06. Creatures of Instinct
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2 Peter: Spiritual Maturity... In Knowledge, Grace, & Growth • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 46:03
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On trips to Africa I have visited villages with trash and filth that overwhelm ones sense of sight & smell
On medical calls as a firefighter medic I have responded to residences in filth that required one to shower and dispose of clothing afterwards
I have also walked down streets in places like Las Vegas, New Orleans, and other similar places like these where the...
Presence and celebration of sinful lifestyles surrounds you
The oppression of sin weighs one down
Each of these things in their own way placed a burden on my heart, a heaviness on the soul,
Leaving one feeling dirty with a stench that hangs in the air and upon the soul
As I read and re-read the passage for today… I felt a similar feeling!
The second chapter of 2 Peter is one of, if not THE most graphic in its description of the corruption that occurs in the life of one who follows a path of sin and false teaching.
Jude 4 states these teachers teach “God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives!”
This chapter ends talking about dogs eating vomit and pigs rolling in their own mire!
Chapter two must be read and considered in the context of all Peter is writing…
He opens up right away expressing the importance of growing in their knowledge and the need for reminders
He emphasizes the TRUTH of God’s Word…
God’s Word being true there are those who seek to defile it, to teach contrary, to distort it.
They are slick, using the same vocabulary with a different dictionary
God’s Word being true does not mince words! God uses Peter to state it as it is!
(Today I wanted to illustrate what Peter is trying to describe… Pig Mire!)
Your Pastor did not assign this to be done but went into the pig mire to get this illustration today (PIG SLIDES)
We today will see the depravity of the false teachers and their message
Once we grasp the awfulness of the sin in this world
THEN… we truly appreciate the message of hope we have in the return of Jesus Christ in chapter 3
As I looked at the DESCRIPTION of these false teachers, the TECHNIQUES which they use, and the END they face and those who follow them… I had a heavy heart for the people God had entrusted me to shepherd and care for.
I put myself in Peter’s sandals… I realized as a pastor all the more Peter’s message...
Church it is your responsibility to grow in the Grace and Knowledge of Christ… it is my responsibility to teach you and remind you of this importance!
Peter begins his letter verse 3 stressing this… “spiritual maturity is the best remedy for false teachers and heretics”!!!
God can and will rescue the righteous as 2:9 states! Read with me now as we look at how God describes the condition of these false teachers, their message, and their followers… consider this graphic description given 2 Peter 2:10-22
and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you, having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet. These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”
False Teachers Vividly Described
False Teachers Vividly Described
Might I remind you… These are IN THE CHURCH! Among them, cleverly disguised, this is not talking about the false teaching of the world but those coming into the church body!
Look at the pride and arrogance of these individuals...
They speak down and condemn these fallen angels!!!
They have no power or authority to do so, even the angels being more powerful, do not do this!
Angels leave this judgment in its place… before God
God compares these people to wild animals… to be caught and destroyed
Instinct… I spoke with an individual that believes that man is not born a sinner
He said we are born with instincts and desires for self preservation, but not sin.
What an apt definition of being born into sin! Peter chapter 2 agrees fully… sin at its peak causes one to act no better than a wild animal.
What a sad picture, how awful sin is lived out in humanity, yet we seek it!
They scoff at things they don’t understand… they revile the things of God! vs13
They take a message like GRACE and stain it, calling sin okay (Jude addresses this along with Paul!)
Romans 13:13
Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy.
They behave as in the night as in the day! Romans 6:1
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
Let sin increase! is what they say, do and teach! Look how wonderful God’s Grace is… sounds good… no consequences, no guilt…
They entice the followers of Christ with the desires of this life… They seek themselves only (like an animal)
Trained in GREED!!! they master this skill! (MINE)
Compared in their madness to that of Balaam… the false prophet in Numbers 22, 23, 24 ...
Uses a gift and ability to intentionally lead Israel away from God
Balaam was not ignorant of God’s truth and will but deliberately went against God for self gain
So intent was he that even when God told him no he insisted on doing his own will
God used a donkey to get his attention, a donkey listens better than a man intent on sin!
Rather Balaam told the evil king Balak how to defeat Israel… be friendly, join close to them and raw them into their orgies and pagan worship appealing to their lust!
The technique is still used today… it works!!!
Technique & Seduction of False Teachers
Technique & Seduction of False Teachers
Satan still uses this strategy for the church today...
They talk a good talk but it is empty...
Springs with no water / a mirage
This should enrage the believer
Mist in the wind / offer refreshment but nothing comes
Noise and flashes with nothing
God says there is a dark darkness reserved for them!
Arrogant Words of Vanity… gifted in what they say, it sounds so good.
Entice… they know what people want, desire, and crave. the things of the flesh!
Sensuality, they have no problem appealing even to the sexual desires from within!
Empty promises… FREEDOM!? One who is clasped in shackles and irons is claiming to bring freedom?
the very thing they offer will be what overtakes them
Live corruptly its okay… look I am and I am enjoying life they say! They are a slave to the very thing they say brings freedom.
Death awaits them and they are taking people with them! (PROVERBS SPEAKS TO THIS)
Their End Destruction
Their End Destruction
Verses 20-22 have been used to speak of one loosing salvation… but notice never does Peter state these false teachers ever had salvation, rather the opposite Verse 2:1 “denying the Master who bought them” (Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit)
“These” temporarily escape the defilements of this world… how by the knowledge…THEY KNOW GOD’S WORD!
Many know God’s Word better than some here!
They seek the knowledge they have to gain for themselves...
Verse 21 is difficult… let me share several things on this...
There are various degrees of punishment in hell
ALL who do not place their faith in the finished work of Christ will go to hell
Some will face a greater degree of punishment
It is harder for them to believe after this point...
One who is steeped in bad habits has a harder time correcting their ways
Example of the chain saw
One who does not know is easier to teach
They are what they want to be / church we need to see them for what they are:
Dogs… even well trained will vomit and then go and eat it!
Pigs… regardless of how well you clean them up will seek out the mire to roll in it!
It is their instinct and nature.
Our stomachs should churn at the thought of sin and depravity… yet somehow we are enticed by it
There is HOPE...
There is HOPE...
Peter does not leave us here… there is chapter three, He is faithful to rescue His own
God has given us His Word that He will return...
Seeing the depth of filth and mire that sin can lead a person into… all the more we want Jesus Christ to return! Peter is going to REMIND his readers of this blessed hope we have and even though we may see corruption all around us we have this HOPE!
Let me close with how Peter opened this letter
2 Peter 1:2–3 (NLT)
May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.