Pay real close attention to this
because of the way that it is and the wrong conclusions that
might be drawn. Here we go. for when they speak
great swelling words and let me stop and tell you that peter
is talking about false teachers back in verse one false prophets
liars those that deceive and those that make merchandise of
people and such like so for when they the false teachers speak
great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts
of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped
from them that live in error. While they, the false teachers,
promise them liberty, they themselves, the false teachers, are servants
of corruption. For of whom a man is overcome,
of the same is he brought in bondage. For if after they have
escaped the pollution of the world through the knowledge of
the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, they are entangled again therein
and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. Watch verse 21. For it had been
better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than
after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment
delivered unto them. But it happened unto them, according
to the true proverb, the dog is returned to his own vomit
again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. Now it is our intention today
in this study to consider, as I said, some of the proof texts
that you will hear for falling out of grace. And this passage
here from 2 Peter chapter 2 will be the first one that we will
examine and look at with some longevity. Now before we do,
I would like to make some observation or some statements in regard
to the subject that is at hand. Such statements as the number
one, it is obvious that both perseverance and falling out
of grace cannot both be true. Now, they may both be wrong.
but they may not both be true. Even though scripture is often
used in support of a particular thing, scripture does not contradict
other scripture. Scripture does not contradict
Scripture. Otherwise, how would we know
what in the world to believe? We would just take the side or
the view that was pleasing under our own view or belief. And then
everybody could just believe as they want to and therefore
make it according to Scripture, claiming the support of the Word
of God. Two opposites cannot both be
true. And that is a truth of the scripture. Secondly, let us make it very,
very clear now and every time that we speak on the subject
that we do not hold to the perseverance in the grace of God as a sure
thing for the purpose of loose and sinful living. It is not
our intent to hold this doctrine in order that it might loose
us and free us that we might live a lascivious life, engage
in sin, and be worldly and be carnal. Now we hold that true
saints will be kept, by the power of the grace of God unto the
end of their earthly life. That's the doctrine of perseverance. We confess that if we must keep
ourselves, and if that were our job, our business, and our intent,
that we might hold out even unto the end, who is there among us
that would be able to do so? Now, this doctrine, therefore,
is not a license to sin, but it is a comfort in the face of
many trials and many temptation that we face along the way and
the wiles of the devil, such as when faith is weak and the
flesh is strong. And to know when we sin that
we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,
1 John chapter 2, verse 2, and that nothing can separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8 35 through verse 39.
that Christ is able to save to the uttermost or evermore them
that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lived to make intercession
for them. Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 25. On the other hand, there are
those among us even today who say that they accepted Jesus
when they were 11 years old Bible school and haven't been to church
or faithful or read their Bible in some 40 years. They do but
deceive themselves if they think that their salvation hangs up
on them. For the saved are not only preserved
in in Christ Jesus, but they are preserved because of the
grace of God that works in them to lead them on the way, as well
as the blessed Holy Spirit of God that indwells those that
have been regenerated. and they are aided by the atonement
and by the intercession of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
and are covered and are washed and are justified by the blood
of the everlasting covenant. But still there are those who
will say unto us, what about those texts, like this one this
morning, that seem to speak of one being in grace and then falling
out? What are we to make of them?
How are we to understand them? So we will take a closer look
at some of those texts, beginning with a passage here In 2 Peter
chapter 2, as is usually the case, we ought to begin by considering
the larger or the overall context of the passage of the scripture. So we look at the frequent mention
of the word they in verse 18. For when they speak, when they speak great swelling
words of vanity." We've already said that they is a reference
to the false teacher seeking to work their deception and the
whole second chapter of 2 Peter is given over to discussing this
matter of the false teacher, their character, their motus
operandi, their lies, and their motive and intention. From their
present, their deceitfulness, another conquest that they have
made of the people to their immorality and even declaring their condemnation. Where else can we find such a
vivid picture and description of false teachers in the New
Testament? These are the same ones that
John called Antichrist in our study last week, 1 John chapter
2. or they are against Christ. They deny and they oppose Christ
and they pervert his character and his person and his work in
their preaching and in their teaching. Now, verse 1 of chapter
2 makes a transition. If you look back to that, because
in the end of chapter 1, the last few verses, the apostle
had declared both the inspiration and the absolute certainty of
the prophetic scripture that had been written by holy men. It came through men who were
moved by the spirit of God and is not of any private interpretation. Even so, Peter said, notwithstanding
the fact of that inspired record and testimony of old, There were
false teachers even among the people. Even with the inspired
word of God, there were false teacher. And Peter said, there
also will be false teacher among you. And look what he said, who
privately, covertly, on the sly, secretly, will bring in damnable
heresies. destructive eras, eras of opinion. They that believe them will certainly
go down to destruction. And they will have success. They
will not be a failure. They will have success. Look
at the second verse of our chapter. Many shall follow their pernicious
ways by way of reason. The truth will be evil spoken
of and will be blasphemed or will be maligned. The truth of
God will be maligned by and through such people as thee. But such
will lead them the false teacher to swift destruction if you look
at verse 3 and the last part of it in this chapter. Their
damnation does not slumber. Their damnation is not asleep. With a mention of their damnation,
he, that is Peter, in verse 4 through verse 9 recalls some examples
for their admonition of some wicked apostates of old and of
their particular doom. He mentions the apostate angel. He mentions the whirl in Noah's
day. He mentions Sodom and Gomorrah. Now we see two things here for
our consideration. Number one, the teachers the
false teachers and their evil character and their motives. For in verse 1, they are false
prophets. Also in verse 1, they are teachers
of damnable heresy. In verse 3, they are covetous. They desire to make merchandise
of the people. And then they are likened to
natural brute beasts Animals without reason, irrational, made
to be taken and destroyed. You'll find that down in verse
12. Furthermore, in verse 14, they
have eyes full of adultery and they cannot cease from sin. They have forsaken the right
way, like Balaam, and the love of the wages of unrighteousness,
down in verse 15. They are motivated by greed,
and they exploit the people to accomplish this. They use feigned
words in verse 3, false words, made-up words, forged words that
they never had heard before, fabricated words is how some
render that. And in verse 18, They use great,
swelling words of vanity, as we read. This they do to allure
and deceive and entice. To borrow from Paul in Romans
chapter 16 and verse 18, with fair or flattering speech, they
deceive the hearts of the simple. They come among them pretending
to have great knowledge and great learning and have great authority
in the name of God to speak unto the people. So let's look now
at verse 18, who are their victims and the last of the bait that
they use, the kind of bait with which they bait their hook that
they might take their victim. Now their victims are, notice,
and this we have to look at very closely, their victims are, in
verse 18, those that were clean escaped from them that were living
in the era." We'll have more soon to say on this. Now, the bait on their hooks
or in their traps, the bait is great swelling words of vanity. In the lust of the flesh, letting
the flesh indulge its desire as it would. Wantonness is familiar
and frequent among them. And note in the end of verse
19, promising them liberty. Here they come, great swelling
words of vanity, telling them, you are in bondage. You are in
bondage unto religion and promising them all sorts of freedom and
of emancipation. Now we focus on those who prey
on such evil apostates in verse 18. Again, those who were clean
escape from they who were living in error. Now, this expression
requires our diligence as to who there are that are meant
by those who clean escape from those who live in error. We wonder, were they Jew or were
they pagan? Or could they have been either
one of them? What is their spiritual condition? They had escaped from those who
had been living in error. We ask, were they seekers? Were
they genuine, interested seekers in the thing of God? Were they
proselytes who had been made and had crossed over? were they
converts, would we call them true and full believers. Now, two things are said of them
that set them apart from the common herd of mankind, at least
for a while or a period in their life. A, we notice it said, their
escape from the ones living in error in verse 18. but then B,
we also notice in verse 20, their escape from the pollution of
the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, as well as saying they had come to know the way of righteousness
in verse 21, and had had contact with the holy commandment as
we read in verse 21. Now this question, do these theys
and thems in verse 20 through verse 22 refer to the false teachers
or to their prey or to both of them? It is clear in verse 18
they are distinguished They and those, they are distinguished
there. So it is clear that those escaping
from era were not making their escape by the aid or the ministry
of the false teacher. For while the false teachers
promised the escapees liberty and freedom, the false teachers
were themselves the servants or the slave of corruption, leading
to the obvious and undeniable conclusion in the end of verse
19. of whom or of what a man or a
person is overcome by the same is he or she brought into bondage. So, an example, as Ishmael was
born into the condition of his slave mother, so those taken
by slaves of corruption do also become the slaves of corruption. They enter into the same state
with those that have overcome them. Now, going back to those
words in the end of verse 18, clean escaping from those who
live in error. And the key is the word clean. The word clean is vastly translated
and vastly understood in the New Testament and by expositor. I counted 10 times in the New
Testament this word, this Greek word, but only here is it translated
as clean and having nothing to do with cleanness or purity or
washing. Usually, the word is translated
certainly, or it's translated indeed, and it's translated of
a truth. And those nine other times, almost
every time, it is translated in one of these ways, indeed,
certainly, or of truth. And some expositors think that
it refers to the Gentile who had made a break with paganism. Others think that it could be
a reference to Jews who had left full Judaism, because they had
come under, to a certain degree, the influence of the gospel. And by that influence, they had
escaped the pollutions of the world, known the way of righteousness,
and heard the commandment. I think there is a like statement
or sentiment to be found in Galatians chapter 4 and verse seven and
verse eight, where Paul talks about their past and then after
having come to know God, return again to the weak and the beggarly
elements of the world. So they had just separated themselves
from their old way of life and practices and way of looking
at religion, whether they be a pagan or a Jew. They had been
to a great degree reformed. showing interest in the Christian
religion, and as Gill said, quote, had withdrawn from openly profane
and scandalous sinners, unquote. Those who live in error. not
from the false teacher, but from their former associate and association. These might be described as another
one, almost persuaded. Calvin described their new state
in these words, quote, who had been freed from the general errors
of the world after seeing the light of God, unquote. Now, at this point, we enter
the false teacher and the grievous wolves that come in among them. At this point in their life,
having escaped from them, clean, who were living in error, and
at this point making contact or coming in connection with
the false teacher and the wolves in sheep clothing that are always
there, working among the people. I have before told you that such
false teachers and the cults almost always prey upon the weak
and the ignorant that they find in Christendom. They search out
the vulnerable and they go after them with a vengeance. Even today,
They pounce upon those that are dissatisfied with, quote, organized
religion, unquote, and those who see all the denomination
and wonder which church is right. There are so many, which one
is right? And those people that bounce
from here under there pray for the cults and the wolves and
those that come in wolves in sheep's clothing. Now, how do
they accomplish this and how are they successful? Well, verse
18. Speaking, uttering, pouring forth
in great volume, great swelling words of vanity. If you looked
at Jude, verse 16, the Greek signifies Big, bulky, bunching
out, swelling beyond measure. Those kinds of words that are
spit forth. Robertson calls this, quote,
an old compound adjective, meaning a swelling above and beyond what
any might imagine. William Jenkin wrote on that
commentary in the book of Jude, these seducers spoke words of
a vastly rising, swelling, mountainous bigness, unquote. This is a good
description of the way that they speak. Calvin laid this to their
charge. They made up words that no one
had ever heard of. the empty sound of which the
unskilled were struck and enslaved by their charm and their fancy
work. So, today, claiming special revelation. All over the place are those
claiming special revelation from God. God spoke to me. I saw in
a dream. Jesus stood by my bed and spoke
unto me. I was caught up in a rapture
and in a dream, and on and on they go, playing a spiritual
game of can you top this? And they're not afraid to speak
evil of dignity, and they're not afraid, nor do they blush,
to tell their tall tales of their supposed experience with God
and with Christ. and yet, in their audacity, promising
them liberty. Being such characters as that,
under the spell of lust, covetous, eyes full of adultery, and yet,
here they are, promising others a way unto liberty. Meaning,
of course, not Christian liberty, for that is a most precious thing
in the book. It is the birthright of the regenerate
and of the redeemed to live and walk in Christian liberty. Liberty is indeed a very sweet
sound and a very sweet doctrine of the Bible. Only this liberty
proved to be not liberty, but a second bondage. But it joined
bad doctrine and licentious life together, and those are always
bad news. So there are those today promising
to lead the confused out of the maze of denominationalism and
organized religion, only to enslave them in a cult or a worse slavery
than before. Peter calls these false teachers,
as we noted earlier, servants of corruption. They are under
the power of corruption. Thus, what are those that they
persuade and overcome and bring under their influence and their
ministry? Remember the words of the Lord
to the hypocritical Pharisees in Matthew chapter 23 and verse
15, as in that chapter he denounces them soundly. Here he said unto
them, ye hypocrites, You do compass sea and land to make one proselyte,
and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of
hell than yourself. When you have made such a one,
he has become a twofold slave worse than yourself. A slave
of corruption cannot bring one unto liberty. cannot give them
liberty, cannot lead them out of bondage, can only lead them
into bondage. Now, in our text, and coming
to the 20th verse of our chapter, For if after they have escaped
the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled, the latter end
is worse with them than the first. In verse 18 and the last part,
he spoke of such as escape from the ones living in error. Then in verse 20, the same ones
are now in view, if after having escaped the pollution of the
world, compare chapter 1 and verse 4, by the knowledge of
Christ, they are again all entangled and overcome, that is they're
brought again into bondage, but not the same bondage as they
escaped in verse 18, but a new bondage altogether. The result in verse 20 and the
last part. then the latter end of them is
worse than the beginning." Worse than the first. They're worse
off now than they were in the beginning. Again, there is a
similar saying to this uttered by our Lord and it's found in
Matthew chapter 12 and verse 45 in the Lord's parable or simile
of the unclean spirit. You remember that? The unclean
spirit went out of a man, seeking, walking in dry places, you know,
remember that? And then later he returned, but
he returned bringing seven more spirits worse than himself. With this result, the Lord said,
the last state of that man is worse than the first." Here again
is a statement like unto our text. It is generally thought
that this refers to the state of Jewry in Matthew 12 and 45
of Phariseeism of the way that it went down in that day as in
the end of verse 45 The Lord applies the parable this way,
so shall it be also unto this wicked generation, that is, that
wicked generation of Jew in the day of our Lord. And what happened
to them? Their commonwealth met a terrible
end. Their temple and their city was
destroyed utterly and completely. And now, what is their state? They are blinder than ever. Their state is worse now than
it was in that time and growing worse all of the time. because
it is a Christless religion. At one time they professed to
look with hope to the Messiah, now have perverted all text and
say there's no Messiah have come yet. Now to repeat something
that I said earlier, that of all states to be in, the state
of an apostate is the worst state that one can fall into. An apostate
stands in a worse state than any other, worse than the unbeliever,
worse than the one who has not believed, worse even than the
idolater or even the atheist. For any of these, might yet be
regenerated and called, but the apostate has put himself beyond
the pale of grace. Nothing awaits them but judgment
and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversary." Hebrews
10 and verse 27. Hebrews 6 and verse 8, as we
saw, likens them unto thorns and briars whose end is to be
consumed by fire, for they have in a measure tasted the heavenly
gift. They have made a taste of the
good word of God, and so forth. For a time, they escaped the
pollutions of the world, they heard the way of righteousness,
and even made a profession and a pretense at it. See how God
dealt with apostates as recorded in the sacred scripture. Two places that are good for
that are 2 Peter chapter 2 and the book of Jude. Some expositors
have called the Book of Jude the Acts of the Apostates. Jude, the Acts of the Apostates. And the Epistle of Jude gives
us a good record. How are they condemned? And they
are destroyed without remedy. And we have example after example
of that, such as the angels that sinned. The apostate angel. What was their end? Were they
redeemed? Were they reclaimed? Were they
justified? No. They were cast down under
the chains of hell without remedy. What about the antediluvians?
those ungodly in the days of the flood and of Noah. God destroyed them, everyone
with the exception of the household of Noah. What about Sodom and
Gomorrah? Jude said they suffered the vengeance
of eternal fire as an example unto others. What about the people
delivered out of the land of Egypt? Thousands upon thousands
they were, and the unbelievers were destroyed in the wilderness
and their carcasses thrown across that wilderness. Now an apostate
is one who is in the category of a traitor or a renegade against
God and Christ and the things of God because having once professed
a religion or a belief or a principle or an allegiance and then completely
forsakes that which he once possessed, or professed, rather. For example,
he is an apostate who trades the Bible teaching of creation
for that of evolution. He has apostatized away from
the truth of God to become an evolutionist. Also, the ones
who for a time profess the gospel and profess Christ and mingle
among us and then go away, their end becomes worse than the beginning. One's faith, I believe, is tried
in three furnaces of fire that is as to fade as fire is to go. There are three things that try
the faith, whether or not it is genuine or it is of God. Those three things, just to mention
them in passing. Number one, truth. Truth tries
faith, whether it will believe it and hold to it. Number two,
time tries faith. Not six months of Christianity,
but time. A life lived unto him. And three,
trials. Trials are a great test of faith. Like gold is tried by the fire,
so our faith is tried by trial. Now look at verse 20 and 21,
and the apostle makes strong statement concerning these persons,
that they only had a superficial and a merely intellectual knowledge
of the standard of Christian belief and conduct. Just as they had been of us,
if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. John said, 1 John 2, 18. Even
so, if they were spiritually and experimentally had the knowledge
of Christ really known the way of righteousness, they would
have continued therein. So look in verse 21. It would
be better to have never known the way of righteousness than
after knowing it to turn from it. This increases their guilt. It puts them under a greater
condemnation and has forsaken the one and only true sacrifice
for sin and has been enslaved under immoral chain and has given
reign, free reign under their lust. Thus, it would be better. to not know than to know and
then turn away, to deliberately turn away, to deliberately turn
your back on all of those things and walk away. Compare, if you
would, Mark 14 and 21. The Son of Man indeed goes as
it is written. But woe unto that man that betrayed
Him! Good were it for Him that He
had never been born. Better for that one who betrayed
our Lord to have never been born and been among the human family. Why? So wicked was his deed in
betraying the Prince of Life. Now, we're not saying that ignorance
is good because ignorance can lead unto destruction, but ignorance
here would be the lesser evil than to sin against life and
knowledge, especially after once having professed it and to embrace
it. Now, closing with that awful
description in verse 22 of the chapter. A strong proof, I believe,
that these were never true converts. So let's read it again. But it happened unto them according
to the true proverb The dog is turned to his own vomit again
and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. Part of that is from Proverbs
chapter 20 and verse 11. The dog and the sow that was
washed to her wallowing in the mire. Now you notice, They're
not likened to straying sheep or lambs. They're not sheep that
is gone astray, but to two of the most detestable and unclean
beast under the old economy. The Lord said something in Matthew
7 and 6 along this line, give not that which is holy to the
dogs, nor cast your pearl before swine, lest they turn and trample
them and rend you." They have no concept of the value of pearl,
and so they will trample them under their feet. Deuteronomy
23 and verse 18, the Jews were forbidden to bring the price
of a dog or the hire of a whore into the house of God to pay
toward their vow. Both of them were an abomination
to God, the dog and the swine. Now we've all seen this proverb,
played out, the dog going again to lick up his own vomit that
he has poured out. And we've seen the hog grunting
contentedly in the mud in the pen, containing its own body
waste, the flies swarming, and the strong stench. How many times
in the country have I visited a hog pen? And that old fat hog
laying there in all that filth and mud, breathing out, cool
because it's wet, and grunting very, very continually. What
a sight it is. And you can take her in the house
and wash her, put a ribbon on her, put a little perfume behind
her ear, take her back to the pen. What will she do? Jump in
that mud, lay down, and squash it all over her again. But the spiritual picture is
even worse. Some returning to the beggarly
elements of the world, trampling under their foot the pearls of
truth, giving themselves over to unbridled and evil desire,
wallowing in their unbridled lust because they have forsaken
the right way and gone out and are under the strong judgment
of God. So I agree with Gil. There's
nothing in this passage of scripture that would prove these to be
true and genuine converts. May the Lord use that as he would.