Amen, there's never been a time the Lord's ever, ever failed us. Thankful for the faithfulness of God this morning. All right, let's take our Bibles. Let's go anywhere you want to, it's all good. But if you wanna go with me, we're going to 2 Peter, all right? 2 Peter chapter two is where we'll be this morning. And it's hard to believe that we're in a new year already. 2024 is gone, 2025 is here. And that means Y2K was 25 years ago. Yeah, a couple of you got it. Anyway, it's hard to believe and 2025 is already here. But usually what I like to do when a new year starts is start a new study in the Word of God, new character study, book study, whatever, but a new study in the Word of God and a new year. But in the summer of 23, we began looking in the life of Peter and saw many things from his life, many different characteristics, his ups, his downs, his mistakes, his character, how God used him in a mighty way. And that kind of propelled us into the letters he wrote, 1 and 2 Peter. And we finished up 1 Peter some time ago. We began in 2 Peter, of course, before the hurricane and after the hurricane came. We took a few months off from that study and preached what I believe God wanted me to, to encourage our folks through this time together. But I'm no quitter. We gotta go back and finish this study, all right? And so that's what we're gonna do, if you'll bear with me, as we'll finish up the book of 2 Peter. Is that okay with you? Three and a half amens, I'll take it, all right. But we'll finish that up together, okay? And we don't lack too much more, about a chapter and a half to finish it, and so we'll do that, all right? So let's take our Bibles, go to 2 Peter, and we'll be in chapter two, and as you're finding your place there, Just want to remind you a few things of this book, especially this chapter before we dive into verses 13 and 14 this morning, all right? Just be reminded that it was seen that Peter is writing this second letter to many of the same people he wrote the first letter to, those scattered saints, if you will, is what he called them in 1 Peter 1. And though he's writing to me the same people, it seems his tone has changed just a little bit. You see, in the first epistle, the first letter he wrote, he emphasized more of the harm and damage that they were facing from outside the church, the persecution they were enduring. But as you come to 2 Peter, the second letter rather, he's not emphasizing that so much as he is emphasizing the harm and danger and damage from within side the church. You see in the first letter he wrote, he wrote about the torture of God's people. But now in his second letter he's writing about the temptation of God's people. In the first letter, he gave a great comfort to the believers in their time of difficulty, but in the second letter, he's giving a strong caution to the saints in their time of danger. That's what he's doing. He's giving a strong caution. But a caution against what? Well, it's a caution against the false teachers, the false preachers, false prophets that have began to creep into the fellowship of believers and began to teach, as the Holy Ghost said, damnable heresies. And so to combat this false teaching and to combat these damnable heresies, Peter picks up the pen of inspiration and gives this to the people, gives this to the church, to the believers. He gives them this. He gives them the truth. You see you in this book, This book of the Bible, 2 Peter here, you will find the word know, K-N-O-W, in one form or another some 16 times in three chapters of this little book of the Bible. So that tells me, that reminds me, that Peter wants us to know something, be reminded of something, and that something he wants us to desperately know is simply the truth. Be reminded, the Bible you hold in your laps is It is the Word of God. Just as Jesus said as he's praying in the garden, John 17, 17. He says, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy Word is, there's a declaration, is truth. The Word of God is the truth. Never, ever forget it. But we must, listen, as believers, we must be grounded in the truth. We must be growing in our understanding of the truth. We must be established in the Word of God because when you come to chapter two, you find out just how important it is for you and for me. to be established, grounded, and growing in the Word of God. Why? Because Peter begins to expose the darkness. He begins to expose the false teachers and the false preachers and their damnable heresies, and he's doing so, again, with the light of truth. So as we come back to chapter 2, of 2 Peter this morning, keep in mind, as he's been pointing out and highlighting and really shining the light on the darkness of these false teachers, he shows this, number one, he showed their infiltration. How they came into the fellowship of believers subtly, secretively, and even deceptively. But they came for this reason, to bring and express We saw their damnable heresies. We saw their infiltration. And then we saw their identification. Remember, it may be a little difficult to identify a false teacher, at least at the beginning, but eventually you will be able to see the false teacher for who they are. And we saw at least three ways you can identify them. We saw, you can see a false teacher in their message, how they deny more than they declare, especially in their denial of the deity of Jesus Christ. That truth, you can see it in their message. You can see it in their morals, in their pernicious ways, as Peter says it in chapter two, meaning their lustful, immoral way. Look, a false teacher is an immoral individual who has no hint of repentance in their life. You can see it in their morals. You can see it in their motives, how, as Peter says, they try to make merchandise of you. Listen, their motive for ministry is not the glory of God. Rather, it is money. False teachers, that's their moral. We saw how we can identify them. We saw also their damnation. Listen, one day, sooner than they would like, a false teacher will face a devastation of their condemnation of judgment. And that judgment will be swift and it will be just. is coming where they want it to or not. And then as we continued on in 2 Peter we saw this, another aspect, we saw the characterization of the false teacher. And characterization here is the attributes and nature that distinguishes and characterizes an individual and we saw that. How these false teachers are presumptuous, meaning they're arrogant, they're just full of pride. How they're self-willed, how they speak evil of dignities, how they just hate authority, that's basically what that is. He calls them brute beasts, meaning they're really just spiritual, really just monsters is what they are. And so as we began to look at what a false teacher is, and Peter really honing in and pointing out who they are and what they do, and you see really how dark their motives are and how dark they are, it is absolutely terrible, a terrible portrait of a false teacher. Would you agree with me that the portrait that he paints is absolutely terrible? Yes or no? Yes, because it is. But as the salesman on QVC once said, but wait, there's more. So let's see some more about these horrendous false teachers, especially as Peter paints the picture of them, all right? Let's look at it together. Chapter two, we're gonna start in verse number 13 through 14, and I wanna see this this morning. Here's the title of the message. When it comes to false teachers, we'll see the false teacher's contamination, meaning the stain that they have on people. All right, look at it with me. 2 Peter 2, I'm gonna start in verse 13, middle way through that verse there, where it says spots, starting with that word. All right, so halfway through the verse, verse 13, it says this. Spots they are, and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery that they cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls, and heart they have exercised with covetous practices cursed children. Our Father, we look to your word again this morning. I pray you to help us to be aware and see through the dangers of a false teacher, especially this danger of how they can contaminate everything they're involved in. Help us be wise and on guard for Jesus' sake. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So as we see this here in 2 Peter 2, verse 13 through 14, we can see from these verses alone that everything they touch and everything they're a part of, they will contaminate. And you say, well, okay, what do you mean by that exactly from these verses? Well, number one, notice this from verse 13, okay? It says this, how they riot in the daytime, all right? Again, verse number 13. I should have read all that verse, I'm sorry. Let's do that, verse 13. And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime. Now, this phrase here, riot in the daytime, we don't use it a whole lot today. but we need to have a little bit better understanding of this phrase as we look at these verses, all right? So when you hear this word riot, let me ask you, maybe you just answer silently to yourself, when you hear the word riot, what comes to your mind? Maybe some of you think when you hear the word riot, you think of people who smash windows and storefronts or they burn down buildings and even loot those buildings before they do that, much like the riots of 2020. I mean, mostly peaceful protests of 2020, but you remember those things back then, all that stuff took place. And when you think of a riot, maybe that's what you think of, but that's not what he's talking about. When Peter pens these words right in the daytime, that's not exactly what he's talking about, especially in light of pointing out and painting the portrait of a false teacher. You see, the word riot does not mean to make picket signs, march down city streets, protest. Rather, it carries this idea. It carries the idea of a luxury. of a comfort, a softness, really an extravagance. You see, the false teacher, he riots in the daytime, meaning he revels, he lives in extravagance. And you see, it goes beyond just mere comfort. He lives in absolute luxury. But here's the kicker. They brag about it. They don't try to hide their wealth. They don't try to be humble about their wealth, not even modest with it, even a little bit. No, they brag about it. They show it off. in the daytime. Look, I don't recommend you doing this, but if you ever listen to one of these prosperity gospel preachers today, you will hear them brag, not about Jesus, but about how much money they have, how many expensive watches they have, how many jets they have, how many luxury cars they have, how many vacation homes they have. Of course, they will call them blessings, of course. What they're doing is bragging about what they have. And as they do this, they deceive others as well as themselves when they try to make it sound right as they twist scripture to prove that they and themselves are right in doing what they are doing. We'll get this eventually, but in chapter three, maybe you want to turn there, 2 Peter, in verse 16, Peter says this, which they that are unlearned and unstable, here it is, this word, rest as they do also the other scriptures unto their own Again, we'll get to this verse soon, but quickly understand this word rest is an interesting word. It means to twist. It means to pervert. It means to torture. And the picture it paints from this word here is really someone being put in a torture rack, twisting them, turning them at great lengths in order to get that individual to say what they want them to say. That's what that word rest is getting at. But this is what a false teacher does, not to an individual or a person, but to the word of God. They will twist. They will torture the scriptures, if I can say it that way, in order to make it sound like what they want it to sound like. That's what they do. They twist the scriptures. You see, I can do that too. You see, the Bible does say this. It says that Judas went out and hanged himself. It says that. Bible also says this, go do thou likewise. It says that, but not in this context, all right? You can twist the scripture and make it sound like anything you want it to sound like, and a false teacher does just that. Beware. But here, what they do is they try to twist the scriptures to prove their point of their writing or of their luxury, luxurious living. But hear what he says, back to the text here in 1 Peter, I'm sorry, 2 Peter chapter two, verse 13. What Peter says about the false teacher here is that they riot, they live in luxury, live in extravagance at the expense of those that would support them. Again, 2 Peter two, three, we saw this, but again, it helps to be reminded. He says, and through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you. Listen, they live, they riot in the daytime, live in luxury at the expense of God's people. So that's what that word riot means. their luxurious living. But what about the rest of the phrase? What about in the daytime? What does it get at with that? Well, understand during the Roman era, they did have their rich folks had their parties and had their times of luxurious living, but most of that was done at night. They had their festivals at night, had their parties at night, lived in luxury at night. Even the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5, seven, for they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that are drunken are drunken in the night. But listen, the false teachers, they're not that way. Rather, they are consumed with greed, consumed with lust, consumed with their popularity and other material goods that they take pleasure in rioting, reveling in the daytime for everyone to see. They do not hide their rioting. They riot in the daytime. You say, okay, preacher, fine. What's the big deal? Why are you so concerned about these false teachers and their writing? Aren't you just jealous? No, no, no. No, I'm not jealous of them not one bit. I wouldn't be so concerned about them at all if they would keep their false practices, keep their false ideologies, their false teaching, their writing out of the church. And out of the influence of God's people and trying, and not to try to contaminate believers, then it wouldn't be a big deal, but that's not how they operate. No, they come into the fellowship of believers. They creep into the church and it is there they try to influence the church with their false teaching, with their phenomenal heresies to contaminate God's people. So yes, it is a big deal. They riot in the daytime. It's pointing to how they contaminate God's people. All right. What else are they? Okay, let's look at this. As Peter says, and again, in verse 13, halfway down, he says, spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you. Now, I want you to circle those words, riot. No, I'm sorry, back up. Spots, there it is. Circle spots, circle blemishes, and then circle feast, all right? are connected. But how are they connected and what is Peter getting at? Well, I understand during the first century, the church would have meals together or big feasts together and they would call those feasts Feasts of Charity. Let me ask you a question. Who here likes to eat? Anybody? Yes. Amen. Save people all around. I like it. Okay. I would say we all like to eat. We all like to have a good meal. Maybe many of you had a good big meal over the holidays, had a feast with your family and with your friends. Even here at church, we like to do that. Had a great meal this morning, breakfast before Sunday school. We always have a big meal around homecoming, around friend and family day and other special days. We have big meals together and I enjoy those times. I enjoy the food, of course. The fellowship is even sweeter. Laughter, camaraderie, it's all good and I love it. And for the record, breaking bread with believers together is quite a biblical thing. And it is definitely a blessing. But feasts during this time in the first century was even of more significance to the church. You see, during these times, especially in the eastern lands, to sit at a table with someone implied a bond of fellowship. It implied a bond of friendship. It had been a covenant of salt type of fellowship, so it's a big deal. It was a big deal to sit at a table and have a meal with someone during this time, and you can see it even in many feasts in the Hebrews had in Old Testament, but this feast this feast of charity or charitable feast, this here that Peter be pointing to was not a Hebrew feast of Old Testament, rather it was a Christian feast. You see again during this time period there were rich people and there were poor people. There was no middle class, all right? You were the rich or you were poor. And so those that were poor didn't have a lot to offer, offer to the church, especially as they came together for a meal, but the rich could. The rich had more to offer. They could bring more to the table, so to speak, and they would do just that. They would bring more to the table, bring more food to these feasts, bring more provisions to these gatherings. And when they came together, it was a feast of charity. Showing their care, one for another love, one for another. And so a feast of charity was quite a common thing. But in these feasts of charity, you had the false teachers that would come, begin to spread their lies, their false teaching, dandle heresies. And Peter says, look, those guys you're allowing at your feast is a spot in your feast of charity. They are a blemish, they are a stain. Now what does a spot do? What does a stain do? Say when you get a spot or a stain on your favorite shirt or your favorite pair of pants, what does it do to that piece of clothing? It ruins it, right? And then it becomes your work shirt or work pants then. That's what it does for me, all right? But it ruins it. It ruins that shirt. Well, that's what these false teachers were trying to do. They were coming in, trying to ruin things. They were contaminating the church, their false teaching, being a stain on the fellowship of believers with their deceivings, with their revelings, their writing, and so much more. And Peter calls them, look, they're spots and blemishes. They're nothing but a stain because they're contaminating everything they touch and everything they are a part of. You know, when you compare Scripture with Scripture, and you go over to the book of Jude, and cross-reference Jude to 2 Peter chapter two, you'll find that Jude talks about these false teachers as spots in their feasts of charity as well. But the word for spots that Jude uses is just a little bit different than the word that Peter uses. You see, the word that Jude uses for spot carries this idea. It carries the idea of not really a stain, but more of a rock. or a reef. But here's the thing, that rock or reef under the surface of a water. He said it's very interesting to me. I love to fish. I love being out on a boat. And let me ask you, have you ever been out on a boat and you see a dark spot you're coming up to? Maybe you're coming up at a relatively fast enough speed to recognize a spot, but also recognize that if you don't move right then, you're going to hit that said spot. Anybody ever done something like that? Just me? OK, awesome. Well, if you ever do, you're out on a boat, and you come to a dark spot, and it's not moving, you probably should, all right? Because that's probably a log, or a stump, or a rock of some kind. If you hit it hard enough, you're gonna break your trolling motor, put a hole in your boat, and hope you have insurance, all right? It's gonna be bad, you're gonna put a hole in it. But that's what they, Jude was painting them as a spot. They were a rock, a stump, hidden under the surface of the water. waiting to cause damage. They're a spot waiting to cause destruction and really make shipwreck of God's people. Do not allow a false teacher to infiltrate your life, contaminate your life, because if you do, they will make shipwreck of your life. They're spots. They contaminate everything they touch and everything they're a part of. But how else do they do so? How else do they contaminate? Well, they do so this way, number three, with their beguiling conduct. Again, look at verse 14. The Bible says, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls, and heart they have exercised with covetous practices, cursed children. Peter's not holding back. He is laying it all out there, painting how terrible a portrait these individuals truly, truly are. And these words he's using, the wording that Peter is using is very troublesome to see the least, as he says, they have eyes full of adultery. What does that mean? It means this, they're always, always, always looking for someone to commit sin with. Is that what it means, preacher? Yes, that is what it means. They're looking for someone to commit immorality with, adultery with, always looking for that, always. A false teacher, like we said several months back, is a very immoral person with no hint of repentance, you see. So therefore, they're always looking for that. Then he goes on to say, they cannot cease from sin, meaning they're unable to stop. Why? Because the sin they commit over and over and over, it never satisfies them and they always need more. That's why they have eyes full of adultery and always looking for that next one to sin with. I'm reminded this morning as I see and look at this verse, I'm reminded that sin can never truly satisfy you. Sure, pleasure of sin for a season, but it can never truly satisfy you. Sin cannot give you what you think it will give you. That illicit relationship cannot give you what you think it's going to give you. Pornography cannot give you what you think it can give you. Drinking cannot do it. Drugs cannot do it. Cheating, lying, they cannot give you what you think it's going to give you. All sin promises some kind of liberty or some kind of pleasure and some kind of fulfillment, but listen, that is a lie from the devil himself. It cannot satisfy, will not fully satisfy you. It will not do it. It is a lie. And these false teachers, sure, I bet you, they're painting that as it'll be satisfying, it'll be this, it'll be that, but they're never satisfied. They cannot cease from sin, they cannot stop sinning. This is their conduct, this is who they are, and this is what they do. They seek to contaminate God's people with their lifestyles, with their lies, that's what they seek to do. But it's interesting, the ones they get, please listen to this. If you get nothing else out of this message this morning, please listen carefully here. Come out of that food coma for just a minute and listen to this. The ones they will snag, the ones they will really contaminate Are these individuals, look at your Bible, verse 14, having eyes full of adultery, always looking to whom they can sin with, cannot cease from sin, never satisfied with sin, beguiling, what's the next two words, beguiling? Unstable souls. It's a very interesting phrase. You see this word unstable, it gives the idea of those who are not settled. Those who are not grounded. Those who are not established. You say established, grounded, settled in what, preacher? Here it is, listen. The truth of the word of God. Again, Peter's been trying to give the truth to combat all these lies, all these heresies, all these false doctrines. He's given the truth. If you're not established in the word of God, you, my friend, are an easy target for these false teachers. That's why I try my best to make such an emphasis on the Word of God, to know your Bible. Listen, you cannot just count on your parents and grandparents, even your Sunday school teacher or your pastor, just them to help you knowing the Word of God. No, you gotta get in it yourself as well. You have to study yourself as well. You must read it yourself as well. If you do not, my friend, look, you're becoming more unstable. But you must establish yourself on the word of God and not be an easy target. They're always beguiling. That word beguiling means to set a trap, to trick. It's what the devil does. It's what he does. He tries to trick us. He's the trickster, beguiles us. It's what he does. So no wonder his ambassadors, those false teachers, do the same. But if you're, my friend, if you're fixed, if you're settled, if you're established on the Word of God, and when you bring those damnable heresies and you compare Scripture with what they say, you can say, hmm, I don't know about that. I think that's wrong. The Bible's always right. You must be established in the Word of God. We need to learn it. We need to live it. We must, we must obey it. For when we are, he cannot trick us, he cannot trap us into believing their lies and behaving like them. The Bible says, in the book of Ephesians, as Paul is writing to them and making a comparison between the relationship of a husband and wife and that relationship with Jesus and the church, he says this. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 26 through 27, that he might sanctify and cleanse it. Cleanse what? They talk about the church. He might, believers, sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. The only way to not have a stain or a spot or a blemish is to continue to be in the word of God and allow the water, the washing of the water by the word to cleanse your life, be established in it. We must be in the word It's the only thing that'll keep us from being contaminated by false teachers who seek to do such in your life and in mine. Be established in the word. I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but listen, there are false teachers who would love to creep into a church like ours, love to creep into a life like yours, and begin to contaminate your life, contaminate your faith, Just contaminate you and your family. Look, they would love to do that. Not for anything for your good at all. I promise you it's all about them. Remember, they're prideful. Ain't it for themselves? Ain't it for the money? That's it. They have desire to creep in your life and contaminate it. Don't let them. Don't let them. As I was thinking about this text today and this message today, I didn't know exactly how to give some kind of invitation. But maybe the invitation is this. Maybe as we start a new year, maybe you need to simply commit this year to the Word of God. To being in the Word more, reading the Word of God more, studying it more. And I'm not talking about reading three and four and five and ten chapters a day. You know, I'm reminded of what Spurgeon said in one of his devotionals. He said, I'd rather cleanse my soul in six verses of the Word of God than wash my hands in several chapters. And many take your time, get in the Word, let the Word get into you, take your time in it. But maybe, maybe this year, just during this invitation time in a moment, maybe this be the year you can commit to the Word of God, to read it. to learn it, study it, to live it, to obey it. Commit your way unto the Lord. Commit to the Word of God and be established in the Bible more than ever. Maybe that's what we need to do today. Let's pray together. Our fathers, we come to this time of the service. We simply look to the Word of God. and think what you're trying to teach us through it. Maybe that's what we need to do this morning. Just simply commit to the Word. Commit to studying more than ever, reading more than ever, learning more than ever, believing God more than ever, and more than ever being established on the Word of God than we ever have before. God help us to stand upon your word for it is the truth. Help us be wise in this matter. We love you. Thank you for loving us. Jesus.