Lesson 455 - Senior
Memory Verse
"Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able" (Luke 13:24).
Cross References
I False Prophets in the Last Days
1. God's Word warns of their appearance, [2PE:2:1]; [DEU:13:1-4]; [MAT:7:15-16]; [COL:2:8]; [1TM:4:1-3].
2. They have a large following but bring reproach on the true Gospel, [2PE:2:2]; [MAT:24:10-12]; [REV:12:9].
3. Covetousness is one of their sins, [2PE:2:3]; [ISA:56:11]; [JER:6:13]; [MIC:3:11]; [1TM:6:5]; [TIT:1:11].
II Certain Punishment
1. Scripture records the evil fate of workers of iniquity, [2PE:2:4-6]; [JUD:1:6]; [GEN:6:13]; [GEN:19:24]; [EZE:16:49-50].
2. Scripture also records God's deliverance for the godly, [2PE:2:7-9]; [1TS:4:15-17].
III Walking After the Flesh
1. They are apostate, presumptuous and without respect or reverence, [2PE:2:10-12]; [JUD:1:8-10]; [NUM:12:8].
2. They not only deceive others but also themselves, [2PE:2:13-16]; [2TS:2:10-12]; [JUD:1:11-12].
3. They are victims of all manner of error, [2PE:2:17-18]; [JUD:1:16].
IV Their Latter End Worse Than Their Beginning
1. They promise liberty but bring bondage, Peter 2:19; [JHN:8:34]; [GAL:6:8].
2. It is better not to have known righteousness than, having known, to turn from the holy commandment; [2PE:2:20-22]; [LUK:11:24-26].
Notes
The first chapter of II Peter closed with the announcement that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost; the second chapter opens with, "But there were false prophets also among the people." God's Word is faithful to the hearts of men in that it warns of the dangers encountered along life's pathway. In [PS:19:11], the Psalmist, in speaking of the law and statutes of the Lord, said, "Moreover by them is thy servant warned." In days when apostasy and error flourish in the religious realm, it is more important than ever that those who have the truth should cherish, uphold and spread it. No wonder the writer in I [JHN:4:1] said: "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." There never was a time when the true follower of Christ so needed the Holy Spirit as the discerner to show the true from the false as he does today.
Heresies
The Apostle Peter calls the subtle work of false teachers "damnable heresies." They do not bring a greater knowledge of God's Word, but seek to lessen the standard of God's Word by watering down the truth and by accommodating private sins. Their ideas are brought in on the sly, along with or mixed with truth to give the impression or appearance of rightness and authority.
MODERNISM is one of the deadliest heresies in the world today. Its poison has entered into almost the whole professed church. They claim to have a deeper and truer view of Christianity. It is antagonistic to the Bible and to Christ, denying the divinity of Christ and the inspiration of the Scriptures. They are saying that the world has outgrown, in many ways, the Bible. They claim that belief in one's self is belief in God; they deny the Virgin Birth of Jesus, the efficacy of the Blood, and the need for the new birth. We have denominations today that once had the power of God on their ministry, but they have slipped into decline by failing to hold to the fundamentals of God's Word. The once strong, clear preaching in regard to repentance, confession of sins, and holiness in a life above sin has since been silenced, lest the worldly members be offended and their membership fall off. The church has been degraded into a place of dances, worldly amusements and such things in an effort to hold the young people. In short, instead of the church converting the world, the world has converted the church to Modernism and worldliness. No longer does the Spirit of God grip the hearts of young and old alike in the thrill of the message of simple faith in the true and living God, which results in converts at the altar praying their way through to the knowledge of sins forgiven.
THE DARWINIAN THEORY OF EVOLUTION has entered the schools and colleges and churches. It teaches that all things came about by chance. The evolutionists say that man is an apelike creature with an ape ancestry. They deny that the universe and man were special acts of creation by God Almighty. The fall of man into sin in the Garden of Eden is rejected, and they say there is no need of a Saviour to redeem man from sin. An evolutionist has said, "The descendants from apes don't need a Saviour." Evolutionists say with the Communists that" man is a material machine; he is matter in motion, and nothing more. Man has no soul, no spirit, no significant value, no continuity of life, no heaven to gain nor hell to shun." Man they declare, can reach his highest development by his own wisdom and initiative.
They call the miracles of the Bible myths, legends, allegories, and deny the Virgin Birth of Christ. This theory is called the "twentieth-century religion."
MILLENNIAL DAWNISM is sponsored by "Jehovah's Witnesses." These dangerous and deceptive teachings (also called "Zion's Watch Tower" and "International Bible Students Association"), have caused many a soul to go on in his sins and hope for salvation after death. It teaches that there is another chance after death. It denies everlasting punishment for the wicked, and teaches annihilation. It teaches that the wicked will be resurrected and have another chance to accept salvation on earth, then at the end of the Millennium, the wicked and the devil and fallen angels will be burned up and annihilated. This false doctrine contradicts the truth of God's Word, and is deceiving thousands.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE Paul exhorted Timothy to avoid "profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called" [1TM:6:20]). No true science conflicts with God's revealed truth; but this so-called Christian Science today denies Christ, sin, the need of a Saviour, the power of the shed Blood of Jesus Christ. It is ensnaring the hearts of men, leading them into darkness. (See [1JN:4:3].)
THE JESUS' NAME DOCTRINE is another false teaching which is the outgrowth of the spiritual confusion and fanaticism of these last days. This teaching deludes its followers by seeking to destroy the recognition of God the Father and the Holy Ghost as distinct Persons of the Godhead, or Trinity, saying that Jesus only is to be recognised. This delusion teaches that Jesus is not really the Son of God, but that Jesus was the Father also. (See [JHN:3:16].) They instruct their followers to be baptised in the "name of Jesus" only; yet the words of Jesus to His disciples were: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" [MAT:28:19]).
False Summation
We do not need new revelations or new light in our day, but grace to walk in the light of God's Word already shed on our pathway. These false religions lead one to deny the Lord who bought them, and bring about their swift destruction. Their pernicious ways are very destructive, injurious, evil and fatal. Many do follow them. The conduct of these professors inevitably cause Christianity to be evil spoken of by those who blend the false and true teachings together.
Covetousness
With desire for personal gain and "having men's persons in admiration because of advantage" [JUD:1:16]) they will, with crafty and smooth speeches, use men as merchants do their wares, to gain by them. God's condemnation of such sinners may seem inactive, but it is really at work. Their destruction awaits them and will overwhelm them, though it seems delayed.
Examples of God's Punishments
God's Word, through the mouth of the Apostle, tells us that God did not spare the angels who sinned, although they had once shared the glory of Heaven, but cast them down to hell for their sins [ISA:14:12-15]). He has them "reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day" [JUD:1:6]).
The second example of God's judgment of the ungodly is shown in the antediluvian age. Some today think that because the majority are indulging in sin, that makes it legitimate; but God condemns sin and will punish all sinners. God did not spare the unbelievers who had heard faithful Noah, a preacher of righteousness. They may have planned to change their ways at a future date, but when the day came that God shut the door of the ark, it was too late. Neglect can be as great a sin as rebellion or unbelief. The Scripture tells us that Noah and seven others were saved, which shows that God delivers the godly. That is as much a certainty as God's judgment of the wicked.
As a third example, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are used. In [GEN:18:20] we read that, "their sin is very grievous." In [EZE:16:49-50] we are told that the iniquity of Sodom was "pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness . . . And they were haughty, and committed abomination." The sixth verse of our chapter tells us that God overthrew these cities by turning them into ashes, "making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly."
Deliverance of the Godly
Lot's life was saved as by fire. God's angels took him and some of his family by the hand and led them out of the city. Lot had been vexed, or tormented, by their evil conversation and deeds, and their despising of all law. God will always deliver His faithful people in His own way and wisdom. God's people are not exempt from temptation or even suffering unto death, as some martyrs have endured, but "the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations" [2PE:2:9]). (See also [1CO:10:13].)
Judgment Sure
The Lord knows how to punish the ungodly, and especially does this apply to the basely abominable characters here named. Self-will begets presumption and presumption dares to defy government and speak evil of dignities. The corruption that they advocated, taught and practiced brought destruction upon themselves. The wages, or reward, of sin is death. False teachers are spots and blemishes on the name of Christianity. Peter here verifies the Old Testament account of the dumb ass speaking to Balaam, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. (See [NUM:22:1-41], [NUM:23:1-30], Numbers24:1-25). A well without water would be a great disappointment to the thirsty person.
A professor of righteousness without the Spirit of God is equally disappointing to those who long for the truth. Great swelling words of flattery only spread a net for the feet of the one who is taken in by them.
The liberty of the Gospel can be stated as the power of God in the life enabling the believer to do what is right, with freedom from sin and condemnation. Many think that liberty to do as one pleases is the ultimate in freedom, but this leads only to the fulfilment of carnal desires and bondage as a servant of Satan. "He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption" [GAL:6:8]). Corruption brings destruction. Promising liberty from restraint and scruples, such men are slaves to corruption.
p>Unconditional Eternal Security
One of the saddest happenings recorded in the Bible is that of a person who has had the knowledge of God and then has returned to the beggarly elements of the world. The examples given of the dog returning to that which made him sick, and the sow that was washed and cleansed returning to wallow in the mire, illustrate the sensuality and disgusting moral filthiness into which these apostates fall.
There are many professors of religion today who will take exception to this very strongly worded statement by the Apostle, in showing the possibility of falling from grace. "Eternal Security" is the title recently adopted for a false teaching variously known as "Perseverance of the Saints," the "Preservation of the Saved," and "Once in Grace, Always in Grace." We find that a person may be "in grace" today, as he obeys God's Word; but if he sins, in disobedience to God's Word, he will be "in disgrace."
The underlying motive of this doctrine is to excuse and justify sin without destroying the covenant relations with God. It fits perfectly into the theological scheme of those who have lowered the standard of holiness in order to accommodate it to the carnal minds of our modern religionists. It attempts to take the sin out of sin, and to nullify its consequences. It outlines a "thieves and robbers" way to Heaven. It tries to climb in over the wall. For this reason "Eternal Security" is rapidly becoming a popular doctrine in the growing apostasy of these last days. In many cases the responsible exponents of this heresy are probably those who have departed from the love of the truth, and God has sent them strong delusions, that they should believe a lie and be damned [2TS:2:11-12]). The falsity of this thing should be exposed before it becomes a further stumbling-block to those who are honestly seeking the truth. (See [1JN:1:7] and [1JN:3:9]. Also read [JER:23:1-32] and [EZE:13:1-23].)
Questions
1. What are the dangers of false teachers?
2. What kind of following will they have?
3. What effect does this have on the true Gospel?
4. What is their purpose?
5. What three ensamples does Peter give of God's judgment in times past?
6. What does God do with the righteous in days of judgement?
7. What are some of the sins practiced by false teachers?
8. What was the "way of Balaam" spoken of here?
9. Liberty is promised, but what is the result?
10. What does Peter say about the latter end of one who turns back to the pollution's of the world?