Telling the Truth

Guest (Male): If we believe there's no final judgment, then it really doesn't matter what we do. But that's not true. Today, Stuart is teaching from 2nd Peter to show you that there is a final judgment and what you do in this life does matter.

Today's culture is a revolving door of ever-shifting views and beliefs. That's why it's so important to test new ideas against the timeless truth of Scripture. It's the best defense against the world's confusion. We want to help ground you in the foundations of your faith by sending you Stuart Briscoe's six-message series on the book of 2nd Peter, "Six Things We Must Never Forget."

This series will anchor you in six time-tested truths from God's Word so you can stand strong in your beliefs as you remember the deep spiritual truths that are foundational to your faith. The "Six Things We Must Never Forget" series is our thanks for your gift to help keep Telling the Truth going strong, sharing life-giving teaching from Stuart and Jill with more people all over the world.

Request your copy when you give today and get help staying grounded in truth in today's shifting culture. Call 1-800-889-5388 or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now, here's Stuart with his message, "If There's a Heaven, There's a Hell."

Stuart Briscoe: Once again, we're turning to Peter's second epistle. I'm going to be looking into the second chapter and the first nine verses. I need to give a word of explanation here concerning the title of this series of talks. I'm calling it "Six Things We Must Never Forget." The reason for that title is that one of the profound emphases of the epistle that comes from Peter is that he is concerned that people need to be reminded.

We do have a tendency to forget. We are very often enamored of the novel. Not infrequently, we find ourselves being interested in the latest thing to come down the pike. Very often, what we really need is to be basically reminded of the fundamental things that can get lost in the shuffle. Peter was particularly concerned to write this epistle because he recognized that his martyrdom was drawing very near. He wanted to have something in writing so that the people who survived him would have these reminders that they were going to need so desperately.

In this particular passage before us today, he talks about the situation that has existed for a long time and he warns the people about what is going to happen in the future. With that in mind, let me read to you the first three verses of 2nd Peter chapter two. This is what he said: "But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed, these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping."

Those first three verses, I would suggest to you, are an exposé of godless activity. Notice that Peter starts off by saying, historically, we are aware of the fact that there have always been false prophets. He is referring, of course, to the history of Israel. The history of Israel was one in which God very often would communicate to his people through his men and his women who were prophets, but there were always the phony prophets. That is, people who would claim to be God's messengers when they weren't, or people who claimed that what they were saying was true when it wasn't. False prophets.

The people Peter is writing to were well aware of that, but what they may not have been aware of was what he then goes on to say. There were false prophets; there will be false teachers. In other words, Peter is warning them that it is perfectly possible that people will come into their midst teaching things that are false, teaching things that just aren't true. He clearly is very much concerned about this possibility, and so should we be too. Notice what Peter says about the ministry, if we can use that term, of these false teachers.

First of all, he says they will introduce destructive heresies. A heresy is a teaching that has strayed from what is true. Now I think it's rather obvious that if you are told something that is not true, but it is presented to you in such a way that it is the truth and you are led to believe it, then the result is you are believing a lie. It's like building a bridge on rotten planks. Your destruction is sure, Peter would say. If we insist on building our lives on that which is error as opposed to that which is truth, we will find ourselves suffering as a result.

This, of course, may sound strange to some people in our culture at the present time. We've been pointing out the reason for this. Peter clearly believes that there is such a thing as truth, and he believes that there is such a thing as error. In our culture, the tendency is to say if it's true for you, it's true, and if it isn't true for me, it isn't true. In other words, there's no such thing as objective truth; we simply make our own truths. The danger of this kind of thing is that you may make your own truth and discover ultimately it was error.

If you have made your own truth and discover ultimately it was error, then you've built your bridge on rotten planks and your destruction is sure. The concern that we have to have at all times is for people who will believe any old thing just so long as it's what they want to hear and build their lives upon it. The false teachers in Peter's day were introducing people to destructive heresies. The same is true today. We need to be aware of it and we must never forget it.

The second thing that Peter says is very surprising indeed. Of these false teachers, he said they secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them. Now we know that Scripture teaches, and Peter taught this particularly, that we're not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. Notice he uses the word "redeemed" there. The word "redeem" and the word "ransom" are closely related to each other. To redeem somebody or to ransom somebody in the days when Peter was writing meant that you paid a price in order to release a hostage, to release a slave, or to release a prisoner of war.

Now says Peter, we need to be redeemed, we need to be ransomed. We need somebody who can come and save us. We need somebody who can come and set us free from all the things that we need to be liberated from. We're not going to be liberated, ransomed, or redeemed through silver and gold; we can't buy our salvation. That is possible only, as Peter puts it, through the precious blood of Christ. The point now is once you have been ransomed or redeemed, you have been bought with a price.

Peter says these false teachers were people who understood what it was to be bought by the Lord. The suggestion is that these false teachers are in the community of believers, that they have professed faith in Christ, professed the Lord, but in actual fact, are apostate and accordingly, they are extremely dangerous people. It is perfectly possible for all manner of error to be taught in the name of truth. Tragically, it is possible for that which is fundamentally wrong to be preached from the pulpits of our land too. We must never forget it.

The third thing that Peter says is that the swift destruction of these false teachers is apparent. Now you'll notice in 2nd Peter chapter three that one of the things the false teachers were saying was that Jesus hadn't returned, maybe because God was just a bit slow. I think he's giving them a little dig and saying, "You may think God is slow, but you need to understand something. Your judgment will be swift." By all means, feel free to say God is slow, but don't think for a minute that your judgment will not be swift.

So now he's introducing something very, very strong indeed. He says these false teachers will preach destructive heresies, they will deny the sovereign Lord who bought them, but they won't get away with it. There will be an ultimate judgment of these people. Then fourthly, he says of these false teachers, the things that are going on at that particular time is that they are leading many to follow their shameful ways. Let's face it: you don't have to be very smart to get a crowd.

If you've got the gift of the gab, if you've got a certain charisma, and particularly if you've got a certain charisma that communicates what people want to hear, which they find attractive and appealing, you'll get a crowd. These false teachers apparently were doing this and the result was the crowds were following their shameful ways. One of the things that these false teachers were teaching was this: "Don't worry about there being a final judgment. That's just something that these preachers cooked up just to scare people. That's a lot of nonsense. Forget it."

I can imagine that that would be a very attractive thing for a lot of people to hear because the last thing they want is God taking a good, hard look at their lives. "What a relief," they say, "No final judgment." The problem with that is that it's wrong. But the further problem with it is if I believe that there is no final judgment, then it really doesn't matter what I do. If it doesn't matter what I do, then I can spend my life raising hell. I can just go out and have a ball.

I could do everything that my lower nature longs to do. I can just go and have no restraints, no restrictions, no limits, no consequences, and no accountability. Wow, this is great! You preach that, folks, you'll get a crowd. The tragedy was that these people in the church were beginning to teach this kind of thing, and many were following their shameful ways. As a result, Peter tells us fifthly, they bring the way of truth into disrepute. What does that mean?

Peter believes in truth and you'll notice that he believes that there is a way of truth. Now Peter was around when Jesus claimed to be the way, the truth, and the life. Peter also knew that the original believers in Jesus were not called Christians at all. They were originally called people of the way. The way of truth was a way of living, it was a way of behaving, it was a way of believing that had to do with the Lord Jesus as the source of all truth, the way to God, and the secret of life.

There were many men and women who had bought into what Jesus said. They'd acknowledged him as Savior, they'd acknowledged him as Lord, they had embraced his teaching, they were living in obedience to him, and they were living a certain way in life. They were known as the followers of the way; they lived the way of truth. You know what's happening now? Some of the false teachers are bringing in their heresies. They're denying that there's such a thing as truth, they're introducing all kinds of immoral behavior, and the way of truth is being discredited.

One of the great mysteries in American society has been pinpointed by Chuck Colson. Chuck Colson says, "Why is it that church attendance is up and morality is down in America? Why is it?" That is a very, very important and a very, very serious question. Perhaps one of the reasons for it is that we are failing to recognize that in many instances people will claim to be followers of the way, but when it actually comes to living according to truth and the moral righteousness that God ordained, they claim to be followers of the way, but in actual fact, they are not living in terms of what the way of truth is all about. As a result, the church of Jesus Christ in America is losing credibility by the hour.

False teachers leading people in their shameful ways, and the way of truth is being led into disrepute. Now Peter brings all this to a climax by saying this: "Their condemnation," that is these teachers, "Their condemnation has long been hanging over them and their destruction has not been sleeping." In other words, Peter says, "I'm exposing what is happening. Those who deny truth, those who deny moral standards, those who masquerade as being followers of Christ, but in actual fact are teaching error, leading people astray and bringing the way of truth into disrepute—those people need to know something. Their condemnation is already spoken and their destruction is not asleep."

It is keeping an eye on them, and it is only a matter of time when they will be brought before God and be judged. Now this is rather a novel thought for a lot of people today. The idea that God would be a judge is very strange to them. The reason is very often even in the church, there is a great concentration on the love and the mercy and the grace of God and a very careful avoidance of the holiness and the righteousness and the justice of God.

There has been in many instances, even in the church, such an emphasis on the freedom that is ours and a lack of recognition of the responsibility for disciplined living that is ours, too. There has been a lack of emphasis on the fact that we are ultimately accountable to God and an emphasis on the fact that God just wants us to be happy and will turn a blind eye to anything that we do. Peter says, "No, I want to do an exposé on godless behavior and my exposé is simply this: God knows about it and he will judge it."

Let's move on now to the second part of this particular reading, verses four through nine. Here this passage I've called an explanation of God's actions. It's all right for Peter to suddenly come out and say their condemnation and their destruction is hanging over them and not been sleeping. But you say, "Peter, on what basis can you make a statement like that? On what basis can you come out and talk about God eventually judging people?" Peter says, "On the basis of the history of God's actions in human experience."

On the basis of God's actions in human experience, I can say quite emphatically that God will judge. Let's read what he said, verse four: "If God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly..."

Notice that his statement has been an exposé of ungodly activity, leading to the fact that these people will be judged, and now he's going to give an undergirding for this statement. His undergirding is basically: if God didn't spare the angels that rebelled, and if God didn't spare the people in the days of Noah, and if God didn't spare the people living in Sodom and Gomorrah, what in the world makes you think he's going to spare these false teachers? That's what you'd expect him to say, isn't it? And that is not what he says. I wonder why. Is Peter getting old and losing his train of thought? I think what Peter is doing is looking at the awesomeness and the awfulness of the thought of the inevitability of divine judgment.

-Guest (Male)-: Stuart, why do you think so many believers are uncomfortable with the idea of God as judge?

Stuart Briscoe: Well, there's a very simple answer to that. The reason many believers are uncomfortable with the idea of God as judge is that it is very uncomfortable. To think of the fact that God says that he will in the end judge all things is a little unnerving to say the least. To recognize that all things are naked and open in the eyes of him with whom we have to do, and that his all-searching gaze will penetrate not only into our history of what we have done, but will also evaluate our motives for doing it—this is decidedly uncomfortable. This is only part of the story, but the answer is this is an uncomfortable truth. The good news, of course, is that his justice is mingled with his mercy.

-Guest (Male)-: What's one way we can balance our view of God as both just and merciful?

Stuart Briscoe: We can balance our view of God as both just and merciful by defining clearly what we mean by these terms. Look at it this way: justice gives me what I deserve. Mercy does not give me all I deserve. Grace gives me what I don't deserve. So put all those three together and you've got a delightful balance. Justice gives me what I deserve, mercy does not give me all I deserve, grace gives me what I don't deserve. And how can God do all three in his dealings with me? In Christ. This has to be a short answer, but there is a seminal idea for you to pursue.

Thanks for listening to Telling the Truth today. We're so glad you've joined us and we pray this message has helped you experience more of the abundant life Jesus promises. We want to share an encouraging testimony from a listener named Debbie. She recently wrote, "I've been blessed by your daily devotionals for several years now. You've used the truth of God's Word to speak to my heart every day. Very thoughtful and life-changing. Thank you."

Today's culture is a revolving door of ever-shifting views and beliefs. That's why it's so important to test new ideas against the timeless truth of Scripture. It's the best defense against the world's confusion. We want to help ground you in the foundations of your faith by sending you Stuart Briscoe's six-message series on the book of 2nd Peter, "Six Things We Must Never Forget."

The "Six Things We Must Never Forget" series is our thanks for your gift to help keep Telling the Truth going strong, sharing life-giving teaching from Stuart and Jill with more people all over the world. Request your copy when you give today and get help staying grounded in truth in today's shifting culture. Call 1-800-889-5388 or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. Stuart's back tomorrow to wrap up today's message, "If There's a Heaven, There's a Hell." We invite you to tune in then, right here on Telling the Truth with Stuart and Jill Briscoe.