Sketching False Teachers (Part C)

And so don't tell me God does not care to reach out to stupid people. I'm one. Well, I was not so much now, because I can't be. I got the Holy Spirit.

But still there's enough left to be a little nervous about. But before Christ, it was total stupidity. I don't care how smart you are. The Bible says the fool is said in his heart, there is no God. And that word fool, when coming from the lips of God, is big business.

Women, married or unmarried, doesn't matter. Praying upon them, not praying for them. Unlawful. Passions and attractions that are not being salted. You know, you can have, you can sense, oh man, that's not right that I want such and such a thing. So we begin to take steps to salt it, to arrest it, to keep it from spreading.

These don't. Attractions are an enormous problem in Christianity, in churches, in pulpits, everywhere. It's always been a problem, but it is becoming more so in these end times because of the vehicles that have not existed in past history, which are here now, that just cause so much havoc. He says here, I cannot cease from sin. That is an addiction. They are addicted. Now, there are Christians that are addicted to things from time to time, and they hate it, and they're fighting it, and God understands, and he's going to work with you. These have no such ambition to repent or change. They are fully given over to their sin. And he points this out. They see something they want. They must have it.

They have no internal inhibitors to prohibit them. From going after what has been forsaken because it is damaging to others. He says enticing unstable souls. What about that clause sticks out to you? That they're enticing people or that there are unstable souls to be enticed?

That's a foot race and a photo finish to see which one. Well, it's going to be a tie, I think, but these are those who seduce the unstable, because the unstable have a foundation that's not that good. That's why they are unstable. When a building has a poor foundation, it becomes unstable and is condemned.

Well, hopefully before it topples. Ephesians 6, put on some of the armor of God. Yeah, we know that's not what it says. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. He's going to seduce.

He's going to deceive and trick. 2 Corinthians 11, 3, Paul's heart. I fear that somehow the serpent, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Well, aren't you busy enough trying to preach the gospel? Do your devotions come to church, serve in the church, then to have to add to that junk? Cheap thrills in the name of God?

We have enough to do. The simplicity of the faith means we live it. This is how we go and how we do it.

It gets complicated because of our flesh. Listen to the wife, the pastor, the wife speaking to her husband. The pastor would not let me bring in this stuff into the church, this program, this Bible course.

He wouldn't let me do it. Rather than saying, good, that's what he is supposed to do. He is supposed to shield the church, protect the church. He has a rod and a staff for those purposes. He has an authority for those purposes.

He has been called and appointed and established for those purposes. Rather than saying, that is good, my wife, often the husband will say nothing, nothing. He's afraid.

He doesn't want to keep the peace, but he doesn't want to keep it with Christ. He won't stand up. This is ademic. This is what Adam did. Adam should have said, are you crazy? I'm not eating that.

He did not do it. And here we are. Or the husband will do this. I can't believe it and come to the defense of his wife as she goes against the Lord.

We see this all the time. I wish I could say it does get old. But I wish I could say I'm fed up with it. I don't have that luxury. You don't either. Christian life takes work. You've got to work that field constantly. You know, we live in a society where the animals don't usually dictate the rhythm of the pace of life as it does when you live on a farm with, you know, you've got to get up and feed the chickens and the mice or whatever it is they do on farms. And here we just, you know, instead of going out to the flock and grabbing an animal and butchering it, we go up to the supermarket and just purchase it, butcher it already. Where am I going with that? I don't know.

I was on a roll, but I lost it. Anyway, they have a heart trained in covetous practices, trained. They have invested themselves.

To train is to keep at something over, to drill it in, to just do it again until it becomes just, you know, almost a reflex. And this is what they're doing with their covetousness, their wanting, their greed. Peter has got their number.

He knows who these boys are, as do the other apostles. Heart trained in greedy practices. Lies about God bring death to mankind.

That's what they do. Truth about God restores life to mankind. But false teachers don't do it. Now, can anybody get saved in the presence of false teaching? Absolutely, because God can overrule. We've seen this in the scripture where God overrules what the wicked are doing.

Balaam is one. He went to curse the Jews. He couldn't get it out. He kept blessing them. God has got that ability.

That does not let the guilty off the hook. The mercy of God. We'll get back to that in his dealing with Balaam in a minute. He says they are a cursed children. How much stronger can the language be?

It cannot. This is anathema. This is saying they're damned to hell. They are condemned by their own choices. He's pounding these false teachers.

He's not letting up. Jesus said the field is the world. The good seeds are the sons of the kingdom. But the weed seeds are the sons of the wicked one. There is a wicked one, and he has offspring. Jesus said to the religious intelligentsia elitis, you're like your father, the devil, the father of lies. From the beginning, and so are you.

He pounded them too. Who would dare say to Peter, tone it down. I mean, come on. How are you going to get the seeker to come to your church, Peter, if you're talking like this? Who would say to the pastor, when you come to the false teachers, go easy? Well, I don't think any born-again, sane believer would say such a thing. Verse 15. They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. These, they were in the faith. That Greek word for forsaken means you were once there, and you're not there any longer. It's used when Jesus left Nazareth, when he left Capernaum. That's the way he left it.

He was there, now he's not. I'm very troubled. It's a big deal I'm troubled, but this, you know, once saved, always saved. Well, some of you may be very fierce about that.

I don't know why. I don't know where the insecurity lies for sure. I do know that if I am right and you are wrong, you're causing a lot of problems, and I do know that if I am wrong, there's really no big deal. Okay, I was wrong. So it comes down to this.

We do not have the right to make anyone feel comfortable in their sins, no matter what confession they make. If you abide with Christ, you are his disciples indeed. That's what he said. That's what I believe. But you have all these bigwigs come along with these doctrines of men, and they're well-meaning oftentimes, and often they're great men of God, but in this area, I vehemently disagree with the majority.

Not all of them, because some of them are wise enough to side with me, even though they died before I was born, but that's just how it goes. But anyway, this, you cannot, apostasy means to fall away from. It's a very basic thing.

You were once there, and now you're not. It is deliberate. It's not accidental, any more than taking a screwdriver and running over to an outlet and jamming the screwdriver. Oh, I didn't mean to do that.

Yes, you did, and now you're insulting me, thinking I'm dumb enough to believe you didn't mean to do that. And so this, you know, unfortunately, it's a hotbed of debate within Christianity. I can tell you how to end a debate. Just agree with me. That's all. The debate's over.

All right. Where were we? So I don't know if I'll come back to that this morning, but they forsook the right way. You see, an unbeliever was never there. They're just, they're not apostates. They're unbelievers. Backsliders still believe, but they're not living like they believe. There's hope for the backslider, more hope than for the apostate. I'll come to a list of names in a minute. That's not tongues.

Some of you got very happy, and other of you got very scared. I was hoping there was going to be a revelation there. If it speaks the word of God, there's a revelation.

You don't need the dimming of the lights. In fact, we should incorporate that. You know, whoo. Anyway, following the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, again, the poster boy for apostasy. He was a prophet. God spoke to him. He died a soothsayer, one of the funniest words in the Bible. God prohibited, prohibited, prohibited those who said sooth. You are not to be around soothsayers. All right.

Some of you have not had your coffee or Wheaties or whatever. And no doubt he walked the right path. There were others like Balaam that weren't Gentiles at this time.

There was Job, and there was Jethro, for example. So we're not surprised, okay, Balaam, you know, he wasn't a Jew, right? But that doesn't mean he didn't have a relationship with God. Of course, Balaam's philosophy became, well, if you can't curse them, corrupt them. That's how Satan seduced Balaam. Balak, the king, saw the Jews coming and said, oh, he got to stop this. And so he sends out for Balaam, the prophet. And Balaam, of course, on the way to the cursing, has some time with God.

But let me just summarize his philosophy, the way of Balaam, his doctrine. He said, forget about the warriors of Moab. Send in the women of Moab instead.

They will take the men out. And they were, through seduction. He said, if you can take the men out from the path of purity and separation and obedience, God will put His wrath on them, and you won't have to lift a sword. That was Satan's strategy. Involve them in immorality and idolatry.

That's still his strategy. It's still happening in churches. You still see Christians that are involved in immorality and idolatry, or at least professed Christians.

Back to that once-saved, always-saved note. As soon as someone fails, that is a Christian name, people, well, he was never saved. Be careful how you interpretate First John.

They were never among us. That is a different meaning than what most do want to have it mean. Because if that is our response to an apostate, then how do I know you're not an apostate to be? What about me? How can I ever be comfortable in my faith? How can I ever have a blessed assurance? John said, these things I have written to you that you may know that you have eternal life. Jesus means that. That's for every believer.

It's mine. If you want to fall away, have at it. I do not believe most fall away that are born again.

I believe they come, the most of them, the majority come and they stay. Well, that was his way of going against them, the doctrine of Balaam. And he says that, Peter says here in verse 15, he loved the wages of unrighteousness. There came that moment when Balaam chainsides and it was for the gold. It was a struggle at first and then he surrendered.

He yielded to it. At that moment, the prophet became mad. He set out to be a man of God and ended up being a fool because of his own desires against God.

It developed. He didn't wake up in the beginning. We have no evidence that he woke up in the morning and said, today I'm going to fall away from the faith. We find him talking to God when we first meet him. We find him killed by the people of God and marked a soothsayer when we last hear of him chronologically in the Old Testament. Modern day apostates, John Henry Newman, he became, he was a self or recognized theologian in England and he became a Roman Catholic.

He gave it up so he could get the cardinal's robe of red. Charles Templeton, in the days of Billy Graham, preached to Christ to as many people as Billy was preaching. Bishop Pike, John Shelby Spong. You say, I never heard those names.

Good. They left, they became fools. They started out being fundamental in their belief and they became total apostates. And then recently John Harris, now walking with the LGBTQIZ group, now upholding them what they stand for and renouncing Christ. After having preached Christ.

See, it happens. And I'm not going to go here and tell you, well, he was never saved. You want to go to heaven? Well, stay with Christ. It's that simple. I think if the Bible meant it any other way, it would have said, hey, don't worry about it.

Once saved, always saved. Well, it would have been that easy to say. So be careful with that. Some of you may not like me so much now. You may not have liked me too much and you had a head start. But I know of Christians that really get angry with me for this.

And I don't know why. What if I'm wrong? Okay, why are you angry? What if I'm right? Who's the angry one now?

I don't sound angry. Alright, verse 16. We're going to get you out of here.

I promise you will get out of here. But he was rebuked for his iniquity, Balaam was. A dumb donkey speaking with a man's voice restrained the madness of the prophet. He was given a chance to remain with God. There's the mercy of God reaching out to him. That glittering sword of the angel standing in the path. And the talking donkey.

I think there's a stout warning from God to side with him. He can make a donkey talk. You think Balaam would have just, you know what, I think I'm going to turn this donkey around, go back home, continue to preach the gospel, and open a circus on the side. Let everybody see the talking donkey. Hello, my baby.

Hello, my darling. Some of you may remember the old cartoon with the singing frog, and they could never get him to sing anyway. A dumb donkey speaking with a man's voice restrained the madness of the prophet. How embarrassing. I'm a man of God, and God has to send a donkey to talk sense to you. This is the craziest thing. It's extraordinary.

It's a remarkable miracle. I would have a total problem with this except for one thing, the God factor. Because if he can create the sun and keep it from cooking me right away, then I think he can do a lot of other things. And I think making a donkey talks lightweight stuff for him. So, God went so far as to impart speech into the donkey to talk sense to Balaam, and so don't tell me that God does not care to reach out to stupid people.

I'm one. Well, I was not so much now, because I can't be. I got the Holy Spirit, but still there's enough left to be a little nervous about. But before Christ, it was total stupidity. I don't care how smart you are. The Bible says the fool is said in his heart, there is no God. And that word fool, when coming from the lips of God is big business. It's serious business, I should say.

Anyway, money not miracles move this prophet. That should alert us to the fact that temptation is very serious. That to be destabilized by Satan is a possibility. We should not be afraid of this. We should be armed against it, not given the spirit of fear, but of love and of power and a sound mind.

So, this panic feeling about, oh, am I going to lose my salvation? That's the spirit of fear, not of power, love and a sound mind. We're armed against these things.

We know they're there, and we've taken measures to defend against them, and our measures are sure. And Satan found in Balaam a man who played games with God and lost. And so we read, Joshua 13, the children of Israel also killed with the sword. Balaam, the son of Beor, the soothsayer. They make it clear that's how he ended his race.

He started well, finished poorly. Here's a list of money lovers from our scripture that caused much grief. Achan from Joshua 7. Balaam, of course, numbers 22 through 24. Delilah, her love for money, blinded a man. Judges 16. Gehazi, he became a leper because of his greed. The rich fool died that night, counting his pennies. Judas Iscariot, never bought a thing with the money he received for betraying Christ.

Didn't even do a good job killing himself. Ananias and Sapphira, promising one thing, delivering another in God's name. So the Bible's very serious on this subject. It's about the damming of souls or the saving of souls. That is what life is all about for the Christian and all the other things logistical. We work, we have families, we do what we do. All to sustain the life that is here to preach the gospel.

That's our reason for being. All those things will perish, but not the born again. Verse 17, these are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Just think, at verse 17 he's not done. We still have the rest of the chapter for next session. And then we have all chapter 3.

He's continued to pound them. And then there's John's epistles that will do the same. And there's Jude that will do the same. And then there's the first, you know, two chapters of Revelation where God is dealing with the church. And so we must say to ourselves, you know, I think this is high up on his list. Maybe he's not so into getting me all the things I want, but getting from me what he wants. A heart ready to preach the truth and love and passion. In other words, where he says here in verse 17, they, when he says these are wells without water, they promise life, but they don't produce.

They never give it. The word therefore, wells, is an artesian well. But a well, any kind of well, once it goes dry, it is still considered a well. Isn't that interesting?

It's dry, but it's dug by association to its purpose. Reserved, the black, continuing the bottom of verse 17, for whom is reserved? The blackness of darkness forever. Anybody here think hell is a joke? Anybody here think that salvation is not a serious thing?

It goes beyond just getting into heaven. It is work to do. Are you a lazy Christian? Maybe you think your job is to go around criticizing pastors.

I wouldn't advise that. You will have to answer to the one that appointed them if they are doing God's work. And I don't think that, and for the pastors on their end, that doesn't come easily. A lot of pain being a pastor that you don't get not being a pastor. There are pains I never discovered until I became a pastor. I never felt them as a Christian, as a servant. I just got an email from another pastor that said a couple of pastors that had been with him for years went out into ministry on their own, not in bad terms, and got back to him and said we never knew it was this hard.

We just make it look easy. Alright, Matthew 28, Matthew 10, we close with this. Jesus said don't worry about those who kill the body and that's it. But rather fear him who is able to destroy both the soul and the body in hell. That is God.

Let's fear the Lord, a sensible fear, not a panic stricken fear. 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.