2 Peter 2

II PETER 2

II PETER 2:3b-10

…their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed.  They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries…

God is truth!  Time and time again, the Scripture reiterates this simple fact.  As the God of truth, He cannot lie.  So, when God speaks, He always speaks truth.  However, in stark contrast, Satan is the father of lies.  His primary goal as God’s adversary is to deceive and distort the truth in order to obscure God’s message.

So holy men of God were careful to write nothing in Scripture except what was delivered through the Holy Spirit.  False teachers have no such regard.  They blaspheme God and twist the truth for their own purposes.  The reasoning of the false teachers went like this:  Jesus is not going to return to judge the world; therefore, people can live however they want.  As always, false teachers lie!

Such judgment is guaranteed to happen to every unrepentant false teacher and the scriptures we just read can come under three headings:  2:3b - The Promise of Judgment; 2:4-8 - The Precedent for Judgment, and 2:9-10a - The Pattern of Judgment. 

Today we can relate to these scriptures well as we are now living in a time of false teachings in our world and even in our church.  However, we know the ending – our God wins!!!

Let’s pray, Lord, we ask for the strength and the knowledge to discern false teachings of empty promises to escape the struggles of life and also, to not be like false teachers – half in and half out.  We, as your followers, have to be “all in” for we know You are the God of Truth and You will never leave us.  Amen and Amen!