Respectable Sins - Ungodliness

SERMON OUTLINE:

(1). A Corrupt Doctrine.

(2). A Corrupt Character.

(3). A Corrupt Experience

SERMON BODY:

Reading: 2 Peter chapter 2 verses 4-10

Ill:

Difference Between Men and Women:

• A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.

• A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.

• A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.

• A successful woman is one who can find such a man.

• To be happy with a man you must understand him a lot & love him a little.

• To be happy with a woman you must love her a lot & not try to understand her at all.

• Any married man should forget his mistakes;

• After all, there's no use in two people remembering the same thing.

• Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed.

• Women somehow deteriorate during the night.

• A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't.

• A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change & she does.

• A woman has the last word in any argument.

• Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

• There are 2 times when a man doesn't understand a woman ;

• Before marriage & after marriage.

• TRANSITION: Men and women are very different;

• In many ways opposites to each other.

• Although, scientists decoding the human genome;

• Have discovered that just 78 genes separate men from women,

• So maybe we are not as different as we might think!

• The topic I have been asked to speak on tonight is ‘ungodliness’

• And ungodliness is simply the opposite of godliness.

(1). The Context (vs 1-3).

• The context for the verses you have given me to speak on;

• Is false prophets and false teachers.

• Look at verse 1:

“But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories.”

Ill:

• As a family we have enjoyed several holidays in Turkey,

• And in the town called Kalkan where we have stayed.

• If you go into the town centre and along the sea front shops,

• You will come across a Jewellers shop,

• In the window of that shop is a great big sign that says; ‘Genuine Fakes’.

• TRANSITION: The apostle Peter warned his readers about religious fakes;

• False teachers who are like those fake watches;

• On the outside they look like a genuine Rolex or a Versace;

• But when you removed the cover you discover on the inside they are fake.

• They probably contain cheap imitation parts.

The apostle Peter warns his readers then and now about false teachers:

• He summarises the methods of false teachers:

• Four things that reveal them.

• FIRST: They appear to be regular members of the Church.

• i.e. At first they are hard to spot because they are like chameleons, blending in.

• e.g. Jesus called them “Wolves in sheep’s clothing” (Matthew chapter 24 verses 4-5)

• SECOND: They work secretly under the cover of hypocrisy.

• i.e. they pretend to be what they are not.

• e.g. Jesus called the Pharisees “White washed tombs” (Matthew chapter 23 verse 27)

• THIRD: They bring in their false teaching alongside the true teaching;

• And then replace the truth with lies.

• i.e. like yeast that is mixed into a large amount of flour;

• It will not take long for the yeast to work its way through all the dough.

• FOURTH: Their lives deny what their lips teach.

• Their false doctrine will always lead to false living.

• e.g. a good tree produces good fruit and a rotten tree produces bad fruit.

• (Luke chapter 6 verse 43)

• Because these false teachers were corrupt in their doctrine;

• That then evidenced itself by the corruption in their lives!

ill:

• If you take a pig from his mud-wallow in the farm yard,

• Wash him, sprinkle on a little perfume,

• Tie a pink bow about his neck, and let him loose,

• He will quickly go back to wallowing in the mud.

• Because although you've changed his looks, you've not altered his nature.

• You have changed his appearance but not his nature!

• So he continues to do what comes naturally.

• These false teachers cannot consistently practice godliness;