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The Bible Breakdown
2 Peter 02: Beware the Wolves
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The More We Dig. The More We Find.
Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon. Today we've got 2 Peter, chapter 2, and today's title is Beware the Wolves. Beware of the wolves. And we'll get into all that in just a second. But if you have your Bibles and want to open up with me to 2 Peter, chapter 2, while you're doing that, make sure you like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast, make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast and, as always, make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook. They're doing an amazing job over there and the more we dig, the more we find. And so, once again, if you have your Bibles, want to open up with us to 2 Peter 2.
Speaker 1:Remember that the overall idea of Peter is he's reminding them to stand firm, to stand firm in the middle of all the stuff that's going on. And so, in in second Peter, chapter one, he was saying man, grow, baby, grow. Like one of the number one ways to stand firm is to not stand still, just to continue to move forward, and move forward and move forward, and just let yourself continue to grow. And then he pivots to start talking about the danger of false teachers and he talks about them being like wolves. And I got to say to you I need everybody who's listening to this or watching this to be proud of Pastor Brandon, because every time you hear me say the word wolf, I'm trying really hard. I just need to confess this to all of you.
Speaker 1:I can't say this word very well, so I may mess up. I grew up with, I guess, the slightest of a speech impediment. You can hear it coming out every once in a while as I'm reading through this and I will stutter a little bit. But one of them is I can't hardly say wolf without paying attention. What I want to say is W-U-F-F. Wolf Can't help it, it's the way it comes out and, yes, my family teased me relentlessly. If they ever hear me say this, so I may slip up and say wolf, if I do, then we're just not going to talk about it, we're just going to keep on going.
Speaker 1:But wolves, when it comes to a, you know, god constantly uses the idea of shepherds and sheep, and God's the shepherd, we're the sheep in an analogy throughout the entire Bible and one of the most dangerous things in a sheep fold is for a wolf to get among the sheep, because before the shepherd can get there, a wolf could kill five or 10 sheep, because sheep have no defense mechanisms and so all they can do is make noise and try to run, and the wolf will just have his way. And so that is the same thing when it comes to innocent young, young Christians. When false teachers come around because they don't know any different, they don't know any different than God has done something in their life and they just assume that all Christians are wonderful and lovely and no one would want anything bad for them. And so if they say it, it must be true, and pretty quickly. A wolf, a false teacher, can just mess up a Christian, a new Christian, and it'd take a long time for them to unsort a bunch of mess. That's why Peter is saying man, you want to stand firm in your faith. Number one is grow, baby, grow, keep growing. And then number two look out for the wolves, Be careful what you see. So you ready. Let's read this.
Speaker 1:2 Peter, verse 1, says this but there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there were false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies, even deny the master who bought them. In this way they will bring sudden destruction on themselves. So, first of all, peter is reminding us hey, it's okay, they're nothing new. Keep moving forward. Verse 2.
Speaker 1:Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality and because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. In their greed, they will make up clever lies and get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago and their destruction will not be delayed, for God did not spare even the angels who sinned. That's the reference back to the book of Enoch. He threw them into hell, into gloomy pits of darkness, where they are being held until the day of judgment. God did not spare the ancient world, except for Noah and the seven others in his family. Noah warned the world of God's righteous judgment. So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood.
Speaker 1:Later, god condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people. But God who rescued Lot out of Sodom? Because he was a righteous man who is sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him? Yes, lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day. So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue the godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment.
Speaker 1:He is especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desire and who despise authority. These people are proud and arrogant, daring to even scoff at supernatural beings without so much as trembling. But the angels, who are far greater in power and strength, do not dare bring from the Lord a charge of blasphemy against those supernatural beings. These false teachers are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct born to be caught and destroyed. He's just telling us how he feels. This is Peter. He's about to die. He's going to tell you how he feels.
Speaker 1:They scoff at things they don't understand. Like animals, they will be destroyed. Peter, tell us how you feel, all right, verse 13. Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals. They commit adultery with their eyes and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure unstable people into sin and they are well trained in greed. They live under God's curse. They have wandered off the right road and followed the footsteps of Balaam, son of Baor. They live under God's curse. Oh, my goodness, freedom. But they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. Oh, my goodness, say it from the back row, peter. All right, I'll say it again. For you are a slave to whatever controls you.
Speaker 1:And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing the Lord, the Savior, jesus Christ, and then get tangled up and enslaved by their sin again, they are worse off than before. It would have been better if they'd never known the way of righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. They proved the truth by this proverb a dog returns to its vomit, and another one says a washed pig returns to the mud. That's disgusting. So peter's about to die. So he's taking off the gloves and he's saying hey, listen, I'm about to go, but you better not listen to these fools. And he just starts telling you what they are and he starts calling them animals. And all this. And the truth is, I'm on his team, because you know there is nobody dislikes a bad pastor more than someone who's trying to be a good one.
Speaker 1:Because when you see people that all they want to do is talk about stuff that makes people feel good and all they want to do is try to weave doctrine to make themselves or make other people look good, that's not supposed to be. And they don't talk about a holy life, they don't talk about getting rid of sin. All they do is talk about you'll have more, be more, get more all that stuff. It leads people to destruction. Cause, think about what, what Peter actually said. I'm going to pull it back up here again, because this is powerful.
Speaker 1:He says this he says, first of all, they promise freedom, but how's that working out for you? How does it work out for you? Because you are a slave to whatever controls you. And can I tell you, I've heard people that say man, you are free, so do whatever you want to do, indulge however you want to indulge, man, go for it. And what Peter is saying is no, actually you're continuing the slavery, you're just letting it control you.
Speaker 1:And he says it would have been better for them to have never known the way of righteousness than to now know it, because it causes them to reject that God cares about what we do. You think about it. If you live in a culture where someone tells you all the time, man, god don't care about what you do, you pray this magic prayer and you're going to be a Christian and you go do whatever you want to do. But then you actually start reading the Bible and you start reading how the Bible says that God loves us enough that he says you need to do this and not do this, because he's trying to stop us from having brokenness in our life and stop us from being controlled by sins in our life. You know what it does to people? It offends them. It offends them because they have already gotten enslaved again to their sin and they are now worse off than before. And they blame it on God. And they blame it on the person that told them these things. And that's why Peter says, man, it would have been better if they had never known God, so then they could have come to God fresh, than to have to unteach all of the silliness that they had learned. And so he is saying beware, beware of the wolves. Almost said wolf, beware of the wolves, because they're going to try to destroy you, whether they intend on it or not. That's the result. Well, what do we do with that? What do we do? Here is the number one thing that can stop a wolf in his tracks, and that is to grow, baby, grow.
Speaker 1:Back to chapter 1. Peter says grow and grow and grow. Become obsessed in a holy way, in a good way, with man. I want to get as close to God as I possibly can. I want to see how close to God I can be and still be living on this earth. I want to know what it is to be so close to God that God looks at me and says I might rename him Enoch, because the Bible says that Enoch just one day disappeared Because he walked with God and God said come on up and hang out with me, be like that.
Speaker 1:Therefore, whenever false prophets come along, you're able to go. You know, I've been reading this Bible and I don't see that in here anywhere, because the thing is is that most people that you come in contact with are not false prophets, but every once in a while, you're going to come in touch with someone who loves Jesus but has false teaching. These people are also okay. They just don't know, and that's where you need to know God's word to find the balance and the correction. But then every once in a while, you're going to come up with a false prophet. This is someone who knows it's wrong and don't care. They are self-deceived. These people you don't need to try to have a relationship with. You need to run away from. Run away from as fast as possible because you don't want to get deceived again, and so the only way to do that is to know God's word for yourself. That's one reason why we come back to this every day. We read God's word every day. It's because not only do we want to know what God's word says and hold ourselves accountable, but we also want to be able to keep on watch to make sure the wolves stay away.
Speaker 1:Let's pray together right now. God, thank you so much for your word that it is honest and it is true and it's for us in every way. I pray God as we dig into your word, as we grow, you help us to see who is for you and who is against you, so we know which way to go. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen and remember. God's word says in 2 Peter 3, verse 17,. Be on guard, then you will not be carried away and lose your own secure footing. Let's be on our guard. Let's grow. Let's keep our eyes open. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow. For 2 Peter 3.
