Grace, let's continue to worship our God this morning as we consider his word, and we're going to do that this morning by turning to 2 Peter 2. 2 Peter 2. We have been systematically working through this text, as many of you who have been with us know, and we're going to come to the end of chapter 2 today. I'm going to read in your hearing verses 19-22. 2 Peter 2 verses 19-22. So let's give our attention to the reading of God's Word. But they themselves are slaves of corruption, for whatever overcomes a person to that, he is enslaved. 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. 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. 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. Thus far the reading of God's word. The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of our God stands forever, and we are grateful for it. Let's ask that the Lord would seal that word to our hearts this morning through the ministry of the word. Would you bow with me? Father God, we thank you that in every church across this land and, yea, verily, across this globe, your Son, Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep, is ministering to his people. And yes, you have raised up undershepherds, and yes, Father, they should and shall do your bidding. But Father, we all know that it is really your Son who ministers to us by his person and work. And Father, You know that in this place there are sheep who have wounds that need the salve of Jesus Christ. And so I just pray that Your Son Jesus, I pray that You would shepherd Your people this morning through the preaching of Your Word. And I pray that we would have ears to hear and eyes to see. I pray not only, Father, that where we need to be rebuked, we would be rebuked, but probably more importantly, Father, especially after a chapter such as this, that where we need comfort, You would give comfort. where we need hope and need to see redemption, you would help us to see redemption. And you remind us, Father, that this is, after all, your world, as the hymn says. And in your world, you work redemption. Despite the news narratives that we see, despite the narratives in movies that we often come across, Father, there is redemption in this world. and His name is Jesus Christ. Help us to see Him clearly this morning, we pray, in Christ's name. Amen. 2 Peter, beloved, has been a very solemn chapter, 2 Peter chapter 2. Many of you have felt its weight, you've felt its gravitas, and I do not regret having gone through it. It is very important that we go through a chapter like this. I think often times it's easy in the ministry of the Word in any given church to just say, well good grief, this chapter is just so tough. We're just going to jump over it. We're going to try to do it in one go. As I've reminded you often, though it is solemn, it is something that we need to be reminded of as the people of God. Because I think that it is so easy through the subtleties of the world, the flesh, and the devil for false teachers to infiltrate the ranks. And we have bent over backwards in the ministry of the Word through this chapter to tell you that it is not only Jesus' responsibility and His desire to protect the church, but it is also the responsibility of Her under-shepherds to protect the church, but it's also your responsibility as well. We work together. There is a careful dance between elders and congregation that must take place in the context of any local church in order to prevent false teaching, the cancer and decay and gangrene of that which can possibly send a soul to hell. But that being said, I do want to make an important distinction this morning because I think that when we hear all this rhetoric of false teachers, it's easy for us to go on a false teaching safari and anyone or anything that disagrees with us exactly down the line in every single jot and tittle, we just want to put a title false teacher on them, but I want to make a very important distinction this morning. I would say that every heretic is a false teacher, but not every false teacher is a heretic. That's a very important distinction. As many of you know, in Protestantism, if you want to put it that way, There are those with whom we disagree, and yet we're still gonna see them in heaven, right? And I think that the way, if you wanna know what the key is to knowing how to distinguish a false teacher, capital F, capital T, from a false teacher, lowercase f, lowercase t, it is the understanding and recognition of primary, secondary, and tertiary doctrines. There are primary doctrines that if somebody disagrees with us on those doctrines, they are not brothers and sisters in the Lord, and we should distance ourselves from them, a biblical distance. But there are other areas, primary and secondary issues, where we're gonna have differences of opinion, and I'm not going to say it's okay in the sense that it's okay that they're teaching something different. Those secondary and tertiary matters are very important, and we must get them right, and if you don't get them right, you're not doing your due diligence. But let me just remind you, my wife reminded me of this verse in Matthew 5, verse 19. Remember when Jesus was saying that he did not come to relax the law. He actually came to uphold the law and even strengthen the law, but also to show that fulfillment of the law is in him. He says in Matthew 5, verse 19, therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." You know what's interesting about that verse is, though they teach, you know, contrary or they relax one of the commandments of God, they're still in the kingdom of heaven. Did you notice that? They're still in the kingdom of heaven. Now, they may be called least in the kingdom of heaven. There does seem to be some principle of capitalism at work in the new heavens and the new earth, and that's okay. We embrace that, okay? But we do recognize our brothers and sisters, maybe even our charismatic brothers and sisters, maybe our brothers and sisters who are dispensationalists, they're going to be in heaven because they get the gospel right. They're going to be in heaven because they believe in the triune God, but maybe in some way, in some form that I don't totally understand, to be 100% honest with you, they will be called least. But they're going to be in heaven, and there are brothers and sisters, and that's an important thing to keep in mind. But all those who teach falsely on that primary category of doctrine are false teachers. They are heretics, and those are the ones that we need to be the most concerned about. Now I want to point out a second thing in this text which I think is really important for us to remember. It's interesting that these false teachers are apostates. Now what is apostasy? Apostasy is when somebody falls away from the faith. They distance themselves from the true faith that is going to save them on the last day. They fall away from salvation. Now we know, if we can qualify that, and we need to qualify that, it's not that they had salvation and they lost it, it's that, as we've said time and time again in this pulpit, that they profess to have this salvation, but in reality, when push came to shove, as the parable of the soils teaches us, when the weeds of this world sprout up, or persecution comes, or the heat of persecution comes, they show themselves to be who they really are. Okay? So it's important to recognize that apostasy is a reality, but this apostasy for these false teachers is interesting. Because if you went to these false teachers and said, now wait a minute, do you believe in Jesus Christ? They wouldn't say, no, I don't believe in Jesus Christ, I'm an atheist now, or no, I don't believe in Jesus Christ, I'm a pagan now, or agnostic now. They would say, I believe in Jesus Christ, but here is the difference you see. What Peter is saying is that despite their profession, their moral corruption and denial of the second coming of Jesus Christ and subsequently denial of a final judgment and their leading others astray shows that despite their profession of faith in Christ, it is a faith in a Christ that doesn't exist. It is a false faith. Now that is a very important distinction for us to make, because it is possible that though many profess faith in Christ, it is not a saving faith. We should not have this knee-jerk reaction that simply says, without any qualification, if you believe in Christ, that's all that matters. The question is, what about Christ do you believe? What Christ do you believe? Jesus even says on the Sermon on the Mount, in the last days there will be many Christ, lowercase ch, if I could put it that way, There will be many Christ's, many of those who will claim to be Christ's, and so we must be very, very careful. So I think what Peter is doing here is something similar to what John does in 1 John 4, verse 1. Don't turn there. But you'll recall, it'll be a very familiar passage to you. In 1 John 4 verse 1, John says, And I think what Peter's doing in this passage, is he's taking up the assumptions and the convictions of the apostates, and he's showing them to be foolish. He's showing them to be illegitimate. He's showing them to be without authority. He is taking their creed, the apostates' creed, and he's testing it, just as John said in 1 John chapter 4. He's testing the apostates' creed. So what I want to do is I want to lift from this text three assumptions, three convictions, three creeds of the apostates and show how Peter turns them on their ear and says, no, if you believe that, you're damned to hell. And then in the end, he's gonna give us some hope. So three testing of the apostates' creed, testing three tenets of the apostates' creed. Here's the first one. The first thing that the apostates' creed says, and we see this in verse 19, is we offer a real and substantial freedom. That is their claim. We offer a real and substantial freedom. Look at verse 19. They promise them freedom, speaking of the false teachers, they promise them freedom but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person to that he is enslaved. Now what kind of freedom do false teachers offer and how is it distinct from the freedom that is offered in the gospel? Well very simply, listen to me, false teachers offer freedom from the law and final judgment. Let me say that again. They offer freedom from the law and final judgment. In other words, freedom from having to obey the law. You don't need to do that. In fact, let me just assuage your conscience that that is just all Moses. That is just all law. It doesn't have anything to do with you. You are free. That's what Christ did, right? He made us free. It's a perversion of the concept of liberty and freedom. Not only are you free from the law here and now, but in the eschaton, in the new heavens and the earth, in the last day of judgment, you're free from that judgment. Because if you're not held accountable here, nor shall you be held accountable there. How is that different from the gospel? Well, the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, offers freedom from the guilt and punishment of the law, not from the law itself. You see? You see the distinction there. We as Christians do not say, oh, I'm free, I don't have to keep the law. No, we're saying, I can't keep the law, I never have kept the law, I never will be able to keep the law, and as a result, what the word of God says about me and about you is that the punishment is eternal damnation. And what the gospel does is turns that on its head and gives that condemnation to Jesus rather than to me. And so my freedom is from the guilt and condemnation of the law, but I, just like the psalmist says, desire with the spirit of God in me to keep the word of the Lord. I want to keep the law. So that's the distinction. False teachers offer freedom from the law. But the gospel offers a freedom from the guilt and punishment of the law. But these false teachers, they give what Paul describes in 2 Timothy 3 verse 5 as an appearance of godliness, but they deny its power. They give an appearance of godliness. but deny its power. Let me just make a little observation here. Sometimes I come across people in Christian circles, man, they have got the Christianese down. They know how to talk the talk. They know the right words to say. They've got the right doctrine. They could slice it just right. They can nuance it just perfectly. And man, to the watching world, they just seem like, you know, they're enlightened. They just seem like they could walk on water. They just seem like a hyper-spiritual person. But, you know, especially as a pastor sometimes, and not just in this church, but in other places, in other contexts, I've seen that once you get into the closet, it's not actually the case. Once you get into their family life, it's not really the case. Once you get into their real life, it's not actually the case. It's very easy to talk and give Christianese. It's very easy to give an appearance of godliness, but also to deny its power. And this is what Peter says in verse 17. He says that they are like dry wells that disappoint the thirsty. They're like dry wells that disappoint the thirsty. Come, I have water. Oh no, actually I don't, I have broken cisterns. They are like, in verse 17, hazy mists that are driven away without relieving the heat of the atmosphere. They're like a dog that returns to its vomit. They're like a sow that, after washing, returns to wallow in the mire. There is no real substance. Some of the people that talk the biggest game are the most shallow people in the world. And some of the people, and I've noticed this in ministry, some of the people that are just the ordinary men and women, they're not super flashy, super sexy in how they talk about things, they're the ones that have the most substance. They're the ones that are the most real. They're the ones that are the real deal. What you see is what you get. And those are the people that we want to gravitate towards, right? We want to gravitate towards those who not simply have an appearance of godliness, but have substance in their godliness. And this is what these false teachers did not have. What is the essence of substance in freedom? That we have a changed life. So the first creed that is tested and shown to be wanting is that they offer, false teachers offer a real and substantial freedom, but it's not a real freedom. Here's a second thing that Peter tests. The false teachers say, a changed life? is inconsequential to faith in Jesus Christ. Very similar, look at verse 20. Verse 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. What they're saying is that knowledge of Jesus Christ doesn't necessarily have to turn into a changed life. Knowledge of Jesus Christ doesn't radically change you. And I want you to notice something here. I want you to notice something. He uses these examples, and we'll come back to this in a moment, but even in verse 20, he says, even after they have escaped the defilement of the world, so watch this, they're going from the world and the defilements of the world to an escape. Think of an escape pod coming out of the world, right? And it is escaped through what? What is the medium or the instrument through which they escape? through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is your salvation." So they escape through the knowledge of Jesus Christ, but then what does it say? What does it say? But then they get entangled back in the defilement of the world, and then they get overcome. What has happened? They've escaped, and they've come back. It's kind of like a boomerang, isn't it? They escape, and then they come back. What it shows is that there was no real substance to the actual knowledge that they had. Many people have knowledge. Knowledge, Paul says, puffs up. But what does it do? Does it give a boomerang that brings you back to the world, or is it a true and genuine, authentic repentance? And what does repentance mean, metanoia? It is a change of mind. It is 180 degree, direction in the opposite direction. It is a turning in the opposite direction. It is an escape from the world and a keeping away from the defilement of the world. And so one of the things we can ask not only about ourselves but also about false teachers is what does their repentance look like? Is their repentance a boomerang that gets them out of the defilement and brings them back to the defilement? Or is their repentance one that gets them out of the defilement and as the prevailing disposition of their life keeps them out of the defilement? Let me make a distinction here, because it's very interesting in verse 20 that Peter mentions two words that describe their eventual boomerang coming back. It's one thing to say they escape, but then they get entangled. We're going to come back to this in a minute, but I think we can all say if we're honest, we all get entangled in defilements of the world, right? If you say no, you're not being honest, okay? You're a liar. John says that in 1 John 1. If we say we're without sin, we're a liar, okay? We get entangled, but there's a distinction between getting entangled again, and what is the next word in verse 20? And are overcome, you see. It's one thing to get entangled. There's a word for that in the old covenant, and it was backsliding. Yes, that's a real thing. Yes, Christians backslide. Yes, you can backslide and still be saved on the final day, because if you're a true child of God, a backsliding is gonna be a temporary thing. It's gonna be a seasonal thing, and eventually the Lord is gonna bring you back because you are one of his elect. So I think we can put an equal sign between entanglement and backsliding, but when it says overcome, we can put an equal sign between that and apostasy. To be overcome, and why? Because how does Paul describe our disposition toward the law and toward sin? In Romans chapter 6, we are no longer slaves to sin. A slave is overcome by his master. A slave is ruled by his master, owned by his master. We're no longer slaves to sin, but we are slaves to Jesus Christ. And so we're no longer living in the defilement of the world. We may get back to it from time to time and get entangled. That describes every child of God in some way, shape, or form, but entanglement is distinct from overcome. Jesus uses a similar phrase in Matthew chapter 12 verses 43 to 45. I won't turn there, but he also uses this phrase that Peter uses, the last state has become worse than the first. And the story that Jesus is telling there is, remember, I'm just gonna turn there, Matthew chapter 12, because I think it's good, I think it's helpful. Matthew chapter 12 verse 43 to 45. Jesus says, when the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, I will return to my house from which I came, and when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation. Now he's talking about possession there, demonic possession, but I want you to notice something. When he says that the spirit leaves and then it comes back and finds it swept and all in order, you know what that really is? I think it's equivalent to some in the church or maybe just some in the world who they try to change by behavior modification, right? I'm going to pull myself up by my bootstraps. I'm just going to change. I'm just going to do this. I'm going to garner the energy that I have in the state that Adam has given me as a fallen man, as a fallen woman. I'm going to do this. I'm going to make it happen. But what happens? What happens when we try to do it in our own strength? What happens when sanctification, the Christian life, is nothing more than behavior modification? Well, it just gets worse in the last state than it was in the first. Seven more spirits come back in, and it's worse than it was in the beginning. And that's what behavior modification will get you. And this is why Jesus, in John chapter three, talks so much to Nicodemus, not about obedience to the law primarily, but the new birth. Regeneration. You must be born again, because what born again means, among other things, is that you're not gonna simply come to the house and say, well, I need to clean, I've just gotta pull myself up on my bootstraps, but you're going to have a desire to clean it, because the Spirit of God has given you a desire to pursue obedience and hate disobedience, to hate defilement and desire cleansing. He's gonna give you that desire, and with the desire, He will give you the ability The last state has become worse than the first. So now, okay, Josh, you're like, well, this is talking about false teachers, they're apostates, what's the big deal? Well, listen, we need to guard ourselves from apostasy. Apostasy is one of the most solemn things, I think, that the Bible talks about in the context of the church. It's depressing sometimes. But one of the things we need to remind it is we need to guard ourselves from apostasy, and one of the ways to do that is this, to genuinely and honestly ask ourselves, where does this thought that I'm considering, where does this action that I'm considering putting into action, where do these words that are about to come out of my mouth, where are they going to lead? Where is this pattern going to lead? You can never think of your actions and your words and your thoughts as just brute facts, just one-offs. They're always connected to a pattern. And in the Proverbs it says, can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? You see, that's what foolish men and women think. I'm just going to dabble in this sin. I'm just going to do it once. It's just going to be a one-off thing, and then there's going to be no siren songs pulling me back to it tomorrow and the next day and the next day. As you read Proverbs chapter six, it's vivid how the author describes the quote-unquote innocent man looking for the adulteress. He just happens to show up in the adulteress's neighborhood. Oh, how did I find myself here? Oh, anyway, where's her house? And he's going, and you know how the proverb, the author describes that innocent quote-unquote man, and yes, I'm putting square quotes in there because he's not really innocent. His wicked heart has pulled him like a tractor beam to that neighborhood. You know how the author in the Proverbs describes that man? As an ox led to the slaughter. as an ox led to the slaughter. He has no idea what he's doing. He is foolish. There was a man that I used to disciple many moons ago, not in this church, so don't write me an email. He had cheated on his wife, he had been embroiled in pornography, and I was trying to disciple him together with the other pastors, and one day he came to me and he's like, yeah, we're in a fight again. My wife and I said, what's going on? She's all mad that I went to a coffee shop. I'm all, huh? You went to a coffee shop? Why is she so mad? Like, is she Mormon? Does she not like you to partake of caffeine? Like, what's going on here? Well, I got to tell you a little bit more about the coffee shop." Okay, I'm all ears. It wasn't a normal coffee shop. Okay, I'm still listening. What kind of coffee shop was it? Well, the baristas were scantily clad women. What? There's one of those coffee shops, drive-through coffee shops where the baristas inside are in bikinis. And I said, where was this coffee shop? It was nowhere near his normal path from work to home and from home to work. This guy had to go out of it. I said, well, why did you do it? He said, I didn't know. I said, what do you mean you didn't know? You knew exactly what you were doing. You knew exactly what you were doing and you're plain stupid. And your wife, you know what, brother, she sees right through that. Don't place, don't take fire into your lap. Guess what's gonna happen if you take fire into your lap? You're gonna catch on fire. Like is that, it's just simple logic. And the word of God comes this morning and it tells you it's simple logic. You take fire into your lap, you're gonna catch on fire. Don't think that you are immune to the error and to the danger of apostasy. But now finally, The final conviction in the apostate's creed that Peter takes to task is this. The apostates say, you will not be held accountable for turning away from the holy commandment. Look at verse 21. Well, in verse 15 he says that they forsook in the right way and have gone astray. And in verse 21 he says, 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. So Peter's coming in and he's saying, oh, you think that there's no consequence for every single preached word that you hear? That's not the case. And what Peter says is, in verse 21, with more knowledge comes more responsibility. With more knowledge comes more responsibility. And it just occurred to me what the prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 55, 10 to 11, listen to this very carefully, because I think it's very possible that Peter was even thinking of this as he penned this. He said, for as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there, but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater. Verse 11, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. Beloved, listen to me. Listen, and yes, I'm going to give you the law right now, and yes, I will give you the gospel in a moment, but please hear this law first, okay? We as Christians are responsible for every sermon that we sit under. On the day of judgment, we will give an account for every sermon, every lesson, every Bible reading, whether it was on the radio or here in this sanctuary, we will give an account for every preached word that we hear. Why? Because I know that you see me right now, but it is Jesus who is preaching. It is Jesus who is preaching from heaven, from Mount Zion. He sends forth His word. He sent His word to the Ephesians and they heard, Ephesians 2.17, you heard Him preach. And Jesus preaches through His ministers. Do you know why they're called ministers? Because they administer a word from their King. That's what they do. We are ministering a word from the King. There is no authority in me. There is no gravitas in me, but there is gravitas and authority from the one who speaks from Mount Zion. And when he speaks, we are to listen. And when he speaks, we are responsible. Now listen, the preached word will do one of two things on the day of judgment. It'll do one of two things. In either case, it is a witness. In either case, the word of God is a witness. On the one hand, the Word of God will stand as a witness and say, he or she heard the offer of salvation multiple times. He or she heard the law. They heard the law that showed to them over and over and over again that within themselves there was nothing in themselves that could keep it perfectly. And they were pointed time and time again outside of themselves to that mediator of the new covenant, Jesus Christ, who was perfect and is perfect and evermore shall be perfect. And they were prompted and exhorted to go to Him, to the foot of the cross, time and time and time again, but they didn't. So the word of God stands as judgment against them on the last day. Now that's terrifying to me. That's terrifying to me. Or the word of God will stand as a witness on the last day and say, he or she heard the gospel week after week, and though he or she was imperfect, they ran to the perfect one presented in the gospel, and they rested in him. He was like the strong tower, and they hid in him. He was the robe of righteousness, and they were covered in him. So no, they are not perfect, but they trusted and clung to one who was. And that witness will say, receive them. And the Father will say to them, well done, my good and faithful servant. The more knowledge we have, the more responsible we become. And this is why, beloved, this is why our Shorter Catechism and our own Baptist Catechism in two questions asks and answers this. Question 95, how is the word made effectual to salvation? The Spirit of God makes the reading, notice what our forefathers said, but especially the preaching of the word an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners and building them up in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation. Question 96, how? How is the word to be read and heard that it may become effectual to salvation? Answer? that the word may become effectual to salvation, we must attend thereunto with diligence, preparation, and prayer. Receive it with faith and love, lay it up in our hearts, and practice it in our lives. Beloved, when you hear that the Word of God that God sends out will not return to him void, it will not return to him empty, that it will stand as a witness either as judgment and condemnation or as salvation on the day of judgment, how does that make you think twice about how you attend to the means of grace? How does it make you think about how you attend to even what is going on right now? You know that what is going on right now is sacred. Do you know, do you know that there are powers and principalities even here, right now, in this place, spiritual, invisible powers and principalities that are trying to do everything they can to distract you? to keep you from hearing this word of salvation that could be unto you life and eternal salvation. What are you doing to combat that? Husbands, what are you doing to prevent your children from being distracted, your wives from being distracted? Are you attending to it with diligence? This is what God calls us to do. Now I want you to come to verse 22. These are hard words because Peter says that They're straying away from truth. They're hearing the holy commandment and going away from it is like the proverb. The dog returns to his vomit and the sow after washing returns to wallow in the mire. You know what's interesting about these two proverbs? If you think about it, they're really the reverse of the prodigal son. What did the prodigal son do? He left. He left his father, he wanted his inheritance, he got his inheritance, he went and squandered it with whores and gambling and fast living, and he ended up in the pig pen, right? And the very pods that he was giving to the pig, he's like, well, I don't have any money for food, and boy, those things sure look good, so I'm gonna eat them myself, and he finally came to his rock bottom. It says in Luke chapter 15 that at one point, he came to himself. He came to himself. I think that's the equivalent of regeneration. At that point, he came to himself. He realized how low he had gone. It was, as we say in our English idiom, he had hit rock bottom. And he said, even the servants in my father's house live better than this. And so he went back. He came back to the father. And as you know, the father, when he saw him running from afar, he pulled up his robe, which was very undignified at that time, and he started running toward his son. Oh, the love of the father. Oh, the love of the father for the prodigal son and the prodigal daughter. He came back, but the sow, the pig, the prodigal pig, he was in the father's good country. He was clean, but he goes back to his defilement. He goes back to his filth. We see in the prodigal pig the reverse of the prodigal son. We see it in the sick dog who would rather return to that which made it sick than to be healed. Sick dogs and dirty hogs never truly saw the infinite value of the risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And the eternal law to false teachers as exemplified in the sick dog and the dirty hog is a cautionary tale for us. "'Do not follow such people "'because their end is destruction.'" What is their end? Peter tells us in verse 12 and 13, they will be destroyed and they will suffer. He tells us in verse 14 that these false teachers are cursed children. So they're gonna be destroyed. They're cursed children. And then in verse 17, he says that the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved for them. So destruction and curse and darkness. So consider the sick dog and the dirty hog when you feel like you want to go back to that grass that seems so much greener on the other side. You may find that that grass that seems so much greener on the other side will taste like vomit upon tasting it. You may find that that grass on the other side that looks so clean will become a defilement that'll drag you down to the pit of hell. Consider the sick dog and his end when you feel yourself wandering away from the God that you love because what is waiting for you, I tell you, with solemnity is suffering and curse and darkness. Consider the prodigal pig. And his end, when you feel yourself lured back by the world into the very defilement that condemned you in the first place, what is waiting for you there? Suffering and curse and darkness. But let me say once again, there is a difference between getting entangled and being overcome. Because when I look at this proverb, do I look at this proverb, do you look at this proverb and say, that only describes the false teachers, that only describes apostates, no? You know who else it describes? When I look in the mirror, it describes me. It describes me. Do you ever go back to that which you threw up, metaphorically speaking? Do you ever go back to the muck and the mire? The fact of the matter is, we do the same thing, but there is a difference, listen. There is a difference between an always dirty dog and a sick hog, okay? One who's always going back to his vomit, one who's always going back. The prevailing disposition of their life is they keep going back because that is their nature. There is an always dirty dog and a sick hog, but then there is an occasional dirty dog and a sick hog. Are you an occasional dirty dog and a sick hog this morning? Are you occasionally one who gets entangled, but by God's grace you have not been overcome? The difference between the always dirty dog and the sick hog and the occasional dirty dog and the sick hog is the always dirty dog and the sick hog has no desire to be clean and no desire for something that is actually healthy to eat. But the occasional dirty dog and sick hog, they, they want to be clean and they mourn that they are not when they find themselves back in the mud again. They find themselves throwing up after they've eaten what they've already thrown up, and they want something healthy to be given to them. So what good news can be given to the occasional dirty dog and the sick hog? Well, it is not looking at another dog or looking at another hog, but it is looking at a lamb, a spotless lamb. Because a dirty dog and a sick hog, what is their lot? Suffering and curse and what? Darkness. But oh, this is wonderful. The spotless lamb, though you deserve to suffer for your sin, he was crowned with glory and honor because he suffered, having tasted it for you who believe. The suffering he took on himself for the occasional dirty dog and the sick hog, And though you deserved to be cursed, because we do, you deserve to be cursed, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everybody who is hung on a tree. And though we deserve the gloom of darkness, it was Jesus who experienced that at 3 p.m. in the afternoon when it was not supposed to be dark, it turned dark, utter darkness came upon him and he said, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus was forsaken because he became sin on the cross so that you would not be forsaken when you come to him for forgiveness and redemption and reconciliation to the Father. So good news for the dirty dog and the sick hog is this. Jesus Christ stands ready to receive you if you will but turn from your sins and believe in him. The grass is not greener on the other side. Jesus is better than the vomit and the mud of defilement because He suffered for us, and this morning He calls us to come to Him. So lift yourself up from the mud, clean your mouths, repent and come to Jesus Christ, and He will receive you. Let's pray. Father, what good news that You have for prodigal pigs and sick dogs such as us. Father, it is only by your grace that we are not always dirty pigs and sick dogs, but we are occasional dirty pigs and sick hogs. And what we need, Father, is your refining and purifying grace. And this morning you have given us your Word, which has the power To be a means of salvation and sanctification for us, I pray, Father, that all pride would be leveled this morning. I pray, Father, that at the foot of the cross we would recognize our corporate and individual need to come before you in humility and repent of our sins, confess our sins, and run to you for refuge in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Would you do that this morning, we pray. Draw us to yourself and may we find rejoicing at the foot of the cross. For it is in Christ's name.