Now then, from these verses we consider the theme of Christian Realism. Christian Realism. The apostle has spoken of the false teachers who would pray upon the church of God and of their daring and boldness and presumptuousness and their lack of all restraint. and now his language takes on a severity rarely equaled in the letters of the New Testament. There is a starkness and if you like a multiplying of expressions in this passage and in the similar passage in Jude which when we read it startles us. Now what are we to make of this? There is a time to speak. There is a time to speak. In as much as the apostle has warned against rash accusation and proud words, we are to regard these verses as being entirely compatible with that warning. They are not rash words. They are not the words of a man out of control. In fact, not only was Peter godly, but he was writing scripture. He was under the infallible and unerring direction of the Holy Spirit of God. So he is not out of control. These verses indicate that under the direction of the Holy Spirit, The Apostle Peter pronounces this severe condemnation upon false and wicked religious teachers. So there is a time for this kind of blunt speaking. True it is that for uninspired men it must be kept under tight reins. There are no men under the inspiration of the spirit, that infallible inspiration that the biblical writers were given. And so uninspired men have need of care and of a godly control. lest they thunder excessively or make no difference between those who are led astray and those who are leading them astray. There is to be distinction in Jude. We find one such distinction mentioned, Jude verse 23. of verse 22, and of some have compassion, making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Now without going into what those verses exactly mean, it is evident that Jude is saying some are to be treated with greater sharpness than others. and so the servants of God are not to denounce without regard to the degree and extent of the fault and error that is involved. Not every error deserves this level of severity and so when this kind of language is used too frequently it becomes ineffectual and useless It reflects too much of the freeness of the tongue of the denouncer and loses its impact because it does not any longer call attention to great danger as it does when it is used by a man known to be careful with his speech. But there is a time for this kind of speech. It's in the word of God. Also we notice about it that it is direct but true. It is direct, it's very direct. It's plain and it is continuing. There is however not the slightest reason to think that there is any exaggeration nor that such men as fit this description only existed in this one generation. They don't. Perhaps we say, yes, well, the Apostle Peter was talking about people in his day. We don't have people like this, but we do. Our generation has its own sexually immoral money-making religious charlatans. These kinds of people do exist today. Scoundrels, the so-called, take the so-called prosperity gospel preachers, whose doctrine of salvation is blasphemous. And people think they're evangelicals, they're nothing of the sort. And they're full of covetousness. They're religious money makers. Heretical in doctrine, covetous in motive. You say, ah, but they're all in America. No, they're not all in America. And the ones in America are coming here very soon. As I may have mentioned, Kenneth Copeland and his wife, they're coming here to spread this wicked blasphemy in this province. We can also say that this language was necessary. We might say, well why do it? Why make so much of the wickedness of these men? Why not leave it alone? Should we publicize the sins of others? Not normally, not unnecessarily. But when such people threaten the flock of God and arrogate to themselves the role of religious leaders, they have taken on themselves to publicly declare lies in the name of the Lord and contradict the gospel with a wicked lie, then public denunciation is right. It was necessary. And far from being unloving, This denunciation showed how much the Apostle loved the people of God. He loved the people of God. And here were these wolves in sheep's clothing. And he denounces them because he loves the flock of God. The Apostle Paul does the same. Just to give one example. 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy 4 verse 14, Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil, the Lord reward him according to his works, of whom be thou aware also, for he hath greatly withstood our words. The apostle says to Timothy, who was caring for the church at Ephesus, he says, Timothy, there's this man, and he actually tells him who he is, and he says, watch out! He loved Timothy, he loved the Church of God in Ephesus, so of course he warned them. Christian love does not mean stupid naivety. Heretical, wicked church-wreckers are not to be indulged. Secondly, what these men lived for. what these men lived for. They lived for sinful pleasure and money. They were brutish men, verse 12, but these as natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed. The apostle says that because they were governed by physical and sensual appetites sin had made them irrational and of course sin is irrational and they behaved like uncontrollable animals made to be captured and destroyed and these men would be taken by God and brought to everlasting ruin but also there was an unashamedness an unashamedness we read of them in verse 13 and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness as they that counted pleasure to riot in the daytime unashamedness the reward of unrighteousness means the wages of sin to some degree in this life, but for some, but certainly in that which is to come, they would reap the judgment of God. But he says they counted pleasure to riot in the daytime. In other words, what he's saying was they weren't content to commit their wickedness, their debauchery in secret or discreetly. Now that would still make it wickedness. But in order to increase their pleasure in unrighteousness, they wanted to do it openly, in the daytime, without shame. Of course, that's happening today, isn't it? There are sins that at least people used to be ashamed of. I don't want to go on about something that's despicable, but homosexuality used to be something that was a cause of shame. Now we have marches, gay pride. What is that? What is that, gay pride? Well, what they're saying is, not only are we going to do these things, But we are going to parade the fact. We are not going to be ashamed. You say, but that's outside the professing church. But that's not true either. It's not all outside the professing church. We hear phrases like, gay Christians. What nonsense. And the Church of England doesn't know what to do. It doesn't know what to do. Why does it not know what to do? Well, it doesn't believe the word of God, that's why. But the point is this. There are people who do these things, who not only want to do them openly and make it known, but they want the name of Christian as well. In essence, it is exactly the same as what we have here, who carried the pleasure to ride in the daytime. We are going to do our wicked works, we are going to do them openly and we want the name of Christian as well. And then they fed their greed by deception. The Apostle says in verse 13, spots they are and blemishes. That is, they are spots and blemishes on the name of Christianity. Sporting themselves, luxuriating themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you. In other words, they luxuriated in their feasting with you as the fruit of their deception of you. They were immoral, verse 14, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin. They were constant in pursuit of immoral pleasure, but never satisfied. They cannot cease from sin. Immoral thought and activity of all kinds is addictive. They were covetous, verse 14. and hard they have exercised with covetous practices, cursed children exercised. Their hearts, their thought patterns were well exercised in the practice of covetousness, how to get what they wanted. He calls them cursed children. They curse themselves and they are cursed to other people. But then thirdly, what they use the church for, what they use the church for. Why do these people have an interest in the church of God? They are so wicked. Why don't they stay away from the church of God? What is it that brings them? They have no interest in the truth, they don't want the truth. Why are they there? Because the church provides them with an area of activity. It provides them with a sphere of people where they can pursue money or immorality or pride. And it does happen. People can come among God's people for all the wrong reasons. This isn't far-fetched. Now that doesn't mean that we shouldn't exercise the judgment of charity. We don't assume the worth of anybody. And we should delight freely in the fellowship of God's people. But we should not be unaware of what can happen in any church. This is the apostolic church when there were apostles. And do we imagine, do we say, well nothing like this can ever happen in our church. Why not? Churches founded by apostles suffered from these things. What makes us think that That we will be free from all of these problems. But then fourthly, what they used doctrine for. What they used doctrine for. They used doctrine to pursue their greed and sinful pleasure and to gain influence. See in verse 12. Speaking evil of things that they understand not. They were proud. There was no restraint. No real concern for truth. In the early centuries, after the apostolic age, there was a movement known as the Gnostics. It took on various forms. You can see the beginnings of it in the false teaching that Paul combats in the book of Colossians. And these men They spouted the most monstrous drivel. They invented eons and fantasies about angels, good and evil, and their theories. They claimed to know so much and they invented a scale of angelic existence that has no biblical basis and they spouted these theories with confidence. It was absolute nonsense. But they opposed the Orthodox. They opposed those who stood for the truth of God's word. They spoke evil of those things which they knew not, which they understood not. They had no idea. But have things really changed? Have they? The Apostle Red refers to deceivings in verse 13. And then in verse 14 he mentions beguiling unstable souls. Not only are there deceivers in every generation, but there are unstable souls ready to be deceived. People whose hearts are not established in grace. They are not established in the truth of the gospel. they seem enthusiastic for a while about sound biblical doctrine but then something else comes along and they are enthusiastic about that as well and something completely unsound and false they are just as enthusiastic because they were never established they are unstable and that's true in Northern Ireland as well how is it that every religious rogue and charlatan that comes to this province gets a following and then leaves with a stack of money. How does it happen? Because there are unstable souls. Unstable souls who listen to anything that sounds vaguely biblical. And as long as the false teacher sounds confident, as long as he wraps it up in some vaguely biblical language, they drink it in. Because they've never searched the scriptures. They've never bothered. They don't know the truth. They know a few bits and pieces of language that Christians are supposed to use, and that's all they've known. That's all they've known for years. And there's been no progress, no settlement, no establishment, no building up, because they have never really been born again of the Spirit. And so when heresy comes, with a few biblical terms thrown in, they're away with it. Are you one of those unstable souls waiting to be picked off by any impressive heretic that comes your way? Because you've never really been that concerned about truth. Then we are given the example of Balaam, verse 15, which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray. These people professed orthodoxy once, which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Bosaw, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but was rebuked for his iniquity, the dumb ass speaking with man's voice, forbade the madness of the prophet. In Numbers 22 which we read earlier on, you perhaps find it a little perplexing as to why it is that Balaam is told not to go with Balak's representatives and then he is told to go and God is angry with him. In verse 20, And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them. But yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do. And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab. And God's anger was kindled, because he went. God told him to go. God had told him not to go. Now he told him to go, and he went, and God's angry. But you see, God could see Balaam's heart. The fact of the matter is, Balaam wanted to go. and Balaam wanted to go because he wanted to make money he wanted the rewards that Balak could give him he was a covetous man and was in the grip of his greed rather than serving the interest of the truth of God and the Lord used an ass to rebuke him to show that he was lower than a beast in his sinful desire for money and that he was prepared to use the prophetic gift any way that would secure money and possessions and if he could he would have cursed those whom the Lord had blessed simply to make money. God terrorized him into telling the truth. But he didn't love the truth. And so these men in 2 Peter, they wanted to be religious teachers for their own ends. And they would twist the word of God to say whatever served their evil designs. Well now, by way of application. First of all, why does this happen? Why does this happen? Why are we astonished that there could be people like this within the orbit, within the general orbit of the people of God? We shouldn't be surprised. Don't we know that Satan hates the Church of God? and that the church is to be the pillar and ground of the truth. Look what Satan was prepared to do to Job. To show that there was no such thing as real saving grace and godliness as a fruit of Christ's redemptive work. See that's what was involved in Job's afflictions. Satan, he could only do what God gave him permission to do but He says, does Job serve God for naught? Thou hast hedged him around. He is saying, of course, Job. Job is just a goody-goody. He has got so much out of this religion. There is no such thing as unselfish love to God. That is not what motivates Job. You see Satan hates the idea of redemption accomplished and applied by the Spirit. Accomplished by Christ and applied by the Spirit. Renewing the hearts of sinners so that they trust in the Saviour and their lives become lives that begin to show unselfish love to God and desire for His glory. And so he is saying that is not what motivates Job. Job is in it for what he can get. Afflict Job cause him to suffer, take away his possessions, take away his family and he'll curse God like anybody else. But the grace of God in Job was real and he didn't curse God despite all his trouble. But you see how Satan hates the kingdom of grace. And Satan is devious and subtle and utterly wicked. Should we not expect such outrageous attempts to discredit the truth of God? Shouldn't we expect that Satan will use both direct and covert methods of trying to display that Christianity is worth nothing, that the church is nothing but hypocrisy. That's what he was saying about Job. Doesn't he want to say it about the church as a whole? Doesn't he want to produce people with heretical doctrine or wicked lives in the name of Christ? So why the big surprise? Sometimes when these things happen, Christians can start to get disillusioned with the whole idea of the Church of God. But why? There's no excuse for that. The Church is Christ's institution. It's the Lord's institution. And in His Word, He has prepared us for the fact that there will be those who are heretical in doctrine, those who are hypocrites in practice. The people of God must stand together firmly against such things. But then second point of application, the apostolic method of responding, and I think this is something we can overlook. Where false teachers are grossly wicked, the apostle does not give long and detailed refutation of all their foolish doctrines. Christians, especially when we are younger, we think we have to give detailed answers to everything. There is a place for biblical refutation response. But the Apostle Peter doesn't do that here. He just says, look at these men. He points to the fruit. And we shouldn't be afraid to do so. There is a time when we don't spend all our energies responding to nonsense. Yes, error has to be refuted and replied to and sometimes it has to be replied to for the good of the people of God. But where people's lives are wicked, we should give no credit whatever to their foolish notions and oppose their wicked works. Thirdly, Why are you interested in the Church of God? I'm not saying you're like these people. No doubt you're not. But do you use the Church of God for some selfish interest? Or is it because you're born of the Spirit? You trust the Saviour. You want to worship the great God of Heaven. You want to learn His truth. You want fellowship in the Lord with those of like precious faith. Is that why you're interested in the Church of God? You see, people can be interested in church, shall we say, for many reasons. These reasons are blatantly wicked. But sometimes it's not quite so blatant as this. They just want to keep up a show. Anyway, they've always done it. What would people think if they stopped? Do you love to worship God? Do you come to the congregation of God's people because you want to worship God? And you want the companionship of those who fear the Lord? But then finally, why does it matter? Why does it matter? You see, all this heavy denunciation. We don't really want this. Why don't we just skip these verses and move on to something more positive? But you see, it is there. These verses are there. And it's an insult to God, isn't it, to pretend that some part of scripture doesn't exist. To skip round it and say, well no, we'll miss that, we'll get on to something else. It's there. And all scripture is given by inspiration of God. It's all profitable, it's all good for us. If you want to avoid passages like these, why? Don't you care about the truth? Don't you care about the truth? Does truth matter to you? Don't you care about the glorious gospel of the blessed God? What does anything do as long as it's positive? Do you care about the purity of the gospel? and that that gospel should be adorned by the lives who profess the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, only the true gospel honours Christ. The true gospel of the triune God. And that the second person of the Godhead, without ceasing to be God, became a man. So it was God and man in two distinct natures in one person. that he lived a life of perfect righteousness, that he died on the cross according to the purpose of God, to bear the judgment of God upon sin in the place of his people, that he rose again and is exalted to the right hand of God, and that he applies what he has done by the Holy Spirit, bringing those chosen in him before the foundation of the world to faith in himself and keeping them until they enter into heaven and glory. This gospel ascribes salvation to the Lord in its entirety and don't we care about its purity? Christians also care about the wicked works and words of heretics. We do care. Surely if we are Christians, if we love God, we can't be aware that men in the name of Christ are speaking lies. And men who profess the name of Christ are denying him in their works. Christians love the Lord. They desire his name to be honoured. They pray like David, let the whole earth be filled with his glory. And so they do care about truth and error, about godliness and ungodliness, and the name of Christ being linked with ungodliness and error and falsehood rather than truth and godliness. They care because they love the Lord, they care because they love the people of God, and they desire not to be led astray, and they love They care because they love poor fellow sinners and want them to hear the truth and not the lie and to see its legitimate effects in those who profess Christ's insincerity. So then, let's have no detestable neutrality. He that loved the Lord hate evil. Amen.