Bible Lesson 63

GOOD NEWS-BAD NEWS
#2 IN A SERIES
2ND PETER CHAPTER 2

We continue in this lesson to build on what we had to say in our last lesson on Good News-Bad News. We have listed Second Peter chapter two as your text for this lesson; because Peter begins this second chapter of his Second Epistle with a notice to us that there have been false prophets, and let me repeat, false prophets then and false preachers today are the same. Prophets were men of old who God gave his prophecies to, and they foretold those prophecies. Preachers of today are supposed to take the Word of God as it is written in the Bible and they are to “forth tell” the truths of God. God gave His Word to the Prophets and to other men of God who preserved them under the auspices of the Holy Spirit, as the Holy Bible, and preachers today are to speak nothing else except “Thus saith the Lord”. The prophets dealt with exactly what God had given them. The preachers of our day are to deal with doctrines, as they show and teach people who know God, about God, and what He desires from those who are His children.

There are those in the church today who have sought to do away with the teaching of doctrine, and they like to say ‘just love Jesus and go to heaven’. That may sound good but let’s explore that little dodge that many use to keep from having to preach what God has said. Doctrine simply implies what is taught in the context of the Bible. Now that is the fact, who could want to ignore what God has taught us in His Word the Bible’ Only those who will not conform to the image of Christ!

Christ preached doctrine, and Matthew 7:28-29 tells us that after Christ had preached the Sermon on the Mount, that ‘The people were astonished at His doctrine: For He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes’. In the Gospel of Mark chapter 4 and verse 2, ‘And He (Jesus), taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in His doctrine’.’. Then in John chapter 7 and verses 16-17.”My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent Me.

If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself’. In the book of Acts, chapter 2 and verse 42, it speaks of those who were truly saved and says, ‘And they continued steadfastly in the Apostle’s doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread and prayers’. In every book of the New Testament, God inspires the writers to lift up doctrine. John the Revelator was told to write about doctrine in his Letter to the Churches at Pergamos and Thyatira about their heretical doctrines. So, if Christ preached doctrine, and said that His doctrine was not His but the Father’s and we read of doctrine throughout the New Testament, why would anyone think that we should stop preaching doctrine’

I know why anyone would, and it’s because it is divisive; but God gave us His Word to be divisive, not as we like to think about divisive, but because the cross is a stumbling stone to many. Sinners don’t like doctrine, but that’s the reason that the Lord gave us His Word the Bible, to cause an offense to a sinner and make them responsible for their sins. That’s really what it’s all about, we take so much care not to offend the sinners in our midst, that all too often we offend the very God of Creation.

Our scriptural text for this lesson, there in Second Peter chapter two, goes on to tell us that there is always going to be false teachers among us, who will bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction. But many will follow their pernicious ways because the truth shall be spoken evil of.

They will make merchandise of those who will listen; but God is never surprised or ambushed by His creatures’.and 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, and God spared not the old world, but saved Noah and his family (a total of eight people), Noah being a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; And God turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly (2nd Peter 2:1-6).

As we read those scriptures think about how God did not spare or let the angels go without due punishment, and destroyed all life on the earth in the time of Noah, except for Noah and his wife, and their three sons and their wives, along with animals by pairs to replenish the world after the flood. That means that estimated millions of people were drowned and only eight were saved. Not only that but God destroyed the cities of the plain, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar. There can be no question that God had seen enough of the sins of these cities and when they were drawn to the judgment bar of God they insisted on having homosexual sex with the angels that God had sent to get Lot out (Genesis 19).

All sin will carry you to hell but God has a special distaste for homosexuality. Argue with that if you want to but you are not arguing with me you are arguing with God! Since there are so many people today who have allowed others to cloud their minds with rational and compassionate thinking, let me just take a moment to clear up what God thinks of homosexuality, using God’s own Word the Bible.

I would ask you, who have the idea that God did not put special stress on the sin of homosexuality, to please read the scriptures that I will be using here. I hope you are all interested enough and hungry enough for the Word of God to always check any scripture that I give you’.and check anyone else who does the same. To begin with, God made Woman for man and Genesis 2:22-24, says that God gave Eve to Adam to be His wife. God performed the first marriage; and He performed it by joining Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve or Billy Bob!

In Genesis chapter 19, we find just how strongly God feels about homosexual activity. In Genesis 19 we find God as He sends two angels to get Lot, who was Abraham’s nephew, and his family out of Sodom so that God could destroy it and the people there.

Why’ Because they had become so sinful that God has washed His hands, so to speak with these vile creatures. It amazes me that several years ago, one of the most prominent Pastors in my area called me late one night to discuss this very subject, and he began his talk by telling me that God did not want to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, God wanted to save those people. I asked him what Bible he had been using; because mine said that God sent two angels there, not to preach a revival, but to get Lot and his family out of the town so He could burn them up. I say that to let you know that not everyone is to be believed when it comes to the Word of God.

This man was very influential and was a wheel in the denomination at the time. He was a fine gentleman, a great speaker, and as men go, he was a good man, but he was misleading thousands of people. We have not been requiring that men who fill pulpits are men that have a grounded knowledge of the Gospel and a completed, in context, understanding of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. It seems that we think that we can hire someone who makes us feel good in our sins, and never confronts us about our precious sin, and we think that we can go to heaven on the credit.

Now, back to our subject for the moment, about homosexuality. In the book of Leviticus, chapter 18 and verse 22, God inspired Moses to write to the Nation of Israel and these are the exact words of God, ‘You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination’. Now, we must understand that we can not make that verse say anything except that we are not to practice homosexuality. The Tyndale Life Application Bible uses the word homosexuality in that verse when it says of Leviticus 18:22, ‘Do not practice homosexuality, it is a detestable sin’. Now if you want to be an abomination, or to appear detestable in the eyes of God, you do what two men do together or two women do together.

We have not only become illiterate on what the Word and Will of God are for us, but we have also become ignorant of what moral values demand. That’s the reason that we can tolerate professing and practicing homosexuals, men, and women who are an abomination (a stench in the nostrils of God), a detestable sinner to our God and we should see it the same way that God does.

If we are truly Christians we will be embarrassed and ashamed for our country when we have men like Barney Frank and others in the legislature, and I mention Frank because he takes every advantage to grab a microphone, or get his face on T.V., In my opinion, he should be laughed out of the congress. Understand now, Frank and people like him are free to thumb their noses at God and practice whatever bazaar kind of, what they call sex, as long as they don’t try to corrupt our youth with their depraved ways, but they need to keep it to themselves and whenever they decide to be proud enough of their sins to go public, the moral center of this country should demand their removal from public office.

But we are only getting started on what the Bible says on this sick subject of homosexuality.

In Leviticus 20:13 God says to us, through His servant Moses, ‘If a man lies with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them’. The only way anyone can interpret that scripture is that if two men are caught having sex, they have both committed an abomination and they will both be put to death, and their death shall not be chargeable to those who punish them with death.

The Life Application Bible says the same thing only in the vernacular of our day when it says, the penalty for homosexual acts is death to both parties. They have committed a detestable act and are guilty of a capital offense’. That brings lesbianism into the equation.
Now, it should be pretty clear that one of the Bible’s doctrines is about homosexuality, and the Bible put it off-limits to not just Christians but any of God’s creatures.

I will share with you a few more of the Scriptures that deal with this detestable act. In the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 23:17.
In the New Testament we see it in Romans 1:21-32; Jude &-8; 2nd Peter 2:4-7; 1st Corinthians 6:9; 1st Timothy 1:9-10; 2nd Timothy 3:1-5. I never cease to be amazed by those who profess to be Christians but who champion the cause of homosexuality but hate the death penalty, and some of the other ‘hard doctrines of God’s Word’.

If you have been caught up in that kind of heresy, get on your knees and ask God to forgive you so you don’t have to spend your eternity in hell. The tired old excuse that says, ‘Oh, I believe what others do in their private lives is alright; however, I know I’m saved’. If you feel that way you better check the spirit that is assuring you because the Lord never changes His mind and never contradicts Himself.
Just because some of the people in many of our denominations think that they can be nicer than God, doesn’t change God’s mind or His Word, the Bible.

Your church or your denomination will not be the Judge on that day, it will be God and He will be using His Word. These ‘false prophets and false preachers and teachers’ that would sweeten God’s Word to make it sound better to sinners will be judged by God, but they will lead a lot of simple souls astray before they are condemned to hell. I know the little sayings about sweetening the Word of God’.like ‘you catch more flies with sugar than you do with salt’; and that would be fine if we were trying to catch flies, but we are fishing for men’s souls and we must use God’s bait, which is the Gospel.

Understand me now, I am not one who goes out to hurt people’s feelings, I do not rejoice to make someone feel bad about their lives. I have been called to preach the Word of God, the full counsel of God; and in doing that many times someone will get their feelings hurt. It was not me that hurt their feelings, but the Word of God which is ‘Sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart’. The truth is offensive to all those who are not obeying the commandments of God.

The Cross of Christ is an offense to sinners, and Christ the Son of God is an offense. (Romans 9:33; Galatians 5:11; Isaiah 8:13-14). More than once, I have had people who claimed to be Christians, had belonged to Churches since their early youth and even held teaching positions, come to me after I had preached the truth and shared Scriptures that verified what I was preaching, and they have said that I had offended them. As lovingly as I know how I have told them that they would get over being offended, but they would never get over going to hell.

Those experiences have convinced me that our churches are full of people who do not know what they believe, much less who they believe in. Is that their fault’ Yes, and No! They are responsible to God to search the scriptures and know what it is that saves any person, but the visible Church is also responsible because it has gone to sleep and allowed the devil to plant tares (people who do not know if they are truly saved and have shown no evidence to anyone of regeneration and conversion).

The problem is complicated but the answer to the problem is simple. The church needs to go back to square one and begin over and teach the full counsel of God to everyone and test and observe and communicate with all of its members until there is a certainty of everyone’s salvation. Instead of confronting sinners, which is what Jesus Christ did, we reassure them in their sin.

We need to begin at the beginning and convince people that they are born under the wrath of God, because of their nature and predisposition because of Adam’s sin. Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden is marked in and on each of us when we are born, so we are born under the Wrath of God (Ephesians 2:1-3). You may not want to believe that but that is what God has said and I gave you the Scriptural proof when I put down Ephesians 2:1-3. We are all born lost, undone, blind, deaf, and without help or hope, unless and until God begins the work of regeneration and conversion in us.

Normally, what we in the visible church begin with is, telling all who hear us speak, that God loves everyone; and Jesus died to saved everyone. Now, listen carefully, that is a lie and it is not Biblical. We are not only preaching heresy, but we are also leading people to that broad road that leads to destruction. If we begin with any sinner by telling him that he is worthy of the love of God, then we are telling them that they are as good as they need to be, when in reality, we are encouraging them to go to hell. Not but one person has ever been good enough to merit salvation and the person was Jesus Christ, the God-man, the Savior who died for those who would obey Him (Romans 3:23; Hebrews 5:8-9).

I would ask you to think about this ‘. What would you think about a man who is standing in a boat, while you are drowning; but instead of throwing you a lifeline, he keeps yelling at you that you are alright, you are not drowning’ I think you know what would happen in that situation, you would probably drown! We have people sitting under weak and half-truth gospels all over the world and they are drowning in sin and love of the things of the world, while pastors and preachers are assuring them that they are perfectly fine, just the way they are. If that is your position dear brother or sister, the thing you must do is to begin to read and study your Bible, pray for enlightenment, cry out to God to show you the truth, and seek answers for your questions from people who will tell you the truth.

Life on this earth is not to glorify any natural man, but to glorify and serve and love our God Jehovah. We cannot do that in our spare time and with our pocket change. We cannot change, short-cut, revise, or in any other way redo the Word and Will of God.

Please read the Bible, pray and ask God to confirm His truths to you and cry out for the blood of Jesus Christ to remit your sins

Until next time,

may God bless and keep you

This is Bro. Bob