Slides: Animal Religion (2 Peter 2:10-22)

Animal Religion
2 Peter 2:10-22

Parallels between 2 Peter and Jude

There will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them. (2 Peter 2:1)
For certain men … have secretly slipped in among you. They … deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. (Jude 1:4)

Their condemnation from long ago is not idle (2 Peter 2:3)
... whose condemnation was written about long ago. (Jude 1:4)

God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment. (2 Peter 2:4)
And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment. (Jude 1:6)

He turned Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes … making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly. (2 Peter 2:6)
Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. (Jude 1:7)

They indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority… they blaspheme the glorious ones. (2 Peter 2:10)
These people   … defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. (Jude 1:8)

Even angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. (2 Peter 2:11)
But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” (Jude 1:9)

But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct… blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction. (2 Peter 2:12)
They blaspheme all that they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals—these are the very things that destroy them. (Jude 1:10)

They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing. (2 Peter 2:15)
They have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error. (Jude 1:11)

They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. (2 Peter 2:13)
These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm. (Jude 1:12)

These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. (2 Peter 2:17)
They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind… for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever. (Jude 1:12-13)

Remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles. (2 Peter 3:2)
But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Jude 1:17)

…knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. (2 Peter 3:3)
They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” (Jude 1:18)

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 3:18)
But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. (Jude 1:20)

2 Peter and Jude

• Peter probably had a copy of Jude’s letter and adapted it to address a similar situation.
• Both authors fought for the faith, exposed false teachers, and told believers to know and grow.

False teachers

• Sneak among God’s people
• Bring in destructive heresies
• Deny Jesus the Master
• Follow immoral urges
• Speak false words to exploit
• Get condemned and destroyed

Punish and rescue
⁹ The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment ¹⁰ and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, ¹¹ whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. ¹² But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, ¹³ suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing.

Animal religion

• Careless toward mighty spirits
• Follow irrational animal instincts
• Make blasphemous noises about things they don’t understand
• Strut toward slaughter

Immoral urges
They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. ¹⁴ They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls.

• Party time all the time
• Drunk on booze and lies
• Eyes see only adulteresses
• Ever-growing appetite for sin

Greedy like Balaam
They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! ¹⁵ Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, ¹⁶ but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

Waterless Springs and Storm-Driven Mists
¹⁷ These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.

Attracting a crowd
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. 

• Speak with bold authority
• Target shaky souls
• Cater to sexual passions
• Train hearts in greedy gain
• Promise fulfillment & freedom but are slaves of corruption

Entice (δελεάζω) = Bait a hook
They entice unsteady souls… they entice by sensual passions of the flesh (v. 14, 18)

Free indeed
If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free… everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin… So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:31-36)

Worse off than ever
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.

The unclean spirit 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. (Matthew 12:45)

²¹ For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteous-ness 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.”

Better not knowing
If you turn from the Way, reject the faith, and deny Christ, you get:

• Harder heart: ex-“Christian” is harder to save than a pagan.
• Harsher punishment: hell is worst for those who knew most.

Can salvation be lost?

• Churchgoers and professing “Christians” can end up in hell.
• Knowing of Christ, admitting sins, and  improving behavior are NOT proof of rebirth. Perseverance is!
• Traitors were never reborn or saved; their nature never changed.

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.”

Animal religion
... like irrational animals, creatures of instinct … “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.” (2 Peter 2:12, 22)
… understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals … follow their own ungodly desires … follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. (Jude 1:10-19)

Jesus warned that dogs and pigs are dangerous (Matthew 7:6). Jesus also pictured false teachers as poisonous snakes: "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?" (Matthew 23:33). Jesus said that false teachers take after their father, the devil (John 8:44). False teachers are headed for hell like that old serpent, Satan the dragon (Revelation 12:9; 20:10).