2 Peter. I think I'll take the time to read
this entire chapter. If you have a few Bibles, it's
on page 1325 if you want to read along with me. I encourage you
to do that. 2 Peter, beginning in verse 1. But there were false prophets
also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers
among you, who privately shall bring him damnable heresies,
even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves
swift destruction. And many shall follow their destructive
ways, their prenacious ways, by reason of whom the way of
truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall
they with fiendish 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 unto those
that after should live ungodly. And delivered just Lot vexed
with a 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 knows
how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve
the unjust until the day of judgment to be punished. But cheaply 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 bring not relent accusations 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 write 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, and 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 Boshor, who loved
the wages of unrighteousness. but was rebuked for his iniquity,
the dumb ass, speaking with man's voice, forbid the madness 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 lust of the flesh.
Through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from
them who live in error. 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. 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
had 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 mower. I want us to look at just a few
verses here in a minute in this, but I want to have you to remember
that Peter was an apostle to the Jewish nation. He and James
and John met with Paul and Barnabas there in Galatians chapter 2. They shook hands and said, now
Paul, you and Barnabas, you go to the Gentiles. And you preach
to them and you write epistles to them. And Peter said, me and
James and John, we'll go to the circumcision. We'll go to the
Jews. And preach to them. And for the most part, Peter's
preaching was to the Jewish nation. It was to the Jewish people.
And Peter watched as several of these Jews made Christian
professions. They made professions of Jesus
Christ, that He was the Savior. And He watched them as they joined
the Christian church for a while, and then they left the Christian
church. And they went outside the Christian church, and some
of them became preachers and some became teachers. But they
were teaching Heresy. They left the Christian faith. He tells us here in my text that
they went astray. They forsook the right way following
the path of Balaam. And not only did they bring in,
he tells us in verse 1, these damnable heresies, but they became
antinomians, what we call antinomians. They had no rule. They had no
rule in their conscience. They had no rule in their daily
lives. They would not submit to God,
and they would not submit to man. We see that here in verse
1, that they denied the Lord. They denied His rule. And then
they would not submit to the government. They would not submit
to the laws of the land. We're told that. But Peter was
writing, Wayne referred to this earlier in Acts 15, he was writing
to the Gentiles concerning these very men. And he said, Wherefore
we have heard that certain went out from us, and they have troubled
your soul with words. They have subverted your soul. They have deceived your soul. speaking like this, that it was
necessary for you to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses, to
whom we gave no such commandment, he said. These men have not learned
of us. They've not preached what we're
preaching. We did not tell them that you had to make circumcision
and the law of Moses with Christ to be saved. We did not tell
them that. They went out from us. And John
was writing about the very same men when he said, they went out
from us, but they were not of us. They're not in the family
of God like we are. They don't have the new nature
as God has given us. God has called us into the ministry,
but they're not of us. They don't preach what we preach.
If they had been of us, they no doubt would have continued
with us. But they went out that it might
be manifest that they are not of us. And Peter tells us what happened
with these men. He says there in verse 15, they
have forsaken the right way. They professed the right way
for a while. But he said then they denied,
they forsook their profession. For a time they walked in the
truth. But now they have denied that
truth. And they've gone astray. And who knows for all the reasons
these men went astray. Some of them went astray for
money. There was some money to be made in pastoring these churches. And they went astray for fame,
to have people to pat them on their back. There was different
reasons, but Peter said they've gone astray. They've gone astray. And boy, I tell you, there are men that we know in
our day, there are preachers and teachers that we know, and
they have been caught up in some awful scandals in their daily
lives. But I don't know of anybody in
our day that lived such ungodly lives as these men did here. Did you notice some of the things
as I read to you? And these were teachers. These
were preachers. Chiefly them that walk after
the flesh in the lust of uncleanness. They despise government. Rule. Authority. They're not afraid
to speak evil of those who rule. In verse 12, these as natural
brute beasts, they're like beasts made to be taken and destroyed,
speak evil of the things they understand not, shall utterly
perish in their corruption. and shall receive the reward
of unrighteousness." Look at this, "...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. And they have eyes full of adultery,
and they cannot cease from sin, deceiving, beguiling unstable
souls. A heart they have exercised with
covetous practices, cursed children. And he just goes on. Well, these
were ungodly people, but they were teachers. They were teachers. And beginning here in verse 17,
that's where I want to begin, Peter tells us the kind of ministry
that they have. He mentions a couple of things
here about their ministry, and he says they are wells without
water. That's the first way he describes
them, wells without water. They're dry wells. As far as
bringing men nearer to God, as far as refreshing men's souls,
they cannot. They're dry wells. How often
did our Lord Jesus Christ say such things as this, If any man
thirst, let him come to Me and drink. He that believeth on Me,
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. He said things
like this, If you had asked of Me, I would have given you living
water. Living water. Whosoever shall
drink of this well, he told that woman, you'll thirst again. But
you drink of that water that I'll give you, you'll never thirst
again. There will be a well in you springing
up unto life everlasting. Whosoever will, let him take
of the water of life freely. Mr. Barnard was reading those
verses one day, and he wrote a song to that effect. I heard
the voice of Jesus say, Behold, I freely give, to live in water
thirsty one, stoop down and drink and live. And he says, I came
to Jesus and I drank of that life-giving stream. My thirst
was quenched. Thirst for what? Salvation. A thirst for forgiveness of all
my sins. A thirst for fellowship with
the living God. Have you ever thirsted for that?
Thirst is an amazing thing, isn't it? You can't rest if you're
really thirsty. You can't be content if you're
really thirsty. Until you have that quenched. Oh, I came to Jesus as I was. And I drank of that life-giving
stream. My soul was satisfied. My thirst
was quenched. And now I live in Him. That's the message of the Bible.
But these men didn't have that message. They had nothing for
a poor, thirsty soul seeking life and salvation. They had
nothing for a poor, dry, barren spirit To refresh it. Peter said
they're dry wells. They're dry wells. And the second
thing he says about them here is this. They are clouds that
are carried with a tempest. They are empty clouds. Judah
called them. Waterless clouds that are driven
of fierce winds. That's what they're like. You
know grace within your heart is a very tender plant. And it
has to be watered. And listen to what the Bible
says about the grace of God watering this plant and how it's watered.
My doctrine, He said, my Word, my teaching, my Gospel, shall
drop as the rain. And my speech shall distill as
the dew, and as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as
the flowers upon the grass." Oh, how gently this plant of
grace is watered. And it's watered so simply by
the plain teaching of the Word of God. These men didn't have any water.
All they were was violent clouds, empty clouds being blown around. This is the way you tell them. This is the way you can tell
them. You've seen these clouds. You've seen them come out of
the west. And boy, they just come sweeping through. And they
don't water tender plants. They blow them down. And they
just blow all over the place. Here comes one through and it
blows over your corn in your garden, just lays it flat. And
you talk to your neighbor who is a mile away and he says, man,
did you get that wind that came through and just leveled my beans? And you talk to somebody two
or three miles down the road, boy, did you get that wind that
came through and knocked my yard tree down? That's the way you
tell these winds that blows these clouds that have no water. They're
just all over the place. They're all over the place. And
they don't do any good. They don't water the tender plant
of God's grace. They tear things down. We sometimes
turn our TVs on and we turn some of these evangelists on the TV. And you know why we do that?
Just to see what they're going to say tonight. What in the world
is this man going to say tonight? Because they're all over the
place, aren't they? You can't tell from one minute to the next
what they're going to say. They're like winds driven, clouds
driven with the wind. When Paul was writing to the
Ephesians, you know what he told them? He said, when the Lord
Jesus ascended on high, He gave gifts to His church. To the early
church, He gave apostles and prophets. And to all the churches
of all ages, He's given evangelists and pastors and teachers. And
what did He give them to the church for? To establish the
church. To perfect the church. And they
speak the truth in love to the church. Why? That we be no more
children tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine by the
sly and cunning craftiness of men whereby they lay and wait
to deceive. Peter said, these fellows, they're
like clouds that have no water. And they're just everywhere.
They're all over the place. And they do more damage than
good. Here in verse 18, he tells us
something else about them. Look at this. He says here in
verse 18, For when they speak great swelling words of vanity,
They speak swelling words. Boy, they just swell with words. I'm amazed when I watch some
of those fellas. Man, they can put sentences together. They can put paragraphs together.
They put pages together. Sometimes I have to have notes
just to keep me going. They don't need notes. Man, they
can just go right on, can't they? And just captivate people. Great
swelling words. But everything they've got to
say has never brought anybody closer to God. Nothing they've
got to say will help you on your way to heaven. Why? Because he
says it's words of vanity. Empty, useless words. I had a friend of mine I heard
one of them preach one time and he got a chance to talk to him.
The fellow came by after saying nothing in the whole message.
And he said, what do you think of my message? He said, for what
I got out of it, you could put it in a little thimble and put
a big cork in it. That's how useless it was. And
that's what Peter said. Boy, they can go on and on and
blow the eight. But it's all empty. It's all
empty. And he says here in this verse,
they allure, this is amazing, this word means to entice or
trap or tempt you. They allure you, they entice
you through the lust of the flesh. Their ministry is all about the
flesh. It's not about spiritual things,
it's about flesh. Promotion on my job. They can tell you how to get
promoted on your job. They can tell you how to get a better
job. They can tell you how to make more money on your job.
They can tell you how to have a happier family. They can tell
you how to have more friends. They can tell you how to be healthier. Some of these things are good,
aren't they? But they're fleshly. They're
temporal things. Peter said, they allure through
the lust of your flesh. It's things the flesh thinks
about and craves and lusts after. It's about living in this present
world with little regard for the world that's to come. You
know if a man truly loves the Lord, if a man truly fears God,
and he's seeking truly that heavenly world, truly seeking the heavenly
world, seeking first the Kingdom of God, you know He's not going
to have all of this trouble about living in this world? I think it's very telling that
when the Lord Jesus Christ preached that Sermon on the Mount, He
warned us against these very things. He said, don't be anxious about
this life. Ain't that what He said? Don't
be anxious about the food you're eating. Don't be anxious about
what you're going to drink. Don't be anxious about what you're
going to wear tomorrow. Don't be anxious about your job.
Don't be overwhelmed with the things of this world. He said,
these are the things that the nations of the world seek after. The world seeks after these things. The world talks about promotions
on your job. The world is overwhelmed with
bank accounts and finances and all of these things. The world
is seeking these things. He said, you seek first the Kingdom
of God and His righteousness. And the providence of God, the
providence of your Heavenly Father will provide these things for
you. Ain't that what He said? Don't
worry about tomorrow. There's somebody that controls
tomorrow. And it's not you and it's not
me. And to sit around and worry about tomorrow? and have somebody
else to spend so much time that he preaches entire messages on
tomorrow, and you're planning tomorrow, and all this stuff,
they're going right the opposite from what our Master said. Aren't you glad, brothers and
sisters, that your Father in Heaven rules these things? And
He provides these things for us. Doesn't that free us up?
Isn't it wonderful to be free from self-security? Trying to
secure our life in this world? What a freedom that is! And the
Lord Jesus said, instead of seeking, instead of being so anxious about
this world, if you be risen with Christ, set your affections on
things above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. For
you're dead and your life is hid with Christ and God. But
yet Peter said, when these fellows preach, they want to bring you
into this flesh. It's all about flesh. It's all
about living in this world. It's all about carnal things. And notice something else here
in verse 19. This is amazing. Verse 19. This
is very telling. Look here, boy, it's easy to
promise a lot of things. They're almost like politicians
promising things. While they promise them liberty,
they themselves are the servants of corruption. They promise them
liberty. But I wonder what kind of liberty
it is. What kind of liberty would it
be? Was it liberty from any restraints? I wonder if that was the kind
of liberty they were promising. We want to free you from any
restraints whatsoever. Even restraints from the government
of God. Even restraints from the rule
of His Word. Boy, that's liberty, ain't it?
Flash loves that kind of liberty, doesn't he? You know who told
us of that liberty? You know who was the first one
that brought this liberty up? Satan, back there in the garden. He came to Eve and said, has
God told you not to eat of this fruit of this tree? And she said,
God said, we can eat of all the trees except this one fruit.
And He said, don't you eat this, don't you even touch it, the
day that you do, you'll die. And he said, boy, He's not giving
you much liberty, has He? You don't have the liberty? No,
we don't have the liberty. Why don't you have the liberty?
Because God said, don't you eat it. Don't you eat it. Boy, unrestrained
liberty is a dangerous thing, isn't it? That's of the devil. Liberty to disobey God? Liberty
to not live under His rule and authority? That's not liberty,
that's bondage, isn't it? And he said, listen, what you
need to do is go ahead and eat of that tree and you're going
to be free. You're going to be free. God
doesn't want you to have this liberty, so He's put you under
bondage. Just go ahead and break loose
and eat of this tree, and boy, you're going to be as God. You're
going to be free. And you know what she did? The
Bible says she saw the tree. And she looked at the fruit.
And she said, it was good for fruit. She saw that the tree
was good for food. Brothers and sisters, was it
good for food? No, it wasn't. Why wasn't it? Because God said, don't eat of
it. Don't eat of it. And then the Bible says, she
saw that it was pleasant to the eye. What kind of eye would that
have been pleasant to? Lustful eye? An idolatrous eye? A covetous eye? And she said the tree was to
be desired. Desired? Was it to be desired? No! To desire what God had forbidden
was idolatry. To make one wise. Did it make
them wise? Made them fools, didn't it? Made
them fools. Brother Larry was talking about
the chaos in our country now. The tyranny that's going on.
You know, we have people in our country that want unrestrained
liberty. Unrestrained liberty. They want
to think. They want to say. They want to
do. They want to act however they
please. And one of the ways they want
to obtain that end is to cast off any knowledge of God. The knowledge of God as their
Creator puts a restraint upon their conscience. And they think
if they can reach the point that they can cast off the knowledge
of God from them, there's when we'll have liberty. There's when
we'll enjoy our freedom. But they don't understand, brothers
and sisters, you're going to serve somebody. You and I have
got masters. And it's impossible to free ourselves
from masters. God is our master. And we're
bound to Him. Or we're mastered by sin and
Satan. We see some of these scientists
today, and poor ignorant fellows like us, they call us Neanderthals. You guys are burdened with that
old dogma of the days of the Neanderthals. And if you used
to go among a bunch of these scientists today that told us
we come from some big bang, and we used to swing in trees by
our tails and all of that, and we finally developed into this,
boy, aren't we proud of ourselves. I tell you, we are because we're
used to swinging trees. We were ignorant and lived in
caves. We were stupid. But look at us
now. I mean, if this world stands
10,000 more years, there's no telling what we may be like.
We'll keep going up, don't we? That's what they're telling us.
But that's not so. We started way back yonder and
we was up. And we went down and we keep going down and down.
And if you used to go in with some of these scientists gathered
out and you say, you quote Exodus 20 and 6, that in six days the
Lord God made the heavens and the earth and all that in His
is and rested the seventh day. You know what they call you?
Oh, you're bound by that old Neanderthal dogma. You're in
bondage to that old dogma. What they call bondage, I call
liberty. Don't you? I've enjoyed no more
liberty in my conscience than when I submit my understanding
to God's Word and just believe what He says. That's my liberty,
isn't it yours? And they call us In bondage? They say we're in bondage? Man,
they're in bondage. They're in bondage to one another's
opinions. They're in bondage to one another's
research that's always changing. They're in bondage as they can
be. And I prefer the bondage of my Lord to the bondage of
man and the bondage of sin. Don't you? What kind of liberty
here were they talking about? Ah, I'm afraid it wasn't good.
I love that old song. I was humming it this morning
on my way to church. America, America, God mend your every
flaw. Confirm your soul. Make your
soul steady. Confirm your soul. In what? In
self-control and your liberty in law. No country, no country
will remain a country that thinks it has a right and that God has
given it unfettered liberty. The liberty of a nation will
stand and will be enjoyed under this rule, self-control and law. And when self-control is set
aside and men think they can think and do and have any kind
of wretched attitude they want to have, that's bondage. That's bondage. There is no spiritual liberty
but that which Jesus Christ gives to the conscience by His grace
and blood. And that liberty does not extend
to the corruption of the flesh. The same chapter of Galatians
that said, Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has
made you free, Turned right around and said, they that are Christ
have crucified the flesh with its affections and its lust. What is true spiritual liberty?
It's liberty of the mind. It's liberty of the conscience.
Liberty from what? From our greatest enemy. From
our strongest adversary. Sin. and guilt and condemnation
and the power of it to rule over our lives. Liberty from the curse
of the law and from the wrath of God and from the oppression
of Satan. Listen, what is true spiritual
liberty? It's liberty to worship God in
spirit and in truth. It's being set free to serve
God with all your heart. To serve Him in love without
a torment in fear. Liberty to enjoy God. Liberty
by the power and grace of God. To rule over ourselves instead
of ourselves ruling over us. That's liberty. And it has to
be guarded. Oh, when Paul said, stand fast
in this liberty, it has to be guarded. You have to constantly
be looking to the Lord Jesus Christ who reigns in the conscience. And then you have to be guarding
this flesh. He wants to be let loose to live
like He wants to live. To serve corruption. Oh, to have the proven witness
of the Holy Ghost that God is a Father to me. That's liberty. That's liberty. To live by faith
in hope of that bright and beautiful world that's to come that is
called our Father's house. And to have the laws of that
house to be the laws of my life. That's liberty. That's liberty. That's freedom. I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live in the life
that I now live. I live by faith in the Son of
God. That's liberty. Such a man doesn't
care for the opinions of this unrighteous world. He puts no
value upon their so-called liberties. He counts their liberties to
be his greatest bondage. He used to have that liberty.
Liberty of the flesh. Liberty to serve his sins. The
Lord has delivered him from that and set him free. This man is
above all bondage. He's above all fear. He doesn't
have to fear the world that now is or that world that's to come.
Sin has lost its power to rule over him. Grace now rules him. He doesn't have to fear death
or dying. He doesn't look beyond death
to a mist of darkness. But he looks beyond death. And
he sees a light that's shining more and more into the perfect
day. Brothers and sisters, that's
liberty. That's liberty. Liberty of conscience with the
flesh crucified with its affliction, affection, and its lust. Do you value that liberty? That's
a liberty that can't be measured. Boy, consider that liberty in
its true light. And here's the way you consider
that liberty when you're laying on your deathbed, looking out
into eternity. That's where we learn to value
that liberty. And there's not a man anywhere
that gives thought to this true liberty when he thinks about
it in his true light. Would not give everything that
he possesses. and all the temporal joys of
this world, to possess that liberty when He comes down to die. But
that wasn't the liberty these men were preaching. These men
were preaching tyranny, lawlessness of the conscience. We see it in our country, but
we see it in these preachers and these teachers. Look at this, verse 20. Peter
tells us something else about them. This is so serious in verse
20. He gives something of the insight
of their past. Look at this. Look how fearful
and look how disappointed. He tells us here in verse 20,
for 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 with them worse
than the beginning, they had professed the Lord. At one time,
they had professed the Lord. And he says here, they had escaped
the pollutions of the world. The pollutions of the world.
You know the Bible doesn't have anything good to say about this
world, does it? You just study about what the Bible says about
this world, it never says the first good thing about it. It
says this, it's a present evil world. All that's in the world
is just lust. Lust of the flesh and lust of
our own pride of life. We know that we're of God and
the whole world lies in wickedness. Paul called it a crooked and
perverse generation. The Lord Jesus said, I testify
of this world that the works are evil. And all that's in this
world, the imaginations of men's hearts, is only evil continually. the pollutions within this world.
But Yiddish says these escaped it. For a while they had escaped
the outward pollutions of this world. And they did it through
the knowledge of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Boy, head
knowledge will take a man a long way, even in religion. They heard
about Jesus Christ the Savior. And they come to the knowledge
of Him in their head. And it was such a powerful knowledge
that for a while they escaped, Peter said, the corruption that's
in this world. And man, this was amazing. Their
friends looked at him. And they said, I knew that man
when he was ungodly. And look at him now. He's escaped
what's still holding us as slaves, the pollutions of this world.
He made an impression on people. He escaped the pollution. I tried
to escape the pollution for a long time, in the world, in my heart.
I couldn't do it. Not apart from the grace of God.
But Peter said these did. But here's the scary thing. They
are entangled again and overcome. He tells us through things you're
entangled and overcome. I got a window on the south side
of my, in my office, and I had a little spider that built a
web. And I tore it down, cleaned it
all out, and I'm telling you, come right back, and the spider
had come right back and built that little web again right across
the window. And I found out why that spider was doing that. That's
a little path that bugs crawl through. And I looked one day,
and there was just a little bug, pretty big bug, He had his leg
hung in that web. And man, he was pulling and turning
and twisting and tugging. I thought, man, you're going
to pull your leg off. I thought, well, I'll get you out. And I
thought, no, I'll just see if you can get out. You got yourself
in there, I'll let you get out. And finally, he snatched loose.
And man, he took off. I saw another bug. It got in
there. And it had a leg entangle and
it pulled and tugged and finally rolled over and got some more
legs entangled in that spider web. Then I got to noticing that
little spider would run out there and wrap him up and run back.
Run out and wrap him up and run back. And it finally, not only
did it entangle him, but it overcame him and ate him. And that's what Peter's telling
us here. These fellows made a profession of Jesus Christ. And for a while,
they were so impressive. They were delivered from the
corruptions within the world. But he said now, they've not
only been entangled in these corruptions again, but he said
they've been overcome by them. Overcome. Brothers and sisters,
be careful. Be careful with sin. Be careful
playing around with sin. Be careful dabbling around the
edges of temptation. There's been a lot of people
who did that and they got entangled and they were overcome. Be careful. Be careful. And he says here,
the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. Give
me just a minute. Give me just a minute. Ain't
having an evening service, so give me a minute. I always have
to remind you of that. He said the latter end is worse. Why is the latter end worse?
Well, let me give you three or four quick reasons. One is, they
get more open and profane. They get hardened against sin. Look at these. Look at these
men. Look what happened to them. Look how open and profane they
got when they denied their profession. Secondly, the devils are more
resolved never to let them go again. Boy, I let you go one
time. I am never letting you go again.
You know, the Lord Jesus spoke a word that just suits this,
that explains this. Listen to Matthew 12.43. When
the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, The unclean spirit
walks through dry places, seeking rest and finding none. And then
he says, I return to my house from which I came out. And when
he returns to that house, he finds it empty, swept, and garnished. Then he goes and takes with himself
seven other spirits, more wicked than himself, and they enter
in and dwell there." And listen, the last state of that man is
worse than the first. It's a dangerous thing to profess
Jesus Christ and to tell your friends that He saved you. and
then turn on Him and go back to sin. That's a dangerous thing. Because usually it don't turn
out well. Usually your life will become
worse than what it was before you professed Him. I've seen
women deny Christ just before they left their husbands. I've
seen men deny Christ just before they got on drugs or became drunks.
I've seen men deny Christ before they wound up in jail. It never
turns out good. The last state is worse than
the first, just like it was with these men. And I'll tell you
something else too. Those people that do this, they
do despite to the Spirit of grace. Men and women cannot profess
Jesus Christ publicly. and then go back to their sins
without grieving the Holy Spirit. It brings shame upon the Son
of God. It tramples Him under their feet. And fourthly, this, here's why
the last end is worse than the beginning. Few, if any, are ever
recovered from such a state. And he says here in verse 21,
It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness
than after they had known it to turn from that holy commandment. It had been better. Better never
to have heard the gospel. Better never to have professed
Jesus Christ than to profess Him and do what they did. Here's
the nature of the gospel, brothers and sisters. It's going to have an effect
upon people that hear it. It's going to affect people that
hear it, either good or bad. It's going to affect people.
Those who hear it and believe it and live upon it and live
by it, it's going to have a good effect on them. It's going to
have a good effect. Those who hear it and reject
it, do not live by it, it's going to have a bad effect upon them.
That's the nature of the gospel. Listen to this. This is the condemnation. That light has come into the
world and men love darkness rather than light. There's a condemnation
that we're all involved in when we're born. We're condemned because
Adam sinned against God. But there's another condemnation
that's even greater than that. And that's here in the gospel.
and despising it. If the word spoken by angels
was steadfast, and every transgression received a just recompense of
the reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? He that despised Moses' law died
without mercy. Of how much sore punishment,
suppose you, shall he be thought worthy who has done despite and
has trampled the Son of God under his feet? You know what the Lord
Jesus said about Judas Iscariot? It would have been better for
that man never to have been born. If a man dies lost, it would
have been better for him never to have been born. But He said about Judas, He said
about him, after what you have seen, After what you have experienced,
you walk with the Son of God, you saw Him do the miracles,
you saw the love that He showed to poor sinners, and you turn
right around and betray Him with a kiss, turn on Him to hate Him,
it would have been better for you that you would have never
heard His name, that you would have been born in some heathen
country and lived and died without the knowledge of the Savior.
That's the nature of the Gospel. There's some of you here this
morning. Bless your heart. If you leave this world after
setting out of the Gospel like you have, and you're unsaved,
you're going to wish you'd have been born in some dark jungles
of Africa. That's the nature of the Gospel,
isn't it? But he said in verse 22, this
has happened to them according to the true proverb, the dog
is returned to his vomit again, and the sow that was washed to
her wallowing in the mire. This can't be remedied, Peter
said. This is going to happen, and we see it happening over
and over again, and it can't be remedied, and I'll tell you
why. The Word of God says it's going to happen. It's going to
happen. There's going to be dogs that's
going to return to their vomit again. We've seen this happen.
When I was in Tennessee, we had old coon dogs and hounds, and
man, I've seen them get sick. And they'd start gagging him
from the depths of their stomachs. They'd throw this stuff up. And
they'd be so sick of it, they'd turn. It wouldn't be thirty minutes.
You'd see them back over there licking it up. You thought, man,
they'll never do that! They eat a rotten bunch of stuff
anyway. Boy, they learned their lesson.
And they did for a while. And then they turned right back
to it again. And the old salve that was washed, Somebody got
her out of the mud hole, washed her up, put perfume on her, put
a big pink ribbon on her and she looked so pretty. Look at
my Sal. Look what a pretty Sal I've got.
They turned her head and there she was back in the mud hole.
And you know the whole problem was? A Sal is a Sal. That's her nature. A dog is a
dog. That's its nature. And the whole
problem with these men was this. They never had a new nature. Notwithstanding their knowledge
of the Lord and Savior. Notwithstanding it caused them
for a while to escape the pollution. They never had a new heart and
a new spirit. This is my prayer and I'll close
with this. I hope this is your prayer this morning. This is
my earnest and honest prayer to God. To a God who hears and
answers prayer. Number one is this. Give me more. Give me more than just the knowledge
that Jesus Christ is the way. I want to know more than that
He is just the way. I want to know Him who is the
way. Reveal Him to me. Oh, Father,
reveal Jesus Christ to my heart. Reveal Him to me through the
Word. Reveal Him to me by the Spirit. I've got to know Him. That's my first prayer. The second
one is this. Give me more than the knowledge
of the truth. Give me the love of the truth. We must have the knowledge of
the truth. But the knowledge of the truth without the love
of the truth will not secure us from leaving the truth. These
men left the truth because they didn't love it. They left the
Lord Jesus because they didn't love Him. I'm telling you, if
you love your wife, you're not going to leave her. You're going
to hang with her too thick and thin, aren't you? And if you
love the Lord Jesus, if you love His Gospel, You're not going
to leave it, not in public or not in private. Thirdly is this. Here's my prayer. Give me a faith
that is saving. Give me a faith that is saving. Nothing was mentioned about their
faith in this passage. Because they didn't have saving
faith. Maybe they had an historical faith. I don't want that. I don't
want a faith that devils have that just makes me tremble. I
don't want a faith that can be overcome with trials. I want
a faith that's a gift of God. I want a faith that's been begun
in my heart by the power of the Holy Ghost. I want a faith that
is maintained by the power of the Holy Ghost. A faith that
cannot be overthrown when temptations come. And when I'm tangled up
with weakness and sin, a faith that lets me look again to Him.
for mercy and forgiveness. Oh, give me saving faith. Give
me saving faith. Give me this. Give me a new heart.
Give me a new spirit. I don't want a different heart.
I want a new heart. I want a heart that hates sin
and loves obedience. I want a heart that loves holiness.
That's the heart I want. Lord, to whom shall we go? I'm
not leaving you. I love you. That's the heart
I want, ain't you? Here's my prayer. Lord, work
in me daily to will and to do. Don't leave me alone. Don't leave
me to myself. No matter what others do, don't
let me go. Keep me. Draw me. Give me more
grace. Give me wounding grace and give
me healing grace. Give me killing grace and give
me life-giving grace. More grace. Lord, more grace.
Give me more grace. Wean me from this world and its
pollution. And lift me up into that pure
air of heavenly places. That's my prayer. I don't want
to end up like these fellows. Do you? Lord, bless His Word. Thank You
for Your patience. Oh, our Father, gracious Father
in Heaven, tender and wise and holy Father, we thank You for
access that You've given us through the Lord Jesus, Your Son, that
You delivered up for us. And we thank You that You're
a God who hears prayer. You're a God who forgives sins.
And You're a God who comes and abides in the heart and to keep
Your children and to strengthen them. and to keep them from going
astray. Oh, Lord, if there's any here
this morning, they're not Your children. I pray that it would
please You this morning to make them Your children. That You
would give them a new birth. That You would begin a work of
grace in their hearts that neither this world, nor Satan, nor flesh
can overthrow. Oh, Lord, give us grace to hate our
sin and to love our Savior supremely. Thank you for this privilege
to come here this morning and worship. Thank you for the songs that
we heard this morning. Thank you for the Word that was
taught here this morning. Lord, please keep these dear
people. We go out of here this morning and go our separate ways
back into this world of pollution. Oh, keep us, our Master. Watch
over those dear people who are struggling. Watch over those
who are sick. Be merciful to those, Lord, who
have gotten awful, awful news and their hearts are broken.
Oh, let us see Your hand at work, Lord. We see our hand. We see
sin everywhere. It seems like everything is all
out of control and confusion. If we didn't believe that You
rule over all things, our hearts would despair. Oh, we're glad
that You're God. You're sovereign in all Your
ways, in all Your works. You're sovereign. We bow to You. We ask these things in Christ
Jesus, our Lord's name. Amen. One or two announcements. I've
put some dates. We were talking about going over
to the.