Mr.Big Stuff - Who Do You Think You Are?

Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Apostate

One writer said of apostates, “One is reminded by way of contrast with the Lord, whom these men deny. He is the rock of our salvation; they are hidden rocks, threatening shipwreck to the faith. He comes with clouds to refresh his people forever; they are clouds that do not even bring temporary blessing. He is the tree of life; they are trees dead. He leads beside still waters; they are like the restless troubled sea. He is the bright and morning star heralding the coming day; they are wandering stars presaging a night of eternal darkness.”

continues the thought that was begun in

(ESV) — 16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

In this passage, Peter assures his audience that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is trustworthy, being amply supported by witnesses of His ministry, His death,. and His resurrection. The prophetic revelation contained in that message is clear, accessible, and both birthed and confirmed by the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe. God did not hide either the identity or the mission of His Son. The Scriptures all testify of the Son; the Spirit bears witness with signs and wonders and His various gifts, distributed according to His own will ().

By contrast - in this case, literally, as the chapter begins with the word, δὲ, “one of the most common Gk. particles, used to connect one clause to another, either to express contrast or simple continuation. When it is felt that there is some contrast betw. clauses—though the contrast is oft. scarcely discernible—the most common translation is ‘but’.”

William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 213.

William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 213.

Peter transitions from the clear, shining light of the revelation of the Son to the deceitful, destructive, dark confusions of the false teachers. The true prophets were part of the commonwealth of Israel, but sometimes, so were the false prophets. The true teachers are members of the Church on earth, and sometimes, so are the false teachers. Just as the people of Israel would not readily listen to a foreigner who came in their midst proclaiming strange gods, neither would the members of the Church readily listen to outsiders who spoke against the Gospel. Therefore the Devil, in both Old and New Testaments, raises up those who "will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction” ().

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

God will expose the false teachers. He won’t do it simply to win the fight against heretics or triumph over the competition. He will do it because God is the truth, and always deals with and in the truth. The Church is built upon the Word of Truth. God cannot, therefore, allow teachings that lead people away from the pure Gospel to stand. He cannot allow those who would seek to corrupt the pure milk of the word with doctrines of demons to go unchallenged. Those who are led astray by these false teachers do so because "the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” ().

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

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The deadliest, most damaging errors cause people to doubt the pure Gospel, because Justification is the “the pillar upon which the Church stands or falls.” If you doubt God’s promise at this point, nothing else matters. Therefore God, while He may allow us to entertain errors of doctrine, stands against those things which deny the Gospel. (ESV) — 4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, 11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord.

In what many describe as a “post-Christian” culture, where the values, goals and purpose of the Church have been challenged and questioned, either we trust that God is still watching over His Word to perform it, repent of our forgetting of our first love, or walk away. The Kingdom of God is either the ultimate reality, or it doesn’t exist at all, and it is the purpose of the Church to bear witness to the existence of the Kingdom, even as it is the mission of the devil to deny that it exists. Every sinful act that the world embraces and celebrates stems from its acceptance of the devil’s lie, the same lie that he flung at Adam that led to the fall: Has God truly said…?

Has God truly said that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God?” Has He truly said that “Every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father?” Has He truly said, “All authority in heaven an don earth has been given to Me. As you go, therefore, disciple all the nations, uniting them with Me and with one another through baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I have commanded you?”

If you know this to be true, to do other than what Christ has called, commissioned, and equipped us to do is nothing less than “to turn back from the holy commandment that was delivered” to you. To ignore mission that has been entrusted to the Bride of Christ while claiming to be a part of her is to deceive yourself, and as it is written, “all liars shall have their part in the lake of fire” - even those who lie in Jesus’ name.

The Lord does not ask anything of us that He has not already enabled us to do through the power of the Holy Spirit Who was gifted to us in Holy Baptism and nurtured through the preaching and teaching of the Gospel. If you feel weakened by doubt and sin, Christ presents the remedy of repentance and returning to His “exceeding great and precious promises” that will enable you “to escape the corruption that is in the world through lust.” If you feel alone with the weight of the burden of the Lord like the prophets of old, remember, you are not alone, just like Elijah was not alone, and just like the Apostles were not alone. For Jesus said, at the close of His commissioning statement, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age!” So go in peace; serve the Lord. Thanks be to God.