The Promise Of Liberty-6 Series

The PROMISE Of LIBERTY-VI—2Peter 2:17-22

Attention:

Forklift Economy

After being laid off from three jobs in the past year, Dewey was hired to work in a warehouse.

Unfortunately, one day he lost control of the forklift & drove it off the loading dock. Surveying the damage, the owner shook his head & said, "I'm sorry, Dewey, but I'm going to have to withhold 10 percent of each of your paychecks until we back the damage."

"How much do you think it will cost?" Dewey asked.

“Looks to be in the neighborhood of about $5-10,000,” the owner replied.

Dewey gets a big smile on his face, & his eyes light up. He gives the boss a big bear hug & exclaims, ”Finally!” "Job security!”

With the promise of his newfound job security, Dewey was free to make some plans!

There are many purveyors of false ‘truth’ who are infecting & effecting our great country’s government. In fact, because we are not a ‘Christian nation’ per se, but are rather a ‘Christian influenced’ nation,

Politicos promise happiness, prosperity, peace, freedom, wellness, care, etc. within a background of the church...BUT is their’s True(real/actual) Liberty/Freedom?

We must ask ourselves a question in all seriousness...

Is Liberty/Freedom a reality for you?

Peter revealed that a false liberty had been presented to the Church.

The true Church yields to true liberty.

But panderers of false Liberty/Freedom can mislead the Church.

Why must the Church yield to God’s liberty?

9 distinctions/functions/invitations/stipulations of true Liberty...God’s liberty.

We have found previously that...

True Liberty...God’s Liberty stipulates/assumes...

1. A QUENCHED THIRST(:17a)“wells without water”

2. ETERNAL LIGHT(:17b)“blackness of darkness forever”

3. HUMILITY(:18a)“great swelling words”

4. FULLNESS(:18b)“emptiness”

5. OTHER-WORLDLY ENTICEMENT(:18c) “allure”

6. A RESTRICTED SATISFACTION(:18d) “thru lusts of the flesh” “lewdness”

7. A RELIABLE PROMISE/Promise’s Liability(:19a)

8. A TELLING ENSLAVEMENT(:19b)“slaves of corruption,” “overcome” & “brought into bondage”

9—True liberty stipulates...

A MAINTAINED ESCAPE(:20-22)

Explanation:(:20-22)“escaped the pollutions”

:20—“For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord & Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them & overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.”

These false prophets & teachers(:1) had at one point in time, “escaped” the contaminants which color & actually define “the world” wholly given to sin. They had done this through “the knowledge of the Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.” Their’s is a ‘head’ knowledge of/about rather than a ‘heart’ knowledge in. They “know” very well “of” “Jesus’” lordship & salvation & Messianic promise.

However, though they have such understanding, they become “again “entangled” in a web of lies & truth from which they will not allow themselves to be extricated. They have been “entangled” previously, before their association with Christ. Thru this second entanglement with pollution, they are “overcome.” As a result, their “latter end” is much more disturbing than the origin of their slide into spiritual imaginations.

Verses 21 & 22 answer the reason for the concern over the aggravated & “worsened” state of their “latter end.”

The false prophets & teachers had no doubt become part of the church thru open profession of faith. Thus they were able to convince the church that their precise “knowledge” was genuine & superceded that of others, even the apostles.

Mat. 12:43-45(Lk. 11:24-26) describes how a person’s “latter end” can be “worse” than his “beginning.” Such involves the action of unclean spirits in seeking rest for themselves. Once an unclean spirit leaves a man, it may(?) return to the same person yet with an entourage of other unclean spirits. They find rest & reclamation in the unregenerate religious person.

Mat. 12:43-45—“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, & finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, & put in order. Then he goes & takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, & they enter & dwell there; & the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”

“Escaped”(See :18)—apofeugw—2Aorist Active Participle Nominative Plural Masc.—1) To flee from, escape. Strong—figuratively--To escape. Used 3X.

From—apo—Preposition—1) Of separation. Strong—a primary particle; “Off,” i.e. Away(from something near), in various senses(of place, time, or relation; literal or figurative).—&—feugw—a primary verb; To run away(literally or figuratively); by implication--To shun; by analogy--To vanish.

“Pollutions/Defilements”—miasma—Noun Neuter—1) That which defiles, defilement; 2) metaph.--Vices the foulness of which contaminates one in his intercourse with the ungodly mass of mankind. Strong—morally--Foulness(properly, the effect). Used 1X.

“World”—kosmov—Noun Masc.—1) An apt & harmonious arrangement or constitution, order, government; 2) Ornament, decoration, adornment, i.e. the arrangement of the stars, 'the heavenly hosts', as the ornament of the heavens. 1Pe 3:3; 3) The world, the universe; 4) The circle of the earth, the earth; 5) The inhabitants of the earth, men, the human family; 6) The ungodly multitude; the whole mass of men alienated from God, & therefore hostile to the cause of Christ; 7) World affairs, the aggregate of things earthly; 8) Any aggregate or general collection of particulars of any sort. Kosmov has very frequently an unfavorable meaning, denoting the inhabitants of the world, mankind in general, as opposed to God. Strong—Orderly arrangement, i.e. Decoration; by implication--The world(in a wide or narrow sense, including its inhabitants, literally or figuratively [morally]). RWP—“The whole cosmos of men, including Gentiles, the whole human race.”