seen that? See, it's not just blasphemy when someone speaks against God's holy and precious name. That's not the only way we can blaspheme. You know, we could really, we could probably argue that it's more blasphemous when a professing believer claims Christ, but their life opposes the Lord they're claiming.

Church, if we notice their hypocrisy, you better bet that the world notices it too. And as a result, a sad result, many will never even entertain the idea of following a Christ that they do not know, based solely upon the way that some of his supposed followers are living.

That's sad, may that not be, right? The way of truth as a result is blasphemed. Verse three continues, exposing that these divisive wolves, they're also greedy. Do you see that in the text? Are they greedy for money?

Are they greedy for followers? Well, likely yes to both. But for me, the motivation of their greed, it doesn't interest me or alarm me as much as their relentless will, their never ending will to gain converts to their false words, right?

False teachers, they don't give up. They just continue on and on and on with their error. And for their efforts, notice at the end of verse three, their condemnation from long ago, it is not idle. And their destruction is not asleep.

Friends, Jesus prayed in John 17. He prayed that he guarded and kept his apostles in the Father's name. None were lost, he says, except for Judas, the son of destruction, so that the scriptures might be fulfilled.

See, Judas' condemnation, it was from long ago. His destruction was certain. And as believers, this should strike us with sobering fear for anyone who would pervert the grace of our Lord. If they persist in error, their destruction will also be proved just as certain.

That's what our text tells us. Now, church, God does not take sin lightly. You know that, you feel that, right? God doesn't give us liberty to pragmatically soften our stance on sin and on false teachers.

He does not. We cannot deal gently with willful, unrepentant error in hopes that the perpetrator will soften and repent of their sin. You know, why do you think that God commanded the complete annihilation of entire wicked people groups when the Israelites entered the land?

Talk about a hard passage, right? Why was stoning, as commanded by God, why was stoning the penalty for false teachers, or false prophets, rather, among the Israelites? Right, another hard section. Why did Jesus and Peter and Jude and Paul all speak so harshly against false teachers?

And why are we, church, as followers of Christ, why are we, when dealing with those claiming Christ, yet walking in unrepentant, open sin, why are we called, as such a man, do not even eat? Well, it's because sin and false teaching, anytime it remains in opposition to the gospel, anytime, it will always result in condemnation, right?

We see that in this verse. This is a serious, serious thing. So, church, what do we do with that? When given a chance, proclaim truth to those in sinful rebellion. Proclaim it. Call them to repentance.

Give them Christ. But then, we gotta step back and let God do His work. Right, we're not given liberty from God to soften our stance against sin. Remember how that worked out for Israel? You remember that, when they spared some of the women and children and flocks when they moved in and they were the pagan nations they were called to destroy?

God's command was clear, it was very clear. And again, you may ask, is God really, is He really that serious about the spread of false ideas? And that, verse three would answer, yes. Their destruction is not a sleep.

See, friends, as we consider verses four through 10, we see three negative examples of rejecting God's authority. These are big, these are big examples. Each one of these could be their own sermon. This is hard, this whole chapter could have been split.

I felt it was best, though, to give it at once. And we're gonna fly through these examples. Notice with me. These examples, Peter gave as reminders that the condemnation for false teachers and any, really, any, not just false teachers, any who oppose Christ, their condemnation is certain.

Rejecting God's word, His authority, and His gospel is an eternal death sentence, eternal. Notice in the first example with me, verse four. God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but rather, He cast them to a place called Tartarus.

I don't know if I'm saying that right. It's the original, it's Greek. Your translation says hell, likely. This is a special word, it's only used a few times. And in this place, it's a holding place that God made.

It's described that it's reserved for false angels and false angels alone, and it's temporary. It's a holding place that they will be judged. They are bound, currently, waiting for final judgment of hell.

Example number two, verse five. Notice with me. God did not spare the wicked ancient world when He judged it with the flood. Water filled the lungs of the ungodly as they thrashed around with no hope, screaming out, and they breathed their last.

What a picture, right?

Wow.

Example number three, example number three. Notice with me, verses six through eight. God did not spare the wicked people of Sodom and Gomorrah. He judged them for their sinful, their sensual conduct.

What happened? Fire rained down from heaven, consuming them all. Yet, church, notice this. Notice, in all of these examples of judgment, do you notice we see light shining through the darkness for God's people?

We see that in the terror of the flood, as awful as that would have been, the entire world judged, right? In the terror of that, we see that God preserved Noah and his family, Noah who heralded God's righteousness.

And we see in the incineration of the wicked, God rescued Lot, who was righteous, not of his own accord, but because he trusted in the Lord. Right, look at this promise in verse nine. Look with me. The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials.

What a hope, right? As born-again believers in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we know, we know with certainty that God has delivered us. Right, our sin, it is dealt with on that cross.

Right, we know that.

And we know he will deliver us from our flesh, from our struggles with sin, and from the final enemy of death, right? Sometimes God, sometimes he'll deliver his people in the physical harm, right? Like if we're going through things, he'll deliver us at times.

Sometimes, like he did with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Doesn't always happen though, right? Sometimes God's people, they'll be entrusting themselves to their Lord as the stones of persecution crush their heads as it was with Stephen.

Right, but church, either way, either way, by God's grace, for his glory, his people have their eyes on their Lord. And we will be with him forevermore. What a promise. But, love this section. But just as God knows how to rescue his people from trial, notice the second part of verse nine.

This is terrifying. Notice, our Lord knows how to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment. See that in the text? Peter's point was to show that since God judged the ungodly in these examples, he will also judge these wicked messengers, those who claim to speak for him, but are actually speaking lies about him.

Right, does anyone else fear for the false teachers? Right, does anyone else fear for your lost friends and family? Church, weep for the lost.

Weep.

But then take them the only hope that we have. Right, give them Christ. He's our only hope. As a modern hymn states, one of my favorite songs states this in one part. It says, my righteousness is Jesus' life.

My debt was paid by Jesus' death. My weary load was borne by him. And he alone can give me rest. Proclaim that gospel, church. Proclaim it, but be prepared. This lost world seldom, seldom will hear it.

They are seldom content with the message of our Lord. Right, false messages are everywhere in every shape, size, and style. But thankfully, identifying false teaching is about as easy as boiling down what it is doing.

Right, what does false teaching do? Well, it always, always denies the work or the nature of God, always. It always places an emphasis on denying the gospel in some sense or another. And it always tries to justify sin as it lifts up the work and the works of man.

With that said, follow along as we briefly highlight what these false teachers, they were doing and they still are doing. Right, this journey we're gonna go on, this ride will only take a few minutes and it will be intense.

We're gonna look at a handful of verses here. It's gonna be intense. Just as you would go to an amusement park maybe and wait in line for a roller coaster, observing its terrifying twist and turns. Right, we'll be entering this section, this ride, this attraction in verses 10 through 19.

And it will be over before you know it. All right, so please follow along. Please, you gotta see these words are coming from God's word. Grab your Bible, buckle up and hold on. But please, no screaming.

We do not wanna distract from what the terror of what these dangerous, wicked false teachers are doing. All right, please, as I read these, notice the descriptive words that Peter uses in each example.

Follow along as we highlight these false teachers' errors in verses 10 through 19. Are you ready for this ride? Verse 10, please look with me. They indulge in the lust of defiling passion. Verse 10, they despise authority, especially God's authority as they contradict His word.

Verse 11, they are bold and willful. They set themselves as the final authority over God's word and over orthodoxy. Right, verse 11, they do not tremble. They have no fear of God as they spout error. Verse 11, they blaspheme glorious ones.

They speak against God's holy messengers, His elect angels that sing His praises. Verse 12, they blaspheme about matters of which they are ignorant. They know nothing about true matters of salvation. They know nothing of God and of righteousness.

Yet, they speak boldly against them. Verse 13, they count it pleasure to revel in the daytime while openly committing wrongdoing against God's clear commands. Verse 13, they revel in their deceptions.

They take great pleasure deceiving, even in intimate settings, like eating meals together with the brothers. Verse 14, they have eyes full of adultery. Their wicked eyes are filled to the brim. Verse 14, they are insatiable for sin.

They cannot get enough of their sinful rebellion. Verse 14, notice with me. They entice unsteady souls. Church, do you hear that warning? Unsteady souls. See, unsteadiness does not come from continual remembrance and reliance upon God's Word.

Rather, unsteadiness comes from the form of neglecting and forgetting God's Word. Where are you? Do you know God's Word enough to combat against these enticements and temptations of these sins? These enticements are attractive.

All right, back to our text. Verse 14, they have hearts trained for greed.

Why?

Because their only focus is self. Like all who do not have Christ, it doesn't matter. Anyone who does not know Christ, they are the God of their own life. I'd ask you, I'd ask me, are we living for Christ?

All right, verse 15. Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. The text tells us in 15 and 16 here that they have even followed the way of the prophet Balaam. Now, if you know that story, and even if you don't, the text tells us here that he loved gain from wrongdoing.

And what was God's reply to his sin? Well, in short, God rebuked him with a speechless animal and was thus restrained by a prophet's madness. He was thus restraining the prophet's madness. All right, verse 17, back to our text.

These false teachers are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. Crazy descriptions, right? But I think in short, their false words, they looked promising. And in the context that they lived in, their false promises could not satisfy any more than a spring with no water can satisfy a thirsty traveler, or a storm that does not open up to usable rain, it cannot satisfy a thirsty land, and neither can their lies satisfy.

All right, verse 18, they speak loud boast of folly. They are overly confident in their error. And friends, as Paul finishes up these terrifying twists and turns of what these false teachers were doing, he seems to land on one final error.

It's an error that I believe shows their true colors. No matter how nicely they try to package it, the truth of their error pops out right here. Look at verse 18. They entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.

See, as we exit Peter's intense ride of what these false teachers are doing, glance at this ride from the backside. Right, look back across their message. Look back across what they're doing. Here, from the backside of what we're seeing, their message has no lights.

It has no attractive signs. And really, I don't even think their message has any appeal. Right, observe the final error that reveals their true desires. What are those desires? Well, on the front end of their message, it reads freedom.

Their promises sounded so intriguing. Right, but Peter reveals the truth behind these wicked words. Remember in verse two, many will follow their sensuality. Many will follow, just as it said in verse 18.

Verse 18 revealed that these worthless teachers entice by sensual passions. You see the danger of what they're appealing to? Appealing to our flesh, our wants, our desires. Right, look at the beginning of verse 19.

These false teachers, they promise their victims freedom, but they can only lead them into bondage. Right, these deceivers are appealing to the very thing, the very thing, that Jesus said we must die to in order to follow him.

You remember Jesus' words in the Gospels? He was in at least three of the four Gospels. He said this, he said if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, which is die to yourself, and follow me, he says.

That is where true freedom is found. Death to self and rest in Christ alone as our risen savior. Right, Jesus took the wrath that we deserved for our rebellion. Right, true freedom is not found in supposed liberties to indulge in the sinful, wicked flesh.

That is not where freedom is found, what these teachers are calling to. Our flesh and our desire for self over our maker, that's the very thing, church, that we need to die to.

Why?

We can ask why. It's because the flesh, it desires the complete opposite of the spirit, and the spirit desires the opposite of the flesh. Make no mistake about it, this is war. The Christian life is war.

We're called to die to self. We cannot please God in our sin, right? And that's what these wicked messengers are proclaiming. They claim that in Christ we have freedom to sin. They're claiming in Christ we have freedom to indulge in the sensual passions of the flesh.

But have no fear, Peter is onto their schemes and he warns us. He warns us in verse 19, look with me. These teachers, they promise freedom, but they themselves are, do you see it? Slaves of corruption.

Friends, the thing that they love and promise freedom in, which is themselves and their sin, that is the very thing that enslaves them. And notice this, this is really interesting. The things that they hate, which is Christ as Lord, and denial and death to self, that's the very thing that they are unable to love.

The very thing that would save them. And not, they're unable unless God does a work. Right, they claim supposed freedom to live in sin, but their reality is a slavery that will end in an eternity of horror.

And this is where Peter, this right here is where Peter wraps up his focus on these dangerous false teachers. Church, please don't misunderstand me this day, but more importantly, forget about me, please do not misunderstand what Peter is saying in these final couple verses, okay?

This section, verses 20, what is it here, 20 through 22. This section is not trying to communicate that God's elect can lose their God-given salvation, right? His bride cannot out-sin Christ's sacrifice, but they won't try to either, right?

God gave us, his people, the Holy Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing our salvation to come. It's an amazing thing. He who began a good work in you will see it to completion. We could quote verse after verse after verse showing this, but then again, verses 20 through 22, we don't need to prove against that because these were not written to his blood-bought believers.

We'll see that in this verse, right? These verses are a warning written about anyone, not just false teachers, written about anyone who proclaims Christ. It has not obtained him. You hear that difference?

Let's look at Peter's following words with that in mind. Verse 20 continues, please, please look with me. For if after they, wait, who's a they again? Super important, pause briefly. The they, we can't lose this.

The they are the false teachers. And again, this could also apply to anyone who claims Christ, but doesn't know him, right? The they are those who are not born again. The original sin nature rules and defines them, and they are slaves to their sin in need of a savior.

Okay, we've clarified that, so let's try 20 again, right? All right, look with me. For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of, you see, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.