In his sermon titled 'The Deceptive Means to the Disastrous End of Unstable Souls,' Trent Moody warns against false teachers and their influence on unstable souls. He begins with a prayer and a reading from Exodus 33, emphasizing the importance of God's presence for guidance and effectiveness. The sermon focuses on 2 Peter 2:18-22, highlighting the tactics of false teachers who allure through 'great swelling words of emptiness' and appeal to the 'lust of the flesh.' These teachers promise liberty but lead their followers into bondage of corruption. Moody explains that false teachers target individuals who have barely escaped the world's pollutions, seeking to entangle them again. He stresses the importance of identifying one's true master and warns of the disastrous end for those led astray, citing biblical examples and urging repentance. He concludes with a call to true liberty through Christ, urging listeners to turn away from sin and embrace genuine faith.

I have something as a prayer this morning from the book of Exodus that really has been on my heart. And as I have prayed for you this week, I realize that the words of man are powerless unless the Spirit of God makes them effectual. And when Moses was given a promise by the Lord, it says in chapter 33 of Exodus, you don't need to turn there but I'm going to read it, he says, Then Moses said to the Lord, See, you say to me, bring up this people, But you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you said, I know you by name and you have also found grace in my sight. Now therefore I pray if I have found grace in your sight, show me now your way that I may know you and that I may find grace in your sight and consider that this nation is your people." And he, God said, my presence will go with you and I will give you rest.

And then he said to him, if your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be made known that your people and I have found grace in your sight except you go with us so that we shall be separate your people and I from all the people who are upon the face of the earth so the Lord said to Moses I will also do this thing that you have spoken for you have found grace in my sight and I know you by name. And he said, please show me your glory. And then he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. That is my prayer for us this morning.

That is my prayer for you. That God would go with us as we open his word and that it would be effectual. So read with me now in 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 18 through 22. Thus says the word of the Lord, for when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lust of the flesh, through lewdness the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption.

For by whom a person is overcome, by him also is he 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. Let us pray.

Our gracious God, please go with us And if your presence does not go with us, do not take us up from here. Guide us Lord that we would see your glory and that the world would know that we are your people. Oh God please make your word effectual. For Lord if your spirit does not do the work the work will not be done. So Lord please do your work.

I pray for the salvation of souls this morning. I pray Lord for those who are on the edge and who are unstable souls, Lord, that you would deliver them and that you would bring them into the kingdom and that you would establish them. And I ask this in Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated.

The title of my message this morning and what I really want to give to you is around this theme, two main points that I want to focus on and that is this. The deceptive means to the disastrous end of unstable souls. The deceptive means and the disastrous end of unstable souls. This morning, we come to the end of Peter's very thorough examination of false teachers and their deceptive and destructive ways. Really, not much has been left unsaid regarding false teachers.

He has given us a very full picture of what they are, who they are, and how they operate. However, in these final verses of chapter 2, We will see how the false teachers peddle their heresy and get a clear picture of those who are led astray by their deceptions. My desire this morning is that we all would be warned And I earnestly pray that some of you would be truly turned from your present course and truly converted by the Spirit of God. So let us begin. Peter, by the Spirit of God, wants us to understand the methods of the false teachers.

And we need to understand firstly this, that false teachers are fishers of unstable men. False teachers are crafty fishers of unstable men. Many of you thought that only the disciples were called to be fishers of men. We read in Matthew chapter 4 19 Peter or Jesus said to Peter and to Andrew, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. I will send you out just like you've been fishers of fish.

I'm going to send you out so that you would be fishers of men. But I want you to understand something this morning. That false teachers are fishers of men. They allure, as we will see, through the lust of the flesh. They are crafty and they are seeking out unstable men and women, boys and girls, to lead them into destruction.

So let me warn you Christians are not the only fishers of men. Note the phrase here and what he says, for when they speak great swelling words of emptiness they allure. They allure. I was talking with my boys, I think it was yesterday morning, and I was asking them about this passage and about allurements and lures. They love to fish in our pond.

And I asked them what is that called that they go fishing with and they said it's a lure. Well this is the idea wrapped around this word allure. These false teachers are casting out this every day through many various means trying to allure unstable souls. So this phrase is much like what James says in chapter 1 verse 14, but each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. It's the idea of someone setting a trap to snare you.

False teachers are fishers of unstable men. Peter uses this word allure. It's the idea of abate. Metaphorically, it is to beguile by blandishments, to entice an unstable soul and to deceive. It reminds me much of Vanity Fair.

If you've ever read Pilgrim's Progress, you've read about how Christian, and I believe it was faithful, enter into Vanity Fair. The only way to the celestial city was through Vanity Fair. And in Vanity Fair they appealed to all of the base desires of mankind. And in that city of Vanity Fair, they sought to allure through the lust of the flesh. We are now marching through Vanity Fair.

In reality, that's what we do day in and day out. We are marching through Vanity Fair. It's the only way to the Celestial City. We must go through. But we also must be guarded and understand that there are false teachers who were trying to allure unstable souls to the lust of the flesh.

It's important that you understand how these false teachers work. The most obvious thing and what really seems somewhat ridiculous for me even to mention and I don't mean it condescendingly but these false teachers are teachers. They are those who who want to instruct you. It's kind of like a man you know this I again I don't want to I don't want to insult you in saying hey these false teachers are teachers, they're instructors. But you know sometimes we miss the things that are right in front of our faces.

It's kind of like a man going to the refrigerator and opening up and looking for the milk. He closes it back. He says, honey, there's no milk. She said, I know there's milk on the top shelf. He opens it up and, honey, I don't see any milk.

And then she comes over and shows him and it's right in front of his face. That's kind of how we can be sometimes when we look at doctrine and when we look at the Scriptures and we look at warnings. It's right there but we don't often see it. Think about all of those people in your life who instruct you. It's not only Scott and I, it's not only the other men who teach in this church.

Every day you're being instructed in some form or fashion. There are teachers out there. There are many false teachers and they are in the business of instructing you. They put themselves forward to teach and to lead others in their doctrine. And as we've learned that these are specifically in the church but not only in the church, they're everywhere.

Most of us carry them around in our pockets on our phones and we have things teaching us constantly through social media and through other things, news sources and all sorts of things, whatever there is out there. I don't even understand all of this stuff. But they're seeking to teach you and to lead you astray. They're all over social media wanting to sell their wares. They are gifted speakers.

These are not morons in the sense of their ability to woo you with rhetoric. To speak in such a way they are powerful, they're skilled at their trade. They not only speak but they're also writers who write things to seek to tangle you up and to lead you into falsehood. They are peddlers of fool's gold. And Peter wants us to understand their method.

He wants us to be aware and guarded of their ways. Their first mode of operation is this, they use great swelling words of emptiness. They're flamboyant in their language. These words are bulging over. They're over swollen.

They're immoderate. They're extravagant and they're expressive of arrogance. Calvin says they Dazzle the eyes of the simple by high-flown stuff of words. Matthew Poole says, big words full of sound and void of sense, at least of truth. They clothe their erroneous doctrine with strange uncouth phrases which made a show of some rare discoveries or deep mysteries, whereas indeed they are empty of anything solid or tending to edification." It seems as if these men had some sort of a foresight into our culture today.

But I think what it really shows us is that there's nothing new under the sun. False teachers have always been. They've always been selling their wares. They've always been casting out their lures and they come with great swelling words of emptiness. There's no meat.

There's no edification. There's no profit. But not only are they gifted speakers but I want you to understand this. They understand the nature of man. Look in verse 18, for when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lust of the flesh through lewdness.

They allure through the lust of the flesh and through lewdness. The lust of the flesh is really one of the greatest advantages that false teachers have. They appeal to the sinful nature of man. Their words appeal to what the natural man desires. When we go fishing, and when I take my boys fishing or when I'm watching them go fishing if I'm doing something else, I've never seen them hook a 2x4 on the end of their pole and chunk it out there.

Why? Because that is no allurement at all for a fish. These false teachers are not ignorant of your nature. The devil has been at this for thousands of years. He knows your nature.

Matthew Henry says, erroneous teachers have a peculiar advantage to win men over to themselves because they have sensual pleasures to take with them. Whereas the minister of Christ put men upon self-denial and the mortifying of those lusts that others gratify and please. He says, wonder not therefore that truth prevails no more and that errors spread so much. Is it any wonder? They allure through the very lust of your nature.

It's the age old tactic of the devil in Genesis chapter 3 verse 6. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and she ate. She also gave to her husband with her and he ate. It's the same device that the devil tried to use on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ when he was hungry and fasted for 40 days and 40 nights and he was in the wilderness. In Matthew 4 it says now when the tempter came to him he said if you are the Son of God command these stones to become bread but our Lord said it is written Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." Second Timothy 4 says, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers.

And they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. Why is this? Because fables are not authoritative. Fables do not exhort you to a change of life. Peter then clarifies this lust of the flesh and he calls it lewdness.

They allure through the lust of the flesh through lewdness. Lewdness is a licentiousness, it is a wantonness, it is a readiness for all pleasures. Jude 1 4 says, For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men who turned the grace of our God into lewdness. And they deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude 16 and 18 and 19 also say this, these are grumblers and complainers walking according to their own lust and they mouth great swelling words flattering people to gain advantage.

How they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lust. These are sensual persons who cause divisions not having the Spirit. So who do these false teachers go after? We see here very clearly in verse 18. He says this, through lewdness, so they're seeking to allure this person through the lust of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error.

So I wanted to find this person or this type of person for you of whom false teachers notice and go after. Earlier on, Peter describes them as unstable souls. Those who are tossed about with every wind of doctrine, those who are not stable in the faith, those who are in and out, the false teacher sees that, he has an eye for that, he knows your nature, he knows what allures you, and he goes after you. He mentions here, they go after this. They perceive the simple.

They perceive the unstable soul. Those Peter says who has actually escaped from those who live in error. This word actually escaped, it means really escaped, but there's also some older manuscripts and the Vulgate read it scarcely or for but a little time scarcely to have escaped from them who live in error. The NASB renders it this way those who barely escaped from the ones who live in error. The ESV describes it as those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.

And I believe that is the correct understanding of this. They're going after those who are barely escaping the pollutions of the world. They're tired of the consequences of their sin. They see some moral good in escaping those things. And it's kind of like what I said in the newsletter, they may be professors of religion, but they are not possessors of religion.

I believe that there are three types of people in this epistle that Peter speaks about. First we have believers, that's who he's writing to, he's writing to the elect of God. Second we have false teachers whom he has dealt with thoroughly throughout 2 Peter. And then finally we have these as termed in chapter 2 verse 14 as unstable souls. He does not speak of them as if they are believers or weak believers.

He describes them as unstable. He describes them as unstable souls. He has to define this new group for us. And therefore, they're not believers and they're not false teachers, but it's this other group that is very open to false teaching. You see this is one of the passages that people go to who believe that you can lose your salvation and I'll talk about that more but they misunderstand what Peter is getting at.

You see in Luke 11, 24 through 26 describes what they are like, this unstable soul. Jesus says when an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places seeking rest and finding none. He says, I will return to my house from which I came. And when he comes he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they enter and dwell there and listen to what he says and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

That's what Peter says. It's almost like Peter had listened to what Jesus said. He understood the nature of man. He understood the nature of someone who's only going to try to live a moral life and escape the pollution of the flesh. He only wants to take off the old.

He has no interest in putting on the new. The language here, like I said, is nearly the same as what Peter says. MacArthur says this about these people. He says the preferred translation is barely escaping or trying to escape and he says this is a description not of saved people but of people who are vulnerable because they have high levels of guilt and anxieties. People with broken marriages, people who are lonely and tired of the consequences of sin and are looking for a new start even for religion or help from God, the false teachers exploit these kinds of people.

Why? Because they're unstable. They promise them liberty but they themselves are slaves of sin. Jameson Fawcett Brown notes this promise of liberty. He says these promises are instances of their great swelling words.

The liberty which they propose is such as fears not Satan nor loathes the flesh. So these false teachers are those who want to convince you to live in sin because grace abounds. They use their liberty as license. Those are not the same words. Beware of people who flaunt their liberty because they're using that liberty as a license to sin and they will draw you in if you're an unstable soul.

Jude 1, 4 again says, who turned the grace of God into lewdness. They're all about grace. They're all about grace, but they turn grace into lewdness. Just a point in our very immediate context is something that is taking place at these revival meetings, these Asbury revivals in Kentucky. This hidden firsthand knowledge that I have, but something that I've been told by reliable sources is that The song leaders are homosexuals who are leading this supposed revival.

That's not a revival. If that's the case, they would be repenting of their sin, not leading in the singing. We must be discerning brothers and sisters. There are false teachers everywhere. What's the purpose of this?

Why is the thing going on? Because you know what? It's fabulous. It's just like what happened in John chapter 2. It says of those people, it says, many believed in his name seeing the signs which he did.

But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, for he knew what was in man. There are many people who seek after signs. They love wonders. They like the miraculous. There are people flying from other nations to get to Kentucky.

They just want to try to get there close to it and just see what's going on because they're fascinated with the miraculous, they're fascinated with signs and wonders but they don't want true repentance and godly living. And if it stays this way, this is a false revival only used by the enemy of our Lord to deceive unstable souls. That is a fact. 1st John tells us to test the spirits to see if they're of God. We have a responsibility and a duty to this.

Peter drives home this point. He says, for by whom a person is overcome by him also he is brought into bondage. This is very important as we understand this in Romans chapter 6 verse 15 and 16 Paul says what then shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Certainly not. The King James says, God forbid.

I like the thrust of that. I like the power of that. God forbid that we should do that. And he goes on and he says, 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. Let me let you in on a little secret that you should all know.

You're all slaves to something. You're either a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ unto righteousness or you are a slave to sin. That's the only options. We're all slaves. So let me ask you a question that Paul is asking.

Who are you presenting yourselves as slaves to obey? Who are you obeying? And that is your master. So as I ask you questions throughout this, Who do you obey? Or what do you obey?

The one you obey is your master. I want to challenge you to Identify your master. This is good soul work. Identify your master and you will find him and know him. Find the one you obey.

That is your master. If anyone or anything other than Christ is your master, you are an unstable soul. I want to give you some examples, and there's more than this, but as my mind was thinking through this of who is my master, I wanted to think through these things of some examples of things that master us. See if you relate. Media influencers or peer influences and social media.

A Brown University School of Public Health study, not exactly a Christian study, found that social and peer contagion may play a role in the rapid onset of gender dysphoria. Among adolescents and young adults, in Great Britain they have found a 4, 000% increase in the desire for surgical procedures in this area. Are your peers your master? Is social media influencers your master? And it's not only peers on social media, but it could be peers right here.

When you got dressed this morning, what determined what you put on? Were you thinking of your friends and what pleased them or did you consider what pleased God? I mean let's be honest, I've been a teenager before believe it or not. I understand but I want you to understand that to whom you obey that becomes your master. Don't fear man.

Pleasure can be your master. This can take many forms for different people. Men and women are often different in these areas of what brings pleasure. Think of the things that bring you pleasure. Do you serve your pleasure?

God is the giver of good gifts. But I want you to know something, if you serve the gift and not the giver, you're a slave to sin. This one is a bit challenging. Fear can be your master. This one sometimes escapes our attention.

Whom you fear is your master. Exodus 20, 20 says that Moses said to the people, do not fear for God has come to test you and that his fear may be before you so that you may not sin. So there's two fears. You're going to fear something. You're either going to fear people, you're going to fear the things of the world, you're going to fear pain, you're going to fear whatever, or you're going to fear God.

Fear of the unknown, fear of the perceived, fear of pain, fear of sickness, fear of failure, The fear of man bringeth a snare. That which you fear is what you serve. Matthew 10 28 says, and do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Why are people still wearing masks? I mean if you follow the science they don't work because they fear. They fear sickness.

Their sickness controls them. They're fear of it. They're in bondage to fear. Did you know there's a whole generation of children who are terrified of global warming that they're all going to really die? They've been misled by false teachers.

This is a farce. It's a money-making scheme and yet they bought it hook, line, and sinker. Why is this? It's because false teachers have deceived these unstable souls. Do not be mastered by fear except for the fear of God.

The Bible tells us in 2nd Timothy 1 7 for God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind not an unstable soul. And secondly I want you to understand the disastrous end of unstable souls, verses 20 through 22. The disastrous end of unstable souls. It's not only that the false teachers lead them astray, but there's a consequence of being led astray, and it's terrifying. There are some sects of Christianity that believe that a truly safe person can lose their salvation, And this is one of the passages that they use to prove their preconceived idea.

You see, they read that they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and they are again entangled in them. You see they see this as sure evidence of someone losing their salvation. They say they have a knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. However when you start with the wrong presupposition, you will end with the wrong conclusion. Those who believe this have a wrong understanding of salvation.

You see, they believe that salvation is the work of man instead of the work of God. Oh, they will say no, God does almost everything. He just wants me to believe. So I've heard it and I'm sure you've heard it too. God took 99 steps and you take that last one.

Who makes that the God of salvation? You. It's a farce. It's bad doctrine. When you understand that God is the one who saves you and you understand that you cannot lose what God has determined to give before the foundation of the world.

You will not have this fear and you will not be led into a misunderstanding of what this passage is teaching. Really this is a grave warning for those who are sitting in this building this morning who think that everything is fine because I'm here. You see you are kept, if you're a true believer, you're kept by the power of God unto salvation. Are you more powerful than God? God forbid.

So let's consider the text before us and what it means. Look in verse 20. I want you to understand that they have temporarily escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Verse 20, for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Verse 20, for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome.

I use the word temporary very specifically there and very pointedly because we need to understand the sobering truth is that there are many who have temporarily escaped the pollutions of the world who have never been savingly transformed by the gospel. They say, these people who believe you can lose your salvation, that these people have a knowledge of the Lord. They do. And so do demons. James 2.19 says, you believe that there is one God, you do well.

The demons also believe and tremble. The demons fear God. Is your faith greater than demons? They believe in God, they fear God but there's one thing they don't do. They don't obey God.

They have rebelled against God. And there are many people who walk around professing to be true believers who don't even fear God. John 2, and I quoted this earlier, John 2, 23-25 says, Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast, Many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did but Jesus did not commit himself to them Because he knew all men and had no need that anyone should testify of man for he knew what was in man God knows We also see this in the parable of the soils in Matthew 13. Each of these we see the first one was pretty clear the birds of the air ate the seed. The next type of soul was the stony ground or the hard ground and we understand that it it sprang forth looking as if there was life until the sun came out.

And then the next type was the thorny place, the byway if you will, where thorns and briars were growing and it sprang forth as if it had life, but it was choked out by the cares and the riches and concerns of this life. There was really only one that bore fruit And that's been my prayer for you this morning that God, the great husbandman, would plow forth this morning and prepare the ground for the Word of God. That's been my prayer for every one of you, some of you very specifically, that God would plow your ground and let his seed take root and that it would bear fruit. You see, one of the difficult facts of this life is that not everyone who professes salvation possesses salvation. There are many pretenders out there, and I fear a few in here.

There are many deceivers and many who are deceived, many who think they are right with the Lord when they're actually on the broad road that leads to destruction. And there are many who go in by it, because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it. 1st John 2 15 and 16 says this, do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him. All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the father but is of the world.

What do you love? Young people, what do you love? Do you love the world and the things in the world or do you love the Father? Do you love God? That is the question.

1 John 2 19 says, they went out from us but they were not of us. For if they had been of us they would have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that none of them were of us. The true test of a true Christian is perseverance. They remain. Oh the righteous man may fall seven times but he gets up because the Spirit of the Lord is within him.

I'm not preaching that you can have a sinless life here on this earth, but I am saying this, that if a righteous man, if a godly man, if a true believer sins and falls, he will repent of that sin and he will get up by the power of the Spirit of God and he will go forth and he will follow the Lord. Here is the fact there are many who have been raised in Christian homes who are like this. Not the righteous man but the unstable. They have been kept from outward worldliness by Christian parents and a Christian education. In other words, they have been restrained but they have never been renewed.

Is that you? Is that you? This may be the case of some here this morning. Have you been restrained or has your heart been renewed by the power of the gospel? Do you love the things of the world or do you love the things of God?

Are you a slave to your sin or are you a slave to the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you find the things of the world very alluring? When that thing pops up on your screen, that is a fishing bait. Do you bite it or do you detest it? It.

Do not trust in your Christian upbringing to save you. Do not trust in clean living. As you will see in this next verse outward conformity to the gospel with no true heart change will only make you worse off. That's a sobering thought. Look at what he says.

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." Outward conformity is always short-lived. Whitewashed tombs are still full of dead men's bones. What's really on the inside will always spill out.

They turn back, they're entangled again in the pollutions of the world and overcome. Look at what he says, he speaks this regarding the false teachers as well. He says in verse 19, while they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption for by whom a person is overcome, by him also is he brought into bondage. And now this person who had barely or almost escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, They had an understanding. They had a head knowledge of what was going on.

When you preach the gospel, they're like, I understand what you're saying. You know, it's like one man told me one time, he said, I know, I just need to get my life cleaned up and then I'll go to church. It's not a head knowledge of understanding the doctrine of salvation. It is a change of heart. It is a change of life.

What are your affections? Does your heart draw after the things of the world, the pollutions of the world? Or is your heart seeking after God though imperfectly? The latter end for those is worse than the beginning. How could it be worse?

This truth has played out in history. Some of the world's worst people, those who have caused the most immorality and the destruction to society started in the church. If you've never read the book, apostate, the men who destroy the Christian West by Kevin Swanson do so. He goes through and he lays out historical examples of men who have done the most damage to this world and how they began in Christian homes. Once they threw off their chains of outward conformity, they became brute beasts as Peter speaks about.

Not only that, but they will experience a more severe judgment. Verse 21, it would have been better. Are there more severe judgments for one than the other? Jesus says so. What a shocking statement.

Peter says that for those who do not repent and trust in the gospel after having heard and understood it that you're better off if you never heard it. When you hear it and do not repent, you're only adding weight to the severity of the judgment of God upon yourself. What do I have to back this statement up? Jesus. Matthew 11, 20-24.

Then he began to rebuke the cities in which most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. Woe to you, Croazine, woe to you, Bethsaida, for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. For you, Capernaum, are exalted to the heaven, will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, Sodom, It would have remained until this day, but I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.

If the preaching that you have heard in this church had been done in other lands, they would have repented long ago. It will be more tolerable to those who never heard the gospel than for you who hear it and do not repent. And I pray that you hear my words this morning not as judgment but as a desperate plea. My words are for love. I desire that you repent.

Turn to the Lord fully. Quit playing games with God. Turn to the Lord and believe the gospel and live for him. If you do not you are adding weight. Every sermon you have heard without repentance only adds weight on the day of judgment.

I plead with you, turn to the Lord. Listen to what Peter said. Consider his words in Acts 2. He says, and with many other words he testified and exhorted them saying, Be saved from this perverse generation. That's my words to you.

Be saved from this perverse generation. And then those who gladly received his words were baptized. And that day about 3, 000 souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and in fellowship and in breaking of the bread and in prayers. This is my plea to you this morning be saved from this perverse generation.

And then Peter gives us a final clear analogy of what it means to be this unstable apostate. The dog returns to his own vomit. Not a pretty picture, but a vivid one. This is quoted from Proverbs 26 11 and it helps us to understand the fullness of this proverb. Proverbs 26-11 says, as a dog returns to his own vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.

There is something about that food that the dog ate that caused his stomach to regurgitate. There was something in the world and the pollution of the world that caused this unstable soul to try to escape from that. But what do they do? They turn right back around and run headlong into it. There have been people that I have known even in my own family that I have seen that at one point in their life were passionate about the Lord, they talked about the Lord, but when they turned, their vileness was exceeding.

Turned, their vileness was exceeding. They embraced the doctrine of the world with fullness and vigor and with joy in their pleasure. And if you don't turn you will too. Think about how foolish this person is to see the need to reject the pollutions of the world and then go back and feast on it again. It caused the dog to vomit.

Why would it go back? And why would you? Only a fool. So the person who returns to the world after having seen the pollution of the world and tasted and tasted the goodness of the gospel and to reject that as if that holy commandment was a vile thing. Listen, that person is worthy of more severe judgment because they have cast underfoot and rejected the doctrine of Christ knowingly.

It is also, he gives this other picture here of the sow having washed to her wallowing in the mire. What is it that makes a pig love the Meyer? Have you ever raised a pig? There is something in a pig that loves Meyer. As one farmer described it, it's the pigness of the pig.

You can bathe a pig, you can put a ribbon on a pig, you can paint its toenails, but when you let her go, she's running to the mire. You know, scientifically we understand why that is. They're getting into that mud and they're covering up and wallowing all over to protect themselves from the heat of the Sun. What an illustration. The pig may have been washed on the outside, but that pig was still dirty on the inside.

I would like to ask you a question. What are you? Are you a dog that keeps returning to its own vomit? Are you a pig that keeps wallowing in the mire? Have you never been changed?

Be changed today. The grace of God has allowed you to be sitting here yet again under the preaching of the gospel. The call has gone out again to turn from your sins and trust in Christ. Today is the day of salvation. Today is a good day because the gospel has been preached.

There is true liberty to be found, not the false liberty of the false teachers who only want to get you mired up and tangled up in the pollutions of the world. But there is a true God with a true gospel and He offers it to every one of you here this morning. Come to Christ and be clean not only on the outside but on the inside. Be changed. You see there's a hymn that we've sung many times it's a beloved hymn.

Jesus paid it all and it says this, Lord now indeed I find thy power and thine alone can change the leper's spot and melt the heart of stone. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow." That's what the Lord Jesus can do to you and for you today. The truth is is that if you wash yourself you will find that you cannot wash deep enough, full enough, and you'll never be free enough from the stench of the things of the world.

You will not change your sinful spots, but let me tell you something, when you've been washed in the blood of the lamb, you will be made white as snow. It will cleanse within and you will be pure and he will give you new affections. He will cause you to love Him. That is the work of the Spirit of God. He cleanses and fills the inside by the Spirit of God.

So I will close with this passage from 2 Corinthians and let it sink down into your soul. Chapter 3 verse 16 through 18. Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with unveiled faces beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Do you want true liberty today? Come to Christ today. Be as pilgrim or as Christian is on pilgrim's progress with that huge burden upon his back and let it down at the foot of the cross. He is offering you full and free salvation today. Do not be deceived.

Do not be deceived, but believe in the Lord today. Let us pray. Oh great God of heaven, I pray oh Lord as I prayed in the beginning that you have gone with us. For Lord if you do not go up we do not want to go And if you are not with us Lord there is no power in us but Lord go with us this morning may these words run full and free into the hearts of all of these people today. May the seed of the Word of God take root and bear fruit.

I pray, oh God, for any weary soul here this morning, any unstable soul, oh God, that you would make them stable today. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.