Problem Texts for Sovereign Grace (Part 55) – 2Pe 1:10-11; 2Pe 2:1-3; 2Pe 2:20-22

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1.      2Pe 1:10-11

1. “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: 11) For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” (2Pe 1:10-11)
2. Do these verses teach that one becomes elect by doing godly works?
3. No; these verses show that godly works are the evidence that gives one assurance that he is one of the elect and that he has a place waiting for him in heaven. (See 1Th 1:4-5 – Section III)

2.      2Pe 2:1-3

1. “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2) And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 3) And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.” (2Pe 2:1-3)
2. Are these verses teaching that there are blood-bought elect children of God who will go to hell because they denied God and taught damnable heresies?
3. God’s elect are bought by Him.
   1. Bought adj. – a. Purchased b. fig. Ransomed, gained by a sacrifice; also bribed, etc.
   2. God’s elect are bought with a price which was the precious blood of Christ (1Co 6:20 & 1Co 7:23 c/w 1Pe 1:18-19).

• God purchased His elect with His own blood (Act 20:28).

1. They are His purchased possession (Eph 1:14).
2. They were ransomed by Christ (1Ti 2:4-6; Mat 20:28).
3. Ransom v. – 1. trans. To redeem (from captivity or punishment); to procure the release of (a person) or restoration of (a thing) by payment of the sum or price demanded. Also fig. b. To redeem, deliver, in religious sense. c. To purchase (life or liberty) by a ransom. c. To purchase (life or liberty) by a ransom.

• God has redeemed His elect by Jesus Christ (Psa 130:8; Gal 3:13; Gal 4:5; Tit 2:14; Rev 5:9).
• Redeem v. – 1. trans. To buy back (a thing formerly possessed); to make payment for (a thing held or claimed by another).

1. Christ will lose none that the Father gave Him (Joh 6:39 c/w Joh 10:28-29).
2. But the false teachers in 2Pe 2:3 are under damnation — eternal damnation in hell (2Pe 2:4; 2Pe 2:6 c/w Jud 1:7; 2Pe 2:9,12,17).
   1. Therefore, they were clearly not bought by the blood of Christ, else they wouldn’t be going to hell.
   2. So who were these false teachers?
      1. Peter was the apostle to the Jews (Gal 2:7).
      2. Peter is comparing these false teachers with the Jewish false prophets of the people Israel (2Pe 1:21 – 2Pe 2:1).
      3. There were Jewish false brethren who had crept into the churches (Gal 2:3-4).
      4. Peter was warning of some such Jewish false teachers (2Pe 2:1).
      5. Many of the Jews were not blood-bought children of God (Rom 9:27-29).

• In what way then were these wicked men bought by the Lord?
  1. These Jews were part of the nation of Israel who had been bought by the Lord out of the land of Egypt (2Pe 2:1 c/w Jud 1:4-5; Deu 32:6).
  2. They had been purchased by God as a nation (Psa 74:2; Psa 78:54; Exo 15:16).
  3. They had been ransomed by God (Isa 43:3).
  4. They had been redeemed from Egypt by God (Exo 6:6; Exo 15:13; Deu 7:8; Deu 9:26; Deu 13:5; Deu 15:15; 2Sa 7:23; Mic 6:4).

1. These wicked Jewish false teachers were denying the Lord who had bought them from their bondage in Egypt (2Pe 2:1 c/w Jud 1:4-5) and they had hell waiting for them (2Pe 2:3).

1. False teachers and false brethren such as these can acquire some knowledge of Jesus Christ which will allow them to escape the pollutions of the world (2Pe 2:20).
   1. These are some of the false converts who will find out that Jesus never knew them on judgment day (Mat 7:21-23).
   2. They already have hell waiting for them (2Pe 2:17).
      1. But the last state of them will be worse than the first.
      2. If they backslide and get entangled in sin again, it will be worse for them on judgment day than if the were never “converted” in the first place (2Pe 2:20).
      3. Jesus said it would be worse on the day of judgment for those who reject the gospel and don’t repent than it will be for Sodom and Gomorrah who are suffering the vengeance of eternal fire (Mat 10:14-15; Mat 11:20-24; Jud 1:7).
      4. They are all going to hell, but judgment day will be worse for those who heard the gospel and didn’t believe it or repent of their sins.
      5. These false converts were as the generation of Jews that Jesus spoke of from whom an evil spirit had departed for a season only to return with seven more wicked than himself, which made the last state of the man worse than the first (Mat 12:43-45).
      6. We should take a practical lesson from this.
         1. If we sin after experiencing deliverance from God, a worse thing could happen to us (Joh 5:14).
         2. If we sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth we can expect severe judgment from God in this life (Heb 10:26-31).

• It would have been better for them to not have known the truth than for them to have known it and then turned from it (2Pe 2:21).
  1. They that know the will of God and don’t do it are beaten with many stripes (Luk 12:47).
  2. They are like a dog which returns to its vomit and a pig that was washed that goes back and rolls in the mud (2Pe 2:22).
  3. These are baptized hogs.

3.      2Pe 2:20-22

1. “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 21) For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 22) But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” (2Pe 2:20-22)
2. Are these verses speaking of people who had eternal life and then lost it?
3. (See 2Pe 2:1-3 – Section III)