Foundations of Faith: The Nature of Liars

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. After making some rather provocative statements, Jesus asked his disciples if they would turn away from him.

After all, many in the crowd did turn that day. It was Peter who answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. You know, decades after that moment, Peter writes his second letter to believers, warning them about the dangers of listening to false teachers, teachers leading men and women away from the one with the words of eternal life, Jesus of Nazareth. What motivates false teachers to push people from Christ? And why are so many enticed by their teachings? From our text, 2 Peter 2, 17 through 22, Pastor Rich shares a message titled The Nature of Liars. Let's listen in.

This is part two of the message, which was first preached on September 17, 2023 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. They have lost grounding. They are unprincipled.

In other words, they follow what we would call reactionary pragmatism. What's trending? You know, the idea of stick your finger in the wind and see which way the wind is blowing?

That's what these false teachers are doing. Whatever is trending in the culture at the time. I want to just do a little scenic view here because we have some storms billowing today, don't we? I don't want to get up on a soapbox and preach. I want to present this with all humility because there's going to be some hard things here. Today there is a storm of sensual passion. There is a storm of confusion about sexuality and sexual identity, and it is a storm.

God has designed a beautiful thing, and there is a storm that is trying to confuse it. And we see many today that are reconsidering, well, you know, maybe the Bible isn't so clear on this. For example, in North Point Community Church in Atlanta, they are hosting a conference called Unconditional, and it is a conference to teach parents how to affirm their children who come out with some kind of sexual deviancy.

Hang with me here for just a moment, okay? We should not, anybody who comes and acknowledges sinful behavior, we should not just cast them out and disdain them, and unfortunately that has happened too much in many Christian circles. And because of that, there are churches that feel like, well, you know, we need to be embracing. What has happened is that people who are experiencing sexual and sexual identity confusion are now finding themselves affirmed in that confusion.

I believe this is something that this conference is doing, just judging by looking at some of the speakers that they have. Now here's what happens. We will have what we believe is a very clear understanding of what the scripture says about what God's character and purposes, what his design is for marriage, for sexuality, all of that. I believe the Bible is abundantly clear.

Let me rephrase that. Take out the I believe part. The Bible is abundantly clear.

There's no questions about that. But here's what can happen so commonly is a loved one, someone that you love, a family member, is now expressing confusion, sinful desire, sinful behavior. And then all of a sudden, you think, well, maybe I need to rethink how I read the Word of God. Maybe I need to rethink what the Bible says. This is what's creating the storm today, and it is a storm.

And in a lot of ways and in a lot of parts, it's taking the church by storm. Because people who will come out and say, well, we just need to affirm them in who they are, there's a theological problem with that. When people come out and they express the sexual orientation that they believe that they are, what they are saying is, that's who I am. Here's the theological problem with that. The only being in all of the universe and beyond that is immutable is God.

You and I can change. We must conform ourselves to God's character and purpose. And for someone to come out and say, well, this is just who I am, it's the Christian, someone who claims to be a Christian, acknowledging character and behavior that is contrary to God's revealed character and purpose, and saying, well, this is just the way I am. That's not true.

You can't say that and I can't say that. In other words, what you're saying, if you do, you're just saying, I am disobedient to God, and that's just the way I am, and I can't change that. That is not true. And yet there is a whole movement in much of the church today that is wanting to move in that direction to say, well, you know, it's just the way they are, we just have to affirm them. And we need to make a difference between loving the individual while not affirming their sin or leaving them in their sin.

This is a challenge for us today, a huge challenge. Rosaria Butterfield, you probably know her well, Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert is probably her most well-known book. She is referencing Peter Jones from Truth Exchange, and she says, while unbiblical spirituality self-promotes as kind and inclusive, it isn't reality narcissistic and damning.

Denying the master who bought them. Jesus was very clear on the model for marriage. I want to introduce to you, and you know this, this is in Scripture, so I'm not introducing it to you. Again, nothing new comes from this pulpit.

Because we only unpack the Word of God here. Here is probably one of the most difficult things that Jesus ever said. Luke chapter 14 verse 26, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

That sounds cruel, doesn't it? What is Jesus saying? If you have a choice, either follow Jesus or have this family member stay with you, but the family member is not willing for both to take place at the same time. Jesus says if you're not willing to leave that family member, then you're not worthy to be my disciple.

Here's the reality of the situation. Take in many parts of the world, for example, where it is illegal to convert someone to Christianity. And someone is actually converted to Christianity. I have actually taught students in Egypt who have since then lost their lives because they were Christians and shared the gospel with another person. And so if you are in this country where it is illegal to convert someone to Christianity, and then you have this person converts to Christianity, right, and then their family shuns them, disowns them. And listen to me, this is common in many parts of the world today where people are coming to become followers of Jesus Christ. They become disowned by their families. And this is what Jesus is saying, if you're not willing to be disowned by your family, you're not worthy to be my disciple.

What did we just sing about? Who is the one who alone is worthy, before whom you and I will stand when it is all done? We will not be standing before loved ones.

We will be standing before the infinite, sovereign God and creator of the universe, who happens to be our redeemer. So take that in other countries where people are disowned by their families and yet we come into our culture and somebody expresses a particular sexual orientation or confusion and they say, well, I just need you to affirm me. And we're not willing to do that. We're willing rather to twist scripture to make it acceptable.

This is a problem. This is the storm that is facing us today. And so when he says in verse 17, mists driven by the storm, am I going to be in that mist following these teachers who are mists driven by the storm?

They're groundless. They're not anchored in the immovable rock of scripture in God's character and purpose, but I'm simply going to follow the trends and adjust scripture to make it sound okay. In 2024, we are going to be following the theme of teaching and ministry here at Grace Bible Church, two words, engaging unbelief. We're going to have to be equipped to know how well to engage unbelief and to do so lovingly, graciously and yet faithfully to the word of God. It's going to be a challenge for us because this is a storm. This is a storm that is taking over many parts of the church today. You have whole denominations splitting up because of this storm that is raging. Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m..