chapter 2, verse 17. This chapter is about false teachers, and we're picking up in the middle of Peter's argumentation here. He's been talking about how false teachers are dangerous, and now he's giving descriptive pictures. So there's three word pictures he presents in this passage about false teachers. First, dry water sources. Secondly, a slave in chains. And thirdly, a filthy animal or two. So you can listen for that as we read. 2 Peter 2, 17, this is God's Word. These, referring to false teachers, 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 date 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. This par in God's holy word. This letter is about coming to know Christ, knowing Christ by faith, coming to know the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this chapter is about phony teachers, False teachers, those who claim to know Christ, those who claim to be able to present others to God, to bring them to God, but they do not have knowledge of Christ, so therefore they are false teachers. So using words here, Peter is presenting three pictures. He's painting in front of us, to our mind's eye, three pictures of false teachers. A dry water source, a slave in chains, and a filthy animal. And through Peter's powerful word pictures, this is the main point. that Christ warns us about the character of false teachers. What are false teachers like? They're disappointing, like a water source that's dry. They're as stuck themselves as a slave in chains. And thirdly, they are filthy as a scavenger dog or a pig. So first, False teachers are like this. They are disappointing as a water source that's dry. Verse 17, these false teachers are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. So here Peter compares false teachers with two different water sources that had no water. The first is waterless springs. Picture the scene of a desert in which a traveler was in need of water. When the traveler finally discovers a water hole, he found there was only missing one thing, water. A water hole with no water. So imagine in your home, you turn on the faucet, no water. Honey, immediately you would say, right? It's unacceptable, a faucet with no water. And what's Peter's point here? Imagine a teacher of spiritual things with no spiritual truth to share. Imagine a minister of the gospel who has no gospel to give out. A pastor with no good news of grace and of healing. A church leader with no message of hope in Christ Jesus. A supposedly Christian teacher with no Christ to offer. It's a waterless spring. The first comparison of false teachers is to a waterless spring. Secondly, he moves on to a second comparison of false teachers to another waterless source. It was dry like the clouds. Here in verse 17, he uses this language. Mists driven by a storm. So Peter's asking us to picture the scene of people living through a drought in need of water. A storm kicked up. The wind pushed a cloud overhead. We might even say it got foggy. The cloud joined us down below, right? A foggy day. sky dark, the air has the appearance and feel that it's going to rain. We have storm, wind, cloud, darkness, but no rain comes. Maybe fog, maybe a little mist, maybe some dew on the ground, but nothing substantial, nothing worthwhile, not helpful for the actual need, not solving the drought. So what does it mean for the spiritual lesson? What is Peter painting for us here? He's describing again false teachers. What a dejection when we were expecting the waters to fall of God's grace and we get nothing. source of spiritual refreshment supposedly with no actual refreshment. It's enough to make a person sad. It's enough to make a person angry and it would be a godly thing to be angry about because God himself is angry and about false teachers who present themselves as if they're going to share spiritual exhilaration, but it's false advertising. The people who go for it are left worse off than before. And God will not forget this problem. God will not forget the issue of false teachers leading people down these bad paths. God will take action. What will God do? I want you to put your seatbelt on, because it's rather more severe than you might think. We might think, oh, well, just tell them to stop teaching, or just turn off those websites, or burn those books, or let's just ignore them. But it's far worse, far stronger response of that from God. Peter revealed to us what God will do. Verse 17, listen to what happens to false teachers. For them, the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. Now should I just pass over that lightly and quickly and kind of mumble a little bit so you don't really catch it? Or should we look at what God's word is saying to us here? What does this mean? It means the judgment of God is the opposite of light, which is darkness. God is keeping for them, here the phrase is darkness of darkness, or the gloom of utter darkness, fine translation there. Simply put, they have an inescapable appointment with God. in which God will render appropriate judgment to them for their swindling of people, and of the most important thing that you could swindle people about, money. You don't swindle people with regard to spiritual truth. If you think it's too harsh of God, there's something else that you don't understand about false teachers, which is why Peter doesn't just paint one picture for us, he paints three. If you're ready for more, we're going to verses 18 and 19, our second point. False teachers are as stuck as a slave in chains. Verse 18, for speaking loud boasts of folly, they, the false teachers, enticed by sensual passions of the flesh, those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They, the false teachers, promise them, the enticed ones, What are the false teachers all about? What are their goals? What are they in it for? What are they seeking after? Verse 18 begins by revealing that the false teachers are speaking. Okay, they're speaking what? Loud boasts of folly, we read in verse 18. What does that mean? It means empty boasts. Folly means empty. It shows their words have no true lasting meaning. What they're saying serves no good purpose. It has no redeeming value. It's silliness. And secondly, these are boasts. Boasts. The false teachers are boastful, bragging about stuff. The form and sound of their words is puffed up and they exaggerate. It lacks truth and they lack humility at the same time. They over-promise on things they cannot deliver. Come to us, we'll have peace. Come to us, you'll have joy. Come to us, we'll solve your problems. Come to us, you'll be healthy and happy. It's false. They can't deliver those things to you. And so it's lying to people. And verse 18 shows what they're seeking. They entice by sensual passions of the flesh. They want to lure people in. They want to entice people. It's all about more people. They want to ensnare and trap people. How? By inducing their listeners and followers to go ahead and gratify their own evil desires. Do it, they say. Have it, they say. Go ahead, they say. The false teachers tell people to do what the people in their flesh already want to do. They were just waiting for someone to give them a green light. The false teachers are permission givers to the flesh. That means in the places where God said no, the false teachers say, oh yeah, that's the danger. As Peter is writing here, we're finding that Peter is redundant in order to get the point across to us. To his original readers and then through them to us. False teachers promote all sorts of indecent conduct, including the excesses that prevailed in Sodom and Gomorrah. as Peter specifically referenced in verse 6 of our chapter. God said no. God has judgment set aside for all fleshly behavior, and so who would fall for a ploy such as this from false teachers? In verse 18, Peter goes on to inform us of the target audience of the false teachers. Verse 18, those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. Barely escaping has a reference to time. So it's barely escaping as in they just barely got out, like a person who's freshly out of jail, a person who just came from the rehab center, that sort of idea. Barely escaping and the fact of it being recent. They were only recently escaping from. those living in error. So, the false teachers, like predatorial animals, who would even stoop to eating the weakest of their own herd, these false teachers focus their attention on the most recent converts to Christianity. They're coming out of the herd, out of the world, into the church, into Christianity, and those are the people who become the special target. The false teachers go after new believers who are so new, we could say that they're barely escaping or recently escaping those who live in error. They haven't had time yet to grow in their grace and understanding of the Christian faith, and they haven't had time. to endure this base level of enticement thrown at them. And also, they're going after not just brand new Christians in chronological order and chronological time that have just recently in terms of recent time come to Christ, but they're also coming after Christians who themselves have not grown yet to the point that they are beyond, not that we're ever beyond, but that they are stable and have reached a point that they're not being described as recently escaping those who live in error. They're still mixed up in patterns of error and sin. Those folks, they come after and target by enticement of falsehoods. The weakest, right? It's not that hard to see. They come after the weakest. In verse 18, who are the ones who live in error here? People who don't believe. who have not turned to the Lord. They show no signs of interest in changing. They're stuck in error. They're consistently living out the errors that they believe. For example, if you believe in the things of Sodom and Gomorrah, and you're in fact living that way. It's not that hard to see who live in error, verse 18. Not that only homo sins are wrong. Heterosexual sins are wrong as well. In verse 19, Peter shows us an interesting phenomenon. Slaves offering freedom. I mean, would you like a physical trainer who's 400 pounds? Would that be enticing to you? Oh yeah, I think I'll sign up for classes. Would you like a doctor to help you who himself is dying? This is silliness. To say slaves offering freedom? Would you want somebody who's utterly broke giving you financial advice? This just doesn't work. Slaves offering freedom? Yes, the false teachers were offering a freedom that the teachers themselves did not possess. The bad teachers themselves in bondage to sin telling you you can be free. These men are called here slaves of corruption. That's the Bible's words for it. That's God's words for it. This is what Peter writes. Peter's second word picture to us describing the false teachers is they're slaves in chains to corruption. Let that be burned into your mind as the way to view false teachers. And what is freedom then? Spiritual freedom in Christ means that faith in Christ sets us free from the burden of our own sin. And because Christ has fulfilled the law for us, we are perfect before heaven. We are innocent before God. Romans 10, four, for the Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Because of Christ changing our hearts, we now obey the law of God because we want to. We want to. We understand that obedience is now best for us. We know our obedience through Christ gives glory to God. It's not the sort of freedom that the false teachers are even offering. The false teachers offer false freedom. that was utterly corrupt. They're giving away a false license of false permission to live apart from God's law. You can break God's law all day long, all week long, all month long, they're saying, and not pay the price. That's a lie. But if you believe them, you might be tempted, see? No one gets that kind of freedom. And it's not even freedom. Double lies. Nobody gets the right to live apart from God's law. We're all created by God and in His image. To offer that is a lie from false teachers. And what's the truth instead, Peter? Please, Peter, give us the truth. Verse 19, he states it. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. Period. That's truth. That's bedrock truth. And Peter, a true teacher, as opposed to the false teacher. Peter, our true teacher, presents the same truth that Jesus himself, who is the truth, taught in John 8, 34. Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. John 8, 34. So both Jesus and Peter wanted their audiences to know that anyone who's economically and legally free on the outside but on the inside is controlled by their own vices are actually spiritual slaves. Yet free on the outside, ironically. Free outside, slaves inside. Both Jesus and Peter want their audiences to understand this. There's another angle on that same truth. It's the flip side. Both Jesus and Peter are teaching this. Those who are economically and legally slaves on the outside. No choices buttoned down on the outside. But on the inside, in their own person, they'd be given new hearts. By Christ, that pursue goodness, truth, and love, you're actually free. spiritually free. Only the Son of God sets believers free on the inside so that we're free indeed. Christ has true teachers who set people spiritually free in their souls and hearts and minds. We call them missionaries and we send them to every nation. That Christ has dispatched people who are true teachers will set people free on the inside and set them free forever. False teachers can't give that kind of freedom. It's a lie. They offer things they can't give, and they don't even understand how it's a false offer. False teachers are themselves stuck as slaves in chains. That's our second picture. But Peter is so concerned that we understand this, he gives us a third picture. Point three from verse 20 to 22. Verse 20. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness, So we look at verse 20. What is Peter talking about here? the dirtiness of false teachers. And here's what happened. False teachers were in the world. They were corrupt. But then false teachers became church members, said all the right things, went all the right classes. There they are, church members. Yes, they cleaned up their lives externally. They learned all the right words to say. They escaped the defilements of the world. They began to be acquainted with the teachings of the Christian faith. And that's why Peter wrote in verse 20, through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Did they know Christ? Did they know our Christ? They could say yes, they could tell you the answers to the catechism. For example, would we say that Judas knew Jesus? Well, yes, externally, Judas met Jesus and talked with Jesus. He became one of the 12 original disciples of Jesus. Judas was sent out by Jesus as a pair of two disciples along with all the rest of them. They went out two by two, remember? Consider the knowledge that Judas had of Jesus and of the power of Jesus. We read in Mark 6, verses 12 and 13 that Judas preached in the name of Jesus. Judas performed miracles in the name of Jesus. The point is that Judas knew Jesus And Judas, when he betrayed him, did not betray some perfect stranger. Judas betrayed the Jesus who he had some knowledge of. And from this we learn a very important thing. There are two kinds of knowledge of Christ. True knowledge of Christ and false knowledge of Christ. And lest that scare you, it's really not that hard. The false teachers had false knowledge of Christ. Consider the teaching of Jesus as he explains in Matthew 13, 20. As for what was sown on rocky ground, he is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. Matthew 13, 20 to 21. But here, in our verse, 1 Peter 2.20, we're told that false teachers go back to their ways. Again, put your seatbelts on or get yourselves emotionally ready to hear some disgusting things here, okay? If after they've escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them, that is the defilements of the world, entangled in the defilements of the world again, and overcome. So that's the condition. These false teachers could be found in churches to whom Peter's writing, much like farm fields, have two kinds of living things growing in them. And farmers could say, amen. There's two kinds of things in a farm field. They got the crops that you planted, and then there's those other things that are growing in a farmer's field. You call them weeds, right? The true and the false are in the church. The weeds and the tares, the wheat and the tares are both In the church, the we and the they, the us and the them. In verse 20, Peter used the pronoun they twice and the pronoun once. And for those of you that are counting for me, the other time the word them is used, it refers to something else. In verse 21, Peter used the pronoun them twice and so on. You can go through this passage and study them and us, they and us. And in verse 20, Peter used the word our. to refer to Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It's not their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, it's our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Not their way of knowing Christ temporarily and intellectually and socially, but our way of knowing Christ permanently and personally and spiritually by faith, a life-giving faith. So in verse 21, how can it be better never to have known the way of righteousness? One reason is because knowing some true teachings and then turning against those true teachings of Christ is a worse crime, a worse event, a worse spiritual offense against God. To sin against knowledge increases your culpability. And another reason it's better never to have known the way of righteousness is once they knew the way of righteousness as teachers, they were expected to teach it. The way of righteousness, the truth that they knew, However, when they refused to teach the way of righteousness, what were they doing? Freeze frame, think about it. They chose to teach falsehood knowing it's falsehood. Now there are some who are self-deceived, and there's others who know the truth, but they're teaching falsehood anyway. But here he's talking especially about those who are culpable in this way. They teach against their own knowledge of the way of righteousness, intentionally leading people astray. Do you want to face God after doing that? They fell away themselves deliberately because they wanted the pleasure. They turned their backs on God and will face eternal judgment for that. There is such danger here. The Lord Jesus taught to Peter and to his other disciples in Luke 12, 47 to 48, that everyone to whom much is given, of him much will be required. Consider the words also of Hebrews 10, 26. If we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, There no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. That was Hebrews 10, 26. I want you to notice something about this passage, that Peter never calls these false teachers, children of God. Peter never calls these false children, false teachers, believers. Peter never calls these false teachers, Christians. Instead, the false teachers were people who, because of their knowledge, deliberately chose to reject God and reject His Word. And Peter declared that these people will face God's judgment and God's destruction. Did they know Christ and lose their salvation? No, that's not what we're talking about. Listen to the words of Jesus on this, Matthew 7, 23. On that day, Are you ready for this? I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. That's Matthew 7, 22 to 23. Jesus never knew them. Peter's very careful in how he describes all this, keeping that in mind. Verse 21, after knowing it, knowing the way of righteousness, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What's the holy commandment? It's the gospel message and God's commands to all people everywhere to repent and believe. The command was delivered to them. They heard the gospel. They heard the call to repent. They heard the call to believe. They refused. When the verb is used, delivered to them, it has the official status of having received it in order to teach it. Special delivery of the curriculum in order to deliver it to the students. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15.3, for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ Jesus died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. What did Paul do? He passed it on. What did the false teachers do? They refused to teach it and refused to live it. The false teachers become the weak link, worse than the weak link. They become the broken chain in the faithfulness of our God from Christ through faithful pastors in every generation to feed His people. And if you break that chain, of God feeding his people for whom Christ died, then there is a judgment to pay before God. They broke the chain of faithful pastors passing on the true words of Christ to his own people. The false teachers altered the content of the message of Christ, rejected its holy teachings, and perverted the glorious truth of it. So, Peter has a little picture in mind for you. We must understand the dog picture first. That in biblical times, dogs were not the well-beloved rover and spot that many of you have in your homes. Some of you have on your lap at the moment. It's not rover and spot with a food dish and water dish with their name on it and a collar and vet appointments and nicknames. Dogs were not man's best friend in those days. Go home and tell your dog that he has it really good. Go ahead, tell your dog they have it really good. You have it really good, Rover. Because in those days, dogs were scavenger dogs. They were unclean, and that's a compliment. These dogs lived on whatever refuse, and I mean refuse, of any kind that they could find, and they were potential carriers of many diseases. A scavenger dog would get sick on what they ate, and instead of learning from that, sorry, the dog would actually consider consuming a second time what was there in front of him. That's beyond disgusting. I don't like even saying this out loud. It's the image that God wants us to have of false teachers. What is happening? They escaped the defilements of the world. They cleaned up their lives and came to church. They heard the gospel and they went right back to the world's disgusting corruption and sin. Peter's saying, look at it clearly. Understand what's here. He's got a second picture for you. Not just dogs, but sows. You know a pig can't sweat, right? So in the heat of the sun, pigs want to cool their skin with the wetness of the mud. A pig's tail's too short to shoo away the pesky insects, so they also want to roll in the mud to get the flies off. And the problem with the mud is that it's barnyard mud. You know, slime and the word mire here is appropriate words. It has that barnyard watery mud with the additional feature of filth and uncleanness that comes from animals in the barnyard doing in the barnyard what animals do in the barnyard. You're not going to make me say more, right? OK? Filthy, beyond filthy. But now the sow is washed up for the state fair. standing all squeaky clean, kind of proud of himself. If you know this sow, you know that she's not happy, though. She would really rather be back in the mud, and first chance she gets, she's voluntarily and eagerly jumping right for it, blue ribbon and all. She'll roll around in the slime and the mire and the grunt with contentment because she's cooler and because the flies are off her. and it's graphic on purpose and accurate in description of the false teachers, these heretics take pleasure in rolling around as soon as they can in every revelry and every immorality that they can find. Please understand accurately who the false teachers are, says Peter. What have we seen? False teachers are like a water source that's dry. They're like a slave stuck in chains. They're like endlessly filthy scavenger dogs and pigs. And what are some lessons for us? I got three parting lessons for you. Number one, remain disappointed at false teachers. Concluding lesson number one, remain disappointed at false teachers. Remain disgusted. You're supposed to be disgusted. Wasn't my illustration. Came from God, through Peter. You're disgusted. Remain disgusted. If you walk away from church every week, week after week, without hearing the teachings about God's mercy, God's judgment, God's law, God's grace, God's love, God's moral commands, then you get disappointed, and you stay disappointed, and you stay disappointed long enough to look somewhere else. Because somewhere on this planet, Christ has his people, giving pure water to his people. It's out there. Find a preacher who'll tell you the gospel of Christ, the message carried by Peter and by Paul. A sermon's not about stories. We need the life-giving water. A spring is supposed to give water, not something from the well itself, but something the well contains. A preacher's supposed to give conviction, sure, but comfort also in the same message. A rain cloud's supposed to deliver rain, A shepherd's supposed to talk about sin and Christ's death and resurrection. Search for a place where God's Word and Spirit are both present. That's the water. Come to church thirsty and receive a satisfying spiritual drink for your soul. John 7, 37, at that great day of the feast, Jesus stood up and cried out, If anyone thirsts, And you say, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, that's me, that's me, right? You come to church thirsty. And Jesus says, 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. Now this he said about the spirit, whom those who believed in him were yet to receive. For as yet the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." That's John 7, 37 and 38. True teachers have hearts like springs, and the water that flows from a spring is that living water that flows from their hearts. Even the Spirit of Christ, teaching the gospel of Christ to the people of Christ. And if you don't get water from your faucet, Honey, honey calls a plumber, the plumber fixes the faucet. You have got to fix this in your spiritual life. Find a faucet that brings you water. And remain disappointed at every false teacher who doesn't teach Christ. If they teach Christ, they will teach forgiveness. They will teach grace and the power for holy living. Remain disappointed at false teachers is number one. Number two, just briefly, No slavery to sin when you see it. Number two, takeaway lesson, no slavery to sin when you see it. Peter is warning in this chapter of teachers who export what they don't possess. They try to export what they don't possess. They talk about freedom, but they don't enjoy freedom themselves. No slavery to sin when you see it, right? What does God say about proper ethical behavior? Not the same as what our movies teach us, right? Not the same as heads of worldwide churches nowadays. I don't understand how people could call these things churches and call these things pastors when they don't teach what this book says. The ancient truths of Christian morals are not movable. And they play with all of these things. That's slavery to sin. And it's culpable. It scares me to even think about and to speak about today. No slavery to sin when you see it. Peter warned us. Christ warned us. Paul warned us. John warned us. All the apostles warned us. The New Testament is filled with teaching about false teachers. Slavery to sin. Stuck. If you want to be free, don't follow them. If you want happiness and joy and love and peace, forgiveness and a clear conscience, don't follow them. Follow Christ and his word and spirit and live in the freedom of Christ truly. No slavery to sin when you see it. That was number two. Number three, last one. see two kinds of knowledge of Christ. There's true knowledge of Christ and false knowledge of Christ. Is that a new category for you? Then take it with you today. True knowledge of Christ or false knowledge of Christ. Remember the picture of the knowledge of Christ that's false and where it leads. It's been painted to us in this passage. Remember the picture of knowledge of Christ that's true and where that leads. That's been painted for us clearly in this passage. Peter's doing us a real favor here. God has given to us a blessing in this chapter, that we understand true and false, and the import, the danger, and what's at stake. Rejoice in your true knowledge of the true Shepherd because we know Christ. Think of it. We know Christ. You have true spiritual knowledge of the true Savior. He's our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, like Peter said in the passage. So three lessons, remain disappointed at false teachers, know slavery to sin when you see it, and see two kinds of knowledge of Christ, true and false, and rejoice that we know Christ truly. Let's pray. Lord, give us living hope. Give us a true knowledge of you that comes from true faith. Give us a healthy fear or danger or concern for false teachers and a healthy understanding of the dangers at stake. Set us free to live holy lives by your power. In the name of Jesus Christ, the true shepherd, amen.