April 15, 2023: 2 Peter 2:21 - Don't Turn from the Way of Righteousness

“For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.” - 2 Peter 2:21

When He walked the earth, Jesus told His disciples of the simple and beautiful way that a person is saved from their sins and will be with God when they die, and that is through Him and Him alone:

“I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (Jesus Christ; John 14:6)

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life and there are few who find it.” (Jesus Christ; Matthew 7:13-14)

The way of righteousness is clear: it is by believing in our heart and confessing with our mouth that Jesus Christ is our Savior. It is only by His precious blood that He shed on the cross that we are washed of all our sins and made clean, made righteous through Jesus Christ:

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

“Therefore, as through one man’s offense [Adam, in the Garden of Eden] judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:18-21)

The Bible gives a perfect example of the salvation of Jesus Christ: It’s what He did for us and whether or not we choose to believe that He did it in order to save us from all our sins. It’s a perfect example that salvation is not about earning our way to heaven, for it is impossible because we are all sinners; only Jesus is sinless and righteous.

When Jesus was crucified, there were two criminals who were crucified at the same time. One criminal mocked Jesus. The book of Luke provides us with the account of what the other criminal said and did:

“Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, ‘If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.’ But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.’” (Luke 23:39-43)

One man believed in who Jesus is, and the other did not. One was promised entry into Jesus’ kingdom, and the other was not.

In one of her talk shows, Oprah Winfrey said, “There are many paths to what you call ‘God’ and ‘there couldn’t possibly be just one way.” A woman in the audience asked Oprah, “What about Jesus?” Oprah said, “What about Jesus?” The woman told her the words of Jesus from John 14:6, and that if Oprah doesn’t believe it, she is buying into the lie. Oprah went on to argue with her that there could not be only one way with all the millions of people in the world and all of the various religions. (See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOxmd3cpxgY). It is a powerful discussion of Jesus, and praise God for the woman who had the courage to profess the truth to Oprah and to all who were in the audience and to all who subsequently watched that episode. What they did with that truth was up to them.

In the book of Psalms, Psalm 119 speaks to the way of truth and how critical it is to choose it, to cling to it, and to cling to God:

“I have chosen the way of truth; Your judgments I have laid before me. I cling to Your testimonies; O LORD, do not put me to shame! I will run the course of Your commandments, for You shall enlarge my heart.” (Psalm 119:30-32)

For pastors and teachers who know the way of truth by having knowledge of it but not having truly accepted it, not having believed in their heart, they too, have bought into the devil’s lies. They are living a lie; pretending to be saved, professing to be saved, when they are not. Today’s passage of Scripture tells us, “For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.” I can’t even imagine the regret they will feel every single day when they are in hell, in the lake of fire, for eternity, thinking that they were so close and yet they rejected the truth of God to buy into the lie of the devil. Let us who are saved by Jesus’ precious blood, endure until the end, believing in Him as our Savior, knowing that He will admit us into His kingdom, and we will never, ever regret our decision to believe in Him - the way, the truth, and the life:

“This is a faithful saying: ‘For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”’ (2 Timothy 2:11-13) ✝️