Heresy and why it matters part 2
2 Peter • Sermon • Submitted
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· 11 viewsWe are sharing a second week on the topic of heresy and why it matters that we get right teaching in the church.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Last week we started talking about Heresy and why it matters.
We learned three things about Heresy.
Heresy promises freedom and delivers freedom.
Heresy promises freedom and delivers freedom.
Wrong teaching leads to immoral living.
Wrong teaching leads to immoral living.
To tell faith from a fake just find out what they believe about Jesus
To tell faith from a fake just find out what they believe about Jesus
This week we will continue to talk about the dangers of heretical beliefs.
Today we are going to continue in Peter’s writing to understand the danger and end to false teachers.
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,
Holman New Testament Commentary: I & II Peter, I, II & III John, Jude B. Turning up the Heat (vv. 10b–22)
One who is “bold” rides roughshod over the rights, opinions, and interests of others, whether they be human or divine.
Holman New Testament Commentary: I & II Peter, I, II & III John, Jude B. Turning up the Heat (vv. 10b–22)
One who is “arrogant” goes further; they cannot be reasoned with. No amount of conversation or dialogue will stop them from doing or teaching just as they please. They assume they are right and everyone else is wrong.
These false teachers believe they know what is best and their teachings are the right teachings. In short they believe they know better than God. In this arrogance they cross lines that even the angels won’t cross.
11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord.
It’s out of a reverence for God that even the angels won’t slander someone else.
9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”
The beginning and ending of our faith should be a God centered perspective on life. We should live, speak, react all under the umbrella of our relationship and respect for God.
The false teachers tried to show their strength by not being afraid to speak against God or the angels.
They are kind of like dogs barking and trying to attack a pickup truck. They stand just as much chance of hurting themselves against the power of what they are attacking.
Animals do not realize the power of devices or vehicles. They simply react based on the fundamental insticts they have. This is how the false teachers are.
We are called to be those who have a massive confidence in the power of God.
12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction,
We must never lose sight of what God has constructed inside of us. God has called and created us in His image. We are beings who think, will and chose for reasons higher than our desires alone. We are not driven soley by the creature desires of our body. We are driven by our convictions, beliefs and more.
These false teachers claim a higher understanding of the world but in reality they are showing a lower understanding. They claim to know best how to live but in that they make the same mistake the animals do. Animals don’t know better because they lack the image of God. Humans are created in God’s image.
13 suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you.
These people gathered to eat with the church and yet took that time to spread deception and lies.
In the early church as in now meals were times of fellowship and community. These people used the informality of community meals to spread their lies.
14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!
These men were explicit in their pursuit of sin. They didn’t even try to hide their actions. They were most interested in what they could get out of their “religion.”
15 Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing,
16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
Balaam is a great example. He was a prophet speaking to God and hearing from God. He had the opportunity to do what was right but instead chose disobedience.
When the Israelites were travelling into the country that God had promised to them the kings around them were obviously worried. In one example in the book of Numbers chapter 22-24 we have this story of Balaam.
Balak the king sends for Balaam who is known for being someone who speaks to God. Balak hopes to be able to buy the curse of the gods on this invading people.
Balaam consults God several times about going and finally receives permission to go.
God first sends and angel to confront Balaam; and a donkey saves his life. Finally Balaam heeds the warnings and refuses to curse the Israelites.
1 While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab.
2 These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.
3 So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.
16 Behold, these, on Balaam’s advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and so the plague came among the congregation of the Lord.
Later we learn that instead of turning aside from the mission to curse the Israelites Balaam decided to distract the Israelites and tempt them to sin. He appealed to their flesh and desires.
17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.
What is more frustrating than running up to a water fountain in a park on a hot day only to find it not working? You want a drink, you expect to find water, water is advertised, and yet no water is there. What about a brief mist there one moment and then blown away?
In the same way teachers who promise peace and answers found not in the truth present a lie. We believe we are finding something that’s going to give hope and yet we find emptiness.
The image here is of an especially sever judgement that God reserves for those who lead others astray.
Think about the stories of Jesus. He showed grace and love to many people. He cared for the weak. He healed the sick. He loved those trapped in the cycle of sin.
Think about the times Jesus got angry. He was furious with the religious leaders of the day for making faith an impossible thing you had to earn. He chewed out those who used other. He used His power in service to the Father and for the sake of others.
18 For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.
The truly deadly thing about a heresy is that it takes someone who is just escaping the trap of the world and locks them into slavery to a lie. The freedom that Jesus offers works deep in us to change us from the inside out. He frees us from sin and enables us to follow God.
Any other freedom is simply trading one system of slavery for another.
19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.
Men and women like to say they are free to do whatever they like. But the reality is when we attempt to do whatever we like and cast off restraints we discover we are in bondage to our desires. We do what makes us feel good and that enslaves us.
Faith that is founded on Jesus and obedience to God through the strength of the Holy Spirit frees us from slavery to sin and locks us into serving righteousness.
Jesus frees us to serve Him and that freedom is for our good and leads to our righteousness.
20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.
We are praying and hoping for a vaccine to the Coronavirus. Do you know how a vaccine works? In general I believe a vaccine introduces a small amount of the flu or COVID-19 into your body. It’s not enough to get your sick but enough for you to develop a defense to the disease.
Heresies like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons and more offer enough of the gift of the Gospel to get you hooked and give you a taste of the truth. Yet, when you fall away you feel like you know what the Gospel is all about and want nothing of it.
Think about it, Terre Haute is full of men and women who have an idea of what the church believes. They know a little and have characatures of Christianity in their heads. They reject this without knowing the Jesus who wants to give them life.
17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”
People who accept and wade into false teaching find themselves wallowing in sin that in many ways is worse than before.
It is not enough for someone to just want to change. It is not enough for someone to just chose to live a moral life. They must be filled with the Holy Spirit, they must depend on God to chose to and succeed in living the life God is calling us to.
Conclusion
Pursue moral purity in your lives.
Guard your sexual purity. Wrong teaching throughout history has been connected with sin in this area.
Study and apply God’s word in your life. Make sure reading and studying God’s word has a regular place on your schedule.
Holman New Testament Commentary: I & II Peter, I, II & III John, Jude IV. Life Application: What’s Real Anymore?
We must learn from church history that “new truth” is often old error in new disguises. The same voices are being heard in the church today. We are told to surrender our old-fashioned morality, to lighten up and enjoy the ride. We are challenged to find the “real” Jesus, to search for him and then rejoice when he emerges entirely differently than the Jesus of the Gospels. We are invited to pursue wealth as the “king’s kids” and to take all that money back from the devil.
People regularly whisper to us to believe in heaven, but to discard the old-fashioned idea of hell. A God of love could not possibly entertain the idea of eternal punishment. We are being seduced by the same voices that confused the first-century church; we just don’t know it. Worse, if we do, we don’t protest. This chapter presents the eternal seriousness of falling for heresy in doctrine and lifestyle. It is a call to the church to return to the purity of the gospel and the glory of Jesus Christ.
Closing Prayer
Holman New Testament Commentary: I & II Peter, I, II & III John, Jude V. Prayer
Lord, it is too easy to be fooled, to be led astray. Sometimes we just put our guard down. We stop thinking. We stop trusting your word. Lord, help us to be strong in the faith, without becoming hard and brittle to others. Allow our minds to be continually renewed by your Spirit so we might know your word. Allow our hearts to remain soft so we might communicate your word with love and gentleness. May we never lose sight of the fact that people are going to spend eternity apart from you in hell unless they accept you as Lord and Savior. May we always hold on to you and hold you out to others. Amen.
