I thank the Lord for the opportunity to post the Weekend Sermon, and I would like to thank you for taking the time to read the sermon this week. I hope that everyone is doing very well.
Over the course of the last several weeks, we have been studying what the Lord has to teach us from the epistle of II Peter. For the last couple of weeks, we have been looking into what Peter has been telling us about false teachers and the false teachings that they promote.
Today, we will be finishing up chapter 2 examining what is a controversial passage of Scripture. In verse 20 Peter tells us referring to the false teachers, " If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning."
In this context, Peter is saying that the false teachers know the truth about the Lord Jesus. They know that Jesus is Savior and Lord and how He can deliver people from the sinfulness that is part of this world's system. However, they have made the choice to turn their backs on what is true and right. They have decided to promote that which will satisfy their own lusts and desires. The false teachers would have been better off never having known the truth because now they have no excuse. They are guilty of having despised the Lord Jesus.
In verse 22, Peter says that the false teachers are like dogs returning to their vomit and like pigs returning to the mud hole after a bath. This is very strong language. It is quite obvious that Peter doesn't think too highly of false teachers.
Now, here is where the controversy comes in. This passage of Scripture we are studying today is often used by those who don't believe in eternal security to show that a person can be saved and then lose their salvation. I've actually heard many sermons on this topic that have utilized these verses as proof texts.
Before we get into the eternal security issue, we have to ask whether or not these false teachers were really true Christians to being with. For the answer to this question, we need to look at James and John. James makes it clear in his letter that faith without works is dead. As far as James is concerned, if a person's works don't match their profession of faith, they don't really have a true possession of faith. In other words, James is saying that if people act the way that Peter describes the false teachers acting, then the false teachers weren't really believers to begin with.
Now, let's see what John tells us. In I John 2:18-19, John is speaking about antichrists who have gone out into the world. According to John, these are those who deny the true teaching of who Jesus is and what He did. They are false teachers. John says, "They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us."
With these two statements in mind, it is my interpretation that the false teachers were not really true believers in Jesus. They knew what was right, but they didn't let the truth of Jesus possess their hearts. For them, Jesus was not Lord.
Now, this does not settle the question about losing one's salvation and eternal security. I'll share my beliefs with you. You are certainly free to disagree. There are good Christians on both sides of the issue.
I believe that you are eternally secure as long as you want to be. Here's what I mean. When I was about 18, my parents started to go to a church that believed in losing one's salvation. This particular church believed that if you committed a willful sin, then you had lost your salvation. You needed to go down to the altar and repent and invite Jesus back into your life.
I don't see in the Bible where you can sin yourself out of salvation. I believe that if a person is sinning all the time, that person probably doesn't really know Jesus. That is what John says throughout I John. I believe that is what James is saying when he speaks about faith without works is dead.
I do believe that you can make a decision that you don't want to follow Jesus anymore. In the parable of the sower and the seeds, Jesus spoke about seed that fell on rocky soil. The seed came up, but it withered quickly. My understanding of this is that these represent people who truly come to faith in Jesus. However, they make the determination that following Jesus is too hard. They decide it isn't what they thought that it would be.
In this same parable, Jesus says that some seed started to come up, but it was choked out by the weeds. This represents those who deny Jesus when faced with persecution or those who decide that they don't want to follow Jesus anymore.
I've personally known two people who were believers who decided to stop following Jesus. One man left the faith due to something that happened to one of his children. He had a daughter who was killed. It caused him to despise God, and he stopped believing in the Lord. He never wanted to have anything to do with God again.
Another person that I know believed in the Lord and became active in the church. A few years later, he started reading some things that started to make him doubt the validity of Christianity. He eventually decided that he didn't want to follow Jesus anymore, and now he claims to be an atheist.
My understanding is that being a Christian means coming to faith in Jesus Christ by grace through faith. We are then supposed to follow Jesus as the Lord of our lives. If we don't want to do that, we turn our back on the Lord and go our own way. Jesus spoke about people who put their hand on the plow and then look back.
So let me clarify what I think the Bible teaches. If we are trying to follow Jesus and commit a sin, we aren't lost and have to be "re-saved". We can ask forgiveness, and the Lord will forgive. However, if a person makes a decision to no longer follow Jesus, that person has left the faith. Jesus doesn't force anyone to follow Him and believe in Him.
I hope what I've written here today makes some kind of sense. I don't think the passage in II Peter is really about a Christian losing his or her salvation. I do think that a person can apostatize. I hope that all of us will stay as close to Jesus as possible. I hope that all of us are acknowledging Jesus as Lord every day. Amen.
Prayer Requests and Other Matters
This has been a very stressful week. Thank the Lord for helping me. I am hoping that the coming week is more normal.
In prayer this week, please remember to pray in regard to the coronavirus outbreak. Pray that this illness will stop spreading. Pray that those who are sick will recover, and pray that scientists will be able to quickly discover a vaccine. Don't forget that the people in Congo are still dealing with Ebola, and they need our prayers too.
Please pray for those in Australia dealing with the fires. Pray that the fires will be brought under control soon.
Puerto Rico needs our prayers. Earthquakes have caused a lot of damage, and we need to pray that people there will get the assistance that they need.
Continue to pray for peace in the world. Pray for Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Congo and Libya.
For our prayer focus countries this week, let us pray for those in Sierra Leone and Oman. Pray that many will hear about the love and grave of Jesus.
Next week, I will post the sermon on Saturday. We will be starting II Peter 3. On Monday, I will post the verses. I will try to post a review on Wednesday or Thursday. May God bless you all. Amen.
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