False Teachers...Their Destructive Teaching - 2 Peter 2:1-3

0:50Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for speaking to us. We thank you for revealing things disclosed and to give us a road map, to give us a lamp unto our feet. And Father, we thank you. Pray this morning that you would open this up so that our hearts would hear, our ears would hear, our hearts would be changed, and our ways would turn towards you. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, we've chapter 2, to give you a brief overview, the main emphasis or exhortation is to expose false teachers. Chapter 1, the overall exhortation was. Exercise true faith. Peter wants his listeners to exercise true faith. In chapter 2, he switch gears and he wants us to expose false teachers. Expose false teachers. And in the first three verses, first thing to expose is their destructive heresies. We'll be looking at that this morning. And then in verses 4 through 10, he goes on to give three examples. He speaks about their certain doom. And then in 11 through 17, he speaks about their base nature. And in 18 through 22, he speaks about their fleshly slavery. So I hope over the course of the next four messages, we'll look at false teachers, their destructive teaching, their certain doom, their base nature, and their fleshly slavery. This morning, we want to look at their destructive heresies. And there's three realities that jump out of this text. You look at the verb tenses. There is a historical reality, there is a future reality, and a present reality, all from Peter's perspective. As he is writing and talking, he brings up three realities: historical, future, and present. We'll walk through those this morning.

2:56And as we do, I want you to see. The destructive nature of these false teachers and their impact on the church, so that you will not only recognize them but that you will expose them for what they really are. Historical reality. Let's look at that one first. Historical reality. Verse 1, first part of it. But false prophets also arose among the people. People being spoken of, Israel. Historical Israel. False teachers or false prophets arose. Word for false, or a prophet is someone who speaks for God. The word for false is pseudo. Have you heard that word? Pseudo means false, something that is not genuine, a fake, a phony, that kind of thing.

3:59There's a big business these days in pseudo-drugs. Anybody knows that? Online companies have given a rise to a phenomenon of counterfeit medicine. Yes, really. And these online pharmacies, and they're making pills that look just like the real pills. And some of them. Them have wrong ingredients like drywall and eggshells. Some of them have incorrect quantities. And some of them can lead to further sickness and even death. Pseudo-drug business. Very dangerous. Well, a false prophet is just that, a pseudo-prophet, a person who pretends to speak on behalf of God, but really doesn't.

5:04Whether he or she is knowingly false or self-deceived, doesn't really matter. The result is the same. A pseudo-prophet. And this was true of Israel's history. In fact, in Deuteronomy 13, God says this is going to happen among you. Deuteronomy 13:1, read this. If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes true concerning which he spoke to you, saying, Let's go after other gods whom you have not known and let us serve them, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, and mind. So the test of a, but there's false prophets that'll speak. Nothing more than a test to see, do you really love God with all of your heart? In the 18 verse or chapter 18 of Deuteronomy, you don't need to turn there, but God spoke saying, there are going to be some false prophets among you. When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come true, then this prophet has not spoken. And throughout Israel's history, it's going to be this constant battle between true prophets and false prophets. And the false prophets at times are going to grow in much greater numbers and are going to teach and prophesy things that will be contrary to God's word. In 1 Kings chapter 22, you may remember Miciah and Ahab wants to go to war and he wants to get Jehoshaphat to come in and join him. They want to hear from the prophets. So 400 prophets gather to say, go. It's going to be good. It's going to go well with you. God is going to prosper your efforts. They pull in Micaiah, say, you really don't want to hear what I have to say.

7:17Because Miciah says, no, you're going to be scattered. You're going to be defeated. And King gets mad at him and says, How many, why don't you say good things? You know, quit saying all this negative stuff. And so he says, if you do return, God has not spoken through me. And so he ends up put in jail, and that's the last we've seen of him because indeed his words come true. But 400 false prophets. Jeremiah 5, you could pull out so many. In many ways, Israel's history is a history of dealing with false prophets. In Jeremiah 5, verse 30, God says, This, an appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule on their own authority, and my people love it so.

8:14Jeremiah 14, verse 14. Then the Lord said to me, The prophets are prophesying falsehood in my name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them, nor spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false vision, divination, futility, and the deception of their own minds. Then in chapter 23, see, the problem is not just a theological one, it's a moral one. In verse 13, 23. Moreover, or in verse 14, he says, Also, among the prophets of Jerusalem, I have seen a horrible thing, the committing of adultery, and the walking in falsehood, and they strengthen the hands of evildoers. So that no one has turned back from his wickedness. All of them have become to me like Sodom and her inhabitants like Gomorrah. That's profound, sensual sin. Profound sin. And then he goes on in verse 16. Thus says the Lord of hosts, do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility. They speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the Lord. They say to those who despise me, the Lord has said, you will have peace. In other words, it's going to go well. It's going to go fine with you. And as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, they say, calamity is not going to come upon you. Don't worry about calamity. It's not going to come upon you. That's a positive message. God is not in the judgment business. And then he says in verse 21, I did not send these prophets, but they ran. I did not speak to them, but they prophesied. They're zealous to do it. But he said, if they had stood in my counsel, they would have announced my words to my people and would have turned them back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds. If they really did come from me, they would not be telling people not to worry about judgment, but turning people away from the road that brings judgment upon them. That's the mark. And he goes on and. On verse 21, just look at that. Well, I just looked at that.

10:39Therefore, I behold, in verse 30, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from each other. Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, the Lord declares, behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams, declares the Lord, and related them to related them and led my people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting. We could go on and on. But observations. It was a reality, a historical reality. In fact, Israel's history very much a history of dealing with false prophets, what is from God and what is not, and going after that which was false.

11:27But they rose from within Israel. Just because God has inspired some prophets doesn't mean he inspires all prophets. And everyone who presumes to speak for God didn't necessarily speak for God. In fact, many, many who presume to speak for God did not. The characteristics about these, if we summarize from the example of these Old Testament prophets, false prophets, they lacked God's authority, number one. They promised peace and safety and blessing when God was threatening judgment. They wanted to get God out of the judgment business and into the prosperity business. That was their mode.

12:17And the result was destruction of them and the people that followed them. That's Israel's history. But the point is, what Peter is making here in our text this morning is they didn't arise from the outside, but from the inside. False prophets also arose among the people. And then he talks about a future reality, a future reality. Just as, look at verse 1. Just as there will be, just as, just as there were false prophets among them, there will be. He speaks of a future reality. Now, mind you, this is from Peter's perspective. He's talking about a future reality that had already entered into the church. But he uses the future.

13:17But false prophets will be, just as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them. Them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them, the way of the truth will be maligned, and in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Just as there were false, pseudo-prophets, there will be pseudo-teachers. Same word. And their teaching is not based on true revelation from God, but upon their own creative imaginations or cleverly devised myths, as Peter said in verse 16.

14:04It's interesting that Peter doesn't call these people false prophets, but he calls them false teachers. Maybe they didn't claim prophetic inspiration, but what these individuals did is they positioned themselves and they promoted themselves to places of teaching in the church. So they were effectively teachers. Some were probably pretenders and they knew it. They knew their life was inconsistent with the message they proclaimed. And others may have simply been teachers of falsehood and not aware of it. But regardless, the result is the same: pseudo-teachers among the church.

14:52They will be among you. They will arise from within your own gatherings. This is where. They're going to come from. And it's evident and it's clear that in the context, Peter's saying this future reality was already a present reality at the time of this writing, that it is coming true. So there is a false teachers will be among you. They're going to do two things, two main verbs in this section. They will, first of all, introduce destructive heresies. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies. The idea for secretly introduce is to bring in alongside, to slip in unnoticed. It's the idea of smuggling something good in with something bad. Jude 4 says it like this: for certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long before marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.

16:11Snuck in unnoticed. Now, there was this drug bust some years ago. I remember seeing it in the news from Mexico crossing the border. There's a bunch of drugs that smuggled into tires. They put the drugs in. In the tires, and they were bringing a bunch of tires across. Well, a lot of the tires were good, but some of them were filled. And that's the way a smuggler works, right? You got to bring something good. Yeah, we need tires. Yeah, good. Give me some tire, but not tires filled with a bunch of drugs. But that's the way to secretly introduce. It comes along something good, alongside something good. Destructive heresies is what they secretly introduce. They come in by stealth, secret, heresies.

17:06The word for heresies is heresies. That's where we get the word heresy from. And there's a historical development of this word. Originally, it just meant sect, as in like Sadducees, Pharisees. Josephus uses the word speaking of the Essenes or even the zealots. At times, it is referred to as just a Christian sect, doesn't necessarily have heresy in view. Sometimes in Galatians 5 and 1 Corinthians 11, it's used to speak about factions or dissensions within the church. But clearly, by the time Ignatius writes his letter at the beginning of the second century, it is used as a false teacher. And that is how Peter is using it here: false teachings, pseudo-teachings.

18:00And they will introduce destructive heresies. Word for destructive comes from the word Apollyon. Those of you who have read Pilgrim's Progress know that Christian got into a battle with Apollion, literally means destruction. And it refers to that complete ruin, complete devastation, loss specifically of eternal life. And I love this one definition. The meaning here speaks of the loss of everything that makes human existence worthwhile. That's what destruction is: the loss of everything that makes human existence worthwhile. And they are introducing these destructive heresies that will run their course, and the ultimate end will be judgment and the loss of everything that makes human existence worthwhile. So they will introduce destructive heresies. And I want you to see the extent of these destructive heresies. Look at 2:1. Again, look back at verse 1. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them. They will even go to this extreme. This is exactly what Jude was saying: denying the master who bought them. This is the language of the Roman slave culture. The day. You know, in that culture, estimates are half the people were slaves, and I've even heard estimates up to two-thirds of that society were slaves.

19:44Some and varying slaves all over, doctors, lawyers, all the way down to whatever, you know, household servants. But the idea, this is the imagery. Peter is using this language of the Roman slave trade, and this would have been very familiar to those listening. Word for master is the sovereign ruler over an estate, a head of a household. It's the word despot. It's the general term for owner. Word for bought is simply the word to purchase or to buy out of the marketplace, used as to redeem something, to go into the slave trade, to buy out of the marketplace. And that's exactly what a master of a house would do. He would purchase slaves out of the marketplace and then give them various responsibilities within his household.

20:47And the idea in that culture, and in that time, the purchased slave owned complete allegiance to the master who bought them. Very clear, very understood. Stood in that culture. A slave that would shrink or shirk the responsibilities that were given to him by his master, or deny, that was basically denying the master his right, punishment would follow. Maybe they'd go back to the slave trade. Maybe they'd go back to that, whatever. They'd get, you know, they're kind of like when you buy a car, it comes with some kind of warranty, right? Well, the same was true about a lot of the slaves in the day. They came with certain warranties, some of them. And if they failed to meet those, there were repercussions, not only in the law, they may have to go back, they may lose their position, or they may end up among those who sold them, and they would be treated very harshly. So that's the idea.

21:55And in this context, Christ is the absolute ruler. It's the only time that he's referred to as the despot. It's an analogy making. Christ is the absolute ruler who has purchased his people. He has purchased them from the penalty of sin, which was death. He purchased them from that and the power of sin, that tyrannical hold that sin has on his people. He purchased them from that. He redeemed them from that. And Peter is already in chapter 1. Or in 1 Peter 1, 18 and 19, he speaks that he redeemed us with an exceedingly expensive price, that of his own blood. So Christ has gone in to the slave market, those bound in sin, awaiting the penalty and the future loss of everything worthwhile. And he purchased them back with an extremely high price.

23:07And to deny Christ his rights and prerogatives as Lord over our lives is a destructive heresy and a very supreme one. That's what Peter is saying. Even denying the master who bought them. You see, Adam and Eve followed their own appetite and reasoning over God's, over God's word. And we are to follow Christ over our appetite and our own reasoning. But pseudo-teachers deny Christ. They deny him his absolute spiritual and moral authority over their lives, and that's a mark of a destructive heresy that Peter said will be among us.

24:02And he says, expose them. And if you pay a little attention, they're not hard to spot. Now, there's a big interpretive issue here. Those three little words, who bought them, has caused a lot of discussion, a lot of papers to be written on. What does he mean there? Who bought them? There's a couple things here. We're not going to go through all of it. There are dissertations on this. These three little words. Who bought them? What does that mean, Peter? You just told us how the word is a lamp to our feet, and now it's clear, it shows everything in the room. And then you throw these three little words in there, who bought them, and it causes a lot of differing opinions. Well, I'll tell you this much. There's something very plain and very clear in this text.

25:05Even if you fully don't understand the full implications of the words, who bought them, there's going to be a tendency to bring in your theological grid and make them fit. We're just going to take them at face value. I want you guys to have a, teach you an honest hermeneutic, and if it doesn't fit, then don't change the text, change your grid, or leave some things out there suspect. But there are two real main issues involved here. One involves kind of intellectual implications for theological systems. Who bought them? Is this an unlimited atonement or a limited atonement? Some will argue and nuance back and forth that Christ purchased everyone, an unlimited atonement. It was applied to everyone.

25:59Or he atoned the sins of all. And yet the only thing left is for you to accept that, and then you're fine. And that makes the ultimate sin rejecting Christ. And the reason for your condemnation. Problem with that view is it has a lot of people in hell who has all of their sins atoned for, except for that final one of not accepting him. Then there's the limited position, which I think is better, that Christ's death is sufficient for all, but only effective for those who believe, put their faith in. And both the unlimited and the limited people both come to that same point. So it's definitely not an issue to separate brothers over. We'll talk more about this as time goes on. Or if you want to dive into it more fully, I don't plan to unpack all that here.

27:00But that is more of an intellectual implication. Not an issue to separate brothers over as you wrestle with this and try to understand the implications of this. But perhaps the other issue, which I consider more of the greater issue, is the implications for personal assurance. Are we talking about a loss of salvation here? Can a person lose their salvation? Can somebody who is a believer in Christ become apostate? The master bought them. And they would argue that this is an expression of redemption in the sense that we would use it today. You've got to understand, we've got 2,000 years of theological wranglings and nuances. I don't think that this word is charged with as much nuanced meaning as we would today after all the years of theological wrangling.

28:01And I'm going to say this for now. We're going to see this issue again. In chapter 2 and verse 15, he makes this statement. Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. So they had forsaken the right way. In some sense, they knew the right way and they forsook it. And then in verse 21, 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 command handed on to them. So we're going to see this issue again. And I'll deal with it more as we go along. But for now, I want to make sure it's very clear that Peter is not talking about the loss of salvation here. 1 Peter 1. Turn there. You need to see this. 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 2. He is writing, or verse 1. He calls these believers in these churches scattered around chosen, select.

29:08Same word is given to Christ later. Chosen. That these are, this is the state of a believer, chosen according to the foreknowledge of God by the sanctifying work of the Spirit to do what? To obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood. That at the very onset, Peter has assured his audience, those who are in Christ, the reason you are in Christ is because of a work of God and you have been sanctified for the purpose of obeying Jesus Christ. Set apart for this purpose. And in verse, he goes on to say, who are protected, verse 5, protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed. So it's chosen, set apart to obey Jesus Christ.

30:00Peter hasn't contradicted what he has said here in chapter 1. Peter has basically labeled these individuals as heretics, the proponents of heresy. He is not putting these in the same category as the chosen, those who are sanctified. And my position about this, how to understand this for now, like I said, we'll deal with this more as we go through, is that the phrase who bought them is kind of in a way of saying who bought them, in a sense that there is a sense there that they spoke and professed. They were professing that God had bought them, but that their denial proved that they didn't belong to him at all. In fact, 1 John 2:19 says, they went out from us, but they really didn't belong from us.

30:56Peter does not see these as misguided Christians, but heretics. That's the word, that's the terminology he uses. Peter gives, what's interesting about Peter is he gives the right amount of assurance to believers, doesn't he? But he also gives the right amount of warning to believers, too. And what's plain as day in this passage is he's saying, don't follow pseudo-teachers who deny the master. Don't deny the Master, your Master, Jesus Christ, who has purchased you with an exceedingly great price. Don't deny Him the prerogatives and privileges of being the Master. His ways are good. They are to be embraced. And that's clear what Peter is saying. And you know what? You know who's going to be warned? Believers, those who believe the message. Peter gives us the right amount of assurance that we are sanctified to obey Jesus Christ. Therefore, now go obey him. Don't worry, take territory. You're protected. Go. At the same time, there's this warning here: don't go this way. Work out your salvation. Be certain. And how are you certain of your salvation? By growing in godliness, by applying all diligence in your faith, moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, love, brotherly kindness, and love. If you are growing in these, you will never stumble. You will never lack assurance of your salvation. But if you are denying the master who bought you, in that sense, who bought you, who you profess to have bought you, you're not who you think you are. And he's not who you think he is. That's the message. In fact, Matthew 10, 30. What does Jesus say?

33:03He who denies me before man, I will what? Deny before the Father. So we'll see more of that as we come along, and I'm happy to talk. As you work through interpretive issues like this, I want you to be honest with the text, do your best to wrestle with it, and recognize that it does deal with the rest of Scripture. But the second reality, they will introduce destructive heresies, but they will also exploit you. I'm sorry, I'm not ready to go there. Back up, back up. I am missing some, I'm missing some of the text. You know, you got to keep staying with the text, right? Okay, so there's an impact that they have.

33:53That's the extent of it. Now, I want you to see the impact of it. There's an impact that they have upon themselves. What's going to happen to them? Verse 2 and chapter 2, verse 1. Bringing swift judgment or swift destruction upon themselves. That idea of bringing is in the present. They are bringing swift judgment upon themselves. Swift could be in the sense of imminent. He's already used that term to speak of his death. In verse 14, laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent. Same word here, that they're bringing swift or imminent judgment upon themselves, or rapid judgment. It could be catastrophic, overwhelming when it does come.

34:42Or it could be, it could involve a handing over, like a father who quits exhorting his children in the right way. Like, go ahead, you want to go that way, you go that way, mature in your rebellion, fine, I'm done. That is a form of judgment. I think all this, it will be swift, it will be rapid, it will be catastrophic, it is imminent, and it is a handing over, swift judgment, swift destruction. Same word as used above, total ruin, the loss of everything that makes human existence worthwhile. So, destruction begins as a seed of error, and it results in the complete loss of everything. A seed of error in an unbelieving heart taking root, growing.

35:38The irony is that they teach that no destruction is coming. That's exactly what these pseudo-teachers were teaching. In fact, there's a mockery in chapter 3 and verse 4. Where's the promise of his coming? Total ruin, they say, is not coming. And they deny him. His prerogatives. Christ is not the Lord, and he is not coming to judge. That's their message. But the outcome of their teaching is just the opposite of what they're saying. The outcome is the loss of everything, the total destruction.

36:21I'd like to make you think that Christ is out of the judgment business. And by doing so, they lead you into great destruction. That's their impact upon themselves, but also the impact upon others. Look at verse 2. They have an impact upon others. Many will follow their sensuality. Many, many, let that word sink in. They're going to be very successful. Many are going to like what they have to say. Many will follow. That is, many will imitate their sensuality.

37:07They will do the same thing. They will act the same way. They will follow. Sensuality is a word for unbridled lust, fleshly indulgence. They will follow that. But what's interesting, if you look at the text, the many are not taken by the brilliance of the false teachings, are they? What are they? Taken in by the fleshly opportunities that they afford. They're not all for the brilliance of the false teachers, but what the teachings allow them to do, something that's resident in their heart that they want to give expression to, and they need some teachers that will kind of release the gate of their mind and let them go forward.

37:53It's people who travel the road of fleshly indulgence are going to be the ones who are attracted to the teachings that allow it. You see, think about it this way: there's always going to be a market for an atheistic universe. You know why? No matter how absurd evolution becomes, there will always be a market. There's always going to be an explanation for an atheistic universe because the heart of man, there's a market out there for people who do not want to have a God.

38:30Likewise, there will always be a market for fleshly teaching because there are people who really want to do what their heart wants to do, and they will gather teachers around them who will teach them that it's okay to pursue those things. Pseudo-teachers produce pseudo-Christians. So many are going to follow their sensuality. But then there's this Impact that these false teachers have upon the truth. There's an impact they have upon themselves, there's an impact that they have upon others in the church, and then there's the impact upon the truth. And because of them, look at verse 2. And because of them, the way of the truth will be maligned. Because of them, who is the them?

39:22Those, no, look back, the them refers back to the many, not to the false teachers. Because of them, those who, because of the many who follow their sensuality, the way of the truth is going to be maligned. The true way, the true path, the path that leads to God, the gospel truth, is going to be maligned because of the many pseudo-Christians who follow the pseudo-teachers. You see, because those whose Christianity is sensual and carnal and denies the Lordship of Christ, the way of the truth is going to be maligned, literally blasphemed, despised, discredited, hated.

40:09And the outside world will turn away from the gospel because of the sensual and heretical lives of the many who follow false teachers. That's what they're going to see in their day-to-day life, the inconsistencies. They're not going to see the true Christianity. There is something very hard. And I don't care if you're an unbeliever and you have no regard for Christ, when you see a true Christian act done in love with the sacrifice and the care and the kindness that's involved, it's hard to ever speak evil of it. But it's easy to speak evil of those who have a double standard. Is it not? That's hypocrisy. You see, destructive heresies are like an infectious virus. They spread to others in the church, and then it spreads to the unbelieving world who writes Christianity off as a sham.

41:05And sadly, to say, the Christian community, which is supposed to act as a bridge that brings the gospel of truth to the nations, becomes a barrier between the nations and God. There's a second thing they do. There's a second thing they do. Now we're ready to move on. They will exploit you. They will not only introduce destructive heresies, but they will exploit you. Who's the they? The they? Back clearly to the false teachers. It's not the many who follow, but they, the false teachers. They are motivated by greed, covetousness. There is insatiable appetite for things fleshly. And they are experts in it, as Peter says in chapter 2, verse 14. Experts in it. And they will come to you and they will come to you to meet them. And they will barter with you so that you will give them what they want. Want. That's the idea here. Notice the little preposition in. These false teachers are immersed in their greed. They are saturated, engulfed, swimming. They're charged, not for the truth, but what they can get out of the congregance of the truth. I mean, let's face it, Christians are nice people, right? For the most part. Gracious. You meet true Christians, they're gracious. They believe the best. Kind of making them gullible at times, but they honestly believe the best. They're generous. And this is a great place for a false teacher to take advantage of. That's the idea. They will exploit you. They will exploit the generosity, the kindness, and the goodness of Christian society. And they will exploit you. The word for exploit is make merchandise. It's the word we get emporium from. If you go to a food emporium, what do you expect to find?

43:07Food. If you go to a rose emporium, what do you expect to find? What? Roses, yes. If you go to a pie emporium, what do you expect to find? If you go to a false words emporium, what do you expect to find? False words. And that's exactly. What they will exploit you with with false words. Look back. The word is plastois logois. Anybody idea what that means? Plastois? Plastic, yes. They will exploit you with plastic words, fabricated words. Remember that when I was little, we had these tonka toys, and they were made of metal. I don't know if you remember those. And the commercial was they'd have an elephant stand on the little dump truck, and he would stand up there, and you go, wow, that tonka troy is toy, tonka toy is built. It's solid, it's strong. So years later, when I have kids, I say, you know what, I'm going to go get my kids one of these tonka toys, you know, that's strong, muy fuerte, you know? And I look over there, they're all made out of plastic. They look good, but I've noticed they don't have that elephant standing on that. They'd make a tonka pancake if you did that today, you know.

44:24Well, these false teachers were skilled in rhetoric and oratory skill. They looked good, but they were weak in truth. They may have been rhetorical artisans, but they were a lot like what I would call a state fair cotton candy stand. I don't know if you ever went to the state fair, or when I was little, I remember going, you remember seeing those cotton candy stands? You know, there's the red, big, fluffy ones, there's the blue ones, the pink ones, the yellow ones, the purple ones, green. You get the picture. I mean, it's just, when you're a little kid, it's just one of the most beautiful sights you've ever seen.

45:00But I also know if you've got this big thing of cotton candy, it doesn't do well in the rain. It disappears. And if you set it down on a bench, that there's a puddle of water, I mean, it can go down to nothing very quick. Such are the plastic sermons of false teachers. Lots of fleshly fluff, but void of biblical substance. And they're going to be among our numbers, go under the umbrella of Christian. False teachers make merchandise with their false words. That's what they do. I'll take you to a third reality.

45:41And that's the present reality. Look at verse 3. And this is speaking in the present term, at Peter's vantage point. Their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. In other words, their judgment is in motion. It's not idle. A verdict has been made long ago, and it is moving through time and history, and it is going to reach a culminating point in the final judgment. Yes, Christ is still in the judgment business for sure. But he is also in the saving business. And he will save you from that judgment if you will turn to him and ask him to save you. That's what he does. But he doesn't change the reality of the future. Future. But he gives you a different future reality if you will turn to him. He is gracious, full of mercy, not longing that anyone should perish, but that they will come to repentance. And that is the gospel, the good news to you today to come to him. Well, their judgment is in motion. Notice this is the third time in three verses that the word destruction is used again.

47:00Utter ruin, loss of everything. It's in motion, like a car in gear. I love this one. It's not idle, it's in motion, and it's not asleep. You know what that word for sleep means? Dozing off, like some of you are doing right now. It's really kind of fun to sit up here, just as a side note, to watch the many expressions. I mean, some of you have the old, you keep your body posture together, but you do this number. Some of you, you slouch, you know, some of you, and some of you are my kids, by the way. But anyway, but that's the idea here. The judgment is not, doesn't know what it's, it's awake, it's alive, it's active, it's in motion, and it's moving to a culminating point.

47:56It's a thing that's awake. Their judgment has gone forth. It has sprung from the heart of God, and it's going to run its full course until that final culminating event. Their judgment is not asleep at all. It is active, it is alive, and it is moving. First, it's a handing over, then it's allowing of a maturity in that sin. But ultimately, it will be a final judgment that is catastrophic and the loss of everything worth living for.

48:36And he goes on. We'll look at this next time. He goes on to give three examples of how God's judgment is in motion. There's the rebellious angel, there's angels, there's the world in Noah's day, and then there's the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And he's going to go through that. And we will too, Lord willing. But one of the most tragic judgments is being handed over to your own way. When God says, okay, I'm through talking to you, I'm through sending my true teachers to you, and you are going to mature in your sin. You are going to become that seed of destruction that is planted, that you have received, that has grown, that will produce a harvest of unrighteousness and final judgment.

49:30It is a tragic thing to be handed over. And listen, if you are denying the master his rightful prerogative and his saving grace, turn today. You don't have to go down that road. And that's the good news. Well, this is the nature of spiritual warfare. It has worldwide implications. Satan uses false teachers in the church to deceive the many who will then live a fleshly, carnal, Christian life, and then the world will despise. It's his goal to slander Christianity inside and outside the church. And we must first recognize in our own hearts these tendencies to hypocrisy. First, we need to expose it in our own lives. Confess it. Ask God for forgiveness. And the good news is, he receives even hypocrites. Okay, so turn, if you will truly turn.

50:31But Peter's exhortation is to come. Just turn back there to chapter verse 5. Now, for this very reason, verse 5 of chapter 1, for this very reason, apply all diligence in your faith, supply moral excellence, and then grow in that moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, godliness, perseverance. Perseverance, kindness, and love. Receive him and grow in him, following him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for Peter's words, that they come to us, Father, in a very powerful and even frightening warning. Father, help us to heed their warning. Help us to believe them. Father, help us, let this be an encouragement to us to serve our Master Jesus all the more. Father, please have your way in us this morning. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.