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All right, so if you look there in 2 Peter chapter 2, and it's great to have Michael visiting us for the first time, so welcome to church. And just for our first time visitor, just so you're aware, we do on Sunday mornings go through the Bible chapter by chapter, and we'll be going through 2 Peter, and we're up to 2 Peter chapter 2. And if you look at verse number 1, 2 Peter chapter 2 verse number 1, it says, But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you. The title for the sermon this morning is, False Teachers Among You. This is something that the Apostle Peter wanted the New Testament churches to be aware of. It's not that they might come, they will come. There will be people that will come into churches that are seeking to teach false things. They come into churches to teach false doctrine, they come into churches to take leadership positions. Look, a prophet is a position of leadership, a teacher is a position of leadership. You are passing on knowledge, you are passing on teaching, you are passing on the Word of God. And so what we see there, it's not that they might come, it says, Even as there shall be false teachers among you. Now there was a time when I would read through this passage, I thought there was a difference between a false prophet and a false teacher. Just as a young person, I used to think there was a difference, but what we see in this passage is there is no difference, as there were false prophets among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you. And so these are one and the same thing. The false prophet is the false teacher. Sometimes we have this idea that a prophet is someone that tells the future. And yes, many times in the Bible, yeah, prophets did foretell the future, but more often than not the prophet is a forth teller. He tells the Word of God, he preaches the Word of God, he teaches the Word of God, and so these are one and the same things. Now why do they come into churches? Why do they creep in to the house of God, it says there, if we keep going, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies. Now what are heresies? Heresies are things that are false. They come and bring false teaching. Now look, it's not just that they're false teaching, the Bible says these are damnable heresies. Okay, damnable. These are things that will send someone to hell. This is something that will damn an individual. It says even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction. So let's break down this verse. There's a lot in verse number one here. So let's break this down. If you can keep your finger there and go to 1 Corinthians chapter 11 please. First Corinthians chapter 11. There's a lot here to unpackage in verse number one, but they bring in damnable heresies. Let's have a look at this term heresy. This word, we see it in the Christian world, it gets thrown around a lot, heresies, but it's only mentioned like four times in the Bible. Okay, now it is a big deal. Heresy is a big deal because it is a false doctrine, but if you look at 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse number 17, 1 Corinthians 11 17, it says, now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not that you come together, not for the better, but for the worst, verse 18, for first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there'd be divisions among you, and I partly believe it. And so we've gone through the Corinthian church before, and we know that there are major divisions within the church. Okay, that church is not operating from unity, but then he explains why there is. Look at verse number 19. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. Okay, so it says, look, the reason you've got major divisions in your church is because you have heresies in your church, heresies, okay. So these are false teaching. It's causing a division within the church. Now there is an advantage to some extent when it comes to heresies, if you look there, it says that they which, in verse number 19, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. One of the advantages, now it's not good to have heresies in a church, but one of the advantages, if there is heresies in a church, those that speak the truth, those that are approved by God, they're going to be manifested. They're going to shine forth. They're going to be able to show, hey, from the word of God, why certain things are true, and the person that's preaching damnable heresies, they're not going to have the word of God to support them. They're going to be the ones twisting scriptures. They're going to be the ones adding things to the word of God without proving things, you know, with the two or three witnesses from the word of God, okay. So we see that heresies cause division in a church, okay. Now I'm going to read to you from Galatians 5 19, because who can get into heresy? So in Galatians 5 19, it says, now the works of the flesh are manifest, these are the works of the flesh, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies. Heresies is a work of the flesh, okay. And we all have the flesh, we all have the sinful nature, these are sins that we could be tempted to do, and so if heresy is listed as a work of the flesh, listen, heresy is something that anybody can get into. Anybody in this church can get into some false doctrine, false teaching, read the Bible and come with a false understanding, okay. And so this is why we have to be careful, we have to make sure that we are sound in doctrine, we make sure that we read and we receive the word of God, you know, we go line upon line, precept upon precept, we slowly build upon the things that are black and white in the scriptures, and not allow ourselves to get into heresy. Now there is one other time that heresy is mentioned, okay, and I'll read the passage to you in Acts 24 verse 13, this is when the Jews were persecuting Paul, and Paul says in Acts 24, 13, he says, neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me. So he's been accused, right, he's been persecuted, been accused of false things, but then he says this in verse number 14, he says, but this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets. So Paul is very clear here, he says, look, I believe everything that's written in the word of God, everything that is in the law, everything the prophets wrote, Paul says, I believe these things, and because I believe these things, these people that are accusing me, they're calling that heresy, but he's saying, look, I admit, yeah, I believe what the Bible says, but they call it heresy. And so just because someone uses the term heresy, just because you might have certain beliefs, and they say, well, that's heretical teaching, it doesn't mean it's heresy, okay, because people can use that term falsely and accuse you of believing heresy. But what do we learn from these passages, that heresy is something that is false, some false teaching, some false doctrine, it's a work of the flesh, anybody can get into heresy, so we have to be careful when we read the Bible, we have to be careful that we establish ourselves and ground ourselves in the word of God. But if you go back to second Peter chapter two, it's not just that these false teachers brought heresies, they brought in damnable heresies, damnable heresies, all right. Now I'll just read a few passages to you, and if you can please, you go to Matthew 23 for me, please go to Matthew 23, I'll read to you a passage here in Mark 16, 16, it says, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned, okay, let's understand that, what is it that dammed somebody to hell? He that believeth not, so the person that does not believe the gospel, does not believe in Jesus Christ, shall be damned, okay, what does it mean? He's going to hell, damnation, he's going to be damned by God, he will spend eternity in a lake of fire, and so if someone's bringing you damnable heresy, this is a teaching that will cause people to be damned, this is a teaching that will cause people to not believe the gospel which saves, okay, in second Thessalonians chapter two verse 12, it says that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness, okay, so who gets damned in second Thessalonians chapter two, they all might be damned who believed not the truth, and so damnable heresy of course is not the truth, okay, and again, what is it that damns us, not believing the gospel, not believing on Jesus Christ, this is something damnable, now you're in Matthew chapter 23 verse number 29, Matthew 23 verse 29, Jesus says to the scribes and the Pharisees, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, but then drop down to verse number 33, speaking to the same group, he says ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell, okay, so these false scribes, these false teachers, these scribes, these Pharisees, Jesus saying how are you going to escape hell, how are you going to escape the damnation of hell, in other words they're not going to escape the damnation of hell, they've been reprobated, these people are the false prophets, the false teachers that of course Peter is speaking about, but we need to then apply this to 2020, in our church, we might have people come to this church, you know desiring to teach, desiring to preach their doctrine, hey these are false teachers, you know how will they escape the damnation of hell, you know they're bringing in about these damnable heresies, now in saying all of this, what are some things that would damn someone to hell, as we said, someone that does not believe the gospel, or someone that believes a false gospel, someone that believes you've got to add works to salvation or you're not saved, hey that's a false gospel, salvation is by grace through faith, and not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast, the Bible says, right, so someone bringing in a false gospel, but what else, someone that believes in a false Christ, you know we get warned in the Bible that there is another Jesus, hey there are false Christs being preached even in churches, even to the people of God, there is a false Jesus being preached there, you know I think immediately of the oneness theology, of modalism, this is another Jesus, or you know the Jesus of the JWs, you know they don't believe he is God, you know they just believe he's a man, they don't believe he was bodily resurrected, that's another, in fact that's another gospel, if he was not raised bodily, the gospel is the resurrection of Jesus Christ, they've got another Jesus and another gospel, you know the Mormons who say that the devil is the brother of Jesus, and it's some lesser God, that's another Jesus, hey this is damnable heresies, believing these things will damn you to hell, and that's what the false prophet does, they want to come into not just the horrible churches, not just the churches that belong to the devil, they want to come into Bible believing churches, Christian churches, and defile the minds of the people in this church. So we have to be careful, there's a lot of false prophets out there, we have to be careful about the preachers we allow ourselves to listen to. Now another reason I was a little bit confused in verse number 1, which I believe is important to cover, 2 Peter chapter 2 verse number 1, it says, even denying the Lord that bought them. And so I remember when I would read this passage when I was younger, I used to think, well these must be saved people, because they've been bought by Jesus Christ, so I was just thinking wow, even a saved pastor can become a false teacher. Until obviously I had to unpackage that mentality a little bit, and understanding the reprobate doctrine actually helped me understand these passages a lot more actually. And so it says, and the reason these are not saved is because it says after that, it says even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. So these people are going to be destroyed, these people are going to be destroyed by God, but when it says denying the Lord that bought them, we need to understand that we're not Calvinists, we don't believe that Jesus only bought a select few. It's not that he just died for some, the Bible tells us that God purchased the church with his own blood. The sacrifice of Jesus, in fact let's turn to some passages, I'll get you to go to, let's have a look, please go to 1 Timothy chapter 4, go to 1 Timothy chapter 4, 1 Timothy chapter 4. And I can understand maybe how a Calvinist can read this and conclude that these believers, these false teachers are believers who have somehow rejected Jesus. But if you go to 1 Peter chapter 4, I'm going to read to you from 1 John 2, it says, and he is, speaking of Jesus, and he is the propitiation for our sins, so he has satisfied the judgment for our sins, but then it says this, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. So Jesus has paid for the sins of the whole world, right, for the whole world. Now you're in 1 Timothy chapter 4, look at verse number 10, 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse number 10, it says, for therefore we both labour and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God who is the saviour of all men, but then it says this, especially of those that believe, okay. So what is it that saves us brethren? Believe in Jesus Christ, believe in the gospel, but look, yes, he's our saviour, especially our saviour, because you know by believing in him we can go to heaven, but he's also the saviour of all men, he has provided himself, he's provided salvation to anybody, to whosoever believer, and so he's born it all, all of it has been paid for. You go to 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse number 5, 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse number 5, 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse number 5 reads, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, now look at verse number 6, who gave himself a ransom, now what is a ransom? We've looked at this before, a ransom is to make a purchase to free somebody, right, you're making a purchase, you're making a payment to free somebody, it says he who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. Jesus Christ has paid, Jesus Christ has bought all men, all of it has been paid for, but only those that believe on him, only those that believe the gospel, only those that place their faith on Jesus Christ are actually saved, okay. And so when we read 1 Peter chapter, 2 Peter chapter 2, and it says that the Lord bought them, yeah, the Lord has bought them, the Lord has paid for their sins, the Lord is offering them salvation, but they reject Christ, they reject Jesus, okay, and they're striving to cause others to reject Jesus Christ as well. Let's go to verse number 2 now, 2 Peter chapter 2 verse number 2. Now you say, well, you know, we'll definitely be able to differentiate the true prophet from the false prophet, well yes we can, and this is why 2 Peter chapter 2 is written for us, so we can identify a false prophet, but many will be deceived by the false prophet, because in verse number 2 it says, and many shall follow their pernicious ways, many shall follow them, okay, these false prophets, they're able to get a crowd, okay, they're able to have their mega churches, their huge churches, you know, the Joel Olsteins, why do they have so many people following them, even though they don't preach Christ, they don't preach hell, they don't preach against sin, they don't preach the gospel, they don't preach Jesus Christ, why is it that they can have such a great following? Because many will follow them, they love to have their ears itched, they love to just think about just the goodness of God, just the love of God, and they never get challenged about God's wrath and God's judgment that is coming upon this world, it says here, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of, okay, and so, you know what it says there, sorry at the beginning of verse number 2, and follow their pernicious ways, that is basically speaking that it causes insidious harm or ruin, or their teaching is deadly or fatal, and of course we know why it's deadly and fatal, because it's leading people to believe a false gospel, believe a false Christ, but not only this, it says in verse number 2, it says by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of, alright, so they give a bad name to Christianity, how many times do we go and we knock doors and we, you know, we ask somebody, hey now, are you a churchgoer, have you been to church in the past, and they're like, yeah, I'm out of church, I don't want anything to do with God, and you kind of ask why, and they say, because, you know, I used to go to church, I used to go to the Roman Catholic Church, and I was abused by the priest, I was molested by some man there, okay, and these are false prophets, these are people that are causing the way of truth to be evil spoken about, it's like they've been turned off by God, they've been turned off by church, because of some wicked false prophet that was in their midst, okay, and look, this is the same, you know, when it comes to, I mean, you know, I'm thinking about, you know, obviously pedophile priests, things like that, that abuse children, that destroy families, you know, I'm thinking about cults that, you know, break up family units and it's like, you know, if you're part of our church, you have to break relationships with anybody that's not part of that church, but they destroy people's lives, these cults and these pedophiles, you know, and they cause the true preachers, the true churches of God to be evil spoken of, they don't want to be part of churches because of what they've been taught, you know, some people have been taught, you know, that salvation is by works, you know, and they've been put, so much pressure have been put upon them, it's like you've got to live godly or you won't be saved, and people get turned off because they realise I can't keep up, I'm not perfect, I keep sinning, and so they give up on church, they give up on salvation, and listen, we teach that you ought to live godly, we teach that you need to give up sin, but that's not your way to heaven, that's not salvation, salvation is through Jesus, and once you're saved, now you try to live godly, now you try to live righteously, okay, and you don't have to worry about the pressures, am I going to go to hell, because you know that, you know, salvation was only by Christ, Christ who bought you, but these false prophets, they cause the way of truth to be evil spoken of. Verse number three, and through covetousness, that's obviously lusts, shall they with feigned words, what's feigned, fake words, make merchandise of you, whose judgment now for a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not, listen, these are not saved, it says there look, and their damnation slumbereth not, there is coming a day when they will be damned, just like Jesus says, how will you escape the damnation of hell, that time is coming for them, okay, but listen, they come with feigned words, they tell you they love you, they'll even say doctrines that you agree with, you know, but what they're saying is fake, what they're saying is fake, I know sometimes, you know, we might listen to a preacher and we think, man, what a great man of God, he knows so many doctrines, you know, like Judas Iscariot, he would have had a lot of doctrines correct, but they're fake, they're feigned, eventually, they'll come out with a damnable heresies, but the entire time, they were faking it, they were faking it the entire time, you know, think about some of those charismatic churches, you know, where they got the tongue speakers, I don't know how many people have told me, you know, it's like, you just fake it till you make it, you just fake it, and so many people who are tongue speakers literally fake it, okay, they're faking it till they make it, whatever that means, right, until they're just so comfortable faking it, they think it's real, okay, it's all fake, but you know what, the first prophet does the same thing, like, you know, obviously they'll come to our church, they'll say they believe the doctrines that we believe, they'll preach those doctrines, eventually it's like, what are you teaching, you're teaching something so unusual, it's another Jesus, it's another gospel, and then it's hard to, you know, I've been there, you start to think, well maybe he's just a little mistaken, maybe he needs a bit of correction, but then he gets worse and worse in his doctrines, and then you just have to conclude, well, all of that he said before must have been fake, it was feigned words, and he did it to make merchandise of you, he's seeking to make money from you, he's seeking to make a profit from you, okay, that's why these people come into a church, because they know people generally are trusting, people generally are trying to love one another and to serve one another, they come and they say, hey, this is an opportunity to come and make money, you know, I had once, somebody come up to me and say, hey, can I come to your church, I'm like, yeah, absolutely, someone that I know very well, and then they're like, oh, is it okay if I come and bring, and they had some side business, and they wanted basically to sell all this stuff to the people in the church, and I'm like, no, you're not coming to do that, you know, why, I thought you were coming to know Jesus, to know God, to learn the Bible, no, they're coming to make money, and that's why they're coming to churches, to make merchandise of the people, and as I said, because it mentions that their damnations slumber if not there, this is further proof that they are not saved, because once saved, always saved, everlasting life, eternal life, you can never lose it, if you could lose it tomorrow, it wasn't eternal to begin with, look at verse number 4, now verse number 4 begins speaking about some historical events here, and well let's read it, verse number 4, and if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment, now it might seem like unusual that this has just been brought up here, so obviously Peter's speaking about the fallen angels, fallen angels, and many of them, yes some of them roamed this earth today, but many of them are right now in hell, you know, and just chained up, okay, they're so wicked, they're chained up in hell, reserved unto judgment, eventually they're going to be cast into the lake of fire, okay, but what this is telling us is that the false prophet is being compared to the fallen angel, okay, so I mean, obviously the false prophet's a very wicked person, I mean we would think of devils, you know, demons, as extremely wicked, and Peter's just comparing these fallen angels, these devils, to the false prophets, okay, now remember the false prophets are ministers of Satan, okay, so there is a connection between this, alright, let's keep going, verse number 5, and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly, so now we go back to Noah's flood, go back to the judgment of God, how he judged a wicked world, destroyed everybody except 8, right, Noah being a preacher of righteousness, again, speaking of the judgment falling upon a wicked world, that's being compared to the judgment that's coming to the false prophet, okay, verse number 6, and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemn them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly, so the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, why was that city destroyed, why were those cities destroyed? Because of the homosexuality, okay, because of the sodomy, because of the LGBT agenda back in those days, alright, and what does it say, it says here, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly, alright, listen, God brought judgment upon these wicked cities, because of their wicked sin, okay, he destroyed it, he rained fire and brimstone, destroying them, that was his judgment on that wicked sin, okay, these people are being compared to the false prophets, okay, because the false prophets are full of lust, full of covetousness, alright, and listen, it says that those cities are an ensample today, okay, today, today we have the agenda, the LGBT, the sodomite, the homosexual agenda, you know, on show, you know, being shoved down our throats, being shoved down on television, you know, through politics, through protests, whatever it is, listen, when those people are doing these things, for us, we ought to be brought to remembrance, what did God do to Sodom and Gomorrah, hey, that's an ensample of how God's feeling about things today, he's going to bring his swift judgment in due time, okay, you know, the stories of Sodom and Gomorrah aren't some Old Testament myth, hey, it's to serve an example today, to those that live ungodly, to those that live that wicked lifestyle, God's going to bring them judgment, they're going to be cast into hellfire as well, so the false prophet's been compared to the fallen angels, the false prophet's been compared to the destruction of the wicked world with the flood, and they've been compared to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, now the reason I say this is, can you please turn to, keep your finger there, turn to the book of Jude, turn to the book of Jude, because the book of Jude only has one chapter, it's not even like, you know, it's one chapter, it's a small book, but the entire book of Jude is dedicated to false prophets, okay, and it's basically, you know, if you compare 2 Peter chapter 2 and Jude, it's almost identical, there are so many similarities, even the structure of what is written is almost identical, the reason I want to, I just want to turn to Jude chapter 4, because there is, you know, I hate false doctrine, I really do, I really do hate heresy, okay, and I don't know, because look, I've got friends that believe this, okay, but I don't know how some people believe, and I'm, if I was talking about this too much, and you tell me, Pastor Kevin, you're going over it too much, alright, but it's crazy, some people believe that fallen angels married women on this earth, okay, they could, you know, they had intimate relationships, and out of that union, these giants roamed the earth, people believe this myth, people believe these fables, it's very popular, okay, they say, why do people believe this? It's mainly coming from the book of Jude, let's have a look at the book of Jude, and let's compare it with 2 Peter chapter 2, Jude verse number 4, it says, for there are certain men crept in unawares, but the false prophets, who were before of old, ordained to this condemnation, that's like damnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ, so we saw that as well in 2 Peter, they denied Jesus Christ, verse number 5, I would therefore put you in remembrance, though you once knew this, how that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not, and so we see another judgment here, the judgment of Egypt, okay, and again, you know how we're comparing judgments of historical stories that we know of, comparing to the judgment of the false prophets, okay, but look at verse number 6, and the angels which kept not their first estates, but left their own habitation, he have reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of that great day, so here we have the fallen angels mentioned, right, but look at verse number 7, now what we have in 2 Peter chapter 2, before it goes to the angels, and before it goes to Sodom and Gomorrah, in 2 Peter chapter 2 we have the wicked world destroyed by Noah's flood, the flood of Noah, okay, so we have that to break up those verses, but in Jude we don't have that to break up the verses, and so straight after that we go to verse number 7, even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, and this is what homosexuality is, it's strange, they give themselves to strange flesh, this is why that word queer is used, queer means strange, okay, strange flesh, but then it says, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire, listen the fire that fell on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were not, it's not just a volcano, it's the fire, it's the eternal fires of hell that fell upon those cities, okay, but I want to, let's read verse number 6 and 7 one more time, just alone, just alone, okay, and the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he have reserved in everlasting change, and the darkness unto the judgment of the great day, even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, going after strange flesh, and so the people that teach this crazy doctrine, these crazy fables, they'll see these verses together, and they'll say, we'll see the angels were judged even like the people of Sodom which went after strange flesh, and so the angels they'll say went after strange flesh, being human women, and then they had that union with the Giants, okay, so I can understand if you're just reading verse number 7, you might end up with a crazy idea like that, but that's what second Peter chapter 2 is great, and listen whenever you have parallel passages in the Bible, always compare the two things, because they help bring to light what is being taught, okay, verse number 6 in Jude, verse number 6 is not, the angels are not being compared to Sodom and Gomorrah, no, okay, the false prophet is being compared, the judgment of the false prophet is being compared to the judgment that fell upon Egypt, and then their judgment is being compared to the judgment that fell upon the false, sorry, the fallen angels, and then their judgment is being compared to the judgment that fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah, okay, so it's not linking the angels to Sodom and Gomorrah, it's linking the angels to the false prophets, it's linking Sodom and Gomorrah to the false prophets, okay, so that's why second Peter chapter 2 is great, because it has between that, the destruction that fell upon the old earth with the flood in Noah's day, okay, so you can see that separation much clearer in second Peter chapter 2, alright, that's a bit of a sidetrack thing, but I hate that doctrine, I think it's so stupid, okay, please go to second Peter chapter 2 verse number 7, so we finished off speaking about the destruction that fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and we know there was one man there that was pulled out of that city, that was Lot, so Lot gets mentioned here in verse number 7, and delivered just Lot, just Lot, boy if you read Lot in the Old Testament, you're not going to say to me that Lot was a just man, just means justified, justified before God, okay, this is why the New Testament is great, it adds light, hey he was justified, Lot was a saved man, and he was living in that wicked world, he put up, he accepted the wicked lifestyle around him, he got used to his environment, and this is why we need preaching against the wickedness and the filth of this world, against those that go off the strange flesh, so we don't become used to it, churches are becoming used to it, they're even accepting homosexual pastors and preachers to preach before them, this is not to be accepted by the people of God, just Lot, look at this, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked, he was in that city, but his soul was being vexed, it was upsetting him, okay, just looking at that stuff, but he says well that's life, that's the world, he put up with it, you know, but he vexes, what does it say about that kind of lifestyle, it says it's filthy, the filthy conversation of the wicked, listen homosexuality is wicked, it's filthy, it's dirty, this is why so many people of that lifestyle have so many diseases, you know, AIDS and things like this, you know, it's a filthy lifestyle, this is why suicide is so high, so high in that community, because they know they're filthy, they know their lifestyle is disgusting, okay, it's a filthy lifestyle, and listen I'm a preacher of the Bible, okay, I'm not going to sugarcoat what God says, he calls it filthy, he calls it strange, and God brought the fires of, the everlasting fires to destroy those people, okay, that's what the Bible says, right, we come to church to hear the Bible preached, that's why we come to church, we don't come to church to be sugarcoated, and say well that's all good, you know, love is love, no God is love, God is love, and God said that lifestyle is filthy, that's not love, look at verse number 8, further proves that Lot was saved, for that righteous man, wow he's righteous, yeah he's righteous, because hey it's not our righteousness that saves us, right, what happens to Lot, we know that he lived in that filthy city for so long, he got out, he got drunk, he committed incest, I mean he did not go to heaven on his own righteousness, let's put it that way, okay, and but the reason it's called the righteous man is because he went to heaven through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, when you believe on Jesus Christ, you believe that he died for your sins, that he was buried, rose again three days later, that he's had victory over hell, over death, over sin, and we go because of his victory, we go to heaven because of his righteousness, what an amazing thing, how wickedness was given to Jesus, and Jesus, his righteousness was given to us, what an amazing swap, I'd swap that any time, okay, and once that's been swapped, hey we go to heaven because of the righteousness of Christ, for the righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds, and listen that sin, homosexuality, is an unlawful deed, what does that mean, it's illegal, you know in God's laws it was a crime, a crime punishable by death, you know even in Australia we had the Buggery Act, that was a sin, that was a crime punishable to death, it's illegal, it was illegal in our nation, it's illegal to God, it's unlawful, it's an unlawful deed, it's a crime in other words, okay, it's a crime, but today, you know, I mean there are so many things that today are legal, abortion, killing babies in a mother's womb, you know these are unlawful deeds, we live in a, boy, I don't think we're far from Sodom and Gomorrah, I don't know how much longer God will withhold his judgment, maybe the judgment has already begun, I don't know, look at verse number nine, the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished, and so you know when these false prophets come to a good church, there are people of God, and God's going to help deliver the godly out of temptations, okay, and those that are unjust, again just repeating to us, they're going to have the day of judgment, they're going to be punished on the day of judgment, again these false prophets that are being compared to, you know, the fallen angels and to those that left to the destruction of Egypt, and the wicked world of the flood, etc, Sodom and Gomorrah, these people will be punished by God, there is a coming punishment, alright, verse number 10, but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, now what else are they like, and despise government, now I don't know, we really need to hear this teaching today, you know, I'm not like, I'm not like purposely trying to preach that we need to obey the government or anything like that, especially in this day and age, it's just the verses that we're coming across is teaching this stuff, right, these people despise government, okay, they will tell you, don't obey the government, they'll tell you that, now look, I'll tell you, don't obey the government if they're making you, if they're causing you to sin, if they're asking you to do something ungodly, and God's asking you, yeah, that's when we should not obey the government, but when it says here that they don't, when they despise government, it's saying here they despise authority, they despise authority, look, it says presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities, what are dignities, dignities is someone of an elevated rank, office or station, okay, so they hate any authority, okay, now look, there are wicked people in governments, I understand, there are wicked laws passed by government, I'm not saying you have to love that, okay, but governments is an institution that God put in this world, whether it's a good government, whether it's a wicked government, brethren, it's what God has instituted in our world for some level of law and order, okay, but not only that, government or authority comes in many shapes and forms, right, when it comes to children, your parents have authority over you, when it comes to the local church, the pastor has authority there, when it comes to the workplace, your employer has the authority there, the false prophet hates authority, he doesn't, he's self-willed, right, he comes and he speaks bad of the pastor maybe in the church, he elevates himself, he hates having anybody telling him what he can or can't do, look at verse number 11, whereas angels which are greater in power and might bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord, against who? The dignities, the authorities, even the angels of God are careful not to rail, not to make accusations against authorities, okay, now we have to be careful of this because there is a time to call out people in their sin, there is a time to call out false prophets, false teachers, there is a time to call out the government but when we call out people, especially when we call out authorities and we say, look, Jesus had no problem doing that, John the Baptist had no problem doing that, the prophets of old had no problem doing that, it's just that when we do it, we have to be careful like the angels not to do it by making a railing accusation, what's railing? False accusations, making things up, making someone look worse than they are, you know, lying about that person, even if that person is wicked, even if that person is a damnable heretic, we have to be careful when we accuse that person, we don't do it with railing, okay, but hey, the false prophet, he's got no problem railing, he's got no problem making things up about a person, even if he's trying to preach against someone false, he's got no problem making up situations or causing people to feel a certain way which is not true, okay, the angels of God are careful to do that and it's said that they're greater in power and might, you know, than the average human being, look at verse number 12, but these, so these false prophets as natural brute beasts, what's a beast? An animal, what's a brute? Stupid, okay, stupid, hey, these false prophets, the Bible says, hey, these are as, as they are like, naturally like animals, they are like dumb animals, they are like stupid animals, made to be taken and destroyed, again, these guys are not saved, okay, speak evil of the things that they understand not and shall utterly perish in their own corruption, so false prophets, you know, are just dumb, stupid animals, did you know the Bible says these things about people, I mean, you go to your average church, they're not going to preach through 2 Peter chapter 2, they're not going to say, hey, homosexuality is filthy, they're not going to say it's strange, they're not going to say false prophets are dumb, stupid animals, okay, I don't know why, look, it's in the Bible, these are the words of God, I didn't come and put that in your Bible today, it's right there, these are the words of God, this is how he feels about these people, says they shall utterly perish in their own corruption, you know, they corrupt themselves, you know, they're going to be held accountable to all the corruption, all the destruction they've caused and they're going to be thrown into the lake of fire, they're going to be destroyed, it said speak evil of the things that they understand not, so they'll preach the Bible but they don't understand it, you know, and they'll just twist the scriptures, things like that, let's keep going, verse number 13, and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness as they that count at pleasure to riot in the daytime, spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivance while they feast on you, that's why they come to church, they love to just take advantage of God's people, what a disgusting people, right, they find, hey, these people are trying to live godly, these are the children of God, hey, these are the people I'm going to attack, that's what they think, these are the people I'm going to feast upon, these are the people I'm going to make merchandise off, man, how wicked can you be to hate even the people of God in such ways, now please keep your finger then go to Ephesians chapter 5, go to Ephesians chapter 5, verse number 25, because it spoke about this false prophets being spots, spots they are and blemishes, okay, spots they are and blemishes, Ephesians 5 25 says husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spots or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish, so what we see there, Christ is seeking that the church, hey, that New Life Baptist Church would be a glorious church, that would be a church without any spots, a church without any blemishes, so when we see the false prophet there, what are they? They are spots and they are blemishes, so what's it saying? If we want to have a glorious church, when the false prophet reveals himself, we don't put up with it, we kick that guy out of the church, say hey, you have no part here with God's people, you've come here to hurt the people of God, you've come here to make us spots, to make us blemishes, you've come here to make this church no longer glorious before Jesus Christ, these people need to be cast out of the church, kicked out of the church, now I say that and I mean that, I mean that, if a false prophet reveals himself like that, he's out of this church, as your pastor, I promise you, I will not allow these people in our church, but I have to also put a condition there, I just got to, you know, make sure you understand, because just because someone visits our church, okay, someone comes and let's say they have a false gospel, they have a false Jesus, they have another spirit, okay, they come in and even in conversation, they bring up some top and you know they're wrong, you know that their answer, what they believe is not Bible-based, that doesn't mean that person is a false prophet, it doesn't mean it's your job to drive that person out of church, you know what, my desire is that many people come to this church of many kinds of backgrounds, with many experiences, they will come to this church and they will grow here, they will be able to get rid of their false doctrines and if they're not saved, they would get saved, listen if someone's not saved in the church, don't make them feel horrible, hey tell that person lovingly, listen can I please share the gospel with you, you know, and if they're like, but I'm already saved, just like look, just humour me, just allow me, let's just see where we have common ground and if we find somewhere where we're not, we don't have common ground, hey let's work this out, let's talk about it, okay, I just want to be sure, hey there can be nothing more loving than making sure somebody is saved, okay, so just because someone walks in and believes some weird things, might not be saved, come from some crazy church background, don't think immediately this is a false prophet, the false prophet seeks to elevate himself, the false prophet seeks to put himself in a position of teaching, of authority, of preaching, okay, that's the false prophet, just because someone says something that is wrong, doesn't mean he's a reprobate, doesn't mean he's a false prophet, doesn't mean he's a natural brute beast, we all had to learn, you know, for those, I got saved early, I got saved, you know, I never had that problem but many of you guys came from false churches, many of you got cleaned up because you listen to good preaching online, you know, good YouTube preaching, a lot of people have not had that experience, maybe some of you have spent years and years, days after days listening to good preaching and got yourself fixed, okay, now use all those hours you use to get yourself fixed and get yourself right and to realise, hey, I believe the false gospel and I got saved, you need to afford that to other people that come to into the church, they believe false things, give them time, okay, they're not necessarily going to be like us after day one, they need time, you know, preaching through 2 Peter chapter 2, a lot of people will be turned off by that preaching, give them time, if people don't like it and they leave the church, so be it, okay, but let them make that decision, it's not for you to drive people out unless they're a false prophet, okay, I will cast out the false prophet, I did not spend the last three years building up this church, trying to grow this church, you know, serving our Lord God, serving you to allow just some false prophet to get here, you know, and preach whatever he wants, preach on Damndel heresies, you know, make a merchandise out of you and no one is allowed to buy and sell in this church, you got a business, great, make money out of your business, but don't bring your business to the church, you know, don't look at your brothers and sisters that, oh, these are my customers, they're going to make me rich, that's a wicked way, that's the attitude of the false prophet. Verse number 14, having eyes full of adultery, hey, so look, when they preach, they just have sexual perverted thoughts about everybody, eyes full of adultery, that they're trying to, you know, destroy marriages, I mean, how many stories do I know of some pastor giving marriage advice to a husband and wife, he ends up sleeping with a wife, destroying the family, destroying, that's a false prophet, okay, it's not just a Christian that fell, a guy that's pastoring, trying to give godly counsel, hey, everything that he preached before that were faint words, he was a fake, he was seeking to have that adulterous relationship in his church, he says having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls, he's going for the unstable, he's trying to work out, hey, if you're strong, if you stand strong in the word of God, he doesn't want to talk to you anymore, he's looking for the guy that, he's looking for the person that's unstable, hey, that's the baby in Christ, the newly saved person, hey, that's the children of the church, he's looking to beguile these people and hearts, they have exercised with covetous practices, cursed children, okay, so their heart is covetous, they lust, they desire, hey, maybe it's not money so much, they could just desire being a pastor, they desire just having authority in the church, that's what they covet after potentially, you know, but then it says cursed children, there's a lot of thoughts as to what this is about, cursed children, I don't think it's that complicated, they're cursed, okay, they're going to be damned but they're cursed children and I told you these false prophets here, these false prophets that have been named here are reprobates, okay, please take your Bibles and go to 1 John chapter 3, 1 John chapter 3, 1 John chapter 3 verse 10, 1 John chapter 3 verse 10, in this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil, whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother, so what we see here in verse number 10, we have people that are children of God and we have people that are children of the devil, okay, now there is a third group here and that's the majority and that's just children of Adam, okay, all of us when we were born into this world, we were children of our mothers and fathers, children of Adam, children of man, okay, even Jesus Christ described himself as the son of man, describing his humanity, okay, but then there comes a time when you're born into someone's family, hopefully the gospel gets preached to you, you believe the Word of God, you believe on Jesus Christ, what does the Bible say, and as many as received him to them gave you power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, the moment you believe on Jesus Christ in his gospel, you become a child of God, a son of God, and listen, once you're born into a family, you can never be unborn, once you've been born with your mum and dad, doesn't matter how good or bad your relationship is with them, they will always be your parents, okay, even if you run away from home and you never see them for the rest of your life, they're still your parents, hey, once you're born into God's family, you can never be unborn out of God's family, even if you have a bad relationship with God, he will never cast you into hell, even if you say God, I just don't want to live this life, hey, he'll chastise you, he'll correct you as his child, you might live a destroyed life, you know, quite a ruined life, hey, but when you die, you're still going to go to heaven because you're a child of God, but then the most scariest part of all this, there is another criteria, people that are born into the family of the devil, okay, the devil becomes their father, when Jesus Christ was arguing against certain Jews, he said, hey, your father the devil, you do the works of your father, the devil, okay, and the Bible tells us in 1 John 3, 10, these are children of the devil, hey, once you've been born into a family, you cannot be unborn, once someone becomes a reprobate, they were always a reprobate, they've rejected God, God has rejected them, spiritually speaking, they're born into the family of the devil, and so when we look at the false prophet in 2 Peter chapter 2, verse number 14, it said they are cursed children, you know, I believe quite strongly that cursed children there is referring to the fact that they are children of the devil, the devil's being cursed, they're going to be cursed along with the devil, okay, look at verse number 15, which have forsaken the right way and gone astray following the way of Balaam, the son of Bosa, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, so we go back to Balaam as another example, hey, he was someone that was doing it for the money, and so the false prophets are being described here just like him, hey, they do it for financial gain, verse number 16, but was rebuked for his iniquity, the dumb ass, the ass there is the donkey, I was talking about this with brother Michael recently, right, he was saying the dumb ass, yeah, that's speaking about Balaam's ass, okay, the donkey, that spoke to him, remember it said that the natural brute beasts, stupid or dumb, you know, the dumb ass there, speaking with man's voice forbade the madness of the prophet, now lots of opinions out there whether Balaam was a real prophet of God or whether he was a false prophet, it's hard to be all the way one way, kind of is a little bit, okay, but if you were to ask me, I lean more toward him being a false prophet, and it's basically 2 Peter chapter 2 that confirms that a little bit more for me, okay, because I mean we're seeing the wicked, we're seeing the false prophet compared to some very wicked people, and now he's being compared to Balaam, okay, now not only this, it says there that the, when the, when the donkey spoke to him, it says forbade the madness of the prophet, now madness there, he's not talking about the prophet was angry, you know, it's saying that when he's mad, he's insane, he's gone crazy, okay, he's not mentally there, he's lost his sanity, okay, that's talking about the madness of the prophet, now please go to Romans chapter 1 for me, Romans chapter 1 verse 28, and so this leans toward, you know, the belief that Balaam definitely was a false prophet, and I do, I do lean that way, but if you believe differently, I don't think it's a big deal, there's a lot of different opinions as to what people believe about Balaam, but it says in Romans chapter 1 verse 28, speaking about the reprobate, it says and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient, so the reprobate, okay, first they hate God, they don't want to retain God in their knowledge, they don't want to think about God anymore, they knew who God was, they don't want to think about him, so God gives them over to a reprobate, what does reprobate mean? Rejected mind, okay, they go insane, they haven't got the same level of sanity, you know, mentally as a normal person, they become as these natural brute beasts, they become like animals, you know, human beings, like, you know, when you think of, think of an animal, you think of a lion, the lion doesn't give any second thought, when he finds an animal to eat, it just goes in there, claws and teeth, you know, rips that animal apart, right, it just acts on instinct like that, okay, a human being does not think like that, a human being has, you know, thinks, generally thinks about others, you know, and has a natural care for your common man, even if you're not saved, there's a natural sort of care for the common man, okay, this is why we have families and friendships and all these kinds of things, right, the animal does not think like that, and so when somebody goes mad like that, a false prophet, it's because they've been given over to a reprobate mind, they no longer think like a natural human being, they're more like an animal, you know, they look at human beings as something that I can take advantage of, not how can I bear help, how can I serve this person, how can I bless this person, how can I be friendly to this person, no, whatever acts of friendship may appear, my feigned words, it's all fake, to take advantage of other people, you know, whether sexually, whether financially, whether just the enjoyment of seeing somebody destroyed, okay, and so when we look at Balaam, it says that he got mad, he became insane, he lost his mind, and that seems to go well together with the fact that he may have at that point been given over to that reprobate mind, alright, verse number 17, these are wells without water, so you go to a well because you want water, you want to drink, okay, you want to be nourished, you want to be sustained, you want to get something out of that well, hey, but the false prophet will look like a well, but he's not going to give you anything of substance, there's no value in that person, it says clouds, they're clouds that are carried with a tempest, normally clouds, you know, are full of water, full of rain, okay, and the rain clouds, they don't travel as quickly as clouds that are not rain clouds, okay, and so these clouds are being carried away with a tempest, there's no substance in these clouds, to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever, okay, they have a reservation in eternal darkness, the Bible also speaks of the outer darkness, which is the lake of fire, this is their end, verse number 18, for when they speak great swirling words of vanity, hey, that's what they like, great swirling words of vanity, have you ever come across people, now look, I encourage you to say things like praise God, praise Jesus, glory to God, hallelujah, hey, that's awesome, we ought to give God thanks, have you ever met people, that's all they say, I can think of individuals, you know, in my past churches, where they are wicked people, they are sinful people, they are causing divisions in churches, they are fighting with people in churches, alright, I'm thinking about certain individuals in my past churches, and you talk to them, praise God, glory to God, hallelujah, it's like, boy, are you really that close to God, no, it's feigned words, it's fake, you know, these people, because they don't know how to be spiritual, they don't know what it means to be close to God, they don't know what it means to be a believer, they think if I just turn it on somehow, everyone will be fooled into thinking I'm a Christian, but they really stand out, because it's overboard, it's too much, it's like nobody's that happy, nobody's that injured, you know, nobody's living like that, it's just too much, they get up to pray, praise God for your glory forever and ever, it's just, you know, it just keeps going on and on, no substance, world without water, you know, it's all emotional driven, there's nothing that you can ground yourself on doctrine, okay, they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure, verse 18, through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those, so pay attention now, the next few verses are a little bit challenging, and you might mistake them to be about the false prophet, but it's not about the false prophet, it's about those that they deceive, okay, it's about the people they deceive, I'll just show you in a minute, okay, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error, so let me break down verse 18, at the end of it when it says those that were clean escaped from them who live in error, those that were clean escaped are speaking about the believers, speaking about the people in the church, okay, now if we look at verse 18 again, it says they allure through the lusts of the flesh, okay, so they cause people to follow after them, okay, but who, who do they allure? Those that were clean escaped, okay, so let's break this down, so people come to church generally, you know, they got saved, they're trying to live godly, they're trying to fix up their lives, and listen, just because someone's a bit off in their lifestyle, it's not you for you to tell somebody else that they're not living righteously, that's not your position, we're all at different stages in our Christian life, we're all trying to learn the Bible, you know, some grow faster than others, some need more time, okay, we all have different backgrounds, okay, and we're all trying to escape, what does it say there? Error, we're trying to escape, living in error, we're trying to live righteously now, okay, but these false prophets come and they allure those people that are trying to keep themselves clean, okay, they're trying to, hey, they look at Christians and they say, wow, these people are trying to live righteously, they're not trying to live in error, I'm going to cause them to live back in error, I'm going to cause them to go back into their sins, that's what the false prophet does, okay, so once you understand that, you can understand the rest of the passage here, look at verse number 19, while they promise them liberty, so that them are those that are trying to live righteously, so the false prophet promises them liberty, hey man, we have liberty in Christ, we have freedom in Christ, just go ahead and give yourself tattoos, even though the Bible says not to put markings in your flesh, oh, we're free in Christ, hey, there's liberty, it's like, oh wow, alright, maybe I can go back and add another tattoo to my body, okay, no, that's what the false prophet does, right, they promise liberty, they promise freedom, hey, if you follow after me, hey, we can go back and live in our own lifestyles, we're free, I've heard that, I've gone to a Christian school, and that was being preached, it's like, it's basically saying, you're free to sin, because you've been saved, crazy, these are false prophets, they promise liberty, let's keep going, they themselves are the servants of corruption, so they serve corruption, they promise, hey, I'm going to help you live a free life, but then, they're servants themselves of corruption, for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought into bondage, so he's promising liberty, but he's causing people to go back into bondage, into the bondage of sin, into the bondage of a lifestyle of error, is what they're trying to do, okay, now let's keep going, verse number 20, now verse number 20 is not about the false prophet, it's about the person that the false prophet is corrupting, okay, for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world, now let's stop there, so they've escaped the pollutions of the world, who has escaped the pollutions of the world, again, verse number 18, those who escaped from them who live in error, so it's the same group of people that have escaped, you know, living in error, the same people that have escaped the pollutions of the world, these are the victims of the false prophet, okay, these are the people that have been deceived by the false prophet, for if after they have escaped the pollution of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, so the false prophet gets them to be entangled back into their old ways, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than in, than the beginning, so they end up becoming worse, when they got saved and they cleaned up their life afterwards, they end up going into worse sins, because they followed after the false prophet, okay, verse number 22, sorry, verse number 21, for it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them, okay, now the way of righteousness here is not about salvation, again, it's about our living, living godly, okay, so they've learned how to live godly, they've come to church, they've been challenged on their sins, they've cleaned up their life, they're living more for Jesus, they're living more righteously, they've learned that way, but because they've gone back into the sins, it would have been better if they just didn't learn that, is what it's saying, because they were deceived by that false prophet, okay, so what this is saying is that obviously because you're children of God, we're going to be chastised by God, but us who have a greater advantage, us who go to a Bible believing church, us who have Bibles in our hands that have heard great preaching, we're going to be judged heavier, you know, than somebody who's just been saved and is committing those same sins, if we go back to some old sins we used to be at, God's going to chastise us even more, because we've had more opportunities to hear the way of righteousness, okay, it's like me as a pastor, you know, I've got a position where if I commit a sin and you commit the same sin, I'm probably going to be judged harsher by God, you know, he's probably going to bring the chastisement heavier upon me and my life than upon somebody else in the church, okay, let's keep going, verse number 22, but it had happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog is returned to his own vomit again, and the sow, the sow is a female pig that was washed to her wallowing in the mire, and so the false prophet will cause us to be like a dog that returns back to its own vomit, okay, the vomit represents our sinful lifestyle, the vomit represents our life before Jesus Christ, the false prophet will cause us to go back and eat up that vomit again, like a dog that returns back to his or a pig that's been washed and just goes back to the mud and just gets filthy all over again, okay, so we have to, we're being warned at the end of that passage, we're being warned of how the false prophet will affect you, we have to get this guy out of our church because he's going to cause us to go back, back to the vomit, cause us to get back dirty, living in that sinful lifestyle once again, that's the dangers of the false prophet, once again brethren, let's just be mindful, be careful, not everybody that has a different belief than us that believes a false gospel is a false prophet, just those that are seeking to elevate themselves, those that have become reprobate, okay, those that have gone mad, those that have no escape of damnation, those that look at people of God and say well I just want to defile them, I just want to destroy them, I just want to be made rich out of these people, hey those people, those people are false prophets, okay, let's pray.