The Doom and Defilement of False Prophets: A Call Against “Casual” Christianity

2 Peter 2:17-22

“These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. 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. They promise them freedom, 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.’”

For all of chapter 2 Peter has gone to great lengths to explain the danger of false teachers, but also to help us understand the bent and unnatural depth of their depravity and wickedness. We see the warnings of the past, that just as there were once false prophets, there will always be those who want to take God’s truth and mangle it for personal gain at the peril of others. We see the parallel to the wickedness of the world pre-flood and at the time of Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction to the darkness of the heart and mind of the false teacher, but we also see the assurance here that God knows perfectly how to separate the wheat from the chaff and that the unrighteous will not go on without receiving their due destruction. The false teacher is likened to a dumb and irrational animal, possessed of a broken nature and like Balaam, in love with gain from wrong. We also see repeated several times the warning against the stumbling block of lust and sensual passions that is seen so often causing stumbling throughout the Bible.

Verses 17-22 offer some of the same messages and warnings, but along with them there is something more in understanding the brokenness of the false teacher and the danger of the pits they dig.

Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.”

“These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm.”

A waterless spring is no spring at all and mist driven by a storm is not the storm itself. There is nothing to quench your thirst coming from a waterless spring, there is no rain, no rejuvenation for the land in insubstantial mist or fog pushed along by the wind. You can, however, die of thirst seeking water in a place where there is none and fog can blind you to your surroundings leading to confusion and destruction.

In John 4: 13-14 Jesus says when speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well at Sychar, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

In John 7:37-38 Jesus speaks on this again, “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”’”

Christ is where our true spiritual thirst can be sated eternally. False teachers are empty and worthless, like a dry well, passing clouds or salt that has lost its taste, there is no use, no value in anything they have to teach. This doesn’t mean they’re not dangerous.

“For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. 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.”

It is not for their worthlessness, but for their work against God and the Bride of Christ that “the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved” as just and fitting punishment.

James 4:7-8 says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”

It doesn’t say, to talk to God on Sundays and back burner him for the rest of the week. It doesn’t say, cherry pick what you want to honor about God and His word and for the rest just do whatever’s comfortable. Submit to Him. God does not belong at arm’s length, the directive for our own good is to draw close to him, to cling to him. We’re not just called to think poorly of the enemy but to firmly resist him.

We read in 1 Peter 5: 8, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

Jesus says in Luke 22: 31-32, speaking of the twelve apostles, but from the singular vs plural distinction that my Bible gives the word “you,” Peter in particular, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

That verse has always been chilling to me. On our own, we are nothing before Satan. We will be devoured, sifted like wheat, and destroyed. In God and His spirt we are conquerors, made more than the enemy could ever bear, he will literally flee from us.

Back to 2 Peter 2, we see what happens if you’re on the edge, what awaits the lukewarm. Sexual immorality and idolatry seem to be two sides of the same coin. David and his adultery with Bathsheba (and the subsequent murder of her husband) has always been the first example I think of when considering the pitfalls of lust, but the more I’ve understood the correlation between sexual sin and idolatry the more Soloman has been the example that comes to mind.

1 Kings 1-8, “Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, ‘You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.’ Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.”

Soloman was given divine wisdom, chosen to be a man of peace and allowed to construct God’s temple. He takes wives and concubines from people groups God has forbidden and starts building sites of worship for false, pagan gods. Israel’s rebellion began in the wilderness, but the beginning of Soloman’s reign and the construction of the temple could be viewed as a clean slate for God’s people. Soloman’s fall seemed to restart the cycle of Irael’s rebellion, punishment, return to God only to rebel again and it was achieved through seduction leading to the worship of false gods.

We saw this in what was referenced in 2 Peter last week as well. Balaam, with his curses against God’s people turned to blessings, counsels the King of Moab to seduce the people of Israel using Moabite women, leading to some of the Israelites worshiping Baal.

It is made abundantly clear that the false teacher’s message will be seductive and that failure to be close to God, to know His word and desire for you; conversely to be in a state where you’re “barely escaping from those who live in error” leaves you susceptible to their lies.

“They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.”

The false teacher being called  “slaves to corruption” shouldn’t come as a surprise. We’ve seen them compared to some of the Bible’s particularly corrupt and contemptable figures, told that they have eyes full of adultery and hearts trained in greed – “slaves to corruption” fits. The principle that “whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved” applies just as much to the false teacher as it does anyone else.

James 4:4, “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Colossians 3:1-11, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.”

The false teacher is going to spread lies and blasphemy, but who will be led to destruction along with them? Where are we placing our focus? Are we seeking to draw closer to God, where there’s water for our souls and protection for our hearts. Are we acknowledging Him as our master, treasuring our salvation and putting off the old self? Do we have eyes to see and ears to hear so that we might discern through the wisdom of the Spirit what fruits are legitimate and those that are false?

Matthew 7: 15-20, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”

To the mature believer the false teacher should be obvious. Their words should set our teeth on edge and cause our skin to prickle. False doctrine has the taste of lies to those who cherish Truth. But those who are lukewarm, who are casual in their faith will be taken in by their deceit.

“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.”

This parallels directly with a verse I referenced previously in the outline for 2 Peter 2:4-11. In that instance I was looking at the literal information concerning the nature of unclean spirits given in Matthew 12. Here we can see it used to describe the state of the wicked false teacher.

Matthew 12: 43-45 “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.”

Redemption through Christ is the greatest gift we could possibly receive. To have knowledge of that, to grasp at the edges of God’s love and power and willingly turn your back on your redeemer is unthinkable. To live in a fallen world and not know God is terrible – but to know of God and twist his message for personal gain is an open invitation to be a tool of the enemy and for wickedness to make you it’s slave.

“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.’””

Jesus says in John 15: 22-25, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’”

And again, while addressing the Pharisees in John 9:40-41, “Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, ‘Are we also blind?’  Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, “We see,” your guilt remains.’”

This again gives us perspective on the difference between those who are lost and those who are willfully rebellious. There’s a perverse idea that I could see taking root here – why share the gospel? Why expose the lost to God’s truth, when this knowledge creates greater accountability? It’s a stupid idea, but I can almost hear the spin, hear the angle a false teacher would use to twist a passage about false teaching to promote their lies. So, to crush this seed before it roots, I’d like to answer, “why share the gospel?” We’ll start with the fact that God, heaven and hell are all very real and not knowing that you’re lost doesn’t make you any less lost.

Romans 1:18-21, which is becoming one of my most quoted sections of text says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

God’s existence is made known through creation itself. We are born with a thirst for our creator that worldly ways and desires will attempt to distort and divert at every turn. The message of the gospel and all of biblical cannon complete the understanding begun through simply observing creation. Why share the gospel? Because Jesus told us to!

Matthew 28:19-20, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Mark 16:15-16, “And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.’”

Luke 24:46-47, “…“Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem…”

Finally, and maybe a little less straightforward than the other gospels we see John 21:6, “He (Jesus) said to them, ‘Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.” In Matthew, Mark and Luke Jesus tells Peter and Andrew when he calls them that they will be “fishers of” or “fishing for” men. Jesus’s instruction to cast the net and the volume of their catch seems to parallel to the magnitude of the calling to share the message of Christ with everyone and to draw in more “fish” than we can comprehend catching. That comparison has never occurred to me before, it hit me just now, looking at the end of each gospel for Great Commission accounts and not remembering what was in each one, but I think it fits. Jesus then gives Peter three orders when addressing him and calling him back to course after his three denials. “Feed my lambs,” “Tend my sheep,” and “Feed my sheep.” Worded more subtly in John, aimed I think at the spirit more than the mind, each gospel has its own Great Commission. We are to share the gospel and God’s truth proudly, with everyone we possibly can because with God is where we belong, and Jesus is the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through him.

To be blind is terrible, to have sight and lose it is worse – but neither is desirable, neither is good.

Proverbs 26:11, “Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.”

I don’t know much about pigs (other than that that’s where bacon comes from, which is all I’ve ever really needed to know), but I know quite a lot about dogs. If a dog eats something toxic, you can give them a dose of hydrogen peroxide and they will throw it back up. All. Of. It. A key part of this process is keeping your dog away from what they’ve thrown up after it’s all said and done, because if given the opportunity they will eat it without hesitation, ingesting more peroxide and starting a chain reaction that isn’t fun for anyone. They can’t seem to help themselves, as smart as some dogs are in some respects, they’ll just keep going back if left to their own devices. They’re animals acting on instinct, like a pig in slop, they don’t know any better. Every time I’ve encountered a repetitive sin in my past, something I couldn’t seem to kick, I would think of Proverbs 26:11. To have sin that is almost like compulsion, something that gets distorted in your mind, that you have trouble keeping in your sights as wrong, despite knowing spiritually that it’s sinful is a sickening and skin crawling feeling. I also know what it feels like to be fully awakened by the spirit, to have my eyes opened and to see that blackness of sin for what it is. To think that the sin that the false teacher takes part in, blaspheming against the Living God, targeting the weak among his flock by distorting his word has become natural, reflexive and automatic is absolutely disgusting. And like a dog eating its own vomit, they just can’t seem to help themselves.

In John 10: 1-5 Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

To submit to God is to know his voice and follow him, to rebel is to be deceived. Not a single one of us can risk being halfhearted in our faith. False teachers covet their own destruction, but the lukewarm follow them to ruin. To baby Christians – grow up. To stay immature in your faith makes you a target for deception. To mature Christians – don’t grow complacent in pursuing God, and helping your brothers and sisters developing in their faith.

“Feed my lambs… Tend my sheep… Feed my sheep.”

Pastor Chris’s sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBs6E_V2d30