Who is influencing your life? There are only 2 possibilities. It is either the Holy Spirit or the enemy. The weapon used by the enemy is doubt. We see that all the way back at the Garden of Eden and Garden of Gethsemane. The enemy asked, “Did God really say?” The problem with the people of God is that we don’t believe in His promises.

Hebrews 9:27 (ESV) And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

You are either going to spend eternity in torment or in the kingdom of God. Where are you going to be? Do you know the most common response of believers to that question? They say: I hope in heaven. Why hope? When the Word of God gives us assurance.

Hebrews 4:1 (ESV) Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.

Therefore, let us fear, no not (me poteh) which means at no time. Let us fear no not ever. The context is that any of us have fallen short of that promise of entering into rest. We should never fear, no not ever, that we have fallen short of entering into the kingdom. Why? Because it had nothing to do with anything that you did. It is all based upon 1 thing. That is the sufficiency of the cross. If you receive that, you can have the assurance that you will be for eternity in the kingdom of God.

All of that should lead us to 1 thing. That is to give thanks to Him and to exalt and praise Him because it had nothing to do with you. The sins of the world, your sins, all of your sins, past present and future, were all laid upon Him. He took the punishment, He received the curse, and He died on that cross. The scriptures say that His righteousness, perfect righteousness, is now imputed to you.

2 Peter 2:1 (ESV) But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

That means among you, there will be false teachers. Peter is only speaking of the false teachers.

False teachers know a lot, they quote the bible, and they can use the scriptures but they are not committed to the truth. They have not been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

2 Peter 2:19 (ESV) They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.

The false teachers promise freedom to them. Freedom or liberty has to be understood correctly. Many people love the concept of freedom because they think they have been set free to do what they want to do. They don’t understand the concept of true grace.
Paul said Christ is our Passover. The cross took place on Passover day. Jesus was crucified on Preparation Day (another word for Passover day). He is our Passover lamb. Why were the children of Israel in Egypt? Because of sin. They sinned against their brother Joseph because they were jealous of the dreams Joseph had. What were those dreams? Revelation. They were not interested in God’s revelation. When you are interested in the promises of God, you will be interested in the revelation of God. But if you are all consumed with what you want, you will not be interested in God’s promises, because you will prefer what you want. Foolishness is wanting God to agree with you. Wisdom is when you agree with God.

You can think of it this way: When you approach scripture, and you want the Holy Spirit to be your teacher, if you truly want to hear God’s Word, you need to pray this way before you open up the bible “God whatever you reveal to me, I am committed to do.” If you approach the Word of God with a desire to obey what God teaches you,

2 Peter 2:21 (ESV) For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

They recognise the way of righteousness but turned away from the holy commandment (the gospel). They heard and know the gospel but they have not received it. They had that knowledge but when it comes to choosing, they go right back to that same condition.

People can know the truth, understand the bible, know and teach a lot of the bible, and get a lot correct, but learn one of my own parables: A little bit of poison can ruin a perfect meal.

That is the foundation of false teachers. So much of what they say is from the bible. It is good. It is correct. But it is that little bit of deceit. That little bit of spiritual poison, produces the same outcome, death, destruction, absence of the glory of God. You have to ask yourself, am I a new creation in Christ? Do I want to live righteously because I want my life to be a glory unto my Saviour? Or have I believed a distorted Christianity? That God is there for me to help me get what I want, to help me fulfil my dreams? If it is still about your dreams, and you just believe that Christ is another way to accomplish your purposes, then you don’t know the truth. You have not received the Words of life. Through redemption, your life won’t be futile, you won’t be living in vain. You will be living a life connected to eternity. That you will live a life that is connected to the kingdom of God.

AMEN.