October 20 1013 Steve Rahter 2 peter 2 1-9

Rev, Steve Rahter 

www.praisetabernacle.com

Praise Tabernacle

People Restored And Inspired Serving Everywhere This is a non-denominational Church, Charismatic in expression. Senior Leader is Pastor Steve Rahter 2235 Ocean Heights Ave. Egg Harbor Township, NJ 08234

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Sunday October 20th

10/20/2013

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Sunday October 20th2nd Peter 2:1-9A Sunday school teacher was explaining the story of Elijah the Prophet of God and his battle against the false prophets of Baal. She explained how Elijah built an altar, put wood on it, cut an ox into pieces and laid the pieces on the altar.        Then Elijah commanded the people to fill four barrels of water and pour it over the pieces of the ox on the altar over and over.        "Now, said the teacher, "can anyone tell me why the Lord would tell Elijah to pour water over the ox on the altar before He sent down His fire?"        A little girl in the back of the room raised her hand. "He was showing him how to make gravy."So Elijah had his problems with false prophets, but he wasn’t the only one who ran into them. In fact, 1st John 4:1 tells us, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirit to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”In Matthew 7:15 Jesus warned, “watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”And here in the opening verses of chapter 2 Peter writes a warning about the ongoing dangers of false prophets and false teachers.2nd Peter 2:1-3: But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; 3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.The three key words that Peter uses to describe the dangers presented by false prophets and false teachers are heresies, sensuality, and greed.William Barclay said that: “A heretic is a man who believes what he wishes to believe instead of accepting the truth of God which he must believe.”Vine’s Bible dictionary says the word heresy means “an opinion, especially a self-willed opinion, which is substituted for submission to the power of truth, and leads to division.”That’s why Peter calls them ‘destructive heresies’. The false teacher’s aim is to destroy unity in the body, destroy the church’s effectiveness, destroy Godly relationships, and destroy the purity of the Gospel.Now that doesn’t necessarily mean that a false teacher will sound heretical. He might actually sound very convincing. He might talk about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit. He might talk about giving and miracles and prayer.One commentary on these verses said:“False teachers use our vocabulary, but they do not use our dictionary. They talk about “salvation,” “inspiration,” and the other great words of the Christian faith, but they do not mean what we mean. Immature and untaught believers hear these preachers or read their books and think that these men are the same as us in their faith, but they are not.” Someone pointed out that Satan only has to put a drop of poison into the stew to ruin the whole batch. He’s not going to pour in enough to alert you by a giving it a bad taste or a bad smell. It isn’t stupidity that makes people vulnerable to false teachers, its spiritual immaturity.People who are ignorant of the Word don’t know how to discern between good and evil. Hebrews 5:11-14 says:11 Concerning him (Jesus) we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.Do you remember the strategy of the Gnostic false teachers? It was to diminish the importance of Jesus and to replace Him with their supposedly “secret” teachings. Why is this a danger? Here’s how someone explained it:“False teachers lead a person to doom quicker than any other single thing. Too many people are quick to believe a lie. Why? So they can go ahead and live like they want. They want some excuse to get away from the restraints and demands that following Jesus puts on them. Therefore, they will follow after any teaching that lowers the authority of Christ. The more He is lowered, the less binding His commandments are.” Peter says these heretics are even “denying the Master who bought them” by their false teaching and immoral lifestyles. The word used there in verse 2 “sensuality”, means habitual, unrestrained, sexual lewdness. According to Jude 4, sensuality is a distinguishing mark of false teachers.“For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”1st John 2:4 tells us “The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in himPeter says “because of them the way of the truth will be maligned” which means that their behavior brings dishonor on the name of Christ since they claim to be His followers, even though they really aren’t.Throughout scripture, Christians are urged to show exemplary behavior so that the name of Jesus and the spread of the gospel won’t be hindered. Look at Titus 2:7-8 “in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.”And further down, in Titus 2:11-12:“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age”In addition to their heresies and their sensuality, these false teachers can be recognized by their greed. Paul warned Timothy about this same danger in 1st Timothy 6:3-5:“If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, 5 and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.”I don’t know about you, but when I read verses like those I wonder if the people who are preaching the “prosperity gospel” ever really read their Bibles!I suppose that’s between them and God, but I wouldn’t want to have to answer to God if I were them because Peter is saying plainly for those who would exploit others with false words, “their judgment…is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”Peter then goes on to emphasize the certainty and the completeness of God’s judgment in verses 4-9:4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; 7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men 8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,Peter reminds us that “God did not spare angels when they sinned.”  We are told that God cast the disobedient angels into hell. The word that Peter uses is actually “Tartarus” which was the place of punishment in Greek mythology. Peter is trying to convey the idea of a place of confinement where they are being held in “pits of darkness “until the final day of judgment.Jude 1:6 tells us, “And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority, but abandoned their own home- these He has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.”Peter is saying that if God judged evil angels, He will certainly judge ungodly people.Peter also reminds us that God has already judged humanity once before. Everyone died in the flood except for Noah and his family. Peter calls Noah a “Preacher of righteousness” because Noah condemned the sin around him and tried to call the people back to righteous living.The point is that if God destroyed a whole world full of ungodly people, He will certainly judge and destroy these false teachers and false prophets.Matthew 25:46 says, “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”Peter also notes that God destroyed two whole cities, Sodom and Gomorrah, for their sin, but spared one righteous man and his family who lived there, Lot, Abraham’s nephew.When we understand the reality that some people who SEEM to be Christians really aren’t; that some people who SEEM to be teachers really aren’t; and some people who SEEM to be prophets really aren’t, then verses like these start to make a lot more sense:Matthew 10:33, “Not every one who says Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father in heaven.”Matthew 13:41-42, “The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Romans 16:18, “For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naïve people.”Ezekiel 34:2-3, “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock.”So let’s be very clear on a few important points. First, people often worry that THEY might be the one Jesus is talking about when He says in Matthew 10:33, “Not every one who says Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.”Unless you are DELIBERATELY going around spreading false teaching, you are probably safe from that judgment!That’s the other point I want to make; we aren’t talking about people who are just confused or who just don’t understand what the Bible means.The false teachers that Peter is addressing here are very deliberate about what they are doing. They aren’t teaching false doctrines by accident. A bad teacher can be wrong. A bad teacher can be deceived. But a false teacher isn’t just teaching what is false; He has an agenda. His goal is to destroy the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is a servant of the enemy, and he will be judged as a traitor to the Gospel.What Peter is warning US about is the danger of exposing ourselves to these false teachers. He says “they will exploit you with false words.” Our culture is saturated with false teachings on the television, the internet, and the radio. Be careful what you take in. Be diligent to study the Bible for yourself so you won’t be easily misled. Come to the pastors and teachers and D-group leaders that you know you can trust when you have questions about something that you’ve read or heard. Guard your heart and your mind. There is an enemy out there!