Bought and Damned

Bought and Damned (2 Peter 2) A. As surely as God had holy men as His true prophets, the Adversary had his counterfeit false prophets among the people. v. 1. 1. Balaam was a hireling prophet WITHOUT the congregation. NUM 22-24. 2. But there were various false prophets that arose from among the people. These were the real danger. 1KI 22:6; JER 5:31; ZEC 13:3-4. 3. God would allow false prophets to arise as a test of His people's faith and mettle. DEU 13:1-3. 4. God would even send false prophets to accommodate the rebellious and destructive tendencies of men as a judgment against them. 2CH 18:18-22; EZE 14:4-9. 5. Christ warned His hearers about false prophets. MAT 7:15. B. The parallel of the false prophets in the O.T. church are false teachers which would arise “AMONG YOU” in the N.T. churches. 1. These false teachers could come in the form of false apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastors, which are all instructive offices. EPH 4:11-12. a. The church's mettle was tested by false apostles. 2CO 11:13; REV 2:2. b. Paul faced the sober reality that elders whom he had (likely) ordained would become heretics. ACT 20:17, 29-30. 2. These false teachers could also arise from amongst the laity. ACT 15:1, 24; 1TI 1:3; 2TI 2:16-18. 3. The problem is complicated when there are willing allies within the flock. 2TI 4:3-4. 4. The church and its true minister is in greater jeopardy from internal corruption and “fifth columns” than from external aggression. PSA 55:12-14; GAL 2:4. C. Observe the sinister nature of the false teachers' agendas: they “PRIVILY shall bring in damnable heresies.” 1. Privily: In a privy manner; not openly or publicly; secretly, privately; stealthily; craftily. 2. These heretics have a deliberate stealthy agenda. EPH 4:14; 2TI 3:5-8; JUDE 1:4; MAT 7:15. a. They know that their doctrine is not apostolic and it won't endure the light of scrutiny, so they avoid it. This is characteristic of a truly evil person. JOH 3:20. b. Therefore, beware of any who would seek to undermine the Biblical instruction of the church through contrary doctrine which they avoid bringing to the pastor for discussion and scrutiny. D. These false teachers are characterized thus: 1. They have an impressive oratory, but feigned words. vs. 3, 18; JUDE 1:16. 2. They have serious moral flaws with which they both affect and infect others. vs. 10, 14, 18-19, JUDE 1:16; REV 2:14, 20. 3. They are selfwilled, unsubmissive types. v. 10; JUDE 1:8. 4. They are driven---not by righteous principle, but by profit. vs. 3, 14-15; JUDE 1:16; TIT 1:10-11. E. Their ways are pernicious. 1. Pernicious: Having the quality of destroying; tending to destroy, kill, or injure; destructive, ruinous; fatal. 2. Their ways are SELF-destructive, since their “...judgment now of a long time lingereth not...” (v. 3). Bought and Damned 3-27-11 Page 1 of 33. They destroy others through their affectations. vs. 18-19. 4. They can destroy the church by inviting the judgments of God upon it. REV 2:14-16. F. Because of such as these, reproach is brought upon “the way of truth” (v. 2), which is sometimes their whole objective. This is a scandalous thing to be avoided. 1. This world, while loving lust and covetousness, loves nothing more than to be able to label the church with a charge of hypocrisy for acting like the world does. We should strive to “...give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully” (1TI 5:14). c/w 2SAM 12:14. 2. Ministers especially must distance themselves from reproaches for sin, but bear willingly the reproaches of Christ. JAM 3:1; ECC 10:1; 2CO 6:3-10. G. From an eternal standpoint, it bodes not well for these false teachers of whom Peter has just spoken. vs. 4-10. 1. Their “judgment of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not” (v. 3). 2. Linking his thoughts with the word “for,” Peter then cites three examples of serious judgment of scandalous sinners who did indeed “...bring upon themselves swift destruction” (v. 1). a. The angels that sinned (c/w JUDE 1:6-7) were cast down to hell to await final judgment. b. The other two examples Christ uses as models of the final severance of the wicked from the just on the day of His return. LUK 17:26-30. c. We know that the spiritual outcome of Sodom and Gomorrah's judgment was eternal fire. JUDE 1:7. 3. The flow of thought in the last half of this chapter shows that Peter is still dealing with the false teachers that would arise, scandalizing the church and leading others astray. a. For them “the mist of darkness is reserved forever” (v. 17). b. Jude reemphasizes their eternal torment. JUDE 1:12-13. 4. Here is an apparent enigma: THESE false teachers are obviously hell-bound, yet the Lord had “BOUGHT THEM” (v. 1). a. Does this mean that the Arminians are correct and eternal life ain't? b. Does this mean that ransomed saints, purchased (bought) by the blood of the Lamb (ACT 20:28) can lose their eternal inheritance? c. Does this mean that our eternal destiny really is in our hands? d. Does this mean that there are contradictions in Scripture? H. If there is anything that Peter's epistle makes clear, it is that there are no contradictions in Scripture. 2PE 1:20. 1. The Scriptures unequivocally teach that God's saints are eternally secure since it is the work and righteousness of Jesus Christ, not their own, which saves them. PSA 37:28; JOH 10:27-29; ROM 5:19. 2. Scriptures also teach that sin cannot be forgiven without adequate payment, and thus the blood of Christ was shed for His elect. HEB 9:22. 3. The fact that these false teachers were bought by God presupposes that they were somehow in a state from which they had been delivered at considerable cost. 4. But notice what Peter does NOT say: a. He does NOT say that these false teachers, like his addressees, are such as would obtain “like precious faith...” (2PE 1:1), but that THEY shall be among YOU, thus establishing a contrast. b. He does NOT say that these false teachers were redeemed from the penalty and Bought and Damned 3-27-11 Page 2 of 3dominion of their sin. c. He does NOT say that they were bought, purchased, redeemed or ransomed by the precious blood of Christ as were the objects of Peter's epistles. 1PE 1:18-19. H. Remember that Peter is a Jewish apostle, commissioned to minister unto the circumcision. GAL 2:7. 1. He is writing people who had a notable national history of some 1500 years. 2. Israel's deliverance from Egypt was of utmost importance to Jewish people and the precursor of many other temporal deliverances. 3. Consider the language that Scripture uses to describe God's deliverance of Israel from the bondage of Egypt. a. He redeemed them. DEU 7:8; 2SAM 7:23. b. He purchased them. EXO 15:16. c. He bought them. DEU 32:6. d. He ransomed them. ISA 51:10. 4. Remember, the principle of redemption demands a ransom payment. a. The ransom payment for Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage was not the blood of Christ, but something different. ISA 43:1-3 c/w PRO 21:18. b. Obviously this temporal ransom wherein a third party became the redemptive price of God's chosen parallels the spiritual redemption of the elect through Christ. GAL 3:13. 5. Back when God “bought” the Jews out of Egypt, there was a great number of elect and faithful people. 1CO 10:1-4; HEB 11:29. 6. But, there were AMONGST them some who were not children of God. JUDE 1:11. a. Like Peter's false teachers, Core and company had a problem with submission to authority. 2PE 2:10 c/w NUM 16:3. b. Like Peter's false teachers, Core and company gainsaid the truth. 2PE 2:12 c/w JUDE 1:10-11. c. Like Peter's false teachers, Core and company denied the Lord that bought them. 2PE 2:1 c/w NUM 16:11-14. d. Like Peter's false teachers, Core and company developed many followers of their pernicious ways. 2PE 2:2 c/w NUM 16:1-2, 19, 41. e. Like Peter's false teachers, Core and company's pernicious ways affected many and their latter end was “...worse with them than the beginning” (2PE 2:20). c/w NUM 16:49. f. Like Peter's false teachers, Core and company brought “...upon themselves swift destruction” (2PE 2:1). c/w NUM 16:30. 7. The similarities are obvious. a. Israel, as a people, had been bought out of Egypt. b. Peter is warning N.T. Jewish saints about the inherent risks of ungodly Jews (in flesh only) amongst them who would teach contrary doctrine, command attention, promise liberty and gain followers. c. But, like Core and company, they are ultimately deniers of the God they profess, proven by their unrighteous works. c/w TIT 1:16. d. And, like Core and company, they are hell-bound. 8. Thus, there is no enigma here. Bought and Damned 3-27-11 Page 3 of 3