“A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”

2 Peter 2 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. ² Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; ³ and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

⁴ For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; ⁵ and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; ⁶ and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; ⁷ and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men ⁸ (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), ⁹ then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, ¹⁰ and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.

Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, ¹¹ whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. ¹² But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, ¹³ suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you, ¹⁴ having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; ¹⁵ forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; ¹⁶ but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.

¹⁷ These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. ¹⁸ For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, ¹⁹ promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. ²⁰ For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. ²¹ For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. ²² It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”

Today’s text begins saying:  False prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.   In Matthew 24:4-13 Jesus says:  “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.”    We should not be surprised then that there would be false teachers and false prophets today. We should not be surprised that many would be mislead.  The gospel of certain grace; that because Jesus died for sins once for all, sin no longer has any consequence, that many share and believe, is a false teaching that misleads many. Many will quote Romans 8:1 which says:  There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, believing that because of what Jesus did there is no longer condemnation for sin. That is true though only for those who are in Christ. The rest of the verse says:   who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.   If a person is in Christ then they no longer walk according to the flesh. There is no condemnation, but if we walk according to the Spirit, there will still be conviction regarding sin and righteousness. In John 16:8-11 Jesus says:  He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me;  and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.  In John 3:16-21 Jesus says: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.  He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.  For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”   The cross did not eliminate the judgment against sin. Jesus didn’t come to judge, but to save those who believe in Him from judgment.  God’s grace is certain, but those who disregard the conviction of the Holy Spirit regarding sin and righteousness; those who love darkness rather than light, choose judgment over grace.

Peter says:  If God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,  and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.  Indeed the grace of God is certain, but it is no more certain than His righteousness and justice. Psalm 89:14 says:  Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You.  In Numbers 23:19 God says:  “God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”  Hebrews 13:8 says:  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.  God hasn’t changed His mind about judging sin and His justice requires that sin be judged and punished today as it was before. Jesus didn’t go to the cross to change God’s mind about sin, but rather to change our minds about continuing in sin. He did not only forgive our sin, but He redeemed us from sin. He gave us the Holy Spirit so that we could walk free from sin.

Peter says:  If, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”  Romans 5:8 says: God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.   Who after knowing the love of God would desire instead the filth of the world? 

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit thank You for Your love demonstrated in the cross and for Your grace. Holy Spirit teach me and convict me so that I would know truth and not be mislead; that I would walk according to Your conviction, free from sin.  In the name of Jesus I pray and in His righteousness I choose to live.  Amen.