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We've already seen in 2 Peter
2.10, in the last phrase of the verse, that they, the false teachers,
are not afraid to speak evil of dignities or to blaspheme
glories. And the idea here is to injure
another by our speech. So they have hurtful speech toward
those who are in authority. And this is something that God
forbids, and yet they are not afraid to do it anyway. They don't have enough regard
for what God says to hold back from this kind of sinful behavior. We saw last time where the Bible
does forbid speaking evil of earthly rulers, but what I want to do is notice
why it is that he says they're not afraid to do this. What does he mean by that? What
part should fear have in guiding our behavior? One thing we know
is that false teachers have no true reverence toward God himself,
so they don't have any respect for lawful human government.
That's the root problem They don't recognize God's authority.
They don't honor those human authorities that God has set
up to rule in his behalf. And that's why they find themselves
free to disobey man's laws and to speak evil of those who are
in positions of power. And so they're not afraid to
blaspheme God or man. or to break the laws of both. And again, if someone has no
real fear of God, no regard for God's authority, no respect for
his laws, no care to obey God, do you think they're going to
care about obeying men? Certainly not. Let's look in James chapter
4, James chapter 4, about speaking evil. in general,
what does God say? In verse 11, speak not evil one
of another brethren. Alright, so speaking evil is
forbidden entirely. Speak evil of no man, whether
it's your Christian brother or sister, whether it's your pagan
neighbor, whether it's a king or governor, Don't speak evil. He that speaketh evil of his
brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and
judgeth the law. Now the law of God says, do not
do this, and so if I still do this, what am I saying? The law
is evil, and I can judge the law to be wrong, and I can do
otherwise than what the law requires. Now that's not the responsibility
of someone who claims to be a teacher and minister of God. His responsibility
is to obey the law of God himself, and then to teach God's law correctly,
and requires others to obey that law. But he says, if thou judge
the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. Now
how does a man become so puffed up and arrogant that he sets
himself over God and over God's law to where he can say, I'll
decide whether I want to do this or not. And we're under God. We're to be submitted to him
and to be obedient to him and to keep his law. How can I say,
well, you know, God says don't speak evil, but in this case
it's justified, or I don't have to go by that. I think that's
wrong. How am I going to speak evil?
Just the same. Well, if you want to put yourself
in that position, remember this. There is one law giver, and that's
God, not you. And what else does he say? This
God who gave the law is going to apply that law. He's going
to maintain that law. The law has two parts to it.
It has precepts to obey, and it has penalties for those who
disobey. And it says he's able to save
and to destroy. Who art thou that judges another? And that's what speaking evil
of another involves. He that speaks evil of his brother
and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the
law. And God will deal with these
as they deserve. Now, one thing we ought to always
keep in mind, that we should be afraid to sin. Why? Because Sin offends God. And it also brings His judgment.
Now the first consideration is, I do not want to offend God or
do anything to displease Him. Why? Because He's God. And it's
my duty to obey Him. In other words, even if there
was no hell, I would avoid sin just as much because it offends
God. That's why when people think,
well, if I can just say I'm saved, I don't have to worry about going
to hell, then I can sin all I want. They have no idea what they're
talking about. They are complete strangers to a saving work of
God's grace. Because when God saves us, he
changes our attitude. That's what repentance is. A
change of mind, heart, and attitude toward sin and toward God. I
can't love sin or continue in sin. I love God and I want to
please Him and I know sin is that which He hates. And so we ought to be afraid
to offend God. Notice a couple places in Job
chapter 13 and verse 11. Job is warning his three friends. He says, shall not his, referring
to God, shall not his excellency make you afraid and his dread
fall upon you? In other words, he's saying this,
you are talking to me and arguing for God and you are blaming me
and accusing me of all these things. You're saying I'm a hypocrite
and I'm guilty of sin and that's why I'm suffering. And it's not
true. You know, he says in verse 4,
you are forgers of lies. Verse 7, when you speak wickedly
for God, talk deceitfully for Him. And he says, you should
be aware of God's great glory and majesty, you know, His holiness,
and you should become afraid in the sight of God, and that
should hold you back from these kind of false speeches that you're
making against me. Verse 10, he will surely reprove
you if you do secretly accept persons. So he's warning them
about it. Another place is Acts chapter
5. Now in the early church you had a situation where there was
great persecution against the believers. And they were having their possessions
taken from them. So many of the Christians were
in dire straits. And some of the believers who
owned houses and lands would actually sell them and give it
to their poor brothers and sisters in Christ. Now think of that.
We're always caught up with, I've got to have a home and I
need a mortgage and I've got to pay it off. They're thinking,
my brother is hungry and naked and thirsty and has nothing because
of his suffering for his faith and I have these things I don't
really need, I'll sell them and help my brother. What a wonderful
example of Christian charity that was. But then there was a fellow named
Ananias who had a wife named Sapphira and they sold something
they owned. They made an agreement
together, you know what we're going to do? keep some of the money that we
just earned from selling our possessions and we'll give part
to the church, keep part for ourselves, but we're going to
tell them we gave them the whole thing, make it look like we're very
generous. And so they go and they bring
the part of the money to the apostles for this offering to
help the poor saints And Peter was given insight by
God to see through their action, their deceit. And so he confronts
him with it. And in verse 5, after he rebuked
him for lying, it says, And Ananias, hearing these
words, fell down and gave up the ghost. I'd like to come to
church. I'm giving all the money I have
to you. Not really, I just want to look good. And the preacher
says, what do you think, what do you mean you're giving us,
you're keeping some of it back, you're trying to put on a false
appearance of generosity. And then the person dies in church,
you know, call up the ambulance, can you take this one out? But
what was the effect of this? He died after Peter rebuked him,
and it says, in great fear, came out all of them that heard these
things. Oh wow. God, he saw what that guy was
doing. He thought he had everything
covered up. He was being secretive. Nobody knew but him. And then
he tried to give a false appearance. He lied about it. God knew all
about it and God struck him down in a very dramatic way. Took
his life from him to show that he didn't like what that person
did. He had sinned. And when everyone else heard
about it, they said, God is a holy God. God is a God of judgment. God does not accept hypocrisy
of trying to claim to be something we're not. He's very displeased
with it, and he shows his displeasure in very terrible ways. And so
everyone that heard about it says great fear came on all of
them that heard these things. We better be careful. We better
not go to church and put on a false front and try to make something,
ourselves appear to be something we're not and lie and cover our
sin because God, you can't cover your sin from God and he may
bring it out in a way that will not be so pleasant. And then
you go down and you find his wife comes in later after they
had carried him out and buried him. And so Peter gives her a
chance to own up to it. All right. Did you really sell
the land for this much? Oh yeah, that's what we sold
it for and we brought it all here to you. Why would you want to do a thing
like that, you know? And it says verse 10, he rebukes
her and then she fell down straightway at his feet and yielded up the
ghost. Well, there's a coming forward
in the service you don't see very often. The person comes
up to the preacher and dies right at his feet. And it says, and the young men
came in and found her dead and carrying her forth, buried her
by her husband. And what was the result? Great
fear came upon all the church and upon as many as heard these
things. We better not try something like that. We might end up experiencing
the same judgment they did. I'm not going to do something
I shouldn't do and then deny I did it and lie about it and
try to cover it up and try to say I did something else. The sad thing was there was no
requirement that they give all their money. They could have
given a part and said we sold our land and gave you a part
of it. But the thing was they tried to make it look like they
gave all of it and they didn't. So they were putting on a false
appearance. But great fear. Romans chapter
11, another place like this, talks about the Jews. God brought
them out of Egypt to be his people, and yet what happened? Many of
them were not true believers at all, and they perished in
their sins. They died lost. Now the Gentiles
were hearing the gospel and coming to Christ, And Paul warns them,
don't think that you're special or different in a sense that
you're better than the Jews and you can escape what happened
to them. So he tells them in verse 20, well, because of unbelief,
they were broken off. In other words, it wasn't enough
that they were Jews, members of the nation of Israel, the
covenant people of God. If they didn't have personal
faith, they were as lost as the Gentiles. And so he says, Because
of their unbelief, they were broken off, or they were taken
away as not being true believers, true people of God. And you being
a wild olive tree were grafted among them. In other words, the
Gentiles were taken in their place, as if they became believers
in Christ. And with them you partake of
the root and fatness of the olive tree, or the blessings of being
the people of God. So he says, boasts not against the branches,
but if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee."
Don't get this proud, arrogant attitude. He says, thou wilt
say then, the branches were broken off that I might be grafted in,
nor as the Jews fell, that the Gentiles might come to Christ.
He says, well, because of one belief, they were broken off,
and you stand by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear. Don't get up on your high horse
and become, you know, proud and arrogant. For if God spared not
the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Fear. It happened to the Jews
and they were God's special earthly covenant people. Do you think
that you can do the same thing they did and escape the same
punishment they received? Don't be high-minded. Fear. Don't
ever allow sin and think that it will not destroy you, it will
not harm you. See, sin is our greatest enemy,
and sin is our greatest danger, and so it's to be feared. You
know, we treat it lightly. Ah, so what? I can disobey my
parents. I can lie. I can cheat. I can steal, I can be immoral,
it'll be alright, I'll get away with it, nothing will happen.
That is a wrong thought. You want to know, we talked about
being blessed. Here's a good verse in Proverbs
chapter 28 verse 14. Proverbs 28 verse 14, happy is
the man that feareth always. How can you be happy if you're
always afraid? But how does he mean this? Feareth
how? A man that fears God, that has
a very high regard for God and what God requires. And so he's
careful not to offend God and sin. But what about a person
that treats sin lightly? Ah, I don't care what God says.
I'm going to do what I want. I'll get away with it. Nothing
will happen. It says, but whoso he that hardens
his heart shall fall into mischief. See, hardening the heart, becoming
insensitive towards sin, in other words, not having a tender conscience
and feeling free to sin, and not caring what God says about
it or thinks about it or might do about it, that is the way
to trouble. But if you want to be happy,
blessed, fear always. Fear God and depart from evil. That is wisdom and that is the
way to happiness. And so to be a happy man, you
need to be a man that fears. You want to know something? When
a false teacher has a hard heart and sins without any regard for
God and no fear of the consequences, sins with impunity, and thinks
he'll get away with it, you know what? He's worse off than the
devil, who is the first sinner and the one who originally brought
sin into the world. In James chapter 2, You remember what we said the
word be afraid means? It means to tremble with fear. They're not afraid to speak evil
of dignities. They speak evil of dignities
and they do not tremble with any fear. They're brazen. But what did James say in chapter
2, verse 19? You believe that there is one
God. And a lot of people, that's the sum total of their Christian
faith and profession. I believe in God. Well, good. Is that all you believe? Is that enough? No. As a matter
of fact, it says in James 2, verse 19, while you do well to
believe that much or to go that far, but know this. The devils
also believe and tremble. In other words, devils believe
that God exists, that he's a holy God and a God of judgment. They
know that they are facing that judgment themselves and they're
in a constant state of terror. Remember when Jesus came to the
earth, what did the demons always say to him? If you come to torment
us before the time, please don't send us out into the abyss. They
knew what was coming and they dreaded it. So the devils believe
and tremble. False teachers don't believe
and they don't tremble. Think of that. They're more brazen
and hard-hearted than the devils themselves. The devil has more
faith than a false teacher. And he shows he believes by his
trembling, where false teachers show they don't believe by being
not afraid to speak evil of dignities. But we need to fear always. Jude verse 12. In every Christian congregation
there's usually a mixture of believers and unbelievers. What
did Peter already say? There shall be in among you false
teachers. And what's their attitude? They'll
sit there with no concern at all, thinking they're as good
or better than the rest of those around them, and they have no
fear. They participate in all the activities
of the church and they don't have any awareness that they're
lost and under God's judgment. Notice verse 12. He's talking
about the false teachers. These are spots in your feasts
of charity. When they feast with you, they
sat right down with the Christians and participated in their love
feasts. Feeding themselves, how? Without
fear. gorging themselves, downing their
food, partaking of the meal that the Christian provided for one
another in the church, no fear. They should have been saying,
we're not really one of them. We're not really in the same
condition they are. We're still in our sins and loss. And we need to make sure we get
right with God and have that corrected before it's too late.
Not just, I'm as good or maybe better than all the rest of you.
And I have every right to be here. And I can participate freely.
And I don't have to worry. I'm good. Clouds they are without
water. carried about of winds, trees
whose fruit withers without fruit, twice dead. They're dead naturally
in their sins, but they're also dead in relation to their Christian
profession. It's a dead profession. There's
no reality or life to it. Plucked up by the roots. They
do not have any true faith. They are not really united to
Christ. They are not rooted and grounded in him. It's a bad situation. The Bible says that we are to
fear how? Always. Fear God, reverence Him,
hold Him in the highest esteem, have a great awe and regard for
God that will cause us to order our lives in a way that is what
God would have our lives to be. Our hearts and our lives, not
just outwardly, but inwardly. God knows our inner selves, our
very thoughts and attitudes and motives And that's where he wants
us to start. That has to be right before the
outward can be right. The outward alone is not enough.
But notice what he says in Philippians 2, verse 12. Philippians 2, verse 12. Paul tells them, Wherefore, my
beloved, as you have always obeyed, So here's the fear of God to
keep his commandments. You've always obeyed, not is
it my presence only. A lot of people are good when
their parents are there, or when the policeman is there, or when
the pastor is there, or when the teacher's there, or whatever.
Oh, I'm very good. As soon as they turn their back,
oh good, now I can do what I want to do. And they'd be naughty. But what's he say? Not just when
I'm there, but even when I'm gone. Why? They're not doing
it to please people, they're doing it to please God, and God's
always there. There's never a time that he's
gone. So he says, not as in my presence only, but now much more
in my absence. Work out your own salvation how? With fear and trembling. Now
this is a very serious matter, not to be taken lightly, not
to be trifled with, or treated as if it was of no real importance. fear and trembling. My eternal
destiny hangs in the balance. My relationship to God is at
stake. The salvation of my soul is the most important thing,
and I want to make sure I don't fall short of heaven and end
up lost for eternity. It's something that I take with
the utmost seriousness, and I work out the salvation God has given
me by His grace with an attitude of fear and trembling. Or as Peter says in 1 Peter 1
verse 17, if you call on the Father, who
is this Father? God, the thrice holy One, the
One that the Bible says is a fearful thing. to fall into the hands
of the living God, because He's a consuming fire. Well, if this
is true, you call on this Father who, without respect of persons,
now it doesn't matter who you are or what you are, He's going
to judge according to every man's work. He knows what the true
nature of our works are, whether good or bad. He says, if this
is who you call on, then pass the time of your sojourning,
your life in this world, how? In fear. Pass your time in this
world as you pass from here to eternity in an attitude of fear,
the fear of God. I think one person said if he could
find a hundred men who feared nothing but sin and reverenced
nothing but God, he would turn his world upside down. And that's
our attitude, a time of fear, fearing to sin and offend our
holy and good God, who redeemed us, as he goes on
to say, with the precious blood of Christ. See, the Bible tells
us we're to tremble at God's greatness, His majesty and glory. Let's look at a couple places
like that. Psalm 91, or 99 verse 1. Psalm 99 verse 1. What I'm saying is don't trifle
with God or treat God lightly or act like sin is not serious. It's something to be avoided
at all costs. And obedience to God is what
we should strive for. But notice what he says, Psalm
99 verse 1. The Lord reigneth. Let the people
tremble. He sitteth between the cherubims,
let the earth be moved. The Lord is great in Zion, and
he is high above all the people. Let them praise thy great and
terrible name, for it is holy. I tremble before him, David says. Psalm 119 and verse 120. Have
you ever felt this? David says, my flesh trembles
for fear of thee. God, I realize what a great and
glorious God you are. An awesome, holy, majestic God. I tremble for fear of thee, and
I am afraid of thy judgments. I don't want to come under your
punishing hand of wrath by my sinning. Isaiah chapter
66. in verse two. Here's a verse
that's very good for taking into mind when we read
the Bible or when we come to church. God says, For all those things
hath my hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord.
But to this man will I look. Who does God have regard for? Who does he look to with favor? Who does he respect? He tells
us, even to him that is poor, you know, a humble, lowly person,
and of a contrite spirit, that's a person who is sorry for his
sins and repentant. And trembleth at my word. You know, when our hearts become
hard, we can hear the word of God, and we just kind of let
it pass right by and not affect us. In other words, We can yawn. We can kind of fall asleep. We can kind of just tune it out
and ignore it, not pay attention. God says when he speaks, the
person that he looks to is someone who trembles. In other words,
when God talks, we give him our full attention, and we have a
very high regard for what he says, and we jump when he talks. trembles at my word, not just
treats it like it was something that take it or leave it. One
more Habakkuk, the prophet Habakkuk. Chapter 3, when God spoke to
him, and when God had worked in his life, notice what his
attitude was. Verse 16, when I heard God speak,
My belly trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness entered into my bones,
and I trembled in myself that I might rest in the day of trouble.
When he comes up unto the people, he will invade them with his
troops. In other words, because I tremble at the word of God
and I fear him, I can know that when he does come to judge, I
will be spared. I don't have to tremble. at the
thought that God is going to punish me for my sins and cast
me into hell. Because I have come to turn from
my sins and trust in his son. See, we're to tremble at God's
majesty, but at the same time, we're to rejoice in his mercy. The mercy of God
in Jesus Christ. Think of this. This holy God
loved us so much that he gave his only son to suffer for us. Did Jesus tremble? Yeah, when
he faced the wrath of God in the Garden of Gethsemane, he
was on his knees, on his face, praying in great drops of blood,
pouring from his body, saying, Lord, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me. In other words, he knew what
he was going to have to go through for us to be saved, and it was
a terrible and fearful thing. And he trembled at the thought,
but he went through with it. And you know why he did all that?
So that we can, when we hear of God's holiness and his wrath
and judgment, we tremble, and we're sorry for our sins, we
can come to Christ and ask for him to forgive us and to wash
us from our sins in his blood. You know, there's a great verse
in 1 John 4, verse 17. We'll close with this. It says,
herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in
the day of judgment. Boldness means to be without
fear. In the very day of judgment,
we may have boldness. Why? Because as He is, so are
we in this world. God accepts us as much as He
accepts His own Son, because we're in Him. There is no fear
in love. but perfect love casts out fear,
because fear has torment. He that fears is not made perfect
in love. Is this contradictory? Not at
all. There's a fear of God's wrath
that brings torment with it, because we know we're going to
suffer that wrath, and it's a terrible thing to face. But when we come
to Christ and trust in Him, that tormenting fear is taken away
because God says we will not perish but have everlasting life.
We will not come into condemnation but have passed from death to
life. We'll never suffer God's wrath against us once we come
to believe in Christ. But he says he puts his fear
in our hearts. And for the first time we learn
to hate sin and to avoid sin. And we learn to fear God so as
to obey him. and to refrain from the things
that offend him. That's the true fear of God.
Not a tormenting fear, but a sanctifying fear, and that's a good thing.
He takes away the tormenting fear when he saves us, and he
puts in the reverential fear so that we can live as he would
have us live, with the right attitude toward him. The false
teachers don't have that. We're not afraid to speak evil
of dignities, but true Christians do have that, fear of God in
their hearts so they will refrain from speaking evil of dignities
and anything else that God tells us is displeasing to Him. Let's
close in prayer.
2 Peter 2:10v
Series 2 Peter 2
| Sermon ID | 10717111496 |
| Duration | 45:11 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Language | English |
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