Make Every Effort

May 4^th 2014, Passage: 2 Peter 1:5-7 Trinity Grace Church, Ramsbottom, UK

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

The passage before us would not be sensible if there were no verses 3 & 4. This passage is a trailer that cannot function without the engine. But there would be no need of a powerful engine that has no trailer to carry the load from Liverpool to Ramsbottom! While we are the light of the world to light our families, our neighbours, our colleagues at work, our classmates and schoolmates, God is the power generating station, the source of the power and His precious and very great promises are the cables connecting us with Him. 

Our Christian lives are remarkably transformed after the powerful gospel of grace has worked in us so that we do not remain in the depravity and inability that characterized our lives before Christ came into our lives and powerfully made us alive. Moreover, the powerful work of the Holy Spirit who indwells us make us able, and willing to obey the commandments of God of loving Him with the whole of our hearts, soul and mind as well as our neighbour as ourselves. We are enabled to obey the Law of God not just because we have been justified and are being sanctified but also because of our changed status - we now obey God as our Father and as His children (1John 5:2-3). Four now we have to consider the passage before us:

Consider three things pointed out in the previous passage:

• Our goal in Christian living is life and godliness,
• The source of strength in Christian living in order to become godly is divine power, and
• The activating connection between the goal of godliness and the source of divine power is knowing and trusting the promises of God.

1.      God has worked for you

For this reason Peter says, “For this very reason…”

What reason is he referring to? This command is based on verses 3 and 4 (which are descriptive of what God has done for us). God's divine power has given us all things that lead to godliness (v. 3); Therefore or "for this reason". It is the heart of the rest of Christian life. When you are not connected to the source, it does not matter how good your bulbs are – you will not have the light. If there are no connection cables (divine promises), I can assure you that you will not shine at all! We are able to make any Christian effort only because God has done all.

Because it is all finished on the cross, we can be true Christians. God has worked in you in order to make you labour – the order must never be reversed! Catholics have reversed the order, the Muslims have reversed the order, Arminians have! The right order is that we are freely justified by faith alone and this is not of ourselves lest any man may boast – it is the gift of God not as a result of works.

During one of our Meaty Fora I talked with a lady who was saying, I will clean up the mess in my life and then go to the Saviour. I told her. “You can’t clean any mess, plead with Christ to clean your life first and then you will be able to live a life pleasing to Him.” You must never think, "I will work out my salvation in order that God might work in me." God will work in you to make you who was dead to be alive, you who was a slave to be free, you who was blind to see, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure. If you will forget everything, you must not forget this, for it is the message of the gospel:

Gospel in the first place never requires or requests us to do anything! It declares and announces what God has done for us. Human religions make endless demands like “Do this! Don't do that! Do not handle, do not touch, do not taste!” God acknowledges that man at his best and highest is a lost creature, completely and absolutely depraved – lost and dead in sin. As a result each and every man is under God’s wrath and condemnation. So, although he may strive and work at getting closer to God, he can’t because of the enmity between. Unless God provided the remedy there would be no hope of man.

Christian calling is to live a supernatural life – Christian life is a supernatural life, so how can we live supernaturally without a supernatural aid? How can we participate in the divine nature without the divine power? It is impossible. God has to work first. Has God worked in your life? Have you known the power of God in salvation?

If you have experienced the grace of God in salvation, then this passage is for you. For in this passage we are told how to live supernaturally. It is a balanced Christian life of faith. It begins with faith and ends in love and between the two we have six steps. The ground zero is faith and the ladder takes you up, step by step and to love. The amazing phrasing between what God has done and what you are to do is faith – faith that works, living faith that comes from God is the faith that makes every effort to supplement faith with all these virtues listed. So it is not a big demand to be told to make every effort.

2.      You have to make every effort

Having finished with indicatives or descriptive of the salvation, we are commanded,

“…make every effort to supplement…”

This passage tells us that having been lifeless, motionless and completely helpless before God came into our lives and gave us all the faculties and the strength and ability to move into action, we have no business being as useless as before He came. In fact he has aided us by His divine power with all things to make us effective Christians – what business do we have living as if we have no mandate? Make every effort means that we must be diligent hastily – we must not procrastinate or make excuses. When God calls a sinner, He wants him to put forth every possible effort to obey this divine call and to do so without any delay. The verb translated ‘supplement’ a very vivid metaphor drawn from the Athenian drama festivals. Where a rich individual called chorēgos paid the expenses of the chorus and joined the poets in putting up the play. On Saturday 26^th at Aberystwyth we went out for a choral presentation of Felix Mendelsson’s Classical Elijah. I looked at their Program and they had a list of Patrons who fund the Aber Choral Society… patrons only fund. But chorēgos not only funded but they also participated in the actual presentation! This could be a very costly thing to do and so the term came to the daily usage to mean, generous and costly cooperation. In the same way a Christian must engage in this kind of cooperation with God in the production of a Christian life which is a credit to himself.[1]

This means that once we get saved God makes us able to supplement His work with ours so that we bring our diligence into God’s use by His Spirit. We say that salvation is completely monergistic but sanctification is synergistic or God does everything to save us so that we can live an active life of salvation. Is this true of you? What are you doing in order to add to your faith? How do you grow as a Christian? …by working out your salvation with fear and trembling, God working in you to will and to do God’s good pleasure (Phil. 2:12, 13). Brethren, I reiterate the command of God, “…make every effort to supplement… (or to furnish and  exercise) your faith”

3.      Supplement your faith with these qualities

The foundation quality is faith. What is faith? The bible defines faith as the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Now, what is that? Faith is the personal reliance of the believer on God – it is his subjective trust in His Lord and Saviour and therefore is the basis (root and source) of his spiritual life.[2] This is the saving faith, the justifying faith, the faith that pleases God, the faith that made Abraham to be credited with righteousness. This faith is God’s gift (Eph. 2:8).

The qualities in reference are descriptive of the Christian life that is a growing life and it presents us with the nature and the character of the Christian life. What Peter is saying here is that as a Christian, you have to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (3:18). This is because true Christians do not stop pursuing growth in grace. They go on, press on, advance and sour on wings ling eagles. They apply themselves with diligence to increase in these things so that they become effective and fruitful Christians in the knowledge of Christ. This is the clear evidence that they have indeed been cleansed from former sins and have in fact, escaped by flight the corruption of this broken and fallen world because of its sinful desire. What qualities are we talking about here?

v  “…supplement your faith with virtue…”

What does the word ‘virtue’ mean? This word has changed its meaning in usage over the centuries. Today when we talk of a young woman’s virtues, we are referring to her moral character. But you notice this meaning could not fly in this passage because all the qualities listed are virtues and surely, the Lord could be telling us supply in your faith virtue and then go on to tell other virtues. This word is used here to mean moral power. It means that you have a faith that is alive and energetically active. There is no lethargy in faith and so when you discover that vigour of your faith in action is waning, then remember the word of the Lord, supplement your faith with virtue. This word is also translated excellence or goodness and it relates to one of God’s attributes as it is in v.3. God has called us to his own glory and excellence (same word). When asked the question “What is God?” We respond,

God is Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.[3]

Christ went round Galilee doing good. Is this true of you? What good have you done to another? Is there any good proceeding from you to your neighbours here in Ramsbottom? What good have done to God, you Maker and Saviour?

v  “…supplement your virtue with knowledge…”

The next quality that follows or even flows from goodness is knowledge. It is a word that tells us to use our minds. It is not relational knowledge in view here. Rather it is practical wisdom or sagacity. I love to fellowship with spiritually erudite people. This is the wisdom that distinguishes the good from the bad, the right from the wrong. It is discerning wisdom. It is gained from exercising faith and goodness together so that there is insight and understanding. This serves to strengthen faith and teach virtue.

One of the basic problems of our day is ignorance in spite of the outburst of the seams of the information technology. People don't read. Many are happy in their ignorance. Christians do not know their Bibles and so many are led astray by false teachers. They believe everyone who comes along. Devote yourself to learning and so grow in the knowledge of God for the people who know their God shall be mighty and do exploits. Therefore, supplement your virtue with knowledge.

v  “…supplement your knowledge with self-control…”

Self-control is discipline and it is synonymous with sports and the strict training that it goes with. How many times do we read this from the Bible, “Rather train yourself for godliness, for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and the life to come … devote yourself … do not neglect the gift you have… practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress… keep a close watch on yourself… persist in this.”  (1Timothy 4:7-8, 13 – 16)

Kenya is known for athletics but it is not genetically produced – it is a product of discipline and exercise Who can show an athlete who won any medal without training and discipline and self-control? Self-control is so much needed in reference to the temptation to pleasure and indulgence. There is a program called Slim-Possible… to help deal with weight problems. Those who participated last year confessed that they couldn’t restrain themselves from eating. Is this true of you? What is it that you have cast off all restraints? Is it lust? Is it covetousness? Is it anger? What is it that you need to exercise self-control? Many of you need to discipline yourself with time. Self-control is to be exercised in every aspect of Christian life. This means that your soul and mind controls the passions and feelings instead of being controlled by them. A Christian ought to exercise self-control depending and trusting in the Lord for help.

v  “…supplement your self-control with steadfastness…”

Steadfastness is the same as perseverance and it means to remain or keep under control even during a conflict. Thayer supplies its definition as follows:

Perseverance is the “characteristic of a man who is unswerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings.”

While we need self-control for the temptations that we may be inclined to desire (pleasure), we need steadfastness during trials of conflict, we need it when we are faced with problems that we are finding it hard to cope. Patience is no stoic quality of accepting all that comes as from the dictates of blind fate. It springs from faith in the promises of God, knowledge of Christ, experience of His divine power. And so it produces in the Christian a deepened awareness of a Father’s wise and loving hand controlling all that happens.[4] If you are going to persevere to the end, then you will be saved. If you stop on the way because of the terrible worldly problems then you are going to be damned. We should remember that we are God’s children, marching on to a glorious eternal inheritance which we shall enter, ‘after we have suffered awhile[5]’.

v  “…supplement your steadfastness with godliness…”

Godliness is a very practical awareness of God in every aspect of one’s life. It is living in the presence (and therefore, fear) of God. This is what John Calvin called Coram Deo (in the presence of God). In bringing this before brotherly affection is very significant because Peter is saying that relationship with men can only be meaningful where relationship with God is there.  The only reason why we do all we do as Christians is because of God. We are interested in supplementing to our faith virtue knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection and love, only because we care about pleasing God. There is no point in all these things unless they are centrally related to pleasing God.

v  “…supplement your godliness with brotherly affection…”

This is Philadelphia. On the other hand if you think you can love and hate your brother, then you are completely mistaken. The evidence that you love God is that you care for His people, you love those He has redeemed by the blood of His Son. How can my son Asaph, say that he loves me, yet beats up Ruth every time? If this happens I will ever be on him to protect Ruth from him! Love for brethren means caring for them both spiritually and materially. It is bearing each other’s burdens, whether physical or spiritual, admonishing one another, praying for one another, remembering each other always etc. Love for brethren entails bearing another’s burdens, and so fulfilling the law of Christ; it means guarding that Spirit-given unity from destruction by gossip, prejudice, narrowness, and the refusal to accept a brother Christian for what he is in Christ because of race or creed, gender or age.

v  “…supplement your brotherly affection with love…”

Love has its origin in God and has first to be returned to God for it to be the love that the Lord wants for His people. This is the fulfillment of the law. Faith works in love and love fulfills the law. This is because the law is summarized in the commands, “You shall love the love the Lord your God with all your all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:37, 39)

Please remember that we do not judge a person's Christian profession by how close he is to heaven but by how hard he is pressing heavenward.

The evidence that God's power has been given to you by faith is that you are now making every effort (as verse 5 says) to advance in the qualities of Christ. Are you? if there is no evidence that you are advancing and increasing in these qualities, then you may be deceiving yourself.

This is the command here:

"Forward! Forward! Forward! As you have obtained faith in Christ and stand in it, now apply yourself diligently to advance in moral excellence; and as you stand in that, do not be satisfied but press on to increase your knowledge of God's will; and as you stand in that, do not be satisfied but be diligent to enlarge your capacities of self-control and mastery of your passions; and as you stand in that, don't be satisfied but cultivate every form of patience and serenity; and in that let devoutness and piety and sweet love to God flourish; and in that strive to kindle your affection for other believers; and in and through it all grow in love to all men." Until you get up the ladder lead by God’s Spirit who works the sanctifying work in us.

In other words: Forward! Forward! Press On! Advance! If you are making effort and advancing, it is an evidence that you are plugged into God’s power and that you are connected to Him by His precious and very promises.

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[1] Michael Green, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, 2 Peter and Jude, p.76, IVP

[2] Simon J. Kistemaker, NT Commentary Peter and Jude, Evangelical Press

[3] Spurgeon’s Shorter Catechism,

[4] Michael Green, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, 2 Peter and Jude, p.78, IVP

[5] D. M. Lloyd Jones, Expository sermons on 2peter, p.29, Banner of Truth Trust.

What Kind Of People Ought You To Be?

16^th February 2014, Passage: 2 Peter 3:11-14 

How does the knowledge about Christ’s coming affect you? What about the eminent end of all things, how does it impact you? God will soon bring the created order into an end in order to fully do away with sin and have a eternal community of a people who truly and spiritually worship Him. Now this should cause us to think clearly about this awful truth. Yes, we are all apprehensive about such a future.

This is the question that the Apostle brings to our attention –

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!  But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

This is the most serious matter. It is something that we must very seriously consider. We must not be slothful, negligent or careless in these matters. We are to be prepared for it, so that we are not taken by surprise when it will come. There are expectations that God has for us in furnishing us with this sort of information. God will not just give information that has not purpose. He is giving us this information so that we may be a specific sort of people. So, what sort of people ought we to be in view of this?

1)    We must be waiting expectantly for this great Day

2)    We must be preparing for it!

3)    We must be hastening its coming!

1.    We must be waiting expectantly for this great Day

The problem of the ungodly is that they have great regard for the coming of this great Day. They wish it away – yes they ignore it. They are not waiting for it. Instead they think that by burying their heads on the sand, it will never come. They scoff at it as we have already seen. They listen to the false teachers who scoff at it. The result is that they will be caught unawares to the peril of their souls.

However for us as believers, we must be different. The Lord has revealed these things for our sake. It is a period of grace so that as we reflect on what will become of us we may be focused on Christ and not what we can and can’t do because it is all done on the cross for us. Peter has already told us that the Day will come upon us suddenly like a thief. This is something that Paul also so emphatically asserts in 1Thess. 5:2. What shall do in expectation of this unexpected suddenness?

In expectation, a very high level of alertness is expected of us. Imagine you are on the track, just about to take a 100M sprint… the referee says, “On your marks!” and everyone takes his position. Then he shouts, “Get ready!” At this level being ready, you are to be on high alert for the next instruction. At this point you can’t afford to close your eyes… or to lose focus. We are always being told that the government is on high alert because of the terrorism threat. The security apparatus are ready for a slight indication of a terrorist. The government is in great expectation of a possibility of threat. This is what the Lord is telling us about – be on high alert.

Notice how Peter repeats that we must be waiting (vv.12, 13 & 14). This word can also be translated ‘looking’ like the way Peter required the man who was sat at the beautiful gate with a disability, “Look at us,” Peter told him. This man, we are told, “Fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.” (Acts 3:4,5). So we are expected to, be expecting, to be looking, to be waiting for. Yes we are to live always anticipating that something great and remarkably wonderful to happen.

Our great problem is that we are living as if our lives depend on this world! We have put so much emphasis on the treasures of this world that are transient and have forgotten the eternal. You are to remember that whatever this world can afford is soon going to be gone and forever lost. Because this world is passing away with all its treasures. Not only so but also the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! This is the reality that all these things that we see and enjoy are soon going to be replaced with things that are eternal. What sort of a Christian ought you to be in view of this? You ought not to put any hope in these things because even before the Lord comes, thieves, moths and rust are working hard to deprive you of their comfort.

This world will remain in rebellion and in groaning until that Great Day, at the revelation of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. There will not be any permanent social reforms, there will not be any peace in the world, there will be no joy… the hope of this world does not rest in human right activists working harder in securing social order and justice, the police will not make this world a better place to live in. it is only when Christ will come that a child can play with a snake and lion can live with a deer in harmony… before then the world remains at enmity with God. While we believe in human governments and good laws, we are not to put our faith in it for is will soon disappoint us. All our energies are to be fixed on this great anticipation of the revelation of the Lord Jesus in great glory. This is our hope.

2.    We must be preparing for it! (v.14)

In preparation for the Great Day we are called upon to be diligent. This is why Peter says,

“Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.”(v.14)

You notice that the Apostle is not interested in morality for morality or ethics’ sake. The expectation to live a godly life of holiness, described in such terms as without spot or blemish, and at peace, because there is the blessed hope coming on all those who live in that manner. If you are expecting the new heavens and the new earth where righteousness dwells, how can you now live a reckless life. If you are waiting for the revelation of righteousness in future, it means that righteousness is expected of you now. This is the preparation that we are to have.

Be diligent. The greatest problem of Christians is negligence, remember that there is a curse on the one who does the work of the Lord negligently (Jer. 28:10) and so being full aware of this, we are called upon to be diligent. What does this mean? What is expected of us here? We are expected to be found in Christ without spot or blemish. Here is a call to be so diligent that not a single spot is seen in us… Christ is coming for a church that is without spot, blemish or wrinkle and so any spot is an indication that Christ is not coming for you. The preparation therefore involves working on all these spots and blemishes by the Spirit of God cleansing us with pure water of God’s Word. Are you pressing on towards spotless purity? You are to be perfecting holiness by working and laboring that you are found with no spot or blemish in your thinking, no such thing in your desires, no pollution in your actions but holiness so that you may be fit to live where righteousness dwells.

In this period of waiting we are to pursue godliness and contentment. We are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling for God is at work in us. Pursuit of godliness is marked by cultivation of personal holiness – devotion to God’s Word, prayer, fellowship and breaking of bread shows a Christian who is waiting expectantly for that Great Day. When you start slacking in these matters, you have lost sight of the end.

The impetus for this waiting is that we shall see Him as He is in His glory. Then we shall understand what it cost Him to ransom us from slavery and bondage of sin. But if you want this to be a reality, then you will give diligence and hard work into it and say like Paul, “…by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” 1Cor. 15:10. If this will not be true of you then you will be ashamed of having had Christ give so much to make you His prize and yet live like it meant nothing for you so that you will be rejected.

3.    We must be hastening its coming!

Peter simply says, “…what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God…”

Now, Since these things have been determined by the omnipotent and foreknowledge of God, how can you “hasten” them? What can a mortal, finite man like you and I do to engage in these grandeurs work of the coming of the day of God? Is it this the same Peter exhorted his hearers at Solomon’s Portico to do in Acts 3:19-21,

“Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the time for God restoring all things about which God spoke by the mouth of the prophets long ago.”

Is it not true to say that the end will come when the conditions are such that God deems fit to have the end happen? When God determines is the best time He will send His Son. The end will not come until all God’s elect have come in into His kingdom. All Israel of God –i.e. the fullness of Gentiles and the fullness of Jews, has to enter before the end comes. Right now the Lord is using His people to gather them in by the preaching of the gospel. Therefore this is the one thing that the Lord gave as an indication as to the manner we may hasten His second coming in Matt.24:14:

 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

Therefore, let us hasten Christ’s coming by diligently spreading the gospel, by preaching or by supporting missionary work, and the work of the church throughout the world – in fact by everything we can do to hasten the coming.  This is an exhortation to not just be content to be a Christian who lives unconcerned for the conversion of the others. You have to labour hard in the gospel and encourage others to do the same. It also means that as a church we cannot just afford to do so little in reaching out with the gospel.

Applications

v  Consider how much time you give in securing and acquiring things of this world. Things that will soon be burned up. Consider your subtle unwillingness to look for the eternal things. Look at how you quickly make an earthly investment and yet so reluctant to invest more in the eternal things. When you look around in this church, can you see people that you have invested in, without considering what they can give in return? If there is none, start today.

v  I must point out to you with great humility that you must not expect to see the glorious Son at the Day of His appearing if you live a lazy Christian life… if you are a lazy and idle life, then you push away the glory that is coming. If you want to be the work that others do then you will be very disappointed that Day. If you are always the one to be exhorted and rebuked by others… diligence NOT negligence is what is needed.

v  Are you going down in your pursuit of holiness? What is your reaction to this message of the second coming of Christ and the end of all things? Are you depressed/distressed or disappointed that if Christ comes today, He will ‘spoil the party’ so to speak so that you will not enjoy your career, your marriage, your family, your retirement, etc. or are you looking forward to it, preparing and even hastening its coming?

v  Brethren, we must labour hard both as a church and individually (in the contest of this local church that the Lord has placed us) to proclaim the gospel. Let us not just be content to proclaim His death until He comes by the Lord’s Supper. We must be willing to take this great and good news to the world and make Christ known. We are in this area Donholm, Savanna, Greenfields, Sunrise, Umoja – the people who live here need to hear the gospel. Why should they not hear it from us? This is the task that the Lord has given us

Destruction of the Ungodly is Sure!

2^nd February 2014,                  Passage: 2 Peter 2:10b-22   

As I began by saying this is not the kind of chapter we enjoy reading. But not all medicine tastes good. God, the great physician, knows our need. And every word is profitable for out teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness if we are going to be competent Christians. If it increases our earnestness in realizing the full assurance of hope to the end, it will have succeeded. May the Lord make it this afternoon. You should so much rejoice if you have never been captive to false teachers and their teachings. Look around and talk with people who have been in Charismatic Movement. They will tell how much they have suffered in the hands of preachers, who extort people of their money, who bring many to spiritual ruin by their deceitful teachings and win for themselves follows who will do anything to follow them. You have to be on your guard lest you be also taken captive by this flood of deception in our day brought by false teaching.

This is for the strengthening us to resist the temptations of spiritual pride and self-sufficiency (11–13), the love of money and all its destructive tendencies (14–16), and the summons to unbridled sexual license (2, 7, 14, 18). In these verses Peter continues to unmask these false teachers by a way of

1)    Describing false teachers further

2)    The certainty of their destruction

In his doing this, he is negatively exhorting us to make our election sure, having made a positive exhortation of the same in chapter 1.

A.    Who are false teachers?

Peter uses the following phrases to describe them:

      I.         Bold and willful in blasphemy

Notice the self-willed attitude of false teachers. They are bold and arrogant. They are so rash and brazen. They speak presumptuously in their conceit. They call it the power of positive confession in our day… they tell their hearers to claim it and possess it! One of the reasons why the Charismatic movement has spread like wild fire is because for whatever reason, most of the preachers bold and arrogant. So arrogant are they, Peter says that they slander the angels and some preachers have interpreted this to mean that just like they are described in 3:3,4, they scoff at the second coming of the Lord!  Yet even angels who are greater in might and power, therefore more justified, do not pronounce judgment against the fallen angels before the Lord. Upright angels have many reasons to accuse fallen angels, yet the faithful angels carefully avoid raising accusations against Satan and his followers and leave this matter to God as the final and ultimate Judge. C.f. Jude 9

One of the ways of knowing false teachers is that they ascribe glory to themselves and their entities that they call churches or ministries. I know of a church that is called “The Nairobi’s church of excellence”! What of these big names they give to themselves: Great Global Ministries, World Changers International – most of these churches are international, although they meet in mabati sheds and it is the headquarters!

The other way of knowing false teaching is that it devotes so much time in slandering the devil that they have so little time to honor and worship God. A whole song of a young woman who supposedly come to faith recently is devoted to ‘kupiga Shetani mateke!’ How this is God-honoring I do not know as it is not even the Lord who is kicking the devil around – it is people. We know of other songs like – “Shetani nimsema kwa Baba”. All these is at best a waste of time and at worst slanderous, blasphemous and conceit (since even angels would never do such a thing!). Peter H. David has rightly said, “The devil himself is not to be object of insult”. When you see people who are devoid of decency and propriety in their language, know for sure that they are not among the company of God’s people. Let there be no cursing among us… do not be into carelessly using God’s Name or into such common phrases like “Damn it!”

    II.         Irrational, led by instinct like animals

False teaching is wild and beastlike. It is denying the truth and glorifying a lie. For this reason, Peter describes them as irrational – for they fail to use common sense. They refuse to use the intellect God gave them. They are brute beasts led by instincts because they have neglected their rational faculties and are led by their depraved passions. For this they will soon be trapped and snared in their own folly of thinking and be destroyed. Licentiousness is self-destructive. When a man or woman gives himself to pursuing pleasure, he soon self-destructs. While someone may enjoy what he calls pleasure, he soon ruins his health, destroys his body, ruins his mind and loses his integrity and before long he will be living hell on earth. Look at drunkards, soon they have cirrhosis and liver cancer, soon smokers get to be diabetic, soon the sexually immoral are dying of AIDs and other STI, drug addicts are raving mad and so forth. While this is true of physical engagements it is also true of those who live in error for they soon suffer spiritual ruin.

  III.         Ignorant of what they teach

These people pour out abuses about things they do not understand. Maybe the reason for their constant blasphemy is because of their ignorance. This reminds me of the evil men of Sodom who wanted to sexually abuse the angels in their ignorance and depravity so that they were struck with blindness. Their lack of understanding is evident in things that they do. They talk of God that they do not know. They open up Bibles that they do not understand. They talk of heaven and hell that they do not comprehend what is there. Yet they are teachers. Therefore they give fairy tells. They have endless stories of where they went and what they did and said, which has nothing to do with eternal life of any of their hearers. Yet thousands of people follow them supposing that they are the best teachers they have ever known. They talk of things they do not understand. The ignorant of many preachers is shocking. You just need to listen to them keenly to see their folly.

  IV.         Revelers in daytime

They carouse in broad daylight… The term rendered "carousing with you" in verse 13 means literally "eating feasts with you." The picture seems to be of an all-church banquet where these men show up as spots and blemishes. What is the better way of describing false teachers than they love for pleasure. They do during the day what is done in the night. They are idlers and do not want to work. One of the reasons why pastors are considered idlers is because most of the so-called pastors do so little to show that they study of their profession. Their knowledge of the Bible is terrible because they barely read the Bible. When they visit they spend time in politics. When they rise up to preach they beg for money. The money that they obtain is spent in pleasure…like where I come from pastors are ever in suits of borrowed money so that some churches are expected to have fundraising to obtain money for pastor’s suit! Always remember that pleasure and delight are pressed into the service of sin because they are enslaved to their wild parties and so are devil’s servants. Do you remember the Finger of God led by Joseph Hellon and Esther Arunga? Then they came with the Placenta Party of Kenya! This carousing reminds me of these people.

    V.         Eyes full of adultery insatiable for sin

They can't look on a woman without thinking about sexual relations. With hearts well-trained in greed they try to isolate the unstable new-comers and draw them away in licentiousness (v. 2). Women are the same and the result is that lust is the common currency here. There is so much evil when you have roaming eyes that will simply not see a saint in another Christian of the other gender. Paul instructed Timothy to treat older men like fathers, older women like mothers and younger women like sisters. When this is not happening, then your Christianity is inverted. I know that there may be struggles here but when these struggles are lacking, then there is something that need to be dealt with otherwise you fall into the pitfall of these heretics.

You notice who the false teachers go after the "unsteady souls." We get an even clearer picture in verse 18: "they entice . . . people who have barely escaped from those who live in error." In other words, new converts; people who are unstable in their grasp of truth. This is a strong admonition, first, to establish our own doctrinal stability in the Word, but then, also to labor seriously to ground our children and all new converts quickly in the truth of Scripture. Let's be a church where we are constantly helping each other to send our roots ever deeper into the rock of God's truth. How do they entice them? By what promises they give them – freedom from poverty, diseases, etc. they offer to them a problem-free life (only if you do their bidding, e.g. them money)

  VI.         Hearts trained in greed

These heretics are “experts in greed”…literally they exercise (as in gymnasium) their hearts in greed. Covetousness is what defines them. I remember when two years ago I passed by a church and the preacher was teaching people how to claim and possess and with my seven-year old Asaph, who immediately pointed out to me that the pastor was teaching people to covet and that we should leave! Covetousness is idolatry (Col. 3:5) because the person worships material things instead of worshipping God. They have made money their god that they worship day and night, crying out, “money is good!” worthy is a rich man they say. Materialism preached by many is training people to be greedy. Remember that Peter has already told us that, “in their greed they will exploit you with false words.” (3). For this reason these are accursed brood! God has condemned and cursed them eternally. They have left the straight path of truth and righteousness and wandered off to the way of Balaam. Balaam who loved gain from wrongdoing, specifically, gain from someone willing to pay for his prophetic services. Probably, then, the false teachers were not only enticing young converts away into sexual sinfulness, but were charging them for their own special teaching! Did you know that if you pay for something, you take it more seriously!

VII.         Waterless springs and mists driven by storm (v.17)

False teachers are ever offering heaven on earth. They promises delight and happiness. They offer thrills and bliss. They also promise freedom, but in reality they are as empty and barren as dry cisterns or waterless springs. Imagine in desert, where you see an oasis and run only to find out that there is nothing in spite of the green trees! They are like mists that seem to promise rain for the land, but are quickly blown away.  Waterless clouds! There is a great need for discernment for us to be able to distinguish between waterless springs and springs of living water! The one bubbles up unto eternal life. The other sinks down into the gloom where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. We must become a deeply discerning people, as Pastor Piper so well puts it.

Yet they are full of loud boasts about their power to heal and dispense wealth to their followers. For this reason they advertise their wares on billboards and on the T.V. promise healing and wealth pap! Please do not follow them for they are themselves slaves of corruption. Although they may themselves want to be set free, they cannot because they have no way of escape having been trapped there in by their depravity. Their own greed has brought them to utter ruin. Be on the lookout lest they bring you down with their destruction.

B.   Their destruction is certain

You notice that Peter speaks with certainty that their destruction is long written and so he uses such words as:

1)    They are born to be caught and destroyed (like pests) (v.12)

2)    They will be destroyed in their destruction (v.12)

3)    They will suffer as wage for their wrong doing (v.13)

4)    They are accursed children (v.14)

5)    They have gone astray (v.15)

6)    For them the gloom of utter darkness is reserved (17)

7)    They are slaves of corruption (v.19)

8)    They are entangled in their defilement and overcome (v.20)

9)    They are worse than they were (vv.20, 21)

10) They wallow in the mire (v.22)

In these ten statements, the Lord is assuring those who faithfully follow Him that their detractors will not go on for long, they will soon be vanquished in their folly and error. The purpose though is to help you to be solid in what you believe so that in this information you made wise for the true salvation that comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. It is meant to bring to you the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (v.20). While these heretics deny Him, while they turn back from the holy commandment to their own peril, the Lord wants His own to be informed and be grounded in the true salvation. The Apostle of the Lord is instructing us so that we may never be like these men. Sure the more you know, about the Lord and about salvation, the more is expected of you so that if you turn back, then a severe judgment awaits you.

Peter is not teaching that God's elect can lose their salvation – He is teaching the opposite, that believers cannot loses salvation even when rocked by the false teachers and their teachings. He is most definitely teaching that church members can be lost, and people who make outward professions of faith and even begin to clean up their lives can turn away from Christ and be lost. The illustration of a dog returning to the vomit and pig to the mire shows that he is speaking of those who only had an appearance – a clean dog is a dog just like a clean pig is still a pig! Those who leave the way of righteousness to never to return, simply show that their inner nature had never been changed.