Peter chapter 2, a passage Brother
Wayne just read for us. The title of the message is Protection
from False Prophets. Earlier this week I told Janet
my title. She said, you've been on false
prophets a lot, haven't you? Well, I suppose I have recently. It's not exactly been by my design.
The text has presented this to us. And you know, I hate to spend
a lot of time talking about them, quite honestly. But we have to
be warned about these false prophets. They're so deadly. We have to
warn our children, don't take candy from strangers. Somebody
will abduct you. You know, we've got to talk to
our children about ugly things in this world. And we hate to
do it, but it's for their own protection. God's children need
to be warned about these ugly things for the same reason. We
have to be warned about these false prophets for our own protection.
And I want us to be aware of this. This is a particular thing
I want us to be aware of this evening. The most dangerous false
prophets are those who begin in the way of truth, or they
seem to be beginning in the way of truth, and then they leave
the way of truth. They veer off from the way of
truth because of covetousness. love of money, love of self,
love of sin. And worse yet, they leave others
away with their errors. And you don't know how badly
I do not want that to be anyone here. We must be warned. Well,
what will keep us from being like those false prophets? The
first thing I want is not to be like them. I don't want to
begin in the truth and leave it. What will keep us from being
one of those false prophets? And then what will keep us from
being led away by them? Well, verse 9, the Lord knoweth
how to deliver the godly out of temptations. He knows how
to preserve and protect His people. And He knows how to reserve the
unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. God's going to
protect His people. And these false teachers, they'll
be punished one day. But until that day, until it
comes, we need to be warned. Well, what will protect us from
being led away by these false prophets? Well, first thing that
will protect us is being able to identify them. If you can
identify them, you won't, you know, be, you'll know to stay
away from them. They won't drag you away from
Christ. And Peter gives us a description
of the message of these false prophets. So you can, when you
hear their message, you can identify them. Look in verse 10. False
prophets are almost always guilty of these two great errors we
see in verse 10. 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.
Now, the first great error of a false prophet is they walk
after the flesh. That's the problem. They're walking
after the flesh, not after the Lord. Their goal is to take care
of their flesh and provide for their flesh above all else. That's
job number one to them. Their soul is not their main
concern. Their flesh is their main concern. They want all the
best materially for themselves. The best houses, the best cars,
all the best creature comforts. Their main concern is not preaching
for the glory of God and not preaching for the good of the
souls that hear them. It's themselves. And they will
do anything and say anything to protect their flesh, to protect
their interests. That's their main concern. So
their first great error is they walk after the flesh. Second,
they despise dominion. They despise authority. And you
see it in so many different ways. The most obvious way is they
preach man's free will. They despise God's authority.
They never preach the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation,
ever. Really, they don't ever talk
about God's absolute sovereignty over anything. They never speak
of the Lordship of Christ. They talk about Jesus. They want
Jesus as their Savior, but they don't want him as Lord and Master.
That's not the way they describe him. They don't preach authority
anywhere. They don't have authority in
the home. They don't preach authority in the church. They have women
preach. They have women usurp authority
both in the church and in the home because there's no absolutes
with them. They never will commit an absolute
of right or wrong about anything because if they take a stand,
it could cost them supporters on the other side and that'll
cost them money. They're not about to do that.
They despise authority. Here's one. I see this just great
on my last nerve. They don't have a pastor. They
have a group of elders. And then they have one that might
be the senior elder. They're just not going to have
a man that's responsible for leadership. They're not going
to put anybody under any kind of authority because the flesh
hates it. And they're walking after the flesh. They're not
going to do anything that upsets the flesh. They despise dominion. They're presumptuous. They're
daring. That's what the word means. They're
daring. There's no fear of God in their hearts, so they're daring.
They're not afraid to speak in a very familiar way, flippant
way about holy things. They make jokes of holy things. They joke about preaching. They
joke about believing. They joke about prayer. They
joke about God. Don't dare do it. Young people,
now don't Dare do it. Make jokes of these things. That's
what these false prophets, presumptuous, daring people do. They're self-willed. They're just right pleased with
themselves. I mean, they just are. They're happy and proud
of their accomplishments and they talk about all the things
that they've done. You don't hear them talking about what
the Lord's done for them. You hear about their accomplishments.
They're not afraid to speak evil of dignities. They're not afraid. to speak contrary to God's Word. They're so presumptuous, they're
just not afraid to speak contrary to God's Word. They don't use
the name of God referently. They don't use the name of Christ
referently. No, they always talk about Jesus.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. They never talk about Him as
the Lord Jesus. Now, we read in Scripture where
the disciples, when they're in the Gospels, they talk about
Jesus did this, He went there, He said this. They're talking
about the man did that. When they speak to the Lord,
they always call him Lord, Master, Savior. They never referred to
him in that way. I never, one time ever, did I
ever call my father by his first name. Ever. Out of respect. When these people don't use the
name Lord, they show they don't have any reverence for him. They
just talk about the Lord like it's anybody else that they know.
And they're not afraid to use that name without reference.
They're not afraid to speak evil of and lie about other believers. They're not afraid to speak evil
of and lie about preachers. And I'm not talking about false
preachers now. I'm talking about they're not afraid to speak evil
of and lie about God's preachers, God's servants. And you know
why they do it? They feel like they're in competition
with them. This week I've talked to Rupert,
and I've talked to David Edmondson, I've talked to Tom Harding. I
mean, I just love those men. We're just, oh, we're together.
We're not in competition. We're fellow laborers. But these
false prophets, they're in competition, just like a business is. Now,
you listen to me. Reverence and humility are marks
of believers. If God's given you a new nature
and a new heart, you know something about reverence and humility.
And you beware when those traits are not easily seen in a man
calling himself a preacher. Now you beware. And I'll show
you how full of themselves these fellas are. Nowadays you can't
even say fellas. You have to say women too. Even
angels who are superior to men in every way do not dare to do
what these false prophets do. Look at verse 11. Whereas angels,
which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation
against them before the Lord." They just don't dare to do it.
Even the elect angels don't speak evil of and bring charges against
those fallen angels. They wouldn't dare. They're not
that presumptuous. They're not that self-willed.
Now, it's obvious to us. False prophets are inferior to
angels. I mean, that's pretty obvious. But you know, they're
even inferior to brute beasts. Look at verse 12. as natural
brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of
things that they understand not, and they shall perish in their
own corruption, and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness,
as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime. Spots
they are, and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings,
while they feast with you." Look back in Isaiah chapter one. This was not a new problem in
Peter's day. This is just simply human nature.
Isaiah 1, verse 3. The ox knows his owner and the
ass his master's crib, but Israel does not know. My people does
not consider. Ah, sinful nation, a people laden
with iniquity, a seed of evildoers. Children that are corruptors,
they've forsaken the Lord and they've provoked the Holy One
of Israel into anger. They're gone away backwards.
They're not even as smart as the ox. The ox knows his master.
The ass knows who feeds him. These men don't. They think they've
done it on their own. And because they don't know as
much as an ox knows, a false prophet will speak evil of things
he does not understand. And all they're good for is to
be consumed. by the fire of God's wrath. That's all they're good
for. Just like a cow, all it's good for is to be killed for
food, unless you want to milk it. Other than that, all it's
good for is to be killed for steak and roast. That's all they're
good for. And that's what will happen to
these false prophets. They're going to perish in their
own corruption for this reason. They've not been washed in the
blood of Christ. The only way any of us will not
perish in the corruption of our sin is by being washed. in the blood of Christ. And these
men speak evil of that mystery. Now, I grant you, it's a mystery
that a sinner like you and me can be made white as snow without
sin. Well, they don't understand it,
so they speak evil of it. They speak evil of that mystery
how a sinner can be made righteous and holy through the blood and
righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. And they make sport of
these things. Sport. They're jousting. They're wrestling with the Scriptures.
Instead of finding pleasure in preaching Christ and believing
Christ, they make an Olympic sport out of holy matters. I
mean, they're good at it. I mean, they're going to get
the gold medal, jousting, wrestling with the Scriptures. And they
do it while they feast with you. Probably at your expense. That's
the way they operate. And they do that because there's
no fear before their eyes at all. They don't even do this
stuff under the cover of darkness. They do it right out in the daylight
just for everybody to see. They do it under the cloak of
religion now, but they do it right out in the open for everybody
to see. There's no fear in their heart. Look at verse 14 back
in our text, 2 Peter 2. Having eyes full of adultery
that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls, and hearts that
have exercised with covetous practices, their cursed children.
Now, their eyes are full of adultery. They lust after everything. I
mean, everything they see, they lust after it. And adultery is
a, for whatever reason, it's a sin commonly exposed in these
famous TV preachers who, you know, excel at this kind of stuff
that Peter's talking about. But worse yet, they do all this
stuff that they do because their eyes and their hearts are full
of spiritual adultery. They don't just have another
take on things. Now, they're worshiping an idol.
Now, you remember that. Now, they may call Him Jesus,
but they're idol self. I don't care what name that they
give Him, their idol is self. They love self so much, they
can't stop sinning. They just can't do it because
their heart is bent toward it. Now, I'll grant you, they're
usually outwardly moral, but their sin's in the pulpit. Their
sin is in their heart. It's in their motive and they
just cloak it with religion. Well, they don't make it any
better. All they're doing is just painting over dirt. You
know, they're not. It's just cloaked in religion. And their
actions all are controlled by their covetous heart. They're
in the ministry for their own gain. They're not in the ministry
so that you can gain Christ. God's servants are in the ministry
so that sinners can gain Christ. That's not their motive. And
sadly, people follow them. People are so gullible. People
with unstable hearts are so easily deceived by these fellas. They're
swayed by their religious look. I mean, oh, they look religious.
Their piety is false piety, but boy, now that looks impressive,
doesn't it? Look at them. The unstable are swayed by their
religious-sounding talk. You know, they've got all the
jargon down right. And it's all a lie, but it sounds
impressive. And false prophets prey on these
unstable hearts the same way a lion preys on the weakest willed
beast in the herd. They prey on the weak one, the
slow one, the one that's unstable. Let's get down to verse 17. These
are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest,
to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever. These false
prophets are wells without water. Now what good is a well that
doesn't have water in it? It's dangerous sitting just a hole
in the ground so somebody can fall in and get hurt. A well without
water is of no use whatsoever. Now they look large and deep,
but there's no water of life in their preaching. They'll preach
on things that appeal to the flesh. They'll preach on having
a positive mental attitude. Preach how to live better in
the world, how to get along better with people, how to have financial
security, how to get healed of your sicknesses. My friend, that
so-called preaching is too shallow to find any water. They aren't
going to do it. There's no water of life in it.
Or they preach on the deep mysteries of the Scriptures. They try to
dissect and analyze. I wish I could. I tried to remember
today, there's a phrase that Jeff Bandles used about parsing
the participle third tense of a verb or something. I mean,
they just analyze and dissect and they try to explain the mysteries
of God that man simply cannot understand. Now, we can believe
those things. I believe many things I don't
understand. We can believe those things if
God gives us faith, but we'll never understand them. But their
preaching seems deep to me. They use five-dollar words. They
use outlines that are so complicated a Harvard professor couldn't
follow it. Boy, it sounds impressive, doesn't
it? He knows bigger words than I do. He knows these deeper things.
I don't understand a word he's saying, but boy, it's impressive.
He must be smart. My friend, that kind of preaching
is too quote-unquote deep to be understood. There's no water
in it. No water of life. The gospel's
simple. Somebody like me needs the gospel
to be simple. I love the simplicity of Christ,
the simplicity of the gospel. Just preach Christ. You don't
have to dissect him. You don't have to analyze it.
You don't have to explain it. Just proclaim him. Just preach
Christ. He's the water of life. If we
preach Christ, it'll be a blessing because he's the water of life.
But these false prophets aren't going to do that. I mean, they
don't know him. That's why they're not going to do it. They don't
preach Christ, so there's no substance to them. There's no
substance to their message. They're just like an empty cloud.
It doesn't have anything in it. The slightest breeze, it blows
it across the sky. Now, empty clouds. One time of
drought, you see some clouds come and you're hopeful. Maybe
those clouds are going to bring some rain. But they're empty. They don't have any water of
life in them. They're not going to bring any
refreshing water. And worse yet, they just blot
out the sun. That's what these false prophets do. Not only do
they not bring the water of life to the thirsty sinner, they block
Christ from their view so they can't see him. And them and their
hearers will perish in outer darkness because they blotted
out the sun. Now, that's the message of these
false prophets. When you hear it, you can identify
it. The second way we can be protected from false prophets
is knowing their methods. Peter gives us their methods
here. The first one's in verse 18. These false prophets, they
draw people to themselves and into supporting them by flattery. Verse 18, for when they speak
great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lust
of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escape
from them who live in error. They use flattery to puff up
the flesh. They just heap praise on people.
Give people fancy titles, you know, make them feel important,
feel better about themselves. Their message and their methods
both appeal to the flesh. I mean, you've got to know. You've
just got to admit to it. Somebody starts flattering you,
the flesh likes it. That feels good. So they keep
going back for more. Second method of a false prophet,
they draw people into their error and is supporting them by empty
promises. Look at verse 19. While they
promised them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption.
For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in
bondage." Now they promised liberty. They used the word liberty. That's
a scriptural word. They used that word liberty.
But they can't produce it. They can't give it. They can't
tell you where to find that liberty because they themselves are still
in bondage to sin. But here's what they call liberty.
Just hide it well enough that you don't get caught, and they
call that liberty from sin. Well, that's not liberty at all.
Because you know, if somebody starts trying to do that, you
know what they're doing? All they think about is sin. All
they think about is that thing they're trying not to get caught
doing. They're trying to cover up. It's all they're thinking
about is sin. Well, then there's still bondage
to it. That's all they can think about. They don't have any liberty.
And here's what's so sobering. These guys can be hard to spot.
Now, they can be hard. They're deceivers. That's what
the Scripture calls them. So they can be hard to spot.
The people Peter's talking about began in the truth. They began
in it. They have a lot of good things
to say. They say a lot of the right things. Doctrinally, they
say a lot of the right things. Maybe you can't throw a rock
at anything they say. They have a lot of good doctrine. Then
why are they still empty wells? If they have good doctrine, but
they're still an empty well, why is that? Because the doctrine's
not the water of life. Christ is the water of life,
and they're not preaching Christ. You can have the right doctrine
and still be a false prophet. That's so. False prophets, sometimes
they're revealed by their doctrine, but not always. But a false prophet
will always be revealed by his heart. What's his motive? Why is he doing what he's doing?
Whose servant is he? A false prophet is directed by
love of self, love of money, love of praise, rather than a
love for Christ and love for his people. And the prominent
example that scripture gives us of a false prophet is Balaam. Now you can almost never throw
a rock at anything Balaam says, but he's still a false prophet.
What made him a false prophet? It's what's in his heart. And
in his message, it's what he left out. What he left out makes
him a false prophet. Now look at verse 15. Which have
forsaken the right way, and are gone 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 a
man's voice, forbade the madness of the prophet. Now look back
at Numbers chapter 22. I want us to read a few verses. a number of chapters devoted
to this. We won't read them all. We'll just read a little bit
of this. But I want you to see this. Because false prophets are the
same today. They follow the way of Balaam. Numbers 22, beginning in verse
6. King Balak had sent this message
to Balaam. He says, Come now, therefore,
I pray curse me this people, he wanted them to curse Israel,
for they are too mighty for me. For adventure I shall prevail,
that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land.
For I know that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom
thou cursest is cursed." And he is sending this message to
Balaam, and he tells him, if you do what I want, you will
be well paid. Look at verse 7, and the elders of Moab and the
elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in
their And they came unto Balaam, and spake unto him the words
of Balaam." Now that word divination means a false prophet or witchcraft. The rewards of a false prophet
are money, and they had a heap of it, and Balaam does not want
to give that up. He wants that. So verse 8, "...he
said unto them, Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word
again, as the Lord shall speak unto me. And the princes of Moab
abode with Balaam." And Balaam waited to see what the Lord would
tell him. Look down at verse 12. Here's
what God told Balaam. Thou shalt not go with them.
Thou shalt not curse the people, for they are blessed. Now that's
pretty plain, isn't it? You know what God's Word is.
Our problem is not that we can't understand God's Word. It's not
that it's not plain. It's that we don't want to believe
it. But that's pretty plain. Anybody can understand exactly
what that says. But verse 13. Balaam rose up
in the morning and said unto the princes of Balak, Get you
into your land, for the Lord refuses to give me leave to go
with you. Now, he didn't tell them the truth, did he? He didn't
tell them, I can't curse the people because they're blessed.
He just kind of insinuates, I can't go with you now, but maybe later. Maybe. Let's leave the door open
to this business. Well, verse 14. And the princes
of Moab rose up, and they went unto Balaam, and said, Balaam
refuses to come with us. And Balaam said, Yet again princes
more, and more honorable than they. And they came to Balaam,
and said to him, Thus saith Balaam the son of Zippor, Let nothing,
I pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto me, for I will promote
thee unto very great honor." Here he is using flattery. "'And
I will do whatsoever thou sayest unto me.'" Oh, whatever you tell
me, that's exactly what I'll do. Well, that appeals to the
flesh, doesn't it? Come therefore, I pray thee,
curse me this people." Now, Balaam, he just doesn't want to give
this up. I mean, they're bringing a bigger pile of money. They're
bringing more honor to heap upon him. This is just what he wants.
He doesn't want to give that up. So verse 18, Balaam answered
and said unto the servants of Balak, if Balak would give me
his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the
word of the Lord my God to do less or more." Now, that's a
good statement, isn't it? You can't really hardly throw
a rock at that. That's pretty good. I can do more than what
God tells me, more or less. Now, therefore, I pray you, tarry
ye also here this night, that I may know what the Lord will
say unto me more. And God came unto Balaam at night,
and said unto him, If the men come to call thee, ye rise up,
and go with them. But yet the word which I shall
say unto thee, That's pretty straightforward, isn't it? If
the men come to call you, you go with them. Otherwise, stay
put. That's not what Balaam does. He didn't wait for the men to
call him. He goes to them. Look at verse 21. And Balaam
rose up in the morning, and he saddled his ass, and he went
with the princes of Moab. He didn't wait for them to come
call him. He went to them. And God's anger was kindled because
he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the way for an
adversary against him. Now, he was riding upon his ass,
and his two servants were with him. And the ass saw the angel
of the Lord. That's a pre-incarnate appearance
of Christ. That's the same one that Joshua saw with the captain
of the Lord's host. He's got a sword in his hand.
That donkey saw that, saw the angel of the Lord standing in
the way, his sword drawn in his hand, and the ass turned her
side out of the way. He went into the field and bale
him smoke, the ass, to turn her into the way. And the angel of
the Lord stood in the path of the vineyards, the wall being
on this side and the wall on that side. And when the ass saw
the angel of the Lord, she thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed
Balaam's foot against the wall, and he smote her again. And the
angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place,
where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to
the left. And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell
down unto Balaam, and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote
the ass with a staff. And the Lord opened the mouth
of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done that
thou hast smitten me these three times. And Balaam said, I believe if a donkey start talking
to me, I don't think I'd start having a conversation with the
donkey. I just don't think. That's how far gone this man
is in his rewards of divination. You just think. My word. He said unto the ass, because
thou smot me, I would there, I had a sword in my hand, for
now I'd kill thee. And the ass said unto Balaam,
Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I
was thine unto this day? Was I ever wont to do so unto
thee? And he said, Nay. Then the Lord opened the eyes
of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way,
and his sword drawn in his hand. And he bowed down his head, and
fell flat on his face. And the angel of the Lord said
unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three
times? Behold, I went out to a stand thee, because thy way
is perverse before me. And the ass saw me, and turned
from me these three times. And lest she turn from me, surely
now also I have slain thee, and saved her life." Just like Peter
said, Balaam is no worse than that brute beast, and no better
off than that brute beast. As a matter of fact, God said,
I spared her and killed you. Just like Peter said, the brute
beast. He started out with some knowledge
of God. He started out with some knowledge of the truth, but he's
no better than that brute beast. And he said, I wish I had a sword. I'd kill you. And the Lord opened
his eyes and he saw the Lord stand there. He did have a sword.
And he could have put Balaam to death, but he didn't do it.
Now, Balaam goes on. He knows the truth. He said some
true things. But again, his problem is what
he didn't say. Balaam never says anything outright
against the truth, but he aligns himself with those idolaters
because he wants to stay close to the money. If he can stay
close to it, maybe he can get some of it. Look at verse 39
here, Numbers 22. And Balaam, he went with Balaam.
And they came unto Kirjath Huzoth. And Balaam, this is idolatry. He's offering oxen and sheep.
And he sent to Balaam and to the princes that were with him.
And it came to pass on the morrow that Balak took Balaam and brought
him up into the high places of Baal. He brought him to this
place of idolatry that thence he might see the utmost part
of the camp." Now Balaam is dabbling in idolatry. He's been in the
truth. He's known the truth. But now
he's dabbling in idolatry. But he's going to do his best
to make it look like and sound like true worship. Look at chapter
23. And Balaam said unto Balaam, Build me here seven altars, and
prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams. And Balaam did as
Balaam had spoken. And Balaam and Balaam offered
on every altar a bullock and a ram. And Balaam said unto Balaam,
Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go. For adventure
of the Lord will come to meet me, and whatsoever he showeth
me, I will tell thee. And he went to a high place."
Now all this looks like a pretty good form of worship, doesn't
it? Sounds like sound doctrine. They're worshiping the Lord with
the blood of the sacrifice around the altar. Sounds like good,
solid doctrine. But what makes Balaam a false
prophet? It's what's in his heart. It's not his doctrine. It's not
his form of worship. He's still trying to find a way
to say what Balak wants to hear so he can get the money. He's
proven he loves money more than the truth. Now you know the end
of this story. Balaam, he ends up blessing Israel. But not because he wanted to.
It's because God made that come out, that blessing come out of
his mouth. Now like I said, Balaam said a lot of true things. But
why is he the prominent example of a false prophet to us in Scripture?
Because of what he didn't say. That's why. It's because what's
in his heart And do you know, he blessed Israel, and to this
day, Balaam is still a blessing to spiritual Israel. He's a blessing
to you tonight. Because he's standing here as
an example of a false prophet, Peter Boyd. Now, he forsook the
way. He forsook the truth. He forsook
the gospel. And he did it so he'd get these
rewards of divination. And false prophets are the same
way today. They do the same thing out of greed. And when they do
that, they just prove they don't love God. They don't love you.
They don't love the truth. They love money and self. Now,
we say somebody forsakes the way. Doesn't that mean at one
time they knew something about the way of truth? And they forsook
it. They had to know something about
it at one point in order to forsake it. They knew something about
Christ the way. And they forsook the message
of Christ for something that they thought was more profitable.
They forsook Christ for something that they liked better. And they
will lead other people into this error. I tell you, one of my
greatest fears would just be so heartbreaking to me, is to
see someone here be taught the gospel, be taught the truth.
Any of us, but boy, especially our young people. and leave. Be drawn into this error by some
false prophet. There would be nothing more heartbreaking
to me. These young adults, I've known
them since they were infants. Watch them grow up. Watch them
confess Christ if a false prophet pulled them away. It would be
heartbreaking, just heartbreaking. And this is something we need
to be aware of because it can happen. We need to be watchful
for this in ourselves. The people Peter's talking about
began in the truth. Look back in our text. He uses
this phrase in verse 18, clean escaped. Clean escaped. That means for
a little while, for a little while, it seemed like they were
clean escaped, and then they went and dabbled in something
else. And eventually they became overtaken. They just dabbled
with it at first, but then they became entangled up in it so
that they couldn't get out. That's what Peter's talking about
in verse 20. For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of
the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, they again entangle their end and overcome, the latter
end is worse with them than the beginning. For it would have
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." Now, aren't we happy when a person comes
and they make a profession of faith? But this is what Bob and
I were talking about before the service. If they're a false professor,
what we'll see happen is, it'll seem like they've cleaned up
their act for a while. They'll seem to follow Christ
for a while. But something's going to happen. And they'll
go dabble in something else. Dabble in sin, dabble in false
religion, whatever. And they'll become entangled
so that they cannot escape it. And their final condition, Peter
says, is worse than the first. It's worse than if they'd never
heard the gospel in the first place. Because now, They've made
a refuge of lies their refuge, and they've made God party to
their sin. They can't plead ignorance now, because at one time they
claimed to believe the truth, they claimed to understand the
truth, and they forsook it. In verse 22, this is what Peter
likens this to. But it happened unto them according
to the true proverb, a dog is turned to his own vomit again,
and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. Now
what will protect a person? from becoming a false prophet
and falling prey to a false prophet. Four things. I'll give them to
you briefly. The first one is the new birth. No matter what
you do to a sow, she's going to go back and wallow in that
mire the first chance she gets because that's her nature. I
don't care what you do to the old man. I don't care what chains
or what restrictions you put on him. He will return to his
sin and wallow in it the very first time restraints come off.
Dogs do the same thing. I mean, dogs do gross stuff.
I mean, really. They do some really gross things.
They even eat their own vomit, for goodness sakes. I mean, that's
disgusting. And they seem to enjoy it. And
you've got to fight them. Our dogs did this the other day.
One of them throws up and you've got to fight them. You've got
to clean it up because they're trying to eat it. She's trying to clean it
up. That's just gross. Why do they do that? Because
they're a dog. They've got the nature of a dog,
that's why. And you know men by nature are
far more gross. Much more just disgusting than
a dog. Sin is vile. It's disgusting. It's corrupt. It's gross. Sin damns us. Why
do we keep going back to it? That's our fallen sin nature.
That's the fallen nature of man. But the new birth. will protect
a person from that. Because in the new birth we receive
a new nature. A pig wallows in the mud and
loves it. You don't find a sheep doing
that. Because it's got a nature of a sheep. A dog will eat its
own vomit. A sheep won't do that. Sheep's
going to eat grass. Because he's got a nature of
a sheep. A believer is not going to follow a false prophet. Not
going to follow him for long. Because he's got a new nature.
God's given him a nature that loves God, that loves Christ,
and can only be fed on Christ. Eventually, believers are going
to leave that false prophet because they're starving to death. Because
he's got a nature of a sheep. Secondly, we're protected from
these false prophets by the power of God. Verse 9 that we began
with, the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation.
God's got the power to protect and preserve his people. Just
like Balaam. He wanted to curse Israel, didn't
he? But the power of God kept him from doing it. It was the
power of God that protected Israel from Balaam. It wasn't Balaam's
love for them. It was the power of God. I tell you, my old nature
wants to leave Christ and go headlong into unbelief and wallow
in the mire of unbelief every day. But the power of God won't
let me do it. That's how we're protected. Third,
we're protected from the false prophets. by the Word of God.
The Word of God cleanses and gives life. The Word of God is
a lamp to the believer's feet. So we see where we're walking.
We know the path because God's Word's a light to our feet. And
God's Word's a light so that we recognize these false prophets
and we stay away from them. But now it takes the Word of
God in the heart. This just ties back to the second
thing, the power of God. God's going to put His Word in
our heart. If we only have the knowledge
of God's word in our head, you know what that'll do? It'll puff
us up just like these false prophets. But if God puts his word in our
heart, we'll be humbled. We'll hate sin and love righteousness. And four, we're protected from
these false prophets by looking to Christ. If you're looking
to Christ, you'll recognize the false prophet's message when
it veers off the path. How did you begin in faith? When
the Lord saved you, how did you begin in faith? Didn't you begin
by looking to Christ? Well, how have you continued
from then until now? How have you continued in the faith? Haven't
you continued by looking to Christ? Well, how do you reckon you're
going to finish your course? You're going to finish by looking to
Christ. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
If you're looking to Him, you won't be led astray because He
won't lead you astray. Well, I hope that's been a blessing
to you. My timer's out, so I hope I haven't preached too long,
but I hope that's been a blessing. I think that's good instruction.
I hope you'll take it and arm yourselves with it so you'll
be protected. All right, let's bow in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, Lord, we
thank You for Your Word. We're thankful that in Your Word
we find these precious promises. forgiveness of sin, life and
righteousness in our Lord Jesus Christ. We find these scriptures
are so precious. They reveal the Lord Jesus Christ
to us. And we're also thankful for these
scriptures of warning. Father, give us a heart to heed
these warnings. We beg your power that you protect
us from these false prophets. Give us a heart that's stable,
stable in the stable, built upon the rock, Christ Jesus, so we
may not be easily led astray by these deceivers. Father, we
beg of you that you bless your Word. Bless your Gospel as it
is preached here to the hearts of your people, that you call
sinners to Christ, that you give them faith to look to Christ.
And Father, use your Gospel to strengthen us in the faith, to
continue pointing us to the Lord Jesus Christ, looking to Him
that we may be found in Him. Not having our own righteousness,
but be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. For it is in His precious
name, for His glory, we pray. Amen.