Tactics of False Teachers (Part C)

Abiding in Christ makes the entire issue of once saved always saved a non-issue. Because I'm abiding in Christ, of course I'm saved! What part of eternal security do you not understand that you get when you abide with Christ? Coming to Christ does not mean, again, that he strips us of free will.

You want to up and go, he's not going to go, uh-uh, no, you are my prisoner. That's not God, that's not love. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 2 Peter.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Today, Pastor Rick will continue teaching through 2 Peter chapter 2 and his message called Tactics of False Teachers. If you have a shield of trust built off of lies, it's not faith, it's trust in lies. So, you go to church and you there expect to hear the good news about salvation, that man is a sinner and God is a savior.

But you don't get that. You may get parts of it, but you get other stuff that defeat the very principles and truths of our word. And so you say, it sounds good, yeah? Well, run it through the scripture. Filter it through God's word.

Tell me if it still sounds good. Now, I know you all have relatives, not all of you, but some of you have relatives that are caught up in various heresies, false teachings. What do you do about that? There's a couple of things you could do. You study to show yourself approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of God, and you wait. That's what you do. And in that wait time, because you wait for the Lord to open a door or not, the Lord's prerogative is to open or close a door. And you pray. And you never stop praying. This is how we do business and hell hates it and is determined to get you to not believe what I just said.

To study the word of God, to be submitted to the Holy Spirit of God, and to pray. And this is something that is not, you know, we settle for. We don't settle for this.

This is what we do. This is what upsets hell. This is what gets souls into heaven. Otherwise, God never would have made these things so clear. What do you read in your scripture in your New Testament that they couldn't find Jesus in the morning because he had gotten away from everybody and he was praying for hours? When you read that, you tell me, do you forget that?

Does that not stand out to you? And you say, I want some of that. I don't have what it takes to do all of that.

But I want some of that. God teaches and preaches to us in so many ways through his scripture. It's an inexhaustible word. A man can preach from the same verse over and over again and say different things if the Spirit should so fill him. Well, anyway, these converts are picked off because the Bible is just too much work to learn for themselves. They are not very familiar with all of the scripture. They just want the parts that tell them Jesus loves them and he's going to forgive sinners.

The doomed leading the doomed. Matthew's Gospel chapter 3, John the Baptist preaching. John says, his winnowing fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Who is ready to stand up and look John the Baptist in the eye and say, liar!

I'm not. Those words are true and they're current. His winnowing fan, he's going to separate the wheat, the grain, the edible part from the husk, the chaff. And he's going to put them in piles and there will be a judgment.

God's not playing around. And, you know, you say, well, this just scares me. It should scare you a little bit. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

Get your concordance, go through the book of Proverbs and just look up the fear of the Lord and see how many things we are told that are to our benefit concerning fearing our God. We're not terrorized by him. Unless we can be. Walk that back a little bit.

We don't live that way. We walk with Jesus as the apostles walked with Jesus. They didn't, oh, don't get too close.

Oh, don't let him look your way. They were not panic stricken walking with Christ. Peter was quick to say, what do you mean asking us who touched you?

Look at the crowds. He was honest. Of course, Christ had gone far deeper than what Peter understood.

Jesus said power went out from me. Somebody was more than curious about me. Somebody was serious about me. And I felt that touch.

And he still does it that way. Christ makes the distinction between the curious and the serious. And because you're serious now doesn't mean you'll be serious later, but you should be. It's I think most are. I don't think there is a large number of apostates relative to the amount of people who come to Christ and never look back at the world. I think there are far more people who get saved and enter into heaven than those who confess Christ as Lord and Savior and then at some point become apostates.

I think that number is relatively small, but it is still big enough to be serious enough to not overlook. I am not going to tell somebody, don't worry, you confess Christ, you can go worship Buddha, you'll be all right. That would be a lie from hell. So we move to verse 20 now. Now, after all this, we're going to have a nice day. Verse 20, for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I love just reading that. They are again entangled in them and overcome. The latter end is worse for them than the beginning.

You see, it's self-correcting. If you say, well, I don't think I think that verse meant that they are in the process of escaping when they get. Well, this verse doesn't word it that way at all.

It comes right out and says right out that they got out of the world, they escaped it, and then they are reentangled in that life that did not recognize Jesus Christ as Lord. Because something is popular doesn't mean anything to me at all. I don't care how popular a teaching is or something is in Christianity, I don't care who says it.

If I think it disagrees with the Bible, I'm not going with that team. And I would want the same from everybody else. I would, well, I mean, you couldn't get there with me because I'm always right. I know I say that a lot because it's so absurd, it is so ridiculous that a human being of any type would think that they were flawless or beyond mistake or sinless in this life. And so I like to say, I think it's the funniest thing to be so proud to be humble.

Things like that to me just excite me. And I overdo it, I know, but that's your fault for coming. So you just spin it around, make the other guy guilty, and everybody has a nice day. Well, what we've come to in verse 20 is abiding in Christ. It makes the entire question of, can I lose my salvation? Once saved, always. It makes the entire thing non-issue.

I have to repeat that. Abiding in Christ makes the entire issue of once saved, always saved a non-issue. Because I'm abiding in Christ.

Of course I'm saved. What part of eternal security do you not understand that you get when you abide with Christ? Coming to Christ does not mean, again, that he strips us of free will. You want to up and go, he's not going to, uh-uh, uh-uh, no.

You are my prisoner. That's not God and that's not love. Instead, instead of stripping us of free will, he gives us the Holy Spirit. He gives it to, he puts them in our hearts. He says, now if you want to override that, that's your choice.

I highly recommend you don't. I don't have any problem with that at all. So it is somewhat embarrassing to see otherwise great Bible teachers try to make such verses as I've been reading from Thessalonians and Peter, and we'll get one in John in a minute, trying to make them not say what they say so that the verse conforms to a man-made doctrine because that's what they have been trained to do. He says here in verse 20, they are again entangled in them and overcome, same Greek word, vanquished. The latter end is worse for them than the beginning.

What's the latter end? The judgment and wrath of God, the great white throne, condemnation from the throne of God. The operative word here is overcome.

There's a great difference between being overtaken and overstepping. Yeah, we trespass, we overstep, we sin, we fail. God works with that because we're under his lordship. But the minute you just renounce his lordship, you are vanquished, you are defeated.

And here is where I suppose I am supposed to submit and preach. Oh, it doesn't mean what I just said it means, and I cannot and will not do such a thing because I don't find it in the Scripture. I find a great amount of Scripture against such a teaching.

If you ask, well, how come so many others fall for it? There are benefits from being academically trained and there are great disadvantages too. I'm going to quote next verse Arnold Gaberline, who was a self-taught scholar. And my point is, learning is, personally, I'm homeschooled. I went to public school as a kid. But for the pastorate, I was homeschooled by my father in heaven. I don't have a problem with that. I don't have a problem saying I am a graduate and attendee of the University of the Holy Spirit.

I don't have a problem saying, as Paul said to Timothy, be, you know, AUG, approved unto God. That's the school that all Christians should aspire to graduate and then go on to graduate school, which ends in heaven. And then we're on a whole other level. We need universities.

I mean, look at the doctors, the healthcare you get. There are many professions and skills. You have to have the resources, the materials, the people to help you. But the scripture, to know the scripture, you can't put it in a box. How did the apostles learn being with Christ? Well, then how did those after them learn? From their writings, from the Holy Spirit in them. And so I don't lockstep with the intelligentsia of Christianity unless I agree with them. But if I disagree with them, I plan to always then disagree with them.

Makes perfect sense to me. Well, verse 21. And I hope this doesn't sound, I really don't care. Because, I mean, I disagree.

It's okay. This doesn't mean they're going to hell. This doesn't mean that they're monsters or anything like that. It just means we disagree on this teaching.

And that's really the end of it for me. For them, it's not. For them, this is anathema.

Oh, brother, you're coming against John Calvin. Anyway, verse 21. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, then having known it, to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered to them.

This is all very clear to me. These people had received the gospel, and then they have turned from it, the ones that Peter has in mind. Now here's Arnold Gaberline, who was born in 1861, died in 1945. Born during the time, about the time of the Civil War, and died at the end of World War II. And he was German. He was born in Germany. Taught himself Hebrew. Spoke Hebrew so well. He had a great outreach in New York City to the Jewish community. And he spoke Hebrew so well.

At one point, he's giving a teaching. He would say, come and hear about the promises to David. And he would preach the gospel there. And he spoke it so well that the Jews at that time were flooding into this country because of the pogroms that were taking place in Europe. And so they were coming to America. In fact, if you watch Fiddler on the Roof, you know it ends with them leaving Russia and two of the characters, one saying I'm going to Chicago, the other one saying I'm going to New York.

And that is historically accurate, that setting. Anyway, Gaberline, this rabbi, Jewish rabbi, stands up and says, you're a liar. You're not a Gentile. Because his Hebrew was so good.

He wasn't attacking him. He was actually complimenting him. He was so impressed by his Hebrew that that rabbi would say, you can't be a Gentile. And that just gives you a little light on the intelligence of Gaberline. For you pastors, you would not do harm having Gaberline in your library, but you do have to watch in certain areas. If you need me to correct him, you just come see me.

I just love doing stuff like that. But anyhow, I want to quote Gaberline in the context of verse 21 where he says, For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. Gaberline, not about this verse, but he says it elsewhere in his life, so appropriate. He says, Friends, if you came here today unsaved and you walk out of here unsaved, I am the worst enemy that you have ever had because you have heard the gospel and you can never go into the presence of God and tell him that you have never heard the gospel. You have heard it, and it will be worse for you when God pronounces judgment than for any heathen in the darkest part of the earth today. It's very powerful.

It's very accurate. It's based on such verses as this. He's saying if you heard the gospel and you've rejected it, you are worse off than some heathen sacrificing to stones and bricks and whatever else who's never heard the gospel. This is very serious stuff we Christians handle. So you go back to the Old Testament, and there are the priests handling the incense, the lights, the oil for the lampstand, all of the articles, very holy stuff, so holy that when they were to travel with the portable tabernacle in the wilderness, they would wrap up, they would hide the lampstand, for example, so nobody could see it, only it was for the eyes of the priest. And we Christians, the articles we handle are just as holy.

It has everything to do with God's commandment, with his desire to shine the light, to preach the truth to lost souls. Is there a born-again Christian here that is comfortable not caring for lost souls? Is there just one of you here? Because if you say you're born again and you really don't care about lost souls, I question your salvation. I don't know if that's real.

I don't know how that could be. I'm not saying you're damned and going to hell. I'm saying I don't know how you're going to heaven.

How? How can someone have the Holy Spirit in his heart who has left us on this planet to struggle and suffer and fight and scratch for every inch of righteousness for the purpose of leading other souls to heaven? That's why he's left us here. And so we handle these holy articles because we are a royal priesthood. I believe my New Testament tells me that.

I am supposed to be concerned as much as I can with keeping people out of hell, and I do that in a number of ways. He says here in verse 21, then having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. Jesus said, if you abide, if you remain with me, 2 John, because the truth which abides in us will be with us forever.

If it abides, it is forever. 1 John's Gospel 15, 16, if anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered, and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. That's what John the Baptist warned about.

That settles it for me. But what about 1 John 2, 19? They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were with us. At some point, they departed, because John does not use this Greek word never. He does not say they were never with us.

That's a different Greek word that he would have used here. He says they're not with us presently. At some point, they departed, or else they would have stayed, and while in preparing, I'm saying, Lord, how hard do I run with this? And the answer is very simple for the Lord, as hard as the Scripture allows you to run with it, and that's what I have been doing. So we come to 1 John, where I just read from 1 John 2, 19, where he says they were never of us, but just six verses down, verse 24, he says this. Therefore, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. So we talk about walking with Jesus. That's what that word means. We walk with Christ.

One other question, we're almost done. Is it alarming to you all of the cross-references of Scripture? I think those Christians full of the Holy Spirit enjoy cross-references. I build that off of not because I put them in messages I'm permitted to give, but when I sat in the pew, or when I go to a pastor's conference and hear other pastors preach, I love the cross-references. I love when they quote other Scriptures. I enjoy being reminded and stirred. It doesn't mean I think that the speaker should have the same interpretation and application of every single verse that I have. I often benefit from new insight. Not so much nowadays because I just don't listen to them. But anyway, verse 22, but it has happened to them according to the true proverb.

A dog returns to his own vomit and a sow having washed to her wallowing in the mire. This is not friendly speech. This is not seeker-friendly. This is hard-hitting stuff. He's using not Proverbs 26, he's using a Gentile proverb because it's right, it's appropriate. Proverbs 26 is a dog returns to his own vomit, so a fool repeats his folly. This here includes the swine.

And you think I'm harsh? What about verse 22? Peter's saying to his congregation, the audience, if you turn on Christ, you eat your own vomit. If you turn on Christ, you're like a pig going into the slop.

You think that's harsh? Not with the stakes, no, not at all, not when hell is involved. This is repulsive behavior, metaphorically applied to human beings, that they should not consume what has already been rejected. So the apostate, he rejects the world when he comes to Christ, and then he gobbles it back up when he falls away from Christ.

That's the picture. Christ said, cast not pearl before swine unless they trample you underfoot. A hog's nature, they can't help themselves. What's fine for hogs is not fine for people.

Apostates are under the influence of an animal's nature, not the nature of Christ Jesus, the Christ-like nature. So the angle of a swine's neck naturally bent downwards, which is good for a hog, a pig, a sow. It allows them to do what they do as a pig in the swine family.

It allows them to do what they do in life, to eat, to survive, to be fixed on earthly things. On this world, you catch the metaphor. We're not supposed to be fixed on earthly things. It is difficult for a swine to look at the stars. They can do it, but it takes a lot, and you won't see them strutting around very long looking up at the sky.

Because again, their bent is downward. The lesson of what we're getting is that we're not fixed on this world. We're fixed on the heavens. As Paul said in Colossians 3, set your mind on things above. The very thing the hog, in illustration, cannot do.

One last note. It is not enough to be a non-atheist. Satan is a non-atheist. So boasting all I believe in God really doesn't get you anywhere. Which God is it, and on whose terms is it? You must be born again, and you must bear fruit.

John 3, John 15. You must bear fruit. Praying for others is fruit, incidentally. I don't mean I pray every Easter and every Christmas.

That's insulting. None of us asked to be born. Only one has ever asked to come to this world, this cursed world, and that is, of course, Jesus Christ. He chose to be born. But we can choose to be born again, and God has made that available to us. And so if you're fretting, I never asked to come into this world, well, neither did your parents. Nothing new with that. But you have something to do with going out of this world.

You can have a say-so in that. That's all we have time for on today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. You've been listening to Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia as he teaches through the book of 2 Peter. If you'd like to listen to more messages from this series, or if you'd like more information about this program, please visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast so you'll never have to miss a program. Just search for Cross-Reference Radio in iTunes, Google Play Music, or your favorite podcast app. What a great way to keep God's Word with you wherever you go. We hope you'll tune in again next time as Pastor Rick continues studying through the Scriptures right here on Cross-Reference Radio.