False teachers seem to be more common today than true Godly ones. What we need to understand is that they do not announce themselves as being false teachers, but rather sneak into your head with their heresy and get you to join in with their destructive ways. Verses 1-3, “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.” Their words are deceptive because they cleverly use some truth in order to make their lies sounds believable...blaspheming the way of truth. They want you to think there is another way to be received by God, but there simply is not. When you are not in the word daily, you cannot discern the truth from the lies. Even worse, your appetite for fleshly lusts and things of the world (your discontentment) are appealed to in the lies, so you willingly follow their ways in order to please yourself, rather than obeying God. It says that many will follow which may be why the road that leads to hell is so broad.
God has judged evil in the past and He will do it again. He even cast angels into hell. He flooded the whole earth in Noah's day, and burnt up Sodom and Gemorah in Lot's day...sparing only a small few. Luke 17:26-30, “And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” People may think that they are all set in their sin, and following and/or spreading heresies and lies, but God's righteous judgement will come and take them by surprise. The fact that He warns us and gives us these examples proves His love for us. His will is that none would perish; but we do have free will, and He will not force us.
Verses 9-10, “...the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority.” Think of those who reject sound teaching because they desire the lusts of their flesh more than God. They will not be delivered by God. They don't even want to listen to the truth, because they do not want the conviction of the sin of following their ways and will be punished. 2 Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” They also hate those who shine the light of truth on their sin. John 3:19-21, “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
False teachers often make big promises that cannot deliver, when God's promises are faithful and true. They are trained in covetous practices and very good at convincing you. Instead of liberating you from sin, they give you freedom to sin; appealing to your lusts, but deceptively bringing you in captivity. Verses 18-19, “For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.” Jesus sets us free from sin, and we should never desire to return to the bondage of sin. Romans 6:20-23, “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
God expects from us to produce the fruit of righteousness. This cannot happen unless you obey His commands and ways. John 15:5-6, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” We know that more is expected from us once we know the truth, giving us no alternative but to keep moving forward and doing what pleases the Master. Luke 12:47-48, “And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.”
Verses 20-21, “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.” Let this sink into you and put a healthy fear of God in you. Once you know the truth...you cannot just turn your back on it as though it is not real. You are a new creation, and going back to the sinful man is as gross as a dog returning to his own vomit. Remember what God says to the lukewarm church? Revelation 3:15-16, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” Let it be our goal to be pleasing to Him, rather than making Him sick.
Come out from the pollutions of the world and into the glorious light of Jesus. Be separate from the world, and the filthiness of it, so that He will receive you as sons and daughters and you will inherit His blessings. II Corinthians 6:14-18, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.” Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.” “I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.”
Comments
Post a Comment