 Hello, everyone. This would be our last session in the course of Hebrews, James 1st and 2nd Peter and June. So let's pray and I'll get into our subject for today. Heavenly Father, we thank You for the opportunity to take on Your Word. We thank You for the strength it brings. We thank You, Lord, for the life transformation, Father, that we can experience through it. Even pray, Lord, as we meditate on Your Word, we pray that, Lord, You will give us direction and help us, O God, to keep walking with You and be strong in You. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. So we were at 2nd Peter, chapter 2. In 2nd Peter, chapter 1, we saw Peter's exhortation to be strong in the Lord. Here in chapter 2, what we see is a wall against false prophets and false teachers. So Peter experienced to the believers that there could be some among them who are teaching what is known as destructive heresies. He also points out that sometimes the appearance of these heretics is sort of subtle, that one needs to be discerning to identify such people. It's not very obvious. So a believer needs to be cautious with regard to any teachings that he may hear. And how do we distinguish these false teachers or prophets from those who are teaching the truth of God's Word? So he lists out some characteristics. He says that these people are deceptive. They have deceptive words and their quality which drives them is really covetous. They want more than what is theirs. And so they don't feel bad about speaking these false teachings. And he states that these destructive heresies not only will they bring destruction to the hearers, but they themselves, the false teachers themselves will experience destruction. So in verse 3 he says, and that destruction does not slumber. So they doom to destruction. He brings up comparisons here. He talks about the angels who sinned in Noah's times and how God has imprisoned them. So there is a consequence that followed the disobedience of angels. Now the other example that he brings up here is the time of Sodom and Gomorrah where you find that people were in sexual sin. And that was a time when God decided to bring destruction on those people. So whenever we are living in sin, there is a consequence to that. And there is an outcome, a destructive outcome to our sinful lifestyle. And that's something one needs to recognize. So he says that God delivered even Lot who was in that kind of a situation with all kinds of evil around him. But God is faithful. He knows how to deliver the righteous from such circumstances. But the focus here is the punishment which follows a sinful lifestyle, a sinful, you know, a fleshly way of living life. So it's a warning here where he's trying to tell the people that there will be destruction that follows such teachers. Now he adds more characteristics to such teachers. He says that they walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness. They despise authority. They are presumptuous. They are self-willed, meaning they do their own. So concerned about the standard of God's word. And he continues to say that, you know, they speak evil of dignitaries that points to speaking evil of heavenly beings, even though they don't understand much about, you know, all these, all these aspects, they are not careful. They just go ahead and speak anything which they want. Now, because they are in this way, punishment will follow. He reminds them, look, even when you have angels, so verse 11 he says, whereas angels are greater in power and might do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord. So he's making a point here, which we will see repeated in the book of Jude where even angels, they are, they, they have this instruction to speak as per the authority that has been given to them. So even they don't go beyond that authority or boundary in which God has kept them. So how can these false teachers speak evil against dignitaries the way they please. So he is telling how these people do not regard authority or they do not, or they are living a lifestyle of rebellion. So these are all characteristics of such false teachers. Now he adds more features. He says, you know, they are natural brute beasts who have a consequence, you know, they are meant to be caught and destroyed. He says, they speak evil of things that they do not understand. And, you know, they will utterly perish in their own corruption. He states that they will receive the wages of unrighteousness as those who counted pleasure to carouse in the daytime. So basically, he's saying that these are people who are living for their own pleasure, carouse in the daytime means not having, not being conscious that the time that God has given us is to live for him to honor him, glorify him, but just, you know, spending time for their own pleasure. That's the way these false teachers are. So we find that neither are they careful about the doctrine nor are they careful about the lifestyle that they live. So their lifestyle is quite clearly away from the holy lifestyle which God is calling every believer and especially the teachers of God's word to live. So he wants people to identify false teachers by what they say and also the way they live. Now he adds, he says that they are spots and blemishes. Okay, so, you know, they're not a good example, basically. That's the point that he's making. And he adds, he says they are full, their eyes are full of adultery and they cannot cease from sin. Okay, and they go ahead and entice unstable souls. So when one is not strong in the word of God, it is possible that they could be swayed away from such wrong teaching. Now he points to people like Balaam, right, who were willing to go against God for the sake of their greed. And they were in such a false, you know, state of greatness that even the donkey had to come and rebuke Balaam for the way he was thinking. And so we mustn't follow after the example of such false teachers. Now he says they are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. So verse 17, you know, he states this. So this simply means that though they are preaching God's word, and there is an expectation whenever the word of God is presented, an expectation to receive the impartation which is coming from the word of God. But then through the ministry of such false teachers and hectic, there's really nothing that we can receive. So that's why he says wells without water. Now we go to a well, we expect some water, but there is no water there. And in fact, it's dangerous and empty, open well, people can even fall and, you know, they can be injured. So things like that where they do not meet the expectation of either God or God's people. So let's be warned of such such teachers. Now he continues, he says they have great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. So then, you know, he goes on to talk about how these people, you know, they, their teaching is really not helpful. And it's so sad in verse 20, he says they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord from the Jesus Christ. Okay, just a moment. Yeah, they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of a Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But unfortunately, they are again entangled in them. Right. So that's so sad that they have tasted the truth and they continue in deception and lies. And he very sadly in verse 21, he says for such people, it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness. So it's very unfortunate that there are such false teachers and that they are doing themselves to destruction as well as others around them. So that those are main points that we notice in 2nd Peter chapter 3, chapter 2. Now in chapter 3, there is a reminder that God is faithful to do what he has promised. So he reminds us that God is not slack to his promises or even though in our natural ways, you know, we see that some promises take time to be fulfilled. He's just helping the believer know that, you see, for God, the way time is, he God is outside of time. So, you know, our slowness, like when we experience slowness, it's not the same, you know, the way it is for God. So in verse 8, he says, but beloved, do not forget this one thing that with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. So he's just saying that the way we understand time is very different from the way God sees time. And in fact, he's outside time. And his false teachers even make sense to say that, you know, God has forgotten the promise. He will never fulfill those promises. It's going to take a very long time before Jesus comes back. So these kinds of statements come from false teachers, but he's just encouraging the believer and saying, look, you know, God is faithful. If he has spoken, he will do it. So just hold on to God and you will see everything that God has promised fulfilled. Now, he also in addition talks about the time when all the things that exist right now are going to be burned up by fire because God is going to create new heavens and new earth, right? Just talking about the culmination of our times, the end times. So eschatology and I, you know, we have studied about all those things in the separate subject which we have, but he's explaining it. In fact, verses 10 to 13, he goes ahead and explains how some of these things will manifest. So in the light of God's greatness, in the light of the reality of who God is and his faithfulness, he wants a believer to continue strong in the Lord. And at the last section, he encourages the believer here to be strong in God. Okay, be steadfast in God. Don't fall into the error, you know, of such wicked people. There will be false teachings in the last days, there will be false prophets, prophecies and you know, it's nothing new because we find that not only Peter here, but apostles like John, even Jude, we are going to get into Jude right now, they too warn about such people. So in the early church, we know that there were such people, right? But the false teachers and heretics, but they could be identified by their teaching, they could be identified by their motivation, they could be identified by their lifestyle. And you know, it was really sad that they had accepted Christ and they had fallen into such error. Now, let's quickly move to the book of Jude here. The good thing is that even Jude has these themes repeated warning, you know, against heretics. So it seems like they were all speaking regarding a, you know, a common issue that had emerged in the early church. So Jude, as we know, it's a letter to the believers written by Judas, the half-brother of Jesus. And you know, Judas preached against the dangerous practices and doctrines that put the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in peril. So in the book of Jude, you know, he says that he refers to something known as concerning our common salvation. So basically, he wants people to be diligent about what the Lord Jesus has done for us. So when he says common salvation, he's not saying that it's an ordinary salvation. But what he's pointing to is that this salvation is what everyone has, you know, the community of believers has received. So in terms of the entire community, he uses this term common, so more to do with the community and what they have believed as a community. So he says, I was diligent to write to you concerning this common salvation. And then he goes on to exhort the believers to contend honestly for the faith, which was once delivered to the saints. So he charges the believers to hold on to the truth of God's word in such a way that, you know, they affirm and they are not swayed by all kinds of teachings that were going on in their times. And even Jude brings a warning. He says, certain men have crept in unnoticed. Remember, sometimes they are very subtle the way these false teachers come in. So he says certain men have crept in unnoticed and, you know, they were marked long ago for this condemnation, ungodly men, right? So he also describes such people and he brings a warning on them. So now he reminds them of certain examples, very similar to what we saw Apostle Peter do. So he brings a reminder and he says that when it was, you know, there were some people who were brought out of Egypt, but when they did not believe what happened, they were destroyed. Then he points to people such, then he points to the angels who sinned during Noah's time and he talks about darkness and judgment, which they experienced. And also he talks about the people who were judged in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, who practiced sexual immorality. And he says, went after strange flesh. So, you know, the details of what exactly they did. So that's the reason he speaks of them in this manner. He says that all these people are doomed to destruction. There will be consequences, you know, eternal fire, which they experienced. So that is a warning for us that when we take off in the path of unrighteousness, wickedness, untruth, there are going to be consequences because God has not spared, though, down that path, you know, from. Now, he goes on, you know, pointing to others as well. But before that, he makes statements, you know, to, it was eight, I will read from was it? He says likewise, all these demons defile the flesh, reject authority and speak in law of dignitaries. The characteristics of false teachers was nine. The archangel in contending with the devil, when he just built about the body of Moses, did not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said the Lord rebuke you. So he's stating here that the angel Michael, right, he had a certain role and a responsibility given to him. And he is stating a unique situation, something about a dispute regarding the body of Moses. Now, we don't have more details about this because this is sort of a standalone scripture, but it's best not to extrapolate it to come up with all kinds of meanings. Whatever is here is here, right? And we also notice that Michael does not go beyond his given authority. So he doesn't rebuke the devil himself, but he says the Lord rebuke. So it's within the boundaries and that's a lesson for us to learn. Even when we talk about here, dignitaries referring to heavenly beings, we need to stay in our, we must not take them lightly is the point here. He says that people who are false teachers, who are against the standards of God's word, they do all kinds of things, they speak whatever they like, and that's not correct. And then he points to people like Cain, Balam and Korah. Now Cain is an example of unbelief because he offered something to God, but it wasn't filled with faith, which is why it got rejected. Then we find that he points to Balam. Balam was a prophet who prophesied for profit. And that's also not good because there's greed in his attitude. And then there is Korah. Korah is an example of rebellion. So he says that when it comes to such false teachers, that is their motivation, unbelief, the need, and rebellion. And we must stay clear from such things. Now he goes on to talk about the consequences of such people. He explains them, right? Like their spots in your love fees, their clouds without water, their late autumn trees without fruit. So basically fruitlessness. There is a form of godliness, but they are fruitless. So we must be careful about such people. Then there's another statement here regarding Enoch. Okay, so there is a prophecy he says that, you know, Enoch prophesied that God, the Lord Jesus, he will come with thousands of his saints. Now again, regarding Enoch and what Enoch did, we don't have too much in the Bible. So we will only take what is given here. And it seems like during the first century, there was other literature that the church fathers believed in, from where they get all this information, you know, the body of Moses and Enoch as a prophet. But we will take what is given in the canon of scripture for us. And people who move into too much of researching these things, we're not too sure, right? Like what, whether those books now are the exact ones that the apostles believed in. But here there is some statement about Enoch being a prophet and prophesying. So, you know, we accept what is being spoken here. Okay, moving forward, you know, there are more characteristics of these ungodly people. They are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts. They speak swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. So these are their works. And we must be aware, they are sensual, they cause divisions, not having the spirit. So they don't carry the spirit of God, they're not filled with the spirit of God. But instead, he encourages the believer, he says that as a believer in verse 20, he says, we must build ourselves in faith. Okay, how do we do that praying in the Holy Spirit and keeping ourselves in the love of God? So instead of his fault teachers and being like these false teachers, we as believers must be strong in the Lord. And one of the things that helps us build up our faith and stay in the love of God is to pray in the Holy Spirit. So that is the encouragement which he is bringing to the believers. And finally, you know, he goes on to speaking a word of blessing and exhortation upon the believers stating from verse 24, now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever, amen. So he speaks a blessing, he speaks an exhortation with that, we close with our course and I really want to wish everyone the very best for the future. Thank you all for being part of this journey. I really appreciate you staying on in the journey for all these three years and may the Lord bless you, your families and your ministry. Let's pray and close. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the grace that you gave us, O God, to study your word. Father, even as each one steps out, Lord, to serve you, we pray for the empowering of the Holy Spirit. We pray that Lord, each of us, Lord, will be able to release the power of the kingdom and honor and glorify your name. We thank you for each opportunity in Jesus' name. We pray, amen. Thank you, everyone. Bye for now.