II Peter 2:11 Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.
12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet.
It is a very foolish thing to accuse God of being unloving and uncaring. He has given us His Word where He has shown us how often He has reached out to man, both Jew and Gentile. He raised up Godly prophets who were rejected and mocked and persecuted. He gave the Jews His laws through which they could know His blessing. Israel had a great opportunity to live a life of blessing and peace. They had the opportunity of being a light to the Gentile nations. They could have drawn other people into the love of God.
Israel chose not to humble herself before God and then when He had to chasten her, she decided to become entrenched in her rebellion and decided to adopt the paganism of the nations around her. This paganism had not helped those nations and it certainly would not help Israel.
In the New Testament, God sent His only begotten Son. At approximately the age of thirty years old, Jesus Christ chose twelve men whom He began to groom for the very important work of seeing God-fearing churches developed and governed by the Truth and knowing the peace of God. True New Testament saints are saved to be a light to the world. We do not create the light, we reflect the Light of God.
In our text, Peter was directed to address the disaster that happens when man chooses to reject God.
Peter began by showing us that the angels know better than to attack those whom God places in authority over them. This of course is speaking of the good angels. The bad angels obviously did not do this. Satan led them to defy God and they continue to do that.
In verse 12 Peter was directed to call those who defy Godly authority as brute beasts. A bull will attack his master under certain circumstances. He gets fed and housed by him, but it is the nature of that brute beast to attack under certain circumstances. A bull is an animal. It does not have the ability to reason as a human being does. The Old Testament demanded that a bull or an ox that was known to be aggressive, and that killed or injured someone needed to be dealt with accordingly.
In our text, human beings that refuse to accept the place God designed man to have, deserve severe judgment and they will receive severe judgment.
I watched a documentary of a woman who was involved in a drug deal that went bad. She did not pull the trigger that killed the victim, but she was involved in getting him to that place. When the three criminals were caught, all three were tried for murder and all three received life sentences without the possibility of parole. The woman’s mother and the woman herself believe her sentence was too harsh. There was a young man whose life was taken and she was a part of that crime.
There is a need to teach people that there are consequences for actions taken. The Bible teaches us that. The problem is that too many children are raised without any knowledge of God. Too many parents are too involved in selfish endeavours and they do not want to know God themselves and they do not bother to take their children to a good church where they can be taught the truth. Then when things go further south than what the parents are comfortable with, they cry foul. The wise person understands that when you step away from God’s law, bad things are bound to happen.
In verse 13 Peter wrote that these brute beasts shall receive the reward of righteousness. This is not a question to debate. It is a fact to know. Hell is the end result for those who choose to reject God’s mercy and love.
Peter wrote of those who find pleasure in rioting in the day time. That sounds a lot like our world today. We have protests in this country that should result in prison sentences, but they do not.
God says these rioters are spots and blemishes. Oftentimes criminals try to sneak around in the dark to commit their crimes. That is bad enough. But then there are those who don’t care and they will commit their crimes in broad daylight. They take delight in their wicked ways. They are not ashamed of what they have done. They commit their evil deeds and then come sit down with more decent people and act as if nothing bad has happened.
In the most serious aspect of this are those false teachers who deceive their people with smooth talking and then want to hold an ecumenical meeting and have a banquet together where they want all religious groups to get together for a good time.
In verse 14 these people have their eyes full of adultery. This is both physical adultery and spiritual adultery. We see that in this passage. They are driven by their lusts and they cannot cease from sin. They are so depraved that they run around like those “brute beasts”. God is not saying they will not be accountable. He is speaking of the depths to which a person can sink if they reject the truth and continue to defy authority.
As we have mentioned before, there are thousands of false teachers who take license with the Word of God and think nothing of corrupting God’s Word and taking passages out of context to support their corrupt thinking.
They go around and trick people into accepting their false teaching. Rather than being Godly people, they assess the situation and come in with what they hope will be a good story by which they can get money and recognition from unstable souls. We see here they have hearts that are exercised with covetous practices.
We hear of men who set themselves up as religious leaders who then abuse young boys and girls. They convince them that it is God’s will for them to let themselves be abused by these corrupt adults. Peter was told to write about that in his time. That has been a problem through the centuries.
In verse 15 we read that these religious people have forsaken the right way. They have gone astray. They are not to be accepted as legitimate. Those who are truly saved do not sit down and treat these others as legitimate but different. We are told to expose them and avoid them. The tolerance for corrupt spiritual leaders that is so common today is not a good thing. Thousands are being encouraged to remain on the broad road that leads to destruction by wicked men and women who care nothing for the souls of others.
God directed Peter to name Balaam in this passage. We read of him in Numbers. He was a false prophet who tried to portray himself as a man of God. You might recall he had a donkey that was wiser than he was. The angel of God was about to kill Balaam, but his donkey saw the angel and kept Balaam from going ahead and getting killed. Balaam did not see what the donkey saw, and he wanted to kill his donkey. Then God opened Balaam’s eyes and he saw the danger he was in. He had assumed that he was going with the blessing of God but that was not so.
Balaam is a very clear picture of New Evangelical leaders. They get into the pulpit after their rock bands have given their congregations the music that will loosen up the minds of the people so they will receive the further lies they are about to be fed by their wicked leaders. They will hold baptisms and conduct weddings and funerals and try to sound as if they are the epitome of spirituality.
Balaam was coaxed to curse Israel three times but he could not do it. He was wicked, but he knew he could not openly curse God’s people. Instead, he secretly counselled the enemies of God to intermarry with the Hebrews and they would corrupt them that way and they would defeat them that way.
God knew all about this and He had Balaam killed in battle. God did not allow his wickedness to go unpunished. He was an example of how not to live.
God has not destroyed every false teacher as He did Balaam. Peter was directed to point back to that evil man as an example of what not to do but also to show what is the end of those who choose to follow that deceiving and conniving way of life.
There will be many New Evangelical leaders in hell alongside the people they deceived. Their punishment will be greater, and it will be for all eternity. It is never wise to follow your heart and go by what feels good to you.
We have the Word of God. You do not need to believe me. I know there are people who get quite upset with me because of what I teach. Get a real Bible and read it. See for yourself what God says. God is a God of love. He is also a God of justice. God’s love is not some mushy junk that the New Evangelical crowd loves. His love brought His Son to suffer and die on the cross of Calvary for our sins. He was brutally murdered and His blood was shed on that cross. The Jews did not care. The chief priests were more concerned with the fact that He rose again than they were with repentance. They concocted a lie to keep the people in the dark.
It is astonishing to witness false teachers stand before a grieving family who just lost a loved one and they will blatantly lie to that family and their friends about where that loved one went. It does not matter how they lived. They were a good person and they are with their buddies in heaven now. Are they really? Don’t believe the lies of deceivers. Read God’s Word in Its’ context. Seek out a Godly pastor who cares about your soul. Trust in the true God, not in followers of Balaam.
Pastor Bartel