Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz19970121.htm

THRU THE BIBLE SYNTHESIS
"Part LX: 2 Peter - Apostasy Insurance For ALL Christians"

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

(1) In 1967, The Evangelical Theological Society invited a non member theologian, Daniel Fuller, Dean of Fuller Theological Seminary to give a paper on his views.

Daniel Fuller told these theologians that God "'deliberately accommodated errors in the non-theological and non-moral facets of biblical teaching in order to enhance the communication of revelational truth.'" ("The Hastening Disaster," Whitcomb, The Biblical Evangelist)

By 1971, Paul Jewett, a faculty member of Fuller Seminary, wrote saying of Paul's position on the role of women, "the Apostle Paul was simply wrong", and "He attacked the Apostle Paul's position on the authority of men in the government of the church." (Ibid.)

If Evangelical theologians allow for the idea that the Bible contains ERROR, and that the Apostle Paul was thus WRONG, how do Christians at the "LAYMAN'S" level able to discern what is true in their BIBLES?!

(2) A minister in Torrington, speaking of a Billy Graham crusade, a while back wrote: "I once underwent training as a counselor for one of his early New York City Crusades." (Register-Citizen, May 8, 1993)

However, in the same paper, I have on file something he later wrote about some associates who had tried get a man name Harold to give a death-bed confession of faith. He wrote: "They really believed that if a person dies without confessing Christ as Lord, one does not go to heaven, but to hell." In commenting on this concept, he then wrote: "Or is the subject a little more complicated than that?" He went on to state that only God could tell if one went to heaven, and that a deathbed confession still left one uncertain of his eternal destiny.

Well, if a Torrington minister who was once involved in a Billy Graham crusade says that one cannot be sure of going to heaven though he makes made a death bed confession, can WE at the "LAY" level be sure of knowing that WE will go to heaven by any deathbed confession WE make?!



How can so-called "LAYMEN" know if they have God's truth right when MINISTERS seem to be so fuzzy on what are the most basic, NECESSARY spiritual realities?!

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "Since we Christians live in a spiritual WAR between Satan and God, and since even Christian LEADERS can turn toward error, how can even 'laymen' Christians like myself who lack formal Bible training stay upright and not fall into apostasy?!"
  1. From the 2 Timothy study we learned that Church LEADERS are Satan's main targets of attack toward falling for error!
  2. That being so, the man in the PEW needs insight on protecting HIMSELF from error in case his LEADERS spiritually fail!
  3. Accordingly, God assigned the Apostle Peter the task of writing the Christian "LAYMAN'S" Spiritual War Manual in 2 Peter!
    1. 2 Peter was written just before Peter's martyrdom as he saw that his death would leave a leadership vacuum in the Church, 2 Pet. 1:14-15.
    2. Thus, he wrote 2 Peter to equip "laymen" in his absence with facts that they could use for armor against apostasy, 1:15; 2:1 with 1:10b:
      1. Peter was concerned that his readers have facts in mind following his departure so that they could fend off apostasy, 1:15; 2:1-3.
      2. Use of these facts Peter shared would preserve his readers from ever falling into apostasy, 2 Peter 1:10b.
    3. We thus view 2 Peter for Every Christian's Apostasy Insurance Facts:
      1. Fact One - Every believer in Christ is equipped in the spiritual realm to sustain a godly walk that avoids his fall into apostasy, 1:1-11:
        1. Every believer has promises from God that equip him to live righteously, 2 Pet. 1:1-4: Peter lists these promises as the (a) promise of the new birth at salvation, 1 Pet. 1:3, (b) promise of God's protecting power, 1 Pet. 1:5 and (c) the promise of God's enabling power, 2 Pet. 1:3, Bib. Kno. Com., O.T., p. 865.
        2. Now, (a) having believed in Christ and (b) being equipped with God's protecting and enabling power of the Holy Spirit, the believer can mature: he can add to his faith in Christ practical moral excellence, then a lifestyle knowledge of Scripture, self-control, perseverance, reverence toward God, brotherly kindness and unconditional agapay love, 1:5-7. (Ibid., p. 866)
        3. If these additions abound, the believer will mature and THEREBY never fall into apostasy, 2 Peter 1:8-11!
      2. Fact Two - The Scriptures he uses as his Guidebook for such protective growth are reliable so as to be followed, 1:12-21.
        1. Peter knew apostates would deny Christ's Person and Work, undermining the faith of many in Church History, 2 Pet. 2:1-3.
        2. In view of this threat, Peter gave evidences defending Christian beliefs: (a) believers were to recall that Peter's testimony about Christ was true as he witnessed Christ's majesty on the Mount of Transfiguration, 1:15-18; (b) also, this event exhibited Jesus as CO-EQUAL with God the Father as the FATHER'S own testimony declared as much ("my beloved (adult (huios)) Son," Jn. 5:18), v. 17b; (c) also, this event revealed ALL of Scripture to be true: since all the Scriptures anticipate Christ's glory and Messianic Kingdom, they are validated by Peter's witness of this Kingdom's fulfillment on the Mount, 2 Peter 1:19, 20-21 NIV.
      3. Fact Three - Peter predicted the activities of apostates to identify them for laymen for their future discernment needs as follows:
        1. Apostates would deny the full deity of Christ, 2:1-3; 1:17b.
        2. (Yet, they would not overcome the faith of the godly, 2:4-9.)
        3. These signs would expose them: (a) rebellion against authority (2:10-12a), (b) living by natural instincts (2:12b), (c) deceit (2:13), (d) sinfulness (2:14), (e) mercenary works (2:15-16) & self-destruction, 2:17-22, Bib. Know. Com., O.T., p. 871-873.
        4. In theology, they would (a) deny Christ's return (3:1-4), (b) teach cosmic uniformitarianism (a postulate behind evolution, etc.!) 3:4b (c) and deny the universal Noahic flood, 2 Pet. 3:5-6!
      4. Fact Four - In view of the apostate denials of these future events, Peter revealed what would happen regarding Christ's return:
        1. God's long-term apparent "inactivity" was due only to His desire for all men to believe in Christ to escape His coming wrath, 3:8f.
        2. In reality, the world will pass away with great heat, 2 Pet. 3:10.
      5. Fact Five - In view of these predictions (as we in modern times have seen to be increasingly reliable predictions), we need to live uprightly to give account at Christ's sure return, 2 Pet. 3:11-18.
  4. 2 Peter adds to the "thread of redemption" the hope that laymen are spiritually and theologically armed to defend against apostasy!
Application: To live above error no matter WHAT happens to the best of leaders, (1) believe in Christ to be born into God's family and be indwelt by the Spirit, Jn. 3:16; Rom. 8:9. (2) Then, rely upon the Spirit to use Scripture's input to GROW in Christ, and (3) TRUST 2 Peter's insight to AVOID error and (4) prepare for Christ's return!

Lesson: EVERY believer is without excuse to live uprightly in spite of LEADERSHIP failure and the presence of APOSTATES, for all he needs was given him in his salvation status, the indwelling Spirit and Scripture.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the lesson . . . )

 The January 1940 issue of the Scientific American, p. 14 under the story, "The Carboniferous Mystery," vol. 162, relates the following observation: "'On sites reaching from Virginia and Pennsylvania, through Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and w estward toward the Rocky Mountains, prints similar to those shown above [referring to several accompanying pictures], and from 5 to 10 inches long, have been found on the surface of exposed rocks, and more and more keep turning up as the years go by.'" Wh itcomb & Morris, The Genesis Flood, p. 172-173. Whitcomb and Morris, after quoting this section, write: "These prints give every evidence of having been made by human feet, at a time when the rocks were soft mud . . . However geologists refuse to a ccept the evidence at face value, because it would mean either that modern man lived in the earliest years of the postulated evolutionary history or that this history must be condensed to a duration measured by the history of man. Neither alternative is ac ceptable" [to secular evolutionists]!

The authors go on to quote Roland T. Bird, a paleontologist from the American Museum of Natural History, who carefully examined the rocks found near Glen Rose Texas that had both dinosaur and human footprints in the same supposedly Cretaceous strata of an "ancient" river bed. These pictures are provided in Whitcomb & Morris' book, and they quote Bird as saying: "'Yes, they apparently were real enough. Real as rock could be . . . the strangest things of their kind I have ever seen. On the surface of each w as splayed the near-likeness of a human foot, perfect in every detail. But each imprint was 15 inches long!'" (Roland T. Bird, "Thunder In His Footsteps," Natural History, May 1939, p. 255)

We know from Genesis 6:4 that pre-flood humans were giants, and this evidence as revealed by a secular scientist is revealing!

Peter predicted man would use uniformitarianism to explain his origins, and deny the Noahic Flood. However, evidence from the Paluxy River Bed near Glen Rose, Texas, as witnessed by Roland Bird and others, indicates uniformitarianism is wrong.

But BETTER, Peter's own predictions that the ideology of uniformitarianism would arrive has come so true that the credibility of his writings still stand even if the Christian doesn't have access to the Glen Rose, Texas evidence!

Yes, EVERY Christian can know the truth!!