140824 What has Enslaved You?

2 Peter 2:10b-22, Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, ¹¹ whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. ¹² But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, ¹³ suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. ¹⁴ They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! ¹⁵ Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, ¹⁶ but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. ¹⁷ These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. ¹⁸ For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. ¹⁹ They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. ²⁰ For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. ²¹ For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. ²² What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

Peter’s second letter is written to encourage his fellow Christians. Chapter one encourages us to make sure of our calling and election. We are to do this by adding to our faith certain qualities of Christian growth. We are to add virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection and love. When we do this we are kept from being ineffective and unfruitful in our Christian walk. If you practice these qualities you will never fall. Chapter two is a portrayal of the false prophets and false teachers who came in (and will come in) to bring down the faith of many. First, we see that God knows how to bring judgment where it’s needed and also God knows how to rescue those who need rescuing.

Chapter two continues to talk about the false prophets that worm their way into the church. These are not necessarily preachers or teachers they are people who exercise influence over others. As you mature in the Christian faith you have a better and better grasp of how to deal with such people. I have observed over the years many of these wolves in sheep’s clothing. I have not always known how to deal with them but I am now being more direct about confronting them. When they are confronted they usually are very offended and try to do as much damage as possible on the way out. Their judgment is coming to them. We need to remember that God said, “Vengeance Is Mine I will repay.” We need to leave these people up to God. In the meantime we need to be careful to recognize them for what they are…

The false teachers are recognized by their lifestyle. Jesus was very clear on this subject. Turn with me to Matthew 7:15-20. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶ You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

This is not an invitation to judge others. At the beginning of the chapter Jesus said that we are not to judge. The word used for judgment here means attributing an inner motive to a person. It’s easy enough to observe a person’s actions but it is not always easy to know exactly what they think they are doing or what their intentions were when they started. Sometimes something that appears to be very wrong is really very innocent. We need to make every effort to avoid every appearance of evil in our actions but it is not always possible. For example, a person might be seen going into a very unsavory bar. There are many possible reasons for them being there besides the possibility of drunkenness. We should be careful not to attribute a motive to that person. We should always assume the best possible intentions. Let God be the judge in every situation.

When we observe their fruit there are couple of things Peter tells us will characterize them. One of them is…

They are greedy. Paul wrote to Timothy to warn him of the dangers of greed. Turn with me to 1 Timothy 6:9-10.  But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

We live in a world where a desire to be rich is very common. The desire for riches is an open door for temptations and bondage. Money itself, or the things it can buy, are not necessarily evil. However the love of anything that stands between us and God is evil.

Jesus was confronted one day by a wealthy young man who wanted to know what he could do to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him, at the end of their conversation, to sell what he owned and give the money to the poor. Jesus could see that this man’s material wealth had replaced God in his life. Yet it is not just the rich that are guilty of this.

Jesus went on to tell his disciples that only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Their question immediately was, “Who then can be saved?” You see they knew that they were as guilty on the inside as this man was. They had left all to follow Jesus but they still coveted the “stuff” of the world. Jesus addressed the issue in the Sermon on the Mount when he taught them not to be anxious about the things of this world. Instead of seeking the things he said to them…

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33

We need to train ourselves to seek the kingdom first and allow God to give us the things we might need. When looking at the fruit of the false teacher they are guilty of greed and…

They are sensual. Turn with me to Paul’s warning to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 6:18-20. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰ for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Peter tells us that these invaders of the body of Christ have eyes full of adultery and they are unsatisfied in their own sin. Paul warned the Corinthian church about the dangers of sexual immorality. We must remember that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. We must never do anything that would grieve the Spirit who has come to live in us. If we are constantly conscious of his presence we will be careful to avoid the things that are offensive to God. The false prophets are greedy, sensual rebels that pretend to have a relationship with Christ in order to entice people into their influence. They come into a church and latch on to the unsteady person who is not yet mature in Christ. Like their master, Satan, they promise what they do not produce…

They are always a disappointment. Turn with me to Jude 10-13. But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. ¹¹ Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. ¹² These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; ¹³ wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

Brother Jude sees the same kind of people that Peter has been dealing with. He sees them as being rebels like Cain and greedy like Balaam. Then he uses an illustration that is very similar to what Peter used. These false prophets are clouds that do not give rain, trees that do not produce fruit, they are wild waves of the sea. In every case they lead people astray and never give them what they promise. The damage is done in our lives when we follow after these false prophets. The temptation is destructive enough that we are defeated by it. The false prophets are greedy and sensual and unsatisfying. These people are offensive in every way once you see behind their disguise. You will see that…

They are slaves of corruption. Turn with me to Romans 6:15-23. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶ Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, ¹⁸ and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. ¹⁹ I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. ²⁰ For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ²¹ But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. ²² But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There appear to have been people in the first century church who took the message of grace and turned it into a tool of corruption. They heard the gospel of grace and then said, “The more you sin, the more grace is given.” So they led people into covetousness and sexual immorality with a promise that they would experience more grace to overcome the sin in their life. The unstable person that they were working on could not understand that they were submitting themselves to lifelong slavery because they heard the words promising them freedom. Peter said they promise them freedom but they themselves are slaves of corruption.

Today, everywhere we turn there is the promise of some kind of freedom that cannot be fulfilled. Young people, and it seems they are younger every year, are told that they are free to be involved in sexual activity. Once they begin this lifestyle they discover that it is not easily stopped. In fact, the culture we live in is “in your face” with all kinds of sexual sin. Then, they seem to be surprised at the results in the lives of young people. The media exposes people to the use of drugs but fails to tell them that the freedom to participate leads to slavery. Everywhere we turn freedom is offered but not delivered. Anything that overcomes a person becomes the tool of Satan to bring the person into bondage. It may be a desire for power or popularity. It may be participating in illicit sex. It may be the use of tobacco. It may be drugs. All these things and many more lead to slavery!

These people that are called “waterless springs” and “clouds without rain” always lead to disappointment. These false prophets come into the lives of unstable people who have knowledge of the things of Christ but…

Knowledge is not enough. The letter of Hebrews has a similar passage to what Peter had to say in 2 Peter 2:20-21. These verses are often misused. Turn with me to Hebrews 6:4-6.  For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, ⁵ and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, ⁶ and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

Neither of these passages of Scripture teaches that a person who is genuinely saved can be lost again. What they teach is that the more a person knows of Christ and his way the more severe will be their judgment. Jesus told the story about a person who went out to sow seed. The seed was the solid word of God and was capable of producing life. The seed, some of it, fell by the wayside and the devil took it away. Some seed fell on the ground that had no depth and it sprang up but could not take root and then a time of testing causes them to shrivel up spiritually. Some of the seed fell among the weeds and thorns and was smothered to death without being able to produce fruit. In the best case the seed fell on well-prepared ground and quickly pushed its roots deep into the ground and produced much fruit. The last group are the only ones who were truly saved.

The letter of Hebrews tells us that these seed that fell along the wayside, or on the rocks, or among the weeds represent people who have been enlightened and are conscious of the gospel but fall away and find that it is impossible for them to come to repentance. Peter, as well as Hebrews, is simply stating the same thing that is found in First John 2:19, they went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us they would have continued with us. Or, as Jesus said, “He who endures to the end will be saved.” Or as Paul said to the Corinthians, “I preached to you the gospel which you received, in which you stand, by which you are saved, if you hold fast.” There is no salvation apart from persevering faith.

I grieve many times over those who come into the church for a time only to fall away when faced with a little difficulty. The Bible doesn’t hold out a lot of hope for those people.

Jesus spoke of those who called him Lord and claimed that many miracles were done in his name and he said, “Depart from me I never knew you.” Jesus does not say that he once knew them and now does not, he says that he never knew them. Peter talks about the false teachers as being a part of the church and still filled with greed and sensual passions. As we look at the worldwide church today we see so many that meet that description. These are not people who were once saved and are now lost but instead these are people who have rejected the truth and the way of righteousness. It would be better that they had not known the truth. Only those who persevere to the end are saved. We need to constantly examine ourselves to be sure we have saving faith! Where do you stand today? Are you bound to Jesus Christ or enslaved by Satan? Please put your hope in God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

All scripture quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.