Finding True Freedom

Turn to 2 Peter 2:17

Recap

2 Peter (The King is Coming):

Addressing FALSE TEACHING

Jesus isn’t coming

Live however...

LAX ATTITUDE towards SIN showed up in both TEACHING & their LIVES

Last week:

Focused in on the VANITY of a LIFE of PLEASURE…the pursuit of happiness in of itself is empty!

ALL have FALLEN SHORT, MILES or INCHES...

Now, Peter will transition to sharing how these TEACHERS would proclaim a MESSAGE of FREEDOM that was REALLY a LIFE of BONDAGE.

Read text & pray

Intro:

FISHING- one of my favorite hobbies.

LIVE BAIT vs. LURES...

LURES, because they aren’t real MUST LOOK GOOD & good PRESENTATION...

Must look REALISTIC, like a real fish, worm, or real crayfish, etc.

Must be PRESENTED NICE by the FISHERMAN…jigging, reeling, bouncing, etc.

**Convince the fish that it is truly real, & appetizing!

When fishing in this way... you ENTICE/LURE the FISH into BITING something that ISN’T REAL,, because THEY’RE CONVINCED it is.

Exactly what FALSE TEACHERS both THEN & NOW will do.

ENTICING NEW CONVERTS/those with weaker consciences into a FALSE FORM of “FREEDOM”

**IMAGINE Someone WALKING into a CHURCH for the 1ST TIME DOESN’T KNOW what they’re GETTING INTO…whether or not doctrine is sound…because they don’t know the truth...

FALSE TEACHERS will BAIT their HOOK in VARIOUS WAYS to BUILD LARGER MINISTRIES as they LEAD PEOPLE on the ROAD to DESTRUCTION...

Need:

We need this text today:

STAND UP against FALSE TEACHING/Know truth

Know that FREEDOM in CHRIST is NOT FREEDOM TO SIN..., BUT is FREEDOM FROM SIN.

LIFE of SIN = SLAVERY to SIN…bondage…NOT FREEDOM at all.

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Text:

2 Peter 2:17–22 (ESV)

Thought 1: The Emptiness of False Teachers

17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.

CONTINUING to ADDRESS FALSE TEACHING...

Ended LAST WEEK: GREEDY like BALAAM…needed miracle to get attention!

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TEACHERS = WATERLESS SPRINGS- mists driven by storm....THEY’RE EMPTY

Their PROMISES & CLAIMS are EMPTY!

In BIBLICAL WORLD…FINDING SPRING in desert - SOURCE of HOPE & REFRESHING…IMAGINE if it was EMPTY!

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Guys CAMPING TRIP…kayaking to campground, FINDING BUOYS = SOURCE of HOPE! Imagine if empty!

Exactly WHAT they were EXPERIENCING…TEACHING = EMPTY…promises = empty....

The CLAIM that you can LIVE a FULFILING LIFE filled with SIN and be RIGHT with GOD and happy all at once is an EMPTY PROMISE, like a DRY SPRING in the DESERT...

If you ever HEAR THIS TEACHING, you can likewise REJECT it as EMPTY!

GLOOM of DARKNESS…BLACKEST DARKNESS (NLT/NIV) RESERVED for THEM...

PERFECT TENSE…PAST W/ IMPLICATIONS...…God has a TABLE READY for them in HELL!

SPECIAL PLACE of destruction for THOSE who LEAD OTHERS ASTRAY

WAITING @ OLIVE GARDEN

THEY’VE R.S.V.P.ed…PLACE WAITING…WITHOUT REALIZING....

Again, Peter shows us that the CONDEMNATION and DESTRUCTION of THESE PEOPLE is SURE to COME.

Transition: Now, after introducing again the condemnation of these teachers, Peter is going to illustrate for us once more where these teachers are going astray.

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Thought 2: Enslavement to Sin

18 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.

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

BAITING their HOOK:

Speaking LOUDLY & BOASTFULLY

PASSIONATE....NOT ACCURATE.

TEST for PREACHING.... CONTENT ABOVE DELIVERY.

BOTH = GREAT (NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE)…BUT...BIBLICALLY ACCURATE should be the focus ABOVE EXCITEMENT...

An INVITATION to a LIFE of INDULGENCE in the FLESH.

LIVE HOWEVER you want...

ADD JESUS TO your EXISTING LIFE…don’t have to renounce anything!

Making a god in your own image....

CHEAP GRACE has been a COMMON FALSE MESSAGE SINCE the first opponents of the true gospel in the 1ST CENTURY!!

leading people to destruction.

Denying a day of judgment…again, not new!

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JESUS: LITTLE ONES STUMBLING = BETTER to HAVE MILLSTONE AROUND NECK in SEA...

THE LOVING & GENTLE SAVIOR…ALSO WRATHFUL ON SIN & FALSE TEACHERS!

**ESPECIALLY HARD JUDGMENT for THOSE who TEACH FALSELY…

JAMES says for NOT MANY to BECOME TEACHERS

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These TEACHERS would USE BOLD & LOUD TEACHING + INVITATION to SIN, to LEAD PEOPLE ASTRAY…primarily new converts.

PEOPLE even TODAY PROMISE FREEDOM in a LIFE of SIN!

***PROMISE to OTHERS…THEY DON’T EVEN EXPERIENCE!!

In fact, they are SLAVE. They are slaves of their own DEPRAVITY and CORRUPTION.

WHATEVER OVERCOMES someone, TO THAT THEY are SLAVE...

If you CLAIM to be FREE in order to LIVE SINFULLY, you’re actually the FURTHEST THING FROM FREE...

**Teachers couldn’t even look @ a woman without being consumed!

SLAVES of their OWN LUSTS, DESIRES, GREED…like a MOUSE in the TRAP...

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Young people:

* A LIFE of SUPPOSED FREEDOM to LIVE HOWEVER you want ISN’T FULFILLING, it’s EMPTY.

DON’T USE the FREEDOM of LEAVING the HOUSE as FREEDOM TO SIN & PURSUE WORLDLINESS…it’s an empty and unfulfilling life!

You can PURSUE GODLINESS as a YOUNG PERSON & FIND TRUE JOY in SERVING JESUS Christ & freedom from sin!

Transition: Now, after illustrating that this supposed freedom is really bondage, Peter is going to show us how those in slavery who claim to believe were never really changed and brought into the fold. Look at verses 20 through 22.

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Thought 3: Privilege Creates Responsibility

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.

21 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.

22 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.”

True BIBLE STUDY APPEALS to the ENTIRE COUNSEL of SCRIPTURE && develop ROBUST BIBLICAL THEOLOGY...

FIRST GLANCE- looks like backsliding & LOSING SALVATION.

**ETERNAL SECURITY is a BIBLICAL DOCTRINE put forth in NUMEROUS PASSAGES...

EVEN 1 PETER!!…did Peter really change?

**Likewise, there are NUMEROUS “WARNING” PASSAGES....ADMONISHING US to REMAIN in the FAITH…denying Christ = him denying us, etc.

Best remedy I’ve found: TRUE SAVING FAITH is a PERSEVERING FAITH...

Yes, Christians need to persevere to the end, but if you are truly saved and brought in, you will persevere until the end.

Tom Schreiner: “Perseverance is the mark of genuineness.”

Schreiner...REGARDLESS of CALVINIST/ARMINIAN beliefs…ALL AGREE you have to PERSEVERE till the END.

MAIN DIFFERENCE = WHO DOES the KEEPING??

If it’s UP TO YOU entirely to STAY SAVED = WORKS??

If you could lose your salvation, you would.

GOD SUSTAINS us as BELIEVERS until the END…we are BEING GUARDED THROUGH FAITH for our end-time SALVATION Peter said in 1 Peter 1!!

GOD WILL BRING WORK TO COMPLETION @ DAY OF CHRIST (PHIL. 1:6)

CHRIST LOSES NONE of HIS SHEEP…NO ONE TAKE FROM FATHER’S HAND.

Again, we WORK W/ GOD!

SELF-CONTROL= FRUIT of the SPIRIT...…evidence of God’s Spirit…also… = you, controlling you…they aren’t mutually exclusive...

MY HOPE RESTS in the SUSTAINING POWER of GOD...NOT my OWN GODLINESS, PERSEVERANCE, ability, or lifestyle.ETC

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CONC.---This PASSAGE is NOT TALKING about GENUINE CHRISTIANS LOSING SALVATION...

Those who had a KNOWLEDGE of JESUS & TEMPORARILY ESCAPED the WORLD…when they RETURN they’re WORSE than @ FIRST.

PRIVILEGE creates RESPONSIBILITY!

Romans 1 = all mankind ACCOUNTABLE…but ESP.. those who have HEARD GOOD NEWS!!

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The teachers (at first) APPEARED to have been GENUINE…but THEY WEREN’T...

1 JOHN: they WENT OUT from us, because THEY WEREN’T OF US...

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PETER’S PROVERB (V22): they had NEVER CHANGED!

DOG RETURNS to VOMIT…clean PIG RETURNS to MUD.

1st century Judaism:

DOGS WEREN’T PETS…scroungers…etc.

PIGS = UNCLEAN.

They might TURN AWAY for a MOMENT, but THEY ARE WHAT THEY ARE, & GOING to DO what they’re GOING TO DO!!

D.A. Carson, “The fundamental nature of such people remains unchanged.”

NICE OUTWARD SIGNS for a TIME..…they WEREN’T LEGITIMATE

seeming converts

tares amongst wheat

LOOKED REAL…but WEREN’T REAL...

PROOF in the PUDDING: COMING to CHRIST = LASTING TRANSFORMATION, over time...

saving faith = persevering faith...

Big Idea:

True freedom in life is freedom from sin, not freedom to sin.

Intention:

And so our response in worship to God is again being diligent in our pursuit of godliness and persevering in the faith in this life, because these things prove that we aren’t a slave to sin and that we aren’t the dogs or pigs that will return to the ways they once lived.

GOD DOES the WORK… & WE DO OUR PART!

2 Peter 1: CAPACITY for GODLINESS…BUT WE MUST DO IT!

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Gospel:

Revisit PIGS & DOGS....NATURE HADN’T CHANGED…fit in briefly, but God hadn’t changed their hearts....

Jesus’ parable:

MAN SOWED WHEAT in field.

ENEMY SOWED WEEDS/TARES... in the night, resembled wheat.

**WAITED UNTIL the END to HARVEST rather than uprooting wheat...

SEPARATING SONS of KINGDOM from SONS of ENEMY!

There’s no gray areas, no in between, no fence!!

WHEAT DOESN’T BECOME WEEDS....THEY’RE A TOTALLY DIFFERENT KIND....

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You can come to church without coming to Christ.

You can come Sunday after Sunday after Sunday and think that based on your religious lifestyle you are right with God,

but you can only be saved by faith in Jesus Christ alone,

resting in his righteousness, not your own.

SCARIEST PASSAGE in Bible IMO Matt. 7:21-23:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Jesus didn’t say you forgot me.

Jesus didn’t say you left me.

Jesus didn’t say anything like this.

He said, “I NEVER KNEW YOU.”

SOME will GO to GRAVE as UNBELIEVERS....& will be SURPRISED.

WORST SURPRISE is THOSE who EXPECT “WELL DONE” & HEAR “DEPART, I NEVER KNEW YOU...”

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See, the GOSPEL MUST CHANGE US, from the INSIDE OUT.

The GOSPEL is NOT BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION...but INNER and TOTAL TRANSFORMATION.

Changing you inwardly

CHANGING your DESIRES…your heart!

Replacing HEART of STONE w/ HEART of FLESH...

Giving CAPACITY for GODLINESS you’ve NEVER HAD THROUGH the SPIRIT!

**We do our part…sure…but we all NEED this INNER WORK of transformation BY the HOLY SPIRIT of God!

Jesus didn’t come to make bad and sinful people better…he came to bring those who were dead to life...

Anyone who ADDS CHURCH ATTENDANCE to their LIST of WORKS that they HOPE are SUFFICIENT to save them is surely on their WAY to DESTRUCTION.

WORKS DON’T SAVE…ONLY through FAITH IN CHRIST!

ATONING DEATH

burial

RESURRECTION on third day

Professing him…LORD of LIFE & ALL CREATION...

Trusting as PERSONAL SAVIOR

resting on his RIGHTEOUSNESS IMPUTED by FAITH! Not our filthy rags...

Jesus Christ didn’t come to make you a better version of who you already are, but to make you into a NEW CREATION..

NOT PERFECT OVERNIGHT, but will have NEW TRAJECTORY

Where you were formerly enslaved, he brings freedom...

Where you were formerly dead, he brings new resurrection life.

Where you were formerly hopeless, he brings hope.

Where you were formerly disobedient, he brings a heart for obedience.

GOD GIVES BOTH WILL & POWER to DO HIS GOOD PLEASURE!

Not hating serving Him...

Not serving against our will...

***He changes what we do… & WHAT WE WANT TO DO...

Outward transformation begins on the inside...

The GOOD NEWS is that you can BE SAVED from the CONSEQUENCES & POWER of your SIN TODAY.

Christ has paid the price for you to be right with God if you put your faith and trust in him as your personal Lord and Savior.

***If you don’t have this assurance of salvation, we’d love to talk to you after the service.

Steve Lawson: “The only thing worse than no assurance of salvation is a false-assurance of salvation.”

YOU CAN HAVE ASSURANCE TODAY.

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Takeaways:

A LIFE of SIN is as UNFULFILLING AS finding a DRY SPRING in DESERT.

Those who proclaim this = false teachers

You can FIND TRUE FREEDOM in J.C. today.

Giving both the DESIRE & the POWER to DO HIS WILL!

True SAVING FAITH = PERSEVERING FAITH...

External evidences are good & necessary…but we must be resting on righteousness of Christ.

Application:

**FAITH FIRST!

SEARCH your HEART & LIFE today....are there THINGS HOLDING YOU CAPTIVE??

**I’ve been there, thankfully not there today!

DON’T KEEP AREAS of your LIFE OUTSIDE GOD’S RULE & reign…continue to seek him for a TOTAL WORK OF TRANSFORMATION!

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PRAYER & DEDICATION… WILL & POWER to DO WHAT PLEASES HIM...

HATE the SIN, LOVE the SINNER…in MY OWN LIFE!!

RESENT your SIN…NO PET SINS....

**ONLY POSSIBLE in CHRIST…NEW CAPACITY for GODLINESS…will & desire to do His pleasure.

Trying to live a godly life while loving your sin is impossible…

PRAY: LORD HELP ME HATE the SIN in my OWN LIFE as I HATE the SINS OF OTHERS… & love righteousness in my own life as you do...

I pray that God would give you the strength you need this week to continue in your pursuit of godliness as you’re diligent to confirm your salvation to a watching world, and that you find the true joy and freedom found in serving Jesus Christ.

Close in prayer