Springs Without Water

In one paragraph

This message was the continuation of a series working through 2 Peter, picking up at chapter 2, verse 10b through chapter 3, verse 2. Pastor Carl had spent the previous week on the story of Balaam so that this passage would make more sense, and he moved through what Peter says about false teachers, what they are like, and what they do to the people they influence. The sermon opened with a quick...

Read together

1. Psalm 92:1 opened the service, sung as a congregational song about giving thanks to the Lord
2. 2 Timothy 1:12 quoted during worship: 'I know whom I believed and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day'
3. 1 Peter 4 referenced during worship: 'it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian'
4. 2 Peter 1:3 review of series: 'His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life'
5. 2 Peter 1:4 review: invitation to participate in the divine nature and escape corruption caused by evil desires
6. 2 Peter 1:5-7 review: the chain of virtues to add to faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly love, and agape love
7. 2 Peter 1:19-21 review: scripture is completely reliable, prophecy never had its origin in human will but prophets spoke from God carried by the Holy Spirit
8. 2 Peter 2:1-3 review: false teachers will secretly introduce destructive heresies and exploit people with fabricated stories
9. 2 Peter 2:4-9 review: God did not spare angels who sinned, did not spare the ancient world but saved Noah, condemned Sodom and Gomorrah but rescued Lot
10. 2 Peter 2:10-22 main sermon text: bold and arrogant false teachers, Balaam, springs without water, slaves of depravity
11. Matthew 7:21-23 used to show a similar category of people to Peter's false teachers: 'not everyone who says Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven'
12. Romans 13:12-13 Paul's list contrasting carousing and drunkenness with putting on the armor of light and behaving decently
13. Numbers 22-25 background on Balaam, described as more than the man rebuked by his donkey, a prophet for profit
14. 1 Peter 5:6-8 closing: humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, stay sober and vigilant, resist the devil
15. James 1:5 benediction: 'if any of you lacks wisdom, should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault'

Talk about it

1. Peter writes that God's divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life, and then immediately calls us to make every effort to add to our faith. How do you hold those two things together in your own experience?
2. The preacher described false teaching as 'springs without water' that make a promise they cannot fulfill. Have you ever encountered teaching that sounded good but left you with nothing solid? What helped you recognize it?
3. Peter calls Lot a righteous man even though his record in the Old Testament raises a lot of eyebrows. What does that say to you about how God views the people He has saved?
4. The sermon described Balaam as someone whose spoken words sounded right, but whose heart was after the wages of wickedness. How do you think a person ends up in that place, and what guards against it?
5. The preacher's friend who had just come to faith asked, 'Do I have to keep listening to that music to prove I could?' What does that story say to you about how we help people who are new to faith rather than seducing the unstable, as Peter puts it?