-Why do we gather together week after week? Have you ever asked that question? I remember in college it was really trendy to “have church” at Starbucks, that’s the best place for me to worship. Is that what God has called us to do? Do you think the early church had green mermaids on their cups when they met together? One of the ways I’ve started talking about our need to gather is: remember and remind. We need to remember the true story we’re living in, that Jesus is God, that the tomb is empty and that compels us to live differently than the world. But we also need to be reminding each other of that reality. When I’m sitting alone at Starbucks, I don’t have others reminding me of these truths, I don’t have people calling out sin in my life, I don’t have what God has called me to.

-One way of remembering is singing! I got to hear my favorite singing this week!

READ/PRAY

1. How Must We Live Now? (11-13)

-Since, connecting us back to what Pastor Jeramy preached on 2 weeks ago.

-If you didn’t know or hadn’t heard, Jesus is going to come back, and it might be soon! Part of Peter’s purpose for writing this letter is to correct poor theology and false teachers. All of chapter 2 is devoted to dealing with the false teachers who pursued pleasure at all costs. Part of the reason they felt free to live that way is because they had become convinced Jesus wasn’t ever going to come back (remember waiting for Christmas to finally come when you were growing up?)

-Since all these things (heavens and elements) will be “dissolved” 

-Weird word in the Greek, some say “melt away” sounds like the created order is reverting back to the primordial idea it was before creation. Does that meant they’re going to die and then be recreated, or is this a purifying? If you’ve ever seen a movie like LOTR where they smelt down the metal to purify/strengthen it (as when the orcs are preparing for Helm’s Deep), this is meant to refine and get rid of all the impurities. That debate is too big for my allotted time, so I’ll let you go study how we put the end times together on your own time!

-Peter’s primary reminder remains: the end is coming! It’s going to happen at a time we least expect it, but what affect does that have for me today? Hopefully (by now) we all will acknowledge, Jesus is going to come back, but you’ve probably heard the comment of someone being “so heavenly minded they do no earthly good.” (I have yet to meet anyone like that!) But Peter tells us that idea is ridiculous. Because Jesus is coming back:

-It compels/demands a completely new way of living, a radically new ethic that we’re to hold ourselves to: holiness and godliness

-Holiness ties to 1 Peter 1:14-16

-Since we have been purchased by an unmeasurable payment (the shed blood of Jesus) we are commanded to no longer act like we’re still a part of the world. We’re commanded to act like God, that is being holy, sacred, set apart from the sinful world. That’s what God means we we’re described as His children: we now have his attributes in our lives. This is what it means to image God today: being holy. 

-Godliness connects to 2 Peter 1:4 “having become partakers of the divine nature”

-Godliness in vs. 3

-Comes through knowledge, comes by escaping worldly corruption

-Listened to a podcast this week with Andy Crouch (Tech Wise Family is fantastic) but brought up the idea as much of technology today being mammon, or a demonic temptation. Have you done an assessment of your use of technology and looked for ways in which your use may not be holiness and godliness? Andy shares that both of his kids have completely sworn off of social media. As we live lives of holiness and godliness we are:

-Waiting for and hastening the coming

-Waiting for – 2 kinds of waiting, active vs. passive. Active like when your dad has been gone on a work trip and your mom saves the house cleaning for the hour before he walks in. Passive like the previous 6 days he was gone! This waiting isn’t meant to be us twiddling our thumbs. Luther, if you knew God was returning tomorrow, plant an apple seed today. Many of us act as if our jobs are preventing us from pursuing holiness/godliness, the reality is those are the very places we’re supposed to be demonstrating holiness/godliness.

-Hastening: your holy and godly living “hastens” or “hurries” the coming of the day of God. Isn’t God sovereign and not dependent on us? Ties to the gospel being preached to the ends of the earth (Matt. 28). What do you think we’re asking when we pray the Lord’s prayer: your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is exactly what Jesus tells us to pray for!

-Day of God – connects to vs. 10

-His return demonstrates that this world isn’t all there is. Very violent/graphic! Is it destroyed or renewed?

-Why would someone want this day? Remember when we studied Amos, the prophet there said be careful if you ask for the day of the Lord because it means judgment is coming! This implies that the person asking is living a life of holiness and godliness, because if you’re not then, then don’t ask for that day to come! Related to that is a warning to the false teachers: since you’re NOT living a godly life you should be afraid of Jesus’ return! I.E. That which they’re convinced won’t happen will be the very thing that gets them in the end.

-His promise

-Because Jesus is the one who made the promise, it guarantees it will happen. This isn’t something I made up, wasn’t even made up by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins to make millions on their Left Behindbooks, this is something Jesus talked about during his ministry. Because Jesus talked about it, it’s a guarantee!

-Connects to vss. 8-9. Many people got tired of waiting for Jesus to come back, they thought it would be a lot sooner than the 20 years they’d been waiting (dude, now we’ve been waiting 2,000 years!) Our timeline tends to get skewed, God’s doesn’t! So we try to better align ourselves with His timing. Have you ever prayed for victory over certain sins, and decades later you’re still fighting them? Because we have eternity to grow, it may feel like forever!

-New heavens and a new earth: restored, renewed. “new in nature or quality” doesn’t have the idea of a completely new thing. Purifying! These new heavens and earth will be a place where:

-Righteousness – character trait of God. Connects us all the way back to the beginning of this book: “to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” 

-Unlike this present age, in the age to come righteousness will “dwell” (root of the word is “house”). Connects to the grace and peace from 1:2. If we have “peace” we have righteousness dwelling eternally. We will in an eternally peaceful state, where the normal course of our lives are based in righteousness. Unfortunately, that time is not yet here.

• Be Patient in Your Holiness (14-16)

-Therefore: because of all those other realities (Jesus is coming the need to live holy and godly lives), beloved: affection, endearment. It’s at time easy to read these verses as cold/distant/condemning. Peter means none of those things. This is a dear, close, intimate relationship. Peter cares for his readers, just as Jesus cares for us today! These words have the same familial connection to us as they did the first readers! We read this as God’s very words to us, through Peter.

-YOU here versus the WE in 13. Both of them are waiting, but Peter wants to remind his readers of something specific. While they’re waiting, they have a job: BE DILIGENT

-Active vs. passive waiting here. Continue working, remain faithful. This is where we today are setting the stage and laying a foundation for (Lord willing) generations of faithfulness here at South Suburban.

-Be found – This is the passive part! We can’t find ourselves, this is God unilaterally does! God calls, we respond. (Adam in the garden) How are we to be found?

-Without spot or blemish

-Remember I said back when we were in chpt. 2 to look down at this verse. Contrast to 2:13, the false teachers are referred to as “blots and blemishes.” This is a radical difference between the false teachers and the children of God.

-But this also connects to Peter 1^st letter. 1 Peter 1:18-19 “you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” What Peter is doing is saying our godliness, our holiness comes to us ONLY because we are connected to Christ. If we haven’t put our faith in Him, we’ll be blots and blemishes.

-At peace

-This idea keeps coming up! Because we’re in Christ, eternal peace is possible today. More than just the absence of conflict, everything is right!

-God’s patience (saw that in vs. 9) is meant to give us time for salvation. 4 aspects:

-This should cause us to look back in awe that we were saved (past tense) Rom. 8:24 “in this hope we were saved”

-There is also a present tense aspect of currently BEING saved 1 Cor. 15:2: 
“the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved.”

-There’s the future tense that when Christ returns we will be saved Rom. 10:9: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

-Because we are saved completely, in the past present and future, it compels us to mission/evangelism Rom. 2:4 “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” How will someone respond unless they hear about the good news of what Jesus has done on their behalf? Brother and sisters: only Christians can accomplish this task! This connects back to the “hastening” of the day of the Lord. We have a job to do diligently! God’s patience towards unbelief is temporary, his peace (or the flip side of bearing the brunt of no peace) is eternal.

-Here’s the reality: the church is meant to spread throughout the whole world. The mission originally given to Adam and Eve (fill the earth with God’s image) is now meant for the church. You don’t have missions without the church! Too often we have separated those 2 ideas as if they’re 2 radically different things. Church, we’re supposed to keep reproducing, making new churches, making disciples who make more disciples until the whole earth is full of people who image God. That was the mission of the early church and remains the mission of the church today! 

-Paul and Peter. Talks about him differently: beloved brother.

-Interesting relationship! Galatians issue. Gal. 2:11 “when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.” No love lost there! Apparently there was some sort of reconciliation, and at times even the apostles needed to be confronted when their lives didn’t match their preaching.

-Notice the unity of Scripture here. What Peter says is what Paul says is what Jesus said. There is 1 message with a multitude of applications and ways to live out the truth.

-These letters being written and distributed among the early church are wisdom from God. The Nicene council didn’t invent the Bible being God’s Word or Scripture, the early church believed it!

-“Hard to understand” 

-This is one of the most important verses in this book. Underline it, highlight it, bold it on your phone, whatever you need to do. SOME OF THE BIBLE IS HARD TO UNDERSTAND. At least we’re not the only ones! Don’t you find it somewhat ironic that Peter says that, when we saw some weird stuff in chpt. 2?

-DOES NOT GET US OFF THE HOOK OF STUDYING! Peter doesn’t say they’re hard to understand, so don’t worry about it. This just means we actually have to apply ourselves to this the Bible to understand what it is God wants us to learn. This does not meant that therefore we can’t understand it! One author coined the phrase “the hermeneutical spiral” Hermeneutics is the way we understand something, but because the Bible is 1 book, as we grow in our understanding we move down the spiral to get more, deeper, and accurate understanding of what God is saying through His Word. And the more we learn of other parts it fills in some of the gaps in itself! Just because you may not understand something the Bible says doesn’t mean there isn’t a solution to your problem! You may need to open yourself up to others and maybe do a little work to figure out what the text is saying. 

-Part of the difficulty with the Bible being hard to understand is: those who are “ignorant” (unlearned) or “unstable” (weak) use these letters to twist (dislocating limbs for torture) the meaning. Just because people can (and do!) twist the Bible doesn’t mean the Bible is wrong! 

-Think about this: imagine you had a tape measure that you were using for house projects, but instead of having 12” in a foot you had 10”. How accurate would your readings be? Similarly, the true standard is the Bible, not whatever else you’re wanting to use, that’s twisting the Bible to fit your meanings. 

-Thankfully, those who twist the Scripture do so to their destruction. What kind of God’s Word would it be if He only ever said what we wanted Him to say. Who is God then? If you never find anything in the Bible that challenges you’re thinking, you need to do some evaluating about who your highest authority is. 

-Loki in the first Avengers “I am a GOD you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by…” “puny God” We are so often trying to make God into a “puny god” but that’s not how God works! He doesn’t conform to our image, we conform to His! 

-Don’t miss this last phrase: “the other Scriptures”

-Putting Paul’s letters on par with Scriptures. Another reminder that this wasn’t something invented by later Christians trying to come up with something to believe, this happened in the first century! 

• Don’t Get Carried Away, Remain Rooted (17-18)

-Peter’s final exhortation, remember YOU, focusing on the readers

-Be careful to not carried away (rooted, good foundation, connected to God’s Word, our South Suburban arrow)

-Error of lawless people (first error they’re led the wrong way since they have no foundation, then they’re lawless (they have no rule to obey))

-Instead of living rootless and lawless, GROW! Roots planted deep mean you will have a fruitful life. This is the description we find in Psalm 1 a tree planted by a stream. What do we grow in?

-Grace – not just for our salvation, each breath we take is a grace, each day we have is a grace. Everything we have is a gift from God and is therefore a gift of His undeserving grace.

-Knowledge – you must grow in knowledge of God, revealed through His Word. God continues to speak to us, all we have to do is pick up and read!

-Ends with a benediction: 

-Everything we do and are is meant to glorify God (Westminster shorter catechism: what is the chief end of man?)

-Just because He’s coming back to make a new heavens and earth doesn’t mean his glory will be any less!

-Amen: let it be so.

PLEASE NOTE: these are the notes I use to preach from, if you would like to hear them in context, please watch our YouTube video.

-Ever felt like you got away with something? Our kids are at the age where they’re starting to test what they can get away with, and honestly they’re pretty bad at it. Ask them if they took cookies and they’ll say no while they’re holding the package! Or 2 of them will start playing, 1 starts crying and the other one says they didn’t hit the one crying. Happened with Lucy last night!

READ/PRAY

-Remember in last week’s text, Peter was reminding us to always keep our focus on growing to be more like Christ. This wasn’t some cleverly devised myth, this is a true, historical account of what happened. Jesus is the ultimate source of truth, His return is our hope and expectation, but also part of the reason we live godly lives today. As the old classic song says: “His return is very close and so you better start believing that our God is an awesome God.”

-Unfortunately, part of the reason Peter keeps this reminder the focus of the rest of His life is because there will continue to be false teachers fighting against the truth.

-There’s some WEIRD stuff in here! This book and Jude has some really interesting things, we’ll touch on them, but not dig too far

1. There Will Always Be False Teachers (1-3)

-Also arose in the past, there will be in the future. No matter how hard you try, you can’t get rid of them. Part and parcel of living on this side of heaven is false teachers

-Comparison of prophets to teachers. Intentional comparison, these aren’t the same as the prophets of old, now they’re just teachers

-Word usage here for Peter connects to 1:20. “arose” is the same word used in “knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.” Peter is connecting these false teachers to denying the doctrine of inspiration. Do you ever see people questioning the validity of the Bible today, even supposed Christians?

-Saw a TikTok video where a “pastor” claims Jesus was a racist, and then is taught how to not be a racist by someone he talked to, that the Gospels show Jesus had to learn to fight his biases. Yes, Jesus, the only perfect God-man harbored secret sins, which is exactly what Peter goes on to describe.

-These false teachers secretly bring in destructive heresies, even going so far as to deny Jesus, just like that TikTok “pastor.” Jesus is the center point of our faith, around which everything else is centered. Thankfully, those who deny Him, will see a swift destruction!

-Doesn’t always seem that way! In many cases it feels like they get a bigger platform, their books sell more, they get more YouTube views (Rolling Stone described that TikTok “pastor” as “spreading the good news of an inclusive, modern gospel.”) This is part of the reason Peter spends the bulk of this letter addressing the false teachers. It looks like they’re getting off scot free. And what makes it even worse is:

– MANY will follow their sensuality. This is why they’ll get more views, hits, recognition

-It’s a lot easier to follow the world’s ways of living than standing up for Jesus’ way of living. Jesus’ way of living demands that we die to these fleshly desires/impulses that enslave so many around us. Yes, the road is narrow, but the results are totally worthwhile! These false teachers will even claim to be more enlightened, to have more understanding, and to have a different standard of living than what Jesus commands. Thus Peter will go on:

-The way of truth is blasphemed

-Not trendy or easy to walk in the way of truth ,but it’s the only way that leads to life! If this way is the “way of truth” what does that by definition mean of any other way of living? It’s the way of lies, dishonesty. But then we also recognize that the right way of living will be “blasphemed.” That means a couple things. First, our live should look different than the world. Second, we need to be comfortable when people mock the way we live. Why would we expect applause/recognition from the world when they have radically different goals and desires? At least we should have different goals and desires than the world! If you don’t, that’s a different problem. We honestly don’t like having our way of life blasphemed, we like applause and recognition.

-There is an infatuation with face/recognition or “celebrity”. Even if you’re not keeping up with the Kardashians, most of you at least know what I’m talking about! Always looking for the Christian sports stars, missing that the stars of God’s kingdom weren’t necessarily the best athletes, we almost act as if we have enough people who are “stars” we’ll finally get the recognition we deserve! But that’s not what Scripture promises!

-Today, what’s getting recognition is those who claim to have come out of an Evangelical background, but then they saw the “truth”

-What’s more, the false teachers are marked by greed, always wanting more. And notice their method of sowing corruption: false words.

-Words, talk, speech matter! This has been a problem since the Fall. Who are you listening to? What are you saying?

-But don’t worry, even if it looks like they have nothing but success, their condemnation is still going, and their destruction is still assured. 

-How do we know this? 3 examples

• 3 Examples of False Teachers (4-9)
  • Angels (4)

-First are the angels. This is a reference back to Gen. 6, which we studied last year. It’s the difficult to interpret section about the sons of God going in to the daughters of men, and what does that mean? I think it’s referring to angels taking on human form and coming to earth, but lots of thoughts/perspectives on that text!

-Also contains some allusions to a book attributed to Enoch (who walked with God and was no more), don’t have time to dig into that one right now, but you can go read that book sometime if you want!

-Primary point remains the same, regardless of what situation Peter is referring to, but keep this in your mind because it’ll come up again. Main point: the angels who were disobedient didn’t get away with it. Even if it looked like they would, like no one could stop them, God sent them away until the day of judgement. Next:

• Noah (5)

-Remember, during the time of Noah, there was increasing corruption in the earth (also in Gen. 6), God regretted making humans, so he needed a new start.

-Unlike the angels, God didn’t completely blot out everyone, Noah and seven others were preserved.

-We learn something about Noah here: herald of righteousness, a preacher of how to be in right standing before God

-We learn that God will preserve those who are heralds of righteousness

• Lot (6-8)

-Lastly, Lot, Abraham’s nephew who followed Abraham to the land of promise (Gen. 13-19)

-Begins with the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah as an example of punishment, which signifies the consequences for living an ungodly life.

-Does anyone else find it funny that Lot is described as righteous?

-Picked the best land to live in, planted himself in the city of Sodom, offered his daughters up to the men of the city, then became the father of his grandchildren, that’s the righteous guy? 

-Look at how it describes him in vs. 8, I think many times we’re in similar positions today! Yet we’ve almost become inoculated against the depravity that we see around us. It’s become the norm that we can’t separate ourselves from it

-Saw and heard – in Peter’s case was the things they learned about Jesus. What are you watching and listening to? Keeps coming up in here!

-Peter summarizes what we can learn: God will rescue the godly, but the unrighteous will be punished for their sins. Calls out a couple specific things:

-defiling passions, and despise authority. We see a lot of this in our world!

-There are passions that defile! There is bad authority!

• What Do False Teachers Look Like? (10-22)

-Remember, I said there was some weird stuff! Who are the glorious ones? What does it have to do with angels? 

-Similarly to vs. 4, this has connections back to Gen 6 (also filled in by Jude 8-10) 

-“Glorious ones” has 3 options: fallen angels, unfallen angels, church leaders. Connects to “despise authority” Because of vs. 11, I think it refers to fallen angels because of the similarity to Jude, let’s look at that text. So if even the holy angels won’t blaspheme the fallen angels, but let God do his work, why should humans feel free to blaspheme? (feel free to do your own research and disagree with me!)

-The point is: these false teachers are “willfully bold” in speaking against authority (the fallen angels), i.e. even demons don’t scare them.  You may have heard the phrase “Where angels fear to tread” which wouldn’t be a lot of places! Yet here is something even angels won’t do, and the false teachers boldly walk in!

-Peter goes on, describing these people as becoming more and more animalistic in their lives. Abandoning the call to image God to the world, they have no self-control or steadfastness (remember where we saw those? 1:6)

-Think of the story of Nebuchadnezzar in Dan. 4. He became prideful then was condemned to live like an animal, eating grass and walking around on all 4s. Then it wasn’t until he acknowledge God and humbled himself that he became human again. Or another well known example is Pinocchio and the other boys who slowly became donkeys

-The false teachers claiming to be wise end up looking like fools they’re literally ignorant, they become irrational like animals. 

-Almost as if Peter can’t contain himself, tripping over words to make this point of how foolish they are living! Let’s zip through a number of these here:

-Pleasure to revel (carouse) in the daytime, celebrating sin in the open

-Blots and blemishes – glance at 2 Peter 3:14 “be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish.” Think Peter is making the opposite point here? This is another way of saying to be holy, like a perfect sacrificial lamb (Jesus) 

-They continue spending time with the other Christians in their feasts

-Eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin – constantly looking new ways to sin. Instead of focusing on 1:19God’s Word as a light in the darkness

-They entice new believers, trying to lead them astray

-Hearts trained in greed, always looking for personal, selfish gain

-Peter has no problem cursing them!

-Lands on an illustration: Balaam. Anyone remember learning about him in Sunday school? He rode a talking donkey! It’s a really funny story. Instead of following the way of the true prophets of old, they are following in the way of Balaam. 

-I had a prof in seminary who would refer to people like this as: ignoramuses

–Num. 22-24, Balak, king of Moab sees how God is blessing His people, gets scared so he hires the prophet Balaam to curse them. Initially, Balaam refuses, but eventually gives in and goes out on his donkey. God, however, thwarts him. Sends an angel to stand in the way, donkey sees the angel and runs off the road, so Balaam beats the donkey. Happened 2 more times! Then the donkey asks Balaam what his deal is, because he’s been a good donkey his whole life! IDK about you, but I’d probably stop talking at that point, but Balaam ANSWERS THE DONKEY! “You made my look like an idiot” (dude you’re talking to a donkey)

-Balaam was supposed to know better than to try to curse God’s people or to lead them astray (that’s literally the job of a prophet!), but there will always be Balaams around to try to distract from what God is doing 

-If God can use a donkey, God can use anyone to bring about His will!

-Peter adds 2 additional descriptions: waterless springs. How useful/effective is a waterless spring? My in-laws live in New Mexico: “At least it’s a dry heat” It’s still too hot! 

-Mists driven by a storm, no grounding or anchor to prevent them from being cast around (Eph. 4:14children tossed to and fro, this is why we need to plant a firm foundation in God’s Word, which we saw in the first chapter)

-Entice by fleshly, sensual impulses the immature in the faith. 

-How often is this the case? Tim Keller, someone leaves the faith the first question is: who are you sleeping with? Or today, with the rise of “influencers” who speak of your own happiness being the end goal/aim. Listened to a podcast with a pastor who shared he always gets worried when a church member starts to post all their workout stats online, get healthy goals, not long before they ask for a meeting to share their unhappiness in marriage, can’t be the right thing if they’re unhappy (regardless of what God has commanded)

-I think of books like “Girl, Wash Your Face” or an online class you can take titled ‘Me Course’ which is described as “series that’s for YOU, sister, so you can show up better for yourself, your family, and everyone else in 2022.” Or even Marie Kondoing your house! Not inherently bad to take care of yourself, get healthy, etc. but when that becomes your primary goal/aim at the expense of everyone else in your life (potentially even your spouse) that’s a MASSIVE problem!

-Peter says these people are promising freedom, but they don’t realize they’re in slavery.

-Think of Rom. 6:15-19. You are slaves of whatever you obey or live out. The question for all of us is: what are you a slave to? One way is impossible! The other way has the best co-laborer in the world. Jesus talked about taking his yolk, which is easy. You still have to put in the work, but you have Jesus working in and with you.

-Remember what we looked at in our Image of God series with “expressive individualism” for far too many people today, they’ve become slaves to themselves, their desires, their fleeting passions, and it just leads to decreasing satisfaction with themselves, the world, and those they interact with. It’s only when we take on the yolk of Christ that we start seeing what we were designed to be and to do.

-What’s even harder about these false teachers is they were a part of this body of believers. They ate together, played together, served together.

-Peter is describing spiritual inoculation. Doing all the right things doesn’t guarantee salvation! We are only saved by grace through faith in Jesus. Think of all the statistics you’ve probably read of kids who grew up in church, said all the right things, but as soon as they left home they left the church. I was this way for a season growing up! My heart had not been softened to the glories of the gospel! PRAY PRAY PRAY

-This is demonstrated by Prov. 26:11, and an 1^st century version of Aesop’s fables.

SO WHAT:

-Don’t just pursue knowledge for knowledge’s sake – live it out! Not enough to just believe the right things

-Don’t buy into the nonsense that you have to feel it before you can act it out, sometimes we need to “fake it til we make it” go through the actions to retrain our hearts in the ways of the Lord

-We saw through the first chapter to grow in knowledge, but that’s not a mere intellectual pursuit! You’re not trying to win arguments, you’re trying to understand who God is, what He’s like, how you can obey Him. The reality is, you’ll never be more theologically astute then the demons, the question is: what is your response to your growth in knowledge? Does it lead you to worship, or do you become animalistic and refuse to acknowledge Him as God?

-Finally, we need to trust God’s perfect judgment – while there may be seasons where it looks like false teachers are getting away their sins, God is taking care of it. We need to be faithful in the midst of it. There have been, and there will continue to be false prophets in our midst! Yet we have a hope in God’s Word and the revealed Word, Jesus Christ, that we can continue to be faithful in the midst of them, that we can continue shining as lights in the darkness, that we can demonstrate the true freedom that comes from being a slave to righteousness.