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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. Here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bible-lined website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Take your Bible and turn to the book of 2 Peter. The book of 2 Peter, and we’re going to start in chapter 2. 2 Peter and chapter 2. Now last we talked about what the apostle Paul had seen and what he had heard. So he was an eyewitness and he heard things but he says there’s something that’s even better than what you see and what you hear. And And that’s what he calls a more sure word of prophecy. Look there in verse 20, knowing this verse in chapter one, that no prophecy of the scriptures.

See the scriptures and having a copy of the scriptures is better than what you can see in here, because you know, we get older, we forget what we saw and we forget what we heard. I don’t know if I would like to have had it in the Old Testament where if I was like Abraham, You know, God comes along and says something to you, hey, hey, let me tell you this, what’s going to happen, buddy? And blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Then I don’t see him for 15 years. You know, after a while, this is exactly what did he say to me? But when it’s written down in Scripture, now we go back and look at it. That’s why I love having a copy of the Bible so I can read and study it. And I know that what God says in His Word, it is true. But he says that the scriptures in verse 21, the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man.

So it wasn’t a bunch of guys who got together and says, hey, I’m going to write a Bible and we’ll put all this stuff together and make us a book. Not exactly. God says that it was not by the will of man. So it was not the will of man that produced this book. This a book designed by God. It is infallible. It is inspired of God. So he says, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved or guided along by the Holy Spirit.

So the Holy Spirit authored this book, and men were simply writers that God choose to use. So the gold is his, but the mold is theirs. You know, if you had pure gold, it wouldn’t matter what kind of a vessel you poured it into, it’s all going to be pure gold. So the gold is his, but the mold is the person that God is able to use his gold and put it into a person, and yet his purity, but it has the shape and the form of an apostle, and you can see their similarities in their books that they write.

Awesome. Just awesome. Chapter 2, Chapter 2, since we know that there were prophecy given in the Old Testament and that there were holy men of God in the Old Testament, well then also he says there’s going to be prophets today and they were prophets but there also false teachers. See there in verse 1 of chapter 2, he says, but there were false prophets, false teachers, also among the people. How do you know they’re false teachers or false prophets? Well, because of what they say.

So you have to know the truth in order to discern the air. So by knowing truth, you can say, hey, that’s not right. That doesn’t line up with what the word of God says. And all scripture is perfectly dove-tailed together. They don’t clash. They don’t contradict each other. Now, the Word of God is truly what it claims to be the Word of God. But notice they’re now in verse 1. But there were false prophets also among the people. Now remember, this is a book, 2 Peter, written to the leaving Jews that had been scattered.

And so they knew the law, and so Peter is like an apostle to the circumcision to the Jews, but Paul was an apostle to the uncircumcision, which was the Gentiles. So they both had the same message, but one has a Jewish flavor, and the other has a Gentile flavor. So here in 2 Peter in chapter 2 he says, but there were false teachers or false prophets among the people, even so shall there be. Get this, false teachers among you.

So now we’re talking about those who believe on Jesus Christ. These are people that know the Lord, believe that Christ died, paid for their sins, came back from the dead, and they’re trusting Him as their Savior. If they had false teachers back then, right at the very beginning of the church after Christ, do you think we may have false teachers in the land today? And as it says here, who privately shall bring in damnable heresies or teachings that are destructive, destructive teachings.

So totally contrary to what God says, but they come in in a sneaky way. Now they often say if you can’t storm the gate and fill trade. In the words, if you can’t take over a great country because you can’t storm the gate, then what you do is you just simply go in in a non-offensive way and infiltrate. And then while you’re in there, then you plant your seeds and do your damage and take it from the inside. I believe that could be going on right now in America.

But I’ll say a little bit more about that later. But what I want you to see here, he says, there shall be false teachers among you who who privately shall bring in damnable heresies, even deny in the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves with destruction. Now there’s several things here in this verse. One, we’re talking about the Lord that bought them. Well, that has to be referring to Jesus Christ. But there’s one or two things of how you can view this scripture.

I don’t have any trouble either way. One is that when it says, even denying the Lord that bought them. Is that a reference to the false teachers, the false prophets that when Christ died, He paid for the sins of the whole world. And so because of that, there are people who deny or reject the payment Christ made on the cross for them, but He did make a payment for them. Their sins have been paid. So it could bring swift judgment upon them, Or there’s the possibility to be cause of the false teachers where they false message causing God’s people who have trust the Christ’s Savior to deny the Lord.

So I believe that there’s truth either way, but whether or not that is the Pacific point that he’s trying to make here, I think you’ll see as he goes, it shows you how that God is able to take his people and deliver them while judging the rest, even though they fall into various era and teaching. Just hold your place right here. Look in 2 Timothy and chapter two, 2 Timothy chapter two.

And you’ll notice that the word of God tells us here in verse 15 of 2 Timothy chapter two, study to show thyself, and doesn’t stop there. You don’t study just to show thyself. Study to show thyself approved unto God. a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. So if you study God’s Word, you can rightly decide what it’s saying and discerning it, and then it affects how you live so that you’re not ashamed.

But then he says in verse 16, but shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word that eat as death a canker of whom is Hymenias and Philead is who concerning the truth have aired, saying theccess direction has passed already and overthrow the faith of some. So there’s people who have their faith overthrown. Now that’s not the will of God. But that’s because of false teachers. Look there in 1 Timothy 1, 1 Timothy 1.

When he tells them here in verse 18, he says, This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy. According to the prophecies which went before thee, that thou by them mighteth wore a good warfare, holding faith in a good conscience which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck. So there’s those who know Christ is Savior and because of false teachers, their lives have been made shipwreck. And so he says in verse 20, of whom is Hymenius and Alexander whom I have delivered understand that they may learn not to blaspheme.

So we have a record of them in the Scriptures, and I believe that if they had them then, we have them now. Does that mean that everyone who comes to a Calvary community church, we all believe the same thing? Maybe not. Wouldn’t it be good if everybody believed the same thing. But it is possible that somebody can come and be nice and sweet and kind and loveling and say the same thing that we say, but they put a little bit of spin on it, just a little twist here and a little twist there.

But you don’t know it. You can’t discern it. It’s too subtle and little by little plant seeds. They can be totally destructive. And next thing you know down the road to spread a church wide open. I’ve preached in a lot of churches and I’ve seen it happen. You say, well, I can’t, yes, it can. All it takes is just one person believing some error and then planting those seeds of destruction. So in seeds of discord, little by little, privately, sneakyly without anybody knowing that they’re doing that.

I mean, they’re not going to walk in the back door and say, hey, I’m a false teacher. Oh, you know who I am. They don’t do that. So here in 2 Peter and look, they’re now in verse 2. Verse 2. 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 2 says, and many shall follow their pernicious ways by reason of whom the and you are on the line is way of truth shall be evil spoken of. Now take your Bible and go all the the way back to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 18.

Deuteronomy and chapter 18. This issue came up even back then. And so he says here in Deuteronomy chapter 18, I want you to look there in verse 15 in your Bible there. In verse 15 says, the Lord, thy God, will raise up unto thee a prophet from the mystery of thy brethren, like unto me, unto him ye shall hearken.” Now believe it or not, this is a prophecy concerning Jesus Christ. And yet it was written just about 1500 years in advance.

That’s a long time. Now it’s important to see what God says about knowing the truth versus the year. He said in Verse 16, according to all that thou desirest of the Lord thy God, in horrib, in the day of the assembly. Say, and let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God. Neither let me see this great fire anymore that I die not. Now whenever God talked to him from Mount Horrible, Mount Sinai, and scared him to death with all the thunder, light, and all that going on, and don’t come close to the mountain you’d be zapped through and all that stuff.

You know, when it was radioactive or atomic particles or a nuclear fallout. All I know is that they said, we can’t take no more of that. That scared them to death. They said, we just talked to us through the prophet. So he said, okay. So he says in verse 18, I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, liken to me, and will put my words in his mouth. And he shall speak unto them all that I have have commanded him, and it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which he shall speak in my name I will require it of him.”

Now look what he says in verse 20, but the prophet which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that profit, shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, how shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? He said, when a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing followed not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken.

But the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. They shall not be afraid of him. Now, God had it to where you were not supposed to talk about any other God, except God. God wanted him to know God. And so when you know truth, then you can discern the air, but when you don’t know truth, it’s hard to discern air. Take your Bible and turn over there to the book of Isaiah, chapter 48. Isaiah and chapter 48. In Isaiah 48, there’s an interesting scripture here.

They kind of give you the idea that God knows how we think. He says that we’re hard-headed and stiff-neck. Can you believe that? Can you believe God thinks that we’re hard headed and stiff neck? Well look what he says there in a verse 3 Isaiah chapter 48 and look in verse 3 I Have declared the former things from the beginning. They went forth out of my mouth. I showed them I did them suddenly it came to pass Because and you ought to on the line this verse in your Bible because I knew that thou art obstinate and thy neck as an iron sinew and thou brow brass.

Hard-headed and stiff neck. Well that is what God says about the nation of Israel. So he says here, I’m going to tell you what’s going to happen before it happens so that when it happens you will know that I told you so. So he says in verse 5, I have even from the beginning declared it to thee. Before it came to pass I showed it thee, lest thou should have saith mine idle hath done them. And my graven image and my molten image hath commanded them.

So he knew that if he didn’t tell him in advance what was going to happen they’d take credit for it. Or I already knew that. God says, on thee. Verse 6, thou hath heard see all this and will not you declare? I have showed the knew things from this time, even hidden things, and thou disnot know them. You didn’t know them. They are created now and not from the beginning, even before the day when thou hurt them, not lest thou should say, oh, I already knew that.

God knows man. Knows how we think. So if a person wants to know the truth, is there a God? Is the Bible true? Well, look at the prophecies in the Scriptures. One fourth of the Bible is pre-written history. Now, many of the things God said would happen has already happened. But there’s a lot of things that hasn’t happened yet that are yet to take place. So if we want to know if the Bible is true, all we got to do is just look at some of the things that God says would happen.

And Lord behold, it’s happened. He says, now a false prophet says, this is gonna happen, this is gonna happen, this is gonna happen, and it doesn’t happen. Well, then they’re false. There’s a lot of preachers that says, Jesus is coming back 1988. 88 reasons. Well, he gave 88 reasons why he was coming back in 88. Anybody remember that? Somebody remember that. A man even came out with a little booklet. But guess what? He didn’t come back in 88. The 70th minute says he came back over a hundred years ago And he didn’t show up either.

There’s a lot of people who say, God said, and God says I didn’t not. So what would you do about somebody who says, God said and God didn’t say? Well, there’s a script that deals with that too. Look in Jeremiah 23, Jeremiah, just the next book to you, right? Jeremiah and chapter 23. Jeremiah 23. And look in verse, let’s start in verse 24. I want you to see this, because remember he says, there were prophets in the Old Testament.

And also there were false prophets among them. And we need to know how the false prophets worked, especially with Jeremiah. Everything Jeremiah had told him that God said there were false prophets. There’s a God didn’t say that, God didn’t say that. This isn’t gonna happen. Well, everything that Jeremiah told him that was gonna happen, it happened. He was called a Weep in Prophet. I mean, the guy suffered consequences because he said God said, and God did say it. They put him in a pit, muddy, nothing to eat, cold.

They did all kind of things to Jeremiah and the one that were false doesn’t happen to them for a while. But anyway, in Jeremiah chapter 23, look there in verse 24, can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? Sayeth the Lord. Have you ever thought of that? See God, he can only see doing the daytime. That’s why everybody does most of their sin in at night because God can’t see at night. You don’t believe that, do you?

Can God see just as good at night as He can in the daytime? Yes, He can. Does He see everything that you do? Can He even… Tell what you’re thinking? Knows your motive? He says, do not I feel heaven and earth sayeth the Lord? In verse 25, I have heard what the prophets said. that prophesy lies in my name. So God even knows when they prophesy lies. When you say, God said, and God said, I didn’t say that. So He’ll blame a lot upon His prophets because His prophets did not take a stand.

He says, you are like dogs that can’t bark. You know what? Most people have a dog because they want them to bark. Use it not in the house you don’t. But unless somebody comes to the door and that dog just, you know, acts all up. But the reason that people had dogs is because the dog, and they put them in the yard, so the dog would bark. But he says, there’s people that are God’s preachers, and they’re supposed to bark.

They’re supposed to warn. And there’s preachers that don’t know how to bark. There’s preachers that don’t know how to bark. There’s dogs that couldn’t bark. So he says here, he says in verse 25, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. I remember somebody saying, I ain’t got a dream. Yeah, yeah, I got a dream. And it would be great if everybody would listen exactly what, not to be judged by the color of your skin, but by the content of your heart.

And most of the people that vote today is not by the character, but by the color of their skin. White sometime will vote for a white man, because he’s white. But if a black votes for a black because of the color of his skin, it’s just as racism as the other. You’re not judging by what is he saying? What’s he saying? What’s the character of this person? We’re going to be great if all of our politicians were honest people.

Regardless of their color, the color has nothing to do with your character. Either you got character or you don’t have character. And a bunch of them are quite some characters, I’ll tell you. But it says, I have drained, I have drained. You had a nightmare’s with you, Ed. So in verse 20, he said, how long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesied lies? They are prophets of the deceit of their own heart. You know that even possible among preachers and evangelists.

In verse 27, which think to cause my people, talking about Israel, to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. Now that made God mad. And that’s why they were going into captivity because they had false prophets saying, hey, If they’re cool, no problem. Verse 28, the prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream. And yet on the line this part, he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully.

What is the chak to the wheat? In other words, all that other stuff is fluff, that’s chak. But my word is the wheat. It’s something that’s good and solid. It’s got the kernels of truth. So he says, those who have my word preach my word, those who have the chat, tell your dream. But your dream ain’t going to come true. But my word is truth. That’s why he says, we have a more sure word of prophecy. We have the scriptures.

We have the word of God. Verse 29, verse 29, you ought to underline in your Bible. This is an awesome verse. is not my word like a fire. Sayeth the Lord, and like I hammer that break of the rock in pieces. I have used the word of God for so long. I have seen the word of God and the truth of what God has to say. I’ve seen it break some of the biggest, the meanest, the strongest fellows. And the will that people have, and I’ve seen God just crush them.

And remember whenever Christ was talking to those two on the road to Emmaus, and they says, Did not our hearts burn within us? When he opened unto us the scriptures heart burned within you. Isn’t there time whenever you’re here in the Word of God or you’re sitting there and you’re reading it and it just burns inside of you. You feel like I just got to do something. They got to do something. You want something to happen. Something to be different.

I love these scriptures. Verse 30 says, therefore behold, I am against the prophets. Sayeth the Lord that steal my words. Everyone from his neighbor. Steel my words. By not all. letting people know the truth. You’re stealing from other people. He says here in verse 31, Behold, I am against the prophet, saith the Lord, that use their tongues and say, He saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams saith the Lord and do tell them and cause my people, get this, cause my people to err by their lies.

So is it possible that false teachers can have an effect upon God’s people? Yes. So there are false teachers in the world, false preachers, and they make merchandise of the people. They’re not really in it for the best of the people, but it gives them a following. And they’re always talking about how your faith is demonstrated by you giving me money. They’re going to have that seed money. And you’ll see how God’s going to bless you. So you run to the mail and see if that chick came in.

And they have a health and wealth philosophy. And there’s some on television that’s, they don’t want to talk about sin because that makes people feel uncomfortable. And you know, and people flock to those churches and support them by the millions. Now only we can do that because people don’t know the truth. They don’t know truth, or they wouldn’t do something so stupid. But they do. But get what he says. He says here in verse 32 again, I want you to see them.

He said, Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dream that saith the Lord, and do not tell them, and cause my people to tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies and by their likeness. And get this, yet I sent them not, nor commanded them. Therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord. And when this people or the prophet or a priest shall ask these saying, what is the burden of the Lord of the word of God?

Thou shalt then say unto them, what burden? I will even forsake you saith the Lord. And as for the prophet and the priest and the people, what? That shall say the burden of the Lord. I will even punish that man and his house. So God says that he is not for these people. As he says down in verse 36, the last part of it says, for ye have perverted the words of the living God. So God gets upset. That’s why when we teach the Bible, we have a little fear that we say that God said and God didn’t say that.

Because we know that we’re gonna have to count to the Lord for what we say. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on Please visit us on the air in your area by dialing toll free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771.

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Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, Calvary of Tampa dot o-r-g. Thanks for joining us on Bible Live and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. We will be changed. up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day believing that the Lord is coming soon and just keep looking up.