Title: “Characteristics of the Cursed” Part 1

Text: II Peter 2:10b-22

FCF: We often struggle holding our ground in the truth

Prop: Because false teachers share similar characteristics, we must remember what we have been taught and obey the command we have been given.

Scripture Intro:

[Slide 1] Turn in your bible to II Peter chapter 2.

It is good to be back behind the pulpit. It is my turn to teach in foundations as well, so I am coming back from vacation with a full teaching schedule. The Lord is good though and allowed me to complete all my work this week.

It is also good to be back to II Peter. I am anxious to get back to the text, but the last time we were in II Peter was July 3rd. Perhaps July seems like a lifetime ago for you. I know it does for me. So it is reasonable to expect you to have forgotten most of what we have been talking about in II Peter – so let me try to do a little bit of review with you.

[Slide 2] Peter began his second letter with a beautiful description of all that God has done to insure that all we need to be what He wants us to be, is provided by Him.

Starting with faith to even be united to Christ. How do we have that faith? Peter answers. It is by the gift of God through Christ’s righteousness. Without God’s gift of Christ’s righteousness, none would believe.

Then Peter tells us that all things we need to be godly come from Him, through knowing Him. In fact, all God’s children have been called to His glorious excellence. And what God calls His children to, they will receive. In fact, it is through all His gifts to us that He has given us great promises , and since He never lies, His promising guarantees that we will receive it. He promises that we will be partakers in the divine nature.

But if we think we can bank on that promise and sit and do nothing. Peter continues by commanding his audience to make every effort to build upon what they have been given. To grow in Christ. To take the gifts of God and use them like the men in the parable of the talents who pleased their master.

In fact, Peter continues, if you have this growth upon the gifts given by God, not only will they prevent you from being useless and unfruitful for God, but they also verify or confirm that you are called and elected by God.

But Peter warns, that if these gifts are not built upon and you see no growth, then you are blind and lost. You are still in your sin and are not a true believer.

And just to make sure he is clear, Peter then bounces back again to the other side of this whole discussion to say – that if these spiritual characteristics of Christ are found in you and increasing… then they will prevent you from stumbling into apostasy and will gain for you a rich entry into the Kingdom of Christ.

After this, Peter admits that he knows they have heard all this before. But he wants to remind them because it is so desperately important that they hold fast to these truths. And because he is about to be martyred.

But how do we know all this is true? Because God has prophesied this from the beginning. And the apostles who gave this message to them did not invent this teaching or follow fables. Instead, they were eyewitnesses of Christ’s glory, and receivers of His prophetic Word.

His audience would be wise if they continued to listen to the apostles teaching and not be tempted to turn to others who disagree with them.

In fact, Peter says that they need to hold fast to all the apostles taught (much of which he has written in this very letter). Why? Well that is where chapter 2 comes in.

[Slide 3] Chapter 2 opens with the assurance that false teachers have always been around, and unfortunately, they will continue to be around.

And as they have always done, they will continue to sneak into the assembly of God’s people and sow their destructive teachings that are contrary to what has been received as the truth. If we peek ahead to chapter 3, we see that this teaching was that Christ was not going to return to judge, and that there would be no future Kingdom.

We find then, in chapter 2, the consequences of that belief in that they deny the authority of Christ and live debauched lifestyles. Doctrine has consequences y’all. If you believe something that only slightly twists the scriptures it is going to altar everything eventually.

Peter warns that these false teachers will try to exploit them and lead them astray. Which is why he wrote all he did in chapter 1. They need to trust the apostles and what they taught. The doctrine of chapter 1 is the antidote for the venom of the false teachers of chapter 2.

[Slide 4] But Peter assures his readers that God will not allow these false teachers to get away with it. In fact, based on 3 examples from Jewish history and mythology, he proves that God always has and always will rescue His people and reserve the ungodly for judgment. And He will especially reserve those who despise authority and who indulge their fleshly desires.

[Slide 5] Today, Peter is going to get specific. He is going to do a little character sketch for us. He is going to list the sinful character flaws of false teachers.

His purpose in that is twofold. First, so that we might mark them among us and be wary of them. Second, so that we might hold fast to the truth we have been taught and walk in the way of righteousness as we have been commanded.

Unfortunately, there is no way I would be able to do all of this in one sermon, so next week, we’ll come back for the rest of the description of these false teachers.

For now, I am in II Peter chapter 2. Let’s begin reading in verse 1 just to get the context we most recently spoke of, and we’ll read to the end of the chapter so we know where we are going.

Transition:

Ok, so lots to get to today, but we are well on our way. Let’s look at the second half of verse 10.

I.) False Teachers despise all authority but their own, so we must remember what we have been taught and obey the command we have been given. (10b – 13a)

a. [Slide 6] 10b – Brazen and insolent, they are not afraid to insult the glorious ones,

i. For those who despise authority and follow after their flesh – Peter does not beat around the bush. He doesn’t sugar coat it.

ii. Brazen means bold in a bad way or audacious. The kind of people we might say – how dare you – to.

iii. And insolent which means to be self-willed or self-satisfied. It is a combination of arrogance and lacking any need or want of others. It communicates not only pride but also disrespect to others. I like insolent as a translation.

iv. They are audacious because they follow their flesh. They are insolent because they despise authority. And both of these threads will permeate the rest of the chapter.

v. Peter begins with their insolence.

vi. He cites one particularly alarming and unfortunately applicable accusation against these false teachers.

vii. What is it?

viii. They are not afraid to insult the glorious ones.

ix. So, to insult means to demean or to slander. It is actually the word from which we get blasphemy. All in all, it means to speak irreverently against someone who is an authority or is in some way higher ranking than you.

x. Glorious ones could also be translated dignitaries or glories.

xi. Some view this as the false teachers speaking irreverently against the apostles or perhaps human civil magistrates. Although I disagree with that interpretation, to speak irreverently against either the apostles or human civil magistrates would fall into the same category of sin.

xii. But for several reasons I do not believe that is what these brazen insolent people were doing.

xiii. Let’s continue on and then I’ll explain what I think Peter is saying and why.

b. [Slide 7] 11 – yet even angels, who are much more powerful, do not bring a slanderous judgment against them before the Lord.

i. So, we have the picture that these men who have snuck in quietly with destructive heresies, are now irreverently rebuking the glorious ones.

ii. Whoever the glorious ones are, Peter reveals that not even angels, who are either much more powerful than these men, or possibly the glorious ones, not even angels bring an irreverent rebuke about them to God.

iii. Because II Peter and Jude have so much similar content, if we go to Jude, he says something similar in verse 8

1. “yet these men, as a result of their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and insult the glorious ones.”

2. Then verse 9 “But even when Michael the archangel was arguing with the devil and debating with him concerning Moses’ body, he did not dare to bring a slanderous judgment but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!”

iv. In Jude it is obvious that the glorious ones, dignitaries, or glories to which he is referring are angelic beings. Specifically angelic beings of a high rank. And more specifically, a named Angelic being of a high rank refusing to rebuke a fallen angelic being of a high rank.

v. So, coming back into the text of II Peter, I’d say that his reference is the same.

vi. So, what is the crime of these men?

vii. They are speaking irreverently against high ranking angels… specifically angels that have left their place and turned against their creator.

viii. As one commentator writes

1. [Slide 8] “When they were rebuked for their immoral behavior and warned of the danger of falling into the power of the devil and sharing his condemnation, they laughed at the idea, denying that the devil could have any power over them and speaking of the powers of evil in skeptical, mocking terms.” Bauckham, Richard. Jude and II Peter. Edited by David Hubbard and Glen Barker, Zondervan, 1983. Word Biblical Commentary Series.

2. Perhaps they would go so far as to deny the very existence of such beings altogether.

3. Or knowing that they deny the future coming judgment of Christ and an eventual Kingdom of righteousness – perhaps they thought that the coming judgment was only on these beings and not for them.

4. Perhaps they thought that being united to Christ meant that they could live however they wanted and still escape the punishment reserved for the devil and his angels.

5. They have forgotten the words of Christ – “depart from me you lawbreakers, for I never knew you.”

ix. What does their flippancy toward these fallen angelic powers mean?

c. [Slide 9] 12 – But these men, like irrational animals

i. In our culture to call someone an animal can actually be a good thing.

ii. But that is not at all how Peter intends this.

iii. In fact, this is a SHARP rebuke.

iv. As far as the Angelic race is from the human race, that pales in comparison from the distance between the human race and the animal kingdom.

v. Angel kind and mankind alike have spiritual futures, spiritual realities, and spiritual destinies.

vi. Angel kind and mankind are rational and make choices, generally acting out of well-thought-out reason.

vii. Animals, although perhaps being included in the new Kingdom, have no soul or spirit which will transcend to that time or place.

viii. And instead of acting out of rationality or reason… animals are…

d. [Slide 10] - Creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed –

i. What does this mean?

ii. It means that animals act according to their nature.

iii. If we followed the dictionary definition of instinct it says. “An innate, fixed pattern of behavior in response to certain stimuli.”

iv. They have been programed by God to act within a hierarchy of needs for their own personal body and for their species.

v. Birds do not fly south for the winter because they have thought long and hard about it and have concluded that this is what they must do this year. They fly south because that is what they have in their nature to do. When they feel the earth tilt and the winds change, they gather and make the trip.

vi. This is one way that animal kind and human kind differ sharply.

vii. Although we can debate the freedom of the will and how free natural man’s will actually is – one thing we can agree on I think, is that mankind has more freedom of his will than the animal kingdom does.

viii. Another stark difference between human kind and animal kind is that God made it clear in Genesis that the world, including the animals, were given under the dominion of man.

ix. Animals serve the purpose of mankind.

x. Animals are born or created so that they can be captured, tamed, used, or consumed by mankind.

xi. Their entire purpose is to serve the needs of men.

xii. Quick caveat, this does not give mankind the freedom to abuse the animal kingdom.

xiii. But why does Peter word this as captured and destroyed? We know what he means about animals? Their capture is related to their taming and their destruction is related to the killing of the animal for various needs a man would have. But why does Peter choose these words?

xiv. He is comparing an animal to these men and the relationship of an animal to men and the relationship of these men to these angelic and wicked beings.

xv. So, these men when they irreverently rebuke fallen angelic beings, they are like animals sharing two things in common with them

1. They are irrational and unthinking

2. Their purpose is to be captured and destroyed.

xvi. As animals were created to be tamed and used by men, so the wicked were made to be captured and destroyed by fallen angelic creatures.

xvii. These two commonalities with animals are explained as Peter goes forward.

xviii. Why are they irrational and unthinking? Because they…

e. [Slide 11] Do not understand whom they are insulting

i. As animals act on instinct and respond to stimuli without thinking or reasoning… they did not actually sit down and consider the beings they were irreverently rebuking.

ii. If they had – they would have known that such beings are far beyond their power.

iii. And why are these men showing that their purpose is to be captured and destroyed?

f. [Slide 12] And consequently, in their destruction they will be destroyed, 13a – suffering harm as the wages for their harmful ways.

i. The consequences of their irreverent disdain for authority and power results in their own destruction.

ii. The destruction of the reputation or the irreverent rebuke of these fallen angelic creatures will result in those very creatures dragging them into the same judgment that they will endure.

iii. They will then, suffer harm as a direct result or as the direct payment for attempting to inflict harm.

g. [Slide 13] Passage Truth: So, Peter is in the midst of a character study of these false teachers. He has already told us that they come in with destructive heresies. He has already told us that they will deny the authority of Christ. He has already told us that they will live debauched lifestyles. He told all of this to us in verse 1 and 2. He assured his audience in verse 10 that God knows how to reserve the wicked for judgment especially those who despise authority and who indulge in their fleshly desires. So now he fleshes out what it means to despise authority. They don’t even respect beings who angels refuse to rebuke. At its core, it is a misunderstanding of their role. Human beings will judge angels someday – but only because we are united to Christ. Until then, let the Lord rebuke them. And that is the problem. These false teachers are too arrogant for that.

h. [Slide 14] Passage Application: For his readers, they must not fall prey to the destructive heresies being taught, nor are they to follow the lifestyles of these men. Instead, they must mark them for what they are, and hold fast to what they’ve been taught.

i. [Slide 15] Broader Biblical Truth: Zooming out to the whole of scripture we see that oftentimes false teachers and false prophets share a common character flaw. They are notoriously arrogant. Oftentimes they never entertain the possibility of being wrong, nor do they feel any can judge them or hold them accountable for their actions. They are above the law. They sit in the seat of the judge. They are the only righteous accuser. There isn’t anyone quite like them. In this they follow the pattern of their father the devil, as He declared with confidence – you will surely not die. God is lying to you. In fact, he is just trying to keep you from what you could become. He is holding you back.

j. [Slide 16] Broader Biblical Application: So, CBC, what do we do with this first characteristic of a false teacher? What do we do when we see someone within our church despising authority? What do we do when we see someone arrogantly thinking that they are above scrutiny? What do we do when we see someone who has elevated themselves as the judge of all, as the one with all the answers? What do we do when someone among us flippantly underestimates the power of the forces of darkness? We rebuke. We warn them that they are headed down this path. We also safeguard one another from this by holding fast to what we have been taught. This will help us keep our proper place. This is where the antidote of chapter 1 comes in. God has equipped us to be godly. He has given all we need. To hold fast to such truth keep us from assuming we are able to irreverently rebuke… well… anyone.

Transition:

[Slide 17 (blank)] But certainly arrogance and irreverence is not the only characteristic of a false teacher. Peter continues with the second character flaw, one he’s already alluded to.

II.) False teachers are slaves to the passions of their flesh, so we must remember what we have been taught and obey the command we have been given. (13b – 16)

a. [Slide 18] 13b – By considering it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight,

i. These false teachers considered it for themselves a great pleasure to indulge, to spend on themselves, to revel. They are wholly turned inward – self-willed and self-gratifying.

ii. They do this in broad daylight. The NET interprets this as part of their brazenness. That they would do what most of the ungodly save for the night when the sun is down – they do in the daylight.

iii. Even the gentiles would consider drunkenness, carousing, and reveling during the day to be particularly appalling.

iv. King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 10, woe to you land when your king acts like a child and your princes party in the morning.

v. By doing this…

b. [Slide 19] they are stains and blemishes,

i. In this they prove themselves to be stains on the fine white clothing of the church.

ii. They are defects or blemishes on the perfect pattern of Christ.

iii. They are not like all of God’s other children… why? Because God’s people hate sin and love God’s law. And these men are not so.

c. [Slide 20] indulging in their deceitful pleasures when they feast with you.

i. What Peter means by this specifically we may never know, but what we can surmise is that during the Lord’s Supper, where God’s people are to grow in communion with one another and with their Lord. Where God feeds His people through faith on the atoning work of Christ. Where the hatred of sin and love for God should be at its pinnacle…

ii. These men have snuck in with their lies and are indulging in their sins during such events.

iii. Not only this, but they are (as we’ll see next week) trying to get others to join them.

iv. Can you imagine someone coming into our next Lord’s Supper, just two weeks from today, and in the line to head upstairs, they begin to directly refute the teaching of the sermon they just heard?

v. Can you imagine someone standing in line gossiping about the spiritual failures of others?

vi. Can you imagine someone, while listening to how the broken body of Christ grants us access to God, right then thinking to themselves and whispering to others – how worthy they are to be in God’s presence. To say, when I finally see the most high God – He’s gonna owe me some answers!

vii. Can you imagine while we spoke of the blood of Christ cleansing us from all our sin, a person conspiring to indulge in fornication later that day?

viii. This is the height of blasphemy. The pinnacle of sacrilege.

ix. It is no wonder Peter is not holding back.

d. [Slide 21] 14 – Their eyes, full of adultery, never stop sinning;

i. Rather than their eyes being full of adultery, really this should be rendered, their eyes are full of the adulterous woman.

ii. This means that every woman they see with their eyes is a potential candidate to engage in adultery with.

iii. Adultery can be a blanket term for all sexual sin. And in this we see that their fleshly appetites are not satiated, even while the Lord’s Supper is happening all around them.

iv. Indeed, their eyes are always looking for opportunities to sin.

e. [Slide 22] They entice unstable people.

i. Of course, as we noted at the beginning of this chapter – their sin is not limited to themselves.

ii. Their sinful practices and idolatrous hearts are not content to be alone. They instead seek to have others join them.

iii. Proverbs 4:14-16 says “Do not enter the path of the wicked or walk in the way of those who are evil. 15 Avoid it, do not go on it; turn away from it, and go on. 16 For they cannot sleep unless they cause harm; they are robbed of sleep until they make someone stumble.”

iv. Specifically, they target those who are unstable. Those who do not pay attention to this proverb. Those who are not rooted in truth. Those who are young in the faith or have only made a profession of faith.

v. They are the weakest among us, which is why the church was commanded to make disciples not converts. God saves men’s souls – but He entrusts a portion of their nurture to His church.

f. [Slide 23] They have trained their hearts for greed,

i. Another common aspect of false teachers throughout the scriptures is that they combine their new and novel teaching with financial support.

ii. The provision of great wealth is neither a proof of someone teaching the truth, nor is it something sought by those who truly preach the truth.

iii. If you find a teacher consistently talking about money, wealth, and earthly prosperity of all kinds, and they are well off themselves, before even investigating what they say – you can bet that they are a false teacher.

g. [Slide 24] These cursed children!

i. My friends this is strong language. The strongest statement Peter has made yet.

ii. What is he saying?

iii. These men are under the curse of God.

iv. As the writer of Hebrews says “For if we deliberately keep on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins is left for us, but only the fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume God’s enemies.”

v. Such willful rejection of God’s teachings and law means these false teachers have no hope.

vi. In fact…

h. [Slide 25] 15 – By forsaking the right path they have gone astray,

i. Jesus says that the road to destruction is broad and many take it to their own doom. And He also says that narrow is the way to life, and few find it.

ii. My friends, these false teachers have found the gate. They have found the path to life.

iii. But after finding it… they sprinted through the gate making great progress but they were easily distracted by all the pleasures of this world. And before they knew it, they found themselves back on the broad road.

iv. Now they stand on the broad road, and once again they see an exit for the narrow way. But they scoff and jeer. They shout at those walking it – begging them to come to the easier way. Begging them to come to a life of pleasure and luxury.

v. In fact, they are very much like a character from the Old Testament.

i. [Slide 26] because they followed the way of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, 16 – yet was rebuked for his own transgression (a dumb donkey, speaking with a human voice, restrained the prophet’s madness).

i. Turn with me to Numbers 22. We will read verses 1-35

ii. So Balaam seemed committed to only doing and saying what Yahweh instructed Him to do and say.

iii. Yet even as he set out to do as the Lord instructed, the Lord, who knows the hearts of men, saw corruption in Balaam’s heart.

iv. Most likely, Balaam on the way to Balak considered the possibility of cursing the people of Israel for the great gain Balak offered.

v. In this God sent the Angel of the Lord to stop him from pursuing the wages of unrighteousness.

vi. His donkey, which is an irrational animal, seen even during this time as an animal slow and unintelligent even for a beast of the field, His donkey saw the angel.

vii. First it turned aside, then it tried to avoid, then it finally simply sat down and refused to go on.

viii. In this somewhat comical story, the seer cannot see and is irrational and foolish, but the irrational animal can see and points out the foolishness of the seer.

ix. The Lord opened the donkey’s mouth to complain against his master.

x. Balaam listened to God and blessed the nation of Israel three times instead of cursing them.

xi. However, in chapter 25 of Numbers, right after these events, the children of Israel commit acts of prostitution and worship of Baal.

xii. In chapter 31 of Numbers we discover that this was instigated by… guess… yep… Balaam.

xiii. So immediately after he blessed Israel 3 times, he sets out to corrupting their worship. In a sense although he doesn’t pronounce a curse with his lips, he engineers a curse with his influence.

xiv. And that is the essence of these false teachers. They on the surface, on the outside, they appear to be faithful but they despise authority and they want to fulfill the lusts of their flesh including carousing, sex, and greed.

j. [Slide 27] Passage Truth: So Peter shows the second sinful characteristic of these false teachers. They are slaves to the passions of their flesh. They flaunt it openly, pursue it always, and seek to gain from all they teach.

k. [Slide 28] Passage Application: His audience must mark these men, refuse to follow them into their sin, and remain steadfast in the way of righteousness.

l. [Slide 29] Broader Biblical Truth: Zooming out to the whole of scripture we’ve seen and continue to see that false teachers and false prophets, almost regardless of what they say or teach, can be found out by their lifestyles. Jesus says in Matthew 7 that you will know them by their fruit. They follow the passions of their flesh. If you stay for foundations today, you’ll see and hear how God’s true prophets not only didn’t do this – but many of them obeyed God when He commanded them to do some pretty crazy things. They didn’t do what they wanted to, but what God wanted them to.

m. [Slide 30] Broader Biblical Application: So CBC, what must we learn from this? It is important for us to be grounded in the Word. We must hold fast to what we have been taught. To believe the gospel of Christ and live it out in our lives. We must protect those who are unstable among us by training them to obey all that Christ has commanded. And we must remain humble as we, by faith, follow our savior and trust His grace. By this, we will not be easily swayed by these cursed children who come to sweep us away with them.

Conclusion:

[Slide 31(end)] Although our description of the characteristics of the cursed is not yet complete, we can identify even today people who have demonstrated both of these sinful flaws to their own demise.

Prominent men and women in the last decade have shown disdain for authority, irreverence for received doctrine, and indulgence in their own fleshly lusts. Though they once seemed to be among us. Brothers. They are now deconverted. They are cursed.

My friends, don’t let that be you.

My friends, don’t let that be me.

We must hold fast to the truth that we have received and walk in it. And we must hold one another accountable to do so.

That is one of the primary purposes of the church. To teach one another. To protect one another. Let us do just that. So that we are not swept away by every wind of doctrine.