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2 Peter 2:17-22 - Only the Son Can Set You Free · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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Speaker 1: Life Audio. You are listening to The Bible Explained with
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Speaker 1: Jen Koukl, a P40 Ministries podcast. Good morning, friends and
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Speaker 1: faithful listeners. Thank you all for tuning in to this
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Speaker 1: episode of the podcast. And it's just been such a
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Speaker 1: great topic that we've been talking about in 2 Peter
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Speaker 1: that I'm excited to dive into this last portion of it.
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Speaker 1: We are finishing up our discussion on false teachers as
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Speaker 1: of today. And we've been in this topic for about
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Speaker 1: two weeks now. So it's definitely not one to take lightly.
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Speaker 1: So I'm very, very excited to dive into all of that.
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Speaker 1: But before we do, if you guys could do me
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Speaker 1: a quick favor, you're going to find a listener survey
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Speaker 1: at the very tippy top of the description of the episode.
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Speaker 1: And if all of you could fill that out and
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Speaker 1: just give your feedback on the podcast, that would be very,
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Speaker 1: very helpful for me. So if you could just take
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Speaker 1: about two minutes to fill that out, I would very
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Speaker 1: much appreciate all of your guys' feedback. Now, before we
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Speaker 1: dive into the last portion of 2 Peter 2, I'm
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Speaker 1: going to play a sponsored advertisement for you. And after that,
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Speaker 1: I will be back to discuss the last portion about
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Speaker 1: false teachers. All righty, faithful listeners, let's get into the
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Speaker 1: meat of this discussion. And this portion, I think, is
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Speaker 1: a fantastic way to wrap it all up, obviously, because
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Speaker 1: it's the end. And Peter did a really good job
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Speaker 1: at ending his thoughts here. So let's go ahead and
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Speaker 1: read 2 Peter 2, 17 through 22 together. As always,
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Speaker 1: I'll be reading from the WEB or the World English Bible.
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Speaker 1: But of course, feel free to grab the version of
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Speaker 1: the Bible that you prefer this morning and read it
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Speaker 1: along with me, as well as sharing a delicious cup
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Speaker 1: of coffee or tea or coffee.
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Speaker 2: Energy drink.
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Speaker 1: I had somebody reach out to me recently and was like, Jen,
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Speaker 1: you never talk about the energy drink drinkers. So I
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Speaker 1: needed to give a shout out to all of you
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Speaker 1: Red Bull drinkers, because I know some of you guys
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Speaker 1: prefer a Red Bull over coffee or tea. And you
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Speaker 1: guys are the craziest. I finally found somebody crazier than
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Speaker 1: tea drinkers. Alrighty, let's go ahead and dive into this
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Speaker 1: portion together and give reverence to God's word. These are
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Speaker 1: wells without water. clouds driven by a storm, for whom
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Speaker 1: the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever. For uttering
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Speaker 1: great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in the lusts
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Speaker 1: of the flesh, by licentiousness, those who are indeed escaping
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Speaker 1: from those who live in error, promising them liberty, while
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Speaker 1: they themselves are bondservants of corruption. For a man is
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Speaker 1: brought into bondage by whoever overcomes him. For if, after
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Speaker 1: they have escaped the defilement of the world through the
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Speaker 1: knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, They are
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Speaker 1: again entangled in it and overcome. The last state has
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Speaker 1: become worse for them than the first. For it would
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Speaker 1: be better for them not to have known the way
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Speaker 1: of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from
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Speaker 1: the holy commandments delivered to them. But it has happened
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Speaker 1: to them according to the true proverb, the dog turns
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Speaker 1: to his own vomit again and the sow that has
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Speaker 1: washed to wallowing in the mire. So now with this portion,
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Speaker 1: we finally finished talking about these false teachers that Peter
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Speaker 1: has been mentioning for quite a while here. We've been
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Speaker 1: actually in this chapter for about two weeks now. So
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Speaker 1: this is a big topic. And the reason Peter talks
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Speaker 1: about it so much is because of how prevalent it is,
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Speaker 1: not just in his day and age, but in the
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Speaker 1: Old Testament days and nowadays as well. There are false
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Speaker 1: teachers everywhere and they are so subtle and they are
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Speaker 1: so good at what they do. We have to be
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Speaker 1: really careful so that we don't get manipulated into believing
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Speaker 1: their teachings and going down a wrong path ourselves. That's
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Speaker 1: why it's so important to have scripture be your final
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Speaker 1: authority with everything that you do. So Peter says now
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Speaker 1: in verse 17, that these or the false teachers are
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Speaker 1: wells without water, clouds driven by a storm for whom
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Speaker 1: the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever. So we
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Speaker 1: talked about that verse last week to some extent, but
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Speaker 1: these false teachers, they claim to have life-giving water, but
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Speaker 1: in reality, they have nothing.
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Speaker 2: To offer you.
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Speaker 1: They're like a well without any water in it. You know,
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Speaker 1: you're thirsty, you're looking for water, and you go to
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Speaker 1: an empty and dry well. Same goes for the farmer
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Speaker 1: who's looking for rain for his crops. Storm clouds are coming.
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Speaker 1: He gets his hopes up thinking that his crops are
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Speaker 1: finally going to get watered. And then the wind just
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Speaker 1: blows all of the storm clouds away. And his ground
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Speaker 1: is just as dry as it was before the storm
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Speaker 1: clouds rolled in. That is what these teachers are like.
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Speaker 1: They claim to have the water, but they are lying
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Speaker 1: because the only source of that life-giving water is Jesus himself.
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Speaker 1: That's talked about in John chapter four, when Jesus talks
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Speaker 1: with the woman at the well, you know, the Samaritan woman,
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Speaker 1: famous story of Jesus telling her that he is the
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Speaker 1: source of living water. And if she actually just trusted
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Speaker 1: in him, she would never thirst again. Now, the woman
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Speaker 1: at first didn't really understand what Jesus was saying. She
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Speaker 1: thought he was talking in a physical sense, but he
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Speaker 1: was talking in a spiritual sense. And this woman was
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Speaker 1: so broken. She was looking for love. She was looking
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Speaker 1: for acceptance. She was looking for all these things in
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Speaker 1: life through the wrong avenues. And when Jesus finally told
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Speaker 1: her that he was the source of all of her longing,
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Speaker 1: That was when she became a different woman because she
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Speaker 1: found the life-giving water that she was looking for her
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Speaker 1: entire life. So Jesus is the only source of that
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Speaker 1: life-giving water. And these false teachers, they don't have that
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Speaker 1: because they're not truly following Jesus. They follow another idol,
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Speaker 1: whether it's themselves or money or fame, wealth, whatever it
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Speaker 1: might be. They are following after another gospel, after another idol.
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Speaker 1: So they can't actually help people find that life-giving water
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Speaker 1: because they don't have it themselves. And Peter actually goes
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Speaker 1: on to explain about that. It says in verse 18,
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Speaker 1: for uttering great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in
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Speaker 1: the lusts of the flesh by licentiousness, those who are
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Speaker 1: indeed escaping from those who live in error, promising them
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Speaker 1: liberty while they themselves are bond servants of corruption. For
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Speaker 1: a man is brought into bondage by whoever overcomes him.
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Speaker 1: These false teachers claim to have the source of freedom.
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Speaker 1: They claim to have everything that will get somebody out
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Speaker 1: of the bondage that they want to be out of.
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Speaker 1: But really, they're putting even more bondage on these people
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Speaker 1: because they're preaching a gospel that is not Jesus. Only
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Speaker 1: one person can free us from our sin and from
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Speaker 1: our oppression. And that is Jesus himself. That's what Jesus
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Speaker 1: says in John 8, 34 through 36. Jesus answered them,
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Speaker 1: Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is
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Speaker 1: the bondservant of sin. A bondservant doesn't live in the
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Speaker 1: house forever. A son remains forever. If therefore the son
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Speaker 1: makes you free, you will be free indeed. So Jesus
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Speaker 1: uses this analogy to describe what it's like to be
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Speaker 1: a bondservant. He says, you know, a bondservant, somebody who
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Speaker 1: is a slave, does not live in the house forever,
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Speaker 1: you know, because that house does not belong to them. Technically,
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Speaker 1: the servants are considered to be part of the property,
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Speaker 1: but the son is the one who owns the house.
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Speaker 1: So if the son sets you free, you are free indeed.
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Speaker 1: The son is the only one who can give us
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Speaker 1: the freedom that we are looking for. He is the
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Speaker 1: life-giving water, and he is the one that frees us
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Speaker 1: from our bondage. These false teachers claim to do that
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Speaker 1: to all of their followers. They claim, oh, you know,
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Speaker 1: if you follow everything that I say, you will be
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Speaker 1: freed of, you know, this bad relationship. You will be
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Speaker 1: freed from this demonic oppression you're experiencing. You'll be freed
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Speaker 1: from a life of all of these miseries that you're
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Speaker 1: going through, whether it's bad health or money problems or
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Speaker 1: whatever it might be. These teachers claim to have the
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Speaker 1: source of freedom. but they're not even free themselves because
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Speaker 1: they are bond servants of corruption. So they are slaves
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Speaker 1: to sin. So a slave cannot make other slaves free, right?
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Speaker 1: There's only one person that can make the other slaves free.
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Speaker 1: And that is the son. Only the son can set
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Speaker 1: you free. Other slaves cannot set you free. So Peter
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Speaker 1: is really laying this down hard. to make sure that
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Speaker 1: we all understand what a false teacher looks like. If
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Speaker 1: he has another idol that is not God, if he
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Speaker 1: is falling into corruption and sin, then he is a
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Speaker 1: slave and he cannot offer freedom and he certainly cannot
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Speaker 1: offer the water that gives us eternal life. Now, here's
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Speaker 1: what 1 Corinthians 6, 12 says. All things are lawful
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Speaker 1: for me, but not all things are expedient. All things
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Speaker 1: are lawful for me, but I will not be brought
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Speaker 1: under the power of anything. Now that was Paul arguing
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Speaker 1: against some of the false theology he was hearing in
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Speaker 1: the Corinthian church. Because apparently the Corinthians, they weren't standing
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Speaker 1: against sin. In fact, in the chapter right before this,
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Speaker 1: 1 Corinthians 5, Paul was like lamenting over the fact
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Speaker 1: that the Corinthian church had somebody like a standing member
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Speaker 1: who was in a incestuous relationship with his stepmother, which
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Speaker 1: is just a disgusting situation altogether. And Paul was like,
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Speaker 1: I can't believe that you guys are bragging about this
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Speaker 1: member that you have who is committing this sin. Even
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Speaker 1: the Gentiles who don't know Jesus don't do things like that.
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Speaker 1: And you're claiming to be so loving and so tolerant
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Speaker 1: and accepting this person who's living in a lifestyle that
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Speaker 1: goes against Jesus. You cannot do that. But apparently, the
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Speaker 1: Corinthians were saying things like, well, we have freedom in Christ,
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Speaker 1: so we can do pretty much anything. And Paul was saying, well,
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Speaker 1: you do have freedom in Christ, but not all things
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Speaker 1: are expedient for you to do. And not all things
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Speaker 1: will bring you freedom. Some things will put you back
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Speaker 1: under bondage. So why would you do these things and
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Speaker 1: claim that you have freedom in Christ? But apparently that's
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Speaker 1: what these false teachers that Peter is mentioning were doing.
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Speaker 1: They were saying, you have freedom in Christ. You have
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Speaker 1: freedom to sin. I am going to give you freedom,
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Speaker 1: but not all things that claim to give us freedom
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Speaker 1: actually give us freedom. Again, there's only one person who
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Speaker 1: can give us true freedom, and that is the son himself.
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Speaker 1: Only the son can set you free. And when you
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Speaker 1: are set free by the son, you are free indeed.
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Speaker 1: The other bond servants cannot set you free from anything.
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Speaker 1: So anyone who believes in Jesus, is truly set free.
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Speaker 1: So we have to look at all teachers, every single
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Speaker 1: teacher you encounter, whether it's me on this podcast, whether
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Speaker 1: it's another personality that you enjoy, or another theologian, or
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Speaker 1: a pastor at a church, or a priest, whoever it
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Speaker 1: might be. You need to look and see, are they
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Speaker 1: a false teacher the way that Peter describes them in
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Speaker 1: this entire chapter? Are they a bondservant to something other
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Speaker 1: than Jesus? Because if they are, they cannot give you
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Speaker 1: anything at all. And Peter already described in verses 12
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Speaker 1: through 16 of this chapter, what a bondservant to sin
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Speaker 1: really looks like. And I'm not going to go back
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Speaker 1: over those things. I just highly recommend that you read
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Speaker 1: them for yourself if you haven't gotten a chance to yet.
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Speaker 1: Just read 2 Peter 2, 12 through 16, and you
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Speaker 1: will see what a bondservant to sin really looks like.
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Speaker 1: But this is very important to anybody listening who is
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Speaker 1: not a teacher, because you do not want to get
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Speaker 1: sucked in to a teaching that is going to destroy
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Speaker 1: you in the end. And that is what all of
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Speaker 1: these false teachers end up doing. They end up making
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Speaker 1: you more miserable. They end up making you fall more
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Speaker 1: into sin and they destroy you in the end. It
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Speaker 1: says in verse 20, For if, after they have escaped
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Speaker 1: the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the
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Speaker 1: Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in
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Speaker 1: it and overcome, the last state has become worse for
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Speaker 1: them than the first. This was talked about in, I
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Speaker 1: think it was Hebrews chapter 6, and we did discuss
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Speaker 1: it at some length. Yeah, Hebrews 6, 4 through 6,
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Speaker 1: and also Hebrews 10, 26. And these verses, along with
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Speaker 1: 2 Peter 2, 20 right here, talk about individuals who
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Speaker 1: come to a knowledge of Jesus. And they, you know,
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Speaker 1: are really excited about Jesus for a little while. They
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Speaker 1: might remove some of the corruption in their lives. They,
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Speaker 1: you know, really seem to be on fire, I suppose,
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Speaker 1: for Jesus. But in the long run, they end up
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Speaker 1: trading all of that knowledge they have of Jesus for
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Speaker 1: something else, for idolatry. They might still claim to be
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Speaker 1: Christians and believing in Jesus, but they are following after
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Speaker 1: another God. They're not following the true Jesus. And they
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Speaker 1: begin to teach other people to not follow after the
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Speaker 1: true Jesus. And man, I could mention a ton of
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Speaker 1: names of famous pastors across the U.S. and across the
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Speaker 1: world broadly that do this very thing. They're not teaching
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Speaker 1: the true gospel of Jesus. They're teaching something else. In fact,
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Speaker 1: I just mentioned that one guy on the podcast last week,
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Speaker 1: the polygamous guy that's in Ohio, and he came out
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Speaker 1: apparently having two wives. And, you know, it went viral,
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Speaker 1: of course, and people were amazed, I guess, that a
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Speaker 1: pastor could go up on stage and have two wives
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Speaker 1: and everything like that. It's not at all shocking to
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Speaker 1: me because polygamy in America is growing by leaps and bounds.
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Speaker 1: So it's not shocking to me at all that somebody
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Speaker 1: would do that. In fact, I think we'll see a
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Speaker 1: lot more of that in the coming years. But that
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Speaker 1: is a false gospel because scripture specifically says that if
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Speaker 1: you want to be an overseer in 1 Timothy, that
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Speaker 1: you must be a man with one wife, okay?
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Speaker 2: One wife.
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Speaker 1: You can't have multiple wives and be a pastor. It
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Speaker 1: is not the godly way to live. Hence why in
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Speaker 1: the Old Testament, every single time we see polygamist kind
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Speaker 1: of marriages, They all end in complete disaster. There's like
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Speaker 1: not a single polygamous marriage that we see in the
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Speaker 1: Old Testament that doesn't end in some sort of disaster
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Speaker 1: because that is not the design that God created.
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Speaker 2: He created one man and one woman. That is why.
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Speaker 1: Jesus told the Pharisees specifically that from the beginning, God
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Speaker 1: created one man and one woman. And that is the
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Speaker 1: design for marriage. That is what Jesus himself said. One
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Speaker 1: man and one woman. So you cannot have a church
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Speaker 1: and be an overseer or a pastor or an elder
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Speaker 1: or an apostle or a bishop or a prophet or
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Speaker 1: whatever else you want to claim that you are and
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Speaker 1: have more than one wife and be living in the
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Speaker 1: biblical model. You just cannot do it. It's against God.
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Speaker 1: But apparently what that polygamist pastor was doing was for
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Speaker 1: several years, very slowly bringing it into his church, very manipulatively.
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Speaker 1: until he had enough support behind him that he could
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Speaker 1: go up on stage and talk about his second wife
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Speaker 1: that he has. And the audience is sitting there clapping
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Speaker 1: and shame on every single one of them and shame
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Speaker 1: on that pastor for manipulating his audience and shame on
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Speaker 1: those wives for encouraging their husband's adultery and going up
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Speaker 1: on stage to promote it in front of the entire church.
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Speaker 1: Shame on everybody who did not decide that that is
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Speaker 1: the last day they are attending the that church and
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Speaker 1: just clapped along with the evil thing that that pastor
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Speaker 1: was doing. Because this kind of stuff corrupts the church.
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Speaker 1: And that is why Peter right here is so against
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Speaker 1: it and is warning us so strongly to avoid these
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Speaker 1: teachers because they become entangled in their sin, even though
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Speaker 1: they knew the message of Jesus before. They become entangled
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Speaker 1: in their sin And now their last state has become
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Speaker 1: far worse, Peter says, than the first state that they
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Speaker 1: were in. The first state before they didn't know the
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Speaker 1: message of Jesus. Now, does this mean that we can
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Speaker 1: lose our salvation? Well, personally, I don't think so. Because
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Speaker 1: even in Hebrews chapter six, in fact, the book of
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Speaker 1: Hebrews broadly, whenever we see verses like this, It's never
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Speaker 1: specifically talking about somebody who comes to a deep faith
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Speaker 1: in Jesus. It's almost like these toe dippers. It's these
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Speaker 1: people who just kind of want to dip their toes in.
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Speaker 1: They might partake of the things of Jesus. They go
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Speaker 1: to church. They accept, you know, what the pastor is
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Speaker 1: saying for the most part. They take communion. They go
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Speaker 1: to Bible study. They do things that everybody else, if
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Speaker 1: they were looking at them, would say, oh, yes, you know,
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Speaker 1: So-and-so is such a wonderful Christian person. He or she
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Speaker 1: shows up to everything. But that's just somebody that hasn't
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Speaker 1: really had the faith of Jesus sink down deep inside
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Speaker 1: of them. John talks about these people in 1 John 2, 19-21.
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Speaker 1: They went out from us, but they didn't belong to us.
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Speaker 1: For if they had belonged to us, they would have
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Speaker 1: continued with us. But they left, that they might be
18:52
Speaker 1: revealed that none of them belonged to us. So John
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Speaker 1: talks about these people that apparently were part of the
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Speaker 1: congregation of the church and did all the things that
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Speaker 1: the congregation of the church typically does, but they ended
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Speaker 1: up departing the faith. And he doesn't say they departed
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Speaker 1: the faith because they lost salvation. He says that they
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Speaker 1: departed the faith because they never were part of it
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Speaker 1: from the beginning. They were just acting as if they were.
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Speaker 1: No lie is of the truth is what John says
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Speaker 1: right here. And that's a really important thing to remember.
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Speaker 1: No lie is of the truth. And by the way,
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Speaker 1: speaking of the truth, there is only one truth. There
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Speaker 1: is not multiple truths. The truth is not somewhere in
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Speaker 1: the middle. That's something I used to believe and may
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Speaker 1: have even said it on the podcast before. The truth
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Speaker 1: is the truth. So either these false teachers have the
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Speaker 1: truth or they do not have the truth. And how
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Speaker 1: do you know if they have the truth? Well, do
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Speaker 1: they follow scripture? That's the most important thing because scripture.
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Speaker 2: Itself is the truth. the truth.
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Speaker 1: But now you might be like, well, Jen, you know,
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Speaker 1: some people might say a verse says one thing and
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Speaker 1: another person thinks it says something completely different. How do
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Speaker 1: you know which person has the truth? Well, because again,
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Speaker 1: scripture always interprets scripture. If you have a question about something,
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Speaker 1: the answer will be found somewhere else in the pages
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Speaker 1: of scripture. So you just got to analyze, you got
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Speaker 1: to study it, you got to love it and hold
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Speaker 1: to the truth, the scriptures as best as you possibly can.
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Speaker 1: It doesn't mean that teachers aren't good. Obviously they are
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Speaker 1: because God put them in the world and teaching is
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Speaker 1: a spiritual gift. We just got to make sure that
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Speaker 1: the teachers that we're following really do have the truth.
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Speaker 1: And how we do that is by studying scriptures ourselves.
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Speaker 1: Being again, like the Bereans that are talked about in
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Speaker 1: the book of Acts, who didn't just take what Paul
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Speaker 1: said and trusted it completely without looking at scriptures. No,
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Speaker 1: they went back into the Old Testament and they analyzed
21:10
Speaker 1: every single thing that Paul said to make sure that
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Speaker 1: what he was saying was the truth. So we got
21:16
Speaker 1: to be a lot more like the Bereans and a
21:20
Speaker 1: lot less like cult followers, I suppose. But I apologize
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Speaker 1: because I kind of went down a rabbit hole. We
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Speaker 1: were talking about if Peter says, can you lose salvation? Well, again,
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Speaker 1: I don't think so because 1 John does say that
21:35
Speaker 1: never really belonged to Jesus to begin with. They never
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Speaker 1: really had that faith sink down deep into their heart.
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Speaker 1: They might have said that they did or done things
21:45
Speaker 1: that looked like they had the faith, but there is
21:48
Speaker 1: an ulterior motive or there was something that was holding
21:51
Speaker 1: them back from truly accepting it or something that they
21:55
Speaker 1: wanted that just seemed better than the gospel message, a
21:58
Speaker 1: different kind of idol that was in their hearts. So
22:02
Speaker 1: Peter says these types of people that go back from
22:05
Speaker 1: knowing about Jesus, it would be better for them to
22:09
Speaker 1: not have known the way of righteousness. Then after knowing it,
22:12
Speaker 1: to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.
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Speaker 1: This is talking, I believe, about anybody who learns about Jesus,
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Speaker 1: walks in the way of Jesus, but then goes back
22:24
Speaker 1: to their old lifestyle or even worse than that. Peter
22:27
Speaker 1: says for those individuals, it's actually better that they had
22:30
Speaker 1: never heard the way of righteousness. But it has happened
22:34
Speaker 1: to them, verse 22, according to the true proverb, the
22:38
Speaker 1: dog turns to his own vomit again, and the sow
22:41
Speaker 1: that has washed to wallowing in the mire. Now, these
22:45
Speaker 1: are two proverbs that Peter quotes right here.
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Speaker 2: The one with the dog.
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Speaker 1: I'm sure many of you have seen when your dog
22:53
Speaker 1: pukes and the dog tries to eat the puke. It
22:55
Speaker 1: is the most vile and disgusting thing I have ever
22:58
Speaker 1: seen in my entire life. I do not let my
23:00
Speaker 1: dogs do it. They have to move away from the
23:04
Speaker 1: puke immediately after they puke because I'm not having that.
23:07
Speaker 2: It's disgusting.
23:09
Speaker 1: But that is what dogs do. That's the nature of dogs.
23:12
Speaker 1: That should not be the nature of Christians. The nature
23:15
Speaker 1: of Christians should be to completely reject that vomitous, disgusting
23:21
Speaker 1: behavior that they used to do and not return back
23:24
Speaker 1: to it because that is not in our nature. That
23:27
Speaker 1: is not something that we should be doing. We can
23:29
Speaker 1: leave that to the dogs. And same with the sow
23:33
Speaker 1: that is washed to wallowing in the mire. The little
23:36
Speaker 1: piglet was all cleaned up. It was clean as a
23:38
Speaker 1: whistle and it went back into the mud once again.
23:43
Speaker 1: That's the nature of pigs. That is not the nature
23:46
Speaker 1: of Christians. So Christians should not be going back to
23:50
Speaker 1: the filth and the mud and the mire that God
23:53
Speaker 1: brought them up out of. You guys know my favorite
23:56
Speaker 1: Psalm and the Psalm that my ministry is named after
23:59
Speaker 1: Psalm 40 verses one and two. It says, I waited
24:02
Speaker 1: patiently for the Lord to help me. And he turned
24:05
Speaker 1: to me and heard my cry. He lifted me up
24:07
Speaker 1: out of the pit of despair, out of the mud
24:09
Speaker 1: and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground
24:12
Speaker 1: and steadied me as I walked along. He has given
24:15
Speaker 1: me a new song to sing a hymn of praise
24:17
Speaker 1: to our God. Many will see what he has done
24:20
Speaker 1: and be amazed and they will put their trust in
24:22
Speaker 1: the Lord. That is what Christians are supposed to do.
24:26
Speaker 1: When they are brought up out of that miry clay,
24:29
Speaker 1: they are supposed to be set firm on the foundation,
24:32
Speaker 1: set firm on the rock. Who is the foundation?
24:34
Speaker 2: Who is the cornerstone? Who is the rock? That's Jesus.
24:38
Speaker 1: And when we are set on that rock, we give
24:40
Speaker 1: a song of praise to Jesus and we evangelize about him.
24:44
Speaker 1: We don't go back down into the miry clay and
24:47
Speaker 1: the pit that we were in before. We don't do
24:51
Speaker 1: that because that is unthankfulness, that is going back to
24:56
Speaker 1: our old sins, that is disregarding what Jesus has done
25:00
Speaker 1: for us, that is just making misery for ourselves. Why
25:05
Speaker 1: would we do that? That is not the nature of Christians.
25:08
Speaker 1: We can leave that kind of behavior to the pigs.
25:12
Speaker 1: So the last two weeks in 2 Peter concludes Peter's
25:16
Speaker 1: warnings to all of us about false teachers and Don't
25:20
Speaker 1: follow after these guys, because if you do, you're going
25:23
Speaker 1: to be like the dog that returns to his vomit,
25:27
Speaker 1: or you're going to be like the pig that goes
25:28
Speaker 1: back into the miry clay. Do not do that. Don't
25:32
Speaker 1: follow these guys. They don't offer you anything. They don't
25:35
Speaker 1: give you freedom. They give you nothing. The only thing
25:39
Speaker 1: they can offer you is a bondage. And they themselves,
25:42
Speaker 1: Peter says in verse 17, are reserved for the blackness
25:46
Speaker 1: of darkness. That could be talking about hell. That could
25:50
Speaker 1: be talking about the outer darkness. We're not exactly sure
25:54
Speaker 1: what that means, but I can tell you one thing.
25:58
Speaker 1: I do not want to be living in eternity in
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Speaker 1: the blackness of darkness. I want to be in eternity
26:04
Speaker 1: with Jesus, with the life-giving water, with the one who
26:08
Speaker 1: has truly freed my soul from bondage. And I hope
26:12
Speaker 1: and pray that all of you faithful listeners want that
26:15
Speaker 1: as well. So how do you get that kind of freedom?
26:18
Speaker 1: by believing in the name of Jesus, by believing in
26:21
Speaker 1: who he is. He is God who came down to
26:24
Speaker 1: earth to free us from our sin. He died on
26:28
Speaker 1: the cross for us so that we can be freed
26:31
Speaker 1: from our sin nature. If we have a loving God
26:35
Speaker 1: that was so willing to die on our behalf, and
26:38
Speaker 1: not an easy death either, a very painful and excruciating death,
26:43
Speaker 1: if we have that, why would we disregard his sacrifice
26:48
Speaker 1: to go back to the lifestyle and the ways that
26:51
Speaker 1: keep us in bondage. All right, friends and faithful listeners,
26:56
Speaker 1: if you don't know Jesus is your Savior, I recommend
26:59
Speaker 1: reading the book of John.
27:01
Speaker 2: That is an excellent book that talks about.
27:03
Speaker 1: Jesus's divinity and his sacrifice that he has done for humanity.
27:08
Speaker 1: It's a beautiful book of the Bible. Of course, all
27:10
Speaker 1: the books of the Bible are beautiful in their own ways.
27:13
Speaker 1: You guys know I like all of them. I don't
27:15
Speaker 1: have a least favorite. I like them all. But John
27:20
Speaker 1: is a great one. And if you're not sure of
27:22
Speaker 1: your salvation, if you are struggling, understanding or knowing if
27:26
Speaker 1: you are truly saved, then I really recommend going back
27:30
Speaker 1: to Hebrews because we've already talked at some length about
27:34
Speaker 1: what salvation really looks like and how you can be
27:36
Speaker 1: assured of your salvation. Or you can also read the
27:40
Speaker 1: book of First John, because essentially that is what the
27:44
Speaker 1: entire book is about. is helping you understand, am I
27:48
Speaker 1: really a Christian? So that is two things that you
27:52
Speaker 1: can do if you're not sure of your salvation. But
27:54
Speaker 1: faithful listeners, I do have a couple closing things I'd
27:57
Speaker 1: like to say. But before I get to those, here's
27:59
Speaker 1: a message from one of my sponsors. Alrighty, faithful listeners,
28:05
Speaker 1: I am thankful that all of you guys have been
28:07
Speaker 1: here with me to discuss all of these things about
28:10
Speaker 1: the false teachers. And I've very much enjoyed this.
28:14
Speaker 2: Particular message arc.
28:18
Speaker 1: I guess it's an arc that we've covered in 2 Peter.
28:21
Speaker 1: And I hope that you guys have been enjoying it
28:23
Speaker 1: as well. Now, we're going to be out of the
28:25
Speaker 1: false teachers as we move into 2 Peter 3 and
28:28
Speaker 1: talking more about the day of the Lord, essentially Jesus
28:32
Speaker 1: coming back. So 2 Peter 3 is also going to
28:34
Speaker 1: be a fantastic discussion that I hope all of you
28:37
Speaker 1: guys tune in for. Now, tomorrow we are back in
28:40
Speaker 1: the book of Job. And this time we're going to
28:43
Speaker 1: be talking about Job's third friend who has not spoken yet,
28:46
Speaker 1: but he's going to speak in tomorrow's portion and we'll
28:50
Speaker 1: see what he has to say to Job's complaints and
28:54
Speaker 1: responses to God. So that's going to be a great
28:57
Speaker 1: episode over on the Old Testament side of stuff. So
28:59
Speaker 1: hopefully I'll see all of you faithful listeners tomorrow or
29:02
Speaker 1: on Thursday as we delve more into 2 Peter chapter 3.
29:07
Speaker 1: Faithful listeners, have a fantastic and lovely rest of your day.
29:11
Speaker 1: As always, happy listening and God bless. I just want
29:20
Speaker 1: to take a second to thank the team at Life
29:21
Speaker 1: Audio for their partnership with me on the Bible Explained podcast.
29:25
Speaker 1: In fact, if you go to lifeaudio.com, you'll find dozens
29:28
Speaker 1: of other faith-centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows
29:31
Speaker 1: about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.