Sick Dogs and Dirty Hogs

Sermon OverviewScripture Passage: 2 Peter 17-22Plastic preachers produce counterfeit Christians; they seem good, but they are destined for divine destruction.2 Peter 2:22 is more than just sick dogs and dirty hogs; it is a grave warning to anyone who would counterfeit Christianity. The Apostle Peter describes apostates as dry wells, offering much but giving little to a thirsty soul. (See 2 Peter 2:17.) Apostates are deceptive as dusty clouds—their words carry in the wind without any glory, headed for deep darkness.Plastic preachers get their following by allurement. (See 2 Peter 2:18.) They bait their crowds by playing into the power of the flesh and the appetite of the old nature. They cleverly hide what they’re doing with feigned words, and they attract unstable souls. 2 Peter 2:19 reveals that false teachers promise freedom to those who follow their teachings, but freedom cannot be found in a lie.Adrian Rogers says, “Sin always promises freedom, but it brings bondage, and those who are in the deepest bondage think they are free.” When we truly live by God’s truth, we receive His freedom that only increases the longer we study and learn.2 Peter 2:20 says, “...they are again entangled in (the pollutions of the world) and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.” If we choose against truth as we know it, the deeper we will go into bondage. It would be better if we’d never learned the way of truth (see 2 Peter 2:21).Apostates have known the way of righteousness and rejected it. They did not lose their salvation; they never had it.Adrian Rogers says, “Apostates have religion, but they don’t have reality; they have culture, but they don’t have Calvary. They have a creed, a code, a cause, and a church, but not Christ.”When we are truly saved, our true nature changes; we become God’s sheep. But for apostates, there was no true transformation. They will return to their lives of sin, as a dog returns to its vomit and a pig goes back to the mire (see 2 Peter 2:22).Becoming Christians does not make us perfect; but rather than returning to our sin, we will learn to run from it.Apply it to your lifeIt is harder for a pseudo prophet to convince a growing Christian. Spend time in God’s Word today; resolve to grow in your faith, so you can identify false teaching.