False teachers are destined for destruction, as God has a history of judging sin, even among angels and in past civilizations. The sermon highlights God's preservation of the righteous, like Noah and Lot, contrasting them with the ungodly who are reserved for judgment. False teachers are characterized by their deceitful motives, lustful lives, contempt for authority, and ultimately, their own corruption, mirroring the destructive path of Balaam. True believers, however, are God's sheep who hear His voice and are preserved by His grace, not by their own merit.
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Returning to Second Peter, chapter two, we're going to begin our reading at verse four. We looked at the first three verses of Second Peter, for they form an introduction to this second chapter. And the second chapter of Second Peter deals primarily with apostates and their end. So verse four says, For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment, and spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly, and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after should live on Godly, and delivered just a lot, vexed with a filthy conversation of the wicked, for that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul
from day to day with their unlawful deeds. The Lord knows how to deliver the Godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise government, presumptuous are they, self-will, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignity, whereas angels which are greater in power and might bring not a railing accusation against them before the Lord. But these as natural brute feast, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not, and shall utterly perish in their own corruption, and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that counted pleasure to riot in the daytime, spots are they and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you.
Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin beguiling unstable souls and heart they have exercised with covetous practices cursed children, which are forsaken the right way and are gone astray following the way of Elam, the son of Bozar, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but was rebuked for his iniquity, the dumbass speaking with man's voice, forbade the madness of the prophets. These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest to whom the midst of darkness is reserved forever. And when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escapes from them who live in error.
While they promised them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption. For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome. The latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it, to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb.
The dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the saw that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. Now may the Lord bless his word to our heart. Now in the first chapter of Second Peter that we've already studied, Peter sets forth the nature of the new life that belongs to the people of God. Now in chapter two you have the work of the enemy and the enemy is ever seeking to nullify the witness of God's own. Now in the first three verses let me sum it up very quickly. The last time we examined this we found there is such a thing as the presence of false teachers.
For the more, in verse one, we have the features of the false teachers. They try to bring in damnable heresy. For the more, we notice the success of the false teachers. There were many of them. We saw the motives of the false teachers. They, with fain words, make merchandise amends. Then we saw the doom of the false teachers. Their damnation somber if not, the end of verse three. Tonight, we want to look at the perdition of false teachers. Verse four.
Verse four has an expression in the beginning of it that needs to be pondered. If God spared not the angels that sinned. Angels are looked upon in this text as a class with reference to their positions. Angels are of a higher order than man. And as to their position in the scale of created things, they are higher. Now, if God did not spare them that are of a higher order, namely the angel, he sure will not spare human beings who live in contempt of his holy word as the false teachers do.
Second Peter, two verse four is a verse that every believer needs to remember and remember well. God spared not the angels that sinned. A woman said to me one time in Chapel Hill, and she's a believer, she said, God owed it to man to save him. I said, never say that again, especially not to me. God owes man nothing but judgment. God spared not the angels that sin, and angels are of a higher order than man.
It's only because of God's sovereign grace that any man is saved. He is not saved because of anything in man. He is saved because God determined to save man. We sing occasionally that hymn. Grace first contrived the way to save rebellious man, and all the steps that lead to heaven which drew the wondrous plan. It is grace, grace, grace. Never forget that. God spared not the angels that sinned. And this is a marvel when we understand it. It's the theme of Hebrews chapter two. What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him?
There isn't any one of us who deserves to be saved. We deserve to go to hell. And the sooner we learn it, and the better we learn it, the more we're going to worship, and the more we're going to praise God for his grace. And it's out of a lost humanity that God has chosen to save some. Otherwise all would be lost. Had God not acted in grace, there wouldn't be a one person saved. Not a one. God chose to save some.
Beloved that I'm among those that are saved is the greatest joy of my heart. I'll tell you that. I don't deserve it. But I'm among the redeemed. It's a theme that thrills me when I get awake in the morning. And it's on my mind when I go to bed at night. I am the Lord. Not because of who I am. But because of him. And because of him alone. To the praise of the glory of his grace. The second thing we want to notice concerning the perdition of false teachers, God reminds us that, or Peter reminds us, that God spared not the angels that sinned.
Then in verse six, he gives us a picture of Sodom and Gomorrah, turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes and the destruction that he condemned the cities of the plain in the days of Abraham because of their sinful practices. Now along with these examples, the angel, the world of Noah that he speaks of in verse five, the condemnation at the time of the flood, and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, we have contrasting examples. And in these contrasting examples, I want you to notice a few things. Noah and Lot, on the one hand, who were spared.
And the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the world of the ungodly in the days of Noah that were not spared. Now God spared Noah and Lot in the time of crisis. You see, verse nine tells us something. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation. And that word deliver there could be preserved. God knows how to preserve the godly. He knows how. You see, And he knows how to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. Now the godly here, we have two examples.
We have the example of Lot and we have the example of Noah. Concerning the example of Lot, Genesis, eighteen twenty three, Abraham is interceding for the city of Sodom. And he says to the Lord, will thou destroy the righteous with the wicked? And God does not destroy the righteous with the wicked. He told Abraham that he wouldn't. And in chapter nineteen of Genesis in verse twenty two, as Lot was being led out of Sodom, the angel said to him, Hurry up. Get out of this place. I can't do anything until you're out.
Isn't that nice? That's a real picture, I believe, of the rapture of the church. God isn't going to judge the world until his people are gone. Haste thee. Get out. I can't do anything God says until you're gone. In other words, God keeps these words. He keeps these words to Abraham. Abraham stood and interceded for a wicked world, for wicked cities. And it's nice to remember that. You see, this passage, when we look at it, is where it declares in the Old Testament that Lot was a believer.
For Abraham said to God, will thou destroy the righteous with the wicked? And God delivered Lot. Now he wasn't living a righteous life, but he was the Lord. And because he was the Lord, he was delivered. So in contrast to Lot and Noah, who were preserved, And there are real pictures, you see. Lot is a picture of the Christian who goes home before the judgment. Noah is a picture of the man who is preserved through the judgment.
And he comes out on a new earth to establish a testimony for God. What a picture we have in those two men in the Old Testament, Noah and Lot. Now in contrast in verse nine, to the righteous whom God delivers, we have the ungodly, the unjust, and we read, God knows how to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. For the unjust, the ungodly, their day is coming. God will have the last word, never man.
God never permits man to have the last word. Man may say a lot of things. He may think he's big in what he says, and men may applaud what he says. But in the final analysis, God has the last word. And what a word it will be to the men who said such great things and were looked upon as being great ones when they stand before God. and they realized what they said was wrong. God will have the last word. Now that should give us a lot of pleasure.
You and I are living in an ungodly society. You and I are living in a day when false teachers and false teaching abounds. We see the people being deceived on the right hand and on the left religiously today. Monday's newspaper in the Greensboro News, it was almost blasphemous the way in which the young man who's on Channel Sixteen wrote concerning his prosperous lifestyle, it was absolutely sickening And more than that, it was contrary to the word of God.
They're making merchandise of the people. And the crooked ways of that family. It amazes me that Christians don't have the common sense to see through what's going on. I am absolutely amazed. But then we have here right before in the text. that they make merchandise of people. The unjust, friends, their day is coming. God will have the last word, not the false teachers. And it doesn't matter how large your following they have. The large following they have today doesn't mean a thing to God. God is not impressed.
God is impressed with truth. God is impressed with righteousness. God is impressed with holiness. And God saves a man in order to make him holy. And a holy life is commanded by God. Now because God knows how to reserve the unjust for the day of judgment to be punished, you and I should never be envious of the wicked. The wicked may prosper, but it's only in this world. Keep in mind, friends, what we read in the book of Proverbs A living dog is better than a dead lion. That's a great text.
In fact, I'll tell you, it's not great. I'm thinking about preaching on a Sunday morning. A living dog is better than a dead lion. What a text. Boy, I'd love to go out on a limb right now and just, but I don't have the time. I can't do it. We should never be envious of the wicked. Never. God knows how to reserve them for the day of judgment to be punished. In verse twelve, we read this, but these as natural beasts made to be taken and destroyed.
What a text, made to be taken and destroyed. In other words, false teachers are destined to be captured and to be destroyed. And they're going to utterly perish in their own corruption, as we read in the end of the verse. In other words, they're going to receive the reward of unrighteousness. They're going to reap as they had sowed. And the example that he's given is Balaam, the false prophet of the Old Testament, who always told the truth. Balaam that wicked man in the Old Testament who always told the truth. He's a false prophet of the Old Testament.
In other words, he stands as being ungodly in contrast to Noah, who is a preacher of righteousness, and Lot, who could be called, if you please, a believer living on the borderline with the world. That was lost. But in contrast to that, he's Balaam. Now, the scripture here in verse fifteen says, concerning the false teachers, that they had forsaken the right way and are gone astray following the way of Balaam. There are three things stated in the New Testament concerning Balaam.
It speaks of his way here in Second Peter chapter two. In Jude verse eleven it speaks of his error, the error of Balaam. And then in Revelation chapter two and verse fourteen it speaks of his doctrine. You need to keep them separated in your mind. What is the difference between the error of Balaam and the way of Balaam? What is the difference between the way of Balaam and the doctrine of Balaam? The way of Balaam is the end justifies the means. He loved the wages of unrighteousness.
It didn't matter if he cursed the people of God as long as he got his money. The way of Balaam is the end justifies the means. And the modern word for that is Jesuit causatory. That's what the Jesuits teach. Jesuit causatory. The end justifies the means. The error of Balaam was that God, he made a big mistake. He couldn't understand how God could bless a sinful people whom he has redeemed. Ah, isn't that great?
What an error he made. For God does bless a sinful people whom he has redeemed. Even us. as he did Israel under the Old Testament. The doctrine of Baal-Mah is, if you can't fight them, join them. He's the one who caused the children of Israel to commit fornication and to offer things sacrificed to idols. And it amazes me when you read the book of Numbers. He died fighting the people of God. He was killed in the battle with a Moabite. Now, That brings us to eleven things I have left for about eight minutes on the properties or the marks of false teachers.
They are marked out in this chapter, and I'm going to go over them rapidly. In verse two, they speak evil of the truth. It says, the way of truth is evil spoken of. They speak evil of the truth. False teachers make light truth. The second thing is in verse three. They take advantage of people. They make merchandise out of men. In other words, they're in it for what they can get out of it. They make merchandise of men. The third thing is in verse ten.
They walk after the flesh in the rust of uncleanness. In other words, their lives are filthy when they're put under the microscope, like the sins of Jim Baker. They walk after the flesh in the lust of unclean. It's amazing how many people talk about what is written in Playboy magazines. And I made a statement to a number of people in a restaurant, good-in-law, this morning. I said to them, Jessica Hahn should have taken half the money that she got from Playboy and left her clothes on.
She would have been more credible. They walked after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness. These things, beloved, bring down the judgment of God. And I don't know any way what's savable. What does a water park anyway have to do with the gospel? What is there that's savable? VTL. I think we need in this country, and especially in the Christian world, to examine Second Peter and get our priorities straight.
We are going astray. America is on the skid. Beloved, judgment begins at the heart of God, and God is judging this wicked mess that is going on. The fourth thing that we notice is in verse ten, they despise government. Again in verse ten, they are presumptuous. self-willed and they're not afraid to speak evil of dignities. And this has reference to the rank among the order of God's angelic hosts. For he says, angels, and you have this also in the book of Jews, that Michael, who was lower in rank than Lucifer, who became Satan, he didn't bring a railing accusation against Lucifer When he appealed to the Lord, he said, the Lord will rebuke you.
He couldn't rebuke him. But he said, the Lord will. And we need to learn that. Because we have people today who are preaching to demons. And the whole of the charismatic movement, one of their big angles is to talk to demons and command demons. They don't realize what this text means to speak evil of dignity. They are of a higher order than man. Now, while demons can't have control of the child of God anyway, they may influence them, but they certainly can't indwell a believer, for the believer is indwell by the Holy Spirit of God.
They speak evil of dignity. Notice verse fourteen, number six, their eyes are full of adultery, the scripture here says. Their eyes are full of adultery. Notice verse eight, verse fourteen also, or the number eight, they are full of covetous practices, like Balaam, they love the wages of unrighteousness. Number nine, verse seventeen tells us they are unprofitable in spite of all their outward appearances. They have nothing to offer because they are wells without water. And what a way in which to stand. Wells without water.
In verses nineteen through twenty two. And also in verse fifteen. They have forsaken the right way. For a little while they clean up their act. But in the end, they are worse than ever. Cleaning up the outside never touches the heart. It is the heart that needs to be changed, not the outside. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, it will never be anything else. And unless God deals with the heart, all the outside cleaning up will only deceive others. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
You see, they are servants of corruption. They are overcome by their own ways. So we read in verse nineteen. Now verse twenty of, they had like Balaam a knowledge of God. Balaam had a knowledge of God that few men had. And we studied the prophecies of Balaam just a few months back. on Wednesday night. He had an insight. God gave it to him. God made him say it. If you had a knowledge like Balaam did, but you see, just because we have our head knowledge, does it mean that the heart is right?
And a lot of people have gotten all shook up over these last verses in Second Peter chapter two. Can a believer lose their salvation? No, they can't lose their salvation. You say, how do you know? Well, I want you to notice something that's very important. God never calls his people pigs. He calls his people sheep. And I'm not like a pig that's washed. I'm a sheep of the Lord. I'm one of his lands. And he never calls these people dogs either.
Without our dogs, we read in Revelation twenty-two. Without our dogs. I always quote that to Alice. This is Gretchen. Because of her little dog, Buffy. I said, that's all going to be in the offside. The Bible says in honor dogs. Her little Buffy, dear mom Pickard, she says, that dog that thinks he's a human being you know and I like animals in fact our neighbors are moving and they have a cocker spaniel out in the yard that I really like and I said to my wife I said that would be a good dog to keep in the house and I knew somebody else who has a dog in their house and I'm not gonna I better wouldn't say anymore but the Bible says without our dogs God never calls these people dogs He calls him sheep.
Why are we sheep? Because we have the heart of a sheep. Now there's a difference between a dirty pig and a dirty sheep. The sheep isn't going to go back to the mud puddle, but the pig will. And that's the difference. A lot was a dirty sheep. But he was not a pig. And that's the difference. But these apostates, beloved, they have never been born of God. Never have they been born of God.
We have. And because we have, God calls us his sheep. My sheep hear my voice. And the reason we can say that we're saved tonight is because we know what our heart is like. We know whether we like the mud puddle or whether we love the thing of God. That makes the difference. Now let's pray together. And now we pray to our God and Father that I will take this word. It's a searching word. It declares that your judgment is just, your judgment is sure, and the ungodly are reserved for it.
We have every reason to live for thee. Thou hast reserved us for glory. Thou hast made us thine own. We thank you that your sheep hear your voice, and they follow you. And we rejoice, O God, in listening to your voice for Jesus' sake. Amen.