The Fate of False Teachers (Part B)

The one that hears the Word of God, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God and submits to it. And so God speaks through preachers to the conscience of sinners. And this sharing of the faith with conviction is what leads to conversion. Of course the Holy Spirit doing all of the heavy lifting and we being the instruments that He uses.

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. Pastor Rick will continue teaching through the book of 2 Peter and chapter 2 today, and his message called The Fate of False Teachers. Perhaps, perhaps in his private talks with his 12 apostles, Jesus revealed things that are not in print, that we have no record of, and much of it may have been just for them. It was not unlike Christ to reveal things and say, this is just for you. The Mount of Transfiguration, for example, He said, don't mention this right away. You have to wait. For Daniel, He said to Daniel, shut up the book for now.

It is closed, it's sealed. Even John in the Revelation, he said, don't write this. So it's not unlike Christ, God, to withhold information from the greater part and give some to the lesser.

And you say, well, why? And I think that the Lord revealed things to these men to keep them, the leaders of the church they had to be in these early ages. It was not so much of a doctrine issue because we have everything we need there, but it was more of a strengthening of His servants, speaking to them. Who would say, no, there's no way, Jesus, those guys, they wrote down everything Jesus said. Well, John even tells us, I mean, we could fill library books, there's just too much. There's just too much. And so what that does for us is it causes us to try not to overstate things, try not to talk about things we don't know about. This is what we know about the fallen angels.

It's not a lot, but it's enough. And we really don't need more. In fact, some Christians need less spiritual information because they're so moved by that which is sensational, they're not attracted to that which is just hard truth and necessary. Well, he says here that he delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment. And there they are in the abyss, not all of them, but many of them. Verse 5, and did not spare the ancient world, but save Noah, one of eight, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly. God's truths were wasted on that generation because Noah preached it. Noah is, aside from his family of seven others, he is the most unsuccessful preacher that we know of. If you just take the information at face value because you have to also factor in, well, there may have been people that Noah preached to that died before the flood and they received the message and were righteous, so you can't block that out.

But for those living, evidently, he was not very successful. That is an encouragement to preachers of the gospel. Which you should be also if you are a born-again believer. You are one who is ready to preach the gospel any chance you get. Any time the Lord opens the door, it is your calling, your purpose to preach the gospel.

I mean, there are preachers from pulpits and there are preachers of the gospel which we all are. He says here in verse 5, but save Noah. Now, it's translated one of eight people. It's closer in the Greek to he saved Noah the eighth, just like that.

In fact, the older King James Version has, I think, a more accurate translation. It says, and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness. You say, well, what's the significance? Well, it draws attention to Noah.

It puts the attention on him and you say, why? Because he was such a righteous man. The Bible makes it clear that Noah was an outstanding character. And in his day, the people all around him were so vile, they weren't fit to live according to God any further. Noah was not one of them. The Lord Jesus put his seal of authenticity on the whole story of Noah. The global flood, the ark, the whole thing in his preaching in Matthew chapter 24.

He treated it as a historical fact, not a fairy tale. And where it mentions him as a preacher of righteousness, this Noah, again, perhaps the most ignored preacher of us all, someone has to say it. That's what that word, preacher of righteousness, is about.

Someone's got to tell it. Righteousness does not come natural to us. The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God because they are foolishness to him.

It's the spiritual man, the one that is born again, the one that hears the word of God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God and submits to it. And so God speaks through preachers to the conscience of sinners and this sharing of the faith with conviction is what leads to conversion.

Of course, the Holy Spirit doing all of the heavy lifting and we being the instruments that he uses. Romans chapter 10, Paul telling them that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in him whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? You see, it's not magic.

There are miraculous exceptions but they are very rare and we do not count on those. We have orders to be preachers of the word of God, to be familiar enough with the Scripture, to be able to tell people why we believe in what we believe. And here, of course, as Peter is talking about, the Holy Spirit preached through Noah. Well, what do we know about the Holy Spirit and his work with sinners? Well, Jesus tells us in John 16 that he shall convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to come.

You have to have all three because if you have not judgment to come, why do I even bother to listen? It's that fear of pain, eternal, that makes me pay attention. It's that thing that makes the person say, I do not want to go to hell. That's the one that God can begin to work with.

And this Holy Spirit, who is God the Holy Spirit, is here now, right here with us. And Satan has succeeded in telling many people that there is no judgment to worry and men tend to like this because they then feel that they do not have to face this awesome God, who is not accountable, man can write his own rules and sign off on it, and that's good enough. And God disagrees with that. When Peter says, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly, that means God made a clear distinction between the ungodly and Noah and his family who were righteous. He judged the wicked and he saved the righteous. That's what God does. In verse 6, Peter continuing, now he moves from the fallen angels and from Noah, he's going to really hit this next one.

It's not me hitting it, it's Peter. He has much to say about this next group. In verse 6, turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly, making them an example, an example that they do not want to accept, but we do. He underscores the judgment of God. He even says it in such a way that it gets everyone's attention, that he turned it into ashes.

That's quite severe. The Bible is clear about the immorality associated with these two cities in particular, the brazen homosexuality. This sort of gets, I mean, all sin, well, damn, a soul. A person can be a liar, an adulterer, a murderer, or just a rejecter of God.

You know, there will be, there are people who are moral as men go. They follow the culture, the rules. They do not outwardly violate others, and yet they reject Christ. They won't make it into heaven by that standard. But this particular sin, well, there are two types that I'm going to boil it down to this morning concerning those who are into homosexuality. There are those who struggle with the sin, and they do not fight for its acceptance.

They have found themselves caught in it, and they are struggling to get out of it. Then there's another group that does not struggle with the sin. They are ready to destroy anyone who would dare not honor this sin. This was the case in Sodom and Gomorrah also, this insistence that others in some way bow down to this lifestyle. The trapped is not militant, is not looking for advocates for this lifestyle, but the militant homosexuals are, and they are activists. They have their advocates.

I think they are humanly irretrievable. The only thing that is going to make a difference in their life would be a divine act of God, and at that state, it's not very likely. What is worse is that they infiltrate churches and pulpits and try to reverse the edicts of God that have clearly been stated in Scripture. Speaking lies and hypocrisy, Paul wrote about a certain class of sinner having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.

Nothing bothers them. The conviction of sin and righteousness and judgment to come does not penetrate, does not register. They've blocked it out, and they'll have no part of it. Our response is, that's you, that's not me, and that's not everybody else either, and we move on. We knock the dust off our feet, and we go on to the next place where God will send us. Some say that they are Christian and live in open defiance of what God says on this matter, and of course, they are not Christians, regardless of how much they insist they are.

You may have family members, or you may have friends or co-workers or someone you know that is caught up in this. Don't, for one moment, slack off what the Bible says because it's not well received and you may be targeted because of it. How many of you, when you want to write something, maybe on your Facebook page or somewhere else, some media, you think twice before you call these sins what they are because you have become afraid of the backlash. Well, I'm not going to encourage you to be afraid. I'm going to encourage you to be wise as a serpent, harmless as a dove, righteous and bright shining like the sun. You are the salt of the earth.

You are the light of the world. And the minute you're no longer those two, you've got a serious issue that you have to address. We can do these things without being abrasive, but it really won't matter because if you disagree with this particular group, you have already gone too far.

And you can say it in love and with kindness. Again, I'm not talking about those trapped in homosexuality that know it's wrong and have found themselves stuck in it as someone is maybe an alcoholic or addicted to drugs. They're trapped in this and they have to fight through it. But I'm talking about that other group that is shameless, that is brazen with these things.

And that's who Peter is talking about. He says here that they were condemned to destruction as those in the flood of Noah and there are some distinctions between the two. Noah's world was polluted and violent. It was corrupt and violent. Those were the two outstanding features about his culture.

Genesis 6 verse 10 through 12, Noah begot three sons. The earth was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth and indeed it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. Now of course that's a broad word, corrupt. In what way? Likely in every way you can think.

Just not a place to live. Lot's neighborhood, in contrast, was perverted and violent in its culture. Luke's gospel, Jesus speaking, who is the authority, likewise as it was in the days of Lot.

They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. Well, you would think they were upstanding citizens. Yeah, but not for the kingdom of heaven, only in the kingdom of men. And that is never as good as they want to make it sound.

Remember the Roman Empire, those who applauded how many people they enslaved and did wrong to and not to mention the immorality that belonged to the Caesars. But moving back to what Jesus had to say, he says, but on that day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. He's very clear about this.

Very thorough in a very few words. He goes on to warn his audience about the end time and he says, and likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. It's significant because he ends it with, remember Lot's wife. He's saying she got out by the grace of God because someone was praying for that city incidentally. As infested with filth that it was, Abraham spent a lot of time talking to God about saving that city and finally came down to that God would not destroy the righteous.

They understood this. God always knew what he was going to do. God would not destroy the righteous with the wicked. And so he sends an extract team in of angels.

You know the story. The angels were almost made victim to the sin that was in that culture. And God's angels, of course, took Lot and his two daughters out and his wife, and his wife looked back. And so when Jesus says, let him not turn back, he says, you better be careful. You better not go back to rejecting Christ, to that lifestyle. Well, that would be another sermon to dig that open anymore, but I think the point is made that Christ couples the words, let him not turn back with remember Lot's wife, and she turned into a pillar of salt when she dared to look back in disobedience to what she was very plainly commanded not to do. God didn't ask her to carry out, you know, a chest of gold or something weighted. Just don't look back.

That's all he said. It was his angels, his messengers, and that was too much for her, and she paid the price. Both in the days of Noah and the days of Lot, those behaviors were spawned and supported by a permissive society, by a society that gave everything sinful a pass. In fact, honored it, inflated it. They came to view perversity as a normal thing, and don't you dare object.

We're seeing that today. We're seeing this being revived by Satan because the end is near, and in the latter days, there will be this increase in apostasy and demonic activity. This brazen behavior is demonic activity.

It is so off the chart when you have a human being saying that I'm really not this gender, I am that gender. These things are not normal. They are not sane. They are not healthy or good or honorable.

There's something wrong. They know it too. This is why so many of them are seeking mental care, because they know and they try to blame it on the church for condemning their behavior. I'm not trying to go into a tirade on this. I'm dealing with it as we have it before us. It would be too easy to go on a tirade, like shooting ducks in a bathtub from God's perspective. It is clearly condemned in Scripture, and there's no way to put a bow on it and say, no, it's actually a present.

It is not. Remember Lot's wife. She made it out safely, but perished nonetheless because she turned back.

We'll get back to this in a moment. He says, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly. Well, that's why God, he made the example. He was not going to make it every day. He did it once. That's all he needed to do.

With Sapphira and Ananias, they lied to the church, and God made an example out of them. We're very grateful he doesn't continue to do it that way. But that's serious. It doesn't mean, well, because he doesn't still do it, he's not that passionate about it.

He's very passionate about these things. Imagine if you say, I want to give the church a car, donate a car to the church, and the church says, well, we have a family that could use the car, but not this type of car, so why don't you sell it and then bring us the money, and we'll give it to the family, and they can buy a car that would suit them. And you say, okay, and you sell the car, but you don't give all the money to the church. That is what Sapphira and Ananias did, and Peter called them on it, and the Holy Spirit slew them in the spirit. I was slain in the spirit.

Your name, Sapphira and Ananias? Because that's the only group that we know about being slain in the spirit. Well, those who came to arrest Christ, they were slain by them when they all fell back, but anyway, coming back to this, it is a warning, and these warnings, remember, I haven't said this in a while, God has this thing for understatement. If he says, don't do that, he means really don't do that, and don't think that, well, he didn't emphasize it, so it must not be that bad.

That would not be wise. Now, and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked, and we all know what that is. Peter doesn't have to say it. Everybody knows the story who's ever been in touch with Genesis. We would never know that Lot was a righteous man except for the scripture telling us. Why would we think a man like Lot is righteous when you look at his life? The last time we see him in the Old Testament, he is drunk and dishonorable, and the story for him ends just like that. But Abraham prayed that God would rescue the righteous, and that's one reason why we know Lot was such a person. This should give great hope to that Christian struggling in homosexuality or impure thoughts of any other type that God still is interested in you, that God still cares for you, that God still wants you. If you want him and are not playing games trying to rewrite his word, that would be forgery, spiritual forgery.

So the announcement about Noah being a righteous man was pronounced immediately. Lot had to wait over 2,000 years to have the official statement put on his name that he was righteous, and I think it's because of his shallow ways. And so on one hand, you know God is reaching out for the Christian that is shallow, and Lot was. And on the other hand, God is saying there can be some heavy consequences to that lifestyle in Christ, and it can become so bad, Lot's wife. So the Bible never gives us a comfort zone concerning any kind of sin. Those who talk about white lies don't know what they're talking about. A lie is a lie, and God is merciful though, and that gives us courage and hope and strength because we need that.

None of us, none of us would be able to function without the mercy of God on our personal sins and failures. He says that Lot was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked. That's, conduct is lifestyle, it's behavior. That Greek word means behavior, lifestyle.

That's how they live. Look, straight out, Leviticus 20 verse 13 condemns homosexuality right out. It was a capital crime in Israel. In Romans chapter 1 verses 26 through 28, Paul just lays it right out. So I say that because there are those, they are either fools or they are fools who think they can come to description and say the Bible does not condemn this behavior. It thoroughly condemns it. It condemns murder too. But this one gets an asterisk by it. God, God is God.

He is not applying for the job. And if you do not receive that, you're going to have some very difficult things to face. Your fate is already drawn out for you. He says the filthy conduct of the wicked as I have read. And again, outside the walls of good churches and outside the walls of good families, there are those who don't agree with these things. And they are very passionate about how they want you to shut up and honor this lifestyle. That's where we are today. And you are either going to be afraid of them or more afraid of God.

It is up to you. 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.