Denying the Master who bought them

We're reading from 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 16 through to 2, end of chapter 2.

2 Peter 1:16

We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming

! But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

For he received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the majestic

glory, saying, This is my son whom I love. With him I am well pleased.

We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention

to it, as a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your

hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's

own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God

as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. But there were also false prophets amongst the people,

just as there will be false teachers amongst you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies,

even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves.

Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.

In their greed, these teachers will exploit you with the stories they have made up.

Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons

to be held for judgment. If he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its

ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others. If he condemned

the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going

to happen to the ungodly. And if he rescued Lot, a righteous man who was distressed by the filthy

lives of lawless men. For that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his

righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard. If this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue

godly men from trials, and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their

punishment. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature,

and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings.

Yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations

against such beings in the presence of the Lord. But these men blaspheme in matters they do not

understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed,

and like beasts, they too will perish. They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done.

Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes,

reveling in their pleasures and while they feast with you. With eyes full of adultery, they never stop

sinning. They seduce the unstable. They are experts in greed and a cursed brood. They have left the straight

way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam, son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.

But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey, a beast without speech, who spoke with a man's voice

and restrained the prophet's madness. These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm.

Blackest darkness is reserved for them. For they mouth empty, boastful words and by appealing to the

lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in

error. They promise them freedom while they themselves are slaves of depravity. For a man is a slave to

whatever his has mastered him. If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and

Saviour Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they

were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness

than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.

Of them the proverbs are true. A dog returns to its vomit and a sow that is washed goes back to her

wallowing in the mud. Well good morning everyone.

Will you pray with me as we come to God's word?

Heavenly Father, whether we are new to the faith or been walking for many years, we all need to

be reminded and be further convinced of the truth and goodness of your word.

I pray this morning that you would do just that for each one of us by your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Well the Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain and infallible rule of all saving knowledge,

faith, faith and obedience. So says the 1689 Baptist Confession along with every reformed

confession that biblical churches agree to.

Now I don't think it's enough to simply tick the box that you intellectually agree with that statement.

I think we need to be persuaded deep in our hearts that this is really, really good news.

Why is it a good thing that the Bible is our only authority?

Now who likes talking about authority over you?

Like we are creatures of our culture, I suppose, ever since the fall.

No one has wanted to think about authority over us.

Why is it a good thing?

Let's compare it to something else that could be our authority.

Why can't our feelings inside be our authority?

Now there's a pastor, Tim Keller, he gives two helpful thought experiments.

Here's the first one.

Your 18-year-old self looked at your 14-year-old self as pretty foolish, making some poor choices.

But then your 30-year-old self looks at your 18-year-old self as pretty foolish and making some poor choices.

Like I thought it was a great idea putting a loud muffler on my car.

I thought I was really cool and annoying my neighbours to no end.

I regretted that by the time I was 30.

Now it might slow down a bit, but your 50-year-old self looks at your 30-year-old self.

Some of those choices you thought you were pretty certain about, you deeply regret now.

Now whatever age you are in the room right now, here's what you can know.

You're making foolish choices.

Our feelings, our intuitions let us down just a few years ago.

Here's the second thought experiment.

There's a man in a traditional honour and shame culture and he looks at his feelings and he's got two really strong feelings.

One is when people wrong him, he feels aggression.

How dare you do that?

I'm a man of honour and that's a good thing.

I should protect my honour and dignity.

But then there's these sexual desires that don't fit with the expectations and he suppresses that.

That's not me.

Now there's another man with the exact same desires living in our culture.

However, he looks at his aggression when people wrong him and he goes to see a counsellor.

I need help with anger management.

And he looks at his sexual desires and goes, that's me.

I'm going to embrace that.

We all are creatures of our culture is the point of that thought experiment.

The point of this is we all have authority.

We're all living under authority.

No one is their own authority.

If it's your feelings, they were unreliable just a few years ago.

And you accept or reject some of those feelings based off the culture around us often.

But we're often blind how much we're doing that.

Our social environment is controlling us.

That's why it's really good news that we have the Holy Scriptures.

Verse 19 of chapter 1 says,

It is a lamp shining in a dark place.

There's a darkness even in our desires sometimes.

There's a darkness in the environment, in the world we live in.

And we have a light.

We'd be lost without this light.

Now the day when Jesus returns, all our doubt, any doubt we have, all the uncertainty, all the wrong influences will be gone.

We are living in a time of current darkness.

But Peter's saying the person who looks to the Word of God, the morning star appears in their hearts.

Like Venus coming up just before the dawn.

That day, that shining day, the dawn, is already having an impact inside you.

That first light is shining if you love the fact that the Bible is God speaking to you.

Nothing will more directly impact the way you and I live than what role the Bible has in your life.

The reliability of the Bible, we're given two sets of sources here in these verses.

Verse 16 to 21.

That we can know for sure that the Bible is God speaking.

We've got the apostles, the eyewitnesses of Christ's glory and his resurrection.

And we've got the Old Testament prophets.

When they spoke, it wasn't their opinion.

They were carried along by the Holy Spirit, by God himself.

This isn't just Peter's view.

This is Jesus' view of the Bible.

Jesus doesn't believe in red-letter Bibles.

Now, if you've got a red-letter Bible, that's not my main point.

But you can't go, oh, when God spoke on Mount Sinai, that's in red.

And then this part, I suppose, is Mark.

This one's Luke talking.

This one's Moses.

He didn't do that.

Jesus quotes Genesis about marriage.

We looked at this last year.

He quotes a comment by Moses.

It's just an editorial comment.

It says, God instituted marriage.

He sees all of it as red-letter.

More than that, he based his entire life on the Bible.

When he was tempted in the wilderness, how did he fight that temptation?

It is written.

He based his entire life.

When he's dying on the cross, the darkest moment in his life, what is he thinking about?

He's quoting some.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

This is Jesus' view of the Bible.

He based his entire life on it.

Now, there's some inside the church that Peter is writing to who are rejecting the apostles and prophets.

Now, in particular, they're rejecting the idea that Jesus is coming back to judge.

We see that in verse 16.

The power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When Peter, James, and John were up the mountain, the mountain of his transfiguration,

they heard the voice with their own ears,

this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.

They saw his face shine brighter than the sun.

And that reminds us of Moses when he met with God.

Moses' face shone, but it was reflected glory.

And it faded.

Whereas Jesus' face, it was permanently glorious.

It was intrinsic to who he is.

It's that divine majesty is in the person of Jesus.

And Peter said, I saw that with my very eyes.

And the whole world will see that when he comes back.

And this is what the prophet said.

God will come at the end.

God's king will come at the end of history.

God's king will come at the end of the world.

These people were in the church saying, I don't think Jesus is coming back.

Now I doubt anyone in this room is going to be taken in by someone saying, Jesus isn't coming back.

If you heard that, your radar will go, no, that's not right.

but how much in our daily thinking and our outlook on life can you and I just assume

life is going to just go on as it is the sun will rise tomorrow I've got plans for 2027

it's as if we don't believe it we just push it out of our mind

I'm saying we do believe it I'm just saying functionally how much do we think about it

there are websites of churches they will have their statement of faith on their website and

they'll say Jesus is coming back to judge the living and the dead but week after week

their sermons aren't based in scripture you're not going to hear about sin you're not going to hear

about judgment it's too negative it's too gloomy to talk about such things

the sad thing is you stop talking about judgment and you lose you lose grace as well you lose the wonder

of God's love for us in purchasing us

well in verses one to three of chapter two Peter gives a really quick preview

that the rest of the chapter fleshes out the danger is not coming from outside it is inside

you can see people attacking christianity from the outside of the faith atheists and so on that's easy to spot

but there's a danger inside confessing christians

just like in old testament times there were false prophets who rejected the idea of god's judgment

they preach what people want to hear peace prosperity blessing we should we should expect false teachers

don't be surprised but we should be distressed by it that this happens

now verse one says it's secretly bringing in these destructive teachings

i don't think they're hiding what they're saying

i think they're hiding how much it contradicts with the bible

they are motivated by greed

the scriptures say a lot about leaders

they cannot be in it for shameful gain

Peter says at the end of chapter five speaking to elders

do not appoint someone who's in it for shameful gain

leaders are not to feather their own nests

but these people are motivated by greed

now the impact they have many will follow them

it's going to appeal to the sinful desire to just

don't worry about moral constraints

it's such a positive message

many will follow them

but the impact is destructive the reputation of jesus the reputation of christianity of the church

it'll be brought into disrepute

it'll be blasphemed

and they themselves will be eternally destroyed by god

and it's going to be swift it's certain

it's going to soon take place

this is a strong warning

i don't particularly love

preaching a strong warning

but we need to hear it

peter isn't addressing

sincere believers who disagree on many secondary doctrinal things

and we all come together to search the scriptures

he's not addressing that

he's not talking to people who are struggling with doubt

or struggling with guilt

he's not talking to you

we can apply peter's warning

to people who take half truths

they'll use biblical true language

but they deny the very heart

of christianity

they are leading people to destruction

and they themselves are on their way

to destruction

so verses 4 to 10

it may appear

god is letting them just thrive in the church

like where's the old testament versions of judgment

coming down on these people

it may not look the same

as what it does today

god's judgment

but verses 4 to 10 say

here's what god is ready to do

we've got three examples of what god did in the past

if god did not spare

first we've got angels

who rebelled

and we

to be honest

we don't really know a lot

about that

he didn't even spare angels

who rebelled

if god did not spare

the world in noah's day

but flooded the whole earth

if god did not spare

sodom and gomorrah

when fire came down

you'd expect him to say

he's not going to spare these people

but even peter wants to talk about the positive side

he goes on to talk about noah and lot

keep pursuing righteousness

god kept those who listened to his word

think of noah

it took 120 years before the flood actually came

from the promise of the flood

120 years

you can imagine after 50 years

neighbours are just watching him build that ark

50 years ago god said the flood will come

like not a drop of rain in sight

i could think of a better way

to spend a sunday morning

than what we're doing now

let's go to the beach

let's sleep in

he preserved noah though

even lot

in sodom

now that's surprising

lot

he's very compromised

he didn't

do a lot

to speak against his culture

but

peter the apostle says

he was deeply distressed

the immorality around him

still shocked him

that's one of the

that's a mark

of true belief

you're not fully compromised

you may not be doing much about it

now we should be doing more

but

he's deeply distressed

now verse 9 is his conclusion

god is able

to both keep

those who are rebelling against him

under punishment

until that final day of punishment

while at the same time

saving those who are listening to his word

still pursuing righteousness

god can be handing

people over

to their sinful nature

keeping them

ready for that punishment

but don't

follow them

you keep pursuing growth

keep paying attention

to the only light

well that's god's opinion

of these people

and what's going to happen

who are these false believers

verse

second half of verse 10

through to 16

like what

what characterizes them

we've got a twofold description

in the first part of verse 10

the lust

of defiling passions

and they despise

authority

at the end of the letter

he describes them

as lawless

people

that phrase

lawless

kind of

summarizes them

lawless in two senses

they are lawless

in that

god's moral laws

they delight

in disobeying them

and they are lawless

in a deeper sense

in that

they're rejecting

any authority

over them

they're lawless

they're their own law

so in terms of being

their own authority

they are bold

blaspheming

the glorious ones

now it's a bit tricky

to know exactly

what that means

isn't it

it could be

the most obvious

thing of angels

they're somehow

speaking

against angels

but what we do know

is they're

completely pushing

the prophets

and apostles

aside

they're saying

the exact opposite

and they're probably

speaking against

believers

who listen

to these

who take the

bible seriously

they are so bold

in speaking

against

truth

but then the angels

who have more

authority than them

they're even

silent

they just hand

judgment over to

god

god will take

care of it

which just

highlights

how arrogant

and proud

these people

are

that they think

they know

better

not even the

angels will do

that

and then verse

13

nothing shameful

to them

reveling

is usually

at night

time

in the

darkness

because you

want to

cover your

shame

they're

reveling

in the

daytime

they're

open

about

their

immorality

they're

not

convicted

by it

they pray

on

unsteady

souls

either

new

converts

or those

struggling

in life

they're

looking for

what they

can take

from people

not what

they can

give

if they

can get

sex

if they

can get

money

if they

can win

attention

people can

follow their

doctrines

they're open

about this

they're not

ashamed of

it

they are

like the

prophet

Balaam

who was

supposed to

say

and to

stick with

what God

says

don't

deviate

one

inch

but he

was

allured

by what

the world

offers

he wanted

the money

they're

lawless

they openly

don't care

about

God's

morals

and they

boldly

reject

God's

authority

over their

life

they're

lawless

now in

verse 19

we seem

to have

their

slogan

freedom

what a

positive

message

you want

to be

free

freedom

they promise

freedom

but they

themselves

are slaves

of corruption

at the end

of the letter

says that

they're taking

Paul's

letters

and twisting

it

and you

can imagine

them taking

Galatians 5

for freedom

Christ set

us free

stand firm

therefore

don't submit

again to a

yoke of

slavery

get rid of

all these

rules

you're not

under law

but under

grace

who cares

what we do

with the

body

anyways

they just

take a

half truth

it sounds

so

right

but then

they use

it to say

the exact

opposite

of what

the scriptures

are saying

freedom

must be

positive

I was in

a conversation

with two

men

many years

ago

and I

was shut

down

in

well

I suppose

I chose

to be

shut

down

but they

put a

lot of

pressure

on me

because I

was saying

we need

to examine

our motivations

with our

choices

like is it

sinful

motivation

or is it

trying to

please God

and they

just found

that so

negative

they wanted

to focus

on the

victory

of Jesus

let's

just the

delight

the power

think

positive

all this

talk of

sin

and sinful

motives

that's

just

restrictive

that's

let's be

free

let's be

positive

that's

the

Christian

life

now maybe

I want to

concede

maybe I was

too negative

maybe I did

need some

balance

but both

of these

men have

wandered

from the

faith

think

positive

the gospel

is about

freedom

it is

we are

born again

with a new

nature

that delights

in God's

ways now

you're free

to delight

in his

ways now

we are

free from

condemnation

and guilt

and shame

that keeps

us in that

pit of

despair

we're free

from that

pit

it is

about

freedom

we will

one day

be free

of the

presence

of sin

the gospel

is about

freedom

but they

take a

half truth

and say

indulge

the sinful

nature

when it's

really

be free

to

voluntarily

love

one

another

and serve

one

another

now

Peter's

saying

that the

true

state

of these

people

is

obvious

that

whatever

overcomes

a person

to that

he is

enslaved

they're

claiming

to be

saved

by Jesus

they are

enjoying

disobeying

Jesus

and it

shows

they're

persistently

just

enjoying

going

against

what

Jesus

says

it shows

that they'll

never

really

change

deep

down

there can

be an

outward

behaviour

change

for a

time

but deep

down

they haven't

been

changed

and I

think

that's

why he

quotes

the

proverb

in

verse

22

the

dog

returns

to its

own

vomit

it's a

lovely

image

and the

pig

I don't

know how

to say

that word

so I'm

saying

pig

after

washing

herself

returns

to

wallow

in the

mire

those

who know

more

about the

bible

and then

reject it

are even

worse

off

before

they even

knew it

their

fundamental

nature

has never

changed

a dog

or pig

just does

what's

natural

to them

they're

still

enslaved

to their

old

sinful

nature

remember

these are

people

boldly

disagreeing

with the

bible

and

they're

unashamed

of what

they're

doing

the true

picture of

a christian

is a

christian

who

struggles

with their

sin

that's

what

galatians

five

pictures

the

spirit

wages

war

against

the

flesh

the

elect

will

never

be

content

with

their

sin

not

over

a

period

of

time

they

know

god's

call

come

partake

of

my

divine

nature

they

rejoice

of being

washed

in the

blood

of jesus

and they

long

for the

full

day

to

dawn

when

the

presence

of

sin

is

gone

i

think

the

phrase

that

shows

the

extent

of

these

false

believers

is

verse

one

of

chapter

two

even

denying

the

master

who

bought

them

why

does

he

say

it

like

that

peter

knows

they

haven't

been

redeemed

from

their

sinful

nature

why

put

it

like

that

i

think

he's

putting

it

like

that

because

they're

claiming

salvation

in

jesus

there

are

some

who

dare

to

take

the

name

of

christ

as

their

master

but

they

don't

listen

to

his

holy

word

they

claim

his

cross

but

they

deny

the

very

reason

he

shed

his

holy

blood

professor

brian

cox

he

says

there's

about

200

billion

stars

in

the

milky

way

galaxy

each

with

their

own

planets

with

two

trillion

galaxies

and

he

says

i

challenge

anyone

to be

able

to

picture

that

that's

what

we know

so far

one

day

the

majesty

of

the

one

who

created

all

that

is

going

to

come

for

all

to

see

and

he's

going

to

come

in

such

power

that

those

stars

are

going

to

melt

away

in

his

presence

you

don't

treat

someone

like

that

as

your

personal

assistant

where

i

like

that

advice

i

don't

like

that

advice

you

don't

it's

dangerous

if you

can

utter

the

apostles

creed

with

no

feeling

whatsoever

about

what

you're

saying

you

believe

he

ascended

to

heaven

and

is

seated

at

the

right

hand

of

god

the

father

almighty

and

from

there

he

will

come

to

judge

the

living

and

the

dead

you

marvel

at

the

fact

that

such

a

one

would

give

his

blood

to

purchase

you

you

don't

give

in

to

any

other

voice

even

the

voice

of

your

own

feelings

you

look

to

his

word

even

if

you

don't

understand

it

the

only

light

the

only

light

in

this

dark

time

as

a

church

we

need

to

help

each

other

become

tall

trees

that

are

planted

by

the

word

of

God

with

deep

roots

like

I

remember

the

storms

in

Newcastle

there

was

trees

that

just

easily

blew

over

because

their

roots

weren't

deep

we

need

deep

roots

in

the

Bible

we

need

to

help

each

other

with

that

we

need

to

ground

new

believers

deeply

in

truth

it

is

not

enough

for

people

just

to

walk

in

the

door

we

need

to

know

our

Bibles

we

need

to

help

new

believers

we

need

to

help

our

children

have

deep

roots

in

the

word

when

someone

seeks

your

advice

it

is

not

loving

to

say

follow

your

heart

if

their

heart

if

their

desires

are

contrary

to

seeking

his

divine

nature

it

is

not

loving

it

feels

good

but

it's

not

when

someone

knows

their

Bible

really

well

and

contradicts

the

heart

of

who

Jesus

is

and

the

cross

it's

not

loving

to

be

tolerant

if

they're

making

a

mockery

of

this

glorious

one

and

his

blood

this

master

has

called

us

to

share

in

his

divine

nature

he's

called

us

upward

out

of

the

world

to

share

in

his

light

keep

progressing

keep

pursuing

growth

keep

accessing

his

divine

power

through

his

promises

the

only

light

shining

in

a

dark

place

will

you

pray

with

me

let's

pray

father

we

thank you

that you

love us

enough to

warn us

so that

we're not

taken in

by

some

imitation

we know

that

satan

comes

dressed

in

light

sometimes

so we

thank you

for

your

love

in

warning

us

and we

thank you

most of

all

for

the

blood

of

your

son

cleansing

us

of

all

sin

setting

us

free

from

slavery

to

sin

lord

fill us

with

the

hope

that

one

day

we'll

be

free

from

the

presence

of

sin

father

help us

to

expect

the

coming

of

your

son

in

power

and

glory

and

the

light

that

we

see

we

get

to

share

with

him

help

us

feel

the

wonder

of

that

so

that

we

won't

compromise

and

we'll

keep

progressing

lord

help

us

to

be

a

community

that

truly

loves

one

another

and

pushes

each

other

to

keep

growing

in

your

word

in

season

and

out

of

season

in

Jesus

name

I

pray

amen