{"id":7249,"date":"2020-10-26T04:54:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-26T09:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/wp\/?p=7249"},"modified":"2020-10-25T20:02:30","modified_gmt":"2020-10-26T01:02:30","slug":"2-peter-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/?p=7249","title":{"rendered":"2 Peter 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2\u00a0<\/strong>But\u00a0false prophets also arose among the people,\u00a0just as there will be false teachers among you, who will\u00a0secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master\u00a0who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.\u00a02\u00a0<\/sup>And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth\u00a0will be blasphemed.\u00a03\u00a0<\/sup>And\u00a0(F<\/a>)<\/sup>in their greed they will exploit you\u00a0(G<\/a>)<\/sup>with false words.\u00a0Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even a person who has what appears to be a godly walk and relationship with Jesus Christ can still bring in destructive heresies. Often times good men who teach lies do the worst damage. Their lies are accepted far more easily because of the good character of these men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4\u00a0<\/sup>For if God did not spare\u00a0angels when they sinned, but\u00a0cast them into helland committed them to chains\u00a0of gloomy darkness\u00a0to be kept until the judgment;\u00a05\u00a0<\/sup>if he did not spare the ancient world, but\u00a0preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought\u00a0a flood upon the world of the ungodly;\u00a06\u00a0<\/sup>if by\u00a0turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction,\u00a0making them an example of\u00a0what is going to happen to the ungodly;7\u00a0<\/sup>and\u00a0if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked\u00a08\u00a0<\/sup>(for as that righteous man lived among them day after day,\u00a0he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard);\u00a09\u00a0<\/sup>then\u00a0the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials,and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,\u00a010\u00a0<\/sup>and especially\u00a0those who indulgein the lust of defiling passion and\u00a0despise authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who insist on freedom to do whatever they want are like these angels: so \u201cfree\u201d that they are bound with\u00a0chains of darkness(a powerful poetic description of their miserable bondage). True freedom comes from obedience.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bold and willful, they do not tremble\u00a0as they blaspheme the glorious ones,\u00a011\u00a0<\/sup>whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord.\u00a012\u00a0<\/sup>But these, like irrational animals,\u00a0creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These ungodly ones are\u00a0especially<\/em>\u00a0reserved for judgment. They live according to the flesh, not the spirit<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction,\u00a013\u00a0<\/sup>suffering wrong as\u00a0the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure\u00a0to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions,while\u00a0they feast with you.\u00a014\u00a0<\/sup>They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts\u00a0trained in greed.\u00a0Accursed children!15\u00a0<\/sup>Forsaking the right way,\u00a0they have gone astray. They have followed\u00a0the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved\u00a0gain from wrongdoing,\u00a016\u00a0<\/sup>but was rebuked for his own transgression;\u00a0a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

17\u00a0<\/sup>These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm.\u00a0For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.\u00a0

Their heart is set on the flesh, and their\u00a0eyeson\u00a0adultery, both spiritual and sexual. They prey on the unstable to join them in their ways\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

18\u00a0<\/sup>For,\u00a0speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely\u00a0escaping from those who live in error.\u00a019\u00a0<\/sup>They promise them\u00a0freedom,\u00a0but they themselves are slaves\u00a0of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.\u00a020\u00a0<\/sup>For if,\u00a0after they have escaped the defilements of the world\u00a0through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome,\u00a0the last state has become worse for them than the first.\u00a021\u00a0<\/sup>For\u00a0it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from\u00a0the holy commandment delivered to them.\u00a022\u00a0<\/sup>What the true proverb says has happened to them: \u201cThe\u00a0dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christians warmly debate the issue of whether or not it is possible for a true Christian to ever lose their status as a true Christian and fall away to damnation. Perhaps the best way of understanding the issue is to say that it is certainly true that those who\u00a0appear<\/em>\u00a0saved \u2013 those who fit the description of Peter here \u2013 can end up in a place where\u00a0it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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