Dogs to Their Vomit

2 Peter chapter 2, and I'm going to read the whole section 12 through 22, because it deals with the whole subject. So 2 Peter chapter 2, 12 through 22, and remember that this is a very tough section. Peter is dealing with false teachers, and so he has some very, very strong things to say about them. So let's read from verse 12. But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who counted pleasure to carouse in the daytime. There are spots and blemishes carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you. Having eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, they have a heart trained in covetous practices and are accursed children. They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. But he was rebuked for his iniquity, a dumb donkey speaking with a man's voice, restrained the madness of the prophet. These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lust of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption, for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. For after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome. The latter end is worse for them than the beginning, for it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, a dog returns to his own vomit, and a sow having washed to her wallowing in the mire. So really, really strong words. And we got up to verse 16 last week, that he was rebuked, that's Balaam, for his iniquity, a dumb donkey speaking with a man's voice restrained the madness of the prophet. Now he's going to continue to explain what these people are like and what the consequence of their actions is. So the first thing he says is they are wells without water. And you'll see by the way that in this passage he uses a lot of analogies, a lot of pictures to describe these people. And the pictures are very, very graphic and they really bring the message home. And so they are wells without water. A picture which we don't fully appreciate because we have water in our taps and it's not a big deal for us. But if you are out in the desert, and this is a desert area where most of these people live, you find out or you hear that there's a well over there. They're not rest stops every few miles. There are no 7-Elevens where you can buy a Coke. You have to get to where there is a well. And having sometimes trekked for a couple of days to find the next well and then finding that the well has no water. That must be the most devastating experience when you have run out of water and you're thirsty and your animals are thirsty and you come to a well and there is hope that maybe that there would be water in the well and the well is dry. And he says that these preachers are like that. In other words, they have a promise but they don't deliver. They have a promise of providing water to quench the spiritual thirst of those who come to them. But when they come to them, there is nothing. Remember Jesus said that he has the water of life. He speaks to the woman at the well and he says that if we drink of him, we will never thirst again. But Jesus also speaks about those who are true believers and he says that are filled with the spirit because from their innermost being will flow rivers of living water. So all of us should be a source of living water, not just water but living water to those who are thirsty and parched in the world around us. And the sad thing is that many times Christians, not just false teachers like these, but many times Christians are just like this. That the world comes to us for sustenance, the world comes to us for solutions and answers and we don't have solutions and answers. And so they are disappointed and they go away thirsty looking for the next place where they can find some kind of quenching of their thirst. And then the next picture is exactly the same thing but from a different angle. There are clouds carried by a tempest. Clouds carried by a tempest. Some translations say a mist carried by a tempest. Tempest is a strong wind. And so the same thing and I remember and I may have shared with you many years ago but I remember as a young boy growing up on the farm and going through a tremendous drought in South Africa at that time. I don't remember how many years it was but it was a terrible, terrible time. Animals were dying and farmers were doing anything just to keep their livestock alive. And I remember the farmers looking at the clouds and seeing the clouds build up. Now we don't have many thunderclouds here. Sometimes they build up over the desert. But that was where our water would come from and you would see the clouds build up and there's great hope that here is the rain and then the wind comes and blows the clouds away and there is absolutely nothing. It's the same picture. A promise of help. A promise of sustenance. A promise of quenching that spiritual thirst. And yet when you come to these guys in fact they have nothing to offer. They have nothing to give. Now he says, For whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Terrible strong words. In other words they are damned. It's interesting that that same phrase you see the darkness forever. If you go back to the... I had it earlier. Verse 4. If God did not spare the angels who sinned and remember we said we believe these are demons but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment. Chains of darkness. So the demons are reserved in chains of darkness. These false preachers, he pronounces the same judgment on them except for the chains but they are reserved. They are imprisoned. Well not imprisoned but they are reserved for the blackness of darkness forever. In other words they are clearly still alive because they still pose a threat to the church and to young believers and we'll see particularly young believers are the ones who are vulnerable. So while they are still alive they are already condemned. They are reserved. We know what that word means. You don't see it much anymore but if you go to a fancy restaurant and you reserve a table there's a little card on the table that says reserved. In other words this belongs to someone and it's set aside for that purpose. They are set aside for the purpose of God's judgment and God's wrath. Verse 18 For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness they speak great swelling words of emptiness. The clouds are great swelling clouds but they're empty. There is no water in them. Obviously they use words. Words is the tool of their trade and they speak great words puffed up words. They sound very good. They're very slick and very smooth. They make great promises and you see this in many many ways particularly in the prosperity teaching but I don't want you to think that that's the only place where there's a problem. There's a problem in many other areas but all of these promises of being rich and of being blessed and of all of your problems going away great swelling words but they're empty. There is no substance to it. And it's you know I just don't understand why Christians are so gullible when they hear these great promises when they hear these great words and as I've said to you recently I've been listening to a lot of preachers lately just something that I'm doing and I listen to them I look at the title of their video and I listen to what they're and it's great swelling words but there's nothing to it. There is no substance. There is no bread. There is no water. There is no food. There is no Holy Spirit. There is nothing to it. It's just a bunch of words and this is unfortunately what they are able to use and they allure in other words they draw or they tempt through the lust of the flesh through lewdness the ones who've actually escaped from those who live near it. Now this is a complicated verse because there's a lot of ideas in here. So they speak great swelling words and they tempt or draw or allure through the lust of the flesh. Now that may be open sensuality including sexual stuff but also the lust of the flesh is not just sexual. The lust of the flesh is for money. The lust of the flesh is for power and for pride and ego. These are popularity. These are all the lust of the flesh and we'll see as this thing develops in these next few verses that that's exactly the problem is they're basically preaching a easy gospel and saying you can come and God's going to help you God's going to bless you He's going to forgive you you're going to have eternal life and you can continue in your lifestyle you can continue in your sin whatever that may be. And that's exactly what we're seeing today is that there's a cheap gospel being preached of coming to Christ and finding what He has to offer while you get to keep everything that you have all of your sin all of your addictions all of your habits all of your pride all the lust of the flesh you can keep those things but that's not the gospel and so through the lust of the flesh and through lewdness and this is particularly sexual of nature now they allure they draw through these things the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error now this is where it gets complicated so who are the ones that are being drawn the ones who have actually escaped the word escaped here is should and some of the modern translations translated a little bit better who have barely escaped from those who live in error in other words just in plain English these are people who have become Christians but they've just come out of the world they've just escaped the error of the world the error of maybe even false teaching and they've just come to Christ and they are vulnerable and those are the ones that are drawn by this kind of thing earlier on in the chapter he speaks about that they draw unstable souls these are people who are up and down in their Christian walk who have no solidity to their faith their faith is on shifting sand all the time these are the ones that are drawn Paul speaks about the fact that they lead captive silly women and it's not against women it's against silly people people who have nothing else to do and who are not strong in the faith that are not founded on the foundation and the rock of Jesus Christ who are unstable and people are unstable because they are walking in disobedience they are unstable because they are immature and they are unstable because they are building their lives on emotions rather than on the word of God it's only when we build on the rock of Christ Jesus that stability comes into our lives and so these are the ones that are vulnerable it doesn't mean that those who have been Christians for a long time cannot be tempted as well obviously that's true but these people pray particularly on young believers they pray particularly on unstable believers they pray particularly on people who are living with one foot in the world and one foot in the church and so those are the ones that are what did they call them in the Old Testament? the mixed multitude the mixed multitude those who were half Jewish and half Egyptian those who didn't fit in with the move of God they were at the back side all the time when the people of Israel got to move from one place to the other they were the stragglers right at the back and those are the ones that the flesh you remember Amalek was a picture of the flesh and Amalek attacks them there at the back the devil's tactics has always been the same while he does attack the strong he particularly focuses on the weak and he particularly waits until the weak are weak until the weak are separated from the body of Christ because it's in the herd if you will that there is strength but when the devil is able to separate us out and get us out on our own that's when we are vulnerable because we don't have the protection that comes from others standing with us supporting us encouraging us warning us of the lion that's coming and so the devil's tactics has never changed and it is still the same today and so these are the ones that he goes after or that these preachers go after because clearly they are his agents verse 19 while they promise them liberty they themselves are slaves of corruption for by whom a person is overcome by him also he is brought into bondage now as I do sometimes I want to deal with the end of the verse and once we get that understood then we can go back to the beginning of the verse so he says they are slaves so don't worry about the promises this is the preachers the false teachers they are slaves of corruption why are they slaves of corruption? for because by whom a person is overcome by him also he is brought into bondage so he is saying these guys are enslaved to corruption basically sin they are enslaved to sin you say well are these preachers? yes these are preachers and remember that when we speak about sin immediately we think well adultery, murder robbery, those kinds of things remember that is that is just the visible side of sin there is the whole other side of sin of ego and pride and arrogance and of divisiveness and of hatred and of division this is all sin and there are preachers who are taken captive by this kind of corruption their lives are controlled by these things you can watch them online filled with hate filled with anger filled with vengeance against those who would point out their error and the list goes on and on and on so they are slaves to corruption they are slaves to sin yet at the same time what they are doing going back to the beginning of the verse they are enslaved but they are promising their hearers liberty can you see the contradiction? they haven't found liberty and yet they are promising everybody else liberty come to Jesus or come to me or come to my church and Jesus will set you free but they have not been set free they are enslaved they have been taken captive and they have been overcome so the idea of a person being overcome is a military term it's really if you have gone to battle against a nation or an army and you overcome that army you then take those prisoners of war and you take them captive this is the language that he is using so they have lost the battle and the devil has taken them captive and he has taken them captive to do according to Paul his will not the will of God but the will of the devil and so in their captive state in their enslaved state they are promising liberty now the liberty that they promise is not true liberty it is a false liberty it is what we would normally call license remember the difference between liberty and license license is permission to do and in this sense to do what you ought not to be doing now let's go back one verse they allure through the lust of the flesh through lewdness that's the attraction now let's go back to verse 19 they promise them liberty so they are using sin let's just use those words from verse 18 sin they are using sin and they are promising liberty so how does that work? they are saying you can continue in your sin you can be set free from the condemnation in other words let me illustrate it this way so there is a person who does terrible stuff in the world whatever it may be, it doesn't matter and they feel condemned because they know what they are doing is wrong they know it's bad they know that they are condemned that if they die they would go to hell but what these guys are doing and this is exactly the message that is being preached today is come to Jesus and he will forgive you, you can go to heaven so you are set free from the condemnation you had before but you still continue in your sin and of course that's not the gospel but that's exactly what people are drawn by today by the millions all across the world just come to Jesus and you can continue in your adultery you can continue in your homosexuality you can continue in your stealing you can continue in your anger you can continue in your bitterness you can continue in your addictions it doesn't matter because once you come to Jesus you are forgiven and it's all good that's what these guys are promising and they can't promise anything more because they themselves are enslaved now verse 20 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 in them and overcome the latter end is worse for them than the beginning now it's not clear who he's speaking about here and if you read the commentators some will say he's speaking about those who have been deceived and others say no he's speaking about the preachers the false teachers well again I think it's ambiguous for a specific reason and that is that it applies to both and I've looked at it very carefully and I've said well if this is the preachers is this true, does this verse work if we say if after the preachers have escaped the pollutions of the world then yes it works but if we say no it's not the preachers it's the deceived, those who have followed the teachers if after the deceived have escaped it still works so let's have a look at it because it therefore cuts both ways so they have escaped the pollutions of the world the sin, pollution really is sin again in a very broad sense sin pollutes, makes dirty pollution is making dirty when we speak about the pollution of the air we say the air is dirty when we say the water has been polluted the water has been contaminated it's made dirty and so they have escaped the filth the dirt, the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ so have they come to faith it seems they have because they've escaped these things by knowing the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ so did the preachers come to faith I think they did did the deceived and that's about the best word I can use to speak of these people who are deceived by the false teachers did they escape yes they did because if you go back again let's go back to verse 18 they allure through the lust of the flesh through lewdness the ones who have actually or have barely escaped from those who live in error so the deceived have escaped they may have barely escaped but they've escaped can you see that it's the same idea here where are we, 20 so they have escaped the pollutions of the world verse 18 says they've escaped so they've done so through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ but now they are again entangled in them they are again entangled I think we understand that word entangled being tied up with when we speak about the ram in the thicket remember that Abraham saw the ram was entangled I don't think it uses that word but that was what happened the ram was entangled in the bush was caught by the bush it was ensnared and tied up and so they are again entangled notice the word again so they were ensnared they were tied up by the stuff of the world they are now again entangled by the stuff of the world so they are again entangled in them what is them well the pollutions of the world if you read the second line if they have escaped the pollutions of the world they are again entangled in them they are again entangled in the pollutions of the world in the filth and the sin of the world and the word entangled I think is an important word because it's not making it's not saying you know that they've just bumped into it if I have bumped into this pulpit I'm not entangled in this pulpit I can still step away but if I'm entangled in a roll of barbed wire or a thorn bush you're caught that's the bottom line you're caught and you cannot escape and this is the problem is that people are entangled in their sin so it's not something they can step away from it's something that they have been caught in and that has wrapped its tentacles around them and has drawn them in so they are again entangled in them and overcome can you see that he's repeating these ideas he's speaking about he speaks about the preachers let's just go back again verse 19 while they promised them liberty they themselves committed the corruption for by whom a person is overcome caught and made captive by him also he is brought into bondage now here in the next verse you have the same word they are entangled and overcome so the sin overcomes them gets victory over them and ensnares them and imprisons them so they become enslaved again the reason why I'm emphasizing that they are entangled and that there is a difference between bumping into something and being entangled in something is that when you bump into something you can step away so all Christians from time to time bump into and maybe that's not the best expression but into sin they make contact with sin but it's a momentary thing it's a brief thing you're able to step away but when you allow yourself to become entangled you can't step away and if you can, it's very, very difficult and so he's not speaking here about Christians who occasionally sin and I'm not approving of that but he is talking about Christians who are getting entangled and remember Paul says that no soldier entangles himself with the affairs of this life that he might please him who enlisted him who called him and so as Christians we cannot while we have to do business with the world we have to work in the world we have friends and family and things but the moment we get entangled we have a problem and so you can have unsaved friends for the purpose of witnessing to them but when that relationship becomes an entanglement becomes an emotional bond or maybe even a marital bond or a business relationship bond and you're now tied together it's very difficult to escape and that's the point and so if they're entangled in them and overcome the latter end is worse for them than the beginning terrible statement the latter end what is the latter end? well remember the context all of Peter is warning about the coming judgment about the fact that Jesus is coming again remember we've just two weeks ago three weeks ago we went through all of those verses about Sodom and Gomorrah and about Noah remember that the judgment of God is sure it is coming and when he speaks about the end he is speaking about the coming judgment that's the context of the book so their judgment in the end will be worse than it would have been at the beginning did Jesus say something to the same effect? I think Peter is quoting Jesus here just slightly different words we dealt with that in Luke chapter 11 a few weeks ago if a demon is thrown out of a man or cast out of the man and that house is left empty the demon comes back he finds the house swept and clean and he finds seven friends and they come and the end of the man literally the same words the end of that man is worse than the beginning and remember that when we spoke about that we said that the way to deal with that because it's not just the demons it's the sin when we step away from sin when we get freed from sin and we allow that same sin back into our lives it's never at the same level as it was before it is always worse that's just the nature of things and the answer obviously the answer as we look at Luke 11 is to fill the house to occupy the house with something in certain countries in the world they have squatter's rights it's a terrible law but basically if the house is empty squatter's can move in and they have the right to stay there because they have rights and there's a whole major procedure takes sometimes years to get rid of them so you have to make sure that there's somebody living in the house all the time otherwise you leave the house empty the squatter's are going to move in now you can see the problem with us as Christians you can come to Jesus and you can get washed and cleansed but if there's nobody living inside and we know who needs to be living inside the Holy Spirit needs to be living inside Jesus needs to be living inside but we don't fill ourselves with Him the sinner's going to come back and find oh here's a nice place to stay and that's the problem Christians say well I don't know how I can't get victory over sin well the problem is not fighting the sin the problem is getting your life filled with the right stuff being filled with the word of God being filled with the Lord Jesus being filled with the Spirit if you walk in the Spirit you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh the answer is not fighting the flesh the answer is filling myself with the Spirit and that's exactly what happens here and so the latter end is worse for them than the beginning it would have been better for because it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered to them let me deal with the end again and then come back to the beginning the Holy Commandment is not a particular law it's all of God's word it's what God has given to us and said to us it's not the Ten Commandments it's not the royal love if you love God or the royal commandment love the Lord with all your heart it is all of what God has given and told us it's the gospel really and so if they turn from the gospel if they turn from the word that has been given to them so let's go to the beginning for it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn from the gospel or from the Holy Command why is it better to not have known it than to have known it and turned away well for two reasons the first is because as I said earlier you end up worse than before there is nothing as wicked and as evil and as sinful and as depraved as a man who once was a Christian and have turned back to the world somehow all bars are removed there is no restraint I've seen it many times it's a terrible terrible place to be remember the one demons gone seven come back but there is a second reason and that is because of the judgment those who have not known the way they don't get a free pass and when I say not having known the way they have not actually experienced what it is to be a Christian they have not become part of the body of Christ so they are unbelievers out there in the world they don't get a free pass but remember that Jesus said that it's going to be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for some of the Jewish towns why is it going to be more tolerable for them because they didn't have the opportunity of hearing the Messiah whereas Capernaum heard the gospel from the mouth of the Lord Jesus himself so they have no excuse and they will be dealt with more harshly than those who were in Sodom and Gomorrah and he says the same thing about Tyre and Sidon two very wicked cities in the Old Testament so clearly what Peter is warning us against is the false preachers and he's telling us what will happen to them this applies again to them can you imagine the judgment that they will be under having preached a false message and having led many astray and there are many who are in that category today but the same thing applies to us as Christians and I do believe he's speaking about Christians because that's what the context says I'm not going to go over that again and what Peter is saying is be careful don't be deceived don't listen to false teachers be careful who you listen to but be careful about filling your life with the right kind of stuff because if you don't you can become entangled again and folks here's the problem that as a Christian the moment we get caught by sin when sin just begins to grab hold of us we know that we have the Holy Spirit but somehow we ignore the warnings and we get deeper into it and then we say well I don't know how to get free well maybe it's too late I hope not but that's not the time to try and extricate yourself that's not the time to try and free yourself the time to free yourself is when you feel the first hold the first contact with that kind of thing and so that's why we have a bush it grows about six, eight feet tall and if I translate the name it is a hook and prick tree and it has lots of thorns and the thorns go two ways there are thorns that hook you and there are thorns that stick at you it's not just sticking stuff it's hooking and sticking stuff and that's exactly when you get near that tree you know and it will ensnare a man it will get hold of you and hold you captive and the harder you fight the more it draws you in the moment you feel the prick of sin that's the time to run not the time to say oh well remember Samson I can deal with this it's not a big problem now the last verse again these very graphic illustrations but it has happened to them according to the true proverb and he's quoting from the book of Proverbs a dog returns to his own vomit and a sow this is not from the Old Testament but it's not from anywhere else in the Bible but a sow having washed it was a common parable at the time a proverb a sow having washed to her wallowing in the mire what a terrible description and of course it's important to notice that he is speaking about a dog and a pig to the Jews these are the most vile filthy disgusting animals we don't quite understand that because we eat pigs and we keep dogs the Jews those days they never kept dogs dogs were they were outside the city they were filthy things you didn't have anything to do with a dog nobody had a pet dog and they didn't eat pig and so he's saying you've become the worst of the worst and becoming the worst of the worst filthy cast out the dogs were outside of the city you remember Ahab's wife Jezebel Jezebel was killed and the dogs licked her outside of the city that was the most the most insulting thing that could happen and so he's saying you're no longer in the city you're outside you're no longer clean and washed you are defiled and not only that but you are eating these filthy stuff and wallowing in the mire what a warning I don't understand how Christians can play with sin when the scripture contains these very clear and very graphic warnings and yet somehow we do and so let me remind you that the passage is speaking about false teachers and it's a serious warning to us to be careful of those teachers to be careful who we listen to to be careful what we watch on YouTube or on Facebook or anywhere else but at the end of the day the warning is to each one of us personally make sure that we're filled with the spirit that we're filled with the Lord Jesus that we're filled with his word that we're in the place where we ought to be within the context of the protection of the body of Christ that we're spiritually in the place that we would be that we're sensitive to those things that want to entangle us and recognize those things it happens so quickly just one puff of the cigarette or just one drink or just one look at the pornography and the list goes on and on just one is enough to drag people in and to tie them up and we see this terrible disgrace of this young man who's been who's in prison well he's out on bond right now they were upheld as a prime Christian family in America and yet he's been sucked in and his life destroyed by pornography of the worst kind a dog returning to its vomit and a sow having been washed now I'm not condemning this young man but he's a warning to us how easily it can happen to any one of us God give us grace Father we pray that you'd help us Lord it's easy to look at these verses and to just shrug them off or to apply them to the false teachers or to apply them to other people around us but Lord they are written for each one of us Lord they are written for me personally and Lord as I look at these verses I shudder and Lord I am made more careful again to say I need to make sure that I stay away from those things that can draw me in that can entangle me that can capture me and can rob me of the liberty I have in the Lord Jesus Christ Lord I pray that you would help each one of us every one of us Lord there is not one here this evening or there is not one that is listening to this message who is not vulnerable who is not exposed to temptation and to sin Lord I pray that you'd help us to be filled with you and your word and your spirit Lord that there would be no room that there would be no time that there would be no energy for the stuff of the world that we may not be entangled again with those things but Lord that we may walk in the great and glorious liberty with which Christ has made us free and Lord he's made us free in the sense that he's delivered us from the power of sin he's given us the ability to say no he's given us the power to have victory over sin and to walk in holiness help us Lord to avail ourselves of that which you've come to give us I pray this in Jesus name Lord we pray that you'd help that you'd help us that you'd cause us Lord to be those who don't bring shame upon your name Lord particularly those who are regressing and going backwards instead of moving forward Lord I pray for your help for each one of us in Jesus name I pray pray Lord that you'd go with us keep us protect us and bring us together again on Sunday I pray in Jesus name