Fighting Off Spiritual Virus
2 Peter 2:10b-12
1. I remember hearing about computer viruses. Could a computer catch a germ?
2. I then learned that computer viruses were often malicious programs, developed by evil-doers, to destroy computers. They are often downloaded stealthily, without you knowing it. Perhaps opening an email attachment or surfing the web.
3. When you combine intelligent effort with evil and the craving to destroy, misery results. All of us want to make a difference, but some of us will feel like we make a difference by destroying, hurting, & irritating others. We can be that desperate to matter.
4. False teachers, often unknowingly inspired by Satan, do just that: they are out to destroy the truth of God's Word and they are out to keep believers from living in a godly fashion. They are being manipulated by the evil one and do not even know it.
5. God encourages leaders and Christians to hold a "no tolerance" position of false teaching, particularly in major and clear areas. Yet many Christians do not understand that God loves the victims of false teaching, but that false teaching is no minor matter.
6. As we resume our series in 2 Peter, we find Peter engaging in a tirade, a diatribe, a denunciation against false teachers. Peter is on the warpath, and almost throwing a fit. This diatribe, I believe, circulated within the churches before Peter adapted and edited it here in 2 Peter. Jude does the same sort of thing in his letter. So I am suggesting that this material was already somewhat familiar to Peter's original readers.
7. But there are applications to ourselves. We have a variety of germs on our tongues right now. Our immune system keeps them from taking over, but they try -- and sometimes they do. Even when we are healthy, we carry bacteria that have to be held at bay. False teachers have what we have -- only they have allowed it to take over.
Main Idea: God is patient with the feeble-minded or the disadvantaged, but his wrath is boiling toward false teachers; they are carriers of a spiritual virus. Yet this infection can incubate within believers as wel -- and hinder God's will for our lives.
What are the symptoms of those who carry this virus?
I. They Are Bold Because of ARROGANCE
A. Not afraid to SLANDER
1. Slander means to criticize falsely for the purpose of hurting someone else
2. Many people slander as part of recreation: they enjoy it; it makes them feel important.
3. The word "devil" means the slanderer, the one who accuses us…
4. James tells us:
Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor? (James 4:11-12)
4. Some people are the judge and jury about everyone and everything. People are often drawn to such know-it-alls, because they offer untested but interesting solutions to all the world's problems.
B. AUTHORITY issues
1. Only God has ultimate authority, and the only infallible way to determine God's will is where His Word, the Bible, speaks
2. But there are lesser authorities that we are to respect: parents (when we are children), government, supervisors, and church leaders. But when those authorities conflict with clear Scripture, we must be like the apostles when they disobeyed a gag order for preaching the Gospel: "We must obey God rather than men!" Acts 5:29
3. But even when we must disagree with human authorities based on divine authority, HOW we disagree is important: respectfully!
4. We also should respect the little people, and practice courtesy. We need to respect people in general. Authority-deficient people are into themselves!
After examining the paltry tips left by a church group, our waitress was not pleased. Looking toward my table, she grumbled, "These people come in with the Ten Commandments and a ten-dollar bill, and they don't break any of them!"
C. Application: Have I grappled with my INCOGNITO arrogance?
1. Just as false teachers hide their agendas in the church, so arrogance hides within our hearts; we all have it.
2. Deceitful heart syndrome, the idea that we are really better than they -- whoever they are -- or disregard for authority in general or the habit of forming opinions too quickly and hanging on to them too tightly or making criticism a habit and even a form of recreation.
3. How does arrogance show itself in your life? If you don't know, you might have an especially good case of it!
II. They Are IGNORANT and Do Not Know They Are Ignorant
A. They CONFIDENTLY blaspheme
1. Ignorance is bliss, the ignorant have easy answers to complex problems
2. Arrogance and ignorance are inter-related; the humble study
B. They do not UNDERSTAND
1. They may not know that they don't know
2. Amos 8:11, " 'The days are coming,' declares the Sovereign LORD, 'when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.'"
3. But WE need to understand so we can recognize error.
Illustration: Hold up a dollar (or whatever) bill….talk about counterfeits…Untied States, etc.
C. Application: Do I believe indications of IGNORANCE and fix them?
III. They Trust in Their Own INSTINCTS
WE call this "self-referencing."
A. They trust their own HEARTS
• Proverbs 28:26, "He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But he who walks wisely will be delivered."
B. They live MEANINGLESS lives but do not know it
• The confusion between happiness and meaning. One distracts with pleasure, the other is about purpose.
C. Their destiny: DESTRUCTION
D. Application: Do I choose the Word over feelings, family, and FAMILIARITY?
1. Feelings
o "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me." Drops of blood.
2. Family
• Matthew 10:37, " Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."
3. Familiarity
• Co-dependency
• Moses chose to identify with God's people rather than with his familiar life as an Egyptian. We find security in the familiar, and that is not all bad. But when it is truth vs. familiarity, that is a different story.
CONCLUSION
1. Spiritual virus has been troubling the church from its beginning.
2. Do we contribute to the illness or the cure?
3. Are we willing to guard against false teaching when it surfaces, realizing we are all vulnerable?
4. Do we see the fruit of these same attitude in our lives? Are we willing to bring our weaknesses to God and ask for His help and cultivate our walks with Him?
5. The Christian life is not just what we avoid, but what we embrace. Do we embrace Jesus Christ?
