"19 Promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. 20 For if, 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 and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. 22 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."
In our society today, we are inundated fake Christians, false teachers and a bogus Christianity, promoting ways to be
saved. Many believe, "If I pray a prayer once, I’m secure in my salvation,"
even though there’s no fruit. While others think believing the right doctrine
makes you saved. Young adults often think since they come from a Christian
home, they’re automatically born again. Some believe if they had a camp experience
with Jesus, they can live anyway they like. A few believe they’re saved
because they go to a church. Some believe if you feel guilty about
your sin, just think to yourself Christ is the Savior, you’re saved. The root problem is false teaching.
There is only one way to be saved. In John 3:5-8, "Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The
wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not
know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is
born of the Spirit."
This is how Satan goes after His Church, he propagates lies and makes them believable to those who lack biblical knowledge. Throughout history, he
has launched innumerable attacks on the Church. Everything from
persecution to false religion. By far, the most damaging attacks have come from within the church itself. False teachers breed disunity, they sow confusion, with the goal of creating division within the body of Christ and trying to diminish the name of Christ in the world. They shift the church’s focus from Jesus Christ to becoming preoccupied with itself.
In I John 5:18-19, John teaches us that "We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one."
And, in Luke 6:46, Jesus Himself said "Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?"
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
Father, thank You for Your Word for us today. So rich, so profound. Thank You for imparting Your wisdom to us through the Scripture. May we be a people who hears the truth and are obedient to it. Grant us a heart for the purity of the church. Help us to understand that these false teachers are all around us, undermining the authority of Scripture. Lord, we pray for those that are being misguided by deceptive teaching, that they might know the truth in Christ and avoid eternal condemnation and judgement. Lord, we pray that You rescue people from those situations.
In Christ's name we pray
Amen
Today's Message: The Solution To Pollution
For many Christians today, the gospels are merely someone's interpretation of Jesus. Over the years, I have heard some pretty far fetched opinions like Jesus never advocated celibacy as a lifestyle. That He did not promise to return to the world to usher in a new age. And, while hanging on the cross, Jesus did not ask God to forgive His persecutors. False teachers propagate one lie after another. Christian freedom means God is happy, loving, and pleased when you live in sin with your boyfriend or girlfriend. It is no wonder the Apostle are so passionate in making sure we understand how deadly they are.
Just as any passionate, Bible believing, truth proclaiming, God fearing preacher ought to be today! I believe that the impact of this passage really is very powerful. I would like to encourage you after we've finished our study, to go back and read all 22 verses several times over to get the full impact. Because we have been breaking it down into smaller, more manageable bites.
Open your Bibles with me to II Peter chapter 2. As we conclude our study of this wonderful chapter, we come to the final four verses, 19 through 22.
If you were to characterize the typical sort of milieu of these false teachers today and the kind language they speak, you would be able to identify them as authoritarian. They are almost always without formal training, they always live above biblical or theological accountability and like the popes, their words are not to be questioned. They rule over their organizations unilaterally, as dictators. They seem to operate above and beyond any kind of authority, other than their own. They quickly denounce anyone who calls into question the validity of their man-centered teaching.
They preach that Jesus wants you rich, with all that you can possibly imagine, He wants you to have. He is at your disposal, your own personal genie, ready to grant your every wish. They never preach purity, holiness and certainly not sin. They never preach repentance, confession or remorse. They substitute the truth for with what men want to hear.
They disassociate themselves from biblical theologians, instead they contradict scripture, which they obviously aren't able to handle anyway. They claim direct revelation, superior to any other teaching, as if it were something that has never been known. It's really a gross kind of narcissism. Peter said in verse 18, they speak out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality. They just talk empty words, a lot of hot air. They use their empty words to charm people with their egotistical garrulity. Their arrogance is utterly unbelievable.
I invite you to follow along with me as I read to set the text in our minds, as we prepare our hearts for a Word from our Lord. Listen for what the Spirit of God is saying. II Peter 2:19-22.
"Promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. For
if, 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 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,
than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on
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."
Verse 19, Peter says "Promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved."
God created an intimate relationship to be enjoyed between a man and a woman who are
committed to one another in marriage. And, in that context, it is a beautiful gift
to be mutually shared and enjoyed. When pursued merely to fulfill lust, it leads to slavery of sin. The world has
psychologized lust as "sexual addiction," however, the Apostle Peter calls it being a
slave of corruption. Sex and material things have their rightful place. But when they become
the all consuming object of our desires, we’ve fallen prey to false teaching.
They prey on women with broken marriages, who desperately want help. They prey on people who are struggling with enormous guilt, who are trying to escape. They seek people who are deeply troubled, lonely and unfulfilled to exploit them for money and sexual sin. Because they're more vulnerable. They promise them deliverance from all of life's troubles, all of life's anxieties, all of life's pain. However, they're unable to deliver because they themselves are slaves to corruption. They promise peace and happiness, yet they themselves do not have it. So, Peter gives us proof of their slavery with an axiom. "For by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved." Whatever controls you enslaves you. This is also true when a person yields to greed, which is often expressed by compulsive gambling or stealing. He isn’t addicted as if a victim of a disease, he's enslaved by sin.
Remember what Peter said in verse 14, "Their eyes are full of adultery and their hearts are trained in greed."
True Christianity is more than conquering temptation, it is also conquering the desire to disobey God. True born again Christians are freed from the penalty and the power of sin because they are secure in Christ. Tragically, many Christians professed to be saved, only temporarily disentangling themselves from the corruption of this world. Then, before you know it, they go right back into bondage of slavery to sin again.In other words, they escaped the defilements of the world on the outside, but they were not transformed by the Spirit of God on the inside. Reformed but not regenerate.
You know, it's really sad when Christians give themselves over to sin and corruption. It's the worst kind of sinfulness, the sickening disease of immorality. This is exactly what we're seeing in the church today. It's like an infectious disease bringing ruination, destroying every area of their lives. The covetousness of false teachers motivate them to use every kind of deceptive technique to exploit the innocent and vulnerable.
The author of Hebrews 3:12-13 says "Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin."
Sin may promise life but it can only delivers death. It has a way of gradually entrapping a person until there is no way of escape, even the bondage of sin itself is deceitful, causing those ensnared to actually think they’re free. Sin is deceitful in every way. Sin promises freedom but has no freedom to offer. There is no hope of escape apart from the intervention of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The church has become so tolerant of sin, there's a lack seriousness about sin. Making light, with
frivolous jokes, heinous lack of restraint from immoral media, which is distasteful, and despised by God. And, it done without even a sense of shame or revulsion.
frivolous jokes, heinous lack of restraint from immoral media, which is distasteful, and despised by God. And, it done without even a sense of shame or revulsion.
Beware of a pastor, who engages in much counseling to attractive women with marital problems. Who seeks to know the intimate details about the physical relationship between a husband and wife. All under the guise that they are trying to help these women. Be very judicious, especially if he is rarely seen with his wife in public, or doesn't speak lovingly of her. And, be very wary of any man who gives gifts to any woman other than his wife, especially perfumes, clothing or jewelry.
Obviously, Peter is passionately and deeply concerned that the church be aware of the presumption and practices of false teachers. That said, he closes this chapter with a look at their perversion in verses 20 to 22.
"For if, 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 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, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on 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."
Peter is saying that at some point in their life, they were pursuing religion, trying to pull themselves up and out of the defilements of the world. That's why they initially turned to religion. The word defilements is the Greek word "míasma," it's a very graphic word.The dictionary defines it as an oppressive or unpleasant atmosphere which surrounds or unhealthy smell that emanates from something.
The míasma of the world that are the deadly influences, is the wickedness, the iniquity and the sin in every conceivable form that belongs to the noxious world system. Every person is contaminated by the filth of it, however, some seek to escape it by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Peter's main focus is primarily on the false teachers, however, it also applies to those who follow and fall for their deceptive teaching. False teachers are evil and their teaching is destructive not only to the Church but to Christians. This is why Peter has been so passionately warning all believers and churches of the deadly danger of false teaching.
Though it often seems today that these treacherous teachers have won the battle, I assure my beloved brothers and sisters, they have not won the war! Almighty God is still on His throne and His true Church still prevails. Today, the truth of God’s Word is not lost, it is just much more difficult to find. The the attacks of the enemy are not letting up, in fact, they're increasing. He knows his time is running out.
Social issues are taking precedent over biblical issues, sinners are being excused from their sin because of race, or sex, or social background. You will better understand the danger once you realize that it is personal and imminent. Poisonous pastors are being sown into the Church by the enemy to confuse true believers. Christianity is full of these people. In fact, they are sitting around in committees deciding what Jesus did or didn't say. And, instead of casting a ballot each participant drops a red, pink, gray or black marble. No, I'm not kidding. Each color marble has a meaning, but basically a red marble means "Yes, that's Him," pink means "Well, it sure sounds like Him,"gray means, "I'm not sure, maybe it's Him," and black means "That's not Him, there's been a mistake." The irony here is, their dropping their marble in a ballot box when they have clearly lost their marbles.
So, Peter is saying even after they've escaped the miasma and they've pulled themselves up, at least to some degree out the mud by identifying with the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they have again, entangled themselves. It now dominates them just as it once did. And, it is far worse than it was before.
In verse 21, he says "For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them."
People can clean up their act, not because the truly love God, but because of social stigma, rejection by family, friends, financial ruin, or they fall in love with a nice woman or vice versa. However, if their nature hasn't changed, there's been genuine transformation, they're going to fall right into sin, they're going to become apostate, and hell is going to be even hotter for them, than for those who never knew. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness and Christianity. Because their professed Christian experience gave them full access to the knowledge about Jesus Christ and to the true teaching of Scripture. Peter says it was "handed on to them." Some even preached it. Then, they rejected Christ and the truth.
Hebrews 10:26-27 says "For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries." It means if you reject Jesus Christ after knowing the truth, then there's no way to be saved. And all that's left to look forward to, is judgement. What a tragic reality.
Verse 22, "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."
Wow, what a graphic statement. He's quoting Proverbs 26:11 here, which says "Like a dog that returns to its vomit. Is a fool who repeats his folly." In biblical times, dogs were rarely a household pet, they were wild, viscous, often diseased, dangerous and despised. They were as likely to eat their own vomit as anything else. They were treated with contempt because of their filth.
In Closing...
This world is literally saturated with sin. Morally, the world wreaks of a deadly, putrid influence.Many today, possess a false faith, with their morally corrupt Christianity, Jesus is not Lord in their lives. His Word is not the authoritative truth and they are not
submitting to His Lordship. They want salvation on their terms, not on Christ’s. Much to their disappointment, they will soon discover they were never genuinely converted. Because salvation is His way, which is the only way. It means to to stop living immorally,sinfully and speak as if they are no longer proud, but humbly.
This is a bitter sweet reminder of true salvation, and a severe warning to all in the Church.
Yes, beloved, this world is filled with false teachers and counterfeit Christians. And, without genuine salvation, they don’t have the grace to overcome the power of sin, to walk by the Holy Spirit, or persevere in the faith. True Christians who are born again, cannot be unborn.They are secure in Christ. Once you've been held by the Savior, He will never let you go!
May it be so...
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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