The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 3: False Prophets: The Explicit Gospel

Episode Date: November 22, 2020

Beware of the steady and deadly undercurrent of our me/mine, relative truth, tolerance culture. It’s a trap. It proclaims freedom and is enslaved. We are all chained to something. Being chained to JESUS is your only hope of freedom.

Amen and amen. How we doing, church? Doing okay? Hope so, no, just me again. Okay, that's all right. Hey, grab your Bibles. We're going to be in 2nd Peter chapter 2. And this is kind of a nostalgic day for me

because this will be the last day I preach from ladies' accessories. So in case you're new to 1122 or maybe you attend wherever our campuses or watch online, we renovated an old Walmart, and that's where our broadcast location is. And we started here in September of 2012, and the front row was laughing at the pictures of me from 2012. You did this to me. That's what I need you to know. And next week, my friend Pastor Camtrix from Orlando, we'll be preaching here. And then, so this is my last time from here. And two weeks from now, December 3rd and 6th, when we gather again, we will be next door at our new broadcast location, which is just right over there. All right, praise God. And just so you know, the pulpit

over there is in layaway. That's where we're going. We're moving from ladies' accessories to layaway. Y'all don't even know what layaway is. Layaway was like credit cards in reverse. You actually had to pay for it and then get it. It's crazy. Google it. Okay, so, anyway, we're in Second Peter chapter two, which is a doozy. All of chapter two is just a warning from God through the Apostle Peter to his people. So we're really just talking to church people today. So if you're not a church person, if you're not a believer, then you get a break. You can just kind of sit back and be judgmental on us, as you should be. But if you consider yourself a Christian, I just need you to know, this is a big warning.

All of chapter one had lots of encouragement. Chapter one had the really the key verse of all of chapter one, that his divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness. And then last week, Pastor Britt did an amazing job saying that the foundation for what we have been given by God is the authority of the Word of God. And then now in chapter two, it is just a warning about false prophets and heresies. and again, it's pretty intense. It kind of reminds me of, you guys need to pray for me because tomorrow, is it tomorrow,

tomorrow my son turns 15 and this week he's going to get his learners permit, okay? No, don't clap, pray. Don't clap. Stop clapping. Pray. Pray for you, mostly. It's you people that'll be danger, you know. I'm not getting in a car with him.

Anyway. And I remember 100 years ago when I got my learners, We could drive in South Carolina because when we were 15, although I'd been driving for about two years before it became legal, because that's just how we did. And anywho, most of us, I don't know if this is how it works anymore, but if you took driver's ed, you got a real discount on your insurance. So we take driver's ed class, and you remember they would show you this driver's ed, like horror film. You remember this? And the reason is because none of us had any idea the power that we had hold of when we got behind the wheel of a car. And so they had like this 45-minute video of wrecks and bloods and.

and headless people. I mean, there was a whole section, like, want to stick your hand out the window? There's one-arm guy going, don't do that. That's what the video is. This is what Second Peter 2 is. It is a driver's ed video for our eternity, essentially, is what it is. It's not very happy.

It is just a warning. And the reason we get such an intense warning is because we have an intense God that intensely loves you. And so the whole thing starts out this way, but, which means this is a thing. a conjunction relating to what we talked about last week. And all Pastor Britt did last week is lay out for us that the Word of God is not only true,

but it's also trustworthy. That is the authority for our very own lives. And so he starts out. So there is God's authority that God has given us his word to show us how to live rightly before a righteous king. But, however, there's another way to live. Let me just read the first verse because we're going to have to break. down basically every word, but false prophets also arose among the people. Just as there will be

false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. So again, all of chapter two is, what does it look like when you are influenced by false prophets by heresies, or in other words, what does it look like if you move away from the scriptures, but false prophets. What is a false prophet? A false prophet is not just somebody saying things that are false. A false prophet is somebody that claims allegiance to Jesus,

but moves away from the Word of God, the teachings of Jesus. But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. Now here's where you've got to pay attention. He's not talking about those evil people, out there somewhere. He's not talking about Russian bots and he's not talking about the deep state and he's not talking about the fake news and lame stream media. They all have their places. He's not talking about Twitter and social media accounts and big tech lying to people. That's not

what he's talking about. All that stuff must be addressed. It's just not what he's addressing here. He is saying that false profits and heresies arise in the church among us. like in our disciple groups this is what he's talking about who will secretly secretly bring in destructive heresies

you see here's the thing about a false prophet a false prophet never announces themselves nobody ever says okay here's my plan I'm going to lie to you so I can take money from you for all my own behalf ready go nobody ever does that

see it's secret and what a false prophet does is takes a truth of God and keeps parts of it and then twists other parts of it to serve themselves. And again, they will secretly bring in, this is why Peter in chapter 1 says

the devil prowls around like a roaring line. Like I hear the roar, I just can't tell where it's coming from because he's prowling around. Who will secretly bring in destructive heresies. Now again, a heresy is just a twist on the truth. A heresy is a twist on the truth. truth. Take something true from the Word of God, and then instead of bending your life to match

the Word of God, you try to bend the Word of God to match your life. That's what a heresy is. And you see, in reality, in today's culture, the only heresy we believe is that there is a heresy. Pastor Britt mentioned that last week. He was in English class in college. I'm surprised he was there, but apparently he went to that one. And he was in English class, and his teacher wrote, there are absolutely no absolute truth. You understand the logical breakdown. of that, right? That is an absolute truth claim to claim that there are absolutely no absolute truths. It makes no sense.

But what Peter is saying is, be on your guard, pay attention, because there are false prophets that will arise among the people in the church, among you, and they will secretly bring in destructive heresies, and then here is the root of all the heresies,

even denying the master who bought them. that ultimately underlying all heresies and all false prophecies is a denial of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, when we get into this language about masters and servants and makes all of us uncomfortable because as Americans, our mind goes to transatlantic slavery

and Timothy, the Bible says that slave traders do not inherit the kingdom of God. But when he's talking about masters and doulas or servants here, ultimately what he's saying is this, is that every single one of us are a slave to something. And that every single one of us have been born a slave to sin, and Jesus Christ pays the ransom to rescue us from that slavery to sin

and make us his. That's what you're saying, okay? And a false prophet ultimately denies that gospel. It ultimately denies that you and I were bought with a price at the cross. And that is the fundamental truth. truth. I mean, think about it. Even when Paul is talking about sexual immorality in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, in 1 Corinthians 6, Paul says this. Paul says, don't sleep with prostitutes, okay? Which is pretty good advice, no matter what you believe? But then if you get to the why, what's the why behind that?

Is it, because you might get a disease? No. Now, that is true. That's just secondary. Is it because it'll ruin your family? Let me just jot this down. If you're regardless of what you believe, if you sleep with prostitutes, it's going jack up your family. But that is not the why behind we shouldn't sleep with prostitutes. He doesn't even get to, what about this poor woman that you're mistreating? Do you remember the core behind why we should flee sexual immorality is this?

It's because you were not your own. You were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body. You see, the core message of the scriptures, the core message of Jesus is this, is that he is the master who has bought us, purchased and paid for us. And any time somebody begins to, begins to,

deviate from that message, it is a false prophecy. He says, but false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. Verse two, and many will follow their sensuality. A lot of these false, profits will be very, very popular. Many will follow their sensuality. And when you see sensuality here, don't primarily think sex, though that's a part of it. Think like feelings. See if this sounds familiar. Many people will stand behind a pulpit with the Bible open, but instead of saying that this word is your authority, your feelings become your authority. That you can do what you

want with who you want based on the autonomous self, because what is ultimate in your life is how to God made you or your own happiness or how you think you want to feel. I hear it all the time. The God that I serve would never want me to not be happy. To which when people say that to me, I go, you're absolutely right. Because the God that you serve is one that you just made up on your own. We are not talking about the God of the Scriptures here, and the God that you serve is actually you.

That is what you're saying. And Peter says, don't be surprised when this happens. And many will follow their sensuality. And because of them, the way of truth will be blasphying. By the way, the way of truth, his name is Jesus. Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one gets to the Father except through me. And ultimately what happens in every single one of our lives is this. There is what the Bible says.

And again, man, the Bible is God's gift to us, God's law to us. It is God's requirement of righteous living before a righteous king. There's what God says, and then, I don't know if you've ever noticed this, and then there's what we want. There's what we desire. Have you ever noticed that there's several places in our lives where they don't match up? Is it only me? There's several places where what I want, or the way I'm wired, and what God says, they do not align. And so ultimately, you've got a decision to make.

and you can mold your life to match the word of God, or the other option is you begin to mold the word of God to match your life. What Peter is saying is, that is what heresy is. This is when God's word says this, and I want that, so I'm going to keep what I want, and I'm going to change what God said into what I want. Ultimately, when we do that, the way of truth will be blasphemeing. verse three and in their greed they will exploit you with false words their condemnation from long ago

is not idle and their destruction is not asleep you see he says pay close attention do not read your bible like thomas jefferson everybody know thomas jefferson had his own version of the bible do you know this things do you read history i hope so that he would read the bible with a highlighter and a pair of scissors do you know this and anything that he did not his bible was real little because anything that he did not He just clipped it out and threw it away. And what Peter is saying is that's not new. It's been happening for a couple of thousand years. Do not do that.

In their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep. Ultimately, ultimately, the motivation behind this kind of heresy is greed. It is ultimately about greed for status, stuff, sensuality, greed for power, possession, passion. And while we could spend plenty of time talking about heresiesies of the past, like Antenomenism and Pelagianism, do you know what that is? Antinomianism means no law. It means I can do whatever I want because grace saves me, so the law does not apply to me.

I can live however I want. Pelagianism does not believe that we are born, wretched, black-hearted sinners, but we are born good. Therefore, ultimately, we don't need a savior. We just need, like, a life coach and try to do a little better. And there have been heresies that have popped up in the church for a couple thousand years now. but I think we should pay attention to some of the most common heresies that we could fall into, and by we, I mean you. I got eight of them.

Number one, prosperity gospel. Many follow. You can pack a church out by promising people that if you give to God, then he owes you health, wealth, and happiness. So pay attention. And the ultimate heresy in the prosperity gospel is not that God wants to prosper you. God does want to prosper you. but oftentimes cotton candy and Cadillacs are not prospering they drive a wedge between us and the giver of good things the ultimate heresy of the prosperity gospel is that you are first and God reacts and responds to you

number two is theological liberalism theological liberalism to move away from the authority of scripture is to move away from Jesus and I'm telling you every mainline denomination has wrestled with this because at some point, again, what begins to happen is the Bible says some stuff that makes us uncomfortable 21st century smart Christians that we are. And so, again, you can either change yourself to conform to the Word of God, or you could just do the other thing and just change the Word of God to conform to whatever your worldview already is. This is the seminary I went to.

I did not do well there. I remember in my first New Testament class, I raised my hand said, Dr. Bridges, I think when I get to heaven, you're not going to be there. Okay, that's what I did. She said, why do you think that? I said, well, because you don't believe in a bodily resurrection. And Romans 109 says, that's how you get saved. So anyway, but I'm just telling you,

and what you'll hear is you hear this kind of language, theological liberalism that talks about the Bible, they still kind of hang out around the Bible, but they'll say things like the Bible contains truths from God, or that the Bible contains words from God. But we learned last week that the Bible is the word of God. And to move away from the authority of Scripture is to move away from Jesus. And everybody there amen and clap.

Listen to this one. Number three, legalism. Legalism. Legalism is when we forget the gospel and begin to believe, if I obey, then I'll be accepted. And this is where it really gets rough. And then we begin to believe the things that the Spirit has convicted me about, I will condemn you for. Here's what I mean.

I haven't had this email in a while, and I look forward to not reading it again this week. Okay. Is it a sin to drink alcohol? There's a kind of a gray area. For some of you don't think it's very gray at all. Okay. Now, if you've been coming to 1122 for a while, we have clearly established, okay? If you put fruit in a beer, that's a sin.

That's a sin, man. You can't do that. It's not a beer rita. It's just beer. Now, are there Christians that should not drink because of the conviction of the Holy Spirit? Yes, and absolutely and without a doubt. because of family history and personal experience and the conviction of the spirit, yes and amen.

But when then you begin to take that personal conviction of the spirit about your life and then apply it to the salvation of everybody else, you have moved away from the gospel and the freedom that Christ has set us free for and you have moved into your own law and that is the heresy of legalism. The other extreme of this is licentiousness,

which is anti-nominism, which just means I'm saved by grace, I'm just not changed by it. And an unchanging grace is an unsaving grace. You cannot get run over by the grace train, and it not changed everything about everything about your life. Now, not overnight, but over time. Number five, I would just call it Charismania.

The heresy of Charismania. Now, listen, I am a charismatic with a seatbelt on, okay? And my seatbelt is called the Bible, you understand? So I am not attributing things to the Spirit, that the Word of God does not attribute to the Spirit. And I do not put, I don't think there's an expiration date on the sign gifts. I don't find that in the scriptures. I believe all the gifts of the spirit are available.

But when you begin to believe that an experience supersedes abiding in Christ, watch out. And the way that will often manifest itself is in church services or in signs and wonders. And you begin chasing after an experience instead of abiding in Christ. Number six, this is an old monasticism. And this is a heresy that believes that there is like a deeper knowledge for the more mature varsity Christians that your regular average church person just can't grab on to right now. And what begins to happen there is you begin to move away from the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ and you begin to seek the deeper teachings. Which just means that everybody's confused and they moo a lot. You know what I mean?

Like the pastor is saying some stuff and you don't even know what he's talking about, but you're just like, take a lot of notes and you don't even know what you're talking about. And ultimately what you believe, though, is that there is this secret knowledge that is only available to kind of the monarchy of Christianity. Another common heresy is Christian self-help, which ultimately teaches I don't need a Savior, I just need tips and tricks on how to be a better version of me.

And pay attention, man. You could be at a place where they just basically teach a Christless gospel. because Jesus did not come to help you turn over a new leaf. He came to give you a brand new life. These are fundamentally different teachings here. And then lastly, one that we see a lot is this, is hero worship. As you begin to follow a leader instead of following Jesus.

And just trust me, anyone that you idolize when they let you down, you will demonize them. And they will all let you down. Now, why does Peter give such a warning? Because we need to be on guard to watch out for anyone, anyone that undermines the gospel and undermines the truth of the word of God. Verse four, he says this, for, this is a warning word, for if God did not spare angels when they sin, but cast them into hell and committed then to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the day of judgment. implication here, if God did not spare the angels, by the way, who are much more glorious than you are, you realize this. I mean, they're kind of a big deal in the scriptures. The angels. Every time the angels show up on earth, everybody freaks out. Every time they show up, they're going to go,

whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, everybody's settled down. It's just me. It's just me. I'm not, you know, no. In fact, you really realize how powerful you are when you can't get the meeting started. Okay, everybody simmer down. Okay, no, really. All right, how about, okay? Think about it. You can't get your two kids to get in the swagger wagon to go to school. Angels, you. Okay, you understand what I'm saying? And yet, God did not spare the angels when they committed heresy and false prophecy. What do you think he's going to do to you? That's what he's saying. He gives like three or four examples. If he did not spare the ancient world but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodified.

by the time you get to pre-Genesis 12, God looks at all of creation that he had created, and the Bible says that he even regrets creating it, because everyone only did what was evil in their own hearts, and so he decides to wipe out the whole thing and start over. So if he would do that for all of his creation, how do you think he's gonna handle somebody that misuses is the Word of God for their own benefit?

He gives another example. If by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly, if he rescued righteous Lott, now let me just give a little parenthetical statement over here. Okay, by the way, I love the redacted history of the New Testament. Can I just tell you that? Like the fact that God would refer to Lott as righteous. I don't know if you've read the story of Lott.

There are many adjectives that could describe. lot, righteous is not one of them. He was a shady character. And yet, and yet, through God's eyes through the lens of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, when God sees Lot, he doesn't see a lot of bad things that he had done. He sees the righteousness of his son, Jesus Christ, imputed unto him. And if God can call Lot righteous, he can call you righteous if you're in Christ. Amen. Amen. That's preaching. You know, I ain't listening good, but that's preaching right here. If he rescued righteous Lot greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked, For as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous

soul over the lawless deeds that he saw and heard, that God looked at Sodom and Hamura and judged it, and if he would not spare those cities, what do you think he's going to do to you? That's what he's saying. Now, by the way, a normal reading in Genesis of Sodom and Gomorrah, just a fifth grader could read it and understand that the reason that Sodom and Gamora was judged is because of extreme sexual immorality, extreme sexual immorality. In fact, the straw that broke the camels back in Sodom and Gamora is that God sent two angels to rescue lot, and when the angels showed up in town, a group of men tried to rape the angels. Now, I don't know what your list of categories of sexual abuse are,

and I don't know if you got angel rape as one of them, but that's what was happening. In my liberal seminary, this is how heresy started, okay? In my liberal seminary, my professors had a worldview that did not make a case for what was happening there. And so what they did is they began to twist, just the normal view of extreme sexual immorality happening in Saddam Gamora and said that actually what they were getting judged for was a lack of hospitality. If angel rape falls into a lack of hospitality in your list of sins, you got more issues than I have time for.

Do you understand what I'm saying? But what begins to happen is your, what was happening in my seminary is that, you know, the worldview of my professors was this, and I don't care what the Word of God says, I am going to twist the Word of God to match my worldview. What Peter is saying is, you better watch out. Look what he did to the angels. Look what he did to the creation.

Look what he did to Sodom and Gomorrah. Verse 9. Key verse. Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment. Even when, I just love this, I love how the character of the father heart of God just continues to leak out,

because even in this example, when he gives three examples of how his judgment will be poured out on the unrighteous, do you see how there's a little gospel hope trickled in there too? That he knows how to rescue the godly from trials. Verse 10, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Again, in the context, when he says, when he's talking about despising authority, He's not talking about governmental authority here because he's not talking about submission to the authority of Rome.

Rome did all these terrible things that he is condemning. The authority that he's talking about in context is the authority of the Word of God. The sermon that we heard last week, the pastor Britt taught on. Not only do we believe the Bible is true as one thing, but do we submit to it as trustworthy? Do we submit to it as authority?

Because the reality is this, whoever you obey is your Lord. Not who you believe in, but whoever you obey is your Lord. And let me just give you a little warning. Of course there's some things in the Bible that you don't like. You know why? Because it wasn't written by your cousin Eddie,

who just puts himself as ultimate. It's written by an almighty sovereign and perfect God who may have a bit of a different perspective on life and eternity than you and I do. And the crazy thing is, man, to submit to the Word of God, you realize this, it's not submission until you don't like it and you disagree with it. Up to that point, it's just convenient. It's just convenient.

And so Peter gives us this warning. This warning. And the reason he's warning is because he understands, again, the reason he's warning us is that every single one of us inside the church, has a propensity to wander away from the authority of the Word of God, that we all have this tendency to try to take God's word and mold it to match our lives instead of surrender our lives daily to the Word of God. He goes on and he says, bold and willful,

they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. Here's what he said. He's looking at the church going, you idiots, you running around preaching blasphemy. And the reason that the angels don't do that is because I think the angels can see more clearly than you see. And if you could see God for who he really is, then you'd watch your mouth and you'd watch what you say about God. I've told you this story before 100 times, so I'll just remind you of the highlights.

So when I was in college, if you couldn't afford a date, which was all of us, go to this little place called Maymont Park. It was free to get in. And for like a quarter, you could get some goat food, right? And so the only people that would be there at this little petting zoo thing were kindergartners and college kids, because we were on the same economic stratosphere, right? And so for a quarter, you can fill up your hand with some goat food. They had all these different variations of goats. And I've told you before, I was going out with this girl, she was missing a finger, and I wasn't really into that. And so one day, she was feeding the goats.

and I was like, oh no, it ate her finger, and she's like, stop it, you're hurt my feelings. And then the kids saw the missing finger, and they were convinced the goats ate it off, and they were like, ah, and I got kicked out of the petting zoo, okay? But they had all kind of different goats, man, and they had fainting goats. Have you ever seen a fainting goat? They had screaming goats. Have you ever seen that? You go, ah, and they'll go, ah, they'll yell at you.

And so there's all these signs about don't jack around with the goats, which, where I'm from, that is an invitation. And so a fainting goat, you can just go up to them, intense, and it'll go, and it'll just tip over. So that's all we did, man. All we did was just jack around with the goats, okay? You ever fought a goat? I mean, they're just kind of, they just, even if he's mad, you're just done. He's done. All right. No. Before Tiger King ever came out, is that what it's called? We have one of those places in St. Augustine here. I don't know if you've been there. It's a big cat preserve thing, all right? And down in, it's kind of close to St. Augustine,

and it's crazy. It's just a chain link fence. and they have like lions and tigers and all that kind of stuff. And one of the things that some folks will do is if you hit a deer, you can donate your roadkill to the big cat place. And I know this because my brother works for St. John's Sheriff's Department. And, you know, when people hit a deer sometimes, they'll call and tell them, oh, you know, I had an accident and I ran into a deer. In fact, one time, this is true.

Somebody called 911 and said, you all need to move the deer crossing sign because this is not a safe, place for the deer to cross. She gets to vote. I'm just going to tell you that. Think about that for a second. Okay, anyway. So, so if somebody hits a deer, sometimes, you know, people go up and scoop the deer and they'll take it to the big cat place. Now, where I'm from, we take that to the house. Because Daddy said, it's always truck season, you understand? And so anyway, my brother Russ goes one time and he got like an 80-pound deer or whatever, and they chunk it over the fence. And at the big cat place, they have this huge lion named Mufasa, Mufasa, big old African-Mane

lion. He comes walking out like this, and he puts his eyeballs right on the people. He doesn't even look at the deer carcass. He just walks up, kind of lays down on one elbow, and then scoops up the deer carcass, never takes his eyes off of the people watching. And he's not even paying attention to what part he bites, and he just reaches down, and puts the head of the dough in his mouth and like a peanut M&M. It ain't even hard. Now, guess what never has? Now, guess what never has? happens at the Tiger King place. Nobody ever runs in there, be like, can I feed him? Oh, look, you got my finger. That never happens, because there'll be some one-armine. I got a guy going, you don't want to do that. Why? Because you don't jack around with a lion. This is what Peter is

saying. We serve an almighty sovereign king, who for sure is the lamb that was slain, but he's also the lion of Judah. And there's a lot of people treating the lion of Judah like you would treat a feigning goat. And one day, that day comes to an end. Do we see him for who he really is? I had lunch the other day with a friend of mine, 1122. We grew up in Pakistan. Now he's here, works at Mayo, strong believer. And he just asked me this question,

is it too easy to be a Christian in Jacksonville? Because it doesn't seem to cost you much. He goes, it's very different from where I grew up in Pakistan. So he begins to tell me when he was a little kid, his granddad in Pakistan was like a land bearer. And all of these families would rent land from him. They literally called him peasants. And he owned all this land, thousands and thousands of acres.

And then one day they caught a Christian preacher on his land sharing the gospel, converting Muslims to Christianity. And that's against the law, punishable by death. And so they bring this Christian preacher to my friend's grandfather and says, we caught him proselytizing and he needs to die. How shall we do this? and my friend said that his family were a bunch of hunters. It's just evidence there's rednecks all over the globe.

And they had a bunch of hunting dogs. And so here's what they said. We're going to make a sport of this. This is a true story. We're going to make a sport of this. Tomorrow morning, when you wake up, we are going to let you go on our land and we're going to release our dogs. And if you can outrun our dogs to off our property, again, this is miles and miles of miles,

then you can go free. But if our dogs catch you, they will eat you. That's a little bit different than me and a Christian in Jacksonville. Is it not? You know how you're still upset because on Facebook somebody defriended you because you put a Bible verse up? That's just a little different than the dog trials. And so the pastor, he says, so tomorrow, that we're doing that tomorrow? Yeah, we're doing that tomorrow.

Okay. So how about tonight could I share with you what I'm in trouble for, what I've been sharing all around your land? Would that be okay? And because hospitality is such a big deal in Pakistan, my friend's grandfather and uncle made him a meal, and they sat down at the table, and this pastor, fully believing that he was going to be killed the next day by dogs, shared the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ with this guy. And then the granddad of my friend and his uncle both surrendered their life to the Lord'ship of Jesus Christ that night at the table.

Praise God. But then the next morning, when the family shows up with all their dogs, the granddad is like, no, no, no, we're not going to do this because we are one of him now. We are Christians with him. And so the family is like, oh, yes, we are. So you've got one of two options. you can give us all of your land, turn that over to us and pack your bags and leave with him, or we're going to set the dogs after you too.

And this man, this man, who'd been a Christian for less than 12 hours, packs up his stuff, gathers his family, and leaves everything that he has to leave with this Christian pastor. And the reason that he does is that he believed his master had purchased him and that Jesus was his Lord, not his land. See, that's different, isn't it? It's just different. You see, that's what Peter is saying it means to really be a follower of Jesus. But then there's this other group, verse 12, but these, these people, these heretics.

But these like irrational animals, creatures of instinct. When we move away from the Word of God, what he's saying is we act like animals who are lorded over by instinct and appetite. He says, but these people like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed. That's what animals are, notice this, animals are born to be caught and destroyed. Why? Because they are lorded over,

they are creatures of instinct. I've told you this before, your dog doesn't love you. Your dog loves bacon. If you died in your house, your dog would eat your neck meat to stay alive, okay? He would leave you for your neighbor today. Your cat doesn't not even have the capacity of love.

Your cat actually hates you, and it's just waiting for a moment to usurp you and kill you in your sleep. It's true. And he says, born to be caught and destroyed. To which you're looking at it, like, no, no, no, don't you mean born to catch and destroy? Anyone that lives with themselves as the center really believes, no, no, I'm going to catch and destroy. I'm not born to be caught and destroyed.

I'm a beast. I do what I want. Do you know what happens to every beast? Every beast is caught and destroyed. This is why I have a problem with the people that have a problem with me hunting. Somebody will say to me, why would you shoot that innocent animal? Who told you it was innocent? Have you ever seen what animals do to one another?

It is horrific. In fact, last week in Nebraska, I saw a white-tail buck pin another white-tail buck to the ground and poke holes in his rib cage with his antlers. So I shot him. Just justice. That's what I do, okay? That actually happens. And you're like, no, I'm a beast.

Look, every beast dies. What you think is going to happen to you? He says, but these people, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, suffering wrong as the wage of their wrongdoing. In other words, every path has a destination. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes reveling in their destruction while they feast with

you. Here's the danger of a sermon like this. Nobody thinks it's about them. Everybody's in their mind thinking of their liberal uncle that they want to share this with, or the person that undermines the gospel. Listen, the reality is, is where are you the heretic? Where are you the false prophet? Because there's a little heretic in all of us. Do you know this? And here's what I mean. how it plays out in our own life. I know what the Bible says about marriage and divorce and those kind of things and fidelity, but my situation is unique. Or I know what the Bible says about forgiveness, all right, but you don't understand what she did to me. Or I know what the Bible says about lust and adultery and that it's a pathway and it leads to death, but they're just pictures. I mean,

come on, cut me some slack. I think this is different for me. The question is not our, what are we going to do with those evil heretics out there. The question is, what should we do about the evil heritage that lives in here? I know you keep showing these videos about money and generosity and that he is first and he went first and we should bring our first and best, but that doesn't apply to me. And you don't understand my student loan. And what begins to happen is we, the person sitting in your seat right now, can know that the Word of God says this, but my life is that. And so it is much easier for me to just twist the Word of God and be like, well, that's not what that word meant. and that was in the first century,

and so that doesn't really apply to me anymore. And what Peter says is you better watch out. When it comes to things like greed and Sabbath and rest and pride and fellowship, and you begin to try to mold the Word of God to match your worldview instead of submit and surrender your worldview to the Word of God.

And he says, they have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin, they entice unsteady souls, they have hearts trained in greed. a cursed children. Now, if you've been around 1122 for a while, hopefully you pick up on what's happening here. This is a principle that is from Genesis

3 all the way to the book of Revelation, and it is essentially this, that the enemy only has like three lures in his tackle box. He's only got three things that he can come against you with, and here it is, it shows up again. We see that the motivating factor behind the false prophet and the heretic is one of these three things.

1 John chapter 2 verse 15 is where it's spelled out pretty clearly God's word says this do not love the world or the things in the world if anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him for all that is in the world and now he is going to list all that the enemy has to throw at us the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the father but is from the world and what he's saying is the foundation of every false prophecy of every heresy

here it comes again here are the three lures of the enemy once again. They have eyes full of adultery. What that means is someone will begin to teach you something like you deserve to feel this way. And it might have to do with substance. It might have to do with food. It might have to do with sex and what you get to do with whoever you want to. But ultimately your authority is not the word of God.

Ultimately, your authority is your feeling. And that is called lust of the flesh. He says, pay attention to that. And it's insatiable. In other words, you can go down that road but you will never be fully and finally satisfied. He said they entice the unsteady soul. This is called the pride of life.

This is, no, no, no, you deserve to be someone. I mean, one of the key things that is elevated as the greatest idol in our society right now is the autonomy of self, that I am self-determined and I get to do what I want to do with who I want to do it. You can't tell me what to do. And you can be enticed with an unsteady soul.

and hearts trained in greed. This is lust of the eyes. People pursuing stuff and money and possession. And if you check out every false prophet, their drive is not the glory of God and the advancement of kingdom. Their drive is the glory of themselves and the advancement of their own kingdom.

Church, let me just tell you. You know what my goal in life is? My goal is not the pastor of big old church or any of that sort of stuff. My goal in my life is very, very simple. My goal is to love my wife. My goal is to raise my babies. My goal is to preach the gospel, then die and be forgotten.

That's it. That's it. I know in two weeks we move over to a big old building and all that stuff. But listen, when I'm dead, don't put you put my name on a building. It's a Walmart. The only name needs to be on anything is Jesus. In fact, when we first started, the elders were honoring me, and they planted a tree out back with my name,

my little plaque at the bottom, it died. Thank God. Because that's what happened to me too. I'm going to preach the gospel, love my wife, raise my babies, die and be forgotten. You watch out if anybody is trying to make it about them. This is the warning Peter gives. And here's what he's saying.

And you eat with these people. I think you're holding the fork, is what he's saying. Pay attention, not just. us to the heretics out there, but pay attention to the heresy in our own hearts. Verse 15, forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing. He was rebuked for his own transgression. A speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.

I don't have time to fully explain what happened. Balem was a prophet. He had the gift of prophecy, but he was a prophet for hire. His ultimate allegiance was not to the Lord. his ultimate allegiance was to his own pocketbook. And so sometimes when enemy kings would come along and offer him a higher wage, he would prophesy against Israel.

And so one day he is on his way to do that and God sends an angel to take his head off and his donkey can see the angel. And so his donkey talks out loud to him and is like, hey, bro, you need to go this other way. Basically what he's saying is, there's so many donkey jokes I want to make, but I'm not going to do it.

You feel it, don't you? He's like, listen, some of you are a dumb donkey. Fill in your own blank there, got it? Because you're not paying attention to the word of God, and it takes a literal donkey talking out loud to get us steered in the right direction. Verse 17, these are waterless springs. That means it's worthless and dangerous

and mist driven by storms. That means they're spineless. For then the gloom of utter destruction or utter darkness has been reserved. For speaking, loud boast of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh, those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. And then this next verse is the foundation verse for all of chapter two.

I want you to think about this verse in light of every pop-up ad you see and every commercial that is flashed before your eyes between today and Christmas. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. for whatever overcomes a person to that he is enslaved. Don't miss this. We are all slaves to something. We are all chained to something. And I know there's somebody here and it's like, not me. I'm my own man. And it probably is a man and it's probably a young man. I'm a self-made man. All right, man. Let me talk to you for a second. The saddest thing about you is that you are ruled by just some sliver of you. it's not even the whole self that God created you to be,

but there is some sliver of you, there's some thought processes that you can't even control. There is some emotion in you that whenever that motion, emotion flares up, then it rules you and you are chained to that thing. There is some relationship that you can't get a hold of, and that relationship controls you. There's some dream, there's some promotion, there's some status that you want so bad

that it rules you and ruins everybody in your way. and you think you're your own man. Nah, man. You're just like one of these animals. You see, the reality is this, that Jesus is the only master that when you surrender to him, he set you free. Don't miss that.

That when Jesus sees us on the auction block, he is our ransom. And the crazy thing is, is when we surrender to Jesus, he is the only one that truly sets us free. for if after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome.

The last date has become worse for them than the first. Some people read that and say, does this mean that you can lose your salvation? The answer is no way. It means that it would be better for you to not even have been in church today and hear this warning and to return to an old lifestyle than if you had just skipped out today.

For it would have been better for them, never to have known the way of righteousness, than after knowing it, turn back from the Holy Commandment delivered to them. In other words, please don't waste the opportunity you have right now. Please don't waste the opportunity you have right now. You are hearing the truth that Jesus is the only master that when you surrender to him, he can set you free, not only free from the penalty of your sin, but he is continually setting you free from the power of sin in your life. And one day through the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ in glory,

will set us free from even the presence of sin. That's the freedom that he has purchased, and you are accountable to that because you've heard it. And so part of the reason we know that he's talking about false converts here, people that went to church for a little while and did all the stuff, but never surrendered their life to the Lordship of Christ, is this last proverb. Verse 22, 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. You see, here's evidence that he's talking about a life. that's not been transformed. Because if you were in Christ,

you were not a dog or a sow. Those are unclean animals. But you were a sheep. And sheep don't do what dogs and sows do. And so the proverb is the dog returns to its own vomit, the sow after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.

Okay, so hang with me. This is how we'll close. With the biblical illustration, all right? Imagine, imagine, this isn't going to happen, but just imagine, right now, in the sermon with three minutes to go, I had had like a, you know, like maybe a breakfast burrito,

this morning. And it did not, you can see where I'm going, okay? And it didn't settle well with me. And I've been trying to power through and power through, but I get to this point in the sermon as I'm closing, and it just, you know, you get that rumble, and you're like, uh-oh, uh-oh, okay, that's the mission trip rumble. You don't want that. And then I try to hold it back, try to hold it back, and then I just can't. And I begin to vomit all over the front area here. at our San Pablo location. And I don't mean a little bit. I mean an excessive amount of vomit.

Through the point where you are looking at the amount of vomit coming out going, how could so much vomit come out of one person? And you need to know this too. I've told you I'm not a good crier, you know? I don't cry. I'm convulsed. I'm not a good puker either, man. I'm so loud.

I wish I could. I am. I'm very loud. And it's embarrassing to me when I have to puke. But I'll be in my house. Like, I don't want anybody to hear me. And so I'm just trying to be quiet. be quiet, and then I'm just,

I'm so loud. I sound like Arnold Schwarzenegger in total recall when I throw up. Come with me if you want to live. That's what I do. It's so loud. So just a minute. I'm at many minutes.

Just, ah, I mean, over, and some got on you all a little bit, and it was everywhere. Okay, there's the bomb. Do you think post-vomit, I would have to then be like, oh, sorry about that. Now, we're going to need to rope this off

and whatever you do, do you think at that point, then I would have to create a law to keep you from coming here and licking up the vomit. Do you think I would have to say, okay, listen now, hey, but before we go, I know, I know everybody wants to rush out, but whatever you do, whatever you do, do not come up here and lick up the vomit. Even if you're walking by and you're like, I totally see a piece of hot dog that looks delicious. Okay. Anybody? I'm just preaching the Bible, by the way. Now, if we were a room full of dogs, think about it. If it was a room for the dogs, you

couldn't stop them from doing that, right? And then they lick you in the face. Just take about that for a little while. Why? Because that's what dogs do. Dogs return to their vomit. And what he's saying is, if you are in Christ, you're not a dog anymore. You don't have to do the things that you used to do because you're not the person that you used to be. That the gospel not only forgives us of our sins, but God regenerates our hearts and renews our mind and even begins to change the things we do and desire because of he who lives in us. May we not be ruled by lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, the pride of life, but may we be ruled by the sovereign king of the universe that when we surrender to him,

he sets us free to be who he has called us to be. Here's the point. Beware of the steady and deadly undercurrent of our me, mind, relative truth, tolerance, culture. It's a trap. It proclaims freedom. and it is enslaved. You see, we are all chained to something. But being chained to Jesus is your only hope of freedom.

I want to end by just reminding us of the gospel. A couple of questions. Is Jesus your Lord? Is He your Lord? Not just do you believe that he came and died on a cross. But when he says do this and don't do that, do you submit and surrender to what he says? Secondly, is the Bible your authority?

Or have you thrown out the authority of the Word of God because of two phrases that some English professor gave you your first year of college? And she hadn't even read the Bible. Is the Bible your authority? Third, are there areas that we need to repent? I know the answer to that. Because every single one of us have a heretic living on the inside of us

and there are areas in our own lives where we are returning to the vomit. There are areas of our own lives where our lives do not match the Word of God. And may we never be a kind of people that tries to mold the Word of God to match our lives, but may by the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, the sanctifying work of the gospel in us, may God do a work in us that begins to transform our lives to match His Word. You see, what's interesting is that the Apostle Paul all throughout the New Testament, is that when he would write to Christians, one of the things that he says in almost every epistle

that he writes is that he would remind the Christians of the gospel, that he would remind the Christians of the gospel. And the reason, I guess, he had to remind us of the gospel is because we live in a world that makes us so easily forget. And so at all of our locations, I want you to stand, and I want you to read and remind us of the gospel, and then pray for us. In 1st, Corinthians, is chapter 15, Paul says this. Now, I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preach to you, which you received, in which you stand, by which you are being saved if you hold fast to the word I preach to you unless you believe in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance, what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures,

that he was buried, that he was raised on the third, day in accordance with the scriptures. Let me pray for us. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, may we be a people of your word. God, may we be made aware of the heresies in our own hearts. Spirit of God, would you please convict us of the places where we choose our own worldview over the word of God? God, would you make us aware of the times where the end tries to trick us and trap us by having us question the will of God, the word of God, and the work of God. God, will you give us eyes to see the areas where the enemy throws out the lures of the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life? And may we be so rooted in

the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ that any other aroma would make us sick. God, I pray that as we abide in your word, we would abide in you. and Lord, I thank you that when you do convict us where our lives don't match up with your word, then we cling to the imputed righteousness of Christ and we can run to you. We don't have to run from you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Church, we're going to respond.

I will assure you this is a vomit-free environment up here. If anybody would like to come and kneel and pray. And this is the time in our service where we honor God, with our ties and our offerings. We bring our first and our best to him because He first loved us by giving us his best in Jesus Christ. And we sing.

And we're going to join our voices together and we're going to make much of the one who is worth it, who is worthy of our worship by declaring what we believe as a body. So let us pray and let us bring, let us sing. Let's respond.