I don't want to read the entire
chapter to you, but I want to begin here in verse 20 of chapter
2. 2 Peter chapter 2 and verse 20. To get the real context of this,
you need to begin all the way back in verse 1, but I want to
look at these verses this evening. speaking here of the religious
people. 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 is happened unto them,
according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his vomit
again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. One of the differences between
not only a gospel preacher and a gospel teacher, and those who,
I mean, believe God's Word and they reverence God's Word. They have a broken heart and
they tremble at it. This generation, I fear, brothers
and sisters, knows very little of what it means to tremble at
God's Word. They don't believe it. They don't
understand it. But the difference between those
who do and those who proclaim the truth of it and believe the
truth of it, as opposed to those who do not, those who believe
it, respect it enough and reverence it enough that they are willing
to look at all scripture. Free will will not consider all
scripture. They'll come to our scripture
this evening, where I've taken my text, and they'll try to look
at it and prove that a true believer can be saved and be lost. But they will not go to those
scriptures that teach that it's impossible for a true believer
to ever be lost after the Lord has saved them. You and I are
willing to come here and look at this scripture and be honest
with it. But free will will not be honest with the scriptures
that you and I often go to and read. You know what I'm saying? When I consider these scriptures,
if you're in verses 20 through verse 22, and other scriptures
like this, it concerns me. And one of the reasons such passages
like this concern me personally is because I see in these passages
how far a man may go in the way of professing the Lord Jesus
Christ without ever knowing Him, without ever really being saved.
And that's something all my Christian life that has bothered me. And
we see passages like this and incidents like this all through
the scripture. Let me call your attention to
just two or three of them. Balaam was a man who saw visions
of the Lord Jesus Christ and his coming unto this earth. And
yet he was a false prophet and loved the wages of unrighteousness. Judas was an apostle and went
out and preached that men should repent and was without it himself. He cast out devils and he had
one himself. And we read about those stony
ground hearers which received the word with joy and believed
for a while. Now, I don't know about you,
but when I read these passages like this, it has a tendency
to bother me and disturb me. And it's caused me, in my own
experience, often concern to examine myself. Here in verse
20, Peter tells us how four of these had advanced, and I want
you to look at them with me. Let's look at these verses together.
What's the first thing that he says about these in verse 20? He says something positive about
them. They have escaped the pollutions
of the world. That's what they did. And if
you and I want to know what the pollutions of the world are,
it's simply the lust of the flesh. All that's in the world, the
lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of lies.
That's what's in the world. These men were in sin. And they
escaped their outward sins. They came out of their outward
sins. The pollution that was in the
world. Now, this is good. This is good. And Peter seems to commend them
for doing this. This seems to be a positive thing.
After they have escaped the corruption, you and I rejoice to see anybody
come out of the pollution of this world. Not only for the good of our
society, but especially if they make a profession, we want to
see them come out of open and profane sin. And you know, that's
one of the signs of a true converted heart. If any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. All things have passed away.
Jesus Christ came into this world to save us from our sins. And when he saves a man, he brings
him out of his sins. So Peter here recognizes these
people have escaped the corruptions of this world. They've escaped
that. And then secondly, look how far
they had gone, and look why they came out of the corruptions of
the world, the pollutions of the world. What means did they
escape it? He tells us, through the knowledge
of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Here's why I say this
concerns me. You say, how deep was their knowledge
of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? How did it affect them? Well, it had a rather profound
effect upon them. It had such an effect upon them
that it brought them at least out of the outward pollutions
of this world. We talk about a head knowledge
and a heart knowledge. Well, we see what a head knowledge
can do for a person. That it has effects upon his
outward life. And how many have you and I seen
this happen to? Men who were stooped in sin and
came and heard the gospel and grasped something of the knowledge
of Jesus Christ, and we've seen a tremendous improvement in their
morality. We've seen that. They turned from their sins,
and their knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ was the reason for
it. But he goes on, and look here
now at what he says in a negative sense. He says here in verse
20, 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. Now this tells us that they were
in these pollutions. They were outward and more or
less profane sinners. Because they came out of that
and now they're entangled again in it. Now here's what sin is. Here's what the Bible calls it,
an entanglement. And here's the mode of backsliding. You'll notice these two things.
Here's the mode of apostasy, if you will. If you see a man
leave his profession of Christ, here's the way he usually does
it. First of all, he's entangled in his sins. They usually don't
overwhelm him all at once. He begins to dabble in them again. He begins to secretly lie and
secretly yield to his lust. Nobody sees it. It's in secret
until it's so entangled within it that he can't get out of it.
I used to keep horses, and one of the things I used to do to
let them pick grass, I would get them out of the stall and
put a long rope on them with a hauler, and I'd tie a little
cement block to them, and they could drag the cement block around
through the grass and eat it. And sometimes you would go out
there, and the animal had kept going around and around, and
he got the rope around his back legs and front legs, and he got
so entangled that he could hardly pick grass and hardly move. He
was entangled. You and I have seen professing
people fall into sin and get so entangled in it, and so bound
down by it, that neither they nor you had any idea how to get
them out of it. A confusing mess that would almost
drive you to despair to think about it. And that's what Peter
said their first step was. They had escaped these pollutions
through the knowledge of Jesus Christ, but now they have turned
and began to dabble back in these pollutions, and now they're tangled
up in them. But he doesn't stop there. This
is the next step, and look at this. Not only are they entangled
in these sins and these pollutions, but look here, they are overcome
by them. Now there's a difference between
being entangled and overcome. When you're overcome, you're
whipped. It's got the best of you. It's
got you pinned. You can't get away. You're overcome
with it. I have seen horses also get so
entangled in ropes while picking grass, they got so entangled
they finally got on the ground, and you had to cut the rope to
rescue them and free them. These got so entangled with sin,
the lust of the flesh, that they were overcome. Overcome. In the sense that I'm looking
at this this evening, there's two things when I think about
being overcome that overcomes people. Men are overcome, one,
by heresy. There was two men in the early
church, Hymenaeus and Philetus, and they were preaching that
the resurrection had already passed. And the scripture says
they overthrew the faith of some. The way some men leave their
profession of Christ is not through lust, but it's through heresy. They told us, and I don't know
if this is so or not, but Jim Jones, that he preached in Indianapolis
before he went out west and got entangled up in the cult and
everything, and all the people killed himself. But they said
when he first started out, he had a King James Bible and preached
from it, and a lot of his preaching was very, very same. And he went
off into heresy. He was overcome by heresy. And then, of course, the way
that Peter tells us here. What was it that overcome these
people? They were entangled by what?
They were overcome by what? The pollution of this world. That is the lust of the flesh. And know the result of all this
in the last portion here, verse 20. What's the result of all
this? The latter end is worse with
them than the beginning. Well, the beginning was what?
The beginning was what? Well, the beginning was the way
they were before they made a petition. In the beginning they were dead
in trespasses and sins. In the beginning they were without
hope in themselves. In the beginning they were in
darkness. In the beginning they had no knowledge of Christ at
all. But Peter says here, their end is worse than that. It's
worse than that. Let me give you five statements
in regards to their latter end being worse than their beginning.
Why is that so? Well, listen to this. Their latter
end is worse than their beginning because they have put the Lord
Jesus Christ, whom they profess to an open shame, because they
deny Him. That's worse than they've done
before. And secondly, they tempt and
grieve the Holy Spirit who is reproving their conscience for
their denial and for their sinful practices. And thirdly, they
openly reject the Word of God as their only rule. He tells
us in verse 21, they turn from The Holy Commandment delivered
unto them. In other words, they put the
Word of God from them. They refuse to hear and obey
it. And there's no faith to those
who deny the Word of God. You cannot separate faith and
obedience. And those who will not obey will
not believe. And fourthly, those who are finally
overcome with sin are hardened by sin and they become more bold
than ever to sin. I have seen this in people who
deny the Lord, deny their profession. And at first they're very careful
with their sin. Then they become more open with
their sin. And it's not long until they're
very, very bold and open with their sins. And they're happy
if they can drag others into sin with them, because it soothes
the guilt of their own conscience. And fifthly, the latter end is
worse than the beginning, because these people who apostatize are
seldom, if ever, recovered. Seldom, if ever, recovered. I
was talking with a lady just a few days ago. Went to a church
where I was. And she said she got very, very
angry and hurt over something that happened. And was away for
two years. For two years. And we were talking
about that. about how people that have went
through what she went through and did what she did are seldom
recovered from it. You and I have seen it, haven't
we? We've seen it. And the fearful thing about professing
the Lord Jesus Christ And then denying him and going
back to your sins and being overcome with your sins. One of the most
beautiful things about it. Seldom is that person ever recovered
from that state. The last end is worse with them
than the beginning. And look what he says here in
verse 21. For it hath been better for them never to have known
the way of righteousness." Now what is that? Well, in verse
2, he tells us in verse 2, look at this in verse 2 of this chapter.
Many shall follow their prenacious ways, by reason of whom the way
of truth shall be evil spoken of. It's the way of truth. In
verse 15, look at this. which have forsaken the right
way." The way of righteousness is the way of truth. It's the
right way. And Peter says here, it had been
better for them not to have known the way of righteousness. So these weren't deceived by
false doctrine. They knew the way of righteousness.
This is what bothers me. This is what bothers me. It's
this whole thing about the head and the heart. And I'm not for
sure how far you can go in separating those two. But there can be something
in the head that's not in the heart. There can be a knowledge
in the head that affects not the heart. These knew the way
of righteousness. They knew a man was not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ.
They knew the way of righteousness. They knew Christ was the end
of the law for righteousness. They knew something about the
doctrine of the gospel of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And yet what did they willingly and deliberately do? We're told,
look at this, in verse 21, after they have known it, to turn from
the holy commandment delivered unto them." This, in general, I suppose,
is the gospel. But I think, in particular, it's
repentance and faith. This is what they turned from.
These lifelong commandments of repentance and faith. God commandeth
all men everywhere to repent. And this commandment was preached
unto them. Peter said it was. It was delivered
unto them. But what did they do? They turned
from it. And the Word of God says that
we're commanded to believe in the name of the Son of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And this commandment was preached
unto them, and they turned from it. See, this business of repentance
and faith is not something we experienced 20 years ago. It's something that began back
there in our experience, but it continues daily. And when
men fall into sin and are commanded to repent and they will not,
Peter said, it's turning from that holy commandment. We never
quit believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. We live by faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. God commands us to believe in
Christ. And when a man will not repent,
and when a man will not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, Peter
said they turn from that holy command. For a person to make a high-hearted
profession is worse than making no profession at all. Isn't that
what the Lord tells us here? This is why, brothers and sisters,
we come here Sunday after Sunday, and you go out there and face
people. And you preach the Word of God
to them. This is all we do here in this forfeit, is to preach
the gospel to people. We don't want to leave men and
women on a possession of faith. We preach the gospel to them,
and we pray that God the Holy Spirit will shut them up in their
guilt, in their condemnation, and in their inability, and bring
them to the place that they will surrender themselves up to the
Lord Jesus Christ without any conditions attached to it. That's
what we do. Because we know, if once a man
makes a profession of faith, if it's not real, and he goes
back, then the latter end of that man is worse than the beginning.
It scares me to death anymore to see somebody make a profession.
I want to see men broken, don't you? I want to see God cast them
in the ditch, as Miranda read the other day. And turn them
on their heads, and turn their world upside down, and make them
sick of sin, and bring them to the end of themselves. And leave
them saying, Lord Jesus, save me or I perish. They turned from the holy commandment
delivered unto them. And notice this here in verse
22. Here's a prediction. Here's a
prediction. Here's a proverb concerning these
people. These who apostatized. It was
made all the way back in verse 1. Look at this in verse 1. This
was prediction concerning these very people. But there were false
prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false
teachers among you, who privately shall bring in damnable heresy,
denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves
swift destruction." There's going to be people among us, he said,
that was going to be apostates. And he said here in verse 22
that This that happened to them, according to the true proverb,
the dog is turned to his vomit again, and the sow that was washed
to her wallowing in the marsh." If I had no other scripture to
prove that these men were not true children of God, I guess
right here in verse 22 would be the good proof of it. The
Lord loves His people. The Lord loves His church. And
will He write such a proverb concerning a true believer and
call him a dog and a sow? I don't think so. Let me give you three things
in this passage here that I see is missing. There's three things
in our text this evening that I see is missing in their profession. And first is this, the power
of God. The power of God. Look back in
the first chapter of the first book of Peter. Just back to your
left. Look here at this. Look here in verse 3, chapter
1 of 1 Peter. Verse 3. Chapter 1, verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last day." Now I've read to you in my text about a group
of people who were overcome, who were overcome with sin. And the same that I see lacking
in that was the power of God to hold them up. If a man stands
in his own strength and by his mere profession, something is
going to get the best of him. Sin is going to get him down
and overcome him if the power of God is not there to hold him
up. How many of you can testify in yourself? that there has been
times in your Christian life when you knew then, and you especially
know now as you look back, that you were so weak and sin was
so strong and the opportunity was so available, if God had
not helped you up and kept you by His power, you would not be
here tonight. Every Christian here this evening
can testify to that, can't they? Well, what happened to these
people? How come they got so entangled, and you can blame
them? Sure, it was their fault. But
I tell you, when God keeps a man, when God preserves a man, when
God upholds a man, there is nothing that's going to overcome that
man. God is almighty. And when He begins a work in
the heart, it's a work of power. And sin won't overcome it. And
He said, when I start, I finish. Isn't that what He said? And secondly, I see this missing.
I see a heart faith missing. Much is said here about knowledge,
but nothing said of faith. A lot is said of head knowledge,
but nothing is said of a heart faith. Head knowledge puffs us
up, but I tell you what head knowledge won't do. It won't
purify the heart. Head knowledge will make you
proud and it will make you argumentative, but it won't make you hate your
sin, and it won't make you love righteousness. But faith will
do both of those things. Faith will purify your heart. This is the victory that overcomes
the world. And that's what we're talking
about here. The pollutions that's in the world overcome these people. But John said this is the victory
that overcomes the world. And the world cannot overcome
it. What is it? Even our faith. Our faith. And when I read here that these
were overcome by this world, then I just am made to wonder,
what kind of faith did they have? Yeah, they had knowledge. They
had knowledge. They had a whole head stuffed
full of it. But I see no evidence of a heart faith. And thirdly
and lastly, I see this missing, and that is a new nature. A new nature. Why did this dog
return to his vomit again? Because he's still a dog. Why
did this sow go wallowing in the mire? And did you notice
how the Holy Spirit said that? She wasn't walking by a mud hole
and fell in it. She was wallowing in it. She
lay in it. She had turned over in it. She'd
rest there on her side and she'd turn over on her back and on
her other side. She wanted Larry. Why did she
do that? That's her nature. There's been
a lot of good men, a lot of godly men who have fallen into sin. Either through sudden temptation
or prolonged temptation, or desire and opportunity came together
and God allowed them to do it. A lot of good men. But I tell
you this, they didn't water in it. They were ashamed of it. And they repented of it. And
they came out of it and rose again to walk with the Lord again.
But these years, these years, they watered. and eat their own
vomit. You may see a dog eating his
vomit, but I bet you'll never see a sheep eating his vomit.
Bob, have you ever seen a sheep eat his vomit? I've seen a lot
of dogs eat their vomit. If you and I will examine ourselves,
brothers and sisters, if we're born of God, if we're His, truly
I mean, you and I can see the difference. in us and these apostates. Sometimes we may look at them
and we say, boy, that may be me. But you examine yourself. And you can see within yourself
these three things. You can see who's keeping you. You know what kind of person
you are. And you know there's a greater power keeping you than
your human nature. There's a power working in you
to cause you to desire the Lord Jesus. To cause you to continue
to come to Him and pray to God and rest upon Him. And you know
there's a heart of faith in you that keeps you looking and believing. When you feel so weak, you can't
go another step. And you feel like you can't believe.
And you feel like you've got more faith than unbelief, and
yet you keep believing. What is that? Something these
didn't have. You see it in yourself, don't
you? And you see something in you that wasn't there before.
It's something that truly hates sin and loves righteousness. There's something there that
hates yourself, and hates your sin, and hates your way. There's
something there that wants to be holy, wants to be like the
Lord and follow Him fully. It's in you. And when you examine
yourself, you may have to do it prayerfully and examine yourself
closely and watch, but you'll see there's a difference in you
and these apostates. It's more than just a bunch of
head knowledge to you. And you're kept by a power that
these weren't kept by. And if the Lord Jesus should
come to you tonight and give you the invitation that he gave
his apostles of old, and says, if you can, leave. If you can, leave. What if he
gave you that invitation tonight? If you can, leave. Do you know
what you would say? If you're born of God, if you
have the Spirit of God in your heart, you know what you're going
to say? Lord, to whom shall I go? You have the words of eternal
life. And I believe and I'm sure that
you're the Christ. You're the Christ. You're the
Son of the Living God.