A LOST SOUL WILL RETURN TO THEIR SINFUL WAYS

PROCLAMATION

“If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.  It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.”  2 Peter 2:20-21 (NIV)

 

EXPLANATION

These words were written by the apostle Peter, under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God, to the believers who scattered after the crucifixion of Christ. (1 Peter 1:1-2)  Peter began this second chapter by warning them about the false prophets and false teachers that were among them. (2 Peter 2:1-3)  Then he tells them that God punished the angels in heaven who followed Satan.  If God did not spare the angels who did wrong, He would not spare them.  God did not spare the sinful people in Noah’s day that died in the flood.  He did not spare the sinners in Sodom and Gomorrah. (2 Peter 2:4-11)  However, even as He administered punishment to a large number of people and destruction to vast areas, God still protected and saved the righteous people from harm. (2 Peter 2:9)  Paul said that people who blaspheme The Lord God would be punished. (2 Peter 2:12-15)  Then he ended by telling them that those who were saved by knowing The Lord, but who later turned their back on Him and returned to their sinful ways would be punished more severely than those who never knew Him. (2 Peter 2:20-22)

 

APPLICATION

Believers are not perfect.  We still mess up and fall back into sin.  However, true believers do not stay in the mud after we fall into it.  We ask for God’s forgiveness and for His help to get out of the mud and to clean us up. (1 John 1:9)  When believers sin, we lose the joy of our salvation and we need to pray in order to have that joy restored. (Psalm 51:12)  But those who profess to love Him, but who long for their old sinful ways, and then return to them are lost souls. (Luke 9:62, Genesis 19:26, and 2 Peter 2:20-21)  Those who really love their old sinful ways cannot truly love The Lord.  It is not possible to love them both. (Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13)  Even after he has heard The Word of God, The Bible says that the lost fool will return to his sinful folly. (Proverbs 26:11)  When we fall back into sin, we must confess the error of our ways and ask for God’s forgiveness and help.  Anything less is unacceptable.