July 20, 2025 • 52 mins
What happens when knowledge becomes more important than faith? In this penetrating exploration of 2 Peter 2, we confront the uncomfortable reality of false teaching and its destructive influence in our lives.
The sermon begins with a fishing story that captures our relationship with Scripture. Sometimes we throw out a perfect cast net that catches nothing, while a tangled mess somehow brings in fish. Similarly, our approach to God's word shouldn't depend on our expertise but on our willingness to swim under whatever net the Holy Spirit casts.
At its heart, this message examines how false teachers operate—secretly introducing destructive ideas that appeal to our desires for comfort, success, and sensuality. They promise freedom while being enslaved themselves. The metaphor is striking: false teachers hand you a spoon to dig out of your prison while Christ stands nearby holding the key. Most dangerously, their deception doesn't explode like a short-fused firework; it slowly leads you down a path until you're far from truth.
What makes this message uniquely powerful is its challenge to the knowledge-centered Christianity prevalent in Bible Belt culture. Through biblical examples like Noah (who built a boat before ever seeing rain) and Lot (who made terrible decisions yet remained righteous through faith), we see that God values faith over expertise. Noah is called righteous not because he knew everything but because when he had nothing to go on except God's word, he said, "That's enough for me."
The sermon concludes with a profound insight: God isn't terribly concerned that we get everything right; He's concerned that we never stop running to be made right. This distinction changes everything about how we approach our spiritual lives. Are the voices speaking into your life drawing you closer to Jesus or further away? Are you pursuing knowledge as your salvation, or are you pursuing Christ with the knowledge you have?
If you've ever felt that intellectual understanding of Scripture should be enough, or if you're wondering how to discern true teaching from false, this message offers both challenge and hope. Listen now and discover why swimming under God's net is always better than trying to throw your own.
If you want to learn more about the MidTree story or connect with us, go to our website HERE or text us at 812-MID-TREE.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Good morning ministry .
We're going to be reading 2Peter 2, 1 through 6 in the Pew
Bible.
It's on page 1018.
But false prophets also aroseamong the people, just as there
(00:23):
will be false teachers among youwho will secretly bring in
destructive heresies, evendenying the master who brought
them, bringing upon themselvesswift destruction.
And many will follow theirsensuality and because of them
the way of the truth will beblasphemed and in their greed
they will exploit you with falsewords.
Their condemnation from longago is not idle and their
(00:46):
destruction is not asleep.
For if God did not spare theangels when they sinned, but
cast them into hell andcommitted them to chains of
gloomy darkness to be kept untilthe judgment, If he did not
spare the ancient world butpreserved Noah, a herald of
righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon
the world of the ungodly, If, byturning the cities of Sodom and
(01:10):
Gomorrah into ashes, hecondemned them to extinction,
making them an example of whatis going to happen to the
ungodly, this is the word of theLord.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Thank you, shane, much appreciated.
I intentionally stopped in, gotShane to sort of stop in the
hellfire and brimstone part ofthat, and so if you're like gee,
that was a rough way to start.
Yeah, I just need to give you alittle bit of a heads up.
Today I was talking with LukeSmith, who was leading earlier,
(01:44):
while we were kind of prayingand getting ready for the
service, and I just got backfrom vacation and I was sharing
with him a frustration that Iwas dealing with over the past
week.
We're at the beach and foryears I've been trying to learn
how to throw a cast net.
If you don't know what a castnet is, it's the ones that you
(02:05):
may have seen on social media,where a guy on a boat swings his
hip and throws it and it likeopens in this beautiful circle,
lands exactly on the water andthen the dude just hauls out a
ton of fish.
I have been trying to figurethat thing out for years,
literally for five years.
I probably haven't, because Idon't vacation enough.
(02:25):
That's what I'm going to gowith, but I couldn't figure it
out.
And this year I'm throwing thenet and just getting like so
irritated because I'll throw itonce and it's like beautiful.
And then the next three timesit's just like throwing a
tangled mess.
And everybody's on the beachwatching the one weird dude
who's like throwing in a net.
So then you like feelself-conscious about the whole
(02:46):
thing.
Well, I'm walking and this guycomes up and he's like hey, you
need a hand with that.
I'm like so badly, like sobadly, do I need a hand with
this?
So he's like, well, you justgot to do this.
It's a huge mess.
I give it to him and he throwsit beautifully and I'm like
(03:07):
teach me your ways, show me yourpaths, I will follow Right.
And then he throws it a secondtime and it's a tangled mess.
He throws it a third time andit's a tangled mess.
And I'm like this whole thing,like how did Peter ever fit?
Do you want to know why theyfollowed Jesus?
They finally caught fish.
They were like this is theMessiah.
I've been doing this foreverand it's finally happening.
Well, it finally clicked for meon like the next to the last day
(03:27):
and I got to where 50 to 75% ofthe time I could throw it,
caught over a hundred fish.
Most of them were about thisbig.
Put them in a bucket.
Kids are throwing them toseagulls.
Some people love it, somepeople hate it, doesn't matter.
I was successful.
That's what I was leaning into.
It was wonderful.
And as I was looking at thistext, this is how I would
(03:49):
encourage you and Luke and Iwere talking about this.
He was thinking about worship,I was thinking about the text.
Sometimes I would throw thatnet perfectly Big, wide circle
lands, weights go deep, I pullit in and there's nothing.
Other times I throw it, itlooks like a tangled mess and
there are still fish inside ofit.
(04:12):
I always want us to be non-lazylisteners to the word of God.
I am giving you a heads up.
You're gonna have to choosethat today, because the text
that this fisherman wrote,inspired by the Holy Spirit, is
incredibly dense, and I havebeen praying throughout the week
(04:34):
, especially for those of you towhom church is new or you
didn't grow up in Sunday school.
You didn't grow up like Dwightdid with all of this knowledge,
because Peter is pointing backto angels, he's pointing back to
Sodom, he's pointing back toLot, he's pointing back to Noah,
and there are people who cometo church regularly and they do
not know the difference in Mosesand Noah, and that is wonderful
(04:57):
that you are here, but here iswhat I would plead with you.
I always want us to not be lazylisteners.
Today, you're going to have tochoose.
I am going to try to swim underthe net that the Holy Spirit is
throwing.
I want to be caught by him.
I want to be lifted up by him.
I want to be captured by him aswe go into this text.
So I'm praying for us guys.
(05:18):
I am and this was written by afisherman, so we can figure this
out right.
This guy did not go to Harvard,never had time to go to
seminary, hung out with Jesus alot On my way to vacation.
This was a card that camethrough.
I know who wrote it.
We're on good terms, noproblems whatsoever.
It started with like a lot ofencouragement hey, hope you're
doing well, enjoyed the sermon.
(05:39):
Thanks for helping us know thatwe need to be reminded and then
it turned into this.
However, I think you missed apretty important point about 2
Peter.
This letter was written as awarning against and I wanted to
take an opportunity to point tothis Gnostic teachings and a
(06:00):
testament that God's word is notwritten by man's interpretation
but by God's verbal inspiration.
It is a call to warn againstfalse teachers, teachers who
shift God's focus andmisinterpret and add to
scripture.
I completely agree with this.
By the way, the prayer cardsare typically for us to pray for
you and praise with you.
(06:21):
I will take this all day long,not offended by this.
This is actually the best wayto transition into chapter two
of second Peter, which isexactly what is going to happen.
But I wanted you to see thisbecause this guy who was
knowledgeable, this idea ofGnostic comes from the word
gnosis, which means knowledge.
(06:41):
There is a reason I askedDwight to share his testimony
today and I hope you see why inthe moments ahead.
Here is how the second chapterof 2 Peter starts.
Please notice this.
These first three verses are anoverview of the whole chapter.
If you can seek to understandthese three, it is going to give
(07:04):
you a structure to appreciateeverything that we are gonna
look at this morning.
Here is my encouragement Be thefish that looks to swim under
the net.
Choose not to be a lazylistener, and I'm giving you the
heads up.
We have a theological lift.
You are going to have to, like,engage your brain.
(07:24):
Like, if you have glasses, pullthem out for that part and look
the part of being smart, buttrust me, we can handle this.
It was written by a fisherman.
What we need is the same spiritthat led him.
Here is the overview of whatwe're looking at today.
False prophets also arose amongthe people, just as there will
be false teachers among you.
(07:45):
It is going to happen.
Peter is telling you Now, doesthat mean you need to be like
all right, well, let's see ifyou're a false prophet today.
Yeah, yeah, you sort of should.
I'll be honest with you.
You should never put yourantenna all the way down, all
right.
However, this is not saying thatone of the elders is a secret,
(08:05):
clandestine, like, likeimplementer of evil.
What it is saying is this everyone of us, every one of us have
people who are speaking intoour lives.
All of you do.
Some of them are speaking toyou like.
Some of them are speaking toyou like this.
Some of them are speaking toyou like this.
Some of them I don't have, yeah, dude, some of them are
(08:27):
speaking to you like this.
The question is are the thingsthat they are saying drawing you
to or from what is trueknowledge and faith in Christ?
And Peter says I need to warnyou of a couple of things.
They will secretly bring indestructive heresies.
They will deny the master whobought them.
(08:48):
They'll bring upon themselvesdestruction and many will follow
their teaching.
No, many people are gonnafollow their sensuality.
Many people are gonna listen towhat they're saying, but what
they're saying is do you wannahave the good life?
Do you want your body to behappy?
Do you want to be physicallypleased?
Do you want to feel like thesmartest person in the room?
(09:10):
Do you want to have the mosteffective investments?
Do you want to feel like asuccess wherever you go?
I can give you that in myexpertise, it isn't just people
following their teaching, it'sfollowing their sensuality.
I'm going to make you feel goodabout yourself and because of
them, the way of truth will beblasphemed and in their greed,
(09:32):
they will exploit you.
You are going to think you arebenefiting from them All the
while they are draining you andyou don't even realize it.
They will do this with falsewords, but know this.
Even realize it.
They will do this with falsewords, but know this.
Their condemnation from longago is not idle.
Their destruction is not asleep.
If you take all these sameverses and you organize them
(09:52):
like this.
Here is what Peter is saying.
When it comes to false prophets,false teachers, they are used
interchangeably.
Here Five things.
You should expect Destruction,but here's the problem.
The problem is a lot of theteaching that we take in, a lot
of the influence that affects us, does not have a short fuse
(10:13):
firework reality.
If every bad philosophy blew upin your hand and blew up in
your face, nobody would walkdown it.
The problem is true, deceptiveteaching takes a long time
before you see where the path isgoing, but it is destructive.
In addition to beingdestructive, it is also denial.
(10:33):
Denial of Christ, who he is,why you need him.
Your own sin.
It's a distraction by offeringyou what your body wants.
It leads to distrust.
The way of truth will beblasphemed.
What this is actually saying isthis won't be trusted If false
teaching comes in.
(10:53):
People like Dwight just said Iam walking away from the church.
He didn't pick a specific one.
He said it doesn't matter whichone they are.
I want nothing to do with itbecause I've seen who they are.
I've seen what they reallybelieve.
I grew up in a family where Iwas an altar boy, only to find
out there was this teaching thatwas going on behind the scenes.
(11:14):
Therefore, nothing that I haveever seen is real.
The way of truth will beblasphemed and people will be
defrauded.
This is what Peter says theconsequences of false teaching
in your life will bring.
But there is one hope.
There's this one thing that hepoints to in the verses ahead.
(11:34):
What is that?
Well, he doesn't tell you rightaway.
Instead, he goes into a historylesson.
This is going to be theologicallift number one.
All right, if we're about tostart repping 225 in a minute.
This is a warmup.
Okay, gear in antennas up, tryto swim under the net.
(11:55):
What is Peter saying?
He's about to build a historyfor you.
He's saying I want you toremember the past of history.
If God didn't spare angels whenthey sinned, but he cast them
into hell and committed them tochains of gloomy darkness to be
kept until judgment, youremember that in history, when
good angels here, a third of theevil angels over there, and if
(12:15):
he didn't spare the ancientworld but preserve Noah, a
herald of righteousness, andseven others when he brought a
flood upon the world of ungodly.
Let me give you one moreargument here.
If, by turning the cities ofSodom and Gomorrah to ashes.
He condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what
is going to happen to theungodly.
(12:36):
Then here is what Peter's doing.
Please watch this.
This he's saying human historyis an example that even in the
midst of false teachers, peoplewanting to lead you astray,
(12:59):
there is this promise that wehave been given a faithful
example, and this is what itlooks like.
God's righteousness isguaranteed.
It doesn't matter to me if youare born in year one or if
you're born in the year 2020, orif you're born in the year 2300
, if the Lord waits to comeuntil then.
What Peter is saying is anyonein human history has always been
(13:22):
able to look back and say Godis righteous, in the midst of
whatever worldview andphilosophy wants to lead me
astray.
There is a way to trust God.
There is a way to believe himwhen everything else speaking
into your ears, looking at yourfaces wants to tell you God is
not authority, he is not there,he does not care.
(13:43):
The spiritual realm doesn'tmatter.
Become is not there.
He does not care.
The spiritual realm doesn'tmatter.
Become your own expert and youwill be fine.
Peter says no, there were angelsI put before creation.
I understand that angels arecreated beings.
If you want to go like Theo Browith me on this, we can.
But Job talks about the angels,the sons of God, singing over
creation.
(14:04):
Okay, so we can go all the wayback to before what we would
call creation.
And when God called Noah.
The point was Noah could lookback.
Noah was able to look back tothis as an example.
I want to trust God, becausethose who do not trust God,
things go poorly for.
And then, when it comes toSodom and Gomorrah, lot was able
(14:28):
to look back at Noah and say,if Noah was able to have faith
with almost nothing to stand on,then certainly I can.
And Peter says I'm able to lookback at Lot and realize that
God is always righteous.
So today we are able to lookback at Peter.
And what's really cool about theyear that you live in is this
(14:53):
Almost exactly.
I know all of that seems old toyou, right?
You're like angels beingcreated.
That feels like a long time ago.
Well, can I really relate withthis ancient world?
It's literally called ancient.
Like?
Am I supposed to connect withthat thing?
Sodom and Gomorrah?
Anybody on Yelp checking outthe reviews to plan your
vacation.
No, like good luck, like gocheck it out.
(15:15):
And even when we think aboutthe early church, we're like
they didn't have AC, like how onearth did they even like really
worship?
Well, but what's reallyfascinating is this the distance
from today to Peter is almostthe exact same as Peter looking
back at Lot.
(15:35):
Isn't that cool to know thatthe way you see him would be the
way that he looked at Lot.
And all throughout this, god isjust showing my righteousness
is guaranteed.
My righteousness is guaranteed,my righteousness is guaranteed.
And if he rescued righteous Lot, see if God rescues him.
(15:57):
Greatly distressed by thesensual conduct of the wicked,
what was it like for Lot livingnear Sodom and Gomorrah?
For, as that righteous manlived among them day after day,
he was tormenting his righteoussoul over their lawless deeds
that he saw and heard.
Here's the point.
Why is Peter giving us ahistory lesson?
(16:17):
Because the Lord knows how torescue the godly from trials and
to keep the unrighteous underpunishment.
This is the first little lift.
This is the thing to swim on.
Do I believe that God, and Godalone, knows how to rescue?
Can I trust his track record?
And he basically just says hereis how it plays out.
(16:42):
It isn't you who know how torescue yourself.
It is the Lord who knows, andthis is the one hope that we
have, that in the midst of aworld who is going to do all of
that, wants to do all five ofthose things to you.
Just as with the angels, justas with Noah, just as with Lot,
(17:04):
there is deliverance availablefor all of those who would look
to God, and look to God alone.
The Lord knows how to rescuethe godly from trials.
Now you'll notice at the bottomof the screen here I grabbed
verse five and I plastered itback up.
It's out of order.
The reason is I want you tonotice what is repeated here.
(17:28):
He rescued righteous Lot and hepreserved Noah a herald of
righteousness.
I want you to notice thesethings, but this is one of the
coolest parts of this text in 2Peter.
I have two favorites and thisis one of them.
The fact that Lot is calledrighteous, the fact that Noah is
(17:50):
called righteous, is fantasticfor you today, and you might be
sitting there saying, will, youwere talking about a lot of
history, a lot of history.
Well, here's how it plays out.
Noah is called a herald ofrighteousness, somebody who
proclaims how righteous God is.
Where does that come from?
Well, hebrews tells us a littlebit about his story.
(18:12):
By faith, noah, being warned byGod concerning events as yet
unseen, in reverent fear,constructed an ark and became an
heir of the righteousness thatcomes by knowledge.
No, it came by faith, at nopoint.
Just imagine for a moment.
(18:34):
You have this quiet time, allright, lord, putting on some
worship music.
I'm getting in the car.
I'm going for a drive.
I'm closing the door, I'mlocking it.
Kids are outside.
I'm going for a walk in thewoods.
I'm going to sit at the base ofa tree.
This is my time with you.
I'm just going to spend time.
Lord, speak to me.
Speak to me through your word,through prayer, through the
worship I'm listening to, andhere's what God says hey, I'm
(18:55):
going to need you to build aboat real quick.
It's going to take a minute.
What did I fall asleeplistening to?
Was I like watching some weirdmovie?
If you didn't know this story,if Peter couldn't already point
back to this, you would look atthat and you would say God, I've
(19:18):
never even seen rain before.
What do you mean?
Build a boat for a flood?
What are we talking about here.
This is why Noah is lifted upin scripture.
This is why he's called aherald proclaiming righteousness
, because when he had nothing togo on except God and his word,
(19:39):
he said that's enough for me.
The whole world can call me afool, but if I am hearing from
the Lord, I know exactly where Ineed to walk.
That is why he is called aherald of righteousness.
Now some of you may look atthat and you may say I don't
have that faith.
I've made some pretty bigmistakes, to which I would say
(20:00):
did you notice he included Lotas righteous as well?
Did you notice he included Lotas righteous as well?
You know Noah is righteous andin 1 Peter 1, verse 5, I think,
he says add to your faithself-control and steadfastness
and virtue.
Add to your faith these things.
Noah added to his faith ahammer and a saw, and he
(20:22):
actually built something becauseGod called him to.
Lot doesn't have as good of astory.
How does he make the book andget called righteous?
Here's Lot's story.
Lot and Abram were about tosplit ways.
They were about to split ways.
They loved each other, but theyhad these large flocks and all
of their herdsmen startedarguing with each other.
(20:42):
They basically all wanted touse the same grass, the same
water, the same whatever.
So Abram says look, lot, youjust pick whatever part of the
land you want to go to and I'llgo to the other.
And here's the story fromGenesis.
And Lot lifted up his eyes andhe saw he had knowledge that the
Jordan Valley was well wateredeverywhere, like the garden of
(21:03):
the Lord.
He looks and he's like it lookslike the garden of Eden.
Over there I'm trying to growanimals.
They tend to like water, theytend to like grass.
I'm going to go that way.
Abram settled in the land ofCanaan, while Lot settled among
the cities of the valley andmoved his tent as far as Sodom.
(21:25):
Okay, is Sodom a good place ora bad place?
All right, not too muchenthusiasm, guys.
Try to reign it in just alittle bit.
Like we know this, lot lookedand his brain said go this way.
And he moved into the worstneighborhood he ever could have
(21:47):
been.
From our peripheral knowledgeof scripture, it seems like Lot
lived there for 20 or 30 years.
We don't think he had childrenwhen this discussion was going
on.
He moves.
There has a number of daughters, I think four.
Two of them end up married.
Before this happened, heprobably lived there for 20 or
30 years.
He saw a beautiful house.
(22:08):
He saw a fenced-in backyard.
He had always wanted a largefireplace and there it was.
He didn't take a moment tothink about the people living
around him.
He didn't take a moment to lookat the schools.
He didn't take a moment tothink about the people living
around him.
He didn't take a moment to lookat the schools.
He didn't take a moment tothink about the influences on
his children.
All he did was look and say Ihave knowledge that looks good
and I am going.
(22:28):
He made a huge mistake and theBible calls him righteous.
How Well.
Even though the men of Sodomwere wicked and great sinners
against the Lord, even thoughLot, because of one boneheaded
decision, had to live for 20 or30 years in the wrong place,
(22:51):
when he heard God's voice, hemoved.
Do you want to know why?
I'm like slowly working throughthis one little piece of the
text?
Because, even though we'retalking about creation and
angels and Noah and Lot and I'mpleading with you guys to trust
God's word as it does this we'retalking about a lot of history.
(23:12):
Here's what we're reallytalking about.
We're talking about somebodywho made one decision that was
not wise, somebody who made onewrong decision, one
short-sighted decision.
What job they took.
And they feel like I made amistake.
I made a mistake in what Istudied.
I made a mistake in the place Imoved.
(23:33):
I made a mistake in the personthat I married.
I made a mistake in this.
And even though Lot made amistake, here is what we find.
One wrong decision does notpreclude you from living
righteously in the midst of thatdecision.
Even in the middle of a choiceyou regret, even in the middle
(23:54):
of a choice that you haveregretted for years, you are not
beyond living righteously in ittoday, which was exactly what
Lot did and how he ended upmaking the book.
Why?
Because the Lord knows how torescue the godly from trials,
like Lot, like Noah.
(24:14):
But the bigger issue is thisGood luck, little guy.
I hope you make it.
I'm struggling right there withyou.
The Lord knows how to rescuethe godly from trials.
But, guys, here's the deal yourname is not included in this.
It's not saying Will knows howto rescue himself from trials
(24:38):
and the rest of this.
The rest of what we're going tolook at is this who has
authority to speak into yourlife.
Are you the expert of your life?
Are you the expert of your owndecisions, or might you need to
submit to one who knows way morethan you?
It is the Lord who knows how todo this, and when we choose
(24:59):
ourselves as an authority orwhen we choose not to have one
self-chosen authority is simplyself-rule with a mask.
If you are going to pickinfluences that only tell you
what you want to hear, are youreally under authority?
If you're the one choosing yourauthority, are you really under
authority?
I don't think so.
(25:19):
So how can you find authorityworth being under?
To discern when other people aredeceived, god's word wants you
to look for two things the decaywithin and the destruction that
follows.
If somebody is going to speakand influence, teach, preach,
guide, coach or counsel you,before you start eating what
(25:41):
they are giving you, what doesthe inside of them look like and
what does the trail behind themlook like?
Peter says well, it's not hardto see the decay within In his
day and age, while he's inprison, writing truth.
There are people in the churchthat are bold and willful.
This is a very easy way to say.
(26:04):
They are arrogant, incrediblyarrogant, arrogant to the point
that they feel like the expertsin all matters, so much so that
they do not even tremble as theyblaspheme the glorious ones.
All right, I'm going to pray.
I'm going to pause now to pray,because we're going to go into
the densest part that we'regoing to go in and I want to do
(26:25):
the best job that I can to throwthe net, and I want you to do
the best job you can to swimunder it.
God, as we go into thisparticularly dense piece, would
you show us the reality of ourown soul?
Would you make this clear as wemove forward?
In Christ's name, amen, allright, I would like for somebody
to be brave enough to guess whothe glorious ones are, and I
(26:47):
don't care if you get it right.
Does anybody want to venture aguess as to what this is
pointing to?
Okay, you were here firstservice, and that doesn't count,
josh, but you know what.
Everybody here is grateful foryou, so we'll let it be.
In all likelihood, this ispointing to angels.
What's really going to mess youup is it's probably pointing to
fallen angels that you wouldnever call glorious.
(27:10):
One of the reasons that wethink this is because the same
phraseology appears somewhereelse in Scripture.
It appears in the book of Jude,and Jude uses the same
phraseology.
And notice he's talking about avery similar group of arrogant
people.
Yet, in like manner, thesepeople also relying on their
dreams, relying on theirexpertise, relying on what they
(27:32):
have that you do not, thisgnosis, this special knowledge,
them being just a step ahead ofyou and a step smarter than you,
they defile the flesh.
They just give themselveswhatever feels good.
They reject authority and theyblaspheme the glorious ones.
What is probably happening hereis that when we look at where
we fit in the created order, bythe way, just keep swimming
(27:57):
under the net.
Keep swimming under the net.
This is the order thatcurrently exists.
God is more glorious than theangels At this point.
Angels are more glorious thanyou.
You are created in the image ofGod.
I am not taking anything awayfrom that, but there is a reason
.
When an angel shows up and whatyou're about to read in 2 Peter
, people fall on their knees.
(28:18):
There is a reason.
People started worshiping angelsand the angels had to say don't
worship me, worship Christinstead.
The reason is they have morepower, they have more glory, but
these people so bold, soarrogant, these teachers who
would lead you astray.
They have become over inflated.
They have started to believethat they are a big deal, they
(28:40):
are impressive, and when youthink that highly of yourself,
it does not take much for you todo this, and I will tell you
what the next step is, though wewill not often be honest with
ourselves.
This is what it means to rejectthe authority that God would
place in your life the authorityof church, the authority of
husband, the authority of parent, the authority of pastor, the
(29:00):
authority that God would placein your life, the authority of
church, the authority of husband, the authority of parent, the
authority of pastor, theauthority of these things and
guys.
I'm not preaching because Iwant to be up here Whenever I
preach this stuff.
Stuff goes more difficult forme, not easier, but I'm just
telling you what the Bible says.
This is what they began to do,and we have this one very odd
example, which is why I'm justpleading keep swimming under the
(29:21):
net.
You'll only see this in Jude.
We don't see it referencedanywhere else in scripture, but
there's an argument between twoangels, and it looks like this
when the archangel Michaelcontended with the devil, both
angelic beings, one fallen, onenot.
They were disputing about thebody of Moses.
We don't know what the argumentwas about.
(29:42):
We don't know how the argumentwent, but Jude's argument in
that is this he, being Michael,did not presume to pronounce a
blasphemous judgment, but saidthe Lord, rebuke you Even though
you have angels, michael andSatan, lucifer, you can pick,
(30:03):
even though they're on an evenplaying field.
He didn't feel comfortableblaspheming, rejecting or
judging him.
Instead, he said no, I'm notgonna do that.
May God deal with you as Godsees fit.
So what is happening in 2 Peter?
Why is he pointing to theglorious ones, and what is that
(30:26):
saying about false teachers?
On the one hand, it is sayingthat they think of themselves
bigger than they should.
On the other hand, it's sayingthey are erecting themselves to
a higher place than they should.
And what it's ultimately sayingis this they are living as
though they are such experts inlife that the spiritual doesn't
matter.
They're not worried aboutdemons affecting them, they're
(30:48):
not worried about the spiritualworld affecting them.
They are an expert, they haveknowledge, they are brilliant,
they are impressive, theirskills are high, their successes
are well known.
They need not worry about thespiritual world.
Why did I ask Dwight to sharehis testimony?
Because his brain had grownquite large.
(31:11):
His arguments were solid, hislogic was reason and he was as
far from the Lord as a personcould be.
And what saved him?
A really good argument.
No, he read a genealogy.
(31:32):
Can I just tell you, if somebodycame to me and said, will, I
feel like I need to repent, Ineed to get my life right with
the Lord the last place I wouldprobably turn is let's read 50
names you can't pronounce andsee if the Lord is going to work
in your heart.
No man, I'm going to Romans,right, I'm going to Ephesians.
I'm going hyper New Testament.
(31:53):
What happens when we thinkknowledge is the main thing?
That, and in case you don'tknow it, you, you live at the
epicenter of biblical knowledge.
You live in the buckle of aBible belt.
You live in a place wherepeople believe that knowledge
(32:16):
means righteousness and itdoesn't Faith does.
Why does Noah make the book?
Because he'd never built a boatbefore, he'd never seen it rain
before, but he said God, if yousay it, then I'm gonna do it,
because I am small and you aregreat and I know my place.
(32:38):
So lead on God, but not them.
They blaspheme the glorious ones.
This is Peter jumping into it.
Angels, though greater in mightand power, don't pronounce a
blasphemous judgment againstthem before the Lord.
But these have become likeirrational animals, like
creatures of instinct.
They're born to be caught anddestroyed, blaspheming about
(32:59):
matters of which they areignorant.
They're born to be caught anddestroyed, blaspheming about
matters of which they areignorant.
They talk like they're smart,but they know absolutely nothing
.
They will also be destroyed, asthey are destroying others.
It's a pity that the fuse is solong.
Sometimes they will sufferwrong as the wage for their
wrongdoing.
To discern when others aredeceived.
(33:19):
Look for the decay within.
Look for people who arearrogant.
Look for people who areshort-sighted when it says
irrational animals.
I'll tell you what it remindsme of.
On our way to and from, we onlystopped at Bucky's.
Our kids are now big enough.
We don't have to make.
You know what I'm starting torealize?
Our kids are big enough and wearen't old enough to where we
(33:41):
have to stop for the bathroom.
A lot.
That's actually what's comingnext, isn't it?
It's going to be me, I'm goingto be the problem next, but
right now it's great, like onestop and we're like at the beach
.
I have a dumb dog.
Okay, nothing I can do about it, nothing he can do about it.
He was made small, his brain isquite small and he is
absolutely irrational.
(34:02):
He is absolutely a creature ofinstinct.
And this is what happens withexperts in their field.
This is what happens when wehave been taught by opinions of
others rather than theinfallible word of God, who will
always be right and righteous.
What happens is you pull intoBucky's and the dog says I know
(34:23):
exactly what's going to happen.
The door is going to open andI'm going to walk out and I'm
going to enjoy the world.
No, what's going to happen is,if I open the door and you run
out, you're going to get hit by12 cars because there's 400
people here and all of them arein a hurry to either get to the
beach, because they want to bethere, or get home because
they're tired of driving.
Everybody's in a hurry,nobody's being patient.
They haven't gotten to the beefjerky wall yet, so it's going
(34:43):
very poorly for everybody.
But my dog is convinced he'slike man.
Just open the door.
Open the door.
There is a world of delightsjust waiting for me.
No, man, there are nothing butwide rim tires wanting to wreck
your life and cause my Monday tolook very differently, as I
bury a dog and then getconvinced the next day that we
need another one.
That's what I see.
(35:06):
Do you want to know how to knowif somebody is short-sighted?
Look for this.
Look for people who cannot bereasoned with.
Their lives will play out likea script.
You've seen it before and youknow you'll see it again.
You just wish you could getthem to see it while they're in
the midst of it.
It's like a dog who's convincedthat when he runs outside it's
(35:28):
going to be new, but he alwaystakes the same path and you can
see exactly where he's going.
By the way, that is how thechapter will end as well.
Exactly where he's going, bythe way, that is how the chapter
will end as well.
These are people who are livingas though the spiritual realm
does not exist.
But it isn't just that.
They count it pleasure to revelin the daytime.
These people are verycomfortable with sin.
(35:50):
They're not just arrogant andthey're not just short-sighted.
They can always make an excusenot to work.
They take things that would bebeautiful and they become bl
just short-sighted.
They can always make an excusenot to work.
They take things that would bebeautiful and they become blots
and blemishes.
This word blemish actuallyappears as Christ talks about
you.
The church Husbands love yourwives as Christ loved the church
(36:10):
.
How did he do it?
He gave himself up for her sothat you could be saved from
your sin.
Yes, but only no, so that hemight present the church to
himself in splendor, withoutspot, without wrinkle or any
such thing, that she might beholy and without blemish.
But when we look at thesepeople, they take something that
would be beautiful and theymake it ugly.
(36:31):
Do you know what makes thisplace beautiful?
It is not flowers, it is not apew, it's not cool chandeliers
or a pretty neat looking ceilingthat I'm sure some of the kids
have counted the slats in.
It's what I did when I gotbored.
What makes this pretty or not?
Is you, not me, not even otherpastors?
(36:52):
You make this place beautifulwhen people walk in and they see
people who aren't faking it,folks who are willing to share
their story.
I didn't get a chance to sharethis with the first service, but
I was talking with Rob and Robwas crediting somebody in the.
I'm intentionally being vaguehere, but Rob was crediting
somebody in the room for a levelof excellence that they have in
(37:16):
something they do, and I saiddo you know their story?
He said no.
I said their story is one ofgreat loss A brother who is in
the midst of dying in his 20s, afather who has passed away.
But you won't see it on theirface and you won't hear it in
their voice, because they havefound a greater thing to love
(37:39):
than what this world offers.
You make this place beautifulwhen you're honest, when you're
open, when you're led by theSpirit, not when you're smart,
when you're humble.
And the scary thing about thisis Peter says and here's the
deal, guys, these people areright next to you, they eat with
(37:59):
you and this doesn't mean theycome over after Sunday lunch and
you know, like back in the daywhen grandma cooked, and they're
sitting at the table and you'relike you deceptive little
weasel of a snake.
You didn't take a note, did you?
I bet you didn't even pray,right?
No, that's not what it's saying.
What it's saying is these samepeople are taking communion with
you.
They're feasting on the brokenbody of our Savior.
(38:22):
They are drinking the juicethat points to the blood that he
shed for us.
They are incredibly comfortablewith sin in a place that ought
to convict.
But that isn't all.
They have eyes that are full ofadultery.
They can make excuses for allof their behaviors.
Their sin insatiable can neverget enough of it, and the
(38:45):
problem is they entice unsteadysouls people who are coming to
church for the first time in along time I want you to know
that.
I'm really glad that you'rehere People who have walked into
this room and they feeluncomfortable because they don't
know Noah, they don't know Lotand they're not going to know
Balaam in just a second.
You're welcome here.
It's not about how much youknow.
It's about who you are beingled by.
(39:07):
They have hearts that aretrained in greed because they're
going to try to take from yourather than give.
Do you want to know?
One of the best ways todetermine if somebody should be
influencing you Is it to theirdetriment that they are talking
to you?
It is so so much easier not towalk into awkward conversations
and situations.
It is easier not to call outsin.
(39:29):
It is easier just to live andlet live.
But somebody that you can trustis going to be uncomfortable
enough with sin to repent oftheir own and to call you out on
yours.
Be around those people Ifthey're only ever telling you
how great you are and your egois becoming ever so inflated to
(39:50):
the point that you feel like thechurch is lucky to have you
with all of your gifts and allof your abilities and all of
your knowledge.
Have you begun to believe thatyour and all of your abilities
and all of your knowledge, haveyou begun to believe that your
sin is so small that you sort ofhave life figured out?
Is repentance something youused to do or you once did, or
is it the world that you live innow?
(40:10):
You see, these people areaccursed children.
They're forsaking the right way.
They've gone astray.
They've followed the way ofhere you go.
Another history lesson, but I'mnot going to lift this one very
hard.
Balaam Balaam was a prophet.
You can read about him in theOld Testament.
Basically, he was supposed tospeak for God, but instead he
decided he wanted to make somemoney.
And so he's on his way to makethat money and the donkey that
he's on stops walking.
(40:31):
So he starts smacking the thingand the donkey won't move.
And in this fantastic storywhich is beyond knowledge, but
only of faith.
The donkey turns around andspeaks human language to him.
The son of Beor, who loved gainfrom wrongdoing but was rebuked
for his own transgression, aspeechless donkey spoke with
human voice and restrained atthe prophet's madness.
(40:53):
What's happening here?
The donkey says look, I knowthat you feel like you're the
authority.
You're sitting on top of me,you feel like you're the expert,
you're the one telling me whereto go.
You can't see that there is onemore glorious in front of you.
You can't see that there's onemore powerful in front of you.
There is an angel standingthere and you can't see it.
If you want me to walk forward,fine, I'll do it, but your
(41:14):
head's going to roll down thesidewalk.
And the one who was most wisewas not the one who would put
himself in a position ofauthority, but the one who is
being ridden upon.
This is what we must becautious of.
(41:38):
When somebody is preaching, whensomeone is teaching, counseling
or influencing me biblically,you biblically, you must ask
yourself this question If Icontinue on that path, will I be
more like Jesus than I am today, if I continue walking with
that person?
When Bill Harrison met with meat Chick-fil-A for years to talk
about being a husband and beinga father.
Was I going to leave that placebeing more like Jesus?
And the answer was yes.
But there were lots of peoplewho were speaking into me who
(42:00):
would have made me far worse.
Will, don't you know?
You'll be happier if you justyou should be happy, you should
seek pleasure, and that is whatthese teachers were doing.
But don't just ask biblically.
When somebody is preaching,teaching, counseling or
influencing you secularly,secularly is just sort of a
fancy churchy word for notbiblically it doesn't
(42:20):
necessarily mean bad.
Am I going to be more likeJesus than I am today?
Sometimes the answer is yes.
Ms Newton, second grade class, Istarted falling in love with
science.
Mr Skinner, 10th gradechemistry.
The guy ate chalk to provepoints while he was talking
about molecular chemistry.
I was like that dude's awesomeand science is amazing.
Hopped on science Olympiad,became a nerd right Like.
(42:42):
That was a good influence,because the more I study science
the more I see the grandeur ofGod.
When coach Causey, when I waslike 10 years old playing my
first like year of baseball andmy arms then were smaller than
my wrists are now Like when Iwas 27,.
I looked 15, like super small.
I was never gonna hit a ballout of the infield, never.
(43:06):
And he said, will, just so youknow, I didn't get you so that
you would swing the bat.
That's why we got Rob.
I actually remember that guy.
He was jacked at like 12 yearsold and he was just like hitting
bombs.
Every guy he was jacked at like12 years old and he was just
like hitting bombs.
Every Saturday he said, will, Igot you for one reason I just
know that you can run fast.
That is all I need from you.
(43:26):
Do you know how freeing thatwas for me?
Like, who had a dad who waslike get in the garage, start
swinging the bat.
You got to get stronger.
You got to do this For my coach, by the way, we made it to
state.
Second in the state, awesome,right, all he said was I need
you to steal bases and I needyou to learn how to bunt.
And I was like teach me, I willfollow.
Right, consistently buntingtriples.
(43:50):
Right, because they wouldoverthrow Stealing.
But he, in a secular way,overthrow stealing.
But he, in a secular way, saidthere is something of value in
you when you don't see it inyourself, that is worthwhile.
The shows you watch, the thingsthat you imbibe on in social
media are they going to make youmore like Jesus than you are
today?
(44:10):
Because if you really want toput your antenna 20 feet high,
keep this in mind when Peter waswriting this, people did not
have a lot of books on theirshelves.
They weren't getting influencesfrom remote options.
We have podcasts of peoplewhose lives you never get to
look into, pastors and sermonswhose lives you don't really
(44:33):
know, though we hope onlineexperts who will speak into
every piece of you.
Be careful when you can't lookinside of them and watch for the
destruction that follows.
They're waterless springs,they're mists driven by a storm.
(44:53):
We don't live in an agrarianculture, so you can't appreciate
this.
But if you've ever gone to atheme park and you bought the
souvenir cup so that you getfree refills and then you can't
find anywhere in the park to geta refill, that's what Peter's
saying.
He's like you go to the waterfountain and it won't turn on.
You go to the register andthey're like sorry, we're closed
.
It's like well, I paid, like Ibought the ticket, I want to
(45:13):
ride the ride.
You tell me you're the expert.
You told me this was going tobe life-giving.
It's like this storm that comesin rumbling and thundering and
all that comes out of it is amist that will never saturate
the ground with life.
They speak loud boasts of folly.
The way of a fool is right inhis own eyes, but a wise man
(45:35):
listens, but not them.
They speak.
They speak often and frequently, and loudly.
They entice people with sensualpassions.
I can make your life feel good,I can make your flesh feel good
, and they do this to those whoare barely escaping.
They promise freedom, but arethemselves slaves.
Freedom but are themselvesslaves.
(46:01):
They come to you in your cagewith a spoon to help you dig
through the wall, all the whileChrist is holding the key and
saying why do you remain in thissin when I would gladly let you
out?
Whatever overcomes a person, tothat he is enslaved.
That is who these people are.
Is anyone in your life teachingyou to indulge?
Are they telling you it is okayfor you to indulge?
(46:24):
Are they making big promisesthat they cannot back up?
Because if that is the case,here's what you will find.
This is the last scripture,luke.
If you want to go ahead andcome up, feel free.
When we read through this twoweeks ago, reading through the
entire book of 2 Peter, I hadmore responses come in on the
(46:45):
phone for us to respond to thisthan anything else.
For if I'm only going to circleone word, but notice how many
times it gets circled.
If, after they have escaped thedefilements of the world
through the knowledge of ourLord and Savior, jesus Christ,
they are again entangled in themand overcome, the last state
has become worse for them thanthe first.
It would have been better forthem never to have known the way
(47:09):
of righteousness than, afterknowing it, to turn back from
the holy commandment deliveredto them.
What the true proverb says hashappened to them the dog returns
to its own vomit like anirrational animal and the sow,
after washing herself, returnsto wallow in the mire.
What's happening here?
(47:29):
A lot of people ask the questionWill, does this mean I can lose
my salvation?
I'll just give you two real,quick responses.
Did these sound like people whowere saved to you in the first
place?
These sound like people who aretheir own authority and they're
not under the authority ofChrist.
These sound like people who aregoing about everything other
than what Jesus has directedthem to go after.
But don't get me wrong.
They've got lots of knowledgeand so people assumed their
(47:52):
knowledge is steadfast,therefore their soul must be.
Their knowledge is steadfast,therefore their soul must be Not
the case.
And for those of us in the roomwith high amounts of knowledge
please be warned in this itwould have been better,
according to Scripture, for themnever to have known the way.
How on earth is this possible?
(48:13):
How would it be better for younot to walk in the door?
Because if you know the way ofChrist but you don't receive it,
if you know the way of Christbut there is no relationship, if
you have the answers but you donot follow after him, you're
unlikely to ever consider Jesusin the future.
(48:34):
You've seen what he has tooffer and it wasn't enough.
But you're more accountable toGod than anybody else because
this knowledge has been sharedwith you and you're also
probably leading other peopleastray who see you button it up,
get your lashes right, do yourhair nice dress, nice outfit,
(48:55):
slide into church and this isthe only thing that you're
looking to feed.
If we don't have faith, we don'thave anything.
I'm not telling you not to haveknowledge.
I'm just telling you, peterwants you to have it in the
right place, because if youdon't, because if you don't,
knowledge without faith createsone thing a Pharisee and you
(49:27):
live in the pharisaical breedingground on the planet.
Moms and dads, if you're moreconcerned with your kids getting
their yes sirs and their yesma'ams right than being the kind
of person who opens the door toyour room when you do not want
them to come in late at night torepent and say that there's
something wrong, that they wantto seek the Lord, that they're
struggling with something, itsays more about us than it says
about our children, because thatis who God is with us.
(49:49):
He's not terribly concernedthat Will gets it all right.
He is terribly concerned thatWill never stops running to be
made right.
And if I were to simplify thewhole thing, I would simplify it
by saying this the problem fromthe beginning was always
knowledge over faith.
Go to the garden.
(50:11):
The knowledge of good and evilwas the problem, not the
solution.
The solution was to have faithin God enough to know you do not
need that to follow him.
It doesn't have to start torain for you to build a boat.
You don't have to end up in theperfect place to begin seeking
(50:31):
after him.
You can trust him today, evenin the midst of bad decisions
you've made or circumstances youdidn't choose.
I give you a few questions toponder as we worship and get
ready to close out together.
When we begin to sing.
If you want to sit, stay seated.
If you want to stand, stand,but let's reflect on these
(50:54):
realities.
If you need prayer or to talk,a couple of us will be down
there.
Use the back porch to walkaround, but let's pursue the
Lord as a people of faith, notjust a people of knowledge.
Good morning ministry .
We're going to be reading 2Peter 2, 1 through 6 in the Pew
Bible.
It's on page 1018.
But false prophets also aroseamong the people, just as there
(00:23):
will be false teachers among youwho will secretly bring in
destructive heresies, evendenying the master who brought
them, bringing upon themselvesswift destruction.
And many will follow theirsensuality and because of them
the way of the truth will beblasphemed and in their greed
they will exploit you with falsewords.
Their condemnation from longago is not idle and their
(00:46):
destruction is not asleep.
For if God did not spare theangels when they sinned, but
cast them into hell andcommitted them to chains of
gloomy darkness to be kept untilthe judgment, If he did not
spare the ancient world butpreserved Noah, a herald of
righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon
the world of the ungodly, If, byturning the cities of Sodom and
(01:10):
Gomorrah into ashes, hecondemned them to extinction,
making them an example of whatis going to happen to the
ungodly, this is the word of theLord.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Thank you, shane, much appreciated.
I intentionally stopped in, gotShane to sort of stop in the
hellfire and brimstone part ofthat, and so if you're like gee,
that was a rough way to start.
Yeah, I just need to give you alittle bit of a heads up.
Today I was talking with LukeSmith, who was leading earlier,
(01:44):
while we were kind of prayingand getting ready for the
service, and I just got backfrom vacation and I was sharing
with him a frustration that Iwas dealing with over the past
week.
We're at the beach and foryears I've been trying to learn
how to throw a cast net.
If you don't know what a castnet is, it's the ones that you
(02:05):
may have seen on social media,where a guy on a boat swings his
hip and throws it and it likeopens in this beautiful circle,
lands exactly on the water andthen the dude just hauls out a
ton of fish.
I have been trying to figurethat thing out for years,
literally for five years.
I probably haven't, because Idon't vacation enough.
(02:25):
That's what I'm going to gowith, but I couldn't figure it
out.
And this year I'm throwing thenet and just getting like so
irritated because I'll throw itonce and it's like beautiful.
And then the next three timesit's just like throwing a
tangled mess.
And everybody's on the beachwatching the one weird dude
who's like throwing in a net.
So then you like feelself-conscious about the whole
(02:46):
thing.
Well, I'm walking and this guycomes up and he's like hey, you
need a hand with that.
I'm like so badly, like sobadly, do I need a hand with
this?
So he's like, well, you justgot to do this.
It's a huge mess.
I give it to him and he throwsit beautifully and I'm like
(03:07):
teach me your ways, show me yourpaths, I will follow Right.
And then he throws it a secondtime and it's a tangled mess.
He throws it a third time andit's a tangled mess.
And I'm like this whole thing,like how did Peter ever fit?
Do you want to know why theyfollowed Jesus?
They finally caught fish.
They were like this is theMessiah.
I've been doing this foreverand it's finally happening.
Well, it finally clicked for meon like the next to the last day
(03:27):
and I got to where 50 to 75% ofthe time I could throw it,
caught over a hundred fish.
Most of them were about thisbig.
Put them in a bucket.
Kids are throwing them toseagulls.
Some people love it, somepeople hate it, doesn't matter.
I was successful.
That's what I was leaning into.
It was wonderful.
And as I was looking at thistext, this is how I would
(03:49):
encourage you and Luke and Iwere talking about this.
He was thinking about worship,I was thinking about the text.
Sometimes I would throw thatnet perfectly Big, wide circle
lands, weights go deep, I pullit in and there's nothing.
Other times I throw it, itlooks like a tangled mess and
there are still fish inside ofit.
(04:12):
I always want us to be non-lazylisteners to the word of God.
I am giving you a heads up.
You're gonna have to choosethat today, because the text
that this fisherman wrote,inspired by the Holy Spirit, is
incredibly dense, and I havebeen praying throughout the week
(04:34):
, especially for those of you towhom church is new or you
didn't grow up in Sunday school.
You didn't grow up like Dwightdid with all of this knowledge,
because Peter is pointing backto angels, he's pointing back to
Sodom, he's pointing back toLot, he's pointing back to Noah,
and there are people who cometo church regularly and they do
not know the difference in Mosesand Noah, and that is wonderful
(04:57):
that you are here, but here iswhat I would plead with you.
I always want us to not be lazylisteners.
Today, you're going to have tochoose.
I am going to try to swim underthe net that the Holy Spirit is
throwing.
I want to be caught by him.
I want to be lifted up by him.
I want to be captured by him aswe go into this text.
So I'm praying for us guys.
(05:18):
I am and this was written by afisherman, so we can figure this
out right.
This guy did not go to Harvard,never had time to go to
seminary, hung out with Jesus alot On my way to vacation.
This was a card that camethrough.
I know who wrote it.
We're on good terms, noproblems whatsoever.
It started with like a lot ofencouragement hey, hope you're
doing well, enjoyed the sermon.
(05:39):
Thanks for helping us know thatwe need to be reminded and then
it turned into this.
However, I think you missed apretty important point about 2
Peter.
This letter was written as awarning against and I wanted to
take an opportunity to point tothis Gnostic teachings and a
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testament that God's word is notwritten by man's interpretation
but by God's verbal inspiration.
It is a call to warn againstfalse teachers, teachers who
shift God's focus andmisinterpret and add to
scripture.
I completely agree with this.
By the way, the prayer cardsare typically for us to pray for
you and praise with you.
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I will take this all day long,not offended by this.
This is actually the best wayto transition into chapter two
of second Peter, which isexactly what is going to happen.
But I wanted you to see thisbecause this guy who was
knowledgeable, this idea ofGnostic comes from the word
gnosis, which means knowledge.
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There is a reason I askedDwight to share his testimony
today and I hope you see why inthe moments ahead.
Here is how the second chapterof 2 Peter starts.
Please notice this.
These first three verses are anoverview of the whole chapter.
If you can seek to understandthese three, it is going to give
(07:04):
you a structure to appreciateeverything that we are gonna
look at this morning.
Here is my encouragement Be thefish that looks to swim under
the net.
Choose not to be a lazylistener, and I'm giving you the
heads up.
We have a theological lift.
You are going to have to, like,engage your brain.
(07:24):
Like, if you have glasses, pullthem out for that part and look
the part of being smart, buttrust me, we can handle this.
It was written by a fisherman.
What we need is the same spiritthat led him.
Here is the overview of whatwe're looking at today.
False prophets also arose amongthe people, just as there will
be false teachers among you.
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It is going to happen.
Peter is telling you Now, doesthat mean you need to be like
all right, well, let's see ifyou're a false prophet today.
Yeah, yeah, you sort of should.
I'll be honest with you.
You should never put yourantenna all the way down, all
right.
However, this is not saying thatone of the elders is a secret,
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clandestine, like, likeimplementer of evil.
What it is saying is this everyone of us, every one of us have
people who are speaking intoour lives.
All of you do.
Some of them are speaking toyou like.
Some of them are speaking toyou like this.
Some of them are speaking toyou like this.
Some of them I don't have, yeah, dude, some of them are
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speaking to you like this.
The question is are the thingsthat they are saying drawing you
to or from what is trueknowledge and faith in Christ?
And Peter says I need to warnyou of a couple of things.
They will secretly bring indestructive heresies.
They will deny the master whobought them.
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They'll bring upon themselvesdestruction and many will follow
their teaching.
No, many people are gonnafollow their sensuality.
Many people are gonna listen towhat they're saying, but what
they're saying is do you wannahave the good life?
Do you want your body to behappy?
Do you want to be physicallypleased?
Do you want to feel like thesmartest person in the room?
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Do you want to have the mosteffective investments?
Do you want to feel like asuccess wherever you go?
I can give you that in myexpertise, it isn't just people
following their teaching, it'sfollowing their sensuality.
I'm going to make you feel goodabout yourself and because of
them, the way of truth will beblasphemed and in their greed,
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they will exploit you.
You are going to think you arebenefiting from them All the
while they are draining you andyou don't even realize it.
They will do this with falsewords, but know this.
Even realize it.
They will do this with falsewords, but know this.
Their condemnation from longago is not idle.
Their destruction is not asleep.
If you take all these sameverses and you organize them
(09:52):
like this.
Here is what Peter is saying.
When it comes to false prophets,false teachers, they are used
interchangeably.
Here Five things.
You should expect Destruction,but here's the problem.
The problem is a lot of theteaching that we take in, a lot
of the influence that affects us, does not have a short fuse
(10:13):
firework reality.
If every bad philosophy blew upin your hand and blew up in
your face, nobody would walkdown it.
The problem is true, deceptiveteaching takes a long time
before you see where the path isgoing, but it is destructive.
In addition to beingdestructive, it is also denial.
(10:33):
Denial of Christ, who he is,why you need him.
Your own sin.
It's a distraction by offeringyou what your body wants.
It leads to distrust.
The way of truth will beblasphemed.
What this is actually saying isthis won't be trusted If false
teaching comes in.
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People like Dwight just said Iam walking away from the church.
He didn't pick a specific one.
He said it doesn't matter whichone they are.
I want nothing to do with itbecause I've seen who they are.
I've seen what they reallybelieve.
I grew up in a family where Iwas an altar boy, only to find
out there was this teaching thatwas going on behind the scenes.
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Therefore, nothing that I haveever seen is real.
The way of truth will beblasphemed and people will be
defrauded.
This is what Peter says theconsequences of false teaching
in your life will bring.
But there is one hope.
There's this one thing that hepoints to in the verses ahead.
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What is that?
Well, he doesn't tell you rightaway.
Instead, he goes into a historylesson.
This is going to be theologicallift number one.
All right, if we're about tostart repping 225 in a minute.
This is a warmup.
Okay, gear in antennas up, tryto swim under the net.
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What is Peter saying?
He's about to build a historyfor you.
He's saying I want you toremember the past of history.
If God didn't spare angels whenthey sinned, but he cast them
into hell and committed them tochains of gloomy darkness to be
kept until judgment, youremember that in history, when
good angels here, a third of theevil angels over there, and if
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he didn't spare the ancientworld but preserve Noah, a
herald of righteousness, andseven others when he brought a
flood upon the world of ungodly.
Let me give you one moreargument here.
If, by turning the cities ofSodom and Gomorrah to ashes.
He condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what
is going to happen to theungodly.
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Then here is what Peter's doing.
Please watch this.
This he's saying human historyis an example that even in the
midst of false teachers, peoplewanting to lead you astray,
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there is this promise that wehave been given a faithful
example, and this is what itlooks like.
God's righteousness isguaranteed.
It doesn't matter to me if youare born in year one or if
you're born in the year 2020, orif you're born in the year 2300
, if the Lord waits to comeuntil then.
What Peter is saying is anyonein human history has always been
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able to look back and say Godis righteous, in the midst of
whatever worldview andphilosophy wants to lead me
astray.
There is a way to trust God.
There is a way to believe himwhen everything else speaking
into your ears, looking at yourfaces wants to tell you God is
not authority, he is not there,he does not care.
(13:43):
The spiritual realm doesn'tmatter.
Become is not there.
He does not care.
The spiritual realm doesn'tmatter.
Become your own expert and youwill be fine.
Peter says no, there were angelsI put before creation.
I understand that angels arecreated beings.
If you want to go like Theo Browith me on this, we can.
But Job talks about the angels,the sons of God, singing over
creation.
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Okay, so we can go all the wayback to before what we would
call creation.
And when God called Noah.
The point was Noah could lookback.
Noah was able to look back tothis as an example.
I want to trust God, becausethose who do not trust God,
things go poorly for.
And then, when it comes toSodom and Gomorrah, lot was able
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to look back at Noah and say,if Noah was able to have faith
with almost nothing to stand on,then certainly I can.
And Peter says I'm able to lookback at Lot and realize that
God is always righteous.
So today we are able to lookback at Peter.
And what's really cool about theyear that you live in is this
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Almost exactly.
I know all of that seems old toyou, right?
You're like angels beingcreated.
That feels like a long time ago.
Well, can I really relate withthis ancient world?
It's literally called ancient.
Like?
Am I supposed to connect withthat thing?
Sodom and Gomorrah?
Anybody on Yelp checking outthe reviews to plan your
vacation.
No, like good luck, like gocheck it out.
(15:15):
And even when we think aboutthe early church, we're like
they didn't have AC, like how onearth did they even like really
worship?
Well, but what's reallyfascinating is this the distance
from today to Peter is almostthe exact same as Peter looking
back at Lot.
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Isn't that cool to know thatthe way you see him would be the
way that he looked at Lot.
And all throughout this, god isjust showing my righteousness
is guaranteed.
My righteousness is guaranteed,my righteousness is guaranteed.
And if he rescued righteous Lot, see if God rescues him.
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Greatly distressed by thesensual conduct of the wicked,
what was it like for Lot livingnear Sodom and Gomorrah?
For, as that righteous manlived among them day after day,
he was tormenting his righteoussoul over their lawless deeds
that he saw and heard.
Here's the point.
Why is Peter giving us ahistory lesson?
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Because the Lord knows how torescue the godly from trials and
to keep the unrighteous underpunishment.
This is the first little lift.
This is the thing to swim on.
Do I believe that God, and Godalone, knows how to rescue?
Can I trust his track record?
And he basically just says hereis how it plays out.
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It isn't you who know how torescue yourself.
It is the Lord who knows, andthis is the one hope that we
have, that in the midst of aworld who is going to do all of
that, wants to do all five ofthose things to you.
Just as with the angels, justas with Noah, just as with Lot,
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there is deliverance availablefor all of those who would look
to God, and look to God alone.
The Lord knows how to rescuethe godly from trials.
Now you'll notice at the bottomof the screen here I grabbed
verse five and I plastered itback up.
It's out of order.
The reason is I want you tonotice what is repeated here.
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He rescued righteous Lot and hepreserved Noah a herald of
righteousness.
I want you to notice thesethings, but this is one of the
coolest parts of this text in 2Peter.
I have two favorites and thisis one of them.
The fact that Lot is calledrighteous, the fact that Noah is
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called righteous, is fantasticfor you today, and you might be
sitting there saying, will, youwere talking about a lot of
history, a lot of history.
Well, here's how it plays out.
Noah is called a herald ofrighteousness, somebody who
proclaims how righteous God is.
Where does that come from?
Well, hebrews tells us a littlebit about his story.
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By faith, noah, being warned byGod concerning events as yet
unseen, in reverent fear,constructed an ark and became an
heir of the righteousness thatcomes by knowledge.
No, it came by faith, at nopoint.
Just imagine for a moment.
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You have this quiet time, allright, lord, putting on some
worship music.
I'm getting in the car.
I'm going for a drive.
I'm closing the door, I'mlocking it.
Kids are outside.
I'm going for a walk in thewoods.
I'm going to sit at the base ofa tree.
This is my time with you.
I'm just going to spend time.
Lord, speak to me.
Speak to me through your word,through prayer, through the
worship I'm listening to, andhere's what God says hey, I'm
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going to need you to build aboat real quick.
It's going to take a minute.
What did I fall asleeplistening to?
Was I like watching some weirdmovie?
If you didn't know this story,if Peter couldn't already point
back to this, you would look atthat and you would say God, I've
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never even seen rain before.
What do you mean?
Build a boat for a flood?
What are we talking about here.
This is why Noah is lifted upin scripture.
This is why he's called aherald proclaiming righteousness
, because when he had nothing togo on except God and his word,
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he said that's enough for me.
The whole world can call me afool, but if I am hearing from
the Lord, I know exactly where Ineed to walk.
That is why he is called aherald of righteousness.
Now some of you may look atthat and you may say I don't
have that faith.
I've made some pretty bigmistakes, to which I would say
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did you notice he included Lotas righteous as well?
Did you notice he included Lotas righteous as well?
You know Noah is righteous andin 1 Peter 1, verse 5, I think,
he says add to your faithself-control and steadfastness
and virtue.
Add to your faith these things.
Noah added to his faith ahammer and a saw, and he
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actually built something becauseGod called him to.
Lot doesn't have as good of astory.
How does he make the book andget called righteous?
Here's Lot's story.
Lot and Abram were about tosplit ways.
They were about to split ways.
They loved each other, but theyhad these large flocks and all
of their herdsmen startedarguing with each other.
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They basically all wanted touse the same grass, the same
water, the same whatever.
So Abram says look, lot, youjust pick whatever part of the
land you want to go to and I'llgo to the other.
And here's the story fromGenesis.
And Lot lifted up his eyes andhe saw he had knowledge that the
Jordan Valley was well wateredeverywhere, like the garden of
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the Lord.
He looks and he's like it lookslike the garden of Eden.
Over there I'm trying to growanimals.
They tend to like water, theytend to like grass.
I'm going to go that way.
Abram settled in the land ofCanaan, while Lot settled among
the cities of the valley andmoved his tent as far as Sodom.
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Okay, is Sodom a good place ora bad place?
All right, not too muchenthusiasm, guys.
Try to reign it in just alittle bit.
Like we know this, lot lookedand his brain said go this way.
And he moved into the worstneighborhood he ever could have
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been.
From our peripheral knowledgeof scripture, it seems like Lot
lived there for 20 or 30 years.
We don't think he had childrenwhen this discussion was going
on.
He moves.
There has a number of daughters, I think four.
Two of them end up married.
Before this happened, heprobably lived there for 20 or
30 years.
He saw a beautiful house.
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He saw a fenced-in backyard.
He had always wanted a largefireplace and there it was.
He didn't take a moment tothink about the people living
around him.
He didn't take a moment to lookat the schools.
He didn't take a moment tothink about the people living
around him.
He didn't take a moment to lookat the schools.
He didn't take a moment tothink about the influences on
his children.
All he did was look and say Ihave knowledge that looks good
and I am going.
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He made a huge mistake and theBible calls him righteous.
How Well.
Even though the men of Sodomwere wicked and great sinners
against the Lord, even thoughLot, because of one boneheaded
decision, had to live for 20 or30 years in the wrong place,
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when he heard God's voice, hemoved.
Do you want to know why?
I'm like slowly working throughthis one little piece of the
text?
Because, even though we'retalking about creation and
angels and Noah and Lot and I'mpleading with you guys to trust
God's word as it does this we'retalking about a lot of history.
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Here's what we're reallytalking about.
We're talking about somebodywho made one decision that was
not wise, somebody who made onewrong decision, one
short-sighted decision.
What job they took.
And they feel like I made amistake.
I made a mistake in what Istudied.
I made a mistake in the place Imoved.
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I made a mistake in the personthat I married.
I made a mistake in this.
And even though Lot made amistake, here is what we find.
One wrong decision does notpreclude you from living
righteously in the midst of thatdecision.
Even in the middle of a choiceyou regret, even in the middle
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of a choice that you haveregretted for years, you are not
beyond living righteously in ittoday, which was exactly what
Lot did and how he ended upmaking the book.
Why?
Because the Lord knows how torescue the godly from trials,
like Lot, like Noah.
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But the bigger issue is thisGood luck, little guy.
I hope you make it.
I'm struggling right there withyou.
The Lord knows how to rescuethe godly from trials.
But, guys, here's the deal yourname is not included in this.
It's not saying Will knows howto rescue himself from trials
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and the rest of this.
The rest of what we're going tolook at is this who has
authority to speak into yourlife.
Are you the expert of your life?
Are you the expert of your owndecisions, or might you need to
submit to one who knows way morethan you?
It is the Lord who knows how todo this, and when we choose
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ourselves as an authority orwhen we choose not to have one
self-chosen authority is simplyself-rule with a mask.
If you are going to pickinfluences that only tell you
what you want to hear, are youreally under authority?
If you're the one choosing yourauthority, are you really under
authority?
I don't think so.
(25:19):
So how can you find authorityworth being under?
To discern when other people aredeceived, god's word wants you
to look for two things the decaywithin and the destruction that
follows.
If somebody is going to speakand influence, teach, preach,
guide, coach or counsel you,before you start eating what
(25:41):
they are giving you, what doesthe inside of them look like and
what does the trail behind themlook like?
Peter says well, it's not hardto see the decay within In his
day and age, while he's inprison, writing truth.
There are people in the churchthat are bold and willful.
This is a very easy way to say.
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They are arrogant, incrediblyarrogant, arrogant to the point
that they feel like the expertsin all matters, so much so that
they do not even tremble as theyblaspheme the glorious ones.
All right, I'm going to pray.
I'm going to pause now to pray,because we're going to go into
the densest part that we'regoing to go in and I want to do
(26:25):
the best job that I can to throwthe net, and I want you to do
the best job you can to swimunder it.
God, as we go into thisparticularly dense piece, would
you show us the reality of ourown soul?
Would you make this clear as wemove forward?
In Christ's name, amen, allright, I would like for somebody
to be brave enough to guess whothe glorious ones are, and I
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don't care if you get it right.
Does anybody want to venture aguess as to what this is
pointing to?
Okay, you were here firstservice, and that doesn't count,
josh, but you know what.
Everybody here is grateful foryou, so we'll let it be.
In all likelihood, this ispointing to angels.
What's really going to mess youup is it's probably pointing to
fallen angels that you wouldnever call glorious.
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One of the reasons that wethink this is because the same
phraseology appears somewhereelse in Scripture.
It appears in the book of Jude,and Jude uses the same
phraseology.
And notice he's talking about avery similar group of arrogant
people.
Yet, in like manner, thesepeople also relying on their
dreams, relying on theirexpertise, relying on what they
(27:32):
have that you do not, thisgnosis, this special knowledge,
them being just a step ahead ofyou and a step smarter than you,
they defile the flesh.
They just give themselveswhatever feels good.
They reject authority and theyblaspheme the glorious ones.
What is probably happening hereis that when we look at where
we fit in the created order, bythe way, just keep swimming
(27:57):
under the net.
Keep swimming under the net.
This is the order thatcurrently exists.
God is more glorious than theangels At this point.
Angels are more glorious thanyou.
You are created in the image ofGod.
I am not taking anything awayfrom that, but there is a reason
.
When an angel shows up and whatyou're about to read in 2 Peter
, people fall on their knees.
(28:18):
There is a reason.
People started worshiping angelsand the angels had to say don't
worship me, worship Christinstead.
The reason is they have morepower, they have more glory, but
these people so bold, soarrogant, these teachers who
would lead you astray.
They have become over inflated.
They have started to believethat they are a big deal, they
(28:40):
are impressive, and when youthink that highly of yourself,
it does not take much for you todo this, and I will tell you
what the next step is, though wewill not often be honest with
ourselves.
This is what it means to rejectthe authority that God would
place in your life the authorityof church, the authority of
husband, the authority of parent, the authority of pastor, the
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authority that God would placein your life, the authority of
church, the authority of husband, the authority of parent, the
authority of pastor, theauthority of these things and
guys.
I'm not preaching because Iwant to be up here Whenever I
preach this stuff.
Stuff goes more difficult forme, not easier, but I'm just
telling you what the Bible says.
This is what they began to do,and we have this one very odd
example, which is why I'm justpleading keep swimming under the
(29:21):
net.
You'll only see this in Jude.
We don't see it referencedanywhere else in scripture, but
there's an argument between twoangels, and it looks like this
when the archangel Michaelcontended with the devil, both
angelic beings, one fallen, onenot.
They were disputing about thebody of Moses.
We don't know what the argumentwas about.
(29:42):
We don't know how the argumentwent, but Jude's argument in
that is this he, being Michael,did not presume to pronounce a
blasphemous judgment, but saidthe Lord, rebuke you Even though
you have angels, michael andSatan, lucifer, you can pick,
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even though they're on an evenplaying field.
He didn't feel comfortableblaspheming, rejecting or
judging him.
Instead, he said no, I'm notgonna do that.
May God deal with you as Godsees fit.
So what is happening in 2 Peter?
Why is he pointing to theglorious ones, and what is that
(30:26):
saying about false teachers?
On the one hand, it is sayingthat they think of themselves
bigger than they should.
On the other hand, it's sayingthey are erecting themselves to
a higher place than they should.
And what it's ultimately sayingis this they are living as
though they are such experts inlife that the spiritual doesn't
matter.
They're not worried aboutdemons affecting them, they're
(30:48):
not worried about the spiritualworld affecting them.
They are an expert, they haveknowledge, they are brilliant,
they are impressive, theirskills are high, their successes
are well known.
They need not worry about thespiritual world.
Why did I ask Dwight to sharehis testimony?
Because his brain had grownquite large.
(31:11):
His arguments were solid, hislogic was reason and he was as
far from the Lord as a personcould be.
And what saved him?
A really good argument.
No, he read a genealogy.
(31:32):
Can I just tell you, if somebodycame to me and said, will, I
feel like I need to repent, Ineed to get my life right with
the Lord the last place I wouldprobably turn is let's read 50
names you can't pronounce andsee if the Lord is going to work
in your heart.
No man, I'm going to Romans,right, I'm going to Ephesians.
I'm going hyper New Testament.
(31:53):
What happens when we thinkknowledge is the main thing?
That, and in case you don'tknow it, you, you live at the
epicenter of biblical knowledge.
You live in the buckle of aBible belt.
You live in a place wherepeople believe that knowledge
(32:16):
means righteousness and itdoesn't Faith does.
Why does Noah make the book?
Because he'd never built a boatbefore, he'd never seen it rain
before, but he said God, if yousay it, then I'm gonna do it,
because I am small and you aregreat and I know my place.
(32:38):
So lead on God, but not them.
They blaspheme the glorious ones.
This is Peter jumping into it.
Angels, though greater in mightand power, don't pronounce a
blasphemous judgment againstthem before the Lord.
But these have become likeirrational animals, like
creatures of instinct.
They're born to be caught anddestroyed, blaspheming about
(32:59):
matters of which they areignorant.
They're born to be caught anddestroyed, blaspheming about
matters of which they areignorant.
They talk like they're smart,but they know absolutely nothing
.
They will also be destroyed, asthey are destroying others.
It's a pity that the fuse is solong.
Sometimes they will sufferwrong as the wage for their
wrongdoing.
To discern when others aredeceived.
(33:19):
Look for the decay within.
Look for people who arearrogant.
Look for people who areshort-sighted when it says
irrational animals.
I'll tell you what it remindsme of.
On our way to and from, we onlystopped at Bucky's.
Our kids are now big enough.
We don't have to make.
You know what I'm starting torealize?
Our kids are big enough and wearen't old enough to where we
(33:41):
have to stop for the bathroom.
A lot.
That's actually what's comingnext, isn't it?
It's going to be me, I'm goingto be the problem next, but
right now it's great, like onestop and we're like at the beach
.
I have a dumb dog.
Okay, nothing I can do about it, nothing he can do about it.
He was made small, his brain isquite small and he is
absolutely irrational.
(34:02):
He is absolutely a creature ofinstinct.
And this is what happens withexperts in their field.
This is what happens when wehave been taught by opinions of
others rather than theinfallible word of God, who will
always be right and righteous.
What happens is you pull intoBucky's and the dog says I know
(34:23):
exactly what's going to happen.
The door is going to open andI'm going to walk out and I'm
going to enjoy the world.
No, what's going to happen is,if I open the door and you run
out, you're going to get hit by12 cars because there's 400
people here and all of them arein a hurry to either get to the
beach, because they want to bethere, or get home because
they're tired of driving.
Everybody's in a hurry,nobody's being patient.
They haven't gotten to the beefjerky wall yet, so it's going
(34:43):
very poorly for everybody.
But my dog is convinced he'slike man.
Just open the door.
Open the door.
There is a world of delightsjust waiting for me.
No, man, there are nothing butwide rim tires wanting to wreck
your life and cause my Monday tolook very differently, as I
bury a dog and then getconvinced the next day that we
need another one.
That's what I see.
(35:06):
Do you want to know how to knowif somebody is short-sighted?
Look for this.
Look for people who cannot bereasoned with.
Their lives will play out likea script.
You've seen it before and youknow you'll see it again.
You just wish you could getthem to see it while they're in
the midst of it.
It's like a dog who's convincedthat when he runs outside it's
(35:28):
going to be new, but he alwaystakes the same path and you can
see exactly where he's going.
By the way, that is how thechapter will end as well.
Exactly where he's going, bythe way, that is how the chapter
will end as well.
These are people who are livingas though the spiritual realm
does not exist.
But it isn't just that.
They count it pleasure to revelin the daytime.
These people are verycomfortable with sin.
(35:50):
They're not just arrogant andthey're not just short-sighted.
They can always make an excusenot to work.
They take things that would bebeautiful and they become bl
just short-sighted.
They can always make an excusenot to work.
They take things that would bebeautiful and they become blots
and blemishes.
This word blemish actuallyappears as Christ talks about
you.
The church Husbands love yourwives as Christ loved the church
(36:10):
.
How did he do it?
He gave himself up for her sothat you could be saved from
your sin.
Yes, but only no, so that hemight present the church to
himself in splendor, withoutspot, without wrinkle or any
such thing, that she might beholy and without blemish.
But when we look at thesepeople, they take something that
would be beautiful and theymake it ugly.
(36:31):
Do you know what makes thisplace beautiful?
It is not flowers, it is not apew, it's not cool chandeliers
or a pretty neat looking ceilingthat I'm sure some of the kids
have counted the slats in.
It's what I did when I gotbored.
What makes this pretty or not?
Is you, not me, not even otherpastors?
(36:52):
You make this place beautifulwhen people walk in and they see
people who aren't faking it,folks who are willing to share
their story.
I didn't get a chance to sharethis with the first service, but
I was talking with Rob and Robwas crediting somebody in the.
I'm intentionally being vaguehere, but Rob was crediting
somebody in the room for a levelof excellence that they have in
(37:16):
something they do, and I saiddo you know their story?
He said no.
I said their story is one ofgreat loss A brother who is in
the midst of dying in his 20s, afather who has passed away.
But you won't see it on theirface and you won't hear it in
their voice, because they havefound a greater thing to love
(37:39):
than what this world offers.
You make this place beautifulwhen you're honest, when you're
open, when you're led by theSpirit, not when you're smart,
when you're humble.
And the scary thing about thisis Peter says and here's the
deal, guys, these people areright next to you, they eat with
(37:59):
you and this doesn't mean theycome over after Sunday lunch and
you know, like back in the daywhen grandma cooked, and they're
sitting at the table and you'relike you deceptive little
weasel of a snake.
You didn't take a note, did you?
I bet you didn't even pray,right?
No, that's not what it's saying.
What it's saying is these samepeople are taking communion with
you.
They're feasting on the brokenbody of our Savior.
(38:22):
They are drinking the juicethat points to the blood that he
shed for us.
They are incredibly comfortablewith sin in a place that ought
to convict.
But that isn't all.
They have eyes that are full ofadultery.
They can make excuses for allof their behaviors.
Their sin insatiable can neverget enough of it, and the
(38:45):
problem is they entice unsteadysouls people who are coming to
church for the first time in along time I want you to know
that.
I'm really glad that you'rehere People who have walked into
this room and they feeluncomfortable because they don't
know Noah, they don't know Lotand they're not going to know
Balaam in just a second.
You're welcome here.
It's not about how much youknow.
It's about who you are beingled by.
(39:07):
They have hearts that aretrained in greed because they're
going to try to take from yourather than give.
Do you want to know?
One of the best ways todetermine if somebody should be
influencing you Is it to theirdetriment that they are talking
to you?
It is so so much easier not towalk into awkward conversations
and situations.
It is easier not to call outsin.
(39:29):
It is easier just to live andlet live.
But somebody that you can trustis going to be uncomfortable
enough with sin to repent oftheir own and to call you out on
yours.
Be around those people Ifthey're only ever telling you
how great you are and your egois becoming ever so inflated to
(39:50):
the point that you feel like thechurch is lucky to have you
with all of your gifts and allof your abilities and all of
your knowledge.
Have you begun to believe thatyour and all of your abilities
and all of your knowledge, haveyou begun to believe that your
sin is so small that you sort ofhave life figured out?
Is repentance something youused to do or you once did, or
is it the world that you live innow?
(40:10):
You see, these people areaccursed children.
They're forsaking the right way.
They've gone astray.
They've followed the way ofhere you go.
Another history lesson, but I'mnot going to lift this one very
hard.
Balaam Balaam was a prophet.
You can read about him in theOld Testament.
Basically, he was supposed tospeak for God, but instead he
decided he wanted to make somemoney.
And so he's on his way to makethat money and the donkey that
he's on stops walking.
(40:31):
So he starts smacking the thingand the donkey won't move.
And in this fantastic storywhich is beyond knowledge, but
only of faith.
The donkey turns around andspeaks human language to him.
The son of Beor, who loved gainfrom wrongdoing but was rebuked
for his own transgression, aspeechless donkey spoke with
human voice and restrained atthe prophet's madness.
(40:53):
What's happening here?
The donkey says look, I knowthat you feel like you're the
authority.
You're sitting on top of me,you feel like you're the expert,
you're the one telling me whereto go.
You can't see that there is onemore glorious in front of you.
You can't see that there's onemore powerful in front of you.
There is an angel standingthere and you can't see it.
If you want me to walk forward,fine, I'll do it, but your
(41:14):
head's going to roll down thesidewalk.
And the one who was most wisewas not the one who would put
himself in a position ofauthority, but the one who is
being ridden upon.
This is what we must becautious of.
(41:38):
When somebody is preaching, whensomeone is teaching, counseling
or influencing me biblically,you biblically, you must ask
yourself this question If Icontinue on that path, will I be
more like Jesus than I am today, if I continue walking with
that person?
When Bill Harrison met with meat Chick-fil-A for years to talk
about being a husband and beinga father.
Was I going to leave that placebeing more like Jesus?
And the answer was yes.
But there were lots of peoplewho were speaking into me who
(42:00):
would have made me far worse.
Will, don't you know?
You'll be happier if you justyou should be happy, you should
seek pleasure, and that is whatthese teachers were doing.
But don't just ask biblically.
When somebody is preaching,teaching, counseling or
influencing you secularly,secularly is just sort of a
fancy churchy word for notbiblically it doesn't
(42:20):
necessarily mean bad.
Am I going to be more likeJesus than I am today?
Sometimes the answer is yes.
Ms Newton, second grade class, Istarted falling in love with
science.
Mr Skinner, 10th gradechemistry.
The guy ate chalk to provepoints while he was talking
about molecular chemistry.
I was like that dude's awesomeand science is amazing.
Hopped on science Olympiad,became a nerd right Like.
(42:42):
That was a good influence,because the more I study science
the more I see the grandeur ofGod.
When coach Causey, when I waslike 10 years old playing my
first like year of baseball andmy arms then were smaller than
my wrists are now Like when Iwas 27,.
I looked 15, like super small.
I was never gonna hit a ballout of the infield, never.
(43:06):
And he said, will, just so youknow, I didn't get you so that
you would swing the bat.
That's why we got Rob.
I actually remember that guy.
He was jacked at like 12 yearsold and he was just like hitting
bombs.
Every guy he was jacked at like12 years old and he was just
like hitting bombs.
Every Saturday he said, will, Igot you for one reason I just
know that you can run fast.
That is all I need from you.
(43:26):
Do you know how freeing thatwas for me?
Like, who had a dad who waslike get in the garage, start
swinging the bat.
You got to get stronger.
You got to do this For my coach, by the way, we made it to
state.
Second in the state, awesome,right, all he said was I need
you to steal bases and I needyou to learn how to bunt.
And I was like teach me, I willfollow.
Right, consistently buntingtriples.
(43:50):
Right, because they wouldoverthrow Stealing.
But he, in a secular way,overthrow stealing.
But he, in a secular way, saidthere is something of value in
you when you don't see it inyourself, that is worthwhile.
The shows you watch, the thingsthat you imbibe on in social
media are they going to make youmore like Jesus than you are
today?
(44:10):
Because if you really want toput your antenna 20 feet high,
keep this in mind when Peter waswriting this, people did not
have a lot of books on theirshelves.
They weren't getting influencesfrom remote options.
We have podcasts of peoplewhose lives you never get to
look into, pastors and sermonswhose lives you don't really
(44:33):
know, though we hope onlineexperts who will speak into
every piece of you.
Be careful when you can't lookinside of them and watch for the
destruction that follows.
They're waterless springs,they're mists driven by a storm.
(44:53):
We don't live in an agrarianculture, so you can't appreciate
this.
But if you've ever gone to atheme park and you bought the
souvenir cup so that you getfree refills and then you can't
find anywhere in the park to geta refill, that's what Peter's
saying.
He's like you go to the waterfountain and it won't turn on.
You go to the register andthey're like sorry, we're closed
.
It's like well, I paid, like Ibought the ticket, I want to
(45:13):
ride the ride.
You tell me you're the expert.
You told me this was going tobe life-giving.
It's like this storm that comesin rumbling and thundering and
all that comes out of it is amist that will never saturate
the ground with life.
They speak loud boasts of folly.
The way of a fool is right inhis own eyes, but a wise man
(45:35):
listens, but not them.
They speak.
They speak often and frequently, and loudly.
They entice people with sensualpassions.
I can make your life feel good,I can make your flesh feel good
, and they do this to those whoare barely escaping.
They promise freedom, but arethemselves slaves.
Freedom but are themselvesslaves.
(46:01):
They come to you in your cagewith a spoon to help you dig
through the wall, all the whileChrist is holding the key and
saying why do you remain in thissin when I would gladly let you
out?
Whatever overcomes a person, tothat he is enslaved.
That is who these people are.
Is anyone in your life teachingyou to indulge?
Are they telling you it is okayfor you to indulge?
(46:24):
Are they making big promisesthat they cannot back up?
Because if that is the case,here's what you will find.
This is the last scripture,luke.
If you want to go ahead andcome up, feel free.
When we read through this twoweeks ago, reading through the
entire book of 2 Peter, I hadmore responses come in on the
(46:45):
phone for us to respond to thisthan anything else.
For if I'm only going to circleone word, but notice how many
times it gets circled.
If, after they have escaped thedefilements of the world
through the knowledge of ourLord and Savior, jesus Christ,
they are again entangled in themand overcome, the last state
has become worse for them thanthe first.
It would have been better forthem never to have known the way
(47:09):
of righteousness than, afterknowing it, to turn back from
the holy commandment deliveredto them.
What the true proverb says hashappened to them the dog returns
to its own vomit like anirrational animal and the sow,
after washing herself, returnsto wallow in the mire.
What's happening here?
(47:29):
A lot of people ask the questionWill, does this mean I can lose
my salvation?
I'll just give you two real,quick responses.
Did these sound like people whowere saved to you in the first
place?
These sound like people who aretheir own authority and they're
not under the authority ofChrist.
These sound like people who aregoing about everything other
than what Jesus has directedthem to go after.
But don't get me wrong.
They've got lots of knowledgeand so people assumed their
(47:52):
knowledge is steadfast,therefore their soul must be.
Their knowledge is steadfast,therefore their soul must be Not
the case.
And for those of us in the roomwith high amounts of knowledge
please be warned in this itwould have been better,
according to Scripture, for themnever to have known the way.
How on earth is this possible?
(48:13):
How would it be better for younot to walk in the door?
Because if you know the way ofChrist but you don't receive it,
if you know the way of Christbut there is no relationship, if
you have the answers but you donot follow after him, you're
unlikely to ever consider Jesusin the future.
(48:34):
You've seen what he has tooffer and it wasn't enough.
But you're more accountable toGod than anybody else because
this knowledge has been sharedwith you and you're also
probably leading other peopleastray who see you button it up,
get your lashes right, do yourhair nice dress, nice outfit,
(48:55):
slide into church and this isthe only thing that you're
looking to feed.
If we don't have faith, we don'thave anything.
I'm not telling you not to haveknowledge.
I'm just telling you, peterwants you to have it in the
right place, because if youdon't, because if you don't,
knowledge without faith createsone thing a Pharisee and you
(49:27):
live in the pharisaical breedingground on the planet.
Moms and dads, if you're moreconcerned with your kids getting
their yes sirs and their yesma'ams right than being the kind
of person who opens the door toyour room when you do not want
them to come in late at night torepent and say that there's
something wrong, that they wantto seek the Lord, that they're
struggling with something, itsays more about us than it says
about our children, because thatis who God is with us.
(49:49):
He's not terribly concernedthat Will gets it all right.
He is terribly concerned thatWill never stops running to be
made right.
And if I were to simplify thewhole thing, I would simplify it
by saying this the problem fromthe beginning was always
knowledge over faith.
Go to the garden.
(50:11):
The knowledge of good and evilwas the problem, not the
solution.
The solution was to have faithin God enough to know you do not
need that to follow him.
It doesn't have to start torain for you to build a boat.
You don't have to end up in theperfect place to begin seeking
(50:31):
after him.
You can trust him today, evenin the midst of bad decisions
you've made or circumstances youdidn't choose.
I give you a few questions toponder as we worship and get
ready to close out together.
When we begin to sing.
If you want to sit, stay seated.
If you want to stand, stand,but let's reflect on these
(50:54):
realities.
If you need prayer or to talk,a couple of us will be down
there.
Use the back porch to walkaround, but let's pursue the
Lord as a people of faith, notjust a people of knowledge.
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