1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 Amen. 2 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:32,000 Amen. 3 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:02,000 Amen. 4 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:59,980 As we prepare to come around the table, I want us to be reminded of who we are in crying out loud 5 00:11:59,980 --> 00:12:29,960 about Christ and what Christ has done for us. So we're going to sing kind of a shortened version of Who You Say I Am, followed by At the Cross, Love Ran Red. 6 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:59,940 The prayer was lost, but He brought me in. Oh, His love for me. Oh, His love for me. Oh, the sun sets free. Oh, it's free indeed. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. 7 00:12:59,940 --> 00:13:29,920 Yes, He has ransomed me. His grace runs deep. While I was a slave to sin, Jesus died for me. Yes, He died for me. Oh, the sun sets free. Oh, it's free indeed. I'm a child of God. 8 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:59,900 Yes, I am. In my Father's house, there's a place for me. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. I am chosen, not forsaken. I am who you say I am. 9 00:13:59,900 --> 00:14:29,880 Oh, I am who you say I am. Yes, I am who you say I am. 10 00:14:29,880 --> 00:14:59,860 I am a child of God. Yes, I am. In my Father's house, there's a place for me. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. 11 00:14:59,860 --> 00:15:29,840 There's a place where mercy reigns and never dies. There's a place where streets 12 00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:59,820 of grace flow deep and wide. Where all the love I've ever found comes like a flood, comes flowing down. 13 00:15:59,820 --> 00:16:29,800 I'm in all of you. I'm in all of you. Where your love ran red and my sin washed white, I owe all to you. I owe all to you, Jesus. 14 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:59,780 I'm in a place where sin and shame are powerless. Where my heart has peace with God and forgiveness. Where all the love I've ever found 15 00:16:59,780 --> 00:17:29,760 comes like a flood, comes flowing down. At the cross, at the cross, I surrender my life. I'm in awe of you. I'm in awe of you. Where your love ran red and my sin washed white. 16 00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:59,740 Here, I owe all to you. Here, my hope is found. Here, on holy ground. Here, I bow down. Here, I bow down. Here, arms open wide. Here, you saved my life. Here, I bow down. Here, I bow down. 17 00:17:59,740 --> 00:18:29,720 Cross at the cross, I surrender my life. I'm in awe of you. I'm in awe of you. Where your love ran back, and my sin washed white. I owe all to you. I owe all to you. 18 00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:31,720 I owe all to you. I owe all to you. I owe all to you, Jesus. 19 00:18:59,720 --> 00:19:29,700 I owe all to you. I owe all to you. I owe all to you. I owe all to you. I owe all to you. I owe all to you. I owe all to you. I owe all to you. I owe all to you. It's a powerful thing. If you take just a minute, there's some here that would remember where they were exactly when John F. Kennedy got shot. How many remember that? I'll quit having people raise their hands because then we're doing an age test instead of a memory test. So skipping ahead, how many remember that? 20 00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:59,700 How many remember where they were when airplanes flew into the Twin Towers? Got these out of order, but how many remember where you were the day that Challenger blew up? Where you were? How many remember when you were baptized? Where you were? 21 00:19:59,700 --> 00:20:29,680 How many remember where you were when you got married? So the point is, memory is an important thing. Remembering is an important thing. And it's interesting because all through the Bible, through the Old Testament history, you see God over and over again giving the Israelites and different people something, 22 00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:59,660 to remember. Even when they were in Egypt and it was time to go out, what did He say? He sprinkled the blood over the doorposts and on the sides so they would remember when the death angel passed over. Remember when they were in the wilderness and they were wandering and one of those miracles we kind of forget about, it's tucked in there, but they come to the Jordan River and it's during the flood season and they got to get across and God parts 23 00:20:59,660 --> 00:21:29,640 the water. They walk across on dry land and God says, "You know what? Go down in the river, get 12 stones, stack them up there." So when you come by here you can tell your children what God did. Remembering. Why should we remember? Every now and then I get a post on Facebook that says, "Oh, here's what 24 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:59,620 you were doing eight years ago." And it's kind of fun. Then every now and then I get a post that's like, "Somebody you've known your whole life that says you've now been friends for eight years." That's always confusing to me. But in our bookcases, in my lifetime, I remember all the different ways we've saved memories via photographs. Not only, but there was Polaroid pictures where you could take a picture and 25 00:21:59,620 --> 00:22:29,600 in 30 seconds, there it was. You didn't have to take the film to the pharmacy or wherever and get it printed. We had slides, we had photo albums, we had movies, little eight millimeter movies. Now we have digital pictures, which to me is probably the worst. They're the clearest, they're the best, they're the sharpest, but they're the worst 26 00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:59,580 because when I want to find them, where do I go to look? Got 15,000 pictures somewhere, but how do I get to them and where are they at? What does looking at old pictures do for us? First of all, they remind us where we've been. They remind us who we are. They remind us of good times and maybe even some hard times. 27 00:22:59,580 --> 00:23:29,560 But there's something about that that always draws us back to that point in time when that event happened. They bring us back to joy and sometimes sadness. They cause us to reflect on the brevity of life itself. They remind us of what's important in our life, family, friends, and events. 28 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:59,540 We are prone to forget over time. And I think God knows that. And that's why He's reminded us in a very simple way, just like He did with His disciples at the Last Supper when He says, you know, "Eat this bread. Drink this cup. Do this in remembrance of Me." 29 00:23:59,540 --> 00:24:29,520 Here is my body, which is for you. This cup is a new agreement. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. Old has gone, the new has come. All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ." How did He do that? He did that through the cross. 30 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:59,500 Verse 21 says that. He says, "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." When we look back at the cross and what God has done through Christ in our lives, we are amazed. We've been brought from death to life. 31 00:24:59,500 --> 00:25:29,480 We see how we look at life in the future and how great and many blessings He has given us. God knows how short our memory we have, so any accusation that once a week is too often to take communion, I think for our simple minds, it may not be often enough, because we're again reminded that this is the body of Christ. 32 00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:37,480 The blood that was shed for us, and through that, we truly have the forgiveness of sins and the hope of eternal life. Let's pray. 33 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:59,320 Dear God in heaven, we just thank you for your love. Thank you for caring for us. Thank you for knowing us in all of our frailties, all of our failings that you see through, and you have declared us righteousness through the blood of Christ. 34 00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:09,480 Thank you for this time that we can remember. Be with us as we partake of the bread and of the cup, that we would do so in remembrance of you. 35 00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:20,480 Let's take the bread. He says, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do proclaim the Lord's death till he comes." 36 00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:41,480 Let's drink of the cup. And I think it's interesting. He puts that in there. We also make a proclamation to the world, and we do this together. 37 00:26:41,480 --> 00:27:07,480 So I'm going to learn from my mistakes last week, and I'm going to let Derek run the slides while I read the Bible, and then I'll do the slides when we get into the message portion. 38 00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:17,480 So we're reading a longer section this morning from 2 Peter. I'm going to pick up in just a minute in verse 9. We're going to go all the way to the end of the chapter. 39 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:30,480 It's a long section, and then I want us to spend some time learning from it together. So before we dive into our message this morning, let's read from God's Word. It begins in verse 9. 40 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:41,480 And Peter says this, "Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment. 41 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:53,480 Especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones. 42 00:27:53,480 --> 00:28:01,480 Whereas angels, though greater in might and in power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. 43 00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:16,480 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and to be destroyed, blaspheming about manners of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction. 44 00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:28,480 Suffering wrong as the wage for wrongdoing, they count it as a pleasure in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions while they feast with you. 45 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:40,480 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. Their hearts are trained in greed, accursed children. 46 00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:49,480 Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, and they have followed the way of Balaam, son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing. 47 00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:58,480 But was rebuked for his own transgression. A speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness. 48 00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:05,480 These are waterless springs, mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. 49 00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:14,480 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. 50 00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:22,480 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. 51 00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:30,480 For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are then entangled in them and overcome, 52 00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:38,480 the last state has been worse for them than the first. It would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness 53 00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:46,480 than after knowing to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: 54 00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:53,480 "The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire." 55 00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:59,480 This is God's Word. Let's pray. 56 00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:09,480 Father in Heaven, I thank You for Your Word, even though at times it is difficult in how it impacts us and how it confronts us. 57 00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:21,480 I am thankful that You have inspired this Word to be clear, to be straightforward, and that You are willing to confront the hearts of those who are running from You. 58 00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:28,480 That You are willing to warn the hearts of those who are struggling, and that You are willing to reassure the hearts of those 59 00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:37,480 who are seeking to follow You with all that they are. So I ask, Lord, according to our need this morning, whether it is a wake-up call, 60 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:45,480 whether it is strengthened as we're being pulled in a million different directions, as we seek to follow You in righteousness, 61 00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:51,480 and may Your Spirit be with us as we spend time in Your Word. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 62 00:30:51,480 --> 00:31:01,480 One of the core memories about my grandmother is that she really, really liked puzzles. 63 00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:07,480 And one of the things you learn about jigsaw puzzles, specifically, is that it always helps to see the big picture. 64 00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:13,480 And so we would always begin, you know, the box sort of sitting up on the table in front of the puzzle, and it helps, right? 65 00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:21,480 Because it's this green, right, the green of the grass, or the green of the tractor, is this blue, the blue of the sky, or the blue of the water. 66 00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:31,480 And it sort of helps you get the pieces, maybe not fit together right at that moment, but at least in the places where they will fit in that bigger picture. 67 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:40,480 And what I learned at an early age is that with enough force, any piece can fit anywhere, right? Like, you can really just mash them together. 68 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:51,480 And there is a tendency in Scripture, and in our study of Scripture, that if we are not careful to see the big picture of Scripture, 69 00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:56,480 we can tend to mash together pieces in ways that don't fit. 70 00:31:56,480 --> 00:32:03,480 And so one of the things that I want us to do this morning, there is so much wrapped up in this text. 71 00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:10,480 There is warning. There is a call and a picture of the results and the actions of pride and sin. 72 00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:15,480 And there is so much that we can pull out and spend so much time on. 73 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:25,480 But I want us, I think, to see the whole picture and how this fits together, not just with Peter's argument in chapter 2, 74 00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:33,480 but how it stands in stark contrast to who we are and what God has done for us as Christians. 75 00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:41,480 And one of the great lessons, I think, that goes throughout the book of 2 Peter is that our beliefs impact our actions. 76 00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:46,480 And so we all have experiences. What we believe about something is going to change how we act about it. 77 00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:53,480 So if we walk outside just for two seconds and go, "It's not cold," right? We won't bring a jacket with us. 78 00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:59,480 And when it may, in fact, it actually be cold or be windy. Or maybe we look outside and say, "Man, it looks so cold," 79 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:06,480 and so we dress for the warmth, or dress for the cold, and so we're bundled up, and we get outside, and it's nice and warm. 80 00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:13,480 And so what we believe about what we see impacts how we act about it. 81 00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:19,480 And so Peter has written to a church that, first of all, is facing persecution. We see that in his first letter. 82 00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:29,480 And here in the second letter is facing false teachers. And at the heart of the false teachers' belief was that Jesus wasn't going to come back. 83 00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:36,480 We'll see this unpacked in chapter 3, but they are saying, "Jesus? If he was coming back, where is he? Why isn't he here?" 84 00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:43,480 We don't think he's coming back, and as a result of that wrong belief, they move into wrong actions. 85 00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:53,480 And so if you have ever wondered why it is so important for Christians to believe rightly and truly about what God has said, 86 00:33:53,480 --> 00:34:02,480 it's because it impacts how we act and how we live. And in this long section that we have just read, 87 00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:12,480 Peter is sort of logically, in a well-crafted manner and in an understandable way, defending God's people from these people. 88 00:34:12,480 --> 00:34:18,480 Who have believed wrongly and now are living wrongly. And Peter is going to be a little bit passionate about that. 89 00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:22,480 I don't know if you picked that out as we were reading through the text. 90 00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:28,480 But one of the reasons that Peter is so passionate about defending God's people is that a long time ago, 91 00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:35,480 when Peter was a much younger man, there was a moment where he declared in his pride, 92 00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:41,480 "I will never leave you. I will never deny you." And then just hours later, 93 00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:50,480 as they come to arrest Jesus, he flees. And standing in a courtyard as Jesus is being led between trials, 94 00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:55,480 somebody says, "Aren't you one of those guys who's with Jesus?" And Peter denies. 95 00:34:55,480 --> 00:35:03,480 Not just once. Not twice, but three times. And in his brokenness, he runs away. 96 00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:10,480 After the resurrection, Jesus will meet Peter on a beach. No talk. And part of Jesus' restoring 97 00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:18,480 of Peter is that just as Peter denied three times, Jesus will ask Peter three times, "Do you love me?" 98 00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:26,480 And Peter says, "Yes, Lord. You know that I love you." And then Jesus looks at him and goes, "Feed my sheep." 99 00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:32,480 And here Peter, in some of his last words, is not just feeding the sheep, but he's defending them. 100 00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:39,480 He's watching out for them. And so if you think Peter is a little heated at some points, he is. 101 00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:48,480 It's not sinful. He is looking at the sheep that God has entrusted to him and holding them close and seeking to watch over them. 102 00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:53,480 And if sometimes that means you've got to shoot the wolves, Peter is going to do that. 103 00:35:53,480 --> 00:36:00,480 And so Peter is a little heated. You can see it in the fact that at one point he calls them a bunch of donkeys. 104 00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:08,480 Or actually, he says you're not as smart as a donkey. But then he also calls them dogs. And we might think of dogs as 105 00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:22,480 big and fluffy, or sort of fast in queue. In the first century, dogs were often wild dogs, feeding on trash in the streets, attacking those who they came near. 106 00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:29,480 So I want to start this morning with the logical progression of this text, and it centers all around this verse. 107 00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:36,480 The Lord knows how to rescue the godly and to keep the unrighteous under punishment. 108 00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:48,480 And so Peter's whole argument in this chapter is that God can save the godly from trials, and then he will keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment. 109 00:36:48,480 --> 00:36:56,480 And there's a lot of moving parts in this chapter, but when we hear of judgment, it sometimes does something to our hearts. 110 00:36:56,480 --> 00:37:04,480 For example, we might say, "I really don't want that." So when our kids were younger and we were getting ready to order pizza, 111 00:37:04,480 --> 00:37:09,480 they were much younger and much more gullible. It was a fun time. They'd say, "What kind of pizza are you going to order?" 112 00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:16,480 And I'd be like, "I'm getting skunk pizza with mushrooms." And they'd be like, "Oh no! We don't want that!" 113 00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:19,480 I was like, "You guys really think I'm going to order skunk pizza with mushrooms?" 114 00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:28,480 When we hear about judgment, there is oftentimes something in our hearts that simply says, "I don't want that." 115 00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:39,480 I don't want to have to face the results of my actions. I don't want to have to think about standing before Almighty God and giving an account for what I have done. 116 00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:50,480 And the reaction of our hearts to judgment is oftentimes not good. And we need to understand that Peter is not trying to antagonize, but warn. 117 00:37:50,480 --> 00:37:56,480 And when I was learning to drive, one of the things I'm so thankful about is how my dad taught me to drive. 118 00:37:56,480 --> 00:38:03,480 And so he would be driving down the road, right, and he would go, "Break lights," just kind of calmly and gently, right? 119 00:38:03,480 --> 00:38:11,480 Kind of pointing out to me that every car ahead of me was stopping, and, you know, being young, and thinking I know everything, and your ears don't quite work when you're a teenager. 120 00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:18,480 You're going along, and they go, "Break lights." Somebody's like, "Break lights," right? And it can get through to you. That's what Peter's doing. 121 00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:25,480 He starts out sort of gently going, "Hey guys, there's this thing that's coming towards you and ahead of you. 122 00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:33,480 You got to be careful." And then he goes a little louder, and he goes a little louder trying to warn and get their attention. 123 00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:37,480 And the reaction of the false teachers to Peter's warning is skepticism. 124 00:38:37,480 --> 00:38:43,480 And you can sort of sum it up in the middle part of this chapter as they say, "Oh, well, what's God going to do to us?" 125 00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:49,480 And he goes, "Oh, have you heard of the flood?" Where God comes to the world and wipes out all of the unrighteous. 126 00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:56,480 Have you heard of Sodom and Gomorrah, where God comes and brings judgment upon the unrighteous? 127 00:38:56,480 --> 00:39:00,480 And then their response is almost as if, "Well, God can't get all of us." 128 00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:06,480 He may judge some here and some there, and Peter's point is that God knows the difference between the righteous and the unrighteous, 129 00:39:06,480 --> 00:39:11,480 and the righteous he will save and the unrighteous will be under judgment. 130 00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:17,480 And so now we get to the question that we often face when we are in trouble. 131 00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:24,480 And so often times, when we find ourselves in trouble, our first response is, "Well, what did I do?" 132 00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:29,480 You see it on the face of your dog who's just gotten in the trash. You sit there going, "Hmm, what did I do?" 133 00:39:29,480 --> 00:39:33,480 You see it when you get pulled over by the police, "Why are you pulling me over? What did I do?" 134 00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:43,480 We are very good at proclaiming our innocence and asking others to articulate their accusations. 135 00:39:43,480 --> 00:39:56,480 And these false teachers might be saying, "I grant that God can judge. I grant, maybe, that God can separate the righteous from the wicked, but show me how I'm doing wrong." 136 00:39:56,480 --> 00:40:02,480 And so Peter is going to show them. He's going to answer their question in great detail. 137 00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:08,480 Not just of their actions, but where you end up if you walk down these paths. 138 00:40:08,480 --> 00:40:17,480 One of the things that happens often times when we're angry, sometimes it seems like it can just be an angry rant. 139 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:22,480 Right? When you hear somebody who's angry, and they're just sort of yelling about everything, and there's no connection. 140 00:40:22,480 --> 00:40:27,480 Peter's words here, I want you to understand this, because it's so important. They're crafted with care. 141 00:40:27,480 --> 00:40:37,480 Peter is not just sort of yelling with no point. In fact, you can see it probably more easily in the original languages, but we get glimpses of it in English. 142 00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:45,480 Throughout our text, there's pairs of words. One of the great examples of this is where he talks about in verse 10, 143 00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:55,480 speaks about the bold and willfulness of the false teachers. That they're proud, and they're strong, and they're proud of being strong and standing in their own greatness. 144 00:40:55,480 --> 00:41:06,480 And then contrasts it with another pair of words as he talks about the angels who have true might and power, but they don't behave as the wicked do. 145 00:41:06,480 --> 00:41:14,480 He ties it back to chapter one by talking about the shakiness of foundations. He repeats this phrase, "The wages of wrongdoing." 146 00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:22,480 But my favorite part of Peter's crafting of all of these words with care is in verse 15. 147 00:41:22,480 --> 00:41:33,480 He says, "Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, and they have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing." 148 00:41:33,480 --> 00:41:41,480 Have you ever had somebody make fun of your name or change your name around in order to kind of make fun of you? 149 00:41:41,480 --> 00:41:55,480 In my senior year of college when we were presenting our senior sermons in chapel, and the professors sort of went through all the students and they picked who they wanted to introduce. 150 00:41:55,480 --> 00:42:02,480 And one of the guys who had been in my Greek class with me, one of my favorite professors, was a professor of church history and of Greek. 151 00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:12,480 And he had become a very good friend, but he had chosen both me and this other guy. And so he chose this other guy. His first name was Brent. His middle name was Steven. 152 00:42:12,480 --> 00:42:25,480 And if you ever think that people don't behave well when they're just little, it's also true with college. This kid was like, he was like the bad kid in your third grade class, but at college level, New Testament Greek. 153 00:42:25,480 --> 00:42:38,480 And so our professor gets up to introduce him and goes through an introduction about how, you know, actual knowledge should be no way of standing in front of you being able to say things, like in kind of a funny way. 154 00:42:38,480 --> 00:42:45,480 And he says, "Let me present to you B.S., you know, Brent Steven or B.S., and then gives his last name in front of the whole college." 155 00:42:45,480 --> 00:42:53,480 Now I'm in a little bit of trouble here because my first name is Brandon, my second name is Scott, and he's introducing me the next week, right? 156 00:42:53,480 --> 00:43:04,480 And thankfully, he didn't rode, right? But there's a way to take people's names and twist them and make fun of them, and what Peter does is exactly that in 2:15. 157 00:43:04,480 --> 00:43:21,480 And it's not very evident in English, but in Greek, he misspells the last name of Balaam. In Greek, it's not "Beor," but he adds an "S" in the middle, and it's sort of an alliteration to the Hebrew word for "flesh." 158 00:43:21,480 --> 00:43:41,480 And so he goes, yeah, his dad may have been "Beor," but reality is this guy is a son of the flesh, a guy who chased his own desires at the risk of his own life in every way that he could throughout his life, and he was judged by God. 159 00:43:41,480 --> 00:43:49,480 So don't think Peter is just ranting. Don't think that Peter is just sort of saying whatever he wants to say. 160 00:43:49,480 --> 00:43:59,480 Peter sat down and carefully crafted a scorching and articulated message against the false teachers, and he wants us to feel the weight of what he is saying. 161 00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:06,480 Not just understand what he's saying, but feel the weight. And so he uses frequent illustrations. 162 00:44:06,480 --> 00:44:17,480 In verse 12, he has animals pursuing their instincts. Verse 13, a picture of people partying and reveling in their sin, and to demonstrate their lack 163 00:44:17,480 --> 00:44:26,480 of shame, they're doing it in broad daylight. He shows the depth of their manipulation and dedication to sin in verse 14. 164 00:44:26,480 --> 00:44:33,480 And he does so with an illustration of their perspective, fishing, and even going to the gym. 165 00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:41,480 And so he starts in verse 14 by saying this, that their eyes are full of adultery, meaning they see everything in a certain way. 166 00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:46,480 I don't know if you ever read the Far Side cartoons. I know for some of us, that was like a big deal. 167 00:44:46,480 --> 00:44:55,480 Like we loved reading Far Side. They're ridiculous and they're funny. One of my favorites was, especially when I was younger and washed my car frequently, 168 00:44:55,480 --> 00:45:03,480 is Gary Larson did a Far Side cartoon that said, "A bird's perspective of the world," right? And it's just everything in our world with a target on it, right? 169 00:45:03,480 --> 00:45:09,480 You got the freshly washed car, you know, you've got the kids on the playground, you got the bald guy sitting on the parking lot, 170 00:45:09,480 --> 00:45:15,480 and they don't have a target on their head. Peter's point is that these false teachers, see, 171 00:45:15,480 --> 00:45:27,480 everybody is having a target on them. Every single person. And it's not a target for doing good or for encouragement, but it's a target for immorality. 172 00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:38,480 How can I use every person that I see? How can I use every person that I talk to to gratify the needs of my flesh? 173 00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:49,480 But then, he talks about how they entice unsteady stoles, a picture contrasting from chapter 1 where he talks about the steadfastness of our faith. 174 00:45:49,480 --> 00:45:57,480 In the picture there is a fishing hook with bait on it. That not only do they see everybody as a target, but they're pursuing that action. 175 00:45:57,480 --> 00:46:04,480 And they're throwing out bait, trying to catch and entice. And then he goes even a little further in verse 14. 176 00:46:04,480 --> 00:46:14,480 They have their hearts trained in greed. That word "trained," when it comes into English, it comes in English as the word "gymnasium." 177 00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:21,480 You go to the gym, and you lift, and you run, and you work out, and you stretch. 178 00:46:21,480 --> 00:46:29,480 These guys are doing so, but with their desires for everything that they can have. Not just financially, but physically and immorally. 179 00:46:29,480 --> 00:46:38,480 Everybody is a target. I'm going to trap them, and I have trained for this moment where I can take advantage of them. 180 00:46:38,480 --> 00:46:45,480 Peter gives us a very clear illustration, and he reminds us of Balaam and his donkey. 181 00:46:45,480 --> 00:46:54,480 He talks about how there are false storms. There's slavery, and then he ends in probably a pretty picturesque way. 182 00:46:54,480 --> 00:47:05,480 What the true proverb says has happened to them. The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire. 183 00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:10,480 I don't know that we necessarily need to illustrate that. We can get it from the words, right? 184 00:47:10,480 --> 00:47:21,480 Peter wants us not just to know facts, but to feel almost the disgusting nature of them. 185 00:47:21,480 --> 00:47:29,480 You see, Peter's purpose is to engage our mind and our hearts with the deep emptiness and brokenness of sin. 186 00:47:29,480 --> 00:47:38,480 He doesn't just want to say that it's bad. He wants us to feel that it's bad, and that this is an enticement to God's people. 187 00:47:38,480 --> 00:47:48,480 And our text this morning is a lesson in the deep danger of pride. And you see it like this at the very beginning of the text. 188 00:47:48,480 --> 00:47:56,480 Peter says this, "The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 189 00:47:56,480 --> 00:48:03,480 especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority, bold and willful. 190 00:48:03,480 --> 00:48:15,480 They do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones." Pride in this text is manifested by following our own desires rather than submitting to the authority of God. 191 00:48:15,480 --> 00:48:24,480 They indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority, and they're doing it not sort of quietly but boldly and willfully. 192 00:48:24,480 --> 00:48:36,480 And it's easy to dismiss this pride. And in our world it's easy to dismiss pride, but Peter shows us that pride ultimately is the road to ruin. 193 00:48:36,480 --> 00:48:46,480 In verse 11 he shows us that pride elevates us in our own minds to a place that is greater than the angels. 194 00:48:46,480 --> 00:48:57,480 That they are speaking out and they're condemning angels, whether good or bad, Peter's point is that it's not their place, because angels themselves do not condemn. 195 00:48:57,480 --> 00:49:05,480 So they've lifted themselves up to a place that is higher than their reality, that pride has life-shattering results. 196 00:49:05,480 --> 00:49:16,480 If we continue to walk in the path of ruin that pride brings us to, in verse 12 we begin to live solely in the pursuit of our desires rather than what is good and right. 197 00:49:16,480 --> 00:49:23,480 Like irrational animals chasing whatever it is we want in the moment. 198 00:49:23,480 --> 00:49:26,480 In verse 13 we lose all shame. 199 00:49:26,480 --> 00:49:32,480 And in verse 14 we use others for our own gratification, treating them as prey for our lusts and our gain. 200 00:49:32,480 --> 00:49:38,480 We're dumber than a donkey, in verses 15 and 16, specifically spiritually. 201 00:49:38,480 --> 00:49:41,480 We might look at animals and go, "They don't have a soul. How can they know anything spiritually?" 202 00:49:41,480 --> 00:49:51,480 Peter goes, "Well Balaam's donkey recognized the spiritual nature of Balaam's actions before the prophet did." 203 00:49:51,480 --> 00:49:59,480 And the pursuit of ourselves leads us to a deep emptiness that ends like this. 204 00:49:59,480 --> 00:50:05,480 The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire. 205 00:50:05,480 --> 00:50:12,480 And in the passages between the empty storms and the dogs and the pigs, 206 00:50:12,480 --> 00:50:17,480 Peter portrays this profound brokenness and emptiness. 207 00:50:17,480 --> 00:50:24,480 And he says that in fact it will take you to a place that is worse than where you started from. 208 00:50:24,480 --> 00:50:31,480 And Peter is referencing back to a moment in Jesus' ministry, where Jesus casts out a demon, 209 00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:36,480 and the Pharisees and the Sadducees all began to debate about whether he did this by the power of Satan, 210 00:50:36,480 --> 00:50:40,480 or how does that work? Jesus responds to them, but then he tells this parable, 211 00:50:40,480 --> 00:50:46,480 right after the casting out of this demon, that that life that has that evil cast out of it, 212 00:50:46,480 --> 00:50:53,480 if it is not filled with something that is good, that evilness, that demon, 213 00:50:53,480 --> 00:50:57,480 will wander the deserts and the wastes, and he'll say, "Well, I'm gonna go check on my old home." 214 00:50:57,480 --> 00:51:01,480 And as he drives by, he sees nothing has been put into place. 215 00:51:01,480 --> 00:51:09,480 It's been cleaned up, cleaned out, swept, remodeled, but nothing has taken the place in that heart. 216 00:51:09,480 --> 00:51:13,480 And so he goes and gets a bunch more of his friends, and they all move into that life. 217 00:51:13,480 --> 00:51:22,480 And in fact, Peter's words are an echo of Jesus' words. The last state has become worse. 218 00:51:22,480 --> 00:51:37,480 And so having lived in pride, it leads you to a place that you never want to be and that you never want to go. 219 00:51:37,480 --> 00:51:44,480 And so what's the point? It's so easy to see texts like this and see them as only being for others. 220 00:51:44,480 --> 00:51:51,480 Just a few thoughts, and they're big thoughts, and they're important. Sin is serious. 221 00:51:51,480 --> 00:51:57,480 And maybe you might say, "Well, you're just seeing the end result of sin." 222 00:51:57,480 --> 00:52:02,480 I'll stop before I get there. Here's the reality: what happens if you can't? 223 00:52:02,480 --> 00:52:14,480 Because most of us can't. In fact, I would say that none of us can stop before we get to that end result unless the grace of God intervenes. 224 00:52:14,480 --> 00:52:20,480 I remember once driving back from college, and there was a section across the New York State Thruway 225 00:52:20,480 --> 00:52:27,480 where there's like 20 miles or more between rest areas, and I knew I was getting low on gas, 226 00:52:27,480 --> 00:52:31,480 and so I get on the New York State Thruway, and there's no exits, and there's no gas, 227 00:52:31,480 --> 00:52:36,480 and my gas is like an eighth of a tank, and I was like, "I can keep going. Let's see how far I can go." 228 00:52:36,480 --> 00:52:40,480 And then an exit comes, and it's like, "Well, I'm going to stop at the next one. I'm in the zone. 229 00:52:40,480 --> 00:52:44,480 I know it's the middle of the night. If I stop, I'm going to be tired." And I go a little further, and it's like an exit comes, 230 00:52:44,480 --> 00:52:49,480 and I'm like, "Ah, 10 miles. It's the next one. I can make it." I go by the next one, 231 00:52:49,480 --> 00:52:54,480 and then I see that sign. It's like, "Next service is like 35 miles." 232 00:52:54,480 --> 00:52:59,480 So here I am. So what I did is I found a piece of paper, and just put it over the gas gauge and prayed, right? 233 00:52:59,480 --> 00:53:05,480 If I can't see it, it doesn't exist, right? And I pulled into that gas station on fumes. 234 00:53:05,480 --> 00:53:10,480 That's what sin does to us, right? It puts us in a place where we just, there's nowhere to stop. 235 00:53:10,480 --> 00:53:16,480 There's nowhere to turn. We're in too deep, and we keep going and digging ourselves a hole, and the remarkable thing is 236 00:53:16,480 --> 00:53:20,480 everybody around us can see what we're doing, but we can't. 237 00:53:20,480 --> 00:53:27,480 It is only by the grace of God who comes and wakes us up that we see that reality. 238 00:53:27,480 --> 00:53:31,480 And one of the great lies is that it's not that big a deal. Just a little. 239 00:53:31,480 --> 00:53:38,480 Do you think these people, painting targets on people for adultery, insatiable for sin, started that way? 240 00:53:38,480 --> 00:53:43,480 Do you think that's how they woke up and live? There's a little compromise here and a little compromise there. 241 00:53:43,480 --> 00:53:48,480 A little bit of the world here and a little bit there. And next thing you know, they're in this state. 242 00:53:48,480 --> 00:53:56,480 Sin always ends badly. And here's the big one, and one of the great lies in the culture that we live in. 243 00:53:56,480 --> 00:54:03,480 One of the biggest lies is that my sin's not hurting anybody. It only affects me. Why are you worried about my life? 244 00:54:03,480 --> 00:54:10,480 Peter's pretty clear here that there's no such thing as not hurting anyone else. 245 00:54:10,480 --> 00:54:15,480 Right? There's a progression that begins in verse 2. 246 00:54:15,480 --> 00:54:19,480 And all the way through the end of this chapter, they follow their sensuality. 247 00:54:19,480 --> 00:54:22,480 That's where they start. "Oh, I'm just doing what feels good to me." 248 00:54:22,480 --> 00:54:25,480 And next thing you know, they're preying on God's people. 249 00:54:25,480 --> 00:54:32,480 And here's the reality that you need to understand. The focus of your heart will become the focus of your life. 250 00:54:32,480 --> 00:54:38,480 There is this remarkable contrast between 2 Peter 1 and 2. 251 00:54:38,480 --> 00:54:45,480 In the first chapter of this book, we have this continual and repeated focus on Christ. 252 00:54:45,480 --> 00:54:53,480 The Christ is the one who calls us, he transforms us, he equips us, he encourages us, he causes us to grow. 253 00:54:53,480 --> 00:55:01,480 And you find that his words are true, and that there is a way richly provided into the kingdom. 254 00:55:01,480 --> 00:55:06,480 In the second chapter, look at how it lines up side by side. There's a call. 255 00:55:06,480 --> 00:55:13,480 The call to do what feels good, and to do what brings pleasure, and that leads to a transformation. 256 00:55:13,480 --> 00:55:18,480 And the next thing you know, we're at the gym, training to satisfy our desires, our pleasures, 257 00:55:18,480 --> 00:55:22,480 equipping ourselves to carry them out, encouraging others to do the same. 258 00:55:22,480 --> 00:55:29,480 And the foundation of this pride doesn't lead, like the foundation of Christ, to hope and safety, 259 00:55:29,480 --> 00:55:35,480 but leads to emptiness, like seeing clouds in the middle of a drought, dying of thirst, 260 00:55:35,480 --> 00:55:42,480 and those clouds come and they blow right over you, leaving you more thirsty than you were before. 261 00:55:42,480 --> 00:55:48,480 What you find is that the path of these false teachers is almost the exact opposite of the path of the Christian. 262 00:55:48,480 --> 00:55:53,480 In chapter one, chapter one, you're called, you're transformed, you're equipped, you're encouraged, 263 00:55:53,480 --> 00:55:58,480 you grow in righteousness, your faith is founded upon truth, and your home is heaven. 264 00:55:58,480 --> 00:56:08,480 And in this chapter, sin calls, and sin transforms, and it equips you to do more sin, and you grow in sin. 265 00:56:08,480 --> 00:56:15,480 And your home is the judgment of God. Where your heart is, that's where you're going to be as well. 266 00:56:15,480 --> 00:56:18,480 I want you to know that there is hope. 267 00:56:18,480 --> 00:56:21,480 Probably all of us have been lost at one point or another. 268 00:56:21,480 --> 00:56:27,480 We occasionally get folks stopping at the church who need one thing or another, and one of the ones that sticks out so clearly 269 00:56:27,480 --> 00:56:32,480 in my mind is this guy rolls into the church with a big old U-Haul and goes, "I need gas." 270 00:56:32,480 --> 00:56:37,480 And I look at it and go, "I don't know that we're equipped to fill your U-Haul with gas." 271 00:56:37,480 --> 00:56:44,480 I said, "How much gas do you need?" He goes, "Oh, I just need to get like 20 miles. Can you put like a gallon and a half in?" 272 00:56:44,480 --> 00:56:50,480 I said, "No, I can do that." So we go over to the gas station, and we're getting ready to put gas in, and I'm glad I asked. 273 00:56:50,480 --> 00:56:56,480 I said, "Where are you trying to go?" He said, "Well, I gotta be in Richmond by noon." And it's like 10:30 at this point. 274 00:56:56,480 --> 00:57:04,480 I said, "Where do you think you are?" This is like 2006, before GPS and before a lot of unlimited data. 275 00:57:04,480 --> 00:57:15,480 And he goes, "Well, I was on 64, and I was driving down the road, and I saw a sign that said Richmond is like 120 miles away on 64. 276 00:57:15,480 --> 00:57:25,480 And so I just kept following the road, and now I'm here. I've got to be really close to Richmond." And I was like, "Are you really tired?" He's like, "I haven't slept for three days." 277 00:57:25,480 --> 00:57:31,480 Like, "I've got to get to Richmond by noon." I said, "I have some really, really, really bad news for you." 278 00:57:31,480 --> 00:57:38,480 He said, "You're going to need more than a gallon and a half of gas." Like, and he was almost crying, because he's like, "How did I just..." 279 00:57:38,480 --> 00:57:48,480 In his tiredness, and you're in the zone driving, 64 to 81, and I'm almost to Richmond. Next thing, he was here. 280 00:57:48,480 --> 00:57:54,480 It's this storm of brokenness that leaves us hopeless. Finish out that story, I was like, "We're going to get you 281 00:57:54,480 --> 00:58:01,480 enough gas to get to Richmond, and I'm going to go buy you a map." So like, he got there, I think. 282 00:58:01,480 --> 00:58:09,480 Peter's purpose in all of this is that you would see your Savior. That you would come to that moment 283 00:58:09,480 --> 00:58:16,480 where you're out of gas. You're not where you thought you would be. You're not where you should be. 284 00:58:16,480 --> 00:58:23,480 And he wants you to see your brokenness. He wants you to feel hope. Remember what the Apostle Paul says? 285 00:58:23,480 --> 00:58:31,480 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners 286 00:58:31,480 --> 00:58:39,480 of whom I am the foremost. Peter wants you to see this. To those in the church who are walking down this road 287 00:58:39,480 --> 00:58:48,480 of ruin and pride, even in the midst of their immorality, he's saying, "Jesus can save you." To those in the church 288 00:58:48,480 --> 00:58:52,480 who are wobbling back and forth, he's saying, "Don't take your eyes off Jesus." And to the Christians, 289 00:58:52,480 --> 00:59:00,480 who are seeking to be faithful, he's saying, "Jesus will strengthen you." Reminding us in our brokenness 290 00:59:00,480 --> 00:59:07,480 that we were once dead in our trespasses and sins of this world, in which we once walked, following the course 291 00:59:07,480 --> 00:59:14,480 of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons 292 00:59:14,480 --> 00:59:21,480 of disobedience, among whom we all walked and lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires 293 00:59:21,480 --> 00:59:28,480 of our body and our mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 294 00:59:28,480 --> 00:59:37,480 But God, being rich in mercy and because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead 295 00:59:37,480 --> 00:59:50,480 in our trespasses, has made us alive in Christ by grace. You are saved. Understand that there is one who can bring the dead to life. 296 00:59:50,480 --> 01:00:02,480 One who can make the broken whole. Understand that by running to Jesus, minds are renewed and there is forgiveness and hope. 297 01:00:02,480 --> 01:00:09,480 I want you to see that in the midst of the brokenness, stands as a warning to the church to be careful. 298 01:00:09,480 --> 01:00:19,480 Stands as a warning to those in sin, that Peter's purpose would be that we would stop living in pride, looking at ourselves, 299 01:00:19,480 --> 01:00:27,480 and fix our eyes on Jesus. I want to encourage you this morning, if you're a Christian and you're struggling, 300 01:00:27,480 --> 01:00:34,480 that you would turn your eyes to Jesus, that you would see that He's the one who calls you and strengthens you and equips you, 301 01:00:34,480 --> 01:00:42,480 that through His Spirit, He's at work in your life, in the midst of your discouragement, and to know that no matter how dark the days are, 302 01:00:42,480 --> 01:00:48,480 that the mercy and the grace of God is at work in your life. And if you are in that place where you're 303 01:00:48,480 --> 01:00:55,480 back and forth and struggling, understand there is a foundation that is firm like no other, 304 01:00:55,480 --> 01:01:01,480 that God's people stand willing and ready to be with you and help you, that God's Spirit empowers you, 305 01:01:01,480 --> 01:01:08,480 that His Word teaches you. And maybe you're like the guy in the truck trying to get to Richmond, 306 01:01:08,480 --> 01:01:17,480 and you're just lost. I want you to know that there is one who can save you. Would you pray with me? 307 01:01:17,480 --> 01:01:26,480 Father, we thank You for Jesus, and we thank You for grace. I ask that for the discouraged and tired, 308 01:01:26,480 --> 01:01:33,480 You would strengthen with Your promises and Your Spirit, with the wavering that You would anchor to the 309 01:01:33,480 --> 01:01:42,480 foundation that's in You, to the lost. You would break through the hardness of heart, that You would melt the 310 01:01:42,480 --> 01:01:51,480 boldness of their hearts, that You would show them that there is another way to live, that there is a deeper 311 01:01:51,480 --> 01:01:57,480 hope and a better future. Thank You for Jesus. It's in His name we pray. Amen. 312 01:01:57,480 --> 01:02:03,480 We're going to go ahead and stand and sing, "All I have is Christ." 313 01:02:09,480 --> 01:02:28,480 That should be playing. Where's the, is it muted? Hmm. Well, we might not be singing "All I have is Christ." 314 01:02:37,480 --> 01:03:01,480 That's on the computer. All right, we're going to sing a different song. Some of you, we probably know it. We've sung it a lot. We're going to go ahead and just sing a verse of "In Christ Alone." 315 01:03:05,480 --> 01:03:07,480 You can just sing. 316 01:03:35,480 --> 01:03:37,480 Amen. 317 01:04:05,480 --> 01:04:25,480 This is the second children's church on the 9th. On the 16th, we're going to have a fellowship meal. We'll have some more details about that next week. 318 01:04:25,480 --> 01:04:33,480 So, this is the second children's church on the 9th. On the 16th, we're going to have a fellowship meal. We'll have some more details about that next week. 319 01:04:33,480 --> 01:04:47,480 In addition to our fellowship meal, we are working to try to plan a VBS for some of our neighborhood kids and some of our kids here and our friends, the kids that we have as friends. 320 01:04:47,480 --> 01:05:01,480 So, I would encourage you, first of all, to pray for our efforts as we do that. Secondly, pray for your role in helping. We're a small church, and we need all the help we can get when it comes to things like this. 321 01:05:01,480 --> 01:05:13,480 We'll talk a little bit more about this next week, but also on the 16th, we'd like to have maybe a little bit of a kind of get-together, get a feel for who is able to help and willing and in what ways. 322 01:05:13,480 --> 01:05:27,480 So, we'll have some more details about that as well when we get there. So, I'm going to go ahead and pray and then read from the psalm we begin with, Psalm 62, and then we will sing the doxology. 323 01:05:27,480 --> 01:05:34,480 Father in heaven, we thank you for allowing us to be here. We thank you for how you work in our lives. 324 01:05:34,480 --> 01:05:42,480 I just ask that you would help us in our focus to focus on you, and not on our strength and on our plans, but on yours. 325 01:05:42,480 --> 01:05:47,480 That you would strengthen us and help us. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 326 01:05:47,480 --> 01:05:53,480 The verse following the text we read this morning, Psalm 62:8 says this, 327 01:05:53,480 --> 01:06:02,480 "Trust in Him at all times. O people, pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us." 328 01:06:02,480 --> 01:06:21,480 Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. 329 01:06:21,480 --> 01:06:31,480 Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 330 01:06:51,480 --> 01:06:59,480 Hello. Welcome back. I'm joking about you. I love you. You guys do that last song with work. 331 01:06:59,480 --> 01:07:07,480 So long, dear. That's your favorite. Mark? Oh, yeah. You're awesome. 332 01:07:07,480 --> 01:07:16,480 You're a great player. Yeah. Well, I'm trying to add all these short ones that we have to feel. 333 01:07:16,480 --> 01:07:23,480 You can do that extra one at the beginning. He doesn't feel that strange. He wants to get back. Maybe it'll work. 334 01:07:23,480 --> 01:07:25,480 So. 335 01:07:25,480 --> 01:07:31,480 . 336 01:07:31,480 --> 01:07:35,480 . 337 01:07:35,480 --> 01:07:39,480 .