Sermon notes January 12th, 2025

2 Peter 2

At the close of chapter 1 of 2 Peter, Peter referred to the prophets of the OT as men who spoke, not by their own will, but as moved by the Holy Spirit. Now he mentions that in addition to the true prophets in the OT period, there were also false prophets. And just as there will be bona fide teachers in the Christian era, there will also be false teachers as well, until the return of Jesus.

2 Peter 1:19                              New King James Version

19   And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 

1. The dawning of day I believe here signals the end of this present Church Age. Listen how the Apostle Paul says it:

Romans 13:12                                New King James Version

12   The night is far spent; the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.

1. The rising of the morning star pictures Christ’s coming for His saints. I agree completely, but can we simplify it? Can we say when we accepted Christ into our hearts, that the morning star now lights up our new life? I agree with the thought. We can except our own thoughts as long as they don’t stray from the Works of Christ or point anyone away from Salvation through the Cross.

Still looking back at chapter 1:

2 Peter 1:20-21

20   knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 

1. What Peter here is dealing with is the origin of the prophetic word, and not with the way men interpret it after it has been given. The point is that when the prophets sat down to write, they did not give their own private interpretation of events.

21   for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

1. This is a must believe, just like we must believe in the virgin birth and the life, death and resurrection of Jesus we must believe by faith, the Living Word of God is inspired by God. 
2. False teachers will take their place inside the church. They pose as ministers of the gospel. This is what makes the peril so great. If they were to come right out and say they were atheists or agnostics, people would be on guard. But they are masters of deception. They carry the Bible and use orthodox expressions—though using them to mean something entirely different. The president of a liberal theological seminary acknowledged the strategy as follows:

“Churches often change convictions without formally renouncing views to which they were previously committed, and their theologians usually find ways of preserving continuity with the past through re-interpretations”.

Matthew 7:15                                  New King James Version

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

Let’s now look at 2 Peter 2

 

2 Peter 2                                      New King James Version

1   But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 

2    And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 

3    By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time, their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. (God’s got this)

1. These false teachers are greedy, both in the sexual and financial realms. 
2. They have chosen the ministry as a lucrative profession. Their great aim is to build up a large following and thus to increase their personal income. In other words, it’s not really about building the Kingdom of God but building their kingdom on earth.
3. In verses 4–11, we have three OT examples of God’s judgment on apostasy—the angels, (the people before the flood) the ante-dilu-vians, and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Let’s read v. 4-11 first and then we’ll look at these, but the spoiler alert is that God punishes the false prophets, disobedient angels and the sexually perverted. 

2 Peter 2:4-11

4    For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; 

5    and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; 

6    and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; 

7    and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 

8     (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)— 

9    then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, 

10    and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries,   

11   whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.

1. Although angels … are greater than men in power and might, they do not pronounce a reviling accusation against the glorious ones before the Lord.

2 Peter 2:4

4    For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; (I believe this is the abyss)

1. V.4 we assume that the angels who sinned are those also mentioned in Jude v. 6. And Gen.6 There we learn that: 

1.   They did not keep their position. 

2.   They left their proper dwelling. 

Though we cannot be certain, there is strong reason to believe that these are the same as “the sons of God” meaning these fallen angels that are mentioned in Jude 6 and Genesis 6:2:

Jude 6                                     New King James Version

6   And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; 

1. The Bible calls this the abyss, a place in hell the deepest darkest place of torment in everlasting chains.
2. Let’s look at these angels account in Genesis 6

Genesis 6:1-2                               New King James Version

1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 

2   that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.

Genesis 6:4

4   There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

1. The Hebrew word for "renown" is shêm (שֵׁם), which is commonly translated as "name". In the Bible, shêm is used to refer to a person's identity and reputation, not necessarily good reputations.
2. The Nephilim are considered by many as giant demigods, the unnatural offspring of “the daughters of men” (mortal women) in cohabitation with “the sons of God” (angels). This utterly unnatural union, violating God’s created orders of being, was such a shocking abnormality as to necessitate the worldwide judgment of the Flood.

Genesis 6:5   Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

1. God is going to deal with wickedness of man and these Nephilim’s that were not God’s plan. But I want you to see how these demons, these fallen angels, they know Jesus has the power has to cast them into the abyss.

Let’s look at Luke 8:26-37

I’m going to paraphrase the story for the sake of time. Jesus say’s let’s go across the sea of Galilee to the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee. The Gadarenes were Hellenistic Jews. Jews of Greek descent. They had one foot in Judaism and one foot in the world. These Jews were raising pigs for prophet, is there a problem with that, well yes. Pigs are not cosher and Jews are not to eat of it. 

Jesus and his disciples stepped out of the boat, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time. And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs of a graveyard. Can you even imagine what this guy looked like, naked dirty, they tried to chain him down, but he would break the chains. When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? V. 30 Jesus asked him, saying, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered him. A Roman Legion has 5-6000 soldiers. Can a man have 6000 demons? I don’t know. What we do know is demons lie. They lie about everything. But here’s the verse I wanted you to see: Jesus casts them out of this man but before He did the demons make a request:

 

Luke 8:31-33                                  New King James Version

31   And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss. (why, because the abyss is the worst of the worst with no escape)

32   Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. So, they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them. 

33   Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned.

Let’s look at the next example Peter gives us:

2 Peter 2:5

5    and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;

1. The second illustration of God’s direct intervention in punishing sin relates to the people who perished in the flood. Their wickedness had been great. Every imagination of the thoughts of their heart was only evil continually (Gen. 6:5). In God’s sight the earth was corrupt and filled with violence (Gen. 6:11–13). The Lord was sorry that He had made men on the earth (Gen. 6:6). He was so grieved that He determined to blot them out (Gen. 6:7). He did not spare the ancient world but brought the flood upon it to destroy its ungodly inhabitants.
2. Only Noah and his family found favor in the eyes of the Lord. They sought and found refuge in the ark and rode safely above the storm of God’s wrath and indignation.
3. Noah is described as a preacher of righteousness. Doubtless as he built the ark, his hammer blows were interspersed with warnings to the mocking spectators to turn from sin or face God’s righteous punishment for their wickedness.

2 Peter 2:6-8   This Peter’s third Example:

6    and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; 

7    and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 

8     (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)—

1. This is the third example of God’s righteous anger against sinful behavior. It’s always amazed me, the Bible calls Lot a righteous man but he chose to live in Sodom and Gomorrah.

The bottom line of what Peter is giving us is, God deals with faults prophets and sinfully immoral people. We don’t have to fight these battles; their Gods and He can handle it and will in His time.

2 Peter 2:12

12   But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, 

1. These apostate religious leaders (false teachers) resemble irrational animals. Instead of using the powers of reasoning which distinguish them from animals, they live as if the gratification of their bodily appetites is the very essence of existence. Just as many animals seem to have no higher destiny than to be killed and butchered, so the false teachers lunge forward to destruction, heedless of what is their true calling—to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

2 Peter 2:13-14

13   and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to ca-rouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, 

14   having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices and are accursed children. 

1. Even more scandalous is the fact that their eyes are full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin. This describes men who preach supposedly religious sermons, administer the ordinances, counsel the members of their congregation; yet their eyes are constantly looking for women with whom they might have an adulterous affair.

2 Peter 2:15-16

15   They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 

1. In several ways, these false teachers resemble the prophet Balaam the son of Beor. They falsely pose as spokesmen for God (Num. 22:38). They induce others to sin (Rev. 2:14). But the chief likeness is that they use the ministry as a means of financial enrichment. Balaam was a Midianite prophet hired by the king of Moab to curse Israel. His motive for doing this was money.

16   but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.

1. On one of his attempts to curse Israel, Balaam and his donkey met the angel of the Lord (that is, the Lord Jesus in one of His pre-incarnate appearances). The donkey repeatedly refused to go on. When Balaam whipped it, the donkey rebuked him in human language (Num. 22:15–34). This was an astonishing phenomenon—a dumb donkey speaking with a human voice (and showing better sense than its master!). But the miracle did not shock Balaam out of his madness.

2 Peter 2:17

17   These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

1. Peter likens the false teachers to waterless springs. Needy people go to them for refreshment and for relief from spiritual thirst but are disappointed. Their wells without water. They are also clouds carried by a tempest. The clouds hold promise of rain for land that has suffered from prolonged drought. But then a windstorm comes and drives the clouds away. Hopes are dashed; parched tongues are unsatisfied.
2. The nether gloom of darkness is reserved for these religious charlatans. Pretending to be ministers of the gospel, they actually have no good news to offer. People go to them for bread and get a stone. The penalty for such deception is an eternity in the blackness of darkness.

2 Peter 2:18-22

18   For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. 

19   While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. 

20   For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 

1. Verses 20–22 refer, not to the false teachers themselves, but to their victims. They are people who had reformed but who had not been born again. Through a partial knowledge of … Christ and of Christian principles, they had turned from a life of sin and begun a moral house-cleaning.
2. Then they come under the influence of false teachers who mock puritanical virtue and crusade for liberation from moral inhibitions. They become involved again in the very sins from which they had been temporarily delivered. As a matter of fact, they sink lower than before, because now that religious restraints are gone, there is nothing to hold them back. So it is true that their latter state is worse than the first.

21   For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. 

22   But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”