2 Peter: A Stable, Growing Faith

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This past week, I was able to go to the G3 Conference. Saw some Patrick Henry students there as well, which was pretty cool. It was fun to go and be at a conference and just sing with so many people, there was over 8,000 people there. It was amazing to sing with that many people and to just sing praises with so many brothers and sisters in Christ. It was a family conference, everybody was there. There were babies, there were strollers everywhere, and squeaking the whole time. And it was just amazing. But I love more than that, just being here, singing with you all. And that was one of my favorite songs that we just sang. It just puts you in the right frame of mind. When you're singing, “Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty.” Praise God for that. And praise God that we have musicians, and Matt, and others who just really lead and guide us with w00onderful worship music. So, thank you all for that.

Open your Bible, if you would, to the book of Second Peter. This is part of the ongoing (but it will eventually end), the ongoing series, a Journey Through the Bible. We are at Second Peter. So, this is going to be an overview of the whole book. I remember starting out preaching, and I think Philippians was the first book that I preached sequentially through verse by verse. And we barely got through the first verse, because Paul says he was a slave of Christ. So, you can spend a lot of time talking about that. But today we're going to go over the entire book of Second Peter and I think it's going to be enjoyable, and refining, and challenging for us all. The title of the message is: “A Stable, Growing Life of Faith.” A Stable, Growing Life of Faith. And who doesn't want that?

Italy has many claims to fame. I have not visited there, but I hope to one day. Besides the amazing wine and pasta, with very few ingredients – that's your first clue – that tastes amazing. They have 3,000 museums. 3,000! We think DC has a lot of museums. They have many things that are famous around the world, like luxury brands. Armani, Versace, Gucci, you know, all those kinds of things. Very famous car brands like Ferrari and Lamborghini and Maserati. Famous cities like Rome, Venice, Milan. They have famous buildings like the Roman Colosseum, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Where else can people actually go near buildings that are tilted besides Italy? Normally you stay away from those things, but we go take pictures. Normally on one foot, leaning like this, right?

There are many famous things, many famous people like Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo and…. But Italy has lesser known, less welcome features, as well. My apologies to the Italians in the crowd. Like the continually active volcanoes of Mount Etna, Stromboli, I'm sure I'm saying these names wrong, and Vesuvius. The last one you've probably heard of, though its most famous eruption was in AD 79, when it buried Pompeii. A not so famous city near Pompeii, and I should have asked Giancarlo had to say this before, but Pozzuoli, I'm sure I slaughtered that one. Everything sounds like pasta to me over there. It's just south of Naples, I can say that one, overlooking this famous Bay. And what's the claim to fame here for this tiny, tiny little city? Well, it has more earthquakes per day, and tremors, than anywhere else in the world. For about the last 11 years, it's had 600 minor earthquakes every month. Land is still not cheap there. 600 per month. No other place on earth has such squishy terra firma as this little, tiny city overlooking the bay. In what seems to be, one of many idyllic, perfect little cities in Italy. Because of its beauty, though, people still flock to this area. And when you're there in the city, on the shore (from of course Google Street View is where we are seeing this), you can look around and see, not just one volcano, but little, odd shaped hills all over the place created by volcanoes. I don't know if they sing this hymn, but they should: “On Christ, the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.”

In all seriousness, we want a life of stability. But sometimes we're drawn to that which is beautiful and magnificent, and we know it’s bad for us. But you know, like a fly to the light, we are called to it somehow. But Second Peter, chapter three says, we should be careful not to lose our own stability [2 Peter 3:17]. And he is going to give us a way to have a stable life of faith. Is that something, dear Christian, that you are interested in? Because most of us joke about how big the roller coaster of life is. The ups and the downs, and the high-highs, and the low-lows. And you can tell when people walk in if they're on one of those, unless we put on our church Sunday face, right? And we just smile and like, “Everything is just fantastic. I had the most awful week, but it's fantastic.” We need to be real that life sometimes is unstable. But Peter says, it doesn't have to be that way; that your faith can actually be stable and growing your entire life. So, he's going to give us three keys to obtain a stable faith.

Now open your Bibles, if you would, to Second Peter chapter one. And he sets up the context for us himself. Chapter one, verse one – if you need a Bible, there's one nearby under a seat – this is out of the ESV. He says [2 Peter 1:1], “Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ.” Well, that's the author, okay. Liberal scholars will work very hard to make the text say something it doesn't say. Even in Atlanta this week, I was having a chat with my Lyft driver as I was on my way somewhere. And we were talking about the Lord, and I was like, this is going good. And then he's talking about his favorite preacher, TD Jakes. And it just kind of went like this, real fast. And he's like, “You know, I'm just learning, I'm coming to understand the Bible more and more, that it just, you can't take it literally.” And I was like, gripping the seat. Like, I've got 30 seconds with this guy.

But it says, “Simeon Peter,” whom we call Simon Peter. That's the servant, the slave, the apostle of Jesus Christ, that's who's writing. The audience is in 2 Peter 1:1, “To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” Now that sounds normal, but I find it profound that he's writing to all believers saying that all believers have a faith that gives them equal standing before God as the Apostles. Is that how you see yourself? Well, you should because it's set in motion that way, because all believers are given “the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” Which I'm tempted to dive into that phrase, but that phrase is one of the clearest verses on the Deity of Jesus Christ in Scripture: “our God and Savior.” There's grammatically no other way to see that verse.

This is the second letter he wrote to them, that is not in chapter one. He goes over that in 2 Peter 3:1-2, saying that this is “the second letter I'm writing to you.” So, we call it Second Peter. And his reason for writing is throughout, but it's most clearly stated in 2 Peter 3:1-2. And he says, “In both,” that means letters, “In both … I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder.” Peter is going to poke and prod a little bit. He's going to say things to get your mind going. This is not just a smooth sailing letter. I mean, it's Peter for crying out loud. If anyone has something to say, that is right on the edge, it's Peter. So he's going to stir up our minds. And he's going to stir our minds up to have a stable faith.

So, what's the first key? Well, the first key is in chapter one. And it is to: “Confirm Your Calling.” Confirm Your Calling. How do we confirm our calling? Through a biblical life of faith, of course. Faith is our trust in Jesus Christ. As we said, it gives us the same standing as an Apostle, whom God selected through Jesus Christ on earth. We are seen to have this righteousness of Christ; we receive this through faith. You see that just in the first two verses there in chapter one. But is this faith all we have? Because as believers we say, “Okay, yeah, I'm here because I have faith.” Or maybe you're here and you want to know if this faith can be real or not. But is faith all we have? Is that all he has “granted to us”? And here is where Peter is going to start building this stable trajectory for us.

Look in Second Peter, chapter one, verse three. 2 Peter 1:3-4, this explains what we've received, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” Yes, that was one sentence. Peter is loading it on here. Starting with divine power, running through precious promises, to escape the sinful desires of the world. You, Christian, have been granted everything you need, through the power of God, to overcome the world. Not just to overcome the world, but to have a growing faith, for all of life and godliness. Anything that comes your way that that you need instruction on how to live is found in God's Word, is found in these very great and precious promises. He is focusing our attention on the Word of God, on the Word of God. God's power, first of all, has given us all we need for life and godliness.

When we have a rough week, when we have a question about what we should do, where we should live, what job to take, where we should go. When we when we have questions about what to say to our friends who don't believe the way we do. When we have questions about the trials that we're in, “How long are they going to last, Lord God, how do I get through this?” You have been granted everything that pertains to life and godliness. You say, “he doesn't tell me how to brush my teeth, so it can't be everything.” Well, he does tell you to take care of your body. So, in principle, brush your teeth. You see how that works? And it goes way beyond just the normal things of this world. It also displays how we have received a relationship with God. This relationship with God comes through the Word of God. His power, through this knowledge, he has granted to us his very great and precious promises “so that through them,” in verse four, “you may become partakers of the divine nature.” He is explaining how your nature is changed. This relationship with God that believers have, he is explaining how that came about. And he is focusing us on the very Word of God.

God does this divine work in our lives, giving us something from God, which is a new nature. We are a partaker in the divine nature, in the nature from God that he has given to us. And God's Word just isn't a bunch of facts, or a bunch of do's and don'ts, or a correction manual for the world. It is the instrument that God uses to enable us to understand how to live godly lives in relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. To confirm our calling, we are not only looking for a faith based on the Word, but we must also seek a growing faith. And you say, “Is it even possible that my faith could grow? I thought I just needed to just say, ‘Lord, give me more faith.’ And that was it. That's all the Bible says about how to have your faith grow.” But no, it can grow. Look in 2 Peter 1:5-7, “For this very reason,” in other words, for what has just been described, he's given us all these promises for all of life and godliness. “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control.” All the parents yelled, “Amen!” “and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.”

There is the roadmap for your faith to grow. To, when you're having whatever kind of week you have, to somehow have the self-control to when you see others to have affection for them. To give to them, not just want to receive from them. “I know they're not paying attention to me, they haven't called me 30 times this week.” No, it's towards others. And our faith makes us grow so that we have these qualities that become blessings, not only to us in our lives, not only to our relationship with God, not only to build our faith, but we become blessings to others on a daily, regular basis. You supplement your faith, you build your faith, you add to it, and it grows. It enables us to live in the ways described there. Not just in a general sense, but with knowledge, according to the precious promises in Scripture.

It's not just a general knowledge of God, or a general knowledge of faith. But when you confirm your calling, you are confirming it according to the Word. And according to the Word, that makes your faith grow. And this is what we want as believers. I don't want to live with a 10-year-old’s faith. I mean, it's fantastic. It's great, but I'm not 10 anymore. And the Scriptures say, you know, when you became a man, you left behind childish ways. So, we want to see over our lives, this progression of faith that we become stronger over the course of time. That we grow, that we are not stagnant. And one of the things that causes us to doubt who we are in Christ is that we are stagnant. Other things that cause us to doubt who we are in Christ is a wrong knowledge of God. Which he will hit in a most profound way in chapter two. But for now, he is focusing us towards the Word. And look in 2 Peter 1:8, “For if these qualities are yours,” the things mentioned in five through seven, “and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Do you want to be an effective Christian? Do you want God's Word to invigorate you to live this kind of virtuous life, a life pleasing to God, a stable life. You want to live in another part of Italy, and not on shaky ground. You want to have this stable life and you can work on that yourself. 2 Peter 1:1-2 confirm that this is not a works salvation. One of the mistakes we make as Christians, is thinking that everything in Scripture is talking about how to be saved. This is talking about how saved people grow, and saved people grow via working on supplementing our faith. And it makes us so that we are not ineffective or unfruitful. In other words, that we have all this knowledge, but it does nothing. This knowledge, what good is it? If you know what the stop sign means, but you blow through it? What good is it? Right? It does nothing.

2 Peter 1:10, “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling.” See you thought I just made up the first key, there it is, “confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.” It doesn't say you're going to be perfect like God. But if you're practicing those virtues, you're not sinning. And now we know we're not going to be perfect until glory, but we strive towards the pattern of a growing, stable, faithful life because it confirms our calling. It bolsters who we are in Christ. And we don't want to remain the same. We don't want to remain the same. So, Peter is giving us these great truths. And in verse 14 of chapter one, somehow he knows from what the Lord Christ has told him, that he's going to die soon. And so, this is a letter from a man who not just theoretically knows he's going to die, but actually knows he's going to die soon. And these are the last things he's giving to his most beloved sheep, to stir up their minds for a life of godliness. That's the value of Second Peter for us.

So, so far the keys to a stable faith is one: just to “Confirm Your Calling.” Confirm your calling through this life of faith described so far. The second key to a stable faith is to “Avoid Heresy.” Avoid heresy. Look in chapter one, verse 16. And we would say this you could summarize as: “reject everything that is contrary to the Word,” reject everything contrary to the Word. 2 Peter 1:16-18, “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths…” How often have you heard that? “…when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,’ we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.” 2 Peter 1:19-21, “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Peter did not just deviate from what he said initially: that we have everything we need from the Word. In fact, what he's doing is he's trying to give us the most amazing, dramatic experience he has ever had. And then he says, “you know that, you remember that situation? The Word is more sure. The written Word of God is more sure. We have the more prophetic word.” You remember the story from Matthew 17, there's an account of it there. Jesus takes Peter, James, and John; goes up on a high mountain. And Moses and Elijah appear. And Peter's there, they're watching this whole scene unfold and Jesus starts glowing, right? He starts glowing, his face like the sun. And his clothes white as light. And they hear God speak, “This is my beloved son, listen to him.” Not, “This is my beloved son, isn’t this experience going to stabilize your faith? Isn’t this miraculous voice of mine from heaven, that you are somehow hearing, going to give you the life of faith that you can build on for the rest of your life?” He says, “No, this is my Son.” He's identifying the truth, the Son of God, and he says, “listen to him.”

The disciples fell down on their faces and were terrified. Anyone, by the way, who gives you a story where they talk to Jesus and it was chummy kind of over coffee kind of thing – the disciples fell down and were terrified. When you see a representation of Almighty God – who, with a word, hung 100 million galaxies in the universe, billions of light years across with a word – you will faceplant as well. Now, if you and I had this experience, right, let's say it was me, Matt, and Adam up on the mountain. Right, and we see this experience. And we're kind of being a little devious about the experience. And we say, you know, a lot of people will pay money to hear about our experience. We could write books about seeing this wonderful experience. Jesus was glowing, that could be chapter one, right? The voice from God, that could be chapter two. And you just see like dollar signs coming into your eyes. Peter says this in 2 Peter 1:19, “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed,” more fully confirmed than what? Than any experience you've ever had in your life. That's a key to not being led astray by heretics, by false teachers, by your own misunderstanding and misinterpretation. Peter thought it was the Feast of Booths coming. He said, “Should I build one for you, and for the other guy and…?” It's just like, “Oh, would you stop talking!” Right? Jesus is here, he's glowing. Have you seen that before? Like, just listen and pay attention. But it took God himself to tell Peter basically, “Hey, be quiet! Listen to my Son!”

So, Jesus was standing there, that's how they listened to him. How do you and I listen to him? The prophetic Word. If you want to hear a word from God, read your Bible. We have it more fully confirmed. Pay attention to it. Alright, he says in verse 19, “you will do well to pay attention [like] a lamp shining in a dark place.” You've been there, maybe a campfire at night, pitch-black out in the woods. I don't know if you've experienced that. You're sitting around the campfire. If you look away, you can't really see anything else, right? Because your eyes have adjusted just to the fire. Pay attention, like that. Like it's the only thing you can see.

I was at a conference this weekend and a man named Justin Peters was there. He's spent his whole life so far going around talking about false teachers and how to avoid them, and exposing false teachers. He must have played 20 video clips so that we get to hear the false teaching from the horse's mouth. Guys like Bill Johnson, the leader of Bethel Music and Bethel Church, who claims it's always God's will to heal someone. Very odd coming from a guy who wears glasses. But yet, Paul himself, even when Epaphroditus was so sick, he was about to die, Paul was helpless to heal him. Why? Because that was God's will that he be so sick, they thought he was going to die. Bill Johnson is a false teacher. Brian Houston, leader of – you probably know Hillsong Music – but the Hillsong Church, their music team was so famous that they renamed their church after their music team. Brian Houston will not comment, nor will his church, to define if a homosexual can be part of the church. So, they've just decided to let them be part of the church and at times even be on the worship team. Brian Houston is a false teacher.

Let me mention just a few dozen more. Steven Furtick, who preaches Modalism, says that Jesus had to rise so that he could change into something that could go into you as the Holy Spirit. He also believes we are little gods. Steven Furtick is a false teacher. Benny Hinn, I mean, how many examples do you need? Jesse Duplantis, Kenneth Copeland, T.D. Jakes. All of those that I just mentioned, think God wants everyone to be healthy, and wealthy irregardless – as if God did not strike people with plagues in the Old Testament and take their lives. Andy Stanley, who says we don't need the Old Testament. And Joel Osteen who has, like Benny Hinn, so many issues. He will not, on national TV, even say if homosexuality is wrong just for him or for everyone according to God's Word. And I won't lapse into talking like Joel Osteen, though it is very tempting.

And you might be thinking, “Wow, you're just like naming names, that's pretty bold.” Actually, the Scripture does the same thing. 2 Timothy 1:15, “You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me.” They all knew their names. And if that wasn't enough, he singles out two of them by saying, “among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.” For the eternal Word of God, those two men are named as people who have turned away from the Apostle and the Word of God. You say, “Ah, that's just one instance.” Let me give you more. 2 Timothy 4:10, “For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.” Party town. Demas, for all eternity, has his name written as one who abandoned the faith. Do not follow him. Do not follow these men. Our own book, 2 Peter 2:15, “Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing.” I hear so many times, people who live for themselves and who reject the Christianity described in the Bible, talk about how at one point God did something through them. I know a man who lives a gay lifestyle, who was a dentist, and says that he many times in surgery would pray and ask God for help and then all of a sudden, he could do the root canal just very well. And so, he bases his life, that God is with him as he lives as a homosexual with his husband, for so many years, based on doing a root canal where God seemed to help him. “Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray.”

We cannot be wrapped up in false teaching and have a stable life of faith, it is impossible. And we have to know that this is out of Peter’s love for us that he shares this with the believers there who have faith, they have authentic faith, and he's sharing these things to them to stabilize them even more. Notice how he says, “who loved gain from wrongdoing” [2 Peter 2:15], “who loved gain from wrongdoing.” We'll hit that in just a minute. God will protect us from these men by what? What's the context of the first chapter up until now? Through what? Through the very great and precious promises. Through God's Word. Which is more fully confirmed than what? Than any experience, anything we have, anything that seems to go contrary to the Word. The Word trumps what is contrary to what you and I experience. People will just say, “Oh, they disbelieve different doctrine, and that's just your interpretation.” He's already hit that, no interpretation comes from man. But men spoke from God as they're moved along by the Holy Spirit. And you say, “Well, their brothers in Christ, they just believe something different.”

Let me give you an example. Kenneth Copeland, he's kind of scary if you look him up online in some of the clips of him, so I wouldn't look up too many. But Kenneth Copeland, during COVID-19, said that he did this, he breathed towards the camera. He breathed out. And he said, “I blow the wind of God at COVID-19 to destroy it.” Then he did some kind of like devious laughter thing that he does a lot. The breath of God came out of Kenneth Copeland? I mean, let alone what you think about COVID, which is obviously still here, right? The guy is a false heretic and should be stoned to death according to Deuteronomy 13, if we were in the Old Covenant, right,? All false teachers should. They don't follow that one very much. They'd all be gone. That was the whole point of it. But he said, “I destroy you.” All the faith healers, where'd they go during COVID? Well, the problem if you didn't know, was that you don't have enough faith to get rid of it.

Unfortunately, Scripture has many times where people were healed by Jesus and they didn't even know who he was. That had nothing to do with their faith. The man lowered down through the roof, he was healed based on the faith of his friends. This is devious. And why do you and I need to know about this? Why do we need to hear this? Why did the believers need to hear about this? If left unchecked, error breeds more error. It is not stagnant. It's like gangrene, it spreads. It destroys everything it touches. Listen to how the Apostle Peter wrote about them from the inspired Word of God. And this is why we reject anything that is contrary to his Word. Listen to these warnings in 2 Peter 2:1, “But false prophets also arose among the people,” not somewhere else but among the people, “just as there will be false teachers among you.” Narrows it down to the specific people he's talking to. “Who will secretly bring in…heresies.” What kind of heresies? “Destructive heresies.” “Even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.” Swift destruction. We don't bring upon them swift destruction, God does. Right, we don't go destroy their churches. The judgment of other people is left to God. But they are called out by name so that you too, won't participate in their destructive heresies, and thereby destroy yourself and your faith as well and become unstable. You might be thinking, “Yeah, I'm still not sure about the difference between who holds different beliefs, that are still brothers and sisters in Christ, or these false teachers.”

Well, look at 2 Peter 2:2-3, “And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 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.” Their goal is not just to get you to be their followers, their goal is to get you to indulge in the sensuality that they like, that they prefer. They want you to indulge in the sins that they commit. That's what the Scriptures tell us. And of course, throughout history, we have just a plethora of people claiming to be from God, who blaspheme the name of God by their lives. And you and I have to deal with that when we talk to somebody. And they look through the pages of history and they see what people in the name of Christ have done to others. The examples are endless. So, they want you to follow them. “And in their greed they will exploit you with false words.”

If you ever watch a little clip of these guys online. Just take Benny Hinn, for example. His nephew, has since come out of that and written a lot of first-hand accounts about it, truly gotten saved. But it's like a three-hour marathon service. You guys thought an hour sermon was taking everything you could give it, right? They do a three-hour service, about two hours of music. Two hours of music. And just getting you exhausted. What happens when you get exhausted? You start making weird decisions, saying things you wouldn't normally say, making decisions that with better judgment you wouldn't make. And that's when he comes out. And they line up, they pick people who have infirmities that you can't verify visually, and they bring them out. And yes, I know that because that's what those who used to do that with him were told to do. And they bring them out and they get them all fired up and they start taking an offering. And then they keep taking offerings all night. For hours! Right? God loves a cheerful giver, not one under compulsion, but he these guys want to exploit us. Exploit me, exploit you, exploit your children. They want to bleed your bank account dry. They want you to follow their error, and take you down with them, and lead you towards immorality.

But he doesn't just leave us there with like, “Oh no, we're surrounded.” Look in verse five. God's going to protect us, believers. As we avoid heresy, to have a stable life of faith, know that God will protect us. 2 Peter 2:5-9, “if he did not spare the ancient world [that is, God], but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 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; and 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 their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); [Verse nine] then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.”

Peter is telling us, “God will rescue you.” True believer, confirmed in the faith, the same faith that gives you the same standing as the Apostles had before God, you've been given the righteousness of Jesus Christ through God, which we've received by faith, and it's a gift of God's grace. You will be rescued from these perpetrators. Just like Noah. Noah actually had the whole world against him. I mean, I’ve said it, I don't know if you have before, “But it feels like the whole world is against me.” Actually, the whole world doesn't even know who you are, or me. But Noah did have the whole world against him. And for a long time. He probably caught a lot of pejoratives as he's building this boat for this, you know, big flood. Like, “Where is it, Noah?” And righteous Lot, God rescued him. The whole city is evil. I mean, we have cities that boast about their evil. Vegas, but it's not just Vegas. We have cities that boast about their greed, “Come to this state, you can make a lot of money.” Look up the slogans of all the states in the US. We boast about ourselves and how much we can do and make and prosper in this life. Not about, you know, “Come to Virginia where you can get to know Jesus,” right? I mean, that would be amazing, wouldn't it? Come to Mary-land? Right? Little Catholicism going on, “Come to Maryland, where you can know Jesus.” No, it's called MARY-land, come to Mary's land.

God will take care of our enemies just like he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. We don't need to live a life of fear when God is in control, when God will take care of the false teachers. If somebody asks you about them, give a clear explanation of why they should be avoided. In 2 Peter 2:19, Peter says these false teachers are “slaves of corruption.” Slaves! So, when you join them in what they are doing, if you help propagate their ministries, you are helping a ministry of slavery to corruption.

That was the light talk about these guys. Look in chapter two, verse 12. This is how he describes these people. And this is why we need to be very, very cautious. [2 Peter 2:12] “But these, like irrational animals,” there goes the evolution, right? They're irrational, we’re not. They’re incapable of rationality, we are. Right? “… 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.” It will happen. 2 Peter 2:13, “suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing.” They are getting what they have earned. “They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you.” They are not trying to stay separate. They're trying to infiltrate. 2 Peter 2:14, “They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin.” And here's who they go after, “They entice unsteady souls.” Those who are not stable in the faith. Not those who have been in the faith, not those who have read the Bible lots of times, but those who are “unsteady” in it. They're unstable. “They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!”

2 Peter 2:15-16, “Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.” He heard from God, so God rebuked them with a donkey. 2 Peter 2:17, “These are waterless springs,” you know what that is? That's a dry pit claiming to be a spring. “Mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.” [2 Peter 2:18] “For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.” Who are those “who are barely escaping from those who live in error”? They’re weak, unstable believers.

2 Peter 2:19, “They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.” They want you to put on the shackles too. They don't just want you to have your idea and them to have their idea. False teachers want to bring you down. Peter was pretty clear, right? To stay away. Have we? Have we stayed away, though? Have we stayed away from these types of people? Have we stayed clear of their ministries? False teaching has affected not only just people but entire denominations. Let me give you a few examples. Like the United Methodists. Remember, this is progression. Not always bad, progression. About 60 to 70 years ago, the United Methodists were leading the charge in ordaining women as pastors. Scripture clearly rebukes that idea. Not women as a lesser person, but women with a different role. So did it stay there though? If you're familiar with the United Methodist Church, you would say that's the least of their worries now. As they ordain homosexuals and bring them into the church and make them part of the church. They join that lifestyle and those people with the purity of the church, which Scripture says, Jesus bought with his own blood. There is an incredible condemnation and destruction that will come upon denominations like that. It has ripped through Presbyterianism. You have to figure out: are you with the conservative, the unconservative? At this conference I was at, there are so many good publishers who are fighting the good fight as Presbyterians. But it has torn into their beloved denomination. I have tons of books in my library from good people [i.e. good/biblical Presbyterians]. But it has ripped into their denomination.

Same thing with Catholics. You hear me speak of them often. Why do I do that? Well, because about one in every seven people in the world are Catholic or claim that. Have we stayed away? Or have we coddled error? Is it really gangrene? Or is it just, “Ah, they're good.” Let me give you specific examples about the Catholic Church. Do you know what titles they call their Pope by? Let me give you one. What song did we sing right before the sermon? “Holy, Holy, Holy.” Were we talking about who? The Pope? They call him, “Holy Father.” Holy Father, the title reserved for God the Father, alone! Do we stay away? Or are we okay with error, blatant false error? I don't think we're going to stand before God and say, “God, they were good. They got the Trinity right. Except they gave all your titles to other people.” Here's the second one: who's the Head of the church? The Pope or Jesus? Because it ain't both and it's not semantics. When you have a small army of scholars, poring over every use of every word, you can go read these things on the Vatican website, go to Vatican. I think it might be “.org” – I'm not exactly sure – and then click “English.” You can read these things and about a thousand other things. So, they say that the Pope is the Head of the church. You say, “Oh, it's just the Catholic Church.” Well try that when you stand before Jesus.

“I was just the head of these billion. I didn't really mean everybody.” And let me give you one that is… it's damning. They pray to Mary, you know what they call Mary? They call her the Mediatrix, the Mediatrix. That means she's the mediator between God and man. And they say, “Oh, no, we just pray to her because like Christians on earth, we pray to them and they take our prayers to God.” Well, then why do you call her the Mediatrix? If you just think, let alone praying to dead people, that a dead person is the one who should take your prayers to God instead of Jesus Christ. Like, “Jesus, you step over here, we're praying to Mary. That's who we are. That's what we do. We do that every single day. We've got our beads hanging, we pray the rosary, we say all these things. And Jesus step aside.” Is it heresy or is it not? 1 Timothy 2:5-6, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” Don't stop there though, “who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.” Not only is Jesus identified by God as the only mediator, it substantiates why he is the only mediator. Because he is the One who was given as a ransom. Was Mary given as a ransom? No! Is Mary the testimony given among men by which all men should be saved? No.

And there are more. We'll move on. Any church that says they have apostles: like Mormons, or the New Apostolic Reformation. They are false churches. You see, the qualifications for an Apostle were given in Scripture. They're not just taking the title for themselves. Scripture says no one takes the title for themselves. The high priest couldn't even do that. There were specific requirements even in the Old Testament. Let alone in the New Testament when they have Apostles, they had to be appointed by God, himself. No one takes the office for himself. You can read Romans 1:1-5 to confirm that. They needed to see the Lord Jesus Christ. So, the first question when somebody says they're an apostle today is: “Have you seen the risen Lord Jesus Christ?” Not only that, they needed to be able to perform miracles, and cast out demons. Verifiable miracles and the ability to have authority over fallen angels, who have way more power than you and I ever will.

Dear friends, we must be careful lest we find ourselves making excuses for these practices, because someone we love is wrapped up in them. We should rather like Peter, stir up one another's minds with the truth. You stirred up yet? That was Peters goal. I think it's working.

Peter’s last goal is to remind us that we should not set our hope on this world but to wait for a New Heavens and a New Earth. So, the keys to a stable faith are this, dear friends, one: Confirm Your Calling. Two: Avoid Heresy. And the third key is: Long for the Future Kingdom. Long for the future kingdom. See in all those heretical movements they want you to have your feet, have your eyes, insatiable with the things of this world. But Peter ends in chapter three with saying that everything is going away. Everything you see is going to be burned up. The earth and the heavens. You need to long for the future kingdom. And you need to set your mind and your heart on things that are on the way. Because if your heart is set on things that are here, and you don't get those things, you're going to be dissatisfied. And many times, when you do get those things you need more and more and more.

It's like the eye that's ever seeing but never full. Or the ear that's ever hearing and you can't fill it up. Right? It always wants more. That's what the tentacles of this world does. It gives you a little taste and then it’s just bitterness because it's not satisfying. And Peter, in 2 Peter 3:11-13, kind of summarizes this. “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

Friends, there is a new heaven and a new earth on the way and the only people there are going to be completely righteous. The righteousness of God is going to dwell there. You and I are never going to sin. Again, you and I are not going to have longings for the things that were already burned up. And we're not going to have heretics running around. We're going to think with clear minds, we're going to digest truth, and we're going to seek to glorify God with all of our days. And Peter's saying, “Set your mind and your hope on this, dear Christian.” I ask you, “Is that where your hope rests and does your life show it? Are you ever stable in the faith?”

You say, “How do I know if my hope is in this world or in the next?” Because your hope in the next world spurs on your life in this one. Does the longing to be with Jesus spur you on to grow, to be stable? To supplement your faith with virtue, and knowledge, and brotherly affection, and love? Are you continually growing in your faith? Are you willing to avoid heresy? Even if one of those things that were mentioned today, you haven't thought of. You're willing to reject it all, because of the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you willing to do that? And are you willing to long for the future kingdom? To not just long for the things of this world but to long for what God has on the way? You don't want to be citizens in the south part of Italy, sitting under Mount Vesuvius going, “Isn’t this great? Oop, felt another tremor. Isn’t this great? Oh, wow, that was a big one. Hasn’t in our city risen like four meters in the last 10 years? This is getting a little scary. But it's so pretty here.” Right? And that's all we're doing. We want to move beyond that and look towards the future kingdom.

Peter says in 2 Peter 3:17, “take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.” See, we need to firm up our minds and our understanding of truth so that you and I won't become unstable. Peter wants us to have a stable, secure life of faith with Jesus Christ. And he ends with [2 Peter 3:18], “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” Let's pray.

Dear Father, we pray that you would help us to live a stable life. One that is rooted and grounded in your truth. Lord God, we pray that if someone here doesn't know you that they would just ask you for forgiveness. And believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Lord, may they call out to you and not delay. Father, I pray that you would help us to have these virtues, to strive towards them, and brotherly love, and affection for one another.

Let's just take a moment, right now, and ask God to give us this stable life of faith.

Father God, open our hearts and minds to your truth. We love you. We love you and we praise your Holy Name. Amen.