In the sermon 'Slaves Who Promise Liberty,' Jason Dohm expounds on 2 Peter 2:18-22, warning against false teachers who promise freedom but are themselves enslaved by corruption. These false teachers use persuasive and empty rhetoric to allure believers through fleshly desires, presenting themselves as righteous while being anything but. The sermon emphasizes the importance of recognizing and understanding the tactics of false teachers, as they often disguise themselves as true ministers of righteousness. Dohm draws parallels with Paul's teachings in 2 Corinthians, highlighting how Satan and his ministers can appear as angels of light. The sermon contrasts the deceptive promises of false liberty offered by such teachers with true liberty in Christ, which entails choosing bondage to righteousness over sin. Dohm underscores the need for discernment and adherence to genuine doctrine, warning that ignorance of the enemy's tactics makes one vulnerable to deception. The sermon concludes with a call to embrace true freedom in Christ, which involves being a bondservant to righteousness and living a life of holiness.

2 Peter chapter 2 verses 18 through 22. For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promised them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption. For by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.

For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, a dog returns to his own vomit, and a sow having washed to her wallowing in the mire. The title of the sermon this morning is, Slaves Who promise liberty. Watch out for any slave that ever promises you liberty. This is a continuation of our study of false teachers.

Peter has brought us here for a whole chapter now and we'll continue this well into chapter three. So Peter has us studying false teachers, and we ought to study false teachers. We ought to make coursework of their tendencies, of how they go about their business so that we know how to recognize their standard mode of operation. So that we know what to look for, so that we know it when we see it, so that we won't be brought into bondage by the damnable heresies, that's what Peter calls it early in the chapter, or the destructive teachings of false teachers. It's good to study false teachers.

Paul says two things in 2 Corinthians that are of particular interest to the study of false teachers. The first is in 2 Corinthians 2 verse 11 where Paul says, we are not ignorant of Satan's devices. And so therefore he can't take advantage of us. Paul is encouraging us not to be ignorant of the devil's devices so that he can't take advantage of us because the inverse is also true. If you are ignorant of Satan's devices, He can take advantage of you.

He wants to take advantage of you. He is striving to take advantage of you. So that is the first thing. The second thing that Paul says in 2 Corinthians is actually in chapter 11. In 2 Corinthians 11 verses 14 and 15, Paul writes this, Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.

Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works." So as Peter has been teaching us, Paul says the same in 2 Corinthians 11, that false teachers do not present themselves as false teachers. They present themselves as ministers of righteousness, just like the devil transforms himself into an angel of light. So this shouldn't surprise us. And it means that the wolf isn't going to look like a wolf. He's going to look like a sheep.

Because he's clothed himself in wool. So if you don't study false teachers, you're going to find yourself next to one who looks like a sheep but is really a rabidness wolf. Not the right place to be. So, let's make careful study of false teachers. Peter has brought us here, and this is for the good of the Lord's people.

And if you're going to fight to win, you study your enemy. That's why we're here. That's why Peter has written this letter to the Lord's people, not just in that time, but for every age. Peter has written this letter and given us this chapter and a half on false teachers so that we would fight to win. And we would not just be as innocent as doves, but that we would also be as wise as serpents.

Doves are wonderful, but lots of things like the taste of doves. So it's not enough to just be innocent as a dove. Our calling is to be also as wise as serpents. Peter's helping us. As we go to the text, let's pray.

Oh Lord, I pray that you would protect your people, your worldwide people. I pray that you would protect us from false teachers, that we would study well, that we would fight to win by studying the tendencies of our enemy so that we wouldn't be caught unawares by the wiles of the devil, by the trickery of his serpents. Oh God, help us to study your word as students who love it. Help us to be trained by it. In Jesus' name, Amen.

So there are three things that I believe Peter is teaching about false teachers. And so that will be the structure of the rest of our time. The first is he speaks of their words. They have certain patterns for their words. So Peter teaches us about their words.

Secondly, he teaches us about their lives. Their lives are characterized by certain kinds of conduct. And Then finally, he brings us to their end. That's what Peter talks about and that's where we're headed. Their words.

False teachers use words as their key weapons. That's what they use to bring down victims, is words. They are word smiths. Have you ever heard that term before? A smith is someone who works with a material and they can shape it.

They know how to shape the material. They know how to fashion the material. They know how to craft the material to make it into something amazing. So a coppersmith can take a brick of copper and shape it, form it, fashion it, craft it into something amazing. It was just a brick and it ends up being this copper thing that's amazing.

Because the coppersmith is a skilled artisan. And a silversmith can take just a brick of silver and turn it into something amazing. How do they do that? Well they know how to shape it, to form it, to fashion it, to craft it because a smith is a skilled artisan. It's a skilled artist.

And so false teachers are wordsmiths. They know how to take words and arrange them, to fashion them, to shape them, to craft them. They're Very skillful artisans. It's an art to them. They've mastered their craft.

They are wordsmiths. So as skilled artisans, They know how to do three things. This is what Peter is teaching. These skilled artisans, these wordsmiths, know how to do three things. Number one, they know how to sell their false teachings.

They know how to sell their false teachings. Verse 18, they speak great swelling words of emptiness. This takes us right back to the previous verse, verse 17, which we ended with last week. Peter called them wells without water. Now he says the same thing in a different way.

He says they speak great swelling words of emptiness. In saying both of those things he means the same thing that they promise something life-giving, but there's no substance. So they made a promise that they can't deliver on the promise. They promise something that is life-giving, but what they give you is an empty bucket. They're wells without water.

The bucket goes down, something refreshing and life-giving is supposed to come up, but when you crank the bucket to the top and you look in, there's only mud. There's emptiness. There's no substance. The promise has not been kept. It sounds great.

It sounds true. It might even sound life-giving until closer inspection. But if you don't do the closer inspection, you'll be swept away because their words miss, because they are skilled artisans and they have mastered their craft, so you had better inspect closely. Listen to Jude 1 verse 16. Jude uses the exact same words that Peter uses.

Listen to Jude 1.16. They mouth great swelling words, just what Peter says, flattering people to gain advantage. So Jude finishes Peter's sentence. They begin the same way. Great swelling words and then Jude says something that Peter doesn't say.

Flattering people to gain advantage. This is part of their craft. Their intent is to come and be an insider. False teachers do not like to operate from the outside. They want to operate as an insider.

How do they do that? They flatter you. They make you feel so smart, so special, so good, so wise. And they use that to gain an inside status. And they weave their words together, great swelling words, but they are damnable heresies.

They are teachings that will cost you your soul if you embrace them. So we shouldn't assume that false teachers are dummies just because they believe things that aren't true. They are not stupid. They are skilled artisans who have mastered their craft and their craft is to bring you down with destructive teachings. They know how to twist.

They know how to be very subtle with error. The false teacher does not take you from sound doctrine to crazy teaching in one leap. That's not how they work. That would not be a wordsmith. That would not be a skilled artisan who has mastered his craft.

They take you from sound teaching to here to here to here to here to here to here to here to here. And the errors between the dots that are close together are subtle and confusing. And they chain the little errors together. They'll never take you from sound to crazy in one hop. That's not how they work.

That's not how somebody who's mastered their craft works. It's little error at a time. Little errors, confusing errors. Little twists, little perversions in the teaching. And once you chain them together, you end up somewhere with something that God has never said and never taught and never meant.

Friends, note this. Truth doesn't need the fancy packaging. Truth doesn't need a wordsmith. Last year, you'll be shocked to learn this, I read a biography of J.C. Ryle.

One of my favorite stories of that was what a poor woman from Liverpool said after she heard J.C. Ryle preach. She said this, that can't be a bishop. I understood every word. That's a sad commentary on bishops isn't it?

That common people, normal people like us can't understand what they say. That's great swelling words. And the truth doesn't need the fancy packaging. It doesn't mean that all truth is simple, but that means that all truth can be taught so plainly with the plainest of words. It doesn't need big words.

It doesn't need the theological words that flood out of the seminaries, though sometimes those words are helpful. All truth can be taught so plainly without the fancy packaging. So the first thing that these skillful artisans know is they know how to sell their false teachings. They have great swelling words, but they're empty words. The Second thing that they know is they know how to bait the hook.

Peter says they allure through the lusts of the flesh. That word allure literally means to catch with bait. It's a fishing term. So the literal translation of that Greek word is to catch with bait. They allure you like they're just fishing for you, like you're a bass.

And they're dangling the worm. They catch with bait. It's actually the same word that was in verse 14. Look back to verse 14 where Peter talks about these same false teachers and he says enticing unstable souls. Same Greek word.

It's rendered enticing in verse 14 and it's rendered allure in verse 18. But it's the same Greek word, to catch with bait. They entice, they allure, they put the worm on the hook to catch you. So the bait is the great swelling words. That is what is intended to allure you.

And the hook is the lusts of the flesh through lewdness. The NASB renders it sensuality instead of lewdness. So appealing to your senses. What your senses would like. That's what they're appealing to.

That's the hook that's in the bait. Lust of the flesh through lewdness or through sensuality. False teachers prey on the sinful inclinations of your fallen nature. That's their game. Did you get that?

False teachers prey on the natural inclinations of your fallen nature. So they are going with the flow of your fallen nature. The things that your fallen nature wants to hear, they like to preach. Because that's how they set the hook. They promise you your best life now.

Thank you Joel Osteen. Your flesh loves to hear that God wants you to have your best life now. They promise you that every day will be Friday. Thank you Joel Osteen. Your flesh loves to hear of a life where every day is Friday.

They promise you that God wants you to always be healthy and your flesh loves to hear that. They promise you that God wants you to be rich and your flesh loves to hear that. They promise you that there will never be a price to pay for and fill in the blank with your favorite sin because of grace, grace, grace. There will never be a price to pay. You can still have your favorite sin.

And they'll probably name it. And they'll tell you there won't be a price to pay because of grace. Not in this life, not in the next. You can have it all. And your flesh just laps that stuff up.

This is how the wordsmiths go about their business. Their God is their belly is what Paul says in Philippians 3 verse 19. Their God is their belly and they want your God to be your belly. They serve their appetites and they assure you that it's okay for you to serve your appetites. Meanwhile, the preacher of the gospel is armed with this.

Take up your cross and follow him. It's no wonder people love false teachers and a lot of people follow them. The Gospel is a tough sell until your eyes are open, until your ears are open, until you've actually been shown the pearl of great price. Then you'll go away and for joy over it sell all that you have to buy it. These false teachers, they're catching by bait.

They're baiting the hook and they're fishing for true believers. Now They don't know who is really born again any more than you or I know who is really born again. But they are targeting true believers. They are targeting those who are at some sort of distance from the world. Verse 18 says, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error.

So they see these people who have created some distance between themselves and the world, they've escaped from those who live in error and they're the target. Those who live in error are always, always, always, always, always trying to claw back the ones who have escaped from the air. If anyone is striving after holiness, they are the target of false teachers. If false teachers can't stand one thing in this world, It's somebody who is striving to honor the Lord with all their heart. They want to claw them back into error.

Listen to Proverbs 4. Proverbs 4 is stunningly relevant to what Peter is teaching. Proverbs 4 verses 14 through 16, Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil. Avoid it. Do not travel on it.

Turn away from it and pass on. For they do not sleep unless they have done evil and their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall. In Proverbs 4 the author says that the wicked are robbed from their sleep by two things. One is doing evil. The other is making someone else do evil.

They can't even go to sleep until they've done evil. They can't even get to sleep unless they've made someone else fall. We cannot afford to be naive and think that it's just some big misunderstanding with false teachers. They can't even go to sleep until they bring you with them into their error and into their wickedness. It's not a misunderstanding.

Wolves want to devour you. False teachers are wolves. They can't even get to sleep until they have claimed a victim. So the first thing that these skilled artisans know how to do is they know how to sell their teachings. They speak great swelling words.

The second thing that they know how to do is they know how to bait the hook. They allure through the lust of the flesh. The third thing that they know how to do is they know what to promise. Liberty. Liberty.

What's better than liberty? Who doesn't want to be free? Who doesn't see a license plate from New Hampshire? Live free or die and go, yes, live free or die, right on. Makes me want to move to New Hampshire.

That is inspiring. Everyone wants to love Liberty. Janet's saying, no, We're not going to New Hampshire. That's just been vetoed from the front row. And I'm glad.

What's not to love about liberty? Friends know this. False teachers offer counterfeit liberty. It's not really liberty at all. They offer false liberty.

It's slavery under the banner of liberty. It's the worst kind of deceit. It's actually the opposite of what they promise you is what they deliver to you. Great swelling words of emptiness. Welles without water.

They offer Psalm 2 Liberty. I think we should coin that phrase. Here's what they're offering. Psalm 2 Liberty. Listen to Psalm 2 verses 2 and 3.

The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. That's Jesus saying, Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us. Liberty! No more of God's bonds. No more of Jesus' cords.

Let's throw them off and be free. Let me say this with all clarity. Freedom from the government of God is freedom from God. Period. Amen.

And free from God, you'll destroy yourself. You'll serve your appetites and your lusts, and you'll drag yourself to hell because of the natural inclinations of your fallen nature. You don't want freedom from God. So you cannot want freedom from the government of God. Because that's the deal.

They come together. If you're free from the government of God, then you're free from God. And there's no hope for you. Paul explains true liberty. Turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 6.

Romans chapter 6, Paul talks about liberty. And what he teaches about liberty is, you have to pick your bondage. That is the truth about liberty. Not that you can be free from everything and not have any constraints anywhere in life, but that you have to pick your bondage. And that there is a wise and foolish choice when you are picking your bondage.

Romans chapter 6, I'll be reading verses 15 through 19. Paul writes, What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not. Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one slave whom you obey?

Whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness. But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness." Paul teaches that There is no freedom from everything.

That you will be in bondage to one or the other. So choose your bondage wisely. Now let's go back just to the very first verse of the letter. Simon Peter, what? A bond servant.

A slave of Jesus. The happiest slave you ever met, Simon Peter. His name was Simon. Jesus, the first time he ever met him, changed his name to Peter. He changed him from a reed swayed by the wind to a rock.

And he made him a slave. Peter was one happy slave. Oh, be a happy slave. But you will be a slave. Know this.

You will be a slave. You'll offer your members to obey one master or the other. Choose a kind Master. Choose a good Master. Choose a patient Master.

Your lusts will never be patient with you. They will never be kind to you. They will rule you. They will grind you into the dirt. Jesus feeds His people, He sustains His people.

He makes His slave sons and daughters in His house. He adopts them into his household. Paul says a couple of things here worth noting in Romans 6. First he says, you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine. So there is a form of doctrine that is attached to the kind of slavery you are choosing.

The pure gospel is a form of doctrine that weds you to Christ that makes you his slave. That's what the Gospel does. And there's a form of doctrine that weds you to your lusts and drags you to hell. And the false teachers are bringing that form of doctrine. So slavery is not by itself.

You will have one kind or the other and both of them are connected to a form of doctrine. That's why Peter is teaching us about false teachers. The second thing is that Paul says, you've been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. So, it's freedom from sin, not freedom to sin. This is what Paul is teaching.

Freedom from sin. Having to sin. Having sin as a master, not freedom to sin. Listen to Paul again in Galatians 5.13. For you brethren have been called to liberty, only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh.

True liberty is never an opportunity for the flesh. So Paul says you've been called to liberty, love liberty, never relinquish liberty, but never use it as an opportunity for the flesh. That's not real liberty. Or better still, Peter, in 1 Peter, we're in 2 Peter today, but in 1 Peter, chapter 2 verse 16, Peter is describing those who are in the faith, and he says this, 1 Peter 2, 16, as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bond servants of God. So Peter and Paul completely teaching the same thing.

You're free, That makes you a bond servant of God. That makes you a slave of Jesus. Don't use your liberty as a cloak for a vice. It is something that is brought in to conceal sin. Because that is not true liberty.

So these wordsmiths, these skilled artisans know how to do three things. Number one, they know how to sell their false teaching. They speak great swelling words. Number two, They know how to bait the hook. They allure through the lust of the flesh.

And finally, number three, they know what to promise. They promise liberty. But it's not real liberty at all. So that is the words of false teachers. Now the lives of false teachers.

They are slaves of corruption. So they promised you liberty, but they are bound up in their own corruption. Peter is continuing what he started to teach in verse 14. So we are back in 2 Peter now. Look up the page from today's text of verse 14 and we see this, having eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin.

They cannot cease from sin. They don't have a choice in the matter. They are bound up in their own corruption. They are slaves. So here's the picture that Peter gives us.

A person chained in the deepest, darkest dungeon. The beard is long, the hair is matted. They're chained to the wall. They're behind ten locked doors and they're promising you liberty. Only a fool takes liberty from that man.

You got the picture? Deepest, darkest, dankest dungeon. Chained to the wall. Long beard, been there a long time, behind ten locked doors, offering you liberty. Peter says, don't be overcome by this person.

Do not be overcome by someone who is a slave to sin, but promising you liberty. Verse 19, for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. Most commentators say this is the law of war. If we're at war and I win, you're my slave. If we're at war and you win, I'm your slave.

The winner gets the slave. There's a translational choice that has been made here. The King James and the New King James render it whom, for by whom a person is overcome. The NASV and the ESV and the NIV render it what? For by what a person is overcome or by whatever a person is overcome.

Both are good translations. They had to pick one, so they picked different ones. But ultimately it means the same thing. Either the person or the false doctrine that is taught by the person delivers you over to be ruled by your own lusts. That's what Peter means.

That's what he's teaching. So it's either the person, the whom, or it's The false teaching, the what, that delivers you over to be ruled by your own lusts. So the false teacher is not the master in this picture. What's being ruled, what's ruling here is your own lust, and they're in that same boat. They're also slaves of their own corruption.

This is explicit in the text. So the false teacher is never the master, they're just the fellow slave. They want to bring you into the tenth level of the dungeon to be chained right along to the wall right along next to them. So that's the words of the false teacher and the lives of the false teacher. They're slaves.

They want you to come be a fellow slave in the tenth level of the dungeon. Finally, their latter end. I believe that verse 20 is speaking of the false teachers. Most commentators say that it is the false teachers, but I can't prove that definitively. It's either got to be the ones they're alluring or the false teachers.

Ultimately, both of those things end up being true, so I'm not too fussed about it. I do think it is the false teachers. Let me read verse 20. For if after they, I'm interpreting they as being the false teachers, for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, and so forth. I think that they is the false teachers.

What I believe that Peter is giving is a history lesson on the false teachers. Peter is telling us how they got to where they are. They yielded an intellectual acceptance of the gospel for a while, But it proved to be very temporary. And because they yielded an intellectual acceptance of the gospel for a while, they escaped the pollutions of the world for a while. And that too proved to be temporary.

In Matthew 13, again we have the parable of the soils. It begins this way, a sower went out to sow. And the seeds were the word of God and there's four different kinds of soil. The first one never had a chance. The devil just comes and steals it away.

The word is not understood. The second and the third one looks like real conversion, looks like a real live plant, but proves not to be. The second soil, there is no root. So as soon as the sun comes up it is scorched and withered. The third one grows up, looks vital, looks alive, but it is choked out by other plants.

Listen to Matthew 13 verse 22, Jesus says, Now he who received the seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the Deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becomes unfruitful. So it's the cares of the world and it's the deceitfulness of riches that choke the life out of this plant. It looked like the real thing, but time and circumstances proved that it wasn't the real thing. Peter is using words that are very much like this. They are again entangled and overcome.

That's back to our text in 2 Peter. They are again entangled and overcome. Just like the seed that comes up, but is choked out by the cares of the world and by the deceitfulness of riches. Now look at the second half of verse 20 and verse 21. Peter writes, The latter end is worse for them than the beginning.

For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered to them." How can that be? How can it be that it would be better for them never to have even heard the gospel? Never to have really heard from God what was righteous and what was holy. How can that be better? Jesus actually taught Peter how it was better and now Peter is teaching us and he does it in Luke 12.

So turn to Luke 12. Luke 12, Jesus teaches a parable about those who lead among his people. So we're talking about teachers and false teachers here. Those who have the government of the Lord's people, those who teach the Lord's people. And He talks about two kinds of people who are entrusted with that position and the very different ending.

This is Luke 12 beginning in verse 42. Jesus teaches this parable. Luke 12, 42, and the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, Whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season. Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has.

But if that servant says in his heart, my master is delaying his coming and begins to beat the male and female servants and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two, and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant who knew his master's will and did not prepare himself or do according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know yet committed things deserving of stripes shall be beaten with a few. For everyone to whom much is given from him much will be required and to whom much has been committed of him they will ask the more." Peter is actually describing someone who has been given much. He says he has known the way of righteousness and that the holy commandment was given to him.

But in Jesus' parable, God knows who the faithful and the unfaithful servant is. And the unfaithful one is cut in half and given his portion with who? With the unbelievers. Why? Because That's where he belongs.

He's an unbeliever. Acting in ignorance is different than sinning against knowledge. And Ignorance isn't an excuse. If you go into a court of law and say, I don't know, it won't make you innocent. But it's different than sinning against knowledge.

And Peter says for these false teachers it would be better if they had never known the way of righteousness. It would have been better if the holy commandment had never been delivered to them. Judas is our poster boy. Judas is our poster boy for what Peter is talking about here. In Matthew 26 verse 24 Jesus says, The son of man indeed goes just as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed.

It would have been good for that man if he had not been born. It would have been good for our poster boy Judas if he had not been born. Judas cleaned up his act, more or less. Judas was sent out preaching. All indications are that Judas performed miracles so that he is exactly Matthew chapter 7.

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy? Did we not cast out demons? Did we not do many miracles in your name? And then he will say to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. That was Judas.

He cleaned up his act. He preached. He almost assuredly performed miracles. But then he was again entangled and overcome, just what Peter is describing. And he sold the Lord for thirty pieces of silver.

The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choked out the last bit of life. And in that sense, it was never really life. Verse 22, Peter compares these circumstances to a true proverb. First a dog returns to his own vomit. Proverbs 26 verse 11.

The dog expels this vile mass for a while. But it's temporary. And he comes back and he licks it up. So there is an expelling. This is a picture.

You can get the whole picture. The vile mass is expelled for a little while, but it's not permanent. A sow having washed returns to her wallowing in the mud. She cleans up on the outside for a while. But it's temporary.

There was never a transformation. The dog was always a dog. The pig was always a pig. So while the dog was separated from the vile mass for a little while, it could only be temporary. While the pig was clean on the outside for a little while, it could only be temporary because the dog was always a dog and the pig was always a pig and there was never a transformation.

In Leviticus chapter 11, it's the dietary laws. Both dogs and pigs are declared to be unclean. Dogs are declared unclean in Leviticus 11 verse 27. It has paws. Pigs are declared unclean in Leviticus 11 verse 7.

So these animals were held in contempt by Jews because they had been declared by God to be unclean, unfit for consumption. Here's what Peter is teaching. Dogs don't need to become vomit free dogs. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away, behold all things have become new.

It won't do for a dog just to expel the vile mass for a little bit. Pigs don't need to become cleaned up pigs. 2 Corinthians 5, 17, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new. Or As Jesus says to Nicodemus in John 3, 17, you must be born again.

You must be born again. You can't just expel the vile for a little while and hope for the best. You can't just clean up on the outside for a little while and hope for the best. You must be born again. Your sins must be transferred to someone who can bear them for you.

Only the Lord Jesus can bear your sins for you. Either you will bear them, either you will be the dog who has tried to expel the vile for a little while, and you will never be transformed and you will go back to it. And you will be paid the wages for your own sins, or the Lord Jesus who never sinned. And so He can be an acceptable substitute, will accept your sins upon Him, because you have repented and believed the Gospel. We must be born again.

We must be born again. So in conclusion, I want to offer you liberty. Not as a false teacher, but as a preacher of the Gospel. Not freedom from the government of God, which is freedom from God, which means you'll destroy yourself. But freedom from slavery to sin.

Freedom from the wages of sin. This is the offer of the Gospel. Preachers should offer liberty, but true liberty. Real liberty, not the counterfeit type that only brings you into bondage to your own lusts. I want to offer you liberty, not the liberty that allows you to say, no one can tell me what to do, no one is the boss of me.

But liberty that is completely consistent with taking up the cross. There is no tension between the liberty that has been purchased for his people in the Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus saying, if you would be my disciple, take up your cross and follow me." There is no tension between those things. Because to be liberated from sin is to become a slave of righteousness. Become a slave, a bond servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to close, and you can turn there or not, it's only two verses, but it's in Luke chapter 1.

I want to close with the words of Zacharias, Zacharias, John the Baptist's father, as he is prophesying. The very end of Luke chapter 1, he says this of what Jesus does for his people in Luke chapter 1 verses 74 and 75 to grant us that we being delivered from the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life. This is freedom in Christ. Jesus has died so that we might serve him without fear all of our days, having been delivered from the hand of our enemies in holiness and righteousness before him. Let's pray.

Father, I thank you for the glory of the gospel. What a privilege to preach the gospel, that Jesus Christ has died for sinners, that we might be free, and that we might be slaves. Oh God, may we offer ourselves up wholly and completely as much as your spirit would allow us to do to be your slaves. Oh, may we be bond servants of the Lord Jesus Christ like our brother Peter who's been teaching us so faithfully. I thank you for these words of the words of this letter.

Thank you for this gift to the church. Help us to be faithful to it. Help us to be free in our Lord Jesus Christ. Pray in His name, Amen.