Sermon Nuggets Mon Feb 7 Heresy
Verses 2 Pet 2:10-22
Be On Alert
Peter wants to put the church on alert with the stockpiling of Satan's warfare. His arsenal is lies, misguided people, emotional attachment to the things of this world and desire to keep people from knowing the truth of their need for salvation. Be on alert for lies and false teachers. Last week we looked at the first part of the chapter about how to detect false teachers, the pending destruction of false teachers, and how faithful followers are delivered by God's grace from destruction.
To be sure there are many divisions within the Christian church. There are also many completely false teachers that hit at major doctrines of the Scriptures. To know where to join forces and part company is not always easy. The vast split of the church was when Martin Luther stood strong on his convictions of salvation by faith alone and the reformation split from the Roman Catholic church.
We have seen before that time major false teachers represented by doctrines attacking the Trinity, the nature of Christ, salvation, and the resurrection. There have been major splits with regards to legalism and license.
A major controversy is cause more denominations to split over the place homosexuality has in our culture and in our churches. When church leaders proudly present themselves as Biblical and homosexual something is wrong in a major way.
Recently we have seen within the evangelical church attacks on the atonement of the cross, hell, and adding the promotion of universalism where everyone will be saved for Christ died for the whole world.
I have read recently that there are approximately 5,000 groups today that are considered cults. What is also alarming is that because of so many hear about the falling of pastors into immorality or embezzlement, or the bizarre teachings of cult leaders people reject all religion. They group all religion and churches as being untrustworthy and emotionally and psychologically manipulating.
In that passage today you will notice it is filled with passion, disgust, and rage as Peter writes continuing to warn his church of false teaches. He expands on revealing some things he wants to the church to know about false teachers and where they stand with God.
Because of Satan’s attack on truth the people of God need to be alert and warned now more than ever.
It is not easy to discern unimportant differences from major ones but there are some guidelines Peter puts down.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Tues Feb 7 – Character
Verses 2 Peter 2: 10-12 This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings;11 yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord.
12 But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.
Look at their Character
Peter’s warning against heretics reviews again the importance of one’s character. There is a difference between one who falls into sin and repents and another who lives a life of deceit and deception. Sometimes such teachers are also deceived by the evil one and are victim as well.
Most false leaders are people of great pride and arrogance.
When I was visiting a church in Indiana I was shocked to see how everything surrounded the adoration of the pastor. There was a huge mural of the pastor and his wife. When people were invited to church they were given posters of the pastor. For a special prize for people who could bring the most to church, they won an all expense paid trip to see where he was born and went to school and grew up. (Like a holy land tour?)
Notice how there is a natural progression to sin and depravity. They are bold and arrogant. False teachers, pastors, and spiritual leaders many times have ego problems. They think they are literally God's gift to the world and the only one from whom you will hear truth. They are powerful and charismatic people who love to have followers. They like building a kingdom unto themselves without regard to others. Beware of dictatorial church leaders. The Bible teaches that we are a body working together with different gifts and functions. There was perhaps no better leader in all the Bible than Moses, but it says he was filled with humility. He knew God was at work, not him.
I have in my file an article about Chico Artez keeping everyone guessing if he was preacher or a pimp. Artez, a former pimp was following his new found faith in God. He came to the Twin Cities to edit the Minnesota Christian Journal. Since then he had been changed with running a four state prostitution ring out of Rochester. He is a man of many sides- a con man in the eyes of the street wise, a convicted pimp who has coerced and beaten girls into prostitution, a religious person well versed in the Bible and at home speaking in churches. He even formed an anticrime education program for the public on how to avoid becoming victims of crimes. How can someone do that?
Is it any wonder Peter is so angry for dragging the name of Jesus into the mire? Peter adds, “they are blasphemous of spiritual things, including angels.”
Now if you read what Peter is saying closely they do not have regard for the spirit world. But even holy angels will not blaspheme Satan and his demons. Jude 1:9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"
They have an understanding of spiritual power which we as men do not. There are many what will mock spiritual power, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the place of Satan and demons. The liberal churches would have us believe that is just fairy tales derived from cultural ignorance and superstition.
Fear Satan. Rear the Occult. Don't play around with evil things. Don't go to parties where they play with séances, or tarot cards, or Ouija boards, or praying to spirits.
If an archangel, who is much more powerful than man, is fearful of making accusations against Satan, what does that say about how we should be in our humility? Leave that up the Lord. He pronounced not his rebuke, but the Lord’s rebuke. We are told to resist the devil and he will flee from you. How do you do that?
I Jn 2:15-16 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For everything in the world-- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-- comes not from the Father but from the world.
Those character traits are not just temptations, but ways false teachers operate as we will examine some more abuses on the church.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds Feb 9 Consistency
Verses 2 Peter 2:13-16
13 They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.
14 With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed-- an accursed brood!
15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.
16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey-- a beast without speech-- who spoke with a man's voice and restrained the prophet's madness.
Look at their Consistency.
As we continue to look at the character of false leaders one must ask to they say one thing and do another. Is there consistency in their living for God or living unto themselves. Does their public life match with their private life?
Of course there is no one who is perfect. All will have their own personalities and oddities. Peter was not an Andrew. Paul was not a Barnabas. But they sought to live for the glory of God and not for their own pleasures, lusts and wants.
Someone told me yesterday on the news (I could not confirm it) that a pastor left his wife for his daughter-in-law. He stole his son’s wife. So often people can be caught living double lives. It is a sham to use people and especially the things of God for their own desires instead of seeking Christ in their own priorities.
Look out for subtle secretive things, or sensual and sexual immorality. We've see too much in our churches where clergy are victimizing parishioners of various ages. Many are greedy. Most are self willed, and some are full of dishonesty. One interesting thing is that many think they are invincible and their status and leadership can not be challenged.
How many times are priests brought to justice when young boys testify of their childhood abuses by a trusted spiritual leader? The apostle Peter wants his readers to know and beware of those pleasure seekers and pursue fleshly desires. He will ruin himself in bodily health and spiritual health and moral health and even mental health. Self-indulgent person ruins his own character and peace of mind by indulging in the very things he thinks give him pleasure. The one who loves drink finds that drunkenness destroys him, the one given to appetite in his gluttony harms his body. The lustful are fallen by sex, the money grabber find money to be his downfall. That which people strive for so hard to obtain, often becomes the very thing that destroys them when they receive it.
We see how churches today debate things that would never have been thought of before, from sinful homosexuality to openly advocating alternative lifestyle. What God calls adultery our culture calls free love. Addictions are categorized as diseases. Whatever keeps people from facing and repenting of sin instead of dealing with it at the cross is a lie from Satan. So we go to doctors and counselor to get pills and therapy when asking forgiveness for sin is a solution to some issues people refuse to look at. Is it any wonder Peter gets fed up and calls false leaders scabs, blemishes, and blots? If you translated it the way he intended in our cultures puss-filled pocket of despicable people.
Many are also filled with greed. They belong to the ranks of Balaam loving the wages of wickedness. Balaam loved money. The Bible tells the story when the King of Moab wants to hire this prophet to speak against his enemy. Riches become the lure of many in the ministry and compromise their principles for profit. Balaam refused. So the King gives him an offer he can't refuse. In route Balaam's donkey prevents him from going and miraculously speaks against him on the road. That ass had more sense than the prophet did, because of him many in Israel followed the idols and gods of Baal.
I am saddened by the way a Jimmy Bakker, or Ted Haggard, former leader for the National Association of Evangelicals, decided to not follow through their submission to Christian leaders for restoration. They moved from confession to bitterness. From those who lived a lie to those who are unfairly judged. One former friend of Ted said, “I have taken Ted to task over the years about his false teachings and false prophecies, as well as his frequent displays of un-christ-like behaviors.” But as a broken man he views Ted as so consumed with bitterness and vengeance, that at times he came across as almost paranoid schizophrenic.
If you want to see a Biblical manner of handling our sin see Psalm 51.
Be on alert with the character of false teachers, blasphemers, bold, arrogant, pleasure seeking, sensual and greedy people. Ask if their lives are consistent with the message they claim to preach.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Thurs Feb 10 Content
Verses- 2 Peter 2:15,17-19
15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.
17 These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.
18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.
19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity-- for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.
Look at their Content
In spite of their openly fleshly lifestyle followers of false guides seem oblivious to their leaders’ sin. Many of these teachers and pastors feel free to continue in sin without any fear of rebuke or correction. Rather than expose and expel these heretics, their loyal followers seem content to embrace them. This allows more people to be sucked into a religion of man and not of God.
These false teachers have distorted the grace of God through the gospel so that, rather than seeing the gospel as God's provision for man's freedom from sin, it is viewed as God's provision for man's freedom to sin. False teachers still strive to introduce destructive heresies into the church.
As mentioned with the example of Balam’s ass the prophet left the straight way to be led to pleasures and riches. Preaching for profit was the lure of speaking falsehood. Peter says they offer water, but it is not from the living water of truth. They are springs that are dry. They do not produce what they promise. Mists driven by a storm are here and gone with lots of turmoil and activity for a short time.
A Methodist pastor in my ministerial association in Wisconsin believed the resurrection of Jesus was a myth. I asked what she preached on Easter. She preached about the new beginnings all around us, in the spring, and in the world, and in our lives we can overcome troubles by facing new days. But where is the power of God? There was none. Empty words, boastful words that appeal to the desires of sinful human nature. They say was appeals to the desires of people so they can be popular for awhile.
I think of many who started strong and began to lead people to complete falsehood. For example, Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church, was raised in a Presbyterian church. Jim Jones, founder of the People's Temple, was raised in a Nazarene church. He once pastored an interdenominational church, and before he founded his own movement pastored a Disciples of Christ church. Victor Paul Weirwille, founder of The Way, was a pastor of the Reformed Church and a professor of New Testament at a leading Christian college. Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the church of Christian Science, was raised in an orthodox Christian home. Charles Taze Russell, the founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses, was raised in an orthodox Christian home and attended orthodox Christian churches. Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, although never joined a church attended studies at the Presbyterian and Methodist churches. All of these people strayed from the Christian faith. As a result, we today are reaping the bitter harvest of their heresy and error.
Elsewhere in Scripture, we are given more specific examples as to how the gospel may be perverted by false teachers but here, Peter is very general in his description of the doctrinal errors of the false teachers, while he is much more specific in his description of their moral failures. I believe it is because the cults and perversions of Christianity have great diversity in their doctrinal views, but the moral and practical manifestations are very similar. Perhaps it would seem Peter is suggesting that it may take considerable time for the false doctrines to become evident, while the moral failures of these folk are much more readily and quickly seen.
We need to be on alert with those reinvent interpretations and twist the Bible to adjust to their thinking, instead of changing their thinking to fit the Bible. But we see often how people want to change the Bible. Even recently there are many translations inspired more seeking to be to be more politically correct than truth to the text.
I pity people searching for God and coming away empty. It is because many leaders want to follow man's reasoning instead of God's Word. There is no other way to know the Lord except by putting your faith and trust in His one and only son, Jesus Christ, who came to our world to pay the price for our sin. Therefore we cannot be saved by good works, church membership, holy living, for all our righteousness is as filthy rags to God. We must humbly and sincerely turn from our own way and confess our sins before God and give him our lives. Invite Jesus in to our lives by prayer and ask him to save us. Promises other than that are empty. They are like rain clouds that are blown away by the winds and nothing comes during the dry season.
One last word of caution-there are many who preach the Bible, but live a lie. There are good Bible teachers, but as mentioned yesterday, their lives to do match their teaching. Keep focused on truth even if the teacher should be replaced. And likewise there are people who live very moral and respectful lives, but their content is of man and not God.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Fri Feb 11 Condemnation
Verses 2 Peter 2:20-22 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.
21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.
22 Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud."
A Look at their Condemnation
Peter warned them that God did not spare angels and they don't have the possibility to repentant like we do. If God did not spare the world in Noah's Day, we have much more revelation than they did. If God did not spare Sodom and Gomorrah, we have much more evidence of reality and work of the Messiah than they did, then how much more shall we fall into judgment. Those who are turning people away from truth and the Lord and enslaving captives into false teachings and false faith have a greater responsibility and therefore punishment.
It is very serious business to be a minister. There are many clergy who have no right to be so. It is a special calling of God that cannot be compromised by money, benefits, parsonages, or other monetary gifts. One must be convinced this is God's will and must convey God's word whether people like it or not. It is very serious business to have responsibilities for souls. If people do not respond to the truth that is not their responsibility, but to feed, challenge, love and rebuke according to God's word is their responsibility and one cannot take it lightly. Preachers, teachers, religious leaders, youth workers, sponsors, and the like are under tremendous warning, as being the most dangerous of jobs, for it would be better for a millstone to be tied around ones neck and thrown into he sea than for one causing a little one to fall or stumble in their faith in the Lord.
Those who are in it for money, fame, or power not only deceive others but themselves as well. Sadly many are on the wrong path without desires for any of those things, but Satan has blinded them of truth.
v 13 warns of their condemnation when it says they will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. One of the arguments for the existence of God and purpose of afterlife is justice. To right the moral wrongs that have been committed here on earth there must be a judgment. Otherwise there are lot of people that literally get away with murder, and worse atrocities than simple death if that is all there is without the righteousness of God.
This passage causes some problems with the question of eternal security. Peter is talking about those who have had knowledge of Jesus and had escaped form corruption of the world, but now they are entangled in it again.
Friends this is the same result regardless of the of theology. Those who believe in eternal security interpret it to say those folks were never really saved to begin with. They knew about the truth, they taught the truth, they were active in church they were baptized, but they were not real sheep following the Shepherd Christ, instead they were dogs going back to their vomit and pigs going back to the mud. There were people who went back to their true nature- in other worlds they were only putting up a front, but never committed their lives to Christ, nor involved their will and desire to live for Jesus.
Others will say, “No they were under the saving grace of God but they turned their back on him and fell from grace. Since they once were dogs and pigs now they have become like them again in their own lost natures.” I follow the first belief, but I don't want you to miss the point. The outcome is the same.
They are under the judgment of condemnation. Only you and the Lord know for sure if you are pretending or have a real faith. If you know Him then you will want to please him in the things you do. We all sin and don't let Satan scare you into thinking that if you sin you lose your salvation and have to be resaved. If however you enjoy your sin and it never bothers to you, then let that be an alarm system for your need to be saved. Being aware of the knowledge of the gospel and rejecting it or pretending is worse that if you haven't even known the truth, because you are responsible for what you know.
Profession of faith is not the same thing as possession of salvation. Not all who claim to be born again truly are. Likewise, anyone that is trusting some ritual whatever that is but has no love for Christ need to get saved.
Judas at one time forsook all and followed Jesus, but the Bible says he was a thief, he was greedy for gain, he was a hypocrite and walking all the while with the 12 he turned his back and betrayed Jesus. He was remorseful afterward, but not repentant. The Bible claims he was not with them even though he was around them. He should know being as close to Jesus, but not a true follower in his heart.
We are on alert. Look at the religious leaders and their character, their consistency, their content and their condemnation.
As we consider Peter's description of false teachers, we should not expect that every false teacher will manifest every characteristic described. Peter's characterization of the false teacher is such that we see some of the earmarks of the false teacher who will arise in our midst.
The God who judges false prophets can protect and rescue those who love him right in the midst of temptation. Stay tight with Christ and His word. If someone comes up with a new teaching, beware. Don’t follow any man or woman but only the Lord.
Pastor Dale
