But there arose false prophets also among the people, as among you also there shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
And many shall follow their lascivious doings; by reason of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of.
And in covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not.— 2 Peter 2:1-3
This is now, beloved, the second epistle that I write unto you; and in them I stir up your sincere mind by putting you in remembrance;
that ye should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Saviour through your apostles:
knowing this first, that in the last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own lusts,
and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.— 2 Peter 3:1-4
For this they wilfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth compacted out of water and amidst water, by the word of God;
by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
but the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.— 2 Peter 3:5-7
But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.— 2 Peter 3:8-9
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness,
looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?— 2 Peter 3:10-12
But, according to His promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for these things, give diligence that ye may be found in peace, without spot and blameless in His sight.
And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation.— 2 Peter 3:13-15
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and unto the day of eternity. Amen.
— 2 Peter 3:18
Lord, we thank You because You have loved us to the uttermost. Not only because You so loved us that You went to the cross, where Your blood was shed and Your body was broken.
Because You are the lover of our souls, You want us to come often to break the bread and remember You. You want us to do so until You come.
O Lord, we are so willing that, when we do this, our hearts will be given to You again; that once again we put ourselves under Your feet, so that You can have absolute authority over us.
May Your kingdom come among us. May Your will prevail among us, so that we can hasten Your return.
Lord, You have heard all the praises of Your saints. You have seen the heart’s desire of Your saints. We pray that You accept them, and for this reason, Lord, come back soon.
Lord, we really thank You that You have given us the opportunity to gather in such hope, that when we gather again, we may meet with You in heaven.
Now we put this last hour before Your hand. Lord, what You want to speak to us, please speak. Your servants are listening. In the name of the Lord Jesus, amen.
Peter knew that it was about time for him to leave the world, so he wrote this letter. At his own last hour, he was willing once again to do his duty to remind the brothers and sisters.
He wanted to remind the brothers and sisters that the grace of God comes to us with a purpose. Why has God given us all things regarding life and godliness? Why has God given us so many great and precious promises?
The purpose is to help us become a people who can wait for and hasten His return. If we have received such mercy and such grace, and yet are not those who wait for and hasten His return, then we have made the grace of God useless.
So we pray that God will have mercy on us, that His word written in 2 Peter may be carved into our hearts, and that we may be especially diligent—especially in the formation of the character of Christ in us.
Those who truly wait for the Lord and truly hasten His return do not do so merely because they have done works for the Lord. No matter how many works we have done on earth, we cannot hasten His return by our works.
What hastens His return is that our Lord sees a group of people who have been made ready. This adorning, or making ready, is not something outward. It is that we have a character that is ready.
In other words, it is by His grace that we are transformed into His image. When we are truly conformed to His image, that can touch the heart of the Lord. That can hasten His return.
Brothers and sisters, in Revelation 2 and 3 we see One like unto a son of man walking among seven lampstands. What is He looking for as He walks among the seven lampstands?
He speaks to every church, saying, “I know thy works.” He knows their many works, and He knows they have much knowledge. Yet these things are not what the Lord is ultimately looking for.
He is looking for Himself among the seven churches. He has revealed Himself and entrusted Himself to His church. Now He comes to see whether He can find Himself in the church.
If the Lord can find Himself in His bride, then He can say as Adam said, “This is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.” This, brothers and sisters, hastens the return of the Lord.
How we hope that, as individuals and as a group, we may be especially diligent in this matter. It is not our natural diligence that can make this happen. We must be diligent to cooperate with the Holy Spirit.
We must be diligent to accept the promises of God, and diligent to be those who can listen and obey. The Holy Spirit was sent to the earth for this very purpose: His work is to glorify Christ and to conform us to the image of the Son of God.
This is the very heaviest burden in the heart of Peter.
Today we are in the end time. As our brother has told us again and again, even in the first century it was said that the end of all things is at hand. When we come to this end time, we can say that this is the darkest time.
In Isaiah 21, verses 11 and 12, it is written:
One calleth unto me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?
The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will inquire, inquire ye: turn ye, come.— Isaiah 21:11-12
At night, watchmen were established. In the dark night, men fell asleep, but the watchmen remained awake. They watched to see whether there was any movement in the darkness of night, whether there was any work of the enemy.
The enemy begins his work in darkness. Because the watchman is awake, he pays attention to these things. Other people do not know what is going on, but the watchmen know what is happening at night.
Someone asks the watchman, “Watchman, what of the night?” And the watchman answers, “The morning cometh, and also the night.” Indeed, now is the darkest time, but in the darkest part of the night, we see that the morning shall come.
The answer of the watchman is positive. He does not say that everything is hopeless. He says, “The morning cometh.” Because the morning is coming, the night becomes darkest and deepest.
“If ye will inquire, inquire ye.” You must ask concerning the night; otherwise, you may be deceived by the enemy. Perhaps the enemy has already come, and you do not know it. So you should ask the watchman.
Not only should you inquire; you should return. There are many things from which we must return. We must come back to God. We have to come before God.
Brothers and sisters, when we are in the darkest of the night, let us not take an attitude of negativity or despair. We need to see that the morning is coming. Our Lord is returning. The day of God is at hand.
Because the night is darkest, we must not be a people asleep or confused. We must know what is happening today. The present condition should lead us to see that the morning is at hand.
Therefore, we must come to God and ask Him. We must repent. We must acknowledge that, in the darkness of the night, unwittingly the darkness has also come to us.
Because it is night, we are confused and do not know our way. But if we ask, then we shall be enlightened. Before God, we can repent and come to the Lord.
If you remember the dark period in the history of Israel, some Israelites had been led captive to Babylon, and a few remained in Jerusalem. The condition of those who remained in Jerusalem was miserable, and their spiritual condition was miserable.
If they did not repent, Jerusalem would be destroyed, and all who remained there would be taken captive to Babylon. This was the darkest time in the history of Judah.
Among the people who were exiled was Ezekiel. In Ezekiel 3, God said to him:
Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at My mouth, and give them warning from Me.
— Ezekiel 3:17
God wanted Ezekiel to be a watchman. He was to listen to the word of God and give warning to Israel. If God declared that an evil person should die, the watchman was to warn that person.
If the person repented, he would be saved, and the watchman would be innocent. But if the watchman did not warn him, the sinner would surely perish, and God would hold the watchman responsible.
Likewise, if a righteous man turned away and the watchman was sent to warn him, then if he repented, he would be saved and the watchman would be without fault. But if the watchman did not warn him, the fallen righteous man would be punished, and the watchman would also be guilty.
Ezekiel, according to the word of God, warned those people who remained in Jerusalem. But very regrettably, they would not listen. They preferred to listen to the false prophets.
There were many false prophets, both in the place of captivity and in Jerusalem. The false prophets said, “Peace, peace.” They said Jerusalem would be safe, and that those taken captive would peacefully return in two years.
But when matters were proved, it became clear who was the false prophet and who was the true prophet. The watchman must do his duty to warn men.
But, brothers and sisters, the watchman has another duty. This is found in Isaiah 62, verses 6 and 7:
I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that are the Lord’s remembrancers, take ye no rest,
and give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.— Isaiah 62:6-7
The duty of the watchmen was not only to watch for the activities of the enemy during the night. There is another duty that is very positive: they must call to God.
They shall not rest, and they shall not let God rest, until He establishes Jerusalem and makes her a praise in the earth. They must press before God until He rises up and does His work quickly.
Although the condition of Jerusalem was like this, the heart of God was for Jerusalem to become a praise. The condition of Jerusalem, compared with the will of God, was as earth is relative to heaven.
These watchmen stand on the side of God. In such a hopeless condition, they stand with God and say, “God, rise up and do Your work, so that Jerusalem may become a praise.”
Originally, Jerusalem was a shame; she had shamed God. But God will rise up and work, so that Jerusalem may become a praise. When the nations see Jerusalem, they shall praise God.
This is also a duty of the watchman.
It seems that God set Peter to be a watchman. When he wrote these letters, we see that he fulfilled the double duties of the watchman.
On the one hand, he reminds us what great grace God has given us and how glorious is the will that God has for us. We cannot simply deceive ourselves. We must rise up diligently and pursue.
We must yield ourselves into the hands of God, so that the Holy Spirit can work upon us until we are conformed to His image, until the church becomes a glorious church suitable for the glorious Lord.
But on the other hand, the night is deep, and many of God’s children do not know what is happening in the night. Many are asleep. The enemy has done many things in the night, but people do not know.
So Peter, being a watchman, writes again to say, “You have to be careful.” He reminds us of the positive will of God, and he warns us to guard against the activity of the enemy in darkness.
In 2 Peter, there are many words having to do with guarding against something. Yet these warnings are not totally negative. Their purpose is that we may be clear and that we may not slip.
This morning we must mention something against which we should guard, because we are in the darkest part of the night. Second Peter tells us that there are two things against which we should guard.
On one hand, the enemy does something within the church. On the other hand, the enemy works outside the church to attack the church.
Chapter 2 tells us that the enemy wants to enter into the church in darkness and do a work that will confuse the brothers and sisters. Chapter 3 tells us that the enemy wants to work from the standpoint of the world and attack the church.
The only purpose is to prevent us from becoming a people who wait for and hasten the return of the Lord. The enemy is not willing to see the kingdom of God come.
In chapter 2, we are told that false prophets also arose among the people. This speaks of the past, of the history of Israel.
At the times when the spiritual condition of Israel was weakest, God sent prophets among them because He loves His people. He was not willing to see His own people fall in such a way.
From of old, God sent many prophets into Israel to admonish them, reprove them, and restore them. But at those very times, there were also many false prophets.
True prophets are those called by God. The word of God comes upon them. Holy men, moved by the Holy Spirit, speak the word of God. Their purpose is to bring God’s people back to the original purpose of God.
False prophets are not sent by God. They speak lies according to their own will. This is what we are told in Jeremiah 14.
Jeremiah was one of the prophets raised up in the last days of Judah. The word of God came to him, and he was one in heart and feeling with the Lord.
When Jeremiah saw the condition of Israel, he wept. But God’s people would not listen. They wanted to hear what they liked to hear.
So the enemy raised up many false prophets. “Whatever you like to hear, I will say.” The false prophets were welcome, while the true prophets were abused. Jeremiah was persecuted much because of this.
This was the condition of God’s people in the darkest time. The activity of the enemy was most active, and there were many false prophets.
Peter says that in the future, among you, there will be false teachers. For Peter it was future, but for us it is present. Among us, there are false teachers.
These false teachers bring in destructive heresies. By their own will and their own thinking, they stealthily enter among God’s people and bring in heresies that lead to ruin.
The word heresy may not mean much to us. What does it refer to? The English word is a transliteration from the Greek, so to understand its meaning we must look at the original language.
In the original Greek, it means a school of opinion. A group of people, according to their own opinions, creates a school of opinion and uses it to replace obedience to the truth.
The result is division and denomination. In Galatians 5, heresy is included among the works of the flesh. Heresy is the establishment of a sect or party based upon human opinion.
Heresy opposes truth. Truth comes from God; heresy comes from men. Truth is Christ. The Lord is the truth. Heresy is man.
The passage says that false teachers deny the Master who bought them. The word translated “Lord” here is “Master,” and in the original language it is a very strong word.
It speaks of majesty—One who has absolute power, who does not have to answer to anyone, but to whom everyone should submit and absolutely obey.
This Majesty purchased us with His own blood. As far as He is concerned, we are His slaves of love. We do not have rights or position before Him. We can only give Him absolute obedience and do His will completely.
He does not have to explain Himself to us. If He has a command, we must submit. We must acknowledge Him in this way.
What is heresy? Heresy brings in an attitude that gives us a different attitude toward this Majesty. Put simply, we do not respect His majesty, and we do not render single-minded, absolute obedience to Him.
Outside of Him, we have other kings. Our heart, our love, and our faithfulness are given to somebody else. More seriously, the Master who purchased us with His own blood is refused.
Heresy is not taking the Lord as the center. The will of God is that His Son may be the center of the universe. Christ, the Son of God, is the head of the church and the center of the universe. That is the truth.
Every other doctrine emanates from that center, and all things must be summed up in the center. It is like a wheel: at the hub is the center, and that center is Christ.
Christ is the truth. He is the sum of the truth. All doctrines come out from Him, and they all must return to be summed up in Him.
The spokes of a wheel are a picture of all the doctrines. All the spokes emanate from the center and reach to the rim. Broadly speaking, the rim represents the universe; more particularly, it represents the church.
All the doctrines and truths in the Bible center on our Lord Jesus. From Christ they emanate, reaching into the church. The church receives and contains not merely one truth, but all the truths of God.
Wherever the church seeks the truth, all truth will meet in Christ. If a doctrine does not give Christ to us, then that doctrine is not the truth.
Heresy does not hold Christ as the center. It takes one doctrine and stretches it further than God has defined it.
The reason heresy can charm and deceive people is that it is not wholly a lie. If it were a total lie, people could easily detect it. But when a lie is mixed with truth, the lie covers and distorts the truth.
This is what deceives people most: something that seems right but is actually wrong. This is heresy.
Any time you extend a doctrine further than God has defined it, it becomes heresy. Or if you take a truth or doctrine and shorten it beyond what God has defined, that also becomes heresy.
Consider the spokes of a wheel. They extend from the center to the rim. No spoke can extend beyond the rim, for that would make the ride unstable. But if the spokes are too short, the wheel also fails.
When someone stealthily brings his own ideas into the truth, what he says may sound reasonable, as if it even came from the Bible. But you can see that human opinion has been mixed into it.
The result is that it brings us outside of our Lord. It takes away the center. These things do not bring Christ to us. If you accept them, what you have is not the Lord.
These are destructive heresies. They can destroy us.
Peter says that false teachers will come and bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them. Yet Peter does not explicitly tell us what all these heresies are.
Why? Because the enemy is deceitful. From generation to generation, the enemy uses different heresies to deceive God’s people.
For example, in the Corinthian church, there was the doctrine that there is no resurrection. First Corinthians 15 addresses this matter.
If there is no resurrection, then people say, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Such a heresy led believers in Corinth to indulge their own desires.
In Galatians, Satan used another heresy. These people had accepted the gospel and were the fruit of Paul’s early work, but legalism entered and became mixed with grace.
They were taught that it was not enough simply to believe in the Lord Jesus; they also had to obey the law and accept circumcision. But this is not the gospel, because people then depend upon themselves rather than upon the Lord.
The Colossian believers desired to pursue the Lord, to be perfect, and to know more. Therefore, the enemy brought in philosophy, mystical things, and Gnosticism. He also added rituals, saying that these would make them complete.
The result was that they failed to hold fast to the Head.
When we come to Revelation, we see the teaching of the Nicolaitans. The brothers and sisters loved the Lord; they were all kingly priests and served the Lord in one accord. But the enemy entered.
The teaching said that there must be a special clergy to serve the Lord, while the people were merely laity and not worthy. Thus began the distinction between clergy and laity.
There was also the teaching of Balaam. Balaam taught Israel to mix with other peoples, though God wanted Israel to be a separated people.
Then Jezebel appeared, a false prophetess who led God’s people into idolatry. Instead of worshipping the Lord, they worshipped Baal. Baal means another lord.
At different times and in different places, the enemy uses different methods and different heresies to deceive God’s people. His aim is that we would leave Christ and fail to be those who wait for and hasten the return of the Lord.
Peter shows us special characteristics of these false prophets and false teachers. They do not acknowledge the Master who purchased them.
In other words, they are not absolutely submitted under the authority of our Lord. If they submitted absolutely at the feet of the Lord, they would not become false teachers, because they would not have teachings of their own.
They would have only the teaching of the Lord. But when they bring their own teachings, they bring their own opinions and try to mix them with the truth.
Heresy is also closely related to evil doing. Wherever there is heresy, there will surely be evil work. There is a great relationship between what we believe and what we do.
Another special characteristic of false teachers is covetousness—covetousness for money, position, and authority. They covet for themselves; they do not exalt Christ.
These people use clever words to promise people freedom, but they themselves do not have freedom.
God has shown us many examples of His judgment. The angels did not keep their own principality, and God put them in Tartarus. When men in the world did evil, God used the flood. When Sodom and Gomorrah were in sin and immorality, God used fire to burn them up.
This is a very serious matter. We must guard against all sorts of heresies.
Especially today, brothers and sisters, heresies fill the church. Some speak of a New Age. Some promote dominion theology. Some proclaim the prosperity gospel.
We also see some who exalt one particular doctrine beyond what God allows. They seek to bring us outside of Christ. Brothers and sisters, we must guard against this.
We must come back to the word of God. The Bible tells us that we must be established in the truth and keep ourselves within the love of God.
We must hold Christ as our center and not allow the enemy to deceive us. This is the danger within the church.
The enemy also tries to work against the church from outside the church. In the end time, there are mockers.
They say that from the beginning of heaven and earth, everything has remained the same. They say, “Where is the promise of His coming? There is no such thing.”
They have forgotten that in the ancient past this heaven and earth were once flooded and perished. Today, this heaven and earth continue only because of the command of God.
God says that one day He will burn up the heaven and earth with fire. All the elements shall be dissolved.
Brothers and sisters, it is not that the Lord delays. It is because of His longsuffering. He is willing that all should be saved and that none should perish.
Therefore, we must account the longsuffering of our Lord to be salvation.
When the Lord comes, the heaven and earth shall be burned up with fire, and all the elements shall be dissolved. Peter asks: How then should we live in holiness and godliness?
We shall wait, and we shall hasten the day of God to come soon. When that day comes, it is judgment for unbelievers; but for us, it is the day in which we are glorified.
Now that we know these things, we should not retreat. We should press on further, pressing toward the goal.
Our goal is the Lord. We must gain Christ, as our Lord has gained us.
The Lord has gained us in His eternal will. Those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son. Those whom He called, He justified; and those whom He justified, He glorified.
This is how the Lord has gained us. Now the Lord wants us to gain that for which He has already gained us. Whatever the Lord has obtained for us, we must gain for ourselves.
Then we can satisfy the heart of the Lord, and we ourselves can be satisfied.
May the Lord have mercy on us, so that as a people we may forget the past and press on toward the goal. May we cast away every heresy that would deceive us, and by faith and longsuffering inherit the promises.
Lord, we believe that at this time You have gathered us before You according to Your excellent will. Lord, we pray that before we leave, Your excellent will may be accomplished.
Make us a people who wait for and hasten Your return.
Keep us until that day, so that we may be found in You in peace. In the name of the Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen.