1. Hungry Wolves & Healthy Sheep. They go together.
2. Wherever there are healthy sheep, there are hungry wolves.
a. AND wherever the truth is taught, lies are pressing in.
b. It’s true in the physical world, but it’s especially true in the spiritual realm, in the church.
c. To put it another way:
“WHEREVER the Lord is doing a wonderful & glorious work, the enemy isn’t too far behind trying to destroy it!”
Paul tells the leaders in Ephesus: - Acts 20.27-30
NOTE: Peter, along with Paul, John, and all other spiritual leaders understood their responsibility in the church was twofold:
#1 – Feed, Nourish, and Tend the flock of God.
#2 – Warn and protect the flock.
Pastor Peter picks up on this very same theme to the scattered and hassled believers he’s writing to.
I. (1:1-3) NOT SPARING THE FLOCK
1. (1-3) False Prophets
a. Well, the Holy Spirit is holding back nothing here and identifies the false teachers for who they are!
b. Yes Peter said in 1:21, there were ‘holy men of God who spoke as they were moved by the Spirit’
c. BUT there were also men who spoke from their own selfish desires and deceits!
NOW I know there are false teachers OUT THERE, but in here?
• I mean OUT THERE, I can understand.
• People have wandered around our parking lots putting false teaching on our windshields! BUT IN HERE?
NOTE: Well, from time to time, FALSE TEACHERS do come through the fellowship with dangerous & harmful teachings.
• It’s so totally discouraging to see people raised up & then start teaching things that are off the wall drawing people after themselves. It’s wrong & sinful & hurtful.
REALLY it’s the way of the cults.
• They go after Christians and try to confuse them.
• Ever been confused by a false teaching or a cult member?
1 Corinthians 14.33 For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
• Cults always prey on the work that the Lord has already done because they don’t bring good news to a person but bondage!
• There’s NO POWER in a false gospel to change a life.
• So those in cults try to find common ground first, showing outwardly how things look so good…
• Then they sneak destructive heresies after they’re hooked.
THAT’S HOW Satan works: by subtleties, snares, & schemes. Right?
• He doesn’t just show up in red pajamas and a pitchfork.
• But Paul warns us…
2 Cor. 11.13-14 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.
Unfortunately… at times v2 comes to pass.
• Many will follow their DESTRUCTIVE ways.
• And their COVETOUSNESS will become evident.
SO what do the false teachers covet?
• Well money right? Yes, but before we get to money, let’s look a few other things that they covet… so we can guard our hearts.
#1 – They covet the power of God.
• That’s really what they want, power & control.
• They like to control & manipulate people and often use spiritual language to do that.
#2 – They covet your time & attention.
• A real stroke to a man’s pride to win people over to himself.
• Think of the cults today and who they lift up and glorify.
• Joseph Smith, Mary Baker Eddy, Watchtower Society, David Koresh
#3 – Finally, They covet your money.
• Scheme upon scheme has been developed today to separate God loving people from their money.
• That’s why I believe the Holy Spirit teaches us to give as we’ve purposed in our hearts… not be persuaded by men.
SO Where does it begin? In the heart!
• Peter says they ‘deny the Lord that bought them.’
• The blood of Jesus Christ was poured out even for those that would deny him – for the world.
THAT’S GOOD NEWS: God so loved the WORLD, the lost, the sinners, the rebellious, the confused, the unwilling.
• You’re in the world. I was in the world. So God’s love reaches down even to those who reject His love.
• But if you receive Him?
John 1.12-13 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
GUYS HELL is a real place and those who go there do so willingly, openly, defiantly and of their own free will.
• But you don’t have to deny, you can receive Jesus today.
John 1.11-12 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
• Jesus reaches out in love to them, providing a way of escape from the penalty of their sins… And they reject him!
• Once you reject Jesus, it gets very dangerous!
BUT at the end of v3, their judgment is coming… JUST LIKE…
V4 – The angels who sinned were judged by chains.
V5 – The ancient world were judged by a flood.
• Now Genesis 6:3 tells us that God waited 120 years before He sent the flood upon the earth!
• And God sent Noah as a preacher of righteousness… but they rejected the Lord.
V6 – The sins of Sodom & Gomorrah were judged.
BUT v9 is so awesome & glorious… Let it sink in…
• God knows how to deliver the godly!
• He knows how to rescue those who look to Him!
• He knows how to save those who live for Him!
1 Cor. 10.13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
It’s true…
• The angels that didn’t rebel… delivered.
• Noah & his family… delivered.
• Lot in the midst of Sodom… delivered.
• That’s the testimony of our faithful God.
• It’s also why I believe the church will be raptured BEFORE the 7-year GT period… God knows how to deliver!
Revelation 3.10-11 "Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 "Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.
• He is able to deliver the godly out of temptations!
NOW: You might think you’re trapped today with no way out.
• You might think you’re so far away and so deep that there is no rescue for you.
• The enemy of our souls might have convinced you that it’s too late, you’ve gone too far, just give up and quit.
• But God tells you today, He knows how to deliver the godly.
• He can, He will deliver you if you will repent & look to Him!
Psalm 50.15 Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me."
• That’s just so wonderful! God knows & will deliver me!
2 Peter 1.3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
AND it’s true the other way too… those that rebel, those that take advantage of the sheep, those that walk in the flesh: judgment.
(9-11)
• These are strong words… ESPECIALLY THOSE.
• God takes special notice to those that walk according to the flesh… those that despise authority…
• The presumptuous, the self-willed, the ones who aren’t’ afraid to speak evil of the angelic realm.
Let’s look back at Jude 9.
• After Moses died, we see Michael the archangel protecting his body. We wonder why?
• And even Michael dared not being a railing accusation against Satan but called upon Lord to rebuke Him.
• And so I know some will rant and rave and taunt the devil, but we’ll just fall in behind the Lord and let Him be our defender.
So Peter the faithful shepherd warns us against false teachings, and the false teachers that bring them.
• Why? Because a faithful shepherd always feeds, & also away warns.
Matthew 7.15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
THE BEST ANTIDOTE to falsehood is the truth.
• Know the truth, study it, grasp it, and live it out.
It was the famed pastor Henry Ironsides that said, “God forbid that we should traffic in unlived truth.”
AND… as we live in the truth, a healthy church is able to purge out it’s poisons & become even more healthy & strong & effective!
