All right. Thank you. How many of you recognize that if you raise your hand I'm gonna call on you. You know what it was That's what I thought There'll no air Christians by our love. I haven't heard that one in a while. Thank you I miss Valerie and all of me dangles. I forgot in the past or prayer prayer for the campus life Folks who are out in Colorado and other places. I'll do that in just a moment, but I Miss Valerie and the rest of the end when they're not here. I miss Valerie doing kids corner But I like the opportunity to do that to be both a pastor and the a father as Speak the kids if you are a parent or if you had parents, you know the challenge that we face especially today we want our kids to be wise and careful about how they interact with other people and the same time we don't want to make them overly anxious or paranoid We want them to be positive and confident in how they interact with others how they interact with the world and still be wary and discerning wise and discerning This passage we're going to look at here this morning 2nd Peter 2 functions that way Peter speaks to us in a Fatherly way Wanting us to be positive and to be confident to be assured of who we are for young Christians and not so young Christians He wants us to know who we are and what we are and who's we are and To be confident in those things but also to be wise and discerning as we interact with others Read with me if you will from 2nd Peter chapter 2 verses 13 through 22 They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done their idea of pleasure is to corrals and broad daylight They are blots and blemishes Revealing in their pleasures while they feast with you with eyes full of adultery They never stop sinning they seduce the unstable their experts in greed and a cursed brood They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balam some of Bior who loved the wages of wickedness But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey a beast without speech Who spoke with a man's voice and restrained the prophets madness These men are springs without water and myths driven by a storm Blackest darkness is reserved for them for they mouth empty boastful words and By appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature They entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error They promise them freedom Well, they themselves are slaves of depravity for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and our again entangled in it and overcome They're worse off at the end than they were at the beginning It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then to turn their backs On the sacred command that was passed on to them of them the proverbs are true a Dog returns to its vomit and a salve as washed goes back to wallowing in the mud Aren't you just excited here in those words? Aren't you just tingly with anticipation as we talk about? These things it's all right. Let's pray together and see what God has to say to us about Father I am glad that we get to look into the word and again. It's word is true It's not politically correct. It's not always the most the most charming It's not always the most inviting but it's true and It molds us and it shapes us and it forms us. We didn't make it It is making us it's your truth father. It's your word If father I do and lift up our young people who are out this week with campus life On the couple of different retreats or watch over them bless and we pray bring them back to us safe bring them back to us Transformed more conformed the image of Jesus. I pray the same thing for us here today, and I ask it in Jesus name Amen Well, there's enough this Existing to depress Robert Schuller in there. I mean this is just one of those passage There was a time in reading a passage like this when I would have tried to sort of round off the rough edges You know smooth that a little bit make it so it didn't sting didn't hurt quite so much and In my older age, I've decided I don't really need to do that God's word is what it is And if the word of God never ever stings us if it never annoys you or irritates you or convicts you of sin if it never makes you uncomfortable you're probably not reading it very carefully What is that about how it got God's word? Confer to the afflicted and inflicts the comfortable. This is one of those going to afflict the account the comfortable John Piper Great reformed Baptist preacher up in Minneapolis says it if you think of scripture like a mosaic It's got all these vast colors some of these passages There's there's some of the darker tiles in the mosaic They're the darker hues and take them by themselves look at by themselves. They're not very attractive. They're not very pretty But what they do is they set off the brighter ones They show off how brilliant the others are if you take it as a mosaic, then you can see the beauty of it This passage teaches on the characteristics of false teachers On the way Peter is going to tell us that these false teachers. They they worship false gods they serve wrong I'm sorry They worship the wrong gods They serve the wrong masters and they teach the wrong doctrines other than that. They're great Let's look at those three first of all they worship the wrong guys look back at verse 13 They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done their idea of pleasures Corral is in a broad daylight. They're lots and blemishes Revealing in their pleasures while they feast with you With eyes full of adultery they never stop sinning. They seduce the unstable They are experts in greed and accursed brewed what they is he talking about here look back at verse 1 if you got a Bible open in front of you Verse 1 there of this chapter, but there were also false prophets among the people talking about the older covenant people of Israel Just as there will be false teachers among you. This is among the church specifically here in Asia minor Broadly speaking for all of us here. Why do I say these guys here worship the wrong gods? They're described as pleasure seeking, grousing, adulterous, and greedy. So what gods are they worshipping? worshipping themselves They're worshipping themselves Have I mentioned here that human nature never changes? Have I mentioned that before? How technology advances? Knowledge accumulates the human nature never changes. They are their own gods. I Read somewhere that there's no smaller package in the world than a man wrapped up in himself These guys are totally wrapped up in themselves What a small small universe to be your own God where the thing worshipped and the thing doing the worship being I Wanted in the same what a small dark miserable universe That would be I keep a quote from Jonathan Edwards Anytime I start to think I'm kind of smart. I just read a little Jonathan Edwards. I remind myself how stupid I really am Jonathan Edwards in charity and his fruits writes this Selfishness is a principle that contracts the heart and confines it to self while love enlarges it and extends it to others if you are selfish and make yourself in your own private interests your idol God will leave you to yourself Let you promote your interests as well as you can But if you do not selfishly seek your own but do seek the things that are Jesus Christ And the things of your fellow beings And God will make your interest interest in happiness his own charge And he's infinitely more able to provide for and promote it than you are Look with me again at Peter's description of these false teachers I'm just gonna run down the descriptive terms. You've heard me and others say before that in the Bible the indicative Leads to the imperative which is just a high-falutin way of saying what we are determines what we do Let's look at what they are the indicative Blots and blemishes experts in greed and accursed brewed springs without water and mistriven by a storm slaves of The gravity of them the proverbs are true a dog returns to his vomit and a salad's wash goes back to her wallowing in the mud That's what they are And it drives what they do They never stop sinning they seduce the unstable They've left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balam son of Bior and Mouth empty boastful words entice people who are just escaping from those living error They promise them freedom while they themselves are slaves of depravity That's who they are. That's what they do. What's the result? What's the payoff? They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done Blackest darkness is reserved for them. They are worse off at the beginning at the end Then they were at the beginning God takes a very dim view of people who wrapped themselves in Christianity and used that to abuse and oppress His own people For their own gratification their their advancement their Advantage and where does it lead? God does not balance his books every Friday But he does balance them Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Though the mills of God grind slowly Yet they grind exceeding small Though with patience he stands watching with exactness He grinds all Verse 14 they were experts in greed. There's a there's a guy on television some years ago I can't remember his name it doesn't really matter Seminary body of mine just used to his neurons just exploded about this guy. So I watched him one time and he was pretty sleazy He's one of these prosperity theology guys you know name it claimant and frame it Get all you can can all you get sit on the can God wants you to have that million dollars and that Mansion the suburb with four cars, you know that one of those guys And they did a little expose on him found out he was dipping into the till he has hands in the cookie jar And when they when they confronted with he said this is almost if this isn't verbatim. It's close He said I preach prosperity theology. Do you expect me to be poor and I thought well He's a heretic, but he's a consistent heretic He's a calm man, but he's a consistent calm man He's off TV now by the way as far as I know Worshiping the wrong gods or worshipping themselves. Are you expecting to be really hard on him don't you? I'm going to tell you something I understand them I do I understand them when you worship themselves listen folks The God of the Bible You know the holy holy holy God that we sing about The one the Isaiah saw high and lifted up the one in the viticus 19 who says You shall be holy for I the Lord your God I'm holy The one exes 20 who said I am the Lord your God who brought you out Of bondage in the land of Egypt Now here's your part of the deal I have any other guys before me don't make any idols Don't take my name in vain take one day and seven and set it apart to worship me and arrest On your father and mother don't murder don't commit adultery don't steal don't lie don't covet That God That one's he's he's a little tougher He's a little more demanding That God Is a lot harder on me I would be a much more reasonable God than myself I would say to myself try hard Be good when you're really bad mess up say you're sorry try harder the next time that's what I would say this God says no I'm holy I'm omniscient I'm all knowing I'm everywhere present I'm all powerful and I never change That God's a little harder to wrap my mind right he's a little harder to get hold of Jonathan Edwards again God's ways are higher than our ways as much as the stars are higher than the firefly The God of the Bible is a tough one to follow he's not He's hard to wrap your arms around he's hard to get hold of but good news is He's made himself a whole lot easier to get hold of He's made himself a whole lot more approachable about like a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger These people worship the wrong gods they worshiped themselves they serve the wrong masters look at verse 15 This is as well as fascinating stories and scriptures we don't talk much about They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of bailum son of Björ who loved the wages of wickedness But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey Older translations use other terms by the way a beast without speech Who spoke with the man's voice and strained the prophet's madness You will find the story of bailum the son of Björ in the fourth book of the older testament the book of numbers chapters 22 23 and 24 I'm going to try to summarize it for you as briefly as I can it's it's a long and involve story But it goes basically like this people of Israel were cutting their way through buzzing their way through The wilderness as they got ready to enter the promised land And they were mowing down the opposing armies in the king of Moab one bailaq He got bailum and bailaq the king of Moab was one bailaq and he saw what the Israel Israeli as we're doing they had a pretty formidable military even back then So he saw them approaching and I'm sure that the United Nations Security Council condemned them in 15 or 20 different resolutions But it didn't stop him and so as they're approaching the armies of Moab and bailaq says we we don't have an answer for this He put out a call to bailum bailum the son of Björ bailum was a prophet of sorts He's a little it's a little fuzzy as you read about in the scripture He's a prophet, but he's not he's not like the rest of the old testament Jewish prophets he's he's more for hire This one's this one's available for the highest bidder so bailax sends out a call to bailum and says hey I need you to prophesy for me. I need you to curse the Israelites. Maybe that'll do it And bailum says to the emissary from bailaq he says you guys make camp here wait I'll go off and I'll talk with the God of Israel and see what he has to say and I'll get back to you So it goes off and the God of Israel says I got a bad news for you I sworn covenant Abraham a long time ago those who bless Israel I will bless Those who curse Israel I will curse Go back and tell bailaq So it goes back and he says I can't do it boys So bailaq up see any well if you'll give me that curse I need I'll pay you this I'll pay you and finally there's a third There's a third Round of these negotiations. We're not quite clear exactly what it was But bailum says he'll go back and meet with bailaq something about his doing that really ticked got off Not a good thing to do So God sends the angel of the lord for youth theologians. This is a theophany where God appears in the form of an angel in the older testament He sends an angel of lord to block bailum from going to meet with bailaq bailum doesn't seem bailum's beast of burden sees the angel three times The beast stops three times bailum beats this poor donkey The king James calls him a jackass Three times bailum beats him and on the third time God Opens the donkey's mouth and has him speak and he basically says look dummy the angel of the lord's right there He's gonna kill you if you're going further And there's a great interplay. Let me just read the This exchange bailum answered the donkey you've made a fool of me if I had a sword my hand I would kill you right now the donkey said to bailum Am I not your own donkey who which you have always ridden to this day have I been in the habit of doing this to you No, he said then the lord opened bailum's eyes He saw the angel of the lord standing in the road with his sword drawn So he bowed low and fell face down Angel of the lord asked him Why have you beaten your donkey these three times I've come here to pose you because your path is a reckless one before me The donkey saw me turn away from me these three times if she had not turned away I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared her May I just give you three or four applications of what I will now refer to as jackass theology I just give you some lessons learned from a jackass First of all the ways of the lord are mysterious and sometimes they're just downright hilarious Can you imagine he's talking to a donkey And the donkey's answering him the angel says I would have spared him, but I would have killed you
Secondly God can and does speak through whomever and whatever he pleases if he chooses to speak through you be glad, but don't be too proud Thirdly, if you sense God prompting you to speak speak You may be the only thing that will prevent some false profit some false teacher from heading over the cliff If you have friends who are Jehovah's Witnesses Mormons Muslims new ages whatever heretics If you know it speak to him if they listen to you great You've won your friend if they don't listen to you it's sad you pray for him, but you will know you've done what you can do and fourthly God has spoken through a jackass before and he still does today Many churches all over the world all over the United States Right here Miami PCA churches including this church God has chosen to speak through a jackass before and he still does it today rich Mullins who I quote his lyrics quite often wrote this He said I have a professor one time who said class You will forget almost everything I teach you in here, so please remember this The God spoke to bail him through a jackass He's been speaking through jackasses ever since So if God should choose to speak through you you need not think too highly of yourself And if on meeting someone right away you recognize what they are Listen to them anyway False teachers Peter says verse 18 they mouth empty both for words and by appealing to the lustful desires of simple human nature They entice people who are just escaping from those living error. They promise them freedom While they themselves are slaves of depravity for a man as a slave to whatever has mastered him These false teachers They're like a bald guy trying to sell you miracle hair tonic They're like a guy who can't get a job trying to get you to buy his book how to succeed in business They're like some Overweight flabby guy offering to be your personal fitness trainer They don't speak with any credibility. They promise them freedom While they themselves are slaves of depravity for a man as a slave to whatever has mastered him Peter says whatever has control of us folks Whatever has control of us Whether it's a bottle A bottle of pills A job a bank account A computer terminal A relationship a toxic relationship whatever it is You got to turn around face it or him or her and say yes master Heidi and I saw the end of 2020 Friday night I think it was they told the story this poor woman poly Mitchell of Omaha, Nebraska She's married for about 10 years to a man who beat her Savagely and locked her and yes her four kids their four children Locked them up in their home and I mean locked them up nailed the doors and the windows shut Double bolted them dead bolts double bolted on the outside So he could get in they couldn't get out and he told her if she ever left the house he'd kill her Finally finally little over three years ago She made a phone call Somebody came and helped and released delivered Her and her children they're out of there now and David her husband is in jail for a few more years for what he's done to his family When the interviewer asked her why did you why did you allow the why did you live like that her answer is basically I didn't think I was worth anything I didn't think I deserved anything better than this But now she says now she's using what she's been doing she's in therapy and the kids are in therapy And that's just as she's using her experience. Let me see if I can get this right she said a lot of others are in the same spot They feel helpless They don't know there's a way out But I've been given a voice and an opportunity to help them out You know folks That's what the gospel is Gospel is just a way of saying whatever you're in bondage to Whatever it is is nailed the door shut and threatened you there's a way out Jesus has made a way out and those of us who speak this gospel from pulpits or from Deathtopter from across the lunch counter whatever all we're saying is we've been there we've been in bondage For christians it still happens. You still struggle with your bondage. Is it happens? We're just saying there's a way out. There's a deliverer There's released you friend your bondage all you got to do is take his hand All you have to do is say yes and trust in him hey if you are in bondage whether it is to a substance Alcohol other chemicals from my vantage point The working with people for about 30 years now crack is probably the toughest addiction. I've ever seen If you've ever been into that or if you know anyone who is well, you know, it just owns you. It's just it owns you For whether it's a substance or pornography Or Gambling whatever if there's an addiction there get help Speak to me speak to one of the other elders but see somebody get christian council you won't break this out break out of it on your own Galatians 62 bear one another's burdens thus fulfill the law of Christ. That's what this is about folks These men these false teachers they worship the wrong guys. They serve the wrong masters Which leads me to the final point they teach the wrong doctrines In fact a verse one of that chapter again, but there are also false prophets among the people Just as there will be false teachers among you They will secretly introduce destructive heresies Even denying the sovereign lord who bought them bringing swift destruction on themselves Verse 17 these men are springs without water misdriven by a storm blackest darkness is reserved for them Peter the fisherman He knew something about springs without water And mist driven by the storm the image that he's giving here These people are travelers through a dry wasteland maybe even a desert and they come on a spring This dry And they see off on the horizon the rain clouds the storm clouds gathering as it comes toward them It produces only a mist And Peter says to them these people these false teachers they have an illusion of depth And of wisdom and of spirituality about them, but they have nothing Of valued off you to quench your thirst and I think A Peter in the back does mine. I think he was reflecting back to a day You find in John chapter 7 Feast of Tabernacles When his friend his Messiah Jesus stood up and said on the last and greatest day of the feast Jesus stood and said and allowed voice if anyone is thirsty Let him come to me and drink Whoever believes in me as the scripture has said Streams of living water will flow from within him Peter says these folks in Asia Minor Are you thirsty? Are you thirsty? Don't go to these these dried up Make believe want to be but never was toxic wells Don't settle for the pseudo-spiritual artificial wisdom of the nostics Come to the source The living water Peter says to us Are you thirsty? Don't settle for some water down tapped out dry dusty version go to the real source They enticed people who are just escaping from those who live in here. You know who the most vulnerable to this? Young Christians not necessarily young people The young Christians Because they're hungry their spiritual alive. They're eating the stuff up Somebody comes along who sounds like he knows what he's talking about He says hey, you're Christian. That's good. Now you really got to read some Weird esoteric book. You really got to hear some speaker you really got to go to Some seminar and look folks. I'm all for reading and studying and learning from Christians who are older and wiser of course But somebody offered you some sort of secret wisdom Some sort of esoteric stuff that the rest of church doesn't really know about First all hang on your wallet Secondly run don't walk Get away from there. Let me say it again folks There are no secrets in this book that aren't available to every Christian Baby Christians strained theologians the Bible is a stream in which Children can wade and elephants can swim I know secrets that God won't reveal to anyone who wants to know about it Let me say a quick word to about this the current buzz about eschatology the end times Whether driven by the left behind series or by the current events what you see going on Israel and Lebanon and Syrian Palestine Folks God will not have his hand forced but what's going on in the Middle East Personally, I do not believe these are the end times. I could be wrong. That'd be all right Jesus can come back tonight You might come back during lunch some of your thinking he could come back before the sermon's over that'd be okay He can come back whenever he wants but don't be shook up What you see going on between Israel and Lebanon? Syria and the rest has been going on for four thousand years Is that better weaponry now if they have if you have Escape the corruption of the world by knowing over in saviour Jesus Christ And they're in getting tangled in it and they're overcome if they've known the way of righteousness Turned their backs in sacred command How do you know Jesus and go back? How do you know the way of righteousness and turn you back on it? Folks again, there's a difference between knowing of or knowing about And knowing somebody if you ask me if I know the band you two Yeah, I know the band the great Irish gospel quartet you two Well all four professing Christians the very Mullins the drummer the very mulling junior Adam Clayton on base David Evans on guitar mostly called the edge Got many of Paul Houston's or lead vocal people call him Bono Like I've 15 albums out 170 million Copy so worldwide 22 Grammys they're involved in all kinds of humanitarian efforts especially trying to help put an end to AIDS in Africa I've been to their concert. I've got several other CDs. I know a good bit about them I've never met one of I don't know them at all There's no bound folks You know a lot of bow Jesus But do you know him? Have you opened your heart in your mind you like to him personally have you received him as Lord and Savior Have you accepted the pain that he made for you on the cross? These guys know that They didn't know him Good news here folks God warns so I won't have to send judgment He cuts in order to heal he breaks in order to mend He brings good at a bad line out of darkness Order out of chaos Life out of death That's the good news and judgment. That's the ray of sunshine in the clouds I want you to be confident and assured of who you are and what you are and who you are Let's same time one should be wary and cautious about who you deal with who you interact with An army chaplain josh this is for you an army chaplain have been in the service quite a few years and a private ask them sir Do you believe in hell The chaplain said now I've discarded that belief a long time ago And an older soldier said And you ought to resign Because if there's no hell we don't need you If there's a hell we don't need to be misled Folks I'm doing everything I can to make sure that you're never misled What you do with this now is between you and God let's pray
Father, I thank you again For the privilege I have of declaring your word your truth Your word is truth And I pray for that you use this word of truth To illuminate our hearts and our minds To convict us of our sins and our errors where need be and to heal us forgive us Menace where needed as well Father everything I've said today. I believe to be true with all my heart, but lord if I have been in error I ask your forgiveness and ask that you would lead your people into truth
Lord I pray If there's a person here today Who knows about you Doesn't know you He or she wouldn't let the sun set without doing business with you Entering into that eternal lifelong eternal lifelong relationship with you Lord that you would do these things and use your word to accomplish these things we pray in Jesus name. Amen
Now we see the benediction Go now in the love of God the Father Grace and mercy of God the Son Fellowship and companionship of God the Holy Spirit and live the life. Amen