what we started last week in chapter two of second Peter and that is the issue of false teachers is this really a danger for the church or false teachers really a danger to the church and the answer we saw last week is yes they are and God wants you to know certain things there are some things that God really wants you to understand and grasp as followers of Christ as disciples of Jesus Christ because you have a responsibility not only to yourself and your family but to other believers as well regarding this last week we saw that the danger was very real in the first three verses just as false prophets rose up and the under the old covenant false teachers have come and they keep coming under the new covenant and they the greatest danger is to young untought believers some old untought believers who are vulnerable to these false teachings that get them off the path of the gospel secondly he we look at how God deals with false teaching and the reason that Peter includes this is because he wants us to feel the weight of the seriousness of this this is a serious issue with God for us to be on the lookout fall told the elders at the church of Ephesus that they were to watch out for the flock to guide the flock because false teachers would arise even in our midst and lead disciples astray and so it's a serious issue today we want to look at a couple things first how to recognize false teachers how do you recognize them do they wear certain kinds of clothes they have a certain kind of look about them they have a new certain language how can you tell if a false teacher has begun to trouble the church well he's going to give us several things in this context notice in I'm going to read this section beginning in verse the middle of verse 10 this is the last half of the chapter daring he's now describing them daring self will they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesty whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord but these like unreasoning animals born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed reveling where they have no knowledge will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong they counted a pleasure to revel in the daytime they are stains and blemishes reveling in their descriptions as they coroused with you having eyes full of adultery quite literally eyes full of adulteresses and they never cease from sin enticing unstable souls having a heart trained in greed a cursed children you can tell he's a bit worked up over this forsaking the right way they have gone astray having followed the way of valum the son of the or who loved the wages of unrighteousness but he received a review for his own trust transgression for a dumb donkey speaking with a voice of a man restrain the madness of the prophet these are springs without water and myths driven by a storm for whom the black darkness has been reserved for speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires by sensuality those who barely escape from the ones who live an error promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption for by what a man has overcome by this he is enslaved for if after they have escaped the defilements that is these false teachers the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ they are again entangled in them and are overcome the last state has become worse for them than the first for it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness then having known it to turn away from the holy commandments delivered to them it has happened to them according to the true proverb a dog returns to its own vomit and a sow after washing returns to wallowing in the mire with a picture what's strong language why because this is such a serious issue in the life of the church notice first of all the first characteristic he gives this of these false teachers is that they despise God ordained authority verses 10 to 13 he speaks of this he says that they are presumptuous they're daring and they're self-willed in other words what drives them is not the Holy Spirit and God's concern for the flock of God but their own self-will they are determined to please please themselves at all costs and notice he says they do not tremble what does he mean by that he means they have no respect they respect no one nothing restrains them in fact he misses the fact that they're they revile angelic majesties what in the world is that talking about reviling angelic majesties the words literally they revile glories but this word is used in reference to the glorious state of the angelic beings that God has created he says that they fearlessly reviled the highest authority these angelic majesties well who are they who are these angelic majesties that they revile throughout history the church there have been several answers given by Bible students John Calvin's believe that that Peter was talking about civil authorities that they revile civil authorities now it's possible that that word could refer to civil authorities it is in some context others believe that it is a reference to church elders probably the church elders believe that that they revile the elders others believe that he's referring here simply to good angels or bad angels to angels to spirit beings a little bit is shed on this in a couple books later if you turn to Jude just a couple books over towards the end of your Bible to Jude in Jude verses eight through 10 notice what Jude says about this and you probably have noticed if your Bible reader that second Peter contains most of the book of Jude in it it appears that Peter is quoting almost verbatim from Jude very much of it and notice what Jude writes in verse eight yet in the same manner these men also by dreaming and he's talking again about false teachers those who lead believers astray by their teaching who come into the church and teach false doctrine to lead people astray away from the gospel away from the truth denying of the deity of Christ denying that Christ was virgin born denying the resurrection the literal resurrection those kinds of things he says in the same manner these men also by dreaming to file the flesh and reject authority and revile angelic majesty but then notice the the example he gives and contradiction to this he says but Michael the Archangel the highest of all the angels when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses and the devil was a cherub he was the covering cherub he actually had a higher in his original creation he had a higher status than Michael the Archangel because Michael was an angel and Satan was a cherub the cherub being have a higher rank and so he says even though Satan the devil had rebelled against God when Michael the Archangel when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment but said the Lord review you but these men you see this example it's as even Michael the Archangel respects God's designed authority the authorities that God has created and put into place but he says in verse 10 but these men revile the things which they do not understand and the things which they know by instinct like unreasonable animals by these things they are destroyed the idea is obviously the principle the clear principle is they do not respect God ordained authority and they are unrestrained in this disrespectful attitude and actions towards them now in this context there's some mysterious things in to us in second Peter and Jude about fallen angels about how God has treated fallen angels it's certain at certain points in redemptive history but one thing is for sure there's a lot of disagreement about those things but one thing that is for sure he is saying that these false teachers one of their characteristics is they don't really respect God ordained authority in verses 12 and 13 he begins to glow with moral anger indignation he is really angry he begins to talk about these he begins to describe these false teachers he says they're like irrational animals without the restraint that men and angels have the difference between men and animals is that animals are driven by instinct and men can make decisions based upon what's right because they've been created in the image of God but animals are driven by their instincts in verse 12 he says that they claim special knowledge but they blaspheme out of their ignorance they claim to know so much and yet in their teaching they blaspheme God and the and the creation of God and the authority that God has created in this universe he says they're like wild beasts who are slaves to their instincts and they're born to be slaughtered that's really strong language isn't it in other ages in the church sometimes if you go back and you read disputes between Luther and others that opposed him you'd be amazed at the language they use at the at the fourth rightness in which they talk to one another and wrote against each other they were very bold and in ways today that people would be shocked over doctrinal disputes over whether or not salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone and of course Luther was willing to lay down his life for that and he saw any attack on that as something worth laying down his life for but he says these and describing them with a strong language these look quite literally in their destruction they shall be destroyed now inverse the first part of verse 13 if you notice he says suffering long as the wages of doing wrong as a play on words here suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong but that's an important principle it's an important principle for us to understand that God allows us to suffer wrong as the wages of doing wrong let me show you something turn back to Romans chapter one this is going on in the human race even today and of course it goes on in individual lives in Romans chapter one notice this as he's describing the fall of man and not just the fall but the movement of the apostasy of mankind away from God that there's this constant movement that may are becoming more and more ungodly that's the picture of Romans one two and three and in Romans chapter one notice this expression that he uses in fact I'm going to begin in verse 22 listen to the flow of this he says professing to be wise and he's talking about the human race and rebellion against God professing to be wise they became fools and exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and of four-footed animals and crawling creatures instead of honoring God the invisible God to make images that they could bow down to in the place of the glorious God they begin to worship images of created things and what does God do it says in verse 24 therefore God gave them over the word gave them over means to pull back restraints it means to allow them to go into sin as deeply as they want to he pulls back restraints and the lust of their hearts to impurity that their bodies might be dishonored among them for the exchange of truth of God for a lie quite literally the lie and the lie is this that you worship and serve the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever and notice the next step verse 26 for this reason God gave them over same expression he gave them up he pulled back restraints they kept pushing against his restraints and so it says he gave he pulled back the restraints so that they would go into degrading passions for the women exchange the natural function for that which is unnatural in the same way also the man abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another men with men committing in decent acts and receiving in their own persons the Duke penalty of their error if you look at that last expression there the last phrase in verse 27 the consequence of the sin he says is they are received they receive in their own persons the Duke penalty of their error it has an impact upon their very nature in the heart of the person that they are he says there are the marks of the sin and he goes another step verse 28 and just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer God gave them over here we having pulling back his restraints again he gave them over to depraved mine to do things which are not proper being filled with all and righteousness wickedness greed evil full of envy murder strife deceit malice they are gossip slanderers haters of God insolent arrogant boastful and winners of evil disobedient appearance without understanding and trustworthy unloving and merciful better stop incredible isn't it you see in the context he says that that the reason there is increased sin in the human race increased rebellion against the God who has authority over our lives is as a consequence of our sin in other words the penalty of sin in this case is sin the race becomes more simple as a consequence of God in judgment pulling back the restraints and allowing men to get worse and worse and so what do we do we move to the suburbs or we move to Idaho or maybe we move to the outback of Australia we can get away from this sorry it's everywhere it's everywhere in every primitive or advanced people group on the face of this earth you have the consequence of the fall of man and so Peter uses the same principle and he says that they suffer wrong as the wages of doing wrong sometimes we see these teachers who have status in the church in some way or another in some circles of the church teaching we discover it becomes it becomes obvious it becomes public that they have been living a life of sin I personally know a man that I used to have respect for years ago very talented young man a teacher of the Bible and a preacher who could mimic about any preacher I've ever heard this guy was really a speaker became a parent a few years ago that this man in every single church he pastored committed immorality with at least one woman in a church and in some cases several women you see he went further and further and further into his sin until it completely destroyed what image he had constructed this is an interesting passage in Genesis when God meets up with Cain after Cain had offered a sacrifice that was not according we find out from Hebrews much later that Cain had offered a sacrifice that was not according to God's instruction and God rejected his sacrifice and because of this Cain is quite sad his face has fallen which is an expression Hebrews it just simply means he has a long face he's quite sad it's obvious and so he encounters God and God says to him Cain why has your accountants falling if you do what's right will not your accountants be lifted up if you simply obey my command won't you feel better and that's a great counseling principle by the way much better than anything Freud ever came up with just do what you know you're supposed to do and you'll discover you will feel better now that's not the only solution every problem but it's a good principle isn't it but then he adds this and get this God says to Cain if you do what's right your accountants will be lifted up but if you do not do what's right if you refuse to obey then sin is crouching at the door ready to take you and you must overpower it now think about that what he is saying is this it's a play on words the word sin in the Hebrew that's used there can either be a sin offering which was an animal or it can be used of the act of sin the principle of sin and what he's saying is that sin is waiting to take you captive in other words if you tolerate small but known rebellion in your life you have these little protected areas where you just not going to obey God in this area oh I know that's what God commands but you know what I'm just that way I know God commands that we shouldn't gossip but you know what I just love to gossip in fact it's a part of our family tradition or a hundred other things but I have this little area that it's just a protected area I know I'm living in disobedience to God but you know what I'm gonna live that way anyways no big deal what he's telling Cain is Cain if you don't do what's right if you tolerate disobedience if you tolerate a small area rebellion in your life Cain is waiting at the door it's crouching at the door in a stance that's ready to pounce upon you and take you captive in other words you position yourself in a way before God in which you are gonna be highly timpable the wages of sin is sin these teachers encourage people to be disobedient to the clear commands of God and he says notice they revel in the daytime what do you mean by that well the reveling here the corousing that he's talking about is what people do after the sun goes down you take a perfectly respectable person go out when it's dark and everybody's drinking and having a good time and all of a sudden he acts like a total fool like he has no moral standards but at least they do it under the cover of darkness but he says these have come to the place where they revel in the daytime in other words they're not ashamed they're not ashamed of their lifestyle they crowds in broad daylight they're wanting now you may think well man is that ever happen among teachers in the church oh you better believe it there's a movie that we came out a few years ago called Margeau it was about this guy Margeau Gortner you may have he actually has been in some other movies but Margeau Gortner was born into a family and his dad wanted to make him a preacher and so when he's five years old he had a beautiful white suit and white baton shoes and he would rent big auditoriums and have his little boy preach he trained this kid to preach and he could mimic preachers and he would get up on the stage and man I remember reading in the paper years ago when he was preaching in the Oakland auditorium they had him there and it they packed that auditorium out and Margeau preached well a movie came out he put out he produced in which he exposed the truth about himself that he was a phony and that he was in it for the money the reasoning did it by the way was to make money because his ministry was over people were beginning to know the truth about him and he couldn't take it anymore and so he decides to make this movie and make some money on the movie and simply expose the truth about himself and he thought he was just exposing the truth about everybody who claimed to be what he was and you watch the movie and it's just astounding astounding how he could manipulate people astounding how people could put up with anything if this guy could produce results if he could draw a crowd if he could get people to give they would tolerate anything and some of the scenes in this movie are wretched back at the hotel room when they're counting the money I mean just amazing stuff you see there have been men like that throughout the history of the church and there are today and Peter is warning them and and driving home to their hearts that these men despise God ordained authority and then he says in the next few verses in verses 13 through 16 they are driven by fleshly desires that's the last part of verse 13 they come into the flock and they influence the flock with their fleshly lifestyle in other words they embolden people to sin imagine that leaders in the church who are emboldening emboldening people to sin he says as they corouse with you the word deceptions here it's a little textual problem it's probably the word they refers to love feasts that is in the early church when they would take communion they would always have a feast in the Gophe feast and they would have a big dinner and everybody would eat and have a good time and then they would take communion afterwards and he says they come in among you they come in among your love feasts your communal meal and they turn even the worship of God into lustful celebration I tell you when there is such a drive to get people to feel something to feel something to feel something to feel something to feel anything just to get people emotional they become so susceptible to air and to being led down the wrong path and then notice this about them he says they have eyes full of adultery the word is literally adulterous they have eyes full of adulteresses what does he mean by that he means they see every woman as a woman to seduce you think there's guys like that in the church in the in the church in general out there preaching around and holding meetings you better believe it it happens all the time and every time one of them is exposed it's so shocking to people he says that's what they're going to do he says their eyes never cease from sin Bob Dylan has a light in one of his songs about the Antichrist he says his eyes are on a rabbit hunt that's what this means it means they're looking everywhere for opportunities to send to take advantage of people to lead people into sin wow this is serious stuff isn't it to think that the church of Jesus Christ is being warned about those who are going to come in among your midst and they're going to have some kind of status in the church and yet lead people into this kind of sin he says in those what they do enticing unstable souls enticing unstable souls I'd like you to ask yourself do you have a stable soul are you somebody who has been well taught in the faith could you teach a young believer could you obey the command of wrong of Matthew 2018 and 19 could you teach a young believer someone who's just come to faith could you teach them how to obey all that Christ has commanded us do you have a stable soul the unstable soul is the person who is untought untested the person who has a faith and yet their faith is not grown and he says they lure and bait and entice them Paul says what they do is they go into houses of weak women women with lots of money and no discernment it is an amazing thing I think that that false preachers false teachers in the church today in America are every bit as bad as the worst of the telemarketers who cheat people out of money they find unstable souls and we're willing to take every penny they have unstable souls are those who have no foundation in fact if you look at chapter three look at what he says here in chapter 3 verse 16 he says there's also in all his letters he's talking about Paul the Apostle speaking in them of these things in which are some hard to understand which the untought and unstable distort you have any anybody distort the teachings of Paul to you he says they distort his teaching as they do also the rest of the scriptures to their own destruction you therefore since this is true but love it knowing this before and be on your guard let's be carried away by the air of unprincipled men you fall from your own steadfastness but grow on the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity he says there will be those who come in and they will go after those who are unstable have no foundation what a what a motivation to become stable to build a foundation upon which you can you can have a right that is solid exactly what Jesus said in the sermon the mount those who hear my teaching and they believe it and they obey it is like the man who builds his house upon a rock and when the storms come and the rain falls and the wind blows the house stands steady you have to get to that place near Christian life you have to come to know the truth of the word of God concerning Christ and the gospel and to implications because there are plenty plenty of people who want to deceive you and lead you off the path of obedience to Christ he says they have hearts that are trained and greed having hearts exercised by greed quite literally in other words the center of their personality is that they want what you have and we have to be alert I was gonna sort of book called fat bodies our fit bodies and fat minds talking about the church in America we're more interested in fit bodies we don't mind fat minds we don't mind minds I can't think theologically and doctrinally that can that can struggle with a truth of scripture and come to understand who God really is and who Christ is and what the atonement's about what is this thing about God sovereign rule of his universe in election and predestination and and glorification what are these things God has given you the spirit and he's given you a mind so that you can pursue these things and come to understand them and become stable in your lives so in false teachers come along they don't blow you off track a cursed children wow and a cursed brood he says these are those who are under the curse of God and he says they're like bail on the son of the or you remember him bail him was a prophet he's a weird character in scripture because he says he's a prophet of the most high God of the Lord Yahweh and he is hired to pronounce a curse on God's chosen people Israel and you remember the story every time well when they came to get him and he says look I can only say what God tells me to say I can't say anything else and then they tell him well look if you will do this you can have up to half of the kingdom nothing will be spared to pay you to curse these people and he says well I don't think I can do it but let me come and see and so he begins that it goes down the path to see if he might make this fortune even though he doesn't think God will allow him to and on the way his mule his donkey his jackass refuses to move gets in this position he won't move and bail him starts beating the donkey and finally the donkey turns on the sesu and starts speaking to him basically gives him the word of God and the word of God is powerful even if it comes to a jackass and so bail him is scared but he goes ahead and he tries to curse the people and every time he tries to curse him what comes out of his mouth is a blessing because God won't let him curse him but you know what he does later on we're told in the the book of numbers is he comes up with an ingenious plan to bring reproach upon the people of God he entices them to sin and he knows God must judge sin he says these false teachers are like that they're mercenaries they'll do anything for a dollar they'll do anything for what they're after for their sexual impurity whatever it is it motivates them they'll do anything and they lead people the lead people astray especially unstable souls you know I think the biggest threat with us in our context is that we live in such a media oriented age so much stuff comes to us there are so many conferences there are so many seminars there are so many TV programs there are so many radio programs there's so much literature and now we have the internet you talk about propagating false doctrine you have we have never seen anything like it there's most false doctrine the internet than any other place an unstable souls are vulnerable what's the solution get them off the internet get them off TV get them off the radio don't let them read anything no the solution is we have to train people to know the truth of the word of God so they can discern truth from error that's what we have to do that's what we are called to do to be as a local church we are called to be a disciple making church a church that knows how to train disciples to obey all that crisis commanded us do you know how to do that could you take a believer and spend a couple months of them and train him to understand the basics of following Christ and how to find answers in the Bible do you know how to do that that's what God has called us to do notice he then says in verses 17 to 19 that they are destitute of doctrinal substance they quote the Bible but they don't communicate its teachings they quote the Bible that they don't communicate the teachings of the Bible he says there's no substance to their teaching look at the description he gives of them they're springs without water your approach or water fountain and your thirsty is all get out and you've been over to take a drink and nothing comes out he says that's how they are they have the appearance they quote the scriptures but they don't teach the truth of the word of God and then you know we expect to receive by the way somebody takes a position in the church of a teacher we expect to receive living water remember in John 4 when Jesus meets the woman at the well and he begins to talk to about this living water that he wants to give to her that will she will never thirst again wants to give this truth to her which reveals him and then in John 7 Jesus says if you believe on him he'll put a well inside of you so that this well inside of you can give out water to others so when a man stands up to teach the Bible we expect that he is going to give us the water of life and he says these are like springs without water arrogant words of vanity oh they can use lofty terms and they can be tricky in the way that they preach but are they teaching the word of God and Peter says they do not they sway audiences they impress with their speaking but they don't have anything of eternal value to give and second not only are there's no substance to their teaching there's no substance to their character look at this expression they are missed driven by a storm instead of producing water for a dry and thirsty land he says they're just they look like water but it's a mist that just gets blown away and no water even touches the earth their future reveals their character he says for whom the black darkness has been reserved this is serious business isn't it I say one thing it makes me shake in my boots because James says in light of this in James 3 do not be many teachers for there is greater judgment there's a greater standard of judgment for those who take a position of teaching people the word of God I can't pretend to be a teacher and then not teach what the Bible actually says there are hundreds of church seminars that go on today and training pastors how to make churches grow and one of the primary things they tell them is you can't teach too much doctrine you have to be careful because what you will do is you'll drive people away you have to keep it simple stupid don't use words like profitiation although that's a biblical term it's amazing things so what do I do I get to John first John 2 2 and I say and he is the let's see what I can't say for profitiation what could I say they actually think like that that Christians aren't smart enough intelligent enough serious enough about the faith that they can learn new biblical terminology a new biblical concepts and actually integrate them into their life is it really important that you know that the death of Christ is a profitiation for your sins oh you better believe it there's times you need to know that John is talking about those times he says when you sin and you fail to obey the commandment of God and you feel the sin for us you need to know that he is the profitiation for our sins and you know what that means there's no they are myths driven by a storm and then he says forth there is no mercy in their hearts notice verse 18 for they speaking out arrogant words of entity they entice by fleshly desires by sensuality those who barely escape from the ones who live an air neophytes new believers they target them and they try to draw them away to follow after their sensuality these heretics are speaking out arrogant words of vanity speaking out means they are forceful speakers they are preachers they're loud and authoritative proclaiming and he says they're arrogant they're swollen they're all puffed up and notice this in verse 19 here's the problem promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption for by what a man is overcome by this he isn't slaves a sobering five what are you overcome by you would be setting sin that you keep getting into maybe you just come to the place where you say well you know what this is just part of me strain in my character I'll never be any different than this you need to understand and we do that by what a man is overcome by this he is enslaved Jesus came to set us free he came to set his people free from that which enslave them they promise freedom but all they do is produce slaves so he tells us in this text how to recognize him and then finally he says he tells us where they fail as leaders and notice how he describes their failure as leaders in verses 20 through 22 for after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ they are again entangled in them they overcome the last state has become worse for them than the first for would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them it has happened to them according to the true proverb a dog returns to its own vomit and a sow after washing returns to wallowing in the mire that's not very appetizing is it almost lunch time he's talking about dogs returning to their vomit the reason you don't put your dog up at your table you shouldn't if you do and put a little napkin around his neck and put his paws on the table is because he's a dog I know your dogs really precious but he's a dog and if he throws up on the table he'll start returning to his vomit he says that's how these men are what does that tell us it tells that these are under regenerate men these are unregenerate notice this this is where they went wrong they didn't have a knowledge of the truth there are unbelievers there are unregenerate men who come to understand the facts of the gospel who do not place faith in Christ they did escape the pollutions of the world because of this knowledge they stopped living in the same conduct they lived in before but they never become partakers of the divine nature they are unregenerate men they didn't have their nature change the reason the dog returns to its vomit is because it's a dog I don't think you have to have to train your children not to do that because they're not dogs the reason to sow returns to the pigstie is because it's a still a pig and then finally they made an outward reformation but their true nature was revealed when they reverted to their old way of living Jesus said this would happen they would be people who would make a start they would seem like they were making progress but the truth was their hearts had never been changed now Peter's not saying that you can't fall into sinful attitudes and actions he doesn't mean that there can't be seasons of sin in your life he's talking about those who have an unchanged character and it would pretend in order to be leaders in the church in order to be leaders among some of God's people for their own self anger disment and for their own ends God wants you to be on the alert regarding these poison peddlers in the church because there are many and the reason it's important is some of these teachers coming through the front door some the back door side door the window TV computer I'm in there everywhere whatever influence you have over young believers you need to take seriously your responsibility to build them up in the most holy faith you need to take seriously your responsibility to disciple that's what you've been called to do it's to be a disciple maker and to build people up in the faith so what does God want us to do first know that this is really a danger it really is it is today in fact more than it's ever been sometimes we are oblivious to it because we're not as much exposed to it to realize God is the deliverer he's the only one who can deliver don't think you can deliver someone only God can you are absolutely dependent upon him to use you in the life of a fellow believer in this way and then learn to be able to recognize a poison peddler when you see one learn to be able to recognize false teaching and false teachers learn the word learn the truth come to understand the teachings of the Bible and the flow of redemptive history how do you do that well first I mean lesson number one read the Bible read the Bible I mean it's such a little effort if you would put I mean let me tell you this if you would put one fourth of the time into reading the Bible as you do watching TV most of you you would grow by leaps and bounds and your understanding of the Bible if you would focus on it read it think about it ask the spirit of God to teach you he's your resident teacher come to learn his word then you'll have some good questions to ask you will find things that are puzzling and you can't understand well that's good some people are never puzzled about the Bible why is that they'll read it there's nothing puzzling about this book put it in your car Sunday morning put it back on the shelf Sunday afternoon it's not puzzling we start reading it and you'll find it is puzzling that's good you start asking questions and then there are answers and then be aggressive about the welfare of lambs the aggressive about the welfare of lambs young believers who are fresh in the faith you need to disciple them you need to come alongside them older women need to teach younger women to love their husbands love their children to be keepers of the home you have a responsibility older women that's like 37 and a not like like if you've been in the faith for 10 years you're an older woman as far as I'm concerned in the faith you need to teach younger women of course you have to know how to love your husband love your children and be keepers of the home that's what you learn to good example and biblical teaching older men need to teach younger men how to follow Christ how to be leaders of their home how to love their wives how to lay down their lives how to lead their children that's called us to do that what do they need they need protection and Acts 20 Paul tells the elders of the Church of Ephesus you guard the flock of God that he purchase with his own blood Jesus Christ loves this church because you know that Jesus Christ loves Calvary community church I know there's things about it you don't like and I don't like but Jesus loves this church loves every one of his lambs and sheep and they need protection so he says to the elders you protect them you guard them we need more elders in this church we need and the key key characteristic of an elder a shepherd is he cares about the flock of God he has the heart of Jesus about the people of God we start showing signs that you're actually concerned about God's people you're looking out for them you're shepherding them that's a sign that you fit this description and then they need maturity after 2018 and 19 make disciples baptizing them in the name of the Father of Son Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you does that sound imposing to you it should if I gave you the assignment I just brought somebody to you and I said okay would you please teach this new believer to obey all that Jesus has commanded them could you do that yeah you could you don't think you could but you could you know why you can because you have the Holy Spirit living in you and you have this book that he has written and given to you and he teaches you from his word and you can learn do you know where to find out about Jesus in this Bible well you start in Genesis and you go to Revelation because this book is about Jesus Christ in salvation he's right so I just want to encourage all of you every single one of you if you're a young lamb and you know that you need to be taught in the faith please don't hesitate to ask for help we have plenty of people in this church you can teach you and couldn't help you to learn how to obey what Christ is commanding you and if you're a believer who just doesn't think about the fact that you've been called to do this I just want to take you by the lapels and shake you and say wake up you have been called to this you've been called to this stop resisting this is what God has called you to make disciples to be involved in the advance of the kingdom by actually having an impact in people's lives and in one minute let me say this there is nothing that you will do in all of life there's nothing you will achieve there's nothing that you will come to possess there's nothing that you will come to be known for that's more important than this that you pour your lives into other believers to build them up and to help them become obedient disciples of Jesus Christ nothing else you do when you stand before the Bema seat of Christ and you've given account of your life and he looks at your life the only thing that's going to matter at that point I gotta tell you this the only thing that's going to matter is how have you poured your life into the lives of the people of Christ how have you poured your life into bringing people to Christ building people up into the image of Christ and sending people into the world to witness for Christ that's the only thing that's gonna matter I can tell you they don't well they Jesus won't divide you up between those who drive you know forwards and shivis are any other category let me shut up at that point or any other category what's gonna matter is have you poured your life into the lives of his lands and seen them grow have you have you experienced God using you as an instrument of his grace and people's lives please think about that stand with me I'm like close and prayer we're gonna stop right here please stand a kind and gracious father I thank you for loving your people I thank you that Jesus Christ has demonstrated in such a stark real shocking way his love for his people he laid down his life he was willing to pay the price of his own life's blood to purchase us and he canning us of that your word keeps telling us the reason we have a minister to fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and see them come to maturity and be effective witnesses for Christ is because he's bought them with his blood and I pray oh God you would motivate us to give our lives to learning how to share the gospel and then how to build people up who come to faith in this Christ that we preach please do a work in our hearts make us a disciple making church I pray for the glory of your son help us to talk about these things among ourselves and encourage one another we pray in Jesus name amen amen