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The Book of
2 Peter: Message
By Dr. Michael Guido, D.D.
A tourist stopped
along a lonely country road and said, "Pardon me, sir; but can
you tell me where this road goes?" "Well," said the
farmer, "it just moseys along a piece, then it turns into a hog
trail, then a squirrel track, and finally runs up a scrub pine, and
ends in a knot hole." Do you know where the road goes that
you're on? Let's turn to 2nd Peter 2:19 to 22 and see a
road that leads to "a knot hole."
Mark the enslavement. Sin attracts
but it attaches, it entices but it enslaves, it fascinates but it
fastens. It's written in 2nd Peter 2:19, "While they
promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of
corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought
in bondage." Have you been brought in bondage to badness? There
was a tyrant who sent for one of his men and asked, "What's
your business?" "I'm a blacksmith," he answered.
"Go home," he commanded, "and make me a chain."
He worked for many months, without pay, and returned with his chain.
"Good," complimented the monarch, "but make it twice
as long." After many days of hard work he returned, and again
the tyrant said, "Make it twice as long." When he brought
it the next time, the ruler shouted, "Take it, and bind him
hand and foot with it, and cast him into a furnace of fire."
Those were his wages for making the chain. May I apply it? If you're
not saved, you're a servant of sin and Satan. Your master, the
devil, has been telling you to make a chain. You've been working on
it for a long time. Every sin you commit is another snap. Every
thought, word, or deed of lust is another link. One of these days or
nights you'll be taken, and you'll be bound with your own badness,
and you'll suffer for your sins.
But mark the escape. There's a
freedom from those fetters. There's an escape from the enchainment
of evil. Jesus is stronger than Satan or sin, and He can break every
fetter. He can set you free. Our Lord said, "Whosoever
committeth sin is the servant of sin." But He didn't stop
there. He added, "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye
shall be free indeed." Now there were some false teachers in
Peter's day, even as there are some in our day, who said, "Now
that you're free, live as you like!" "Good," you say
"can I?" In a sense, yes. But no born again believer will
desire to return to the old sinful life as a servant to Satan. In
Washington, D.C., there's a monument erected in honor of Abraham
Lincoln. He's standing a-top a high base, and kneeling at his feet,
is a slave with an upturned face. He had been chained, but it had
been snapped. On the monument are these words, "Freedom's
Memorial. In grateful memory of Abraham Lincoln, this monument was
erected by the Western Sanitary Commission of Saint Louis, Missouri,
with funds contributed solely by emancipated citizens of the United
States, declared free by his proclamation." The liberated
slaves weren't compelled to consecrate their gifts, but they felt
constrained. Just so, a born again believer isn't compelled to live
an obedient life, but he's constrained to do so because of the love
of the Lord. Since the Lord gave His life for me, the least I can do
is to give myself to Him. In that sense, I live as I like.
Mark the entanglement. It's
written in 2nd Peter 2:20 and 22, "For if they have
escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and
overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning...But
it has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is
turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her
wallowing in the mire." Does this mean that when a Christian
sins, he ceases to be a son of God, and he's no longer saved? Oh,
no. A dog in the Bible is never used in speaking of a believer, only
in speaking of an unbeliever who's a false teacher. A sow in the
Bible is never used in speaking of the saved, only in speaking of
the unsaved. What, then, is the meaning? This verse says that these
folk had "knowledge of the Lord." They were professors,
not possessors; it was in their heads, not their hearts. Knowledge
alone won't save. But there are folk who know that Jesus is the
Savior of the world. And they join the church, and live religious
and respectable lives. By so doing they escape the pollutions of the
world. But they're not saved. It takes more than knowledge. It takes
faith. Mental assent without spiritual consent isn't sufficient. You
must receive Christ, and when you do, He not only gives you the
power to become a son of God, but also power to stay a son of God.
Receive Him, won't you?
copyright 2000 Guido
Evangelistic Association
All Scripture
verses are quoted from the New King James Version..
Click here to go to the next Scripture Study on the book of Second
Peter from the Sower.
This series of
messages on the Books of the Bible were originally
written for broadcast on Dr. Guido's radio program,
"The Sower." They are collected and
reprinted here for your enjoyment and spiritual
edification.
