Let us return to 2 Peter, chapter 2. Please stand. 2 Peter, chapter 2. We'll begin where we left off the other day, verse 9. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and the Lord knoweth how to reserve the unjust under the day of judgment to be punished. But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, those that despise government. presumptuous are they, self-willed, are not afraid to speak evil of dignities, whereas angels, which are greater in power and mind, bring not railing accusation against dignities before the Lord, but these as natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed, they speak evil of the things that they understand not and shall utterly perish in their own corruption. and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that counted pleasure to riot in the daytime. Spots they are, and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you. Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls, And hard have they exercised with covetous practices, cursed children, which have forsaken the right way and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Bozor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. But he was rebuked for his iniquity. The dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbade the madness of that prophet. Heavenly Father, we pray for wisdom as we briefly go through this rather lengthy scripture. May we see ourselves properly, may we see people around us properly, and take the proper steps to protect and find deliverance. Govern our thoughts this evening, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of Treasure Island and Kidnapped. He was a professing Christian, shall we say. He was raised by a staunch Presbyterian father, but his nanny, dad was wealthy enough to have a nanny, so Robert Louis grew up with a nanny. And this lady was a member of a very evangelical free church. So Robert Louis Stevenson grew up with the gospel presented to him. During university, Stevenson claimed to be an atheist, and he got into the very worst kinds of sin while he was in school. But later on, he returned to his more biblical roots. I have not found a clear testimony of his salvation. But I won't rule out that he was a child of God. May have been. One of the reasons that I say he may have been is because of some of the things that he wrote in his books. I am told that in Treasure Island, Stevenson laid out a clear explanation of the gospel, but that in later editions, the only ones that are available to us today, those things have been deleted by the editor just to make sure we're not offending any possible readers. That's what I've heard. I would really like to find a first edition Stevenson. Well, probably never will. Stevenson wrote another book. While not explaining the gospel, it explains our need of the gospel. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde illustrates the doctrine of the depravity of man. It develops the idea that inside of all of us, there is a native evil, there is a depravity. Dr. Jekyll is a good moral man, but he experiences an inner battle with horribly evil temptations. His mind goes to terrible things from time to time. Once in a while, he doesn't know if he likes being the good Dr. Jekyll or if he wouldn't prefer following this evil line in his mind. Then in his secret lab, he creates a serum designed to separate his evil nature from his outward persona. When taking this potion, Dr. Jekyll transforms himself into a cruel, remorseless, devilish man who is given the name Mr. Hyde. Jekyll has many friends. He's an amiable person. But when he takes his serum, he becomes Mr. Hyde, a mysterious and violent man. In fact, as Mr. Hyde, there is hardly any sin that he would not or does not commit. Well, as time goes by, he's going back and forth, exploring his sinfulness and then becoming righteous during the day and going back and forth and back and forth, committing more and more atrocities when he's in his evil form. And then after taking this potion one too many times, Jekyll is completely overcome by his depravity. He's no longer Dr. Jekyll. He is Mr. Hyde full-time. And together, they meet their just desserts. They, well, you'll have to read the book. Please don't hold it against me. I don't feel any joy in studying Mr. Hyde this evening. I'm gonna skim over a lot of verses. We don't usually do that when we're going verse by verse through a book. I'm going to only define a few words and make a few comments. But here's what I need you to know. Mr. Hyde dwells in the heart of every unregenerated person. There's not a single person on earth who might not be a Coburger, a murderer. or otherwise ruining someone. We're all children of our wicked father who was a murderer from the beginning, the Lord Jesus tells us. This is who we are. We are Mr. Hyde. And then to some degree, now that we have been born again, that wicked stench remains still in a little hidden corner of the basement of our soul. It's still there. By the grace of God, it'll stay there. The only thing needed to bring Mr. Hyde out of Dr. Jekyll is a little wicked encouragement, a little evil serum. Just take the serum and out he comes. And with enough of that encouragement, Hyde may become permanent, even in a professing Christian. As brute beasts, he is made to be taken and destroyed. Verse 12. And a case in point is Judas Iscariot, a professed believer. In this rather lengthy sentence that we have just read—actually, there's a little bit more than that—it appears to me that Peter has gone back to verse number one. There shall be false teachers among you, and they shall bring upon themselves swift destruction. Mr. Hyde shall utterly perish in his own Corruption. Verse number 12. What are the characteristics of Mr. Hyde, Peter? Well, he lays them out for us. Verse 10. Hyde is someone who walks in the flesh. Oh, walks in the flesh, well, that's not so bad. Everybody walks in the flesh to some degree, don't they? Everyone walks in the flesh, especially he that has no Holy Spirit. Every one of us gets a little lustful once in a while. Everyone can lose his spiritual sanity if the conditions are right. Walking in the flesh is no big deal. Just because some Christian likes watching Mr. Hyde on television doesn't make him Mr. Hyde, does it? Just because he dreams about being a millionaire, that doesn't turn him into a thief, necessarily. Just because he watches pornography on his computer, that doesn't make him an adulterer, or is that so? Walking the flesh can be as simple and as sinful as being a worrywart, as being a hothead, or as being a cold fish. Walking the flesh, that's nothing, but let's see. And as the verse goes on, Walking in the flesh has never sent anyone to hell. It hasn't. While that may be true, just about every man who has ever been sent to hell is characterized by walking in the flesh. So watch out here. Walking in the flesh and being cast into hell are only one cup of poisonous serum away from one another. Walking in the lust of uncleanness takes walking in the flesh up a notch or two. I spent time looking up words, defining words, going here and there to better understand things. I had to chuckle when I read the words of Dean Alford. He's a prim and proper Greek expert. Lust of uncleanness, he says, is hankering after the polluting and unlawful use of the flesh. Here's this Greek expert saying, it's hankering after stuff. Walking after the flesh is one thing. The lust of uncleanness is running after it, is hankering for it, is yearning for the things of the flesh. Mr. Hyde wants to forsake dull and monotonous Dr. Jekyll because he thirsts for the darker things. He thirsts for the evil things. And so he participates in unseemly, immoral, and illegal activities, despising moralities and, shall we say, rules of law, despising government. The word government in verse 10 is related to kurios. It speaks of lordships, which certainly includes the lordship of Jesus Christ. He is our kurios. Mr. Hyde says, I will not have the Son of God to rule over me. And while with this being true in their hearts, there are a lot of professing Christians who are really basement dwellers down there in the laboratory drinking up the syrup, the serum. There are many professing Christians who refuse to listen to what Christ has to say to his disciples. The biblical word presumptuous is found only in this verse. It refers to daring. The sinner usually knows there is a divine government. There is a Lord over heaven and earth, a judge over all things, but he's willing to try his hand at rebellion. He's willing to push back against the Lord, daring God to judge him. Even Christians can feel this way from time to time, defying God to flash down his lightning bolts. Mr. Hypocrite, Mr. Hyde, don't plead the blood of Christ. Well, I'm saved, so it's all right. No. Don't press your sonship too hard. You may have deceived yourself. Self-will, self-deception. Being one of the disciples certainly didn't help Judas. Self-will. willfulness and self-pleasing. It might be said that the root of all sin is in, I want my way, self, I want my way. Mr. Hyde is not afraid to speak evil of dignities. The Greek word dignities is translated this way twice, but 150 times it's translated glories. or glorious. In the next verse, Peter refers to angels of God who are not going to speak evil of any dignities. By the way, speak evil is the Greek word blasphemy. Speak evil of God. Mr. Hyde is not afraid to shake his fist toward heaven. No, I will not give the Lord's Day back to the Lord. I will not give up my substance to support God's work. I don't care what Christ says. I will not share my testimony with the lost world. I will not honor my father or my mother or my pastor. I don't care what the Bible says. There's Mr. Hyde coming out, out even of the heart of the Christian. Verse 12 lays out some more characteristics of Mr. Hyde. Anyone before regeneration, living in the flesh, is little more than a natural brute beast. About all he's good for is to be taken to the grave. In some cases, the sooner the better. The word natural is a translation of the word physical. The person may have a soul, but it's impossible to say that he is spiritual. He's physical. He's natural. And as such, he will be consumed by the fire that he sets himself. He is an arsonist who dies in his own blaze, and it's not a blaze of glory. Again, Peter uses the word blasphemy. This brute beast speaks evil things he can't begin to understand. Because the things of the Spirit are discerned by the Spirit, the things of God are understood through the ministry of the Lord. He may say that he understands the nature of God. If he did, he would bow before the Lord. He may say that he understands what Christ suffered on the cross. If that was true, he would love the Lord. He has no idea what hell and the lake of fire entail. And as to other doctrines, divine grace, sovereignty of God, they're as mysterious to him as what's way out there a hundred billion light years away. And yet Mr. Hyde lives in the home of Dr. Jekyll. And sometimes he may even attend Dr. Jekyll's church. He may feast politely with the best people in town. He may even dine at the Lord's table. We're not really sure what Peter's referring to in verse number... Verse number, yeah. Whatever that was, 12, 13, somewhere around in there. but he does so in his hypocritical Dr. Jekyll or Judas Iscariot form. He's really Mr. Hyde. All those pretenses are nothing but emptiness. They are leprous spots, hideous blemishes where beauty ought to be. In another scripture, in the book of John, The Bible points out that most people choose to sin while in the shadows. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Judas left the Lord. Judas went away from the disciples and the Lord Jesus and went out into the night to carry out his nefarious plan. But more and more often today, Mr. Hyde takes pleasure in rioting in the open daylight. He doesn't hide in the basement, in the back rooms anymore. He joins his sinful friends demanding special holidays to honor their mutual wickedness. They get permission from foolish governments that have disgusting parades before the eyes of all society and the children that they're trying to corrupt. Verse 14, Mr. Hyde drinks his serum because he has eyes full of adultery. Mr. Jekyll, Dr. Jekyll would never do this, but Hyde would. He enjoys what his lustful eyes imagine and promote. And that's until he's consumed by it. He drinks the serum so often that eventually he doesn't need any more of it. He gets to the point that he cannot cease from sin. It is insatiable to him. He is totally unstable, unstoppable. His heart becomes so corrupt that he exercises his covetous practices like a gym rat working the barbells. Over and over again he repeats his sinful reps in an effort to become stronger and stronger in his sin. That's hide. Verse 14 speaks of cursed children. The meaning is that this man has become a child of the curse. He's going to be cursed because that curse is as natural to him as it is natural for any human baby to have two eyes and two ears and ten toes. Verse 15, Dr. Jekyll becomes Mr. Hyde because he has deliberately chosen to forsake God's way, the right way. He's taken his accursed potion because he's learned to love the taste of the corruption that it provides. He shouldn't be surprised when he finds he can't climb out of the pit that he has dug for himself. He has forsaken the right way and therefore gone astray. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a scary book. It is a disturbing book. And one of the reasons is that it holds up a mirror before our face. This is you. Until we're born from above, we are all Mr. Hyde. That's a terrible thought. Isaiah said, all we like sheep have gone astray. That's what we have here. Peter mentions Balaam, the son of Beor, one of the enigmatic Old Testament characters. In Numbers, he is described as a prophet, and he often uses the holy name of God, Jehovah. Unless I'm reading this incorrectly, Peter seems to put Balaam back in verse number one. This is the guy we're talking about here, the false prophets of the Old Testament. He certainly fits some of the criteria, most particularly loving the wages of unrighteousness. He, through covetousness with feigned words, made merchandise of the people of Israel. but he was rebuked by the Lord. That is, he was rebuked by the Lord through the lips of a dumb ass, a donkey. Remember that the word dumb in God's Word doesn't speak of dull or stupid. It's referring to someone who can't talk. God used an unspeaking animal to speak the unspeakable word of God to a Mr. Hyde in prophet's clothing. Maybe I should have said Mr. Hyde who is hiding in prophet's clothing. One way to look at all this is that just as the Lord warned Balaam, Peter is warning us against the wickedness of the human heart. But bless God for His willingness to speak to the Mr. Hides of the world. For three years, Christ Jesus looked directly into the eyes of Judas and told him the truth. He knew what Judas was, knew where Judas was going. Yes, Balaam and Judas and a thousand other false prophets have spread their poisonous serums around. And many of God's true prophets have been stoned and martyred by Mr. Hyde throughout the centuries. But even though the human mouthpiece has been silenced, the Word of God has not. And here it is. They may kill Peter. Oh, they did kill Peter. But the warning is still here. Listen up, Mr. Hyde. The Lord knoweth how to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. You will not escape. You can't blame your serum. Oh, it's not me. It's the serum I took. You can't blame your parents. You can't blame your society. You can't blame the devil. It's all on you. It's all on you, Mr. Jekyll-slash-Hyde. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.