Slaves of Corruption — 2 Peter 1-2

0:00 Turn in your bibles if you would to second Peter chapter two. Two weeks ago, Ray covered for us the approximately first half of the chapter through verse nine ish. Verse eight, nine, 10, 11 kind of are a big run on sentence. So we're picking up kind of in the middle of a few things. So I'm going to, I'm going to pull a bingham and give us a little bit of review from the first half of the chapter, but we're going to cover the first half of the chapter in about three minutes and then we'll get on to, get on to the rest.

0:33 So before we go any further, let's bow our heads in prayer, please. Heavenly father, we bow before you this morning. We thank you for this time that we have to open your word. Thank you for the freedom that we have to preach it openly, that we have to meet openly and study your word together as a body. We thank you for this time.

0:52 We thank you for your word. We ask that you open our ears, open our hearts this morning that you would speak through me and that you would speak to all of those here in the room and that, we would be open and receptive to what your spirit would have for us to learn from the text today. We commit this time to you in your son's name. Amen. So let's read the first half of the chapter, and I'll give this little recap, and then we will move on with the second half of the chapter.

1:24 Second Peter chapter two. 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. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them, the way of truth will be maligned, and their greed... 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.

1:56 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to the pits of darkness reserved for judgment, 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. 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 thereafter. And if he rescued righteous Lot oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men, for by what he saw and heard that righteous man while living among them felt his righteous soul tormented day after day with their lawless deeds, then the lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment. That closes verse nine. So this is this is about where where Ray got us through a couple weeks ago.

2:54 So this section, bears just a little bit from, we need a little reminder of the end of chapter one. Chapter one verse 21 reads, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the holy spirit spoke from God. So he ends chapter one, talking about men moved by the holy spirit, but chapter two, false prophets also arose among the people. So Peter is talking to his readers and giving us a few facts about the false teachers. One, that they existed then and will exist in the future.

3:38 They were they were a presence in the early church, and they are a presence now, and will continue to be a presence. They secretly bring destructive teaching and even denying the lord who bought them. They are very popular, these false teachers, because they are good speakers, they are persuasive, and they speak things that appeal to our sinful nature. And so they they gain a lot of followers, and I'll I'll talk about that a a good bit more later. But they're very popular.

4:13 But part of the reason for that is that the truth that they preach, the truth, is distorted. And since it's not real truth, the real truth is what hurts when we hear the real truth. And so if if if the false teachers can skew the truth or mask the truth, it sounds much more appealing to us. So they're very popular. They have many followers.

4:38 Their strategy is ultimately covetousness for a number of things. They're they're greed for money. They're greed for status. They're greed for recognition. So by by preaching the things that the crowds want to hear, they can gain all of these things.

4:58 That is part of their strategy. However, their destiny that Peter outlines is destruction. He outlines that for us, he assures us of what will happen. The next quarter of the chapter, Peter describes to us that God knows God knows how and is capable of both executing judgment to the ungodly and protecting the godly. God did not spare the angels.

5:32 God did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood. He did not spare Sodom and Gomorrah. And these are the examples Peter gives us, but we know that there were... There's a lot more than this. There's a lot more sin that we see punished directly by God, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.

5:53 So God will not spare the ungodly, but he does protect the godly. God rescued Noah and his family. God rescued Lot. And we have other examples of this, but Peter is bringing up these couple of of examples from the old testament to drive his point across. That's the extent of our review through verse nine.

7:10 They are stains and blemishes reveling in their deceptions as they carouse with you, having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children, forsaking the right way that they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Baor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but he received rebuke for his own transgression, for a dumb donkey, speaking with the voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet. These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm for whom the black darkness has been preserved. For speaking out arrogant words of vanity, they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption. For by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome.

8:19 The last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, a dog returns to its own vomit and a sow after washing returns to wallowing in the mire. This is tough. This is tough, folks.

8:50 There's a lot for us in here and, one of the things that I got out of Ray's message when he talked about the first half of this is the admonition to be careful. And I think this is a very strong warning to us, and these are very strong reminders to us. So let's get into the text a little bit and see what all Peter has to say about it. So going back to verse 10. So the false prophets, the false teachers, let's not forget that Peter is is talking about the fact that they are among us.

9:29 He's not talking about those that revile the church and speak against Christ from the outside. These are these are people that are in the church who appear to be saved, who who look to be saved, who can even, be in a position of teaching, and they are inside the church and corrupting it from the inside out, And they walk according to the flesh and not in the spirit. They look like examples. They look like good examples. They have the appearance of what we would of what we would desire, but they do not walk in the spirit.

10:11 They are presumptuous. They are bold. They are self willed, proud, and reject authority. They even they even revile those whom the angels would not. The the word there, in the new American standard, angelic majesties, really, the the Greek word there is doxa, which I've talked about before in previous messages, I know.

10:36 But it just means glorious or or or glorious ones or those to whom you ascribe glory. It's not actually necessarily meaning only angelic beings. It could be referring to angelic beings. It could be referring to Satan and his demons, but also those in a position of power or authority. If you think of the way kings used to be worshipped or revered, we don't...

10:58 So much in today's culture, don't bow for the president, but but that's just kind of the the word there. So if we think about in in Jude, and Ray mentioned this when he was speaking about it too a couple weeks ago, when we had the example of Michael, the angel, not wanting to rebuke Satan, but left it to the Lord. Michael wouldn't even do it. But you have these teachers in the church who will call down condemnation on Satan and his demons or angels or those in authority over them who they don't approve of. And those are things that the angels wouldn't even do.

11:39 They're so bold and they're so arrogant in their standing, and they think that they have this Because they've obtained... They have all these followers, and they they have this status. They're so proud. They do what the angels won't even do. They are like unreasoning dumb animals and irrational.

11:57 How many of you have either a pet or those of you that raise animals on a farm? Right? And you're trying to do something to help them. You think about shearing sheep, which is really... You're doing a service for them, but how often do they fight you the whole way?

12:12 I have no experience with this whatsoever. I just hear about things. Okay? But they fight you all the way, or you have a cat or a dog and they're hurt, and you're trying to help them, but they fight you, they growl at you, they get mad at you, and you're trying to help them, but they don't know any better. They're irrational.

12:28 They they get mad at you for no reason. And that's what Peter says these men do. They get mad for no reason. They they speak evil against things that they don't even know about. But their followers follow them.

12:46 They... Because because they do it in a way, because they have captured your attention, because they've captured you and your mind, and because of the way they talk, and because of the way that they act, and the way that they appear, they stand before you and can revile against things that they know nothing about, but you'll just agree with them. Their followers just blindly lead. Like unreasoning animals whose destiny is destruction. Animals don't have the higher brain function that the Lord has blessed us with.

13:25 They do bring glory to God by their presence, but they don't they don't have the ability to serve him the way we do. Their ultimate destiny is just to die. And Peter says, that is what these men are. Their ultimate destiny is for destruction. He gives us assurance of their just wages in verse 13, suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong.

14:13 Right? It's it's dancing. It's it's it's it's a... The Greek words there can describe a number of things, but it's loud, rambunctious, partying, dancing, drinking, you know, fill in the blank as as you will. Okay?

14:29 But they'll even do it in the daytime when other people outside the church wait for cover of darkness to commit certain acts of sin. These men will even do it in public in the daytime because they feel that their standing allows them to do that, and the and the gospel and the truth that they preach allows them to do that. Freedom in Christ. Right? God's grace is sufficient.

14:56 Right? They are stains and blots and blemishes to the body of Christ. Because they are in the church, as you have stains, blots, blemishes on your body, they do the same thing to the body of Christ. They are blemishing the body of Christ by their actions and what they do, how they act, how they speak. They deceive themselves, and they deceive others.

15:35 Have you ever looked at someone and and thought that they were lying to themselves so hard that this person started believing the lie that they told themselves? We've probably all seen someone in that sort of situation who can't even see the truth anymore. They just believe the lie. And that's what these men do, because they convince themselves they're so good at lying to their followers that they even believe the lie themselves, and the truth is just now totally gone. Their eyes are full of adultery, both spiritual and sexual, I think we can apply here.

16:14 So the spiritual adultery of going after false gods, idolatry, of course, is not limited to worshiping a, you know, a a literal other god or idol, as as we see in the Old Testament. It can be anything, cars, money, my job. Anything that takes place in your life, anything that you turn to, anything that you obsess over, that's an idol. It doesn't have to be something that you call deity. It doesn't have to be something like that.

16:47 But it's anything that you prioritize in your life over the Lord. They prey on unstable souls. That's what the the word means that they have here. Enticing unstable souls. It's praying, p r e y, praying on the unstable souls.

17:11 There were... These unstable souls are are are the the individuals who maybe had a moral revolution, a a moral revelation maybe, and they're turning over a new leaf. Maybe they've heard a gospel message somewhere, and they're starting on that path, and they're saying, maybe I'm going start going to church. Maybe I'm to try this whole Christianity thing out. Maybe I'm going to try to stop doing these things, and I'm going to try to turn my life around.

17:48 That's a very unstable soul right there. And when these false teachers can come in and corrupt that soul, it's a very dangerous thing. Because when... Now you have this person who is in this in between state, who's interested in knowing about the Lord, knowing about Christ, knowing about the truth, but then is taught things that sort of... That condone and give them freedom to maybe even do some of the things that they were doing before, that that they thought, you know what, maybe I shouldn't be doing that, but then, oh, no, it's okay.

18:32 Cause God loves me, because God's grace never has an end. God's grace is sufficient, and he will always forgive me no matter what I do. You know, these sorts of things, which are true. Let's not forget that those things are all true. But if it's taught in such a way to someone who's, in in a very unstable situation, a very unstable spiritually, it can be very damaging.

19:01 They they misuse scripture to condone the sin, you know, the the message is that right and wrong aren't absolute, and that they're determined largely by culture. All these sorts of ideas, there's so many there's so many of these things that can be taught and so devastating to someone who's trying, who's searching for truth, and then ends up a follower of one of these type of people. They are trained in greed. The word trainer is the same word that is used, to describe athletes training. The exact same exact same words.

19:40 So just an athlete trained. So we think about the fact that we all train our hearts in one thing or another. Whether we're training our hearts in godliness, or are we training our hearts towards covetousness, towards lust, towards sin, greed? What are we training our hearts for? Are we training our hearts for godliness?

20:05 These men weren't. You have to... You you end up training... Whether whether voluntarily or involuntarily, you're you're training your heart for something, and that comes back to the idolatry part. So what do you have in your life that is...

20:23 Is there something in your life that's taking the place of God? Is there something in your life that that you obsess over or something that becomes more important? Because that's what you're training your heart to seek after. These are these are these are very strong warnings to all of us. What are we training our hearts for?

21:07 So Balaam was there to pose as a spokesman for God. He was. He had a gift. But when the king of Moab said, hey, I'll give you money to say x y z, and you can pretend that it came from God. Balaam was like, oh, yeah.

21:31 I'll do that. Because for money... I'll say whatever you want me to say and pretend it came from God. Greed. That that motivation of greed and to abuse a gift that's been given or a gift that you, you know, that even appears has been given.

21:48 So someone who's there to to pose as a spokesman for God, but then can say whatever he wants in the name of greed. And whether that greed is monetary greed or greed for recognition, greed for status, I wanna I wanna have the the the the 2,000 member church out here, you know, and they all give donations on Sundays, and so that goes to my salary. So the more people you have, the better off everyone is. Right? Their chief use of the ministry is a means of financial gain, and even miracles can't shock them out of their madness.

22:26 If you read that the account of Balaam, and the donkey finally stops and speaks to him, Balaam, there's like no response at all. Balaam just talks right back. There's no like, he didn't fall on his face. He didn't... He wasn't astounded.

22:44 He just... You know, when the angel of the Lord showed up, oh, okay. Now he'll recognize the angel of the Lord. But like, the miracle of the donkey speaking to him, no, didn't faze him. Didn't even faze him.

22:57 And that's where these men... That's where these false teachers are. Even actual miracles of God can't even shock them out of the false that they teach, and the truth that they malign, and the false doctrine that's there. It can't even bring them out of their stupor. They are dry springs.

23:18 So many people are searching for God, and they come to a church looking for this nourishment, looking for the water of life, and these men are the dry springs. You've been in the desert for three days without water, and I'll give you a coke, and it'll it'll taste really good for twenty minutes, maybe. Right? And then you're worse off than you were before, Then all the sugar kicks in and all the other chemicals. That tastes delicious, by the way.

23:54 But it leaves you worse off than where you were before. These men are the dry springs. They'll offer you something that sounds good, that feels good, that appeals to you, what you need at the time. Wait a few minutes. That's all that these men have to offer.

24:10 They are empty springs, mists driven by a storm, and Peter again gives us assurance of their destiny, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. Verse 17. Verse 18. For speaking out arrogant words of vanity, The King James has great swelling words of emptiness, which I kinda like that I kinda like that translation a little bit better. There's such fine and eloquent examples of the epitome of public speaking.

25:53 But when they're done, the great swelling words of emptiness, the arrogant words of vanity, nothing really significant has been said, and the truth has not been preached. I'm gonna read you a little excerpt, from a book I have at home. It's Friday afternoon, and you have almost survived another week of classes. You are just looking forward dreamily to the weekend when the English instructor says, for Monday, you will turn in a 500 word composition on college football. Well, that puts a good hole in the weekend.

26:30 You don't have any strong views on college football one way or the other. You get rather excited during the season to go to all the home games and find it rather more fun than not. On the other hand, the class has been reading Robert Hutchins in the anthology and perhaps Shaw's 80 yard run, and from the class discussion, you have the you have got the idea that the instructor thinks college football is for the birds. You are no fool. You can figure out what side to take.

26:55 So after dinner, you get out your laptop and begin writing. You think up a title, and we're off. Why college football should be abolished. College football should be abolished because it's bad for the school and also for the players. The players are so busy practicing that they don't have any time for their studies.

27:16 This, you feel, is a mighty good start. The only trouble is that it's only 32 words. You still have 468 to go, and you've pretty well exhausted the subject. So you make a pot of coffee and start to fill out your views on college football, put a little meat on the bones. In my opinion, it seems to me that college football should be abolished.

27:39 The reason why I think this to be true is because I feel that football is bad for the colleges in nearly every respect. As Robert Hutchins says in his article in our anthology, in which he discusses college football, it would be better if the colleges had race horses and had races with one another because then the horses would not have to attend classes. I firmly agree with mister Hutchins on this point and I am sure that many other students would agree too. One reason why it seems to me that college football is bad is that it has become too commercial. In the olden times, when people played football just for the fun of it, maybe college football was alright, but they do not play college football just for the fun of it now as they used to in the old days.

28:19 This is hard to read. Nowadays, college football is what you might call a big business. Maybe this is not true at all schools, and I don't think it is especially true here at state, but certainly this is the case at most colleges and universities in America nowadays, as mister Hutchins points out in his very interesting article. Actually, the coaches and alumni go around to the high schools and offer the high school stars large salaries to come to the colleges and play football for them. This was the case in one high school where a star was offered a convertible if he would play football for a certain college.

28:49 Good ripe stuff so far, but you're still a 151 words from home. One more push. Also, think college football is bad for the colleges and universities because not very many students get to participate in it. Out of a college of 10,000 students, only 75 or a 100 play football, if that many. Football is what you might call a spectator sport.

29:08 That means that most people go to watch it but do not play it themselves. 415. Still have the conclusion, and when you retype it, you can make the margins a little wider. These are the reasons why I agree with mister Hutchins that college football should be abolished in American colleges and universities. On Monday, you turned it in moderately hopeful, and Friday comes back marked with a week in content sporting a big d.

29:36 How to say nothing in 500 words. I think this is... We all get this and we all get the humor in this, especially if there's any English majors or writing majors either past or aspiring in the room. But how to say nothing in 500 words is unfortunately so much of what is encountered in churches, and part of what Peter is trying to drive home, and that we have to be so careful, both in what we listen to when we're listening to speakers, having that... And having a attentive ear, and listening for, okay, is there actually substance in what I'm hearing?

30:36 Is there truth in what I'm hearing right now? But it's also an admonition to those that would speak and teach. Am I saying nothing in 500 words? Am I filling this up with a bunch of fluff to make people feel good, or is there a truth in it? Am I sticking to the truth of what's in the text, whether it's really appreciated or not?

31:06 The truth is what the truth is, and we have the authoritative word of God. If and if you if you didn't hear Ray's message two weeks ago, I encourage you to listen to it online where he he did outline a good bit of that for us and gave some great arguments for that. Please listen to it if you haven't. We have the divine inspired word of God that is absolute truth. And if we can stick to this text and stick to what it says when it is preached, then we would all be far better off and far more informed and able to talk to others.

32:18 God loves you the way you are. Very true statements. Very, very true statements. God's love is limitless. I know.

32:29 God's grace is limitless. And if my faith were only this big, what he could do with it? These are all very true. But freedom... If freedom is preached, freedom from divine authority, freedom to sin...

32:50 Now, it may not be preached that way, and that's where the really clever part comes in, is how you can phrase that in a way that people don't even realize that that's what you're telling them, which is part of why they have so many followers. But they're preaching freedom from moral responsibility, which is ironically, enslaving them to sin. They themselves are a slave. For by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. So whatever sin, whatever it is that you succumb to in your life, you're a slave to that thing.

33:45 Now, as born again believers in Christ, as followers of Christ, as children of Christ who have received the holy spirit. We have the power through the holy spirit. We don't have to be a slave. Prior to receiving the holy spirit, we had no choice. We had no we had no power over the sin.

34:10 But through the holy spirit and through Jesus Christ's power, we have the ability to say no to sin and to follow after Christ. We have that ability. But in succumbing to sin, you're you're giving up your actual freedom in Christ and re enslaving yourself to that thing for as long as you serve it. And so the point becomes, when do I recognize this sin? And when do I repent of this?

34:46 And when do I go to the cross? And when do I ask the Holy Spirit for help? And through his power to overcome this sin, because through him, I don't have to be a slave anymore. I don't have to. And that's the freedom in Christ that we have.

35:01 That's the freedom. We don't have to be slaves to sin. But the message that gets preached so often is we have freedom in Christ, and so we are enslaved to sin then because God loves us anyway and will forgive us. Sin is such a serious thing, and that's so much of what this this whole chapter is about. And so while we might look at at this long, long dirty laundry list, just because you can look at this and say, I'm not guilty of all of those things, Well, are you guilty of one of them?

35:58 He does not he does not spare sin. Now, as a child of Christ who has been redeemed, I know that I have forgiveness, but that is not license to sin. Sin is very serious, and God does punish it. Even as his child, he can bring about things in my life to punish me for sin that I have, that has not been confessed, sin that has not been... That I have not come to him for forgiveness for.

36:28 So he can still do that, and he does do that. What father does not discipline the child whom he loves? Towards the end of the chapter here, Peter describes some of the followers of the false teachers and the danger of following them. As I mentioned earlier, what he's talking about here for these followers and the those who barely escaped from the ones who live in error verse 18, these are those who are trying to trying to turn over that new leaf. Maybe they've they've heard the gospel, and they're interested, and they're trying to turn their lives around, but haven't come to Christ yet, haven't come to that point of actually yielding to the savior.

37:29 So they've had a revelation from from God. They've had a they've had... They've experienced truth. They've heard the gospel, and they're there. They're they're they're close.

37:47 But they end up... They they become swept up by the very appealing teaching that makes them feel good, that makes them feel justified, but is really a false sense of security. Because if they are never actually saved, then... And they wind up back in a condition worse than where they started, but they are doing these sins under the assumption that God loves them and will forgive them, but they've never actually received Christ, and they're worse off than before. The greater someone's privilege, the greater the responsibility.

38:32 If God has revealed himself to you and you've you've heard the message but haven't accepted it, but then you reject that. It's better to not have known or heard about Christ at all than to have heard some truth and maybe held on to it for a season and then rejected it. It's better to have not heard it at all. Greater spiritual revelation has greater accountability. The more that we know, the more that we learn, the more that we understand of Christ's standards, the more we are obligated to live up to those standards.

39:48 Their house was empty, swept, and put in order, but they have never invited the savior to dwell in it. The unclean spirit, which was cast out, went and found seven other spirits more evil than himself to occupy the empty house, and the last state of that house was worse than the initial condition. These verses should not be used to teach that true believers may fall from grace and be lost. We know that once purchased by the blood of Christ, nothing can undo that. He that who began a good work in you will keep you till the day of redemption.

40:31 We know that we cannot lose our salvation. But these people were never true believers. They never received a new nature. They demonstrated by their last state that their nature was still clean and evil. The lesson is, of course, that reformation alone is not only sufficient, but is positively dangerous because it can lull a person into a false sense of security.

40:55 Man can receive a new nature only by being born again. He is born again through repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. So the question for us today as we look into our own lives is, where are we, really? Do we look at this chapter, and do we find ourselves thinking the first thing that comes into your head is, thank you, God, that I am not like this sinner, because that's what comes to my head first. Thank you that I am not like these men.

41:37 But by doing that, what have I just done? So as as you go about this week, as you as you leave here today, to think about this chapter, listen to Ray's message if you haven't heard it, and and and think about this and say, you know, am I... Really reflect and say, you know, do I exhibit anything in this in this chapter? Any of these any of this laundry list? Is any of this in me?

42:07 Dear god, help me and bring it before the throne of grace because his grace is sufficient for you. His grace is sufficient to those who confess the sin. So go to him on your knees, and may and may we remember that we serve a holy God who is just in everything he does. Let's pray. Father, once again, we come before you.

42:36 We thank you for this time that we've had. We thank you for the powerful words that we have in your scripture, your strong reminders to us, your strong promises, your strong admonition, the strong teaching, the strong warnings. There is so much in your word that is there to guide us in our everyday lives and as we seek to serve you with the lives you have given us. We ask for your help. We we desperately need your help every day.

43:06 We ask that you would speak to us, that you would strengthen us, and that you would continue to help us as we strive to live up to Christ's holy example. And your son's saying that we pray. Amen.