The Condemnation of the Fals..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. I want us this afternoon, beloved of Christ, to meditate upon the last half of verse three, in which the apostle, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is going to speak about the topic of judgment, judgment of the false prophets. That is the second statement in verse three of Chapter two, in which the apostle, by the inspiration of the Spirit, says that the judgment or the condemnation of the false prophets is from long ago not idle, it says in the ESV, and their destruction is not asleep.

That is the judgment of the false prophets, or better, the false teachers that will be among us. That is the judgment of those that are exploiting the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, those who are taking many unto laughter themselves. So I want us to meditate upon that statement by God's grace. And let's read together, beloved of Christ, the whole chapter two, paying attention to each one of the words, many of the fearful words that are given here by the Spirit of God through the Apostle Peter. So let's read together.

Chapter two of Second Peter. This is the word of God. But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality. And because of them, the way of truth will be blasphemed and in their greed they will exploit you with false words.

Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to change of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment, if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly. If by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly. And if he rescued righteous lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked, For as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard. Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.

bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones. Whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, Creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their distraction, suffering wrong as the wage for the wrongdoing. They counted pleasure to revel in the daytime, their bloods and blemishes revealing in their deceptions, while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin.

They entice and stay souls. They have hearts trained in greed, accursed children. forsaken the right way. They have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression.

A speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness. These are waterless springs and mist driven by a storm. For them, the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. For speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption.

For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world, Through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome. The last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it. To turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them, what the true proverb says has happened to them.

The dog returned to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire. Amen. This is the words of the Lord. Very terrifying passages of scripture. Very difficult words, as I've said now many times.

Very difficult even just to go through these words, just to read them, just from a human point of view. Very difficult words to use describing Another human being, irrational animal, creatures of instinct, born to be cut and destroyed. Even in these times of political correctness, if you use this word against another person, then you're seen with eyes of what are you actually saying? These are the words of the Holy Spirit describing those men. who are called false prophets under the Old Testament and false teachers in the New Covenant, a reality, beloved of Christ, that I hope that it is very clear in our minds.

This is not a question if there is going to be false prophets of all teachers among the context of the church. It is a reality. That is what this spirit of God says. And today I want us to meditate upon the judgment of these false teachers. The judgment of God upon these false teachers, these men who are within the context of the church, exploiting the church, taking the church to deviated ways, to other doctrines, to heresies.

The judgment of God upon these men. And I want to invite you to come with me to Galatians, because in Galatians, beloved of Christ, I think we can see a practical case and a very similar burden of the Holy Spirit in this case, in the life and in the soul of the Apostle Paul, when he comes to a church that it seems to be deviating and taken captive by the deceitfulness of the wrong teachings of false teachers. So if you go to Galatians, a book that, of course, you would have read many times and that you know, we can see that this is the practical reality of this church in Galatians. It says in verse six, this is the burden on the heart of the Apostle Paul. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.

The apostle equating the deviation of the church to a different gospel, to a desertation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse seven. Not that there is another one, but that there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, Let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary or opposite to the one that you received, let him be anathema, accursed.

Let him be condemned. This is the heart of the apostle for those who were in the context of the church in this area of Galatia, who were teaching a gospel that was contrary to the gospel of the apostle Paul and of the apostles, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. A gospel that was requiring of the people in this church to keep the law so that they will be justified. That's why the apostle says in chapter three of the same book that you have in front of you, it says all foolish Galatians in verse one. O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?

It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this. Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish having begun by the Spirit? Are you now being perfected by the flesh?

the opposition and questioning the apostle in the heart and by the power of the spirit, that if these people in the Church of Galatia were going to turn away from the gospel of Christ that was by grace through faith alone to works of the law. This is the heart of the Apostle, with the reality that there were men inside of this church, beloved of Christ, false teachers, the ones that the Apostle Peter speaks in 2 Peter chapter 2, that were teaching these people other gospel, contrary to the gospel of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Foolish Galatians, the Apostle says. Foolish. Are you going to deviate to a doctrine that is taught?

by demons? Are you going to change the gospel of grace, salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ by works of the law? Do you think that you're going to be justified by keeping the requirements of the law? Do you think that you are good enough to keep righteousness before the Lord and to present yourself with your own good deeds before the Holy God of this universe? Foolish Galatians!

Having started by the Spirit, by faith, are you going to complete and bring completion or perfection of who you are by the law? Of course, no. But if you turn the page, beloved of Christ, the apostle is going to make something manifest of his heart with this burden, which is the same burden that the apostle Peter had in second Peter, because there were false teachers in the context of the church and the heart of the apostle Paul is pierced. He's pierced by the fact that not only that there are false teachers, but also that the church is being carried away by the deceitfulness of these people, of these men. It says in verse 12, "...

brothers, I entreat you, become..." of chapter 4, I said, right? Verse 12, "...brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are." You did me no wrong.

You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first. And though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. That was the love of the church that was manifested initially to this apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ when he brought the gospel. What then has become of your blessedness? What happened?

For I testified to you that if possible you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? In other words, do you hate me now? There's no love in you for me anymore. Now that I'm telling you the truth, now that I'm speaking on behalf of Christ, now that I'm speaking on behalf and through the Spirit, now that I'm revealing your unrighteousness, now that I'm revealing in the Spirit your self-righteousness, have I become an enemy to you by telling you the truth?

He says in verse 17, They, the false prophets, they make much of you, but for no good purpose. They were just simply speaking words according to their own passions, tickling in the ears, making much of them, not for good purpose. They want to shut you out that you may make much of them. That was the heart of the false prophets. Verse 18, It is always good to be made much of, but for a good purpose.

And not only when I am present with you, the apostle was not with them in the flesh. But now pay attention to verse 19, beloved of Christ. My little children, the ones that were called foolish by the same apostle. The ones that were warned by the apostle that if they follow a different gospel, and those who proclaim another gospel that are a curse, anathema, foolish Galatians, he had said with strong words. In chapter five, he had said, he's going to say that they may have fallen from grace.

Here it says, Verse 19, my little children, a word that is very used by the Apostle John many times. The Apostle uses it only one or couple of times. And this is just one of those two times that he uses this word, my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you. The master of analogies, The one who is inspired by the Holy Spirit, who after the Lord Jesus Christ is able to bring biblical illustrations to illuminate the mind of the congregation. Amen.

Who has never experienced the pains and the sufferings of childbirth, who will never experience the sufferings and the pains of childbirth. describes the anguish and the heart of the apostle that he has for the lack of Christ's likeness in the church? with a pain that he has not and will never experience. Have men experienced the pains of childbirth? No, they don't.

But when they are in Christ, united to his spirit, and when they are woken in the fullness of the light of Jesus Christ, when they see the church lacking conformity to him, when Christ Jesus has been formed in the hearts of those who by grace through faith have been saved, united to him, then there is unwish in the heart of the lover of the church. Because what we have here, beloved of Christ, is a genuine manifestation of the love of Christ towards his bride. The heart of Christ that wants to see the church conformed, made like him, sanctified, purified. And that spirit of Christ is the spirit of Christ that is meant to be in the heart not only of the apostles, but in the hearts of the church. Do you anguish?

for the lack of conformity of the brethren to the image of Jesus Christ? Or is your life only a constant frustration for your personal sins, for your personal life, for your personal endeavors and difficulties that you have no time to suffer and to be in anguish for the lack of conformity to Christ of those who are around us? Have you transformed the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ with a simple battle of individualism that only allows you to love self and not to be concerned with those or about those for whom Jesus Christ died? What a concern, beloved of Christ, because the Pharisee and the self-righteous can be genuinely concerned to be holy and to abide in Christ individually just for the sake of being something before the eyes of others. Genuine Spirit of Christ in the heart of a man is manifested when you weep, you cry, you suffer for the well-being of the church.

When was the last time that it happened to you? when you are filled with anguish, because those who are around you are lacking conformity to Christ, that you're like this apostle, I would be willing just to be sent to hell and to be cast off from the people of God, that my people would be saved. Is that not the manifestation of a genuine love of the Lord Jesus Christ? Not the love that is focused on self? The one that is focused entirely on a single person?

When was the last time that you wept for those who are around you? When was the last time, husbands, that you wept for your wife because she's not conformed to Christ? Wives, when was the last time that you wept for your husband because he's not conformed to Christ? When was the last time that you wept for your sons and daughters, professing Christians that are not conformed to Christ? When was the last time that you suffered for that gap in them, not in you?

Because Pharisees and self-righteous can do it very well just for the sake of a ministry or just for the sake of pretending to be something before the eyes of others. Don't confuse that beloved of Christ, because if we don't understand that love of the Spirit of Christ in us, we will be never able and equipped to fight the good fight of the faith on behalf of those who need it. Not on our behalf, not only for us, not only for the sake of me, and perhaps to my wife and my children and my family, because that is what the flesh pushes me to. So carelessly and in a very idle way, preachers speak of laying down the life for the church. I have not seen that in history, or in my immediate history on the people that I know, given the life of those whom we love, namely the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We live in times in which it is required, it is mandatory, that that which we define as love and Christ will be indeed in us. He says in verse 20, I wish I could be present with you now, he was not with them, and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you. That is, I am spiritually exhausted about you. When I think about your lack of conformity to Christ, when I see that you're not being conformed to the person of Jesus Christ, and on top of that, you're being carried away, taken by false teachers. My body, my being is perplexed, is exhausted, is drained.

That is love, beloved of Christ. That is the anguish and the sufferings of the servant, a man of sorrows. That is the heart of the man that genuinely love. This is the heart of the one that genuinely cares for those who are around. Beloved of Christ, we live in times in which it is mandatory and absolutely necessary that the Spirit of Christ may rule in us, just as the Spirit of Christ ruled in the life of the Apostle Paul and in the life of the Apostle Peter.

Because that was exactly the same burden of Peter, if you go back to 2 Peter. A man who had been conditioned Amen, who had been conditioned by the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ, that a genuine manifestation of the love of Peter to the person of Jesus Christ was going to be evidenced in the nourishment, in the protection and in the keeping of the church. The life of these men had been questioned or better conditioned to that reality of Peter. You know that you love me and the veracity of the verity of the truth of the statement that now is coming out of your mouth. When you are without me and you love my sheep, you feed my sheep.

If you love me, you're going to feed them. If you love them or if you love me, you're going to love them and you're going to give your life not for yourself, before the congregation. That is the Spirit of Christ that was not contingent upon the statement that the Lord Jesus Christ gave to Peter there in John, but it was the Spirit, the nature of the Spirit of God in every one of his disciples. The same burden for Paul, the same burden for the Apostle Peter. And now we have a man who is about to die.

who when he opens his eyes, he sees the church, the sheep, the flock of God, the little children in front of his eyes, the one who are so vulnerable to the deceitfulness of Satan, the one to a certain extent remain protected and kept when he's there and when he's admonishing and exhorting and preaching and teaching, and he's about to die. His life is about to come to an end. And he knows by the revelation of the Spirit that many among them are going to be some false prophets, are going to be the ones that are going to take them carried away to error. If you have the Spirit of Christ and you're walking in the light, you will see what I'm talking about. The pain of seeing souls in front of you.

who are not living in the light, or who are in the danger of darkness, who are in the danger of Satan, who are in the danger of being carried and taken away. And then you love them because Christ loved them first, because Christ died for them. That is the spirit and that is the burden of the apostle in 2nd Peter. Do you understand why he calls them irrational animals? Why He calls them brute beasts?

Why He uses the words that He uses to speak of those who exploit the church? Because He is not serving the church just because it is the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, of course, He does it, but because He also genuinely loves the church. So if someone comes to attack someone that we love, we're going to use everything that we have to defend that person. Then the apostle felt in the spirit and with the truth of the spirit in his mouth, he writes and describes all of these people with all of these adjectives and all of these difficult words that we have here in second Peter.

That is the heart of the apostle to words of the church. So not only we. full of filled with confidence and certainty. But in the spiritual love towards the bride, he says in verse three that the condemnation of these men from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep. And he's going to speak and give us insight from this point onwards to the judgment of these men.

And beloved of Christ, this is the second most terrifying statement that he makes here in this second chapter. When he speaks about the judgment, the reality of the judgment of God upon these men, it is the second most terrifying reality that he's going to tell us, because the first one, It is what we're told in verse 20. He says, For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, they have again entangled in them and overcome. That is, I think, the most terrifying truth that we have here in this chapter, too. that if after they have been in Christ, that they have had the knowledge of Christ, that they have been in the right way, that they have been in the correct direction, after that they have entangled again in the ways of the world, if after that they have forsaken the truth, then there is a judgment for them.

Second most terrifying statement here, beloved of Christ. So important that we have our fingers prepared for battle. So important that we are ready to put the banner of Christ, the banner of truth, where it belongs. So important that we are able to discern the ways of Scripture, not to be carried away by the deceitfulness of false prophets, But more importantly, not to be deceived by the unrighteousness of your heart and of your flesh, that if you did not know, still abides in you. So, beloved of Christ, I want us to meditate upon this topic of judgment that is there.

And if we are going to do it, first of all, I want to point your attention because we're going to be speaking about judgment, I think, for a couple of times. You have to see in this text an implicit distinction that the Spirit of God does that if we do not understand that implicit distinction, then we're going to be just like the rest of the church, simply mingling together heresy and error and false prophets and all of the things that are related to it. So my goal is to show you from a scripture. an implicit or an implicit distinction that is given to us in the text, given to us in this second Peter, that is going to help us to discern false features from the other thing that we have here that I'm just going to point you now, not telling you now quite yet. My beloved of Christ, in this second chapter, in 2 Peter, we have been told about these men who teach doctrines that are considered to be heresy.

And you remember that a few weeks ago, I defined the concept of heresy for you. And I said that in general, heresy is something that deviates, slightly deviates from the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Any deviation from the words of the Lord Jesus Christ are considered to be a heresy. That is the biblical definition of what a heresy is. And in that general sense, any type of error that goes away from sound doctrine, namely the completeness of what is given in scripture, is considered to be a heresy.

But the apostle is not speaking here in second Peter chapter two about heresy in general. But he is speaking about what we have there in verse one, destructive heresy. We're speaking about destructive heresy. You see the adjective there that is describing that word. destructive heresy.

So what we're speaking about in chapter two is about those men that are called false teachers in the New Testament who teach something that is called false or better destructive heresy. Beloved of Christ, understanding this is very important because the Bible distinguishes between destructive or damnable heresies and any other type of error that is not destructive in nature. Beloved of Christ, remember what I said to you last week. The terrifying thing about the reality of the existence of false teachers in the context of the church is that God has allowed and decreed that these people will be in the context of the church and also that God has allowed that these men will exploit the church and abuse the church and take advantage of the church. That is the reality that we have in Scripture.

But beloved of Christ, I said to you also last week that the reason why the Lord does it is because He's storing up wrath for the day of wrath for the judgment of these men who have been set apart from eternity past for this specific purpose, to be false teachers in the context of the church. but also to purify the church. I showed you that in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, and this is the testimony of Scripture, that these deviations happen or take place in the context of the church to purify the church. Remember, beloved of Christ, that God the Father, He was pleased to bless us with every spiritual blessing before the foundation of the world in the heavenly places. in union with Christ so that we will be holy and blameless.

Same reality for the church. He chose the people of the church and gave his life for the church that the church will be holy and blameless. The life that we live in this world and the pilgrimage towards glory. The pilgrimage through this wilderness is with the purpose of having certainty in the promise that there is an arrival point, but also the purpose of purifying us and making us like the Lord Jesus Christ. And in that purpose, beloved of Christ, of purification of the church, the Lord has been pleased in making the church participant.

Just as the believer is participant in the individual sanctification, so the church is participant in the process of the sanctification of the church. Just as the individual has been called to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, and we know that it's Jesus Christ and his spirit, the one that works in us, but to will and to do according to the eternal pleasure of the Savior, So is the church to fight the good fight of the faith and to walk in paths of righteousness. Salvation is of the Lord completely. It does not depend on us completely. It's of Him.

Justification is the glorious work of the Spirit coming and visiting us, changing our hearts, opening our eyes to the beauty of Christ so that the lost soul is left unable other than responding faith and repentance. And then you're vitally united to Christ by that faith. And from that moment, the process of sanctification, progressive sanctification starts, in which it is ultimately of the Spirit, but the Lord is placed in making a participant. Just as it happens in the context of for the individual, it happens for the Church. The beautification of the bride, it is the work of the Spirit in us, and it's also the work of the Church manifesting that presence of the Spirit in the life of the Church.

We have been called to purify the church, to discern righteousness from unrighteousness, to discern that which is evil from that which is of the Lord, to discern the ways of the devil from the ways of the Savior. And in that sense, beloved of Christ, we have been called to be partakers of the present judgment of the false prophets. Pay attention just simply to the nature of the judgment that we're spoken of or that we're given here in this verse and in this chapter. It is a judgment, beloved of Christ, that transcends the present. We are told in verse three, there comes the nation from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep.

The judgment of the false teacher is from long ago. It is decree from eternity past. These false teachers have been created without particular purpose. And because of that, their condemnation from long ago has been ordained. Just as the Christian has been united to Christ before the foundation of the world and set apart in him for ultimate salvation.

The false prophet, the one that has destructive heresies from long ago, has been set apart for this condemnation. And the condemnation that is awaiting is not asleep, it is waiting. The anger of the Lord for them is waiting. The fiery wrath of the Lord is waiting. It is the arrival point of those who have messed up with the church, those who have done exploit and all of these things to the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And it's not only past and it's not only future. But if you read in the end of verse nine, we're told something very, very, very fearful. He says in verse nine, then the Lord now has had to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous to keep in the present under punishment until the day of judgment. Beloved of Christ. The type of false teachers that we have in this chapter two is the type who had been ordained from eternity past to eternity future to be given to this particular purpose and judgment is awaiting for them.

There is no proclamation of the gospel that will save them. There is no mentioning of Christ that will rescue them from their unrighteousness. They are captive, eternally captive to their wickedness. They are eternally captive to their Adamic race. They are eternally captive to judgment.

And the Bible says, Beloved of Christ, there is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, the one that knows all things. They don't have a place to escape. There's no habitation in their mind. There's no thought that they can have to escape the omniscience of God. He knows everything and God is going to judgment according to everything that they have thought and said and done.

There's no place where the false teacher can escape and hide from the ruler of creation because even to that point, the Lord will go and find them and put on them the judgment that they deserve. This is the one that knows the past, the present and the future. The one that knows the unrighteousness that they have committed, that they are committing and that they will commit. This is the type of people that we have here in 2 Peter chapter 2. But beloved of Christ, again, there is a distinction.

There is a distinction because these men are the ones who teach destructive heresies. These are the ones that there's nothing that we can do to rescue them from their ways. They have already been ordained for this condemnation. They're already appointed to this. But there is a distinction.

There are men within the context of the church that will come with doctrines that are contrary to the sound doctrines of the Lord who are not in the category of the men that we have in 2 Peter and whom we have been called to rescue. There is a distinction. There is a distinction between false teachers and false prophets and men who are in crooked ways, men who are teaching a gospel that is contrary to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, as he was given there in Galatians chapter one. The men that we have here in 2 Peter 2 are those men, the ones that are teaching a gospel that is contrary to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, a gospel that is in opposition to the apostolic gospel, a gospel and a message that is in opposition to that which comes from heaven. But there is still another type of men.

There is still another type of men who will teach certain things that we are called to rescue. And we are to understand that distinction, beloved of Christ, because if we are going to purify the church and if we are going to participate in the process of sanctification of the church by pointing to that which is crooked and pointing to that which is heresy, we are to be able to discern between that which is damnable, destructive heresy for the false teacher leading to ultimate destruction because they have been appointed from a long time ago to that end. And from that, which is a deviation from the sound word of Christ, which we are to assess, to discern, and to think, and to act as Christians. I suppose that in your mind, I need to prove now this distinction. And this is what I'm going to do.

So come with me to 2 Timothy, please. 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2nd Timothy chapter three. I really didn't explain what I wanted to explain as I had it in my mind. So I don't know if it's, I think it's been a little bit confusing.

My beloved of Christ, as you progress through 1st Timothy and 2nd Timothy, I think I'm gonna lose my voice. As you progress through 1st Timothy and 2nd Timothy and Titus, The Apostle Paul is with the burden that there are teachers that are false teachers in the context of the church. Even, you see, I'm using this word false teachers. This is only used a couple of times in the Bible. The first one is in Matthew chapter 7, and this one's here in 2 Peter.

Because false teachers are the ones who are destined from eternity past unto eternal judgment. But then the apostle Paul in 1st Timothy and 2nd Timothy and Titus, he's going to exhort Titus and Timothy to fight against these doctrines that are other doctrines. And the apostle is going to mix when he has in mind these false teachers who are condemned and are to be sent to Satan and also those who are to be given certain type of grace. And it could be very difficult to discern. And I'm telling you that perhaps I could be 100% sure that this is something that you have not considered in the past.

It's very important that we see this distinction because the Bible gives it and is important for the process of sanctification and the cleansing of the church. When you go to verse 14 in chapter two, you will see here the apostle Paul mingling these two realities, mingling inside words, or mixing these two realities. But he's going to give us an important point in the end of the chapter that will help us to determine this distinction. It says in verse 14, reminding of these things and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth, but avoid irreverent babble.

You remember that through 1st Timothy and 2nd Timothy and Titus, you hear this avoid genealogies and babble and this type of terminology. For it will lead people into more and more ungodliness and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Thylacitus, and this Hymenaeus is one of the type of 2 Peter. We are told in 1 Timothy 1 that this Hymenaeus was delivered or given unto Satan. Given unto Satan, he was one of the type of 2 Peter.

who have sweared from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. But God's very foundation stands bearing this seal. The Lord knows those who are his. And let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from inequity.

Verse 20. Now in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. So flee, he says to Timothy, flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish ignorance and controversies, again, You know that they breed quarrels, and the Lord's servant, that is Timothy, and the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach, as in 1 Timothy 3, patiently enduring evil.

And this is the distinction. Verse 25, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil after being captured by him, by the devil, to do his will. Beloved of Christ. There are those who teach destructive heresies, as in 2 Peter 2, whose condemnation is from long ago determined and decree, and they are going to see condemnation when it comes.

And there's other men that the only word that I have here is opponents. That is the more biblical word that I can think of. There are opponents, not of Timothy ultimately, but that which Timothy teaches. Timothy was questioned by his youth. Timothy was questioned because he was inexperienced.

But what they were actually questioning was the doctrine of godliness according to the Lord Jesus Christ. And they were opponents of that message. And speaking of those opponents, we are told here that Timothy, the man of God, the one that is able to teach, the one that is able to discern between the things of God and the things that are not of God, that he is to correct these opponents. How? With gentleness.

And even he extends and expands. We are told that God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth. And they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will. Beloved of Christ, there can be men within the context of the church who had been captured by the devil to do his will. And the man of God, able to teach, able to discern, able to handle the words of God, understanding not from memory, but understanding the words of God in the heart, whose well is filled with the words of Christ.

whose well is rich with the living words of Christ to take from there and to discern these things with a purpose that a soul may be rescued. And the soul is of those opponents of the message that in this case, Timothy is proclaiming that even repentance might be given to these men and that even they may come to the way of the Lord, that they may come to the way of truth. If we do not understand that distinction, then we are going to be confused in our dealings. We are going to be confused in our dealings with error in the context of the church. And this is because we have been informed in our minds about error, not from scripture, but we have been informed in our minds about error from the context and from times of different denominations and doctrines and church history in different ways and manifestations, and not according to what Scripture says.

That's meant to be my last point of this sermon. Beloved of Christ, I want to just quickly show you, because I think this is very important, quickly show you what makes a false prophet as in 2 Peter chapter 2, And what makes an opponent of the gospel? Very important for us to differentiate between those two. A false teacher, a false prophet, as Scripture gives it. an opponent of the truth.

Because I even have to confess to you that many times I've thought about men as false teachers when they will fall, perhaps and more than likely, in the category of opponents of the truth. And the way or the reaction of my soul to that was depart from my false teacher when the Bible would have called us to In gentleness, rescue that soul. And even you're thinking about who I am talking about, even in this very moment. So beloved of Christ, very important that we distinguish what the scripture says and take theirs so that we're preparing our fingers to handle these things. Now, I want to give you simply four characteristics of false prophets, of false teachers, as they are described in 2 Peter 2.

Four things that will help us understand who these people are. And then I will try, if I don't extend that much, with those four things to quickly see them in those opponents. You understand the distinction, right? You understand the distinction that I'm making between those false teachers and now the opponents. Those four things that I want to show you are first, their spiritual condition, their spiritual condition.

That is the first thing that we want to see and compare between false teachers and those opponents of the message or opponents of the gospel. Second thing that I want us to see is not only the spiritual condition, but their teaching, their teaching. We're going to discern that we need to know their teaching. That is the second thing. The third thing, and I'm just going like that because there are people taking notes, it is the fruit of those false prophets compared with the opponents of the message to then forth speak about the outcome or the result of false teachers compared with the outcome or the result of these opponents, their spiritual state, their teaching, their fruit.

and also their outcome or their result. First thing, their spiritual state. And this is something that I've said, so I will try to be short. If we were going to describe the spiritual state of the false teacher, the word that will define that from a theological and biblical point of view would be reprobate. That is a person who from eternity past has been ordained and destined to this ultimate outcome of condemnation.

And I know that the word of eternally decreed and destined unto eternal condemnation might be a difficult word. But when you go through 1st Peter, we speak about those who reject Jesus Christ as destined to disobey the word of God. We are told in Jude chapter 1 that long ago the condemnation of this man had been already ordained. We are told by Peter here that it was long ago that the condemnation was given for this man. That is the language of Scripture.

And when I'm speaking about the reprobation, I'm speaking about these false prophets in the context of the church. The spiritual state is not only that they are lost, but that there is no gospel proclamation that can save them. Every time that I repeat that, it just makes me tremble. Because apart from that, apart from the gospel of Christ, beloved of Christ, there's no hope. So these are hopeless men.

There's no hope. There's absolutely no hope. That's it. There's no hope. Hell, the lake of fire is awaiting for these men.

The condemnation is awaiting for them. The anger of the Lord is just simply waiting for these to add up and then to come to the end so that they will receive that which they are appointed to. That is their spiritual state. And of their fruit, or better, of their teaching, we are told in 2 Peter that their teaching, this is the second point that I told you, beloved of Christ, is that they teach because they are on a way to destruction. They teach destructive heresies, or in the words of Paul, that they teach a gospel that is contrary to the gospel that they have received.

And the practical manifestation of that teaching is that it will take a person to abuse the grace of God given to the church. I was supposed to show you many verses. But we are not going to have sufficient time. But beloved of Christ, you can see that in Jude and you can see that in 2 Peter, that the external denying of the person with works of the message of Christ, and not only that, but the corporate denying of the grace of God in the life of the church is a manifestation that the teaching is coming from the lips of one that is a false teacher. Because the words of godliness will not only produce works according to Christ, according to godliness in the one that preaches, but in those who hear.

That's why Timothy is called to be very careful with his doctrine, because he can save his soul and the soul of those who hear. Remember in 1 Timothy? Because the teaching of the false teacher, even though it is labeled as Christian and has the context of Christ and has the word of God, he will always end up in a misuse of the grace of the master of the grace of the Lord and end up in horrendous manifestations, which is fruit. The fruit that the Lord Jesus Christ is in Matthew chapter seven, you shall know them by their fruit is speaking precisely of false teachers. That is the second time or better the first time in which in the Bible we're told about false teachers or false prophets in that case, that we will know them by their fruit.

And according to the Scripture, you can ask me later because there are many verses. But according to the Scripture, beloved of Christ, there are three main fruits that will be manifested in a false teacher. The first one is division. Jude chapter 1 verse 19 speaks of these gramblers, these ones that had been prophesied by the apostles as the ones that are devoid by the Spirit. They do not have the Spirit of God because they are reprobate and they are lost and they cause divisions.

The fruit of a false teacher will be division. The division of the church and bringing unto themselves those who have tickling ears that want to hear teaching according to their own passions. The fruit of the false teacher will be initially division. Second fruit, according to Scripture, 1 Timothy chapter 6, and you can read it onwards, we are told, and even you can see it because you're very close there, it is love of money. The love of money.

Beloved of Christ, I'm telling you these things because these are practical, specific manifestations that scripture gives us that helps us to discern those who are false prophets, those who are within the context of the church, not only divisions in Jude, verse 19, I think, or just around there, 19 or 20, and also love of money. But I want you to see here even the distinction that Apostle makes. Go to verse Timothy chapter six in verse six. Speaking, we quoted this verse. It says, but godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world.

But if we have food and clothing with these, we will be content. But those who decide to be rich, speaking of the false prophets that he had introduced in verse three, but those who decide to be rich will fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires. that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving, love of money, it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

It is love of many that will bring some, and these are the false prophets of 2nd Peter, that will bring them to destruction. It is divisions in the church, according to Jude, and it's also love of many that will bring them to destruction. But if you go to 2nd Timothy, I will give you the third one. I never understood why the preachers of old time always spoke about sexual immorality as a sign and a manifestation of those who were in secret sin of false teaching. I never understood, even I heard from contemporary teachers speaking about sexual immorality as a manifestation of the heart of a false teacher, a false teacher who has been ordained, according to 2 Peter.

And I have already given you the distinction that is ordained for condemnation. This is what the Bible teaches. If you go to chapter three, you will see it here. because the third fruit is not only division, money, but also sexual immorality. And when I'm talking about sexual immorality, I'm not talking about only explicit sexual immorality as we will see it here, but everything that falls into the category of sexual immorality.

Pastors watching pornography. Pastors doing things unto themselves in the secret place. Pastors watching and seeing, observing things in the secret place. That is sexual immorality. Chapter 3, but understand this.

that in the last days there will come times of difficulty, for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure than lovers of God. In general, people, it says, people having the appearance of godliness, these people, but denying its power, avoid such people. And then he says, for among them, he said, all of them, but for among them are those who creep into the house, into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions. And then we're told about these ones that are in sexual immorality from these people who are in all of these things, always learning and never able to arrive at the knowledge of the truth. Will they arrive to the knowledge of the truth?

No! always learning and never able to arrive to the knowledge of the truth. While if you go to the previous chapter in the distinction that I show you, in verse 25, we are told that the opponents of the message, correcting his opponents with gentleness, God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth. So the opponents still have the hope. that they can be rescued from these crooked ways to repentance and then to have this knowledge of the truth.

But these ones, according to 2 Peter and the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 7, these are men who had been ordained from eternity past into eternal condemnation. The wrath of God is awaiting for them. These are reprobates who will manifest in their teaching that is contrary to the gospel. And in their fruits, they will be causing divisions in the church. They will be producing fruit of love to many or to be rich and to have all of these things and sexual immorality.

Beloved of Christ, I'm not preaching. I'm just simply pointing you to Scriptures. These are the ones that are false teachers. These are the ones who will have the outcome. Their outcome is the wrath of God.

It is the condemnation. It is all the judgment of God that will be explained in 2nd Peter chapter 2. That is their outcome. If you go to if you want to see a practical example of this, go to 1st Timothy chapter 1. This is the example of false teachers.

in the distinction of Second Peter, chapter two. Verse 18, chapter one. These I charge and entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare. Verse 19, holding faith and a good conscience. Hear those words in verse 19.

Holding faith and a good conscience, a good conscience that he has described in the beginning of the chapter has been the result of love to God. He says, holding faith that is enduring and preserving the faith and a good conscience that is only that can only take place with Christ is abiding in the person, keeping the faith and a good conscience. And then we're given the example of those false teachers by rejecting these the faith and the good conscience by rejecting this. Some have made shipwreck of their faith. Shipwreck is equivalent to destruction, destruction of their faith, among them, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, the one from Second Timothy also, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme false teachers.

False teachers who had produced and demonstrated now by their fruits that they were ordained from eternity past unto this condemnation. Lovers of money, lovers of self, sexual immorality, hidden sins, and all of these things seeking self instead of seeking the things of God. False teachers according to 2 Peter chapter 2 and the book of Jude. But yet, when you go to verse 3 of chapter 1, we can see the grace of God extended to those who are in error. The distinction made in the same letter, the distinction made, the ways of God are not the ways of men.

The illumination of God is not the intellectualism of men. In the same book, by the same spirit, speaking of a progressive similar reality, now we're told about the opponents of the message. In verse 3, the heart of the Apostle says, in verse 3, as I urge you, Timothy, when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus, that is, remain with the church. so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine. If these were openly false teachers, would have the apostle told Timothy to tell these people not to teach those things?

He would have simply just said, remove them from the context of the church. He says, remain at Ephesus that you might charge these people not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies which promote a speculation rather than the stewardship from God. That is by faith. We're also told of these persons. If you go to verse six, certain persons in that these certain persons who Timothy is supposed to tell them not to teach these other doctrines.

These have swerving from love and purity and from a good conscience. They have deviated from those things, desiring to be teachers of the law, not knowing what they say, not the things which they affirm. Not knowing what they say, what this Bible says, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertion. Men that were according to the Bible, through Timothy, commanded to stop teaching those other doctrines. Beloved of Christ, the spiritual state of those who are opponents of the message, not as the false teachers or false prophets of 2 Peter and Matthew chapter 7, is that they could be lost or they could be brothers who are in error.

And as I was thinking about this, it seems to me that they are only lost people. But beloved, remember the story that we heard even in Acts with Apollos. Apollos was a man that was teaching the way accurately, yet it was needed for him to be taught the way more accurately because that which he was teaching was not according to the fullness of the revelation that was available to him. So in a sense, he was teaching something that was cut and something that was missing a part of the truth. Yet when other people came, instructed him in a more accurate way so that he will be able to teach in perfection.

Not only that, beloved of Christ, but we are called to rescue the brother who is wondered in James chapter 5 and also there in the end of Jude, as we read it last week, speaking not only of the believer who is following false teachers, but also those who may be in the way of error. But of course, we are to see clearly from 2nd Timothy chapter 3 that most of these opponents had been taken captive and captured by Satan, and they are doing the will of Satan. Beloved of Christ, I don't want to overwhelm you with more information about this, and you can always ask after this. The only important thing that I want you to see from this and the many other things that could be said about this reality and this truth from the scripture, it is that if the church is not prepared to discern the realities that are going to take place within the context of the church, then we will find ourselves dealing with error and dealing with destructive heresies in a very confused way, especially when we live in times in which many of the information that we receive is not coming from a scripture, but it's coming from the context. Because beloved of Christ, you see what is the most practical aspect of this thing that I have just said to you?

Is that according to the spirit of God and according to the writings of the apostles, the apostles were expecting these things to happen in the context of the local church. The apostles were expecting that the local church was going to be able to discern these ways. It was for the church at Ephesus to be able to discern. that which was crooked from that which was right. It was for the church of Ephesus, the local church, to discern those who had to be given over to Satan and those who had to be rescued.

It was for the church at Ephesus and Macedonia and whatever you want, that they were supposed to do it. It was not the rule or it was not the obligation of the church at Ephesus to discern the false prophet of Rome. simply because it was impossible for them to know what the life of the church in Rome was because they were completely away from the church. Now, the problem is that your understanding of false teachers, of false prophets is primarily and generally fed and communicated through that which you have seen of people all throughout the world, to the point that every time that I just simply mention the word false prophet, the first thing that comes into your mind is Benny Hinn or Hillsong or whoever you have seen on TV or the Internet. This instruction was never given to the church to deal with matters that were going to take place away from the local church.

It was for the church to be prepared in the local context to be able to discern those who are in error and those who are to be excommunicated from the church, those who are to be removed from the church. And the importance of this beloved of Christ is that opponents of the faith will turn into false prophets. What I'm just trying to say is that a false prophet in the context of the local church will start with the manifestations of an opponent of the faith. Now, an opponent of the faith can be rescued by God to repentance. But many of them will end up showing to be the false teachers or the false prophets of 2 Peter.

So it was instructed to the local church to be able to discern error, knowing the sense of 2 Peter chapter 2, but error in general. And let me tell you something. Error abounds in the church. If we mix just simply error with heresy, as in 2 Peter 2, we're never going to deal with the error that can at any point turn into a damnable, destructive heresy, simply because we have defined the concept of orthodoxy in a very, very flexible way by someone that gave it to us, and most of the time defined by the theological camp that we belong to. And whatever belongs to that camp is okay.

And whatever is outside of it, it is heresy. It is something contrary to what scripture says. And we are prevented from identifying error, not only within our theological camp, which by the way, we're not called to do, but we are called to identify error within the context of the church. And beloved of Christ, I hope that this is not a surprise for you, but I have lots of error. I have lots of error in my doctrine and my theology and in my things.

And this error is not to be ignored. And this error is not to be passed over, is not to be just left in a place. The error that we have is to be fixed and brought into alignment in the context of the local church. Go to Timothy, please. And you can see it here.

Go to Titus first, please. Titus chapter 3. Titus chapter 3. Look here how error is meant to be dealt with in the context of the church. Chapter 3, verse 8, the same I said Titus, right?

Titus chapter 3, verse 8. This saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people, but avoid foolish controversies. genealogies, dissensions. And let me just tell you, brothers, that I've seen this spirit even among us, even among us.

I've seen this spirit foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. I have seen this spirit in you. I have seen this in me. The one that is here in verse nine, the one that says, The one avoid foolish controversies or quarrels about the law for they are unprofitable and worthless. I have seen this, experienced this, and I have seen it in your faces, in your lives.

Verse 10, As for a person who stirs up the vision. So you see the fruit now of these teachings. After warning him once and then twice. I don't know if church discipline from Matthew 18 comes to your mind. For a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, has nothing more to do with him.

Knowing that such a person is rapt and sinful, he is self-condemned. Matthew 18, of the discipline of the process of the local church, to bring a divisive person with the purpose of restoring that person who is an opponent of the message in error to trying to rescue that person in the context of the local church. And when that person ends up manifesting in division in all of what I said before, then that person is to be removed from the context of the church. Is that meant to be done by whoever preaches from the pulpit? That is meant to be done by the church.

Church discipline is to be conducted by the church. It is to be done by one person, then two witnesses, and then the context of the church. That means that truth is dealt with in a corporate context. It is the church, the one that is the buttress, the pillar, the foundation of the truth. It is not the man who preaches, the one that is to make the decisions about truth.

You know what you get out of it? I quote, that's what you get when you have a passive audience that follow whoever speaks and the things that he or they say. It is when the people of God are abiding in Christ and in his word and are having a glorious experience of Jesus Christ abounding in fruits of righteousness, as our brother prayed, abounding in Christ's likeness, that the words of his mouth are the words that abide in our hearts, that the church is going to deal with error in a Christ-like way, because error will happen in the context of the church. Beloved of Christ, the church is to purify herself in this site of eternity. We are to do the things that are required to bring understanding to completion.

And that can only happen with the active, genuine, organic, spirit-led and empowered participation of each one of the members who are able to distinguish Differentiate from 2 Peter chapter 2 false teachers and the external manifestations and the life of this type of men and also the error of those who may be opposing better the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ and to have Christ like compassion. to deal with the error as we are to deal with it, because there's going to be a time in which if a person manifests the error of 2 Peter 2, that that person has to be excommunicated from among us with all seriousness and with all reverence and with a heart that is broken, but with clarity, removing that person from the context. But also, there are times in which we endure in Christ constantly with the error of a person to bring that person to the way, so that that will not turn in a cause to remove that person from our midst. Beloved of Christ, are we prepared for these things? Are we sufficiently trained by the Spirit of God?

Have we meditated upon enough the words of God to be instructed by these ways? Can we differentiate and discern, not with the mind, but with the spirit, a countenance of Cain, the countenance of self-righteousness? Can we differentiate and understand when the ways of our brothers and sisters are crooked? And are we courageous enough in Christ to point to the sin and the crooked ways of those who are among us? Not with a self-preservation sense of lovelessness, in which I will not say something that is not politically correct in the context of the church, but rather manifesting the love of Christ, trying to bring that person to the conformity of the ways of Jesus Christ.

I've said many times, and in different ways, and with better voice than the one that I have now, beloved of Christ, that there are only two ways to do church, a way that is just simply according to the flesh, and a way that is according to scripture. And doing church according to what is written requires that your heart may be filled by the beauty of Christ, because you may know by now, I'm not calling you to do, do, do, do, do, do, do. I'm calling you to be, be, be, be, be, be, be, be in the presence of the one who was from the beginning, in the presence from the one who was proclaimed and declared by the apostles, the presence of the word of life that was manifested to the ones who saw and gave us the testimony of the scripture, the message of the one who will have received that in God there is no darkness at all because he is light. And if you walk in the light of God, just as Jesus Christ is in the light of the Father, then the promise is that the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ will cleanse you from all unrighteousness. But that is when the light of God is so powerfully illuminating your life that when the deceitfulness of your heart is clearly exposed, you agree.

because the one that says that he has not seen is a liar and make him a liar. But when the light of God exposes your unrighteousness, you come in agreement before the Lord in repentance and his blood cleanses you from unrighteousness. And when you are like Christ, my soul rejoices. And when the soul of all of you are like Christ, we are all to rejoice and desire that all of us will die to sin and live in Christ. Amen.