Peter Warns All Believers Against False Teachers Within and Exhorts Us to be Steadfast Volume 22

The Apostle Peter Declares that these False Teachers Even Scoff at Angels (Good & Evil) 2 Peter 2:11 Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. KJV Note: NLT=New Living Translation; NKJV=New King 👑 James Version In the very last sentence of the previous verse 10, the Apostle Peter said that these false teachers were unafraid in their audacious falsehood to speak evil 😈of dignities. The reference is to angels by the use of that word, however, Peter most likely or could have meant that they railed against the true brothers and sisters 'in Christ' those of us who have truly been born again because we refute, reject, and refuse their twisting of Scripture to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16) and to the unfortunate destruction of the unsuspecting souls who hear and believe their falsehood because they are ignorant of what the Word of God truly declares. It is because these false teachers are the very ones the Apostle Paul warned brother Timothy about when he wrote these words to him in his first letter ✉, "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron;" (1 Timothy 4:1-2) (NKJV). Now here in the very next verse Peter gives a comparison of these false teachers to the Holy Angels in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ always in Heaven with these words, "Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord." (2 Peter 2:11) (KJV). The angels who remain in Heaven around the Throne of God are sinless, subservient, and submissive to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and created much greater in power and might than man. The little English phrase 'in power' is translated by the Greek word ischus which means ability and strength. The little English word 'might' is translated by the Greek word dunamis which means force (literally or figuratively); specifically miraculous power (usually by implication a miracle itself): it is where we get our English word dynamite. In other words, these strong and powerful angels have the ability to do miraculous things within our natural world 🗺because they are supernatural creatures created by God/Jesus with those abilities, yet they don't even maliciously make railing accusations against these insubordinate wicked false teachers of God's Holy Word. The little English word 'railing' Peter uses in verse 11 is translated by the Greek word blasphēmos which means scurrilous (expressing offensive reproach), that is, calumnious (against man). The little English word 'accusations' is translated by the Greek word krisis which means as used in this context by Peter condemnation or damnation or judgement. In other words, these Holy Angels constantly and continuously in the very presence of God, could bring offense reproach against these false teachers of the Word of God making His Word into a license to sin with no repenting or no turning away from sin, but instead a continual living in sin with no remorse. The Holy Angels could declare to God/Jesus that these wicked men and women should be dammed to hell right away, yet they do not, for they could even bring such condemnation to the Lord God against the devil and the demons, but instead they do not. Why, we even perhaps the highest ranking Angel in Heaven (Michael the Arch Angel) in an argument or dispute over the body of God's servant and son Moses declaring only these words to the most disrespectful, diabolical, and disobedient (former angel now the devil 👿), "But even Michael, one of the mightiest of the angels, did not dare accuse the devil of blasphemy, but simply said, 'The Lord rebuke you!' (This took place when Michael was arguing with the devil about Moses' body.) (Jude 1:9) (NLT). Here is what the Expositor's Bible Commentary has to say of 2 Peter 2:11, "'Daring, self-willed, they tremble not to rail at dignities.' The Apostle passes on to describe another and more terrible manifestation of the lawlessness of these false teachers. They have so sunk themselves in the grossness of material self-indulgence that they revile and set at naught the spiritual world, and the powers that exist therein. In the term 'dignities' the Apostle's thoughts are of the angels, against whom these sinners scruple not to utter their blasphemies. The good angels, the messengers from heaven to earth, the ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation, they are bold to deny; while concerning the evil angels, to whose temptations they have surrendered themselves, they scoff, representing their lives as free and self chosen, and at their own disposal. The two terms 'daring'; 'self-willed,' seem to point respectively to these two forms of blasphemy. They tremble not, they dare to deny the existence of the good, and they shrink not to mock at the influence of the powers of evil. Thus in mind and thought they are as debased as in their bodies, and by their lessons they corrupt as much as by their acts. 'Whereas angels, though greater in might and power, bring not a railing judgment against them before the Lord.' The explanation of this passage is not without difficulty, because of the indefiniteness of the words 'against them.' To whom is reference here made? It can hardly be questioned that by 'dignities,' literally 'glories,' in the previous verse the Apostle meant angels, the dignities of the spirit-world, in contradistinction to 'dominion,' in which he before referred to those earthly authorities whom these false teachers set at naught. The verbs used in the two clauses support this view. The dominion they venture to despise, at the dignities they rail, whereas they ought to be afraid of them. Now even to the fallen angels there attaches a dignity by reason of their first estate. In the New Testament the chief of them is called by Christ Himself 'the prince of this world,' (John14:30) and by St. Paul 'the prince of the power of the air'; (Ephesians 2:2) and he has a sovereignty over those who shared his rebellion and his fall. Having described the railing of the false teachers in the previous verse as directed alike against the evil angels and the good, it seems preferable here to take 'against them' as applying to the evil angels. Even against them, though they must be conscious of their sin and rebellion against God, the good angels, who still abide in the presence of the Lord, bring no railing judgment, utter no reproach or upbraiding. There may have been in St. Peter's thought that solemn scene depicted in Zechariah 3:1-10, where, in the presence of the Angel of the Lord, that highest angel who is Jehovah's special representative, Joshua the high-priest appears, and at his right hand Satan standing to be his adversary, and to charge him, and the nation through him, with their remissness in the work of the restoration of God's temple. There the Angel of the Lord, full of mercy, as Satan was full of hate, checked the adversary's accusation, saying, 'The Lord rebuke thee, Satan.' The same application of the words 'against them' is suggested by the apocryphal illustration in St. Jude (Jude 1:9), where in the contention about the body of Moses no greater rebuke is administered to the devil by the Archangel Michael." If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...

Peter Warns All Believers Against False Teachers Within and Exhorts Us to be Steadfast Volume 21

The Apostle Peter gives a More Detailed Description of these False Teachers 2 Peter 2:10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. KJV Note: NLT=New Living Translation; NKJV=New King 👑James Version The aged Apostle now goes on to be even more descriptive of the regular, repeated, and resolved behavior of these imposters who have made their way into visible Christendom and set up their shops denigrating the Holy God and His Holy Word. They are self-willed men who are not Governed by the Spirit of God because they do not have Him, therefore, their primary aim or goal is to indulge the flesh (that is, the sinful nature all humans get from Adam) to whatever extremes they desire, so Peter says this of them, "But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities." (2 Peter 2:10) (KJV). The little English word 'chiefly' used here by Peter at the beginning of this verse is translated by the Greek word malista being a primary adverb meaning most (in the greatest degree) or particularly: - chiefly, most of all, especially. The English word 'lust' is translated by the Greek word epithumia meaning a longing (especially for what is forbidden). The English word 'uncleaness' is translated by the Greek word miasmos (used this one time only in the entire New Testament) which means moral contamination. In other words, the main objective and priority of these false teachers is to live in their sinful nature and abuse their own bodies sexually without restraint because none of them are Governed by the Spirit of God because they do not have Him dwelling with them and in them (John 14:17). Therefore, their chief goal is not only to corrupt themselves with this lie, but to bring as many unsuspecting souls with them in this false grace which they have perverted, for they believe the grace of God is like a giant umbrella or giant tent 🎪where everyone can get in or under and do whatever they want under grace. These false teachers are those going about deceiving many souls into perdition, but they themselves are likewise being deceived, as it is written for us by the Apostle Paul with these words, "But evil people and impostors will flourish. They will deceive others and will themselves be deceived." (2 Timothy 3:13) (NLT). The Holiness of God is seen by these false teachers as a trivial thing or as something that God does not design and desire for His children. What decent human parent would allow their children to go to other adults homes and write on their walls or put holes in their walls or to do any such things to damage the people's home without punishing those children. God the Father does not make His children into androids or robots blindly obeying Him, yet He commands and demands obedience to His Word from His adopted children. These false teachers have disregarded God's Word just like those earthly kids who think it to be no big deal doing whatever they want to someone else's home. They sin with impunity/freedom, that is, they believe that they are exempt from punishment or loss. Why? Because they do not belong to the True God and they have made up an idol God in their own warped minds who lets them be what THEY want and to do what THEY want. God is no longer God, but they are god. The Apostle Peter calls them 'presumptuous' here in verse 10 and this English word is translated by the Greek word tolmētēs (this word is used this one time only in the New Testament) which means a daring (audacious) man: not concerned with the Judgement of God on the sexually immoral; unrestrained in their sexual lust daring God to Judge them. The English word 'self-willed' is translated by the Greek word authadēs meaning self pleasing, that is, arrogant. The English word 'dignities' is translated by the Greek word doxa meaning simply glories (probably speaking of the angelic world). In other words, these false teachers speak evil even of the angels who are far greater than them in power and might because of their arrogance and their self-pleasing nature being bold in their sexual perversion and sexual immorality they scoff at the judgement to come because they have made a mockery of the truth and have believed the lie instead as the Apostle Paul wrote with these words to the Church @Thessaloniki, "And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12) (NKJV). Here is what Matthew Henry had to say of 2 Peter 2:10, "The Apostle's design being to warn us of, and arm us against, seducers, he now returns to discourse more particularly of them, and give us an account of their character and conduct, which abundantly justifies the righteous Judge of the world in reserving them in an especial manner for the most severe and heavy doom, as Cain is taken under special protection that he might be kept for uncommon vengeance. But why will God thus deal with these false teachers? This Peter shows in what follows. These walk after the flesh; they follow the devices and desires of their own hearts, they give up themselves to the conduct of their own fleshly mind, refusing to make their reason stoop to Divine revelation, and to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; they, in their lives, act directly contrary to God's righteous precepts, and comply with the demands of corrupt nature. Evil opinions are often accompanied with evil practices; and those who are for propagating error are for improving in wickedness. They will not sit down contented in the measure of iniquity to which they have attained, nor is it enough for them to stand up, and maintain, and defend, what wickedness they have already committed, but they walk after the flesh, they go on in their sinful course, and increase unto more ungodliness and greater degrees of impurity and uncleanness too; they also pour contempt on those whom God has set in authority over them and requires them to honour. These therefore despise the ordinance of God, and we need not wonder at it, for they are bold and daring, obstinate and refractory, and will not only cherish contempt in their hearts, but with their tongues will utter slanderous and reproachful words of those who are set over them." If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...

Peter Warns All Believers Against False Teachers Within and Exhorts Us to be Steadfast Volume 20

The Apostle Peter gives an Example of God/Jesus Delivering His People 2 Peter 2:7-9 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: KJV Note: NLT=New Living Translation Just as in the previous Volume 19, we saw from the Apostle Peter how those who have the judgment of God upon them (false teachers and false believers) cannot and will not escape the wrath of God because it remains on them (John 3:36). So now we see from the Apostle Peter how God/Jesus does and has already delivered all of us (those who lived long ago and we who live right now) from His wrath through the Righteousness we receive from Christ Jesus our Lord. Peter gives the example of Abraham's nephew Lot who lived among the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot way back then was a partaker of the Righteousness of God/Jesus, therefore, he and his family were rescued from the fire and brimstone by Angels of the Lord. Peter first says this of Lot, "And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)" (2 Peter 2:7-8) (KJV). The English word 'vexed' Peter uses here in verse 7 is translated by the Greek word kataponeō meaning to be labored down, that is, wear or worn with toil (figuratively harass): - oppress, vex. The little English phrase 'filthy conversation' in verse 7 is translated by two (2) Greek words aselgeia and anastrophē together meaning (as a negative particle) not able to abstain from sexual immorality; licentiousness (sometimes including other vices): - filthy, lasciviousness, wantonness behavior and conduct. Now Lot was by no means a perfect man, but Lot being clothed in the Righteousness of Christ was freed from the wrath that would be poured out upon those cities. Lot lived in anguish of soul and was weighed down in spirit by the lasciviousness of the people all around him and it was because he knew that God/Jesus would judge those cities at some point, he only did not know when or how the judgement of God would come. In 2 Peter 2:8 the Apostle uses the English word 'vexed' again but the Greek word used to translate it is basanizō which means to be tortured or tormented. Lot experienced these emotions as the Word says from 'day to day', that is, everyday. Yet Lot was prepared to do something that is incomprehensible in offering his very own two daughters (who lived with him) to the men of Sodom who wanted to rape the two angels (clothed in human bodies) that were in Lot's home, as it is written, "They shouted to Lot, 'Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!' So Lot stepped outside to talk to them, shutting the door behind him. 'Please, my brothers,' he begged, 'don't do such a wicked thing. Look, I have two virgin daughters. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do with them as you wish. But please, leave these men alone, for they are my guests and are under my protection.'" (Genesis 19:5-8) (NLT). Why would Lot do this? Why would he put his own daughters in jeopardy of being killed by these wicked men? The fact that Lot's soul was troubled by the filthy conduct and behavior of the people in those cities should have compelled him to keep his daughters safe and free from the corruption that permeated the place, instead he offered his daughters to be corrupted, yet despite this seemingly morally reprehensible thought process God/Jesus through those two (Angels) still rescued him from the destroying fire and brimstone (imagine that). Apparently Lot had pledged these two daughters of his to be married to two men of that city and he went to warn them of the pending destruction of the cities by God and they just laughed at Lot thinking he was joking, as it is written, "Meanwhile, the Angels questioned Lot. 'Do you have any other relatives here in the city?' they asked. 'Get them out of this place—your sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone else. For we are about to destroy this city completely. The outcry against this place is so great it has reached the LORD, and He has sent us to destroy it.' So Lot rushed out to tell his daughters' fiancés, 'Quick, get out of the city! The LORD is about to destroy it.' But the young men thought he was only joking." (Genesis 19:12-14) (NLT). Here is what the Expositor's Bible Commentary had to say of 2 Peter 2:7-8, "The Apostle points his misery in the strongest terms. He was distressed; and of the sights and sounds on every side, and never ceasing, he made a torture to his soul. It was no mere offence to him that these things were so. It was very anguish to see men setting at defiance every law human and Divine. To behold the evils of a lascivious life waxing rampant in the midst of the Christian Churches, and countenanced by those who assumed the office of teachers, must have been an agony to the faithful akin to that with which Lot tortured himself. St. Peter would strengthen the drooping hearts of the brethren; and no greater comfort could there be found than this which he offers, taking the lamp of prophecy and shedding its rays of hope into the dark places of their lives." The Apostle Peter then declares how our Lord God/Yahweh/Jehovah can and does keep His own who dwell among the unjust from His just punishment against them with these words, "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:" (2 Peter 2:9) (KJV). The people of Noah's day and the people where Lot dwelt were all under the judgement of God because they rejected, refused, or resisted Him and His salvation, but just Noah and just Lot were (as we who are born again today) clothed in His Righteousness and therefore, as it is written, "So now there is no condemnation/judgement for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to Him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death." (Romans 8:1-2) (NLT). With this as truth we look back in the Scripture and see how God/Jesus rescued Lot and his family from His Judgement upon the unjust in Sodom and Gomorrah, as it is written, "At dawn the next morning the Angels became insistent. 'Hurry,' they said to Lot. 'Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out right now, or you will be swept away in the destruction of the city!' When Lot still hesitated, the Angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the LORD was merciful." (Genesis 19:15-16) (NLT). The Angels warned Lot and his wife and his two (2) daughters not to stop or to look back to the cities. The little English phrase in verse 9 'to deliver' is translated by the Greek word rhuomai a verb meaning to rush or draw (for oneself), that is, rescue: - deliver. Lot and his family was rescued by the Angels away from God's Judgement against the wicked cities in the plains, yet as we read on in the Scripture in Genesis one member of his family disobeyed the Words of the Angels and looked back to the cities, as it is written, "Then the LORD rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah. He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation. But Lot's wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt." (Genesis 19:24-26) (NLT). God/Jesus warns as He did to Lot and his wife and his daughters through the Word of the Angels, but though He commands obedience, He does not nor will He ever force His own to obey. Forced love is not love at all, it is actually nothing. Jesus said, "'If you love me, obey my commandments.'" (John 14:15) (NLT). Here is what the Expositor's Bible Commentary has to say of 2 Peter 2:9, "'The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation.' Already he has given the lesson (2 Peter 1:6) that true godliness must have its root in patience. It is a perfect trust, which rests securely on the Father's love, and willingly waits His time. The hearts of the faithful ones must have found solace in the thought which he here joins to his former teaching. The trials they endure are grievous, but 'The Lord knows' is an unfailing support. The floods of ungodliness make His servants many a time afraid; but when they feel that there, as amid the raging ocean, the Lord ruleth, they are not overwhelmed. They are protected by Omnipotence; and the tiny grains of sand, which check the fierce tide, are an emblem of how out of weakness He can ordain strength. Hence there comes a knowledge to the struggling saint which makes him full of courage, whatever trials threaten. The world has its wrathful Nebuchadnezzars, whose threats at times are as a fiery furnace; but he is proof against them all who can say and feel, 'The Lord knows.' I am not careful nor disturbed; my God, in whom I trust, is able to deliver me, and He will deliver me. The Lord knoweth the way of the godly, and His knowledge means safety and eternal deliverance. 'And to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the Day of Judgment.' The unrighteousness, over them too God keeps ward. They cannot hide themselves from Him, and through their conscience He makes life a continuous chastisement. They may seem to men to walk on heedlessly, but they have hidden tortures of which their fellows can take no count. Even the offender against human laws, who dreads that his sin will be found out, carries in his bosom a constant scourge. Fear hath torment, and this it is of which the Apostle speaks. And if the dread of man's judgment can work terror, how much sorer must their alarm be who have the fiery indignation of the wrath of God in their thoughts and stinging their soul. Such men are kept all their life long under punishment. Yet in this constant anguish we trace God's mercy: He sends it that men may turn in time. His blows on the sinful heart are meant to be remedial; and those who disregard His chastisements to the last will go away, self-condemned, self destroyed, despisers of Divine love, to a doom prepared, not for them, but for the devil and his angels." If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...

Peter Warns All Believers Against False Teachers Within and Exhorts Us to be Steadfast Volume 19

The Apostle Peter gives Three (3) Examples of God's Sure Judgement of the Wicked 2 Peter 2:4-6 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; KJV Note: NKJV=New King 👑James Version The Apostle has just given us in the first three (3) verses of this epistle that even during his era their were false teachers of the Word of God and false believers as well exposing them by their prevalent, purposeful, and persistent sexually immoral and greedy behavior. Those men back then and the men and women now are full of pride, that is, full of themselves and eager to lift up their achievements and not giving honor and glory to God. Peter's first (1st)example (2 Peter 2:4) were the very angels in Heaven who were surrounded by the love of God, the glory of God, and the holiness of God, yet in pride one of the angels (lucifer) (Isaiah 14:12) managed to persuade one third of those other holy angels to follow him in a rebellion against God/Jesus trying to take over His Throne. God/Jesus created the angels long before He created Adam (man) and He also created them with greater power than He created Adam (man). These beings were not created evil by God/Jesus. They were created (just like us man) with a will and although we do not and cannot understand why and how they being in the very presence of God thought they could defeat their own Creator, but they engaged in warfare with Arc Angel Michael and the holy angels who did not leave their appointed place by God/Jesus and defeated lucifer and the other rebellious angels, as it is written, "And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in Heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." (Revelation 12:7-9) (NKJV). Here is what the Expositor's Bible Commentary had to say of 2 Peter 2:4, "'For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.' To each of the three instances St. Peter adduces the reader is left to supply the unmistakable conclusion, 'Neither will He spare the sinners of today.' The sentences are all the more solemn from their incompleteness. Some have thought that the reference in this verse is to the narrative found in Genesis 6:3; but that account is very full of difficulties, and there is no mention of a judgment upon those who offended. It seems more sound exposition to take the Apostle's words as spoken of him concerning whom Christ has told us (John 8:44) that he was a murderer from the beginning and stood not in the truth, and of the condemnation of whose pride St. Paul speaks to Timothy. (1Timothy 3:6) For him and for his fellow-sinners the Gospel teaches us (Matthew 25:41) that eternal fire was prepared, and the Apostle (James 2:19) says that 'the devils believe and shudder,' it must be in apprehension of a coming judgment. All that St. Peter here says is implied in these Scriptural allusions to Satan and his fall; and it is more prudent to apply to them the highly figurative language of the Apostle here, which is exactly after his manner, than to seek for fanciful interpretations of the Mosaic story. We may rest assured by the way in which these things are spoken of, though but dimly, by Christ and His Apostles, that they formed a portion of Jewish religious teaching and constituted part of the faith of St. Peter and his contemporaries, though there is but little mention of the fallen angels in the Old Testament." The second (2nd) example (2 Peter 2:5) of the Righteous Judgement of God against the wicked is found in what happened when God/Jesus looked upon the earth 🌎during the life of a man named Noah, as it is written of Noah with these words, "And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, 'I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.' But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." (Genesis 6:6-8) (NKJV). This is the first place where the word 'grace' is found in the Word of God. This is what the narrative was concerning the rest of the people who lived on the earth during Noah's life time ⌚, as it is written of them, "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth." (Genesis 6:11-12) (NKJV). So God/Jesus commanded Noah and his three (3) sons to build an Ark or boat on dry land when at that time there had never been any rainfall from the sky at all, for the ground was watered by God/Jesus with the dew upon it. It took Noah and his sons 120 years to finish constructing the Ark to the exact specifications that God/Jesus had given to him. The Ark was to save every living creature who went into it from the flood of water that would cover the entire earth as God had declared He would do against that wicked generation. Noah preached to the people for the entire 120 years pleading with them to repent of their wicked ways and come into the Ark with him, but not one soul listened and heeded his words. So, at the completion of the construction of the Ark, God/Jesus said these words to Noah, "Then the LORD said to Noah, 'Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.'" (Genesis 7:1) (NKJV). And it was said of Noah these words, "And Noah did according to all that the LORD commanded him. Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth. So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood." (Genesis 7:5-7) (NKJV). All the rest of the people on the earth at that time ⌚were irreverent, impious, and iniquitous, so it is written of them with these words, "All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive." (Genesis 7:22-23) (NKJV). We see from this account of human history that being with the majority is not a good thing when the majority has twisted the Word of God to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16). Imagine with me for a moment as Noah was most likely laughed out and mocked and even received violence from the people he preached to for 120 years warning them of the pending Judgement of God that was about to come upon them, yet absolutely none of them heard and turned to get into the Ark of safety. Today Jesus Christ and what He did on Calvary is the Ark of eternal safety for every sinner who would repent or turn from their sin to Him and then they would be born again by Him and live with Him for eternity as His son or daughter. Just like in Noah's day the end of all flesh is at hand for everyday human beings die and when they do, they are either 'in Christ' (born again) or not in Christ unregenerate. Here is what Albert Barnes had to say of 2 Peter 2:5, "The world before the flood. The argument here is, that He cut off that wicked race, and thus showed that He would punish the guilty. By that awful act of sweeping away the inhabitants of a world, He showed that people could not sin with impunity, and that the incorrigibly wicked must perish. But saved Noah the eighth person - This reference to Noah, seems to have been thrown in in the progress of the argument as an incidental remark, to show that the righteous, however few in number, would be saved when the wicked were cut off. The phrase 'Noah the eighth,' means Noah, one of eight; that is, Noah and seven others. This idiom is found, says Dr. Bloomfield, in the best writers - from Herodotus and Thucydides downward. See examples in Wetstein. The meaning in this place then is, that eight persons, and eight only of that race, were saved; thus showing, that while the wicked would be punished, however numerous they might be, the righteous, however few, would be saved. A preacher of righteousness - In Genesis 6:9, it is said of Noah that he was 'a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God;' and it may be presumed that during his long life he was faithful in reproving the wickedness of his age, and warned the world of the judgment that was preparing for it. Bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly - Upon all the world besides that pious family. The argument here is, that if God would cut off a wicked race in this manner, the principle is settled that the wicked will not escape." The third (3rd) example Peter gives (2 Peter 2:6) is that of the people living in what was called the plains, that is, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, for according to the Apostle Peter those cities were turned into ashes when the Judgement of God fell upon them. The English phrase 'turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes' is translated by the Greek word tephroō (used this one time only in the entire New Testament) meaning to incinerate, that is, consume: - turn to ashes. Those cities had given themselves over to sexual perversion, that is, women having unnatural sex with other women and men having unnatural sex with other men (sodomy), as it is written for us by the Apostle Paul with these words, "Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;" (Romans 1:24-28) (NKJV). God/Jesus Judgement did not spare one soul in those cities and in so judging them righteously He turned everything into a pile of ashes and drove it all deep into the center of the earth 🌎, for there are no ruins of those cities that have ever been found nor will there ever be any found. However, the grace of God does not bounce off the people who live in these sins and even believe that they are not sins, but God's grace does what it does to and for every vile and filthy sinner it permeates, penetrates, and purifies the inner man 👨and inner woman 👩giving the sinner a new disposition, determination, and desires to no longer live in that dishonoring lifestyle. God/Jesus becomes their Father (Abba/Daddy) and every child wants to please their Daddy. However, the unrepentant will not escape the wrath of God on them against their sin and no matter how many people join together to say that is not sin and God excepts it they will not escape and the false teachers of today who use people to build themselves up in honor and in earthly wealth, their judgement (like that of Sodom and Gomorrah) has already been determined from the foundation of the world 🗺. God/Jesus made what He did to those cities an example or an exhibit to exemplify to all human beings that would live after those people of the vengeance and eternal punishment on all those who after them would live their lives in this ungodly manner with no design or desire to repent and be converted to Christ that He would heal them, just as our Lord Jesus quoting the words He Himself gave to the Prophet Isaiah, "'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn (repent), So that I should heal them.'" (Matthew 13:14-15) (NKJV). Here is what Matthew Henry had to say of 2 Peter 2:6, "See how God dealt with Sodom and Gomorrah; though they were situated in a country like the garden of the Lord, yet, if in such a fruitful soil they abound in sin, God can soon turn a fruitful land into barrenness and a well-watered country into dust and ashes. Observe, 1. No political union or confederacy can keep off judgments from a sinful people. Sodom and the neighboring cities were no more secured by their regular government than the angels by the dignity of their nature or the old world by their vast number. 2. God can make use of contrary creatures to punish incorrigible sinners. He destroys the old world by water, and Sodom by fire. He who keeps fire and water from hurting His people (Isaiah 43:2) can make either to destroy His enemies; therefore they are never safe. 3. Most heinous sins bring most grievous judgments. Those who were abominable in their vices were remarkable for their plagues. Those who are sinners exceedingly before the Lord must expect the most dreadful vengeance. 4. The punishment of sinners in former ages is designed for the example of those who come after. 'Follow them, not only in the time of living, but in their course and way of living.' Men who live ungodly must see what they are to expect if they go on still in a course of impiety. Let us take warning by all the instances of God's taking vengeance, which are recorded for our admonition, and to prevent our promising ourselves impunity, though we go on in a course of sin." If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...Sure

Peter Warns All Believers Against False Teachers Within and Exhorts Us to be Steadfast Volume 18

Their are False Teachers of the Bible in Visible Christianity Part 3 2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. KJV Note: NKJV=New King 👑James Version The Apostle Peter called the way of the false teacher as lascivious, that is, driven by lustful desires not only for immoral sex which is most emphatically against the will of the true God (1 Thessalonians 4:3:7 as we declared in Volume 17, but those lustful desires also breed greed for wealth/money and popularity and praise from many people because of their self-aggrandizement that is, the act of increasing the wealth, prestige, power or scope of someone. It is so ironic that our Lord Jesus said that this world and the people who make up it would not love those of us who are His true adopted sons and daughters who declare His truth without compromise, as it is spoken directly from the mouth of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, "'If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also." (John 15:18-20) (NKJV). The idea here is that Christ Jesus our Lord did not become a man and live a perfect sinless life and then willingly die on a Cross for the sins of the whole world to make Himself popular with the world, but instead He did all of this that some would look to Him on Calvary and be pierced by their own sinfulness and turn from their sin (repent) to Him and be healed and made a new creation by Him (2 Corinthians 5:17). The false teacher and the false christian knows of this truth, but instead of yielding (repenting) they chose the gratifying of their fallen nature and rejected, refused, and resisted being made new. Therefore, their lives are lives of spiritual blackness and as Peter will say later on in this same Chapter they are 'wells without water' (2 Peter 2:17) dry wells who are useless and good for nothing pleasing to the One True God for they have no part with Him. Now the Apostle declares to us that these useless dry wells will make merchandise of people created in God's image, for they will not care about those people's eternal soul, but instead they will use made up words flattering speech to draw people to themselves to build up their kingdom here on the earth 🌎. Here is exactly how Peter words it for us, "And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not." (2 Peter 2:3) (KJV). Here is how the NLT (New Living Translation) words it, "In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed. (2 Peter 2:3) (NLT). In the KJV the English word 'feigned' is translated by the Greek word plastos which is used this one time only in the New Testament and means moulded, that is, (by implication) artificial or (figuratively) fictitious (false): - feigned. In other words, nothing these people say or write comes through illumination by God the Holy Spirit who is the Author of the Word of God. As we said in Volumes 16 & 17 when you are not illuminated by the Spirit of God 'in you' then your words will be fictitious, that is, words formed or conceived by your own rotten imagination; pretended words or made up words usually meant for the gratifying of the flesh (or fallen nature from Adam). These false teachers turn their converts into merchandise, that is, a product to be used for their own greedy profit. Simon the sorcerer in Acts Chapter 8 who got baptized in water and said he believed thought that he could buy or purchase the Holy Spirit with money for his own greed for supernatural power and to use said power to make money for himself, as it is written of him, "But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, 'This man is the great power of God.' And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done. Now when the Apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the Apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, 'Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.' But Peter said to him, 'Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.'" (Acts 8:9-23) (NKJV). You see the gift of God is a free gift 📦which cannot be earned by good deeds or doing good or trying to be good, nor can the gift of the Holy Spirit be bought with human money 💵, for as it is written from the lips of our Lord Jesus Himself, "'So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!'" (Luke 11:9-13) (NKJV). The graciousness and goodness and generosity of God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit is tremendous, yet it does not outweigh His Justice and His Righteousness and His Holiness, therefore, these false teachers and false christians will receive what they wanted and that being eternal forever separation from God. Because God is Omniscient He has known who these false teachers and false christians are before anything was made or created by Him (don't ask me to explain this for I cannot but I believe it) and their eternal damnation in Hell first and then when He (God) flings Hell into the Lake of Fire 🔥. He is a loving God and He wants to see no souls there, but He is at the same time ⌚a Just God and all who reject or refuse or resist His only means to be brought into fellowship with Him (by the Blood of Christ) will receive said eternal vengeance and punishment because He provided a substitute for sin, yet these false teachers and false christians would not have Him instead they did just as the Apostle Paul warned brother Timothy in his first letter to him with these words, "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron," (1 Timothy 4:1-2) (NKJV) and in so doing their eternal future is sealed. Here is what Matthew Henry had to say of 2 Peter 2:3, "Observe, in the next place, the method seducers take to draw disciples after them: they use feigned words; they flatter, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple, inducing them to yield entirely to the opinions which these seducers endeavour to propagate, and sell and deliver themselves over to the instruction and government of these false teachers, who make a gain of those whom they make their proselytes/converts, serving themselves and making some advantage of them; for all this is through covetousness, with a desire and design to get more wealth, or credit, or commendation, by increasing the number of their followers. The faithful ministers of Christ, who show men the way of truth, desire the profit and advantage of their followers, that they may be saved; but these seducing teachers desire and design only their own temporal advantage and worldly grandeur. Men are apt to think that a reprieve is the forerunner of a pardon, and that if judgment be not speedily executed it is, or will be, certainly reversed. But the Apostle tells us that how successful and prosperous soever false teachers may be, and that for a time, yet their judgment lingereth not. God has determined long ago how he will deal with them. Such unbelievers, who endeavour to turn others from the faith, are condemned already, and the wrath of God abideth on them. The righteous Judge will speedily take vengeance; the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. To prove this assertion, here are several examples of the righteous judgment of God, in taking vengeance on sinners, proposed to our serious consideration." Here also is what the Expositor's Bible Commentary had to say of 2 Peter 2:3, "'And in covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you.' St. Paul in writing to Timothy gives a comment which throws much light on these words. He tells of men who consent not to sound words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, thus denying the Master that bought them. He speaks of them as bereft of the truth, supposing that godliness is a way of gain; and he adds, 'They that desire to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare, and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.' (1Timothy 6:3-10). From the first days of the Church's history we see, from the instances of Ananias and Sapphira, and of Simon, with his offer of money to the Apostles, that both among the disciples and the would-be teachers covetousness made itself very apparent. The communistic basis on which the society was constituted lent itself to the schemes of those who desired to make a gain of their Christian profession. In the time when St. Peter wrote the evil had spread. Teachers were discovering that, by a modification or adaptation of the Christian language and doctrines, they could draw after them many followers. These were the feigned words to which the Apostle alludes, and the contributions of their satisfied hearers were proving a gainful merchandise. The Gnostic teachers were of various sorts, but of all alike the language was boastful as coming of superior insight; great, swelling words they spake, having men's persons in regard because of the prospects of advantage. The evil was a sore one, and is so wherever it finds entry. And later ages have also known somewhat of its mischief. It is the wisdom of all Christian communities so to order themselves that their teachers and guides may be safe from this temptation. For such teachers do not stop at small beginnings of error, but prophesy smooth things, and close their eyes at evil; nay, in this case they seem to have encouraged sensual living, as though it were an indication of the freedom of which they boasted. 'Whose sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not.' In thought the Apostle reads the book of prophecy. It is as if he said, 'It is written in the prophetic word.' And when the overthrow of the sinners comes to pass, those who behold it may say, 'Thus is the prophecy fulfilled.' The doom of such sinners is sure. They may seem to live their lives with impunity, for a while, as though God's eternal law were inoperative; but the issue is certain. None such escape. God's mills grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small. And the lot of such men is destruction. Of illustrations the Apostle chooses three, applying each to a different vice of these teachers of error. These men were proud; so were the angels that sinned, but their pride was only a prelude to their fall. These men were disobedient; so were the antediluvian sinners, and would neither hearken nor turn, and so the Flood came and swept them all away. These men were sensual; so were the dwellers in the Cities of the Plain, and their overthrow remains still a memorial of God's wrath against such sinners. Verily the sentence of all such men is written from of old." If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...

Peter Warns All Believers Against False Teachers Within and Exhorts Us to be Steadfast Volume 17

Their are False Teachers of the Bible in Visible Christianity Part 2 2 Peter 2:2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. KJV Note: NKJV=New King 👑James Version The Apostle Peter now gives or shows what the results of these false teachers of the Bible are as they have crept their way into some churches or even started their own churches and now they are in visible Christendom, for Peter declares here in 2 Peter 2:2 that many deluded, desperate, and deceived souls will follow their pernicious ways all the way into blackness and darkness forever. Here is how the NLT (New Living Translation) translates 2 Peter 2:2, "Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered." Also here is how the BSB (Berean Standard Bible) translates 2 Peter 2:2, "Many will follow in their depravity, and because of them the way of truth will be defamed." Well the Apostle Peter was not writing these words from his own wisdom, but he was being inspired or moved along by God the Holy Spirit just as the True Prophets of the Old Testament. We see then that God foresaw these many men and women who would make their way into visible Christianity through a side door 🚪or some other manner but not by the way of regeneration and the new birth. They are teaching that which is false because they have not the Spirit of God as the Apostle Jude said with these words, "These are sensual (soulish or worldly) persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit." (Jude 1:19) (NKJV). The man 👨or woman 👩teaching the Bible without the Spirit of God within them illuminating the truths of the Word of God to them cannot ever teach the truth or live out the truth ever in their lives. These false teachers of the Word of God have never been born again, so they promote sensuality because they have only their fallen corrupt nature from Adam within them and this causes them to live constantly and continually in immorality and then they teach others by twisting the Scripture to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16) and leading many other souls into their same error. Peter will say later on in 2 Peter 2:14 that they "cannot cease or stop from sinning; beguiling/misleading unstable souls", you see this is the real mark of false teachers (because they belong to Satan) they want to lead other souls into the very darkness that consumes them. The little English phrase in the KJV of 2 Peter 2:2 'pernicious ways' is translated by the Greek word apōleia which means ruin or loss (physical, spiritual or eternal): This is the result of rejecting, refusing, or resisting true repentance, that is, turning from sin to the Lord Jesus Christ and letting Him heal. The Lord Jesus Christ will not kick the door in of any souls heart or inner man 👨and inner woman 👩, for He knocks gently through the preaching of the Gospel and waits for the door 🚪of the heart to be opened to Him, as it is written, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." (Revelation 3:20) (NKJV). Because all false christians and true Christians will be blended or mixed together, 'the way of truth will be evil spoken of' (2 Peter 2:2). Why? Because the deceived sensual false christian wants his and her antinomianism, that is, their theological doctrine that by faith and God's grace a Christian is freed from all laws (including the moral standards of the culture). This is why the Word of God is twisted by them to their own destruction because when Paul writes these words, "Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body." (1 Corinthians 6:18) (NKJV). Flee or run away quickly from sexual immorality, not run to it and indulge it and live in it. The false teacher or false christian wants to believe that God has granted him or her autonomy in their physical body to indulge whatever sexual behavior they desire, however, the truth is found in God's Word for what His actual design is for His true sons and daughters, as it is written here, "Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge." (Hebrews 13:4) (NKJV). Also these very words from Paul the Apostle to the Thessalonians, "For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles/unbelievers/false christians/false teachers who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit." (1 Thessalonians 4:3-8) (NKJV). In the KJV of 2 Peter 2:2, the little English phrase 'pernicious ways' is translated by the Greek word apōleia which means ruin or loss (physical, spiritual or eternal). In the case of these false teachers their loss and ruin is exactly this, for they have done exactly what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Church @Thessaloniki again with these words, "The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness (sin)." (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12) (NKJV). This is exactly what antinomianism is lying wonders and unrighteous deception from Satan and it has been received by many in visible Christendom to their physical, spiritual, and eternal ruin. Here is what the Expositor's Bible Commentary had to say of 2 Peter 2:2, "'And many shall follow their lascivious doings; by reason of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of.' St. Jude, who had seen the results of such teaching, says these men turned the very grace of God into lasciviousness; they perverted the teachings of the Gospel concerning the freedom which is in Christ, and their phraseology they made to have a Pauline ring about it. Did he not teach how Christ had made men free? Had they not heard from him that men should cast off trust in the bondage of the Law? In this wise they taught a doctrine of lawless self-indulgence, which they extolled as the token of entire emancipation and of a loftier nature on which the taint of sins could leave no defilement. In the blindness of their hearts, self-chosen blindness, of which they boasted as knowledge, they gave themselves over to the flesh, to work all uncleanness with greediness. St. Peter knows that baits of this sort appeal to the natural man; that there is within the citadel of the heart a traitorous weakness which is ready to betray it to the enemy. So, with prophetic foresight, he laments, Many shall follow after them. And such sinners do not gin unto themselves: their falling away brings calamity on the whole Church of Christ. It did so then; it does so still. The faithful cannot escape from the obloquy/disgrace which is due to the faithless; and the world, which cares little for Christ, will readily point to the evil lives which it sees in the renegade brethren, and draw the conclusion that in secret the rest run to the same excess of riot. Evil-speaking of this kind became abundantly common in the first Christian centuries, and furnishes the object of many Christian apologies." If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...

Peter Warns All Believers Against False Teachers Within and Exhorts Us to be Steadfast Volume 16

Their are False Teachers of the Bible in Visible Christianity Part 1 2 Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. KJV Note: NKJV=New King 👑James Version The Apostle Peter transitions from the Old Testament Prophets and there being many among the children of Israel who were false and not sent by Yahweh. He used His true Prophets like Jeremiah to expose the false prophets to the children of Israel, for example when He (Yahweh) spoke these words through Jeremiah, "'I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in My counsel, And had caused My people to hear My words, Then they would have turned them from their evil way And from the evil of their doings. 'Am I a God near at hand,' says the LORD, 'And not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?' says the LORD; 'Do I not fill heaven and earth?' says the LORD. 'I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed!' How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal." (Jeremiah 23:21-27) (NKJV). So we see that God the Father dealt with those prophets then and He is likewise dealing with the false teachers who have as the Apostle Jude says with these words, "For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ." (Jude 1:4) (NKJV). So then we have a uniformity of truth expressed by God the Holy Spirit through Jude and Peter, for here in 2 Peter 2:1 Peter declares that just like we saw the false prophets among Israel, we will see false teachers worming their way in and around the true Body of our Lord Jesus Christ. They are not in the Body of Christ, but they did have access in Peter's day and even more so in our day to influence true brothers and sisters 'in Christ' all around the world 🗺with the internet and social media there are countless numbers of false teaching being put out for consumption that is deadly to the souls of men 🚹and women 🚺everywhere. This is the very reason why Paul the Apostle wrote what he did in Ephesians 4:11-16 and verse 14 being the key verse, "that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting," (Ephesians 4:14) (NKJV). Paul, Jude, and Peter are all inspired by God the Holy Spirit and therefore they must warn us and keep us alert ⚠ to that which is false teaching by testing every teaching to what the Word of God says like the Bereans as it is written, "Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so." (Acts 17:10-11) (NKJV). The little English phrase the Apostle Peter uses here in 2 Peter 2:1 'false teachers' is translated by a rather large Greek word pseudodidaskalos (used this one time only in the entire New Testament) meaning a spurious (intended to deceive)teacher, that is, propagator of erroneous Christian doctrine: - false teacher. The somewhat lengthy English phrase 'privily shall bring in' is translated by the Greek word pareisagō (used this one time only in the entire New Testament) meaning to lead in aside, that is, introduce surreptitiously or sneakily: - privily bring in. Is this not the way the devil 👿operates bringing in lies 🤥clandestinely or under cover of night 🌃to cause the souls who accept as truth because they did not search the Scriptures like the Bereans to find out if these teachers were real and what they taught was truly from God. These destructive heresies will cause many who listen 👂then believe them to be destroyed eternally. False teaching is no small matter, but it has eternal consequences without remedy. What produces these false teachers who introduce these damnable heresies? The Apostle Peter says that they even 'deny the Lord that bought them' and by this Peter does not mean that they were truly redeemed by Christ Jesus our Lord then they lost of forfeited or gave back their gift 📦of salvation, but instead what they did was let the cares and the riches of this life be more important as our Lord Jesus said here, "Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful." (Mark 4:18-19) (NKJV). Balaam in the Old Testament was one of them just as we declared earlier and is affirmed in the New Testament of Balaam here by Peter (2 Peter 2:15) and by Jude (Jude 1:11). The true Old Testament Prophets of God always, at all times, and only spoke or wrote the Words God Himself gave them, whereas the false prophets of old spoke from their own imaginations and they spoke only words that would please human authority i.e. Kings. The true Prophets of old spoke and wrote the truth that God gave them no matter whether it pleased the human kings or not. Likewise the true teachers of the Word of God called by God Himself listen to the illumination of God the Holy Spirit and to the best of their ability using expository teaching declare the truth of the Word of God no matter what it cost them/us, for we live to please only an audience of One our Lord, Master, and Savior Jesus Christ. We answer to Him alone and only. Here is what Matthew Henry had to say of 2 Peter 2:1, "In the end of the former chapter there is mention made of holy men of God, who lived in the times of the Old Testament, and were used as the amanuenses of the Holy Ghost, in writing the sacred oracles; but in the beginning of this he tells us they had, even at that time, false prophets in the Church as well as true. In all ages of the Church, and under all dispensations, when God sends true prophets, the devil sends some to seduce and deceive, false prophets in the Old Testament, and false Christs, false apostles, and seducing teachers, in the New. Concerning these observe, 1. Their business is to bring in destructive errors, even damnable heresies, as the business of teachers sent of God is to show the way of truth, even the true way to everlasting life. There are damnable heresies as well as damnable practices; and false teachers are industrious to spread pernicious errors. 2. Damnable heresies are commonly brought in privily, under the cloak and colour of truth. Those who introduce destructive heresies deny the Lord that bought them. They reject and refuse to hear and learn of the great teacher sent from God, though he is the only Saviour and Redeemer of men, who paid a price sufficient to redeem as many worlds of sinners as there are sinners in the world. 4. Those who bring in errors destructive to others bring swift (and therefore sure) destruction upon themselves. Self-destroyers are soon destroyed; and those who are so hardened as to propagate errors destructive to others shall surely and suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.' Here is what the Expositor's Bible Commentary had to say of 2 Peter 2:1, 'It is as though the Apostle would say, Be not unduly dismayed. The lamp of Old Testament prophecy shows that yours is a lot which has befallen others. As Israel of old was God’s people, so the Church of Christ is now And among them again and again false prophet arose, not only those of Baal and Asherah, not only those who served the calves at Dan and Bethel, but those who called themselves by Jehovah's name, and of whom He says to Jeremiah, 'The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake I unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and thing of naught, and the deceit of their heart.' (Jeremiah 14:14) The picture is exactly repeated for these Asian Churches. False teaching had attached itself to the true, used its language, and professed to be at one with it, except in so far as it was superior. For the history of corruptions in the faith repeats itself, and- 'Wherever God erects a house of prayer, The devil always builds a chapel there.' It is the most perilous aspect of error when it parades itself as the truest truth. Hence the name by which St. Peter calls this dangerous teaching: 'destructive heresies.' They beguile unstable souls to their ruin. Their exponents choose the name of Christ to call themselves by, but cast aside the doctrine of the Cross both in its discipline for their lives, and as the altar of human redemption; And the men to whom St. Peter alludes were either among the teachers, or put themselves forward to teach; and there was a danger lest their authority should be recognized. They accepted Christ, but not as He loves to be accepted. He has called Himself Lord and Master, and has paid the price which makes Him so; but by their interpretations both of His nature and His office these men in very deed renounced and deserted His service, ignored their relation as His bondservants, and in this way denied the Master that bought them. Soon they chose other masters and became the slaves of the world and the flesh. Thus they entered on the path that leads to destruction, and soon it will come upon them. They who destroyed others shall themselves be destroyed. The lords whom they serve have all their empire in this life; and when the end thereof comes, it comes all too soon, and is a dread overthrow of everything they have set store by. On their lot the lamp of prophecy sheds its light: 'How suddenly do they perish and come to a fearful end.'" If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...