God’s Just Judgment
II Peter 2:20-22
Verse 20, For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
I. This is a very hard verse, but we must keep in mind that Peter is not talking about whether these people are saved or lost. He is talking about the perfection of God’s judgments.
A. I think it is necessary at the very beginning to state that Peter is not talking about losing ones salvation.
1. Hebrews 6:1-6 states that a person cannot lose their salvation.
2. John 3:16, 6:37, 10:28, Romans 8:28-39 are a few other verses that teach the impossibility of losing ones salvation.
3. Peter is talking about losing ones life and causing others to lose their life.
B. We must notice the word "if" at the very beginning.
1. We enter into the realm of human responsibility.
2. Men, saved and lost, have a responsibility to hear and obey God's commands.
3. God does not force our "wills" into obedience, making us "puppets on a string".
4. God has given every man a mind and will, and man is responsible for what he does.
C. He is talking about false teachers, saved or lost.
1. The words "through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" indicates that they have at the very least a "head knowledge" of God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and salvation.
2. They may have only a "head knowledge", but they might also have a "heart knowledge".
3. Whether these false teachers are saved or lost is not the statement.
4. The statement is that their false philosophy has caused them to return to their former destructive ways.
D. It must be noted that these false teachers have already escaped the pollutions of the world, not necessarily the destruction of eternity.
1. Escaped means to flee away from.
2. Pollutions means defilement, and uncleanness.
3. This passage indicates that these false teachers have lived in righteousness for a while, but have forsaken that way of life.
E. These lost people haven't escaped the condemnation of hell.
1. Their righteous life has caused them, as lost people, to escape the consequences of sin they didn't sin.
2. Their righteous life hasn't caused them to escape the condemnation of hell.
3. Only trust in the Lord Jesus Christ causes salvation and deliverance from hell to come.
F. It is likely they did not find peace and contentment in that righteous way of life. Why? They didn’t yield to God. They tried to serve God and mammon.
1. Matt 12:43 - The person in this passage finds no rest when the unclean spirits have gone out of him.
2. It didn't fit their traditional way of thinking, the way they were taught when they were growing up.
3. They didn't like being different from the world.
4. They never came to see they were lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, Phil 2:15.
5. I Sam. 8:5 - Israel sinned against God by desiring a king like all the other nations.
G. There is a correct way for God's children to flee from the wickedness of this world.
1. II Peter 1:4 - The saved flee away from the corruption that is in the world through the promises of God.
2. II Peter 2:18 - The righteous flee away from those who live corrupted lives.
II. They are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
A. Notice the gradual decline into their former ways.
1. The word entangle suggest an interweaving of sinful acts into their righteous lives.
2. It doesn't seem to be a wickedness they intend to be involved in.
3. The wickedness grows from a small seed, until it fills the whole of them.
4. The situation of the false teachers is that they know the way of righteousness (whether mental or spiritual I do not know), but they have become so engrossed in wickedness they have forsaken the right way.
5. We must notice again that they have become entangled with wickedness because they find little or no comfort, satisfaction, in the Christian life.
6. When they seek satisfaction it is always with the things of the world, not with the things of God. "Pleasures of sin"
B. God's people are warned of becoming entangled in wickedness.
1. Matt. 22:15 - The Pharisees take counsel how they might entangle Christ in His talk.
2. Gal. 5:1 - Christians lose their liberty in Christ when they become entangled with the yoke of bondage.
3. II Tim. 2:4 - "No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life..."
C. Why is their latter end worse than the beginning?
1. They have found a fault with God's righteousness.
a. They have set themselves up as a judge over God.
b. They believe the world revolves around them and their thinking, not around God.
2. They cause others to stumble.
a. Whether they mean to or not, others will follow their example.
b. Darwin didn't intend to establish evolution as a truth, but a hypothesis for investigation.
3. Matt. 12:45 - Satan keeps him more closely bound.
a. The parable of the unclean spirit going out of a man, and he cleans himself up, but he finds no rest.
b. He returns to his former way of life, but this time he takes seven other spirits more wicked than himself.
4. They think they have found a lie in the Word of God.
a. Any investigation into the Bible must be prefaced with the fact that the Bible is the true Word of God.
b. There may seem to be contradictory statements in the Bible, but the contradiction is in our minds, not the Bible.
5. A fuller explanation is given in the next verse.
Verse 21, 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.
I. This is another hard verse for many think it is better to act like a Christian for a while even if they fall back into sin.
A. We must accept this scripture as true, whether we understand it or not.
1. The very first step involved in finding the truth is to accept what the Bible says.
2. Then more understanding will come, for our eyes will be open to accept the truth as God gives it to us.
B. The word "for" means "because", referring to verse 20.
C. It is better to be ignorant of righteousness, than to know it and turn from it.
D. Luke 12:41-48 – The judgment of some people will be worse than the judgment of other people. There is a judgment of WORKS for the saved and the lost.
1. Lost people that haven't heard the gospel will have a severe judgment, but God understands their predicament.
2. A lost person who has heard the truth will have a more severe judgment than the lost person who hasn't heard.
3. A saved person who hasn't heard the truth will be judged by God for breaking his commandments, but his judgment won't be as hard as the saved person who has heard the truth and disobeys.
4. Saved people who have heard the truth, but rejected it will have a greater judgment than the saved person who hasn't heard the truth.
5. People who hear the truth and walk in it for a while, being convinced it is true, then turn from that truth because they believe it to be untrue, will have the severest judgment.
E. More explanation why verse 20 is true.
They have dishonored the cause of religion in their personal lives.
II Peter 2:13-14 - These deceivers count it pleasure to riot in the day time, they sport themselves with their own deceivings, they have eyes full of adulteries, they know they are beguiling unstable souls, they know their heart (their innermost, private, secret lives) are not right with God.
That is, they have ceased to believe God and His eternal promises.
They see no need of applying the promises or God, or the purposes of God, to their everyday lives.
They have become entangled with the affairs of this world, and see only what this world offers, failing to see what God offers them for eternity.
They have dishonored the cause of religion before others.
II Peter 2:17-19 - These verses describe what the false teacher is to those that look on.
Others have looked up to them, expecting to be led to God, instead they are led to the very pits of depravity.
Others have looked up to them, but because they fail to see the necessity or blessings of God in their own personal lives, they have stopped living for God like they should.
Therefore, they are a discouragement to others.
I am sure everybody knows somebody who formerly was true to God, yet now has left off being faithful.
When this happens, there is a wondering if they ever had the truth.
Sometimes, those that look on might wonder if there is anything to religion.
To the person looking on, if a person who was believed to have the truth failed, is there really anything to it all.
They will sink deeper into depravity because they have known the heights of heavens glory.
II Peter 2:15 - They have forsaken the right way.
Because these false teachers have rejected the plain written truth of God’s Word, they will never see the clear evidence in lives.
These false teachers had risen to great heights of glory, not only in living, but also in proclaiming the truth of God’s Word.
But because they have rejected God’s truth, there is no hope for them ever heeding the still small voice of the Lord once again.
Verse 22, But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
I. The dog is turned to his own vomit again is a quote from Prov. 26:11, "As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly."
II. The sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
A. According to Barnes Notes on the New Testament, this proverb is not found in the Old Testament, but was common in the Rabbinical writings, and is found in the Greek classics.
B. I have no trouble believing this proverb is true, even though it is not a quote from the Bible.
1. It must be noted that Peter does not say it is a quote from the Old Testament.
2. He calls it a proverb, meaning a precept, dictum, saying, motto, or common saying which represents or symbolizes a truth.
3. He uses a saying that his readers will know is true.
III. The meaning of this verse.
A. Negative.
1. This verse does not teach that a person can lose their salvation.
a. It is impossible to lose that which God has already paid for with the blood of his only begotten Son.
b. This verse actually teaches what will happen when the Spirit of God is not evident in a person's life.
2. This verse does not teach that only lost people will return to their former way of life.
a. Saved people do not lose the sinful nature when they are saved, but retain that original, sinful nature.
b. The saved person is continually reminded in the scriptures to yield themselves to God, and fight the lusts of the flesh in order to live a holy life.
c. Paul even declares that he beats his body, bringing it into subjection to God's will.
d. When a saved person yields to the flesh, they will return to their former lifestyle.
e. At this point, God will chasten them, and they will listen, or God will chasten them, and they will not listen.
f. If they listen, they will ask God to forgive them, they will be forgiven, and they will continue in God's service.
g. If they don't listen, they will die in their wickedness, go to heaven, and lose the crown of righteousness (good works).
B. Positive.
This verse is teaching that the person succumbed to the sinful nature.
This happens when a person pays attention to that wicked, sinful nature, and yields to the wooing of that sin.
2. A lost person will yield to that sinful nature for they don't have the power of God to resist.
3. A saved person will sometimes yield for a while to that sinful nature if they don't accept the power of God available to them.
IV. A word of warning to the saved.
A. It is never good to flirt with sin.
1. Saved people sometimes think it does no harm to indulge "slightly" in "a little bit of wickedness".
2. They mistakenly believe that a little bit of sin doesn't hurt.
3. The truth is that a little bit of sin will grow into something uncontrollable and unbelievingly large.
B. A person never intends to go very far into sin.
1. They may not intend to go very far, but sin is very difficult to stop once it starts.
2. A person often wakes up to his sin after he has committed an act he never believed he could commit.