2 Peter | Chapter 2 – Scripture Supply

2 Peter 2:1-3

“Dangerous doctrine part 1”

Vs. 1 Who is a false teacher

Intro

Peter wanted his readers to have confidence in the Word of God so that they would not be persuaded to follow after “new experiences” and “new information” in their hunger to grow in their relationship with Jesus. Peter does this first by emphasizing the positives:

Peter’s encounter with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration was an amazing encounter but it wasn’t enough to keep him from denying the Lord 6 months later.

The greater encounter we can have that will always leave a greater impact upon our lives is through the word of God. Peter wanted his readers to know that they can have complete and absolute confidence in the Word of God. He does this by writing on the uniqueness of Divine inspiration as he wrote describing:

What Prophecy is
Who is a Prophet
How we can appropriate prophecy in order the mature spiritually

Peter now addresses this from the negative as he looks at the inadequacies of false teaching. The purpose of this is to alter believers from following their “destructive heresies”. The descriptive language of this chapter causes an immediate impact as there is nothing else like it in the entire letter to cause it to stand out in all its darkness.

Vs. 1 Who is a false teacher

Vs. 1 In chapter one, verses 19-21 Peter spoke of the “Prophetic Word Confirmed” and the emphasis upon divine inspiration and now he warns against false ones. The chief ministry of the First Testament prophet was to communicate to their own generation about the darkness that they had allowed and how to alleviate it from their lives. But the New Testament teacher is engaged in a different word as they teach the doctrine of grace to those made aware of their own sin. Here on the negative, we learn a threefold aspect of what constitutes false teachers and teaching:

Who is a false teacher: Vs. 1 “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies.”

What is false teaching: Vs. 1b, 2, 3a “Destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed…. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words…”

How do we avoid following them: Vs.1c, 3b “Bring on themselves swift destruction…For a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

Peter reveals three things about “false teachers”:

But there were also false prophets…even as there will be false teachers: The Greek words “there were” indicate that their position wasn’t by calling but by self-appointment. One of the characteristics of false teachers is “self-appointment and promotion”. God never “drafted them into their calling” they sought it out and pushed themselves into it!

Who secretly brings in: The second point Peter makes is that their false teaching was alongside truth as they are clever in the distribution of false teaching. The word used in the Greek for “secretly” is one in the Greek that describes a spy or traitor. What this tells us is that such false teaching was not by ignorance nor accident but rather a deliberate introduction to pass alongside truths, lies! While they may enter through the front door of the Church, they get their teaching from the back door to spread it openly.

Destructive heresies: The Greek word “destructive” speaks of the loss of everything that makes human existence worthwhile. Whereas the word “heresies” is a Greek word that means a choice of an opinion contrary to what is usually received. Peter gives an example of the most serious heretical teaching that these false teachers peddled when he says that they even “denied the Lord who bought them.” They denied the cross of Jesus as being necessary for atonement for their sins. The word “bought” in the Greek is a word that was used to purchase a slave and what Peter says is that they deny the precious blood of Jesus that was used to pay the ransom for our sin nature and actions! The reason for this appears to be an inadequate view of the Person and work of Jesus and a high regard to their own relationship to personal sin. These were not misguided Christian Peter says, they were heretics involved in misleading Christians.

It is here that before we move on to “What is false teaching” and “How do we avoid following them” that we address where this began in those that would teach such lies. As mentioned, it seems to come from “an inadequate view of the Person and work of Jesus and a belief that their own personal sin doesn’t necessitate the need for the blood of Jesus.” The truth is that a person’s thoughts on Jesus will always determine the moral climate of their lives. It is as Proverbs 23:7 says, “As he thinks in his heart, so is he.”

What we think about the things that are the greatest will always determine what we do with the things that we consider are the least!
What are our thoughts about God will be visible in the common courtesy towards others.

That is what Peter is speaking against in the second chapter of this letter. We often think of this in reverse as if it is our bad habits that influence our good conscience towards God. It is the other way around; our lack of understanding towards God, our lack of appreciation of His character and nature changes everything about us. Jesus thought of asking this same question to His disciples in Matthew 16:13 when He asked, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” The defective thought is not relegated in being wrong about God’s character alone but in not understanding who Jesus is in the first place! The essence of heresy can be in having the wrong characteristic about God above or to the exclusion of the RIGHT ONE.

If you start with the chief characteristic of Jesus as Love, you will soon remove the very oxygen from the affection you proclaim you have towards Him.
If you stand upon the mercy of God as the abiding characteristic, then you will eventually deprive yourself of the benefit of the mercy you seek.
If you stay and gaze at the humanity and humility of Christ, you will never be unable to fully appreciate or appropriate the benefits of it into your life.

What is missing in those Godly attributes is the location of where you view them! They can only be understood when we see them from heaven, from the very throne of God! If we are to know the depths of God’s love, mercy, and humility we can only truly do so from the heights of His holiness! When Isaiah was whisked into his calling as a prophet he was not brought into the realization of the love of God, neither was it the mercy of God or the incarnation that caused him to exclaim that he was a man of unclean lips. No, it was into the throne of God where he received a glimpse of the holiness of God; where he heard the angels who were so affected by the presence of God’s holiness that they covered their faces as they called to one another “Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory.”

Isaiah’s thinking was changed. All destructive heresies begin with a low view of the holiness of God and the unnatural conclusion of it causes a lack of discernment of the Lord’s atonement. If we do not have an Isiah moment of: “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” Without that encounter we will never get to verse 6 where “a glowing coal from the altar touches our lips, and our iniquity is removed, and our sin is atoned for.” No holiness, no sin; no sin, no Savior!!!! Redemption becomes unnecessary and the ministry of Jesus upon the cross an unwelcome tragedy. Peter’s statement is that heresy comes from those who have no vision of God’s holiness and as such have no perception of their need for Jesus’ atonement! The person who cannot or has not kneeled before the holiness of the living God will never be upright in the heart and no conversation about the love of God, mercy of God or humanity of Jesus will ever correct that heart. To not bow to the holiness of God is to be a “master of nothing” because you have never been mastered by the Master of your souls! It is to the throne of God’s holiness that we worship at and if not, we will have no desire to see our sin expelled. The apostle John saw Jesus in whose breast he had laid his head upon on earth but when John saw Him in heaven he fell at His feet as though dead! Our hearts must always stoop in reverent adoration when we view the holiness of our Lord and in this we will be cleansed! Our primary conception of the Lord will determine what we believe and how we live, the depth or shallowness of our ministry. Whatever dethrones or disparages the holiness of Jesus will impair and impoverish the person who does! Anything that cheapens Jesus will make us worthless, any teaching that places Jesus as anything less than everything denies Him and is a destructive heresy!

2 Peter 2:1-3

“Dangerous doctrine part 2”

Vs. 1b, 2, 3a What is false teaching

Vs. 1c, 3b How do we avoid following them

Intro

As we began the second chapter, we noted a change in Peter’s address to these Christians whom he wanted to have confidence in the Word of God. He first emphasizing the positives by stating the uniqueness of Divine inspiration as he wrote describing:

What Prophecy is
Who is a Prophet
How we can appropriate prophecy in order the mature spiritually

Peter in the second chapter addresses this from the negative as he looks at the inadequacies of false teaching. The purpose of this is to prevent believers from following the “destructive heresies” of false teachers. For the purpose of our investigation, I continued using Peter’s outline as we also learn a threefold aspect of what it constitutes:

Who is a false teacher: Vs. 1 “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies.”

What is false teaching: Vs. 1b, 2, 3a “Destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed…. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words…”

How do we avoid following them: Vs.1c, 3b “Bring on themselves swift destruction…For a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

By way of review Peter revealed three things about “false teachers”:

But there were also false prophets…even as there will be false teachers: The Greek words indicate that their position wasn’t by God’s calling but by self-appointment. God never “drafted them into their calling” they sought it out and pushed themselves into it!

Who secretly brought in: Their false teaching was alongside truth as they were clever in the distribution of false teaching. The word used in the Greek for “secretly” is one in the Greek that describes a spy or traitor. What this tells us is that such false teaching was not by ignorance nor accident but rather a deliberate introduction to pass alongside truths, lies!

Destructive heresies: The Greek word “destructive” speaks of the loss of everything that makes human existence worthwhile. Whereas the word “heresies” is a Greek word that means a choice of an opinion contrary to what is usually received. Peter gives an example of the most serious heretical teaching that these false teachers peddled when he says that they even “denied the Lord who bought them.” They denied the cross of Jesus as being necessary for atonement for their sins.

We then took a detour to address where this began in those that would teach such lies. It comes from “an inadequate view of the Person and work of Jesus combined with a belief that their own personal sin doesn’t necessitate the need for the blood of Jesus.” The defective thought is NOT relegated in being wrong about God’s character alone but in NOT understanding who Jesus is in the first place! The essence of heresy can be in having the wrong characteristic about God above or to the exclusion of the RIGHT ONE. What is missing in false teaching is the location of where you view Godly attributes! They can only be understood when we see them from heaven from the very throne of God! If we are to know the depths of God’s love, mercy, and humility we can only truly do so from the heights of His holiness! No holiness, no sin; no sin, no Savior!!!! Redemption becomes unnecessary and the ministry of Jesus upon the cross an unwelcome tragedy. Peter’s statement is that heresy comes from those who have no vision of God’s holiness and as such have no perception of their need for Jesus’ atonement! Whatever dethrones or disparages the holiness of Jesus will impair and impoverish the person who does! Anything that cheapens Jesus will make us worthless, any teaching that places Jesus as anything less than everything denies Him and is a destructive heresy!

Vs. 1b, 2, 3a What is false teaching

The first thing we need to realize is that all false teaching is “progressive” as it will eventually “deny the Lord who bought them”. False teaching starts slowly by lessening our focus upon the character and nature of God.
It can be as simple as an over emphasis upon the Church and what we are doing for God as it removes our attention away from Jesus and what He has done for us and in so doing denies Him being our everything.
It can also find a foothold by emphasizing Jesus’ “Love” or other attributes while barely mentioning His holiness.
It can also come in by teaching and churches that place over emphasis upon “end times” scenarios, the gifts of the Spirit, politics, or the state of the fallen world. While not being false teaching or things that we may disagree with it will intime lead to false teaching because such teaching neglects the ONLY essential, Jesus! And when Jesus is “consistently absent” other things will be missing as well such as our need for His sacrifice and that will be replaced by our faithfulness instead of His! Jesus’ atonement will become, in time, obsolete and antiquated.

None of the above teachings offer any liberation from sin, neither do they offer any attainment for a mature Christian life. Teaching that avoids the unique holiness of Jesus and doesn’t reserve for Him the supreme and sovereign place in redemption, if not already false, will eventually lead to that which is a destructive heresy. It becomes nothing more than “spiritualism” that has little or nothing to do with Jesus our LORD. The church has become confused by thinking that teaching from the Bible is the same as teaching THROUGH the Bible. We Christians need to listen with hearts that ask of what they hear from the pulpit:

What are they saying about our exalted Lord and Savior Jesus?
Do they lessen His importance?
Do they dim His glory by placing something in front of Him?

If they do, then they are denying the Lord who bought us!

“And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.” The second thing we need to realize is that such false teaching will be “popular”. It is a sad reality that false teaching will be numerically far more popular than the truth about Jesus. People seem always to be directed towards “numbers” and popularity, and this gives a broader path to false teaching than Biblical truth! The concept is that “popularity” means “credibility” and anointing! Apparently, the church needs to revisit the words of Jesus when He said in Matt 7:13-14 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

“By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words.” The third thing we see is that false teaching comes in by way of appealing to our flesh. The Greek word “covetousness” means a “greedy desire to have more”. The word “exploit you” in the Greek means to make merchandise of you, or to trade you. It is easy to see that the false teaching of the “property teachers” fits this but isn’t just limited to that! There is only ONE PERSON we should ever be greedy to have more of is Jesus! Such false teaching is suited and molded for the fleshly imaginations as well as materialism.

Vs. 1c, 3b How do we avoid following them

Finally, based on Vs.1c-3b “Bring on themselves swift destruction…For a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. We can avoid false teaching by remembering three things:

First, that God will judge those who teach such lies. Those that teach “Destructive heresies” “Bring on themselves swift destruction” the outcome of false teaching far exceeds the temporary benefits that the lies promise! We need to remember that this is not our heaven, and we receive no lasting benefit from sacrificing the eternal at the altar of the temporary!

Second, by remembering that what is “certain” is the judgment upon false teachers. “For a long time, their judgment has not been idle”. Often, we tend to forget that God’s promises are the only thing that is certain and fixed!

Finally, by remembering that “their destruction does not slumber”! Again, we tend to think that if we follow such lies, we will have time to get it right, but we don’t know that. Also following such lies will only hinder the possibilities of our own spiritual growth and maturity!

2 Peter 2:4-5

“Destructive conduct”

Vs. 4 Angels who sinned

Vs. 5 Saved Noah

Intro

The second chapter of Peter’s letter marks a considerable change in content as Peter writes about three things:

Who is a false teacher
What is false teaching
How do we avoid following them

Peter’s words were practical in 2:1-3 but the remainder of the chapter is darker as Peter first offers three illustrations: One from the angelic realm, and two from their history in Noah and Lot and those could be divided in pre-flood and post-flood. This section has inherent challenges as it relates to interpretation and application. First, we will need to ask and answer the question from the point of Peter:

What do these illustrations have to do with false teachers and false teaching that his readers are to avoid?
What are the teaching points that Peter wishes to convey to his readers?

The context of these illustrations is to be found in verse 3 as the word “FOR” in verse 4 is a connective word linking what Peter had just written to what he is about to write. This had to do with the reader remembering three things could do to avoid following false teaching.

Second, what is “certain” is the judgment upon false teachers. Often we tend to forget that God’s promises are the only thing that is certain and fixed!

Finally, that “their destruction does not slumber”! We tend to think that if we follow such lies we will have time to get it right, but we don’t know that. Also following such lies will only hinder the possibilities of our own spiritual growth and maturity!

Vs. 4 Angels who sinned

Vs. 4 The first illustration is difficult to break down as we need to determine what is the situation of the illustration that Peter is referring to. What the text tells us is that God didn’t spare angels who sinned, but instead immediately judged them, imprisoning them until a later time of permanent judgment.

One interpretation of this is that Peter is writing of the angels who fell with Satan at the original rebellion against God where we read in Isa 14:12-15 and Ezek. 28:15 and Rev 12:3-4. The problem with that interpretation is that Satan and his fallen angels wouldn’t be free to roam the earth as they clearly are.

The other interpretation of this is linked to 1 Peter 3:19 and Jude in 1:6-7 where we saw in that study “WHAT” Jesus preaches as the Greek word “preached” is a word used for an “official announcement or proclamation made by a representative of a government”. Peter didn’t say that Jesus “preached” or “evangelized” or brought a “message”, instead that Jesus brought an “official proclamation” to these fallen angels. God in perfect justice and infinite mercy and glorious righteousness passed over fallen angels to purchase fallen humanity by His own blood! We need to look at 1 Peter 3:20 to get a better picture as to what Jesus’ official proclamation was. What we see is that they were disobedient at the time of the flood and in Peter’s second letter 2:4 he mentions that they sinned, and that God did not spare them but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment. There is no reason to think that Peter under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is referring to a different group in his second letter than the mention of the one in his first letter. In fact, the use of the word “FOR” in 2 Peter 2:4 is a connective word and associates these two; the fallen angels of the antediluvian world of Noah’s time in which we are told Noah’s family of 8 souls were saved from and the angels were reserved to judgment.

Gehenna is the place of dead apostate Jews whereas Tartarus the place of fallen angels. Jude 1:6-7 shed a little more on this where we are told that “the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” It appears that the sin of these fallen angels was fornication as they went after human females, a different class of creation stepping beyond what God had designed. It appears that this produced a genetically altered order of being that mixed these two different orders of creation into what Gen 6:1-4 describes “When men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them, God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives.

Yahweh said, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; so, his days will be one hundred twenty years.” The Nephilimwere on the earth in those days, and after that, when God’s sons came into men’s daughters and had children with them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.” This mixed race partly human partly fallen angelic warranted the destruction and extermination of all but 8 humans. So, after Jesus official proclamation between His death and prior to His resurrection was for the purpose of this angelic apostasy of the divine plan of God in which Satan trying to make it impossible for Jesus to be fully man as humanity’s seed would have been polluted by demonic seed making human atonement impossible.

The point Peter is illustrating is that God’s judgment and destruction does not slumber. There are several things that this illustration brings up: First is the severity of how Peter through the Holy Spirit sees false teaching as it is linked to the “Satanic plot” to taint humanity with demonic seed rendering the whole of the offspring thus affected by this ungodly union unredeemable! False teaching causes those that follow such “destructive heresies” unredeemable. That God knows very well how to limit the effect that such lies can have on fallen humanity and that His judgment of those who are engaged is as James warned in 3:1 “Let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.”

Vs. 5 Saved Noah Intro

Vs. 5 The second illustration is that of Noah and as mentioned is connected to the first reference in verse 4. It is also connected to 1 Peter 3:20-21 where we noted the ministry of Noah. Peter showed his readers in the illustration that Noah like Jesus are examples of “suffering for doing good”. In speaking of Noah, Peter brings up his family that was also safely delivered through the flood and the phrase “saved through water” is literally “were brought safely through” and isn’t talking about their spiritual salvation. The article in the Greek is not on the “Ark” saving Noah and his family but rather upon the water saving Noah and his family. The very waters that were the extermination of the human race were life to the inmates of the ark. Those who drowned did so because they were not related properly to the waters and Noah and his family were. The righteousness of God judges all who are not correctly related to Him, and it is faith in God’s provision of His Ark Jesus that enables us to sail upon God’s goodness. This section in Peter’s words in 2 Peter will lead us to the same FIVE APPLICATION POINTS that Peter wished to convey to these dear suffering saints in the first century church in his first letter:

Christians looking at Noah: Must expect opposition.
Christians looking at Noah: Must serve God by faith and not by sight.
Christians looking at Noah: Must realize that we can have joy because the victory is certain. We do this because our identity is in God’s faithfulness and not our effort.
Christians looking at Noah: Must understand the importance of identifying with baptism and our death to self-centeredness and trust in only God.
Christians looking at Noah: Must realize that Jesus is the only reason we are still breathing earthly air as God wants us to be a “living hope” to everyone we meet.

The examples are meant to give invaluable instruction to the place and position of the Christian amid dark times. Church history is full of reminders that God’s people will go through difficult times that will shrink our number. God has not called us to popularity, a life of ease. He has not called us to be like the world system He has called us out of it, He has called us to be different. Peter’s words serve not only the generation that he was writing to, but to every generation and every believer that God’s spirit shall not always strive with man (Gen. 6:3) Noah was surrounded by “iniquity” a generation of billions of people where there were only 8 on the planet that walked with God. Where would have those 8 souls been if they sought to be like the world? Where would they have been if they sought to be popular with their neighbors? For 120 years Noah’s hammer preached the gospel that the world refused to listen and only mocked it’s knocking. We can and must expect severe testing of our faith that will alone determine if we truly believe what we say we believe.

2 Peter 2:6-8

“Entangled with what we escaped”

Vs. 6-8 Lot

Intro

Peter’s words were practical in 2:1-3 but the remainder of the chapter is dark as Peter offers three illustrations: One from the angelic realm, and two from their history in Noah and Lot and those could be divided in pre-flood and post-flood. This section has inherent challenges as it relates to interpretation and application. We need to make certain that we maintain the context of this letter while we examine the illustration which is made more difficult due to the subject matter of the illustration. To do this we need to ask and answer the question from the point of Peter:

What do these illustrations have to do with false teachers and false teaching that his readers are to avoid?
What are the teaching points that Peter wishes to convey to his readers?

Previously, we took the illustration from the fallen angelic realm and Noah which center around the same incident. I showed you that I believe that the text is about the fallen angelic realm and the incident mentioned in 1 Peter 3:19 and Jude in 1:6-7 and not the fallen angels of the original rebellion as recorded for us in Isa 14:12-15, Ezek. 28:15 and Rev 12:3-4. I made that interpretation based upon the practical observation that Satan and his fallen angels don’t appear to be “cast down to hell, delivered to chains” but instead are free to roam the earth. I also said that the interpretation is based upon the grammar of the passage as it is clearly linked to Noah and the flood in verse 5. As noted last week what Peter is writing about is connected to Jude 1:6-7 where we are told that “the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” It is here that we see the demonic plot as these fallen angels went after human females, a different class of creation stepping beyond what God had designed. It appears that this produced a genetically altered order of being that mixed these two different orders of creation into what Gen 6:1-4 describes “When men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them, God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives. Yahweh said, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; so, his days will be one hundred twenty years.” The Nephilimwere on the earth in those days, and after that, when God’s sons came into men’s daughters and had children with them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.” This mixed race partly human partly fallen angelic warranted the destruction and extermination of all but 8 humans.

This fallen angelic apostasy of the divine plan was put forth by Satan to make it impossible for Jesus to be fully man as humanity’s seed would have been polluted by demonic seed making human atonement impossible. The point Peter is illustrating is that God’s judgment and destruction does not slumber. Here we see both how God and Peter observe the severity of false teaching as it is linked to the “Satanic plot” to taint humanity with demonic seed rendering the whole of the offspring thus affected by this ungodly union unredeemable! False teaching causes those that follow such “destructive heresies” unredeemable. The second illustration of Noah as mentioned relates to the first reference and is also connected to 1 Peter 3:20-21. Peter brings up Noah and his family that was also safely delivered through the flood and the phrase where we noted that in the Greek it was not on the “Ark” saving Noah and his family but the waters of judgment. The very waters that were the extermination of the human race were life to the inmates of the ark. Like following false teaching: Those that drown do so because they are not rightly connected to God as Noah and his family were. The righteousness of God judges all who are not correctly related to Him, and it is faith in God’s provision of His Ark Jesus that enables us to sail upon God’s goodness.

The examples are meant to give invaluable instruction to the place and position of the Christian in the midst of dark times. Church history is full of reminders that God’s people will go through difficult times that will shrink our number. God has not called us to popularity, a life of ease. God is not focused upon our temporary happiness; His focus is upon our eternal holiness and that means that we are called to be different. God’s spirit shall not always strive with man (Gen. 6:3) Noah was surrounded by “iniquity”, a generation of billions of people where there were only 8 on the planet that walked with God. Where would have those 8 souls been if they sought to be like the world? Where would they have been if they sought to be popular with their neighbors?

Vs. 6-8 Lot

Vs. 6-8 Peter now brings up his 3rd illustration of Lot and his dwelling in the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. We would need to go back to Genesis chapter 18-19 to get a better understanding of the terrible moral decay that had overtaken that society. We would also better understand the compromise of Lot whom Abram gave the choice of where to settle in Genesis 13:10 even though Abram being the older would have had first choice. There we are told that Lot “saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere…like a garden of the Lord.” Then in Genesis in 13:11-13 we are informed of the progressive choice of Lot where initially he chose the plain of Jordan, then journeyed East then traveled further into the cities of the plain eventually pitching his tent as far as Sodom even though he knew that the “men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the LORD”. By the time Abram is told of the pending doom of the two cities in chapter 18-19 Lot is not only no longer dwelling in a tent outside the city he is now dwelling in the city and is a political figure as he is seen sitting at the gate of the city. What isn’t immediately apparent is what was the cause of such decay in these two cities. We find the answer that in Ezek. 16:49-50 where we are told, “Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore, I took them away as I saw fit.”

Of general observation the story centers more upon Lot whom in verse 8 we are told was (that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds). The point that the Holy Spirit is making is in verse 9 where Peter writes, “then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.” For the Holy Spirit’s and Peter’s purposes the use of this illustration is not Lot’s compromise or failure instead he is treated with great tenderness and gentleness as apart from this passage I’m not inclined to describe Lot a “righteous man” as Lot chose his path because it was more profitable in spite of the sinfulness of the cities. Peter’s point is not the folly of Lot that led to this decision but rather how Lot conducted himself in the wicked environment of Sodom and Gomorrah. The point is that like the world prior to the flood, society was in a terrible moral degradation and the foulness and ugliness that characterized the world that had turned away from God. And like Noah and his family so too was Lot and his family having to live around a world that surrounded them in wickedness. Peter is pointing out how living in that filth affected Lot.

One thing that stands out to me in both the examples of Noah and Lot is the severity of the test as seen in the extremely limited part of humanity being asked to be different when compared to the majority of the wicked. The very fact that the believer is such a small number compared to most of the wicked increases the difficulty. It seems that these two illustrations serve to identify the difficulty we face to be different from the world we are placed in. Part of covering our nakedness at our fall is wanting to be liked and accepted by those around us. We simply fear humanity more than we do God! In context to Peter’s letter to these Christians who wanted to grow in their relationship with Jesus but were being tempted to go after new experiences and new information to do so; Peter is giving the illustration that the answer isn’t to follow after teaching that seeks to make the believer more like the world and less different from it. To do so is to “torment your righteous soul from day to day”.

Second at issue is how to live a godly life amongst a majority of the ungodly. The old nature wants to be liked and accepted. It wants to be popular, a part of the in crowd and we despise being disliked. It’s an easy thing to go with the crowd, or to try to create a crowd so as to not feel different. But we are called to be different and at times we will feel alone in her pursuit of God’s holiness for our lives and such a pursuit will not make us popular with the world and at times even with other Christians. This is brought in greater detail at the end of chapter 2 as Peter makes the general observation in 20-22 “For they escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the later end is worse for them than the beginning.”

The point Peter is making is that every professing Christian is not necessarily a true believer. There are people in the umbrella of the church that claim to have believed the gospel but in time of trial and testing shift away from the truth and go back to the world like verse 22 “A dog returns to his own vomit and a sow, having washed, to her own wallowing in the mire.” Religion only has a temporary effect upon us, but it is in a continual relationship with Jesus that we stay true. Religion is swayed by popularity, people and seeks to make following after it pleasing to the flesh. It ought not be popular then to choose to follow God, there should be no glamour in it, but it doesn’t lessen the fact that it is the greatest decision ever made. The Christian is always the one who is called to “stand out” and be “different”. The Christian and the Church that seeks to be popular will become like the world instead of standing out like Lot and Noah. They will soon in words and works witness our similarities with the world they were called out of. We are not as of yet called out of the world, but we are most certainly not to be of it! We should not be entangled (verse 20) again with that which we have escaped.

Finally, Peter says like the Lord, we ought to be troubled by the condition of the world and broken hearted over its enslavement. We all have spent far too much of our life enslaved to sin. We also ought to be burdened by its condition and desire to be a hospital and not a hospice. We are to speak the truth in Love to a world in the throes of sin. Our loyalty is to Christ, but our compassion is to those imprisoned and that is why Peter brings up Lot.

Oh, how the Christian and the true church of Jesus need “revival” today, we need to repent and grieve for the souls of the lost, stand out and be different!

2 Peter 2:9

“The Lord knows”

Vs. 9 The sovereignty of God

Intro

Peter’s words in chapter 2 are as dark as they come in the Bible. We have examined the three illustrations in verses 4-8 maintaining the context of this letter as we looked at the illustrations.

The fallen angels involved in the demonic plot to mix up the DNA of the human race with the fallen angelic DNA that led to the extermination of all but 8 humans.
The second illustration of Noah which was connected with the first reference where we noted that the very waters that were the extermination of the human race were life to the inmates of the ark. The righteousness of God judges all who are not correctly related to the truth about Him, and it is faith in God’s provision of His Ark Jesus that enables us to sail upon God’s goodness.
Peter’s 3rd illustration in verses 6-8 was of Lot. Peter’s point is not the folly of Lot that led to his decision but rather how Lot conducted himself in the wicked environment of Sodom and Gomorrah. The general observation the story centers more upon Lot whom in verse 8 we are told was (that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds). The point that the Holy Spirit is making is in verse 9 where Peter writes, “then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.” The examples of Noah and Lot are the severity of the test as seen in the extremely limited part of humanity being asked to be different when compared to the majority of the wicked.

Looking ahead in this chapter we have yet to examine the characteristics and depravity of these false teachers in verses 10-17 as well as their techniques and outcome in verses 18-22. My overall observation is that the Holy Spirit is extremely concerned with the Christian and the Church that He was responsible for guiding. Periodically the scientific and medical community come together and warn humanity of the severity of a health risk that has the potential for humanity’s destruction.

Of course, one problem we have is that there are so many things that we are being told that have the power to destroy humanity that we tend to be either preoccupied with that which can destroy us, or we cannot distinguish what is a real threat and what isn’t. I bring this up as there is 1 verse out of 22 in the 2^nd chapter that is positive and uplifting and I’m afraid that because of all of Peter’s warnings that we will miss it. That brings us to verse 9 which will be the point of our examination this morning as it possesses the greatest of encouragements for the follower of Jesus!

Vs. 9 The sovereignty of God

Vs. 9 These words form the conclusion of what Peter was prompted to write in the 4^th verse where he wrote, “For God did not spare the angels who sinned but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment.” The illustrations went on to include Noah and Lot, the flood and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The context of this passage brings up two general observations:

Grammatically in the Greek the reference is to both Noah and Lot who were in the extreme minority as the lone righteous among the wicked. They dwelt not only in continual wickedness and immorality but were the object of mockers and persecutors of their faith in God’s Word. Such testing was allowed by God as was Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness and in the case of Noah and Lot brought about the revelation of their own progress in what they said they believed and what they truly did. The believer’s failure with temptation, when it gives birth to sin, happens when the temptation ceases to be in opposition to God’s truth in our hearts! This can happen when we supplant God’s truth with false teaching.

That leads to the second observation: The object of these illustrations was to encourage the believers to stay and remain in the word of God and not to follow after the world which was being taught by false teachers who were saying that “new experiences” were better than “new encounters with the Lord” and “new information” made “old truth” obsolete. These dear saints were experiencing severe trials standing apart from the world system that was being made worse by those false teachers that wanted them to lessen their persecution by following the apostasy that called them to be more like the world and less like Jesus.

With the twin dangers after reading what Peter had to say of: “So many things that we are being told have the power to destroy us, that we tend to be either preoccupied with or we the lack of ability to distinguish what is a real threat and what isn’t”; Peter gives the reader reasons to have hope and be encouraged. YES, evil is everywhere, and we are small in number facing a “Well-organized demonic realm that is entrenched, experienced and has the majority of the world all aiming at getting us to move away from the truth that is in God’s word!” These are the facts: The world and its system empowered by Satan that are against us but let us not ever forget that it isn’t about “who is against us” it is about “Who is for us”! Those against us are because of Who we follow and being against us makes them against God who is for those who follow only after HIM! Our sole direction in life is not to seek to survive this world but to make certain that by the Holy Spirit that we seek only to follow after our Lord!

Having already spent 8 verses looking at the “destructive ways” that will cause “many” to follow after false teaching (verse 2) and still facing 13 more verses looking at the doom and depravity of false teachers it is easy to see how reading this may cause the believer to fall into despair as all the focus is on the opposition! What has the believer been given to do battle against the forces of evil? What can cause the believer to heed the words of Paul in Eph 6:13 “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” I think this verse gives us four points that encourage us to “stand”!

First of all, we need to look at this encouragement in light of what isn’t said! Peter by the Holy Spirit DOESN’T say that in this world generally or in their present situation or circumstance everything is going to work out according to their expectations. Neither does he tell them to hang in there a little longer because their situations are about to change, and they will no longer have any problems. Hey listen up….! God’s Word doesn’t promise us in this world a wonderful carefree life and if you haven’t experienced one yet you either lack the faith or it’s just around the corner! The bible knows nothing of this lie of false optimism as God’s TRUTH knows that hope will never last that is based upon our troubles being only temporary. Those false teachers who teach such lies are not teaching God’s Word, they are teaching Satan’s lies of “idealism” “false optimism” and “humanism”!

In this world, God is not going to change the believer’s situation and circumstances; instead He is going to change us through adverse situations and circumstances! The gospel is not any fatalistic teaching that says that our joy is conditional upon the response of the world to truth a “rebellion or revelation”. Instead, the message of hope to the church doesn’t hinge upon what the world does or doesn’t do with the gospel, our joy doesn’t hinge upon others’ response to truth, it hinges upon ours! Instead, Peter introduces the reader to true hope and joy that can never be dislodged…. “The sovereignty of God” and it is delivered to his readers in three points.

“The Lord Knows how”: Three points must be made as it relates to the “sovereignty of God”. The first has to do with ability and Peter informs his readers that he is speaking of the “LORD.” God lacks nothing in ability to perform what He has promised. The LORD is all powerful, He lacks nothing to be able to do that which He wishes to do. So often we place God in the box of our expectations of when and how, but He is not bound to our expectations as His ways are far above ours. God cannot be defeated and Satan’s greatest plan and victory killed Jesus which led to God’s greatest victory! No matter what the situation and circumstance we face we must start with the truth that God will win!!! There is nothing that evil can do and even our death will usher in our permanent victory! This verse doesn’t say “WE know how” it says, “the LORD knows how”! Well beyond my pay grade is the truth that God permits evil, it’s a mystery other than that such evil often shapes the sinner! We also realize that though evil is present its power is limited as we can see in Job. Evil comes upon humanity, but it doesn’t have free range to roam, God remains in control and limits its aim, and duration! And there are times like the flood where evil is bound and delivered to God’s judgment. The disciples marvel at the elements of nature that were subject to Jesus but so too was, the supernatural realm of the unseen world!

“How to deliver”: Nothing is more certain in the sovereignty of God than His power not only to perform but also in His all-knowing ability to discern who shall be delivered and who shall be reserved for punishment on the day of judgment. We can mistakenly believe that God lacks discernment because of His patience at desiring that all should know His love, but He knows and is not slack concerning judgment. Just as our deliverance will come at the perfect time so will God’s judgment. The “LORD knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.”

“The godly”: The last aspect about the “sovereignty of God” is His love for His children. God’s love works in conjunction with His power and knowledge as we know that such adversity that may come upon us will never lack His power and knowledge, but neither will it be void of His love for us. Though we will go through adversity we must not allow false teaching to choke out the truth that our God LOVES us so much that He sent His Only Son on our behalf. All our adversity will pass but His love shall be the path where we realize that nothing shall ever be able to separate us from His love. Because of this we all ought to remember Jesus’ words in Matt 10:28 when it comes to difficulties “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

2 Peter 2:10-22

“The truth about false teachers”

Vs. 10-11 Description of false teachers

Vs. 12-17 Depravity of false teachers

Vs. 18-22 Deception of false teachers

Intro

Peter’s words in chapter 2 illustrate the truth of God’s judgment that he will bring upon false teachers. The remainder of the chapter is where Peter reaffirms that false teachers have not escaped God’s authority as he outlines three things that God knows about false teachers:

Vs. 10-11 Description of false teachers
Vs. 12-17 Depravity of false teachers
Vs. 18-22 Deception of false teachers

Throughout this section it is apparent that God views apostasy as far worse than mere ignorance. For those who have tasted the goodness of God, caught a glimpse of God’s glory it would be better for them to have never had such a blessing than to have had one and then turned their backs on the gates of grace! Light that is ignored becomes lightning and the splendor of God’s glory rejected becomes a consuming fire!

Vs. 10-11 Description of false teachers

Vs.10-11 Peter gives a fourfold description of these false teachers that would help us identify false teachers based upon our observations of their character instead of waiting to identify them based upon false teaching.

Vs. 10a “Walk according to the flesh”: The Greek word for walk here describes a journey and speaks of ordering one’s life along this path. The path they are walking on is governed by the old sin nature that is dominated by passionate cravings of things that imprisoned us by their desire and will end our destruction if continued.

Vs. 10b “Despise authority”: The Greek word for “despise” means to “look down upon” and the word “authority” is a word that is used for the Lordship of Jesus and is probably a reference to 2:1 where we were told that these false teachers “even deny the Lord who bought them”.

Vs. 10c “Presumptuous, self-willed”: Peter further describes them as lacking the normal fear of most people and instead being consumed with self-pleasing and arrogant narcissism.

Vs. 10d-11 “Not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries”: Here Peter prefaces this with the comparison between angels who naturally are superior in knowledge and power than false teachers, yet they don’t speak reproachfully against fallen angels, as Jude states in verse 9. The point is that these false teachers were often criticizing others who disagreed with them.

Vs. 12-17 Depravity of false teachers

Vs. 12-17 Peter now moves from the general description of false teachers to their fivefold depravity.

Vs.12 “Brute beasts”: Their best feature is that they were “alive” but like animals they were enslaved to their fleshly instincts which governed their conduct. That is fine for the animal kingdom as they were created by God that way but for those created to be in His image to lack the gift of natural reasoning of thought and judgment that ensured their own destruction. They demonstrate this Peter says by “speaking evil of things they do not understand” and it is such depravity that leads to their own destruction.

Vs. 13 “Spots and blemishes”: Peter starts this verse by stating that these false teachers are going to reap what they have sown. One area that they will reap is described for us in the words “who count it a pleasure to carouse in the daytime”. They counted it a best blessing to indulge in sin in the daytime and the word “carouse” is the Greek word for orgy which was not even considered by the Romans as appropriate. This perhaps is a reference to a type of false teaching that believed that the spirit of man was unaffected by the flesh of man, so it was encouraged to pursue pleasure of all types. The phrase “spots and blemishes” reminds us of Paul’s words in Eph 5:27 where the Lord was going to present His church without any “spots and blemishes”. To make matters worse they were doing so when the church gathered, turning such gatherings of the saints causing them to engage in the same behavior as these false teachers.

Vs. 14 “Eyes full of adultery”: This phrase describes a specific area of depravity by which these false teachers viewed every woman they saw as an object weighing the possibility of her sexual performance. They were predators seducing “unstable souls”. But their covetousness didn’t end there; they were engaged in a conquest for whatever their flesh desired and should have abandoned their faith.

Vs. 15-16 “Following the way of Balaam”: Peter explains how these individuals came to be as they deliberately forsook the right way. They did so like Balaam in Num 22-25 who loved the “wages of righteousness” who commercialized his gift. These false teachers were in the “profession” for what they gained out of it! Peter contrasts the ignorance of a donkey with the madness of the prophet as the message of the donkey made more sense than the actions of Balaam!

Vs. 17 “Wells without water”: Peter finishes this section with metaphors that would mean far more to those who lived in an arid climate. He says they were “wells without water” where a well offers hope and joy to those who those on a journey but to find a well that had no water is the cruelest thing to a person in dire need for water of the word of God. Likewise, “clouds carried by the tempest” as rainfall was a matter of life and death who were dependent upon rain to water crops. But when the storm promised by the clouds was driven past the land in desperate need for it, it fails to deliver what it has promised!

Vs. 18-22 Deception of false teachers

Vs. 18-22 Peter offers two more points about the deception of false teachers:

Vs. 18-19 Great swelling words of emptiness: The point Peter makes here is that they put more emphasis upon “HOW” they say things than the content of “WHAT” they say. Such a wrong emphasis causes the listener to be seduced into the lust of the flesh who are captive by the very things they saw will give them liberty. These false teachers were offering something that they did not possess, “freedom”. These false teachers had been around the truth of God’s word yet had not been changed by it! There is no greater ignorance than to know God’s Word and depart from obedience to it! And to make matters worse these false teachers didn’t stop at their own depravity they taught the same depravity to others. They were drunk drivers causing others to be in the same car as them as they drove off a cliff!

Vs. 20-22 Professors of truth but not possessors of truth: Peter concludes with two illustrations the first of which was out of Proverbs 26:11 and its behavior which is to reject that which turns its stomach only to return and devour it again. The other illustration is that of a pig who is cleansed from the outside, but such scrubbing did nothing to cleanse its habits as it returns to wash itself in its own filth.