Good once again to be with the
Lord's people on the Lord's day. We're looking
in 2 Peter, and we began there last week. We looked at a couple
of the verses there. We'll read this again. But there
were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall
be false teachers among you. who privilege shall bring in
damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and
bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious
ways by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evilspoken
of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words
make merchandise of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingereth
not, and their damnation slumbereth not. For if God spared not the
angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered
them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment,
and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person,
a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the
world of the ungodly, and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an
example to those that after should live ungodly, and delivered just
lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked. For that righteous
man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous
soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. The Lord knoweth
how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve
the unjust unto the day of judgment, to be punished. But chiefly them
that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and
despise government, Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are
not afraid to speak evil of dignities. Whereas angels, which are greater
in power and might, might not bring railing accusation against
them before the Lord. But these as natural brute beasts,
made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that
they understand not, and shall utterly perish in their own corruption. and shall receive the reward
of unrighteousness as they that count it pleasure to ride in
the daytime. Spots they are and blemishes
sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast
with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease
from sin, beguiling unstable souls. In heart they have exercised
with covetous practices, cursed children. which have forsaken
the right way and are going astray following the way of Balaam,
the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but
was rebuked for his iniquity. The dumb ass speaking with man's
voice forbade the madness of the prophets. of the prophet. These are wells without water,
clouds that are carried with the tempest, to whom the mist
of darkness is reserved forever. For when they speak great swelling
words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh,
through much wantonness, those that were clean escape from them
who live in error. While they promise them liberty,
they themselves are the servants of corruption, for of whom a
man is overcome of the same as he brought in bondage. 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
therein and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the
beginning. 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 has happened unto them,
according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own
vomit again, and the sow that was washed to a wallowing in
the mire. Now I believe that this particular
passage of scripture, this chapter, needs to be taken as a whole.
In other words, we need to look at it in what Paul is writing
about, or Peter is writing about. And of course he begins with
speaking about false prophets. Now there always have been false
prophets and there always will be false prophets until the time
of the end. You don't have to look too far
to find false prophets on every hand. Anyone who comes speaking
any other message than Jesus Christ and him crucified is a
false prophet. Now, it doesn't make any difference
how they may spruce it up or what they may say or how close
to the truth they may come. If a man denies that Jesus Christ
has died on Calvary's cross to save sinners, and that it is
his work alone that is the basis of their salvation, then that
man is a false prophet. Now, What Peter is specifically
writing about here is those that come preaching grace but turn
it into lasciviousness. Now Paul was accused of this
and he defended himself. He said, there be some that say
that we preach that we should sin that grace may abound. He
said, God forbid. that we should sin. How shall
we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? But there
have always been, since the beginning, men who will take the preaching
of grace and they will turn it into lasciviousness. There are
men who will stand up and say, well, it doesn't really matter
what you do. Doesn't matter how you live.
You know, none of these things make any difference. If you're
saved, you know, I grew up in a tradition that basically taught
that idea. They described it like this,
once saved, always saved. All you gotta do is just walk
down the aisle and get signed up, and buddy, you're in, and
then just go off and do whatever you want to from then on, because
always you can come back. I've shared this with you before,
but I used to work with an old man years ago when I first actually
was beginning in the construction business, and he was a very ungodly
man. And he made no bones about it,
and he ridiculed things of God. I used to take my Bible with
me and read it at lunchtime, and he would always laugh about
that, you know, and he'd ask me some crazy question about,
you know, like one of them I remember that sticks in my mind, and he
thought this was really a smart question. He said, I'll tell
you something God can't do, he said, I said, well, I don't think
you can. And he said, God can't throw
a butt-headed cow over the fence by the horns. And he just laughed. He thought that was, you know,
just funny as it could be. Well, I never saw any evidence
in anything that this old gentleman lived or said that gave me any
indication that he had any consideration of God or had any fear of God
before his eyes. And yet when he died, the preacher,
the family had asked me and this other preacher to say a few words
at his funeral. The one old gentleman, the other
preacher, I called him a preacher, because everybody else called
him one. I wouldn't call him much of one. But he got looking
at the obituary, and in the obituary, it said that Mr. Abbott was a
member of some church up in Georgia. And buddy, that was just like,
oh man, the light turned on, and he just knew. you know, that
this old gentleman was in heaven because he had joined the church
at some point in time. That's what Peter's writing about
here. He says there are false prophets sent out into the world
who turn the grace of God to lasciviousness and they tell
you that you can walk in a wicked manner and just as much be the
child of God as the man who is seeking to follow him day after
day. Now we're certain, and as Brother
Al has brought out this morning, that God's people can fall into
the most heinous of sins. God's people can do many wicked
things, but one thing that is true of those who are the children
of God is that they will be brought to repentance. Not just some
outward thing or whatever, but God will bring his people to
the place where he would have them be. He will break their
hearts for their sin, and he will not allow his people to
continually enjoy the fruit of sin. How can we, Paul said, that
are dead to sin, live any longer in it? How can that be? He says
it can't be. Because if a man's dead to sin,
what is he? He's alive unto Christ. So you
see, there is a difference between a man who makes a profession
of faith, which he speaks about these. There are those that make
professions of faith, but they've never been given faith. There
are men who make professions of following Christ who do not
follow Christ because they love the ways of the world. That's
what he's talking about here. He said, many follow their pernicious
ways by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken
of. Now the false prophets tell men
that it's all up to you. You know, whenever you decide
to follow the Lord, he's just sitting around like a puppy dog,
hoping you'll come home. And he'll wag his tail, and if
you'll just make out like you just halfway want to follow him,
you're in. You got it. It doesn't make any
difference what happens after that. Such is to deny the grace
of God. Because you see, the grace of
God is not only that. which calls men, but he brings
men unto himself. He's not only the one who tells
us how he would have us to live, but he is the one who brings
us that way. God's people cannot escape the
grace of God. We can't escape it in calling,
and we can't escape it every day of our life. because he will
bring us by the way that we didn't know, but the way that he did.
What a glorious God he is. Many shall follow their pernicious
ways, and the way of truth shall be even spoken of. There are
many out there who say some of the things that we preach and
teach are, you just don't need to listen to that. You know,
it's not like that. Men can do something to gain
the favor of God. I'm here to tell you that they
can't. And I hope to my dying day to declare that there's not
one thing that any man can do to save himself or to bring himself
one step closer to the Lord. But I also want to declare that
Jesus Christ is the Savior of sinners and He snatches brains
from the burning and He brings them to Himself. He calls His
own out of darkness and into the light. He heals His people
and it's a real healing. I'm not talking about natural
healing. I'm talking about healing of the heart, healing of the
soul, healing of the mind. And so that's what he's speaking
about. Through covetousness, they will make faint words merchandise
of you. Their judgment now of a long
time lingereth not. God will judge sin. You can be
sure of that. God will judge the ungodliness
of this world. He will destroy sinners. Just
as he saves sinners whom he calls, he will destroy those sinners
who continue on in their pathway and will not call upon his name
and will not seek him. For he says, if God spared not
the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered
them in the chains of darkness. Now he's giving these examples
here. He said God didn't spare the
angels that sinned. Now we don't know a lot about
that. aspect of things. There's a few little mentions
here and there in the scriptures concerning these angels that
sin. We don't know a lot about it.
But we do know that there were some, Satan being the covering
cherub who was the ringleader, that they were cast out of heaven.
And the scripture says reserved in chains unto darkness. That's
what hell was created for, the lake of fire. The scripture says
that Satan shall be cast into the lake of fire. Death and hell
are cast into the lake of fire, and everyone whose name is not
written in the Lamb's book of life. Now, these are somber things,
dear brethren. He spared not the whole world,
but saved Noah, the eighth person. What did he do? He saw that the
world was wicked before him and he destroyed the whole thing
except for eight souls. Oh, you know, if a man doesn't
think God will judge sin, he needs to look at these things.
And the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah he turned into ashes, making
them an example to those afterwards who should live ungodly. But
dear brethren, the, The sin of Sodom, while it's pretty much
graphically described in the scriptures, it's just indicative
of the way of men. You see, the judgment of God,
as we read in Romans chapter one, does not come on men because
of these things, but these things come on men because of the judgment
of God. Now, nations are destroyed because
they will not seek the Lord. The Lord brings his judgment
on the world. He brings his judgment on ungodly
men, on men who despise the truth of God, the way of God, the law
of God. I mean, God has set out an order
of things, but men thinking, well, you know, we've got a better
way. Now we know that there's all sorts of sexual perversion
and whatnot, and I think that in many ways, much of what he's
talking about here has to do with that type of thing, the
lasciviousness of men, the wickedness of the human mind. Now indeed,
there is no thought or manner of wickedness that does not from
time to time enter into the hearts of all men, because why? Because
we're sinners by nature. But you see, it can't find a
resting place in those whom the Lord called.
Neither can the Lord's people find a resting place in it. David
thought he could, did he not? Until the Lord confronted him
with his sin. And when the Lord confronted
him with his sin, he fell on his face and he knew that he
should be destroyed. And so it is, dear brethren,
that the Spirit of God works in the sons of God to convince
us of sin, righteousness, and judgment. And if you can live
contrary to the truth of God and have no regard to it, then
I say to you, you've never known the Lord. Can't be. Now, if you have no regard unto
Jesus Christ, the price that he paid, and the law of God,
then what basis upon what would you consider that your salvation
rests? You know, Christ is our hope,
and Christ alone. And delivered just lot, he delivers
his people. You know, when you look at the
life of Lot, it's always kind of amazing to me that Peter described
Lot in this way. But yet Lot, even though he lived
in Sodom, and he probably shouldn't have lived in Sodom, he probably
should have picked him out a better place to live, but in the midst
of Sodom, he was not a partaker of the sins of Sodom. And so
that's what he's pointing out the difference here. Lot was
vexed by the unrighteousness. If you're not vexed with the
unrighteousness of this world, then what spirit is working in
you? You know, if you don't look around
yourself and see the wickedness that is around us and would entice
us and would bring us under its spell, if it were possible. The Lord said even the very elect
of God would be deceived if it were possible. But thanks be
unto God, not possible. Because he keeps his own people.
But he doesn't keep them in the midst of their sin. He brings
them out. The Lord knoweth how to deliver
the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust unto
the day of judgment to be punished. Now those he's speaking about
here, he says, they walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness,
and they despise government. Nobody can tell them anything. They're their own person. Isn't
that what our society has come to? Everybody just does whatever
they want to, and everything's all right, and you can't say
anything against something somebody else does, because if they think
it's right, it's right. That's exactly what he's talking
about here. Now the sad thing is that a lot of people claiming
to be preaching the truth of God have the same mindset. Presumptuous are they, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak
evil of dignities. They have no fear of God before
their eyes. Whereas angels which are greater
in power and might might bring a not railing accusation against
them before the Lord. But these as natural brute beasts
made to be taken and destroyed speak ill of the things that
they understand not. How many are they that go about
supposedly preaching the Word of God that don't even understand
what it is they're talking about. Now they might have went to the
best school that there is. You know, I mean, there's plenty
of folks out there that can, you know, as far as maybe having
Bible knowledge or whatever from a standpoint of natural understanding
of these things, but yet they have no knowledge or understanding
of the truth of God. They don't see that the kingdom
of God is found in Christ and Christ alone. It's not in what
you know about it. It's in that which the spirit
of God applies to the heart. That's the only place that that
kind of knowledge comes. And they shall receive the reward
of unrighteousness as they that count it pleasure to write in
the daytime, spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves
with their own deceivings, while they feast with you. Now what's
he talking about? He's talking about partaking
of these elements. He says, they come together with
you and they say, oh, we're gonna partake of these things and we're
all brethren, you know, but we have no consideration of the
grace of God. We have no real knowledge of
sin. We just say, well, we go through
it. I remember when I was a kid, one of the main reasons I wanted
to be baptized was so I could take the Lord's Supper, because
I just thought that something would really be good, and so
I joined up. I walked down the aisle, and
I went through the water, and then I could just go there. I
had no love for Christ. I had no knowledge of anything.
I just going through the motions because everybody else around
me, I mean, I looked at them, you know. I saw these guys that
would, you know, be there in church every Sunday and be walking in the greatest
ungodliness through the week. And I'm not passing judgment
on them. I'm looking and I say, how can these things be? How
can a man be walking in adultery when the Lord said, thou shalt
not commit adultery? How can it be? Having eyes full of adultery
that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls. Now there are
many who are swept away with these things that they say. They
have forsaken the right way. It says, I thought this was kind
of humorous, I think of it, when I think about Balaam, it says,
following the way of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the
wages of unrighteousness. He was going about to do wickedness
in the name of the Lord. He was supposedly a prophet of
God. He was going about doing these things. but was rebuked
for his iniquity, the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbade
the madness of the prophet. See, the only thing that kept Balaam from being destroyed was
a beast. And the Lord gave the beast Eyes
to see more than Balaam could see. And Balaam was supposedly
a prophet. But he went on his way, and he
would have been destroyed right then, had the Lord not showed
him. Wait, wait a minute, I better
back up here. The angel of the Lord with a
sword in his hand. These are wells without water,
clouds that are carried with the tempest, to whom the mist
of darkness is reserved forever. Make no mistake about it, dear
brethren. Those that walk in lasciviousness,
the lust of the flesh, and those things that men delight in by
nature, those who are captured and desirous of walking in them
day after day, they are indeed wells without water. And the
mist of darkness is reserved for them. Forever. For when they speak great swelling
words of vanity, they say, you know, here's the thing. You don't need to listen to those
preachers that tell you that, you know, there is a way which
seemeth right to man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Just go on and live however you want to live. It's okay. Great words of vanity. They allure
through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those
that will clean escape from them who live in error. See, it's
easy to gain a following among men when you tell them, go on
and do whatever you want to do in the flesh. Why? Because men want to hear that. Shall we sin? Grace may abound,
Paul said. God forbid. While they promise them liberty,
they themselves are the servants of corruption. For of whom a
man is overcome of the same is he brought in bondage. Sin is
a bondage. It'll bring every one of us into
bondage were it not that the grace of God is ever working
in his people. to show us the bondage of sin. Now, we don't always clearly
see it every moment of every day. Even as David, his eyes
were blinded for a season. But you see, the Lord designed
that chapter in David's life to bring him to repentance. Not
so that he might enjoy the lust of his flesh, but that he might
be brokenhearted And if you don't believe he was broken hearted,
just read the 51st Psalm. Because the Lord brought him
to his knees. For if after they have escaped
the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. Now how have they, how have they,
what does it mean here when it says through the knowledge of
the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? It's not talking about That true
spiritual knowledge is talking about an outward understanding
of Christianity. Now I dare say, this is a sad
thing, but I dare say that there are multitudes today who are
faithful church members, who've joined the church, who've done
all these things that they've been told to do. They have a
knowledge of Jesus Christ. They're just like these that
he's speaking of right here. and they have in a measure escaped
the pollutions of the world, but then they are again entangled
therein. I can look back over my life
and see the multitudes of those whom I know, have known, who
have made these professions of faith, who have turned aside
and walked no more with the Lord. Now, if you asked them, they'd
probably say, yeah, I'm a Christian. but they have no understanding.
They're wells without water. See, they're these whom he's
speaking about here. If they have, after they have escaped
through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
they're entangled and overcome. The latter end of them is worse
than the beginning. They'd have been better off,
he said, if they'd have never heard anything. Then after they
heard these things and been confronted with them, they determined, well,
you know, we'll just go our own way anyway. For it had been better for them
not to have known the way of righteousness than after they
had known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto
them. But it has happened unto them,
according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own
vomit and the sow that was washed to a wallowing in mire. Now, you can take a hog and you
can clean him up. You know, they take him up to
the fair and you'll see these hogs and you'll say, man, I can't
believe this. You know, this hog, he's just
don't have a speck of dirt on him anywhere. And you'll think,
well, you know, the old hog, he's doing pretty good. But I
guarantee you this, when you turn him loose into the hog pen,
He's gonna find the biggest mud hole he can find, and he's gonna
wallow in that thing. And that's what he's describing
here. See, if a man's heart's not changed by the Spirit of
God, he'll go back into the way he's, the only way he knows.
I mean, on the one hand, you can't fault him because he's
just being what he is. But you see, that's not the way
of the children of God. So it doesn't make any difference
what we know. If what we know doesn't have an effect on our
heart, then we don't know the right thing. Because you see,
Christ is alive and living in his people and drawing them with
cords of love and causing them to escape from these quagmires
that drowned men in perdition. David got in the quagmire, but only by the grace of God
did he not become ensnared therein. Didn't become destroyed. That
could easily have been the destruction of David. And by all rights,
I mean, even as David confessed, it should have been. Lord should
have cast him off, but he didn't. Oh, that the Lord might teach
us, lead us by his spirit, guide and direct our steps. Dear brethren,
write his law upon our heart. Make us to love the way that
he has taught us to go and to despise the lust of the flesh,
the uncleanness of the natural mind in the way of the world
that goes contrary to Christ. How do we know, how should we
live? What's our example? It's Christ. You wanna know how you should
be? You should be like Christ. I know, you know, we say, well,
that's an impossibility, and it sure is, because we are still
sinful creatures, but we desire, with all that's within us, to
be found walking in his likeness among men. And we would not ever
say, sin that grace may abound, but rather to say with Paul,
how shall we? that are dead to sin live any
longer therein. May the Lord apply these things
to our heart.