Eyewitnesses of His Majesty - 2Peter 1:16-21 - Konrad Stauffer

Lesson Transcript

There, in some ways, as I looked at our passage for today, I thought, I felt like Peter could have maybe used, um, started out with the latter part of the passage today and then gone into the, the, what's the first part of that chapter afterwards. But I am sure that Peter was guided by the Holy Spirit, and I think there was a good reason for what he did, what he did.

And, um, I think, yeah, it's just good for us to pay attention to what he has to say, even if it feels like in some ways maybe it doesn't apply to us at this point in time yet. I feel like it's going to be important for us. The last message was, was really encouraging, and I'm going to warn you the next message, messages might not be quite as upbeat in some ways because Peter's talking about false prophets and that type of thing.

It's not my favorite subject, but since I undertook to do, uh, expository messages on these books, I'm going to have to, I'm not going to be a coward and run away from the last part of it here at the end. So hopefully we can find something positive in it. It's not really my forte to talk about this type of thing. So in our last message, Peter expounds to his audience on how God has supplied his people with all that they need, not only to survive, but to thrive.

Peter also encourages his audience that as they understand more about our Lord and King, it behooves them to strive for excellence, that they grow that inner man, their character, according as his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through knowledge, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. And I'm going to go through here and just read a few of these verses and just as a recap from last time.

And in the verse four, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Peter reminds them as, and he reminds us as we correctly appropriate the promises given to us and to them in that time and throughout the New Testament, we and they become partakers of the divine nature. We tap into that power that raised Christ our Lord from the dead.

And in verse five also, and beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge, Peter then exhorts his audience that they must add to their faith. They must be actively involved in the process of building their, that inner man. He basically says we need to give it all we've got.

After going through the required building blocks for the true character development, Peter gives us this beautiful promise in this verse eight, for if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And there's a little section I could have maybe read right now, but I did not want to take the time to do it, where he talks about how to build up your faith.

He talks about the things that we need to, to stack together, if you will, to, to build our faith, to build our Christian life. And this is the promise afterwards. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you make you that you neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, if these virtues characterize your life, you will not feel empty or worthless. You will capture the true essence of our Lord.

And then, but he also goes on with his warning, but he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. On the other hand, Peter leaves us with this. If we refuse to grow, or if anyone refuses to grow, we become blind or we are blind. Those who do not grow in character soon forget he who formed them. They forget he who cleansed them. Peter is especially talking to Christians. He's not talking to the world. He's talking to Christians today.

And this was our theme of last week's, uh, not last week's, but our last, the last message we did in this chapter. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In our over, in our last message, the overarching theme was, is we serve a God of abundance. His desire is not that we just scrape by, just make it by the skin of our teeth. His kingdom is wide open to those who really want to press into it.

And in the last part of our message last time, Peter is talking about how he is going to remind and remind and remind and remind. As long as he had breath in his body, he's going to remind them of the things they had been taught. And that brings us to our text for today, Second Peter, chapter one, verse 16 through 21. It's a very short passage, but I'm going to read a good many scriptures besides this. So, um, it's not going to be a long message, but we're going to read some other scripture verses as well.

But first of all, I want to start off with a few questions. Why is Peter so determined to help his audience keep in remembrance the things he had taught them? And I don't think he's just talking about things he had taught them, but all the other apostles had been teaching these people in the early church. Was there some danger of them losing what they had been taught? What kinds of subtle challenges and dangers may they have been facing in their day? And of course, all these questions apply to us today as well.

Peter seems concerned about something. Just by going into this next part, you're going to see that there's something bothering Peter and that's something he's concerned about. And I think it's worth our taking note of too. These questions, I believe, are important to ask ourselves. These are the early days of the early church. The members of the church should have been full of excitement. I think they were. The teachings of Jesus and the apostles are fresh and new. Why would they desire anything else?

Could it be that when the church was new, young, pliable, flexible, and open to learning new things, that they were also vulnerable? And I'm actually not saying this in such a way as to say that they were dense or they were dumb, and so they were a lot more susceptible to being misled than what we are. That's not the idea.

But I'm thinking about the idea that when people are actually open and they're allowing God to speak into their lives, that they actually are a little more vulnerable at that point to also having other things enter in and mislead them. That's the idea that I see here. And I think Peter sees that in this church, in these early believers. I believe that even in our day, when we as Christians are in seeking mode, we have our ears and hearts open to learn, we are perhaps a little more vulnerable as well.

And I think that's why Peter is giving this message or writing this letter to them. I believe Peter is laying the groundwork, a foolproof defense for the things he and the other apostles are teaching the people. After all, Peter's not promoting himself. He is teaching them the things he himself learned directly from our Lord. He's not just talking out of his hat, like my dad used to say. I don't know if that's an old expression that they must have used years ago. Dad talked about talking out of his hat.

Well, you get the idea. The first phrase we want to look at is eyewitnesses of his majesty. This brings us back to our title for the day, and that is, that is the title for our message. We'll look at our verses 16 through 18. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory.

This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And this voice, which came from heaven, we heard when we were with him in the holy mount. Our passage today is very closely connected with the passage we studied last time. So if you remember in our last message, Peter reiterated strongly how he would do his best to keep them in remembrance. And I said that in review of the things he and perhaps the other apostles had taught them.

In our passage today, we see he starts off by reminding them of the primary source of their teaching from which he and the other apostles gleaned these truths. Peter and the other apostles were eyewitnesses. They were present with Jesus. They saw, heard, and ultimately experienced the fullness and the glory of the Christ. And here are some verses I'd like to read.

For as many as have taken in hand to set forth in order and declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and Luke is talking about the apostles and ministers of the word, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things that from the very first to write unto thee in order most excellent theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou has been instructed.

It's like even Luke knows that the foundation is really important and you need to keep your eye on that. You need to know what your foundation is. And he wanted, um, he wanted theophilus to, to keep a hold of that. And that's what Peter's doing today. And that's why I wanted to read that passage. It, it struck me the same kind of message is coming from Luke here as Peter's trying to give to the church.

Then in First John one, verses one through four, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life. For the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us.

And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his son, Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you that your joy may be full. I don't know. It's just a very, the way John approaches this is a very unselfish message. It's like, I want to bring you all into this with me. I want you to experience the fullness of this. That's why I'm giving you this message today. And that's Peter as well. He's bringing these people into the fellowship of Christ, not into his own agenda, but into the fellowship of Christ.

Peter starts off by assuring his readers that the things he and the apostles had taught them were not layers and layers of age-old cultural tradition.

While there were traditions involved in this that would have come from Judaism, or perhaps, and he's not also letting them know that there are no myths and fables like those of the Greeks, because these people were surrounded by Greeks and by fables and by all sorts of, um, cultural history and, and, um, probably taboos and all sorts of things that were going on in those days. And you will still find some of those things today in, in third world and developing countries.

You'll find these, um, cultural traditions that are really strange. Peter's saying, we're not bringing, that's not what we're talking about here. He and the other apostles had not formulated well, well-crafted stories or displays of power so that they could gather a following for themselves. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables. Here again, I want to write to like to read some more passages here. First Timothy one, verses three and four.

I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions rather than godly edifying, which is in faith, so do. And then also in Second Timothy four, verses one through four, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.

Preach the word, be instant in season out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. And I remember having a discussion years ago at Shippensburg, who has the itching ears here, the people or the teachers? I think it's the people. They got the teachers to them because they wanted to hear certain things.

So they got the teachers after the manner of the things that they wanted to hear. And that's what Paul is warning Timothy about. He said, this is going to start happening at some point. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. And I'm sorry, I was going to actually look up the definition of fables, but the best I can do just off the top of my head, my thought on fables is they're like made-up stories.

They might have some kind of moral to them or whatever, but they're made-up stories. And people do that today. They have these stories that appeal to the emotions and they, and they are somewhat lacking in character. So we need to be careful about that. And in Titus, verse one, verse nine through 14, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able to, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.

For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision. So we see there, there's a word that comes up that shows one of the groups of people that they were having issues with, they of the circumcision, the Judaizers, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses teaching things that they ought not for filthy lucre's sake. So if somehow there was monetary gain involved in this, I'm not sure how, but there was monetary gain involved in this.

One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, the Christians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This is, this witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth. So there's this little verse in here where he talks about the Christians, and that's a problem. The way they, there's something about their culture. They had a cultural flaw, you could say, that was having a problem.

But the, the weight of the message is upon the, the types of things that they are ingesting outside of that. And that is the Jewish fables and stuff. They were more dangerous even than their cultural flaws. So back to our passage. We made known unto you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The very basis and object of the apostles' teachings were to point others to Christ, the Messiah, the King of all creation, to make known to all the world the power, the hope, the beauty, the excellent character of their King. Peter says, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. When Peter spoke of the majesty of his Lord, he's not talking about apparel, military prowess. He is talking about the very character of our King.

And we just need to think in our minds about how Jesus did lead in his life, how he did handle things, how he gathered the following, how he worked out everything. Those are the kinds of things that Peter is talking about. Matthew 28:18, and Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.

And lo, I'm with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. And in Acts 4:32-35, and the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

Neither was there any among them that lacked for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of these, of the things that were sold and laid them down at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. So what's the power in that passage? There's power in what the apostles were teaching, but the power is also in what was happening in that passage, because men don't normally just do that of their own volition.

They don't normally get just all of a sudden decide that they're going to pull their, their resources and help people who are in need. That does happen sometimes, but not huge groups of people like there were in the early church. That's the power. You see the power at work in the people's lives. And that's the kind of things that Peter is talking about. Back to our passage. For he received from God the Father honor and glory. One might say it's a given that Jesus received honor and glory from the Father.

After all, he's God's son. However, Peter's not referring, just referring to this generic idea, but he is highlighting a particular incident. And I'd like to look at that. We're going to read that in Matthew chapter 17, starting at verse one. And after six days, Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John, his brother, and bringeth them up into the high mountain apart and was transfigured before them in his face, did shine as the sun, in his raiment was as white as the light.

And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold, a voice out of the clouds which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face and were sore afraid.

And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise, be not afraid. And when they'd lifted up their eyes, they saw no one save Jesus only. So what really happened in this incident? First of all, we noticed that Peter got excited about these three great men being together in one place. Then he comes up with this great idea, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias. Did Peter even know what he was saying?

Or was he just, was he so excited that he didn't think about, think before he spoke? Peter at that moment put Jesus on the same level as Moses and the great prophet Elias. I don't know if that was his intention, but in some ways it comes across that way. And this may sound daring for a Jew. If we just think about it, I don't know where Peter was at yet in his, in his growth as a disciple. Did he understand the extent to who, who, um, did he understand completely who Jesus was at this point? I don't know yet.

I think at some point it began to dawn on the disciples that this wasn't just a Messiah. This was the Messiah and this was the Son of God. And I think that's when Peter made that proclamation that you are the Son of God, that he really was starting to get a hold of that. And I don't know if he had a hold of that at this point yet or not. I'm not faulting him. I'm just saying that that makes me wonder a little bit. Um, didn't Peter know what he was saying or was he just excited?

But God used this incident on the Mount of Transfiguration where Jesus was transfigured before him. You have in Moses and Elijah or Elias and Peter got excited and he wanted to build these three tabernacles here. And then God spoke right after Peter said that and he used this opportunity to bring something to them. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them and behold, a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him.

God made it very clear to Peter and the other disciples that Jesus was indeed his Son. And from here on out, everything they learned and taught would be filtered through him. He, Jesus, was the first source of authority. And when the apostles opened up their eyes and the other two prophets were gone and Jesus alone was there, you could say that's significant too, because when all the dust and excitement settles, Jesus is still going to be king and his word stands forever.

I have another passage I'm going to read here. Actually, no, I got ahead of myself there. So were there Jews in Peter's audience or was he having trouble with Judaizers? Whatever the case, we do know that very early on, the church was harassed and pestered by these Jews going around behind the apostles' backs, teaching that unless the people observed the law of Moses, they could not be saved. So it was very important for Peter to establish Christ as the authority. And that's what he's doing in this passage.

I believe he wants the people to connect with where these teachings come from and why it's important you do not forget the foundation of our faith. Onto our, back to our text again, verse 19 through 21. We have also a more sure word of prophecy whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts.

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scriptures of any private interpretation, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. We have a more sure word of prophecy. Is Peter comparing their prophecy, the apostles prophesying to that of others in his time? I have this feeling that there were probably people going around with prophetic words like we have in our day.

It seems like anytime there's exciting things happening and the church is growing and stuff, you also have this type of thing going on somewhere. Who should we listen to? How can we tell who is legitimate? I believe what Peter is saying and thinking, and there was no arrogance or pride in his statement. We, the apostles, have been with the very author of life. We have been with the author of our faith. We have been with the word made flesh himself. We have heard him from who breathed everything into existence.

Therefore, we have no doubt about the veracity of what we are teaching you today. We have a more sure word of prophecy. Brothers and sisters, there is really no, there's really so much good prophecy in so much of what the apostles taught and so much of what we could all, there's so much that we could all still learn today from the teachings of the apostles, especially the teachings of Jesus. We don't need to waste our time going around looking for some new thing. So what more does Peter have to say on this subject?

Whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place. The word picture I get is that of a man that's lost in the cave. I tried to find a picture that would depict this, but I could not come up with something that suited me. So I finally just dropped the whole idea. But I get the picture of a man that's lost in a cave, and he's been lost in the cave for days. He hasn't had food, doesn't have water. And as far as his, in his world, nobody knows he's there. He's by himself.

He has no hope. And he's at about the point to give up, and then he sees a pinprick of light up ahead, and he knows there's outside air somewhere, and he goes for that with all that he has. If he had to crawl and scrape his knees and whatever else he has to do to get there, he'll do that. That's the idea that I get from Peter here. Whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place. This should be each one of us in a world full of voices and words.

We need to embrace the teachings of Jesus again and read the words of the apostles as if our very life depends on our extracting their meaning. I will say that pause to say this. I am excited every time I hear about a group of people, even if they're not, their practice isn't quite like ours.

I get excited when I hear there's a group of people that are rediscovering the Sermon on the Mount because there's so many people in Christian history now that have just discredited the Sermon on the Mount or just made it into nothing that when you see a young pastor getting up somewhere and starting to rediscover the Sermon on the Mount, it's exciting because you know if they take that into their crawl, if they take that into their life, it's going to do something for them. Just that's a side note there.

Until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. I love that phrase. Like the man that has been lost in the cave for days, when you see that little bit of light, you run for it with all you have until you come to its source. Many of us here today know and have found that it is that to be a true Christian in our world today is not an easy task.

There are times of darkness, times of feeling lost, times of wondering if we will make it, but we really need to keep moving towards the sure light, knowing that the author and the finisher of our faith awaits us. We need to strive on until the light and life of our Lord warms us once again, because we will have times we'll feel cold. We will have times we'll feel lost. That's what we need to keep going back to Jesus, going back to that light, going back to that sure word. Revelations 2:24 through 29.

I love this passage. But unto you, I say, and unto the rest of Theatira, as many as have not this doctrine and which have not known the depths of Satan as they speak, I will put upon you none other burden but that which you have already held fast till I come. He's like, he's, I'm not putting any more burdens on you. I see what you're doing and I love it, he says. This is Jesus speaking.

And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him I will give power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my Father. And I don't claim to understand what that's all talking about there. And I will give him the morning star. There's that phrase again, the morning star or the day star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches. Revelations 22:14 through 17.

Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs and sorcerers and warmongers and murderers and idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie, which we're going to get into that in our next passage, which we're not doing that today, but whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the church.

I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star and the Spirit and the bride say, Come, and let him that heareth say, Come, and let him that is a thirst, come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation. Many in our day would do well to look at this verse and reevaluate how they approach and handle scripture.

We also need to evaluate well whom we allow to influence us in regard to how we understand scripture. We do not get to develop our own theory and then plug our theory into isolated verses to power our agenda. Scripture is dynamic and prophecy can be dynamic as well. An utterance of a godly prophet may apply more to one to more than one point in history or future.

Teaching in the scriptures also may contain wisdom that can be applied to many different situations, but no one has the right to reinvent the overall message of scripture, especially when it comes to the teachings of our Lord and his apostles. I truly believe Peter is dealing with some major issues or he sees them coming on the horizon, whether Judaizers, Gnostics, or random individuals who wanted to draw a following to themselves, which they had those as well.

In our passage today, he is once again laying the foundation for how the church and the individual evaluate those who were trying to teach or influence them. For the prophecy came not in old time by will of man. Peter is reflecting back to the Old Testament prophets because in his day, the New Testament was still not written in written form. It was being written and it was being lived. It was being taught by word of mouth.

Peter's saying, even our prophets of old were not taking liberties with the people, formulating their own special blend of godliness. They spoke and they wrote as God directed, and they acted as God directed. In cases where a prophet took his own road or deviated from God's command, that prophet was punished. So there was a, there's at least two times in scripture where we know of godly men who actually truly godly men.

They were not just random prophets that popped up out of the woodwork, but we have at least two incidents where a prophet did not do what he was supposed to do. And I'm just using this for an example to show how serious it was to God. In the book of First Kings 13, we read the account of how a prophet was sent to prophesy against Jeroboam in the temple.

And God specifically told this man that when he went, he was not supposed to talk, when he was supposed to go by a certain way and then leave, and he wasn't supposed to stop or talk to anyone on his way out. However, I don't know why, but he was tired and he did stop on his way out and sat underneath the tree. And there were some other random prophet out there. I don't know who he was, if it was a true prophet or a false prophet.

What he did was false, but he came and convinced the man of God to come to his house with him. And the man of God came with him to his house. And to make a long story short, the prophet got back on the road again and a lion came and killed him. And to show that there was something supernatural behind this whole thing, a passer, a man was passing by and he saw the lion sitting beside the body of the prophet and he saw the mule standing on the other side of the body of the prophet and neither one of them were moving.

They were standing there. Well, you know, a mule would have run off if a lion came out and killed him, and a lion would have probably been eating the man if he would have been just out to kill a man. But it was just as a sign to the people that would God speak. When God speaks, you listen, you do what he says. It's just an example. The other one is Moses, one of the most godly men in scripture, disobeyed God one time. God had told him to speak to the stone and the water would come out of the stone.

Now, if I was Moses, I would have probably failed more than once if I had to deal with the children of Israel. But Moses was feeling perturbed by the people and he spoke sharply to them. And when he proceeded to, and then he proceeded to strike the stone twice with his rod. God gave the children of Israel water. However, that deviation from what God had commanded Moses kept Moses from leading the children into the promised land with the rest of the children of Israel.

And I'll read this passage so you can tell that I'm not just making this up. Numbers 20, verse 7, starting verse 7, and God spoke to Moses saying, "Take thy rod and call the assembly, thou and Aaron, thy brother, and speak ye to the rock before them. And it shall give forth its waters, and ye shall bring forth for them water out of the rock and give drink to the congregation and their cattle." And Moses took his rod, which was before the Lord, as the Lord commanded.

And Moses and Aaron assembled the congregation before the rock and said to them, "Hear me, O disobedient ones, must we bring you water out of this rock?" And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his rod twice, and much water came forth, and the congregation drank and their cattle. And this last verse says it all.

And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because ye have not believed me to sanctify me before the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I've given them." And that was out of the Brenton Septuagint. God did not take it lightly when godly men disobeyed his commands, especially if they were leading people, if people were relying on them for a clear and a true message. God did not take it lightly, and he doesn't take it lightly today.

But holy men of God speak as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Holy men of old did not speak or act outside of God's leading. And it is a serious thing today if men rise up and claim to be filled with the Holy Spirit, which that's a big theme today. We're filled with the Holy Spirit, and they speak all sorts of things and begin to speak from their selfish desires for power. God will not overlook this infringement upon his people and his kingdom.

In our next message, we will see what Peter has to say about false prophets and some of their characteristics. However, there's enough material in the second chapter that I'm not willing to get started onto that today. I'm not really looking forward to it, but maybe I can get some help from other brothers to assemble material for this. Just a preview of what we may be looking at next time.

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false prophets among you who privately, I don't know how to pronounce that, privately, privately, privately shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And that sounds really extreme, but that's exactly what did happen in the early church. There were people that came in, the Gnostics especially, denied the Lord and who he really was.

So this is something we can think about till next time. That's all I have for today. Hopefully it's not too discouraging.