2 Peter 2:22 But it is 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.

A True Proverb

This verse is unique in that it is the only place in the Bible that mentions a dog and a pig in the same verse. The Chief Apostle, Peter, tells us that he is quoting a “true proverb”. Peter is not quoting a Biblical proverb {for the closest verse proverb that comes to this text is in Proverbs 26:11, “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly”}. Peter is quoting a proverb that was common among the people of that day. It was a proverb much like the often stated:

Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.

This is not from the Bible either, but probably was adapted from the English poet and writer Geoffrey Chaucer who wrote “Idle hands are the devil’s tools”. That’s a true proverb. When we’re not working for God, we’re working for the devil. When Adam & Eve stopped laboring in the Garden of Eden, it was then that Satan as a serpent presented himself. When King David stopped laboring for God his eyes wandered to Bathsheba – and no good came of that! The Bible says:

1 Peter 5:8 … your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.

Those who are Satan’s tastiest morsels are the ones who refuse to come to the Lord, and rest in the Lord.

Jesus bids all to come to Him – to rest in Him – to serve Him. This is the way of peace and joy and contentment.

Matthew 11:28-30 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

To come to Jesus, to come to God and be blessed, you must REPENT. False prophets do not teach you this great truth. They teach you that God loves you, but expects nothing of you. This is not so. In 2 Peter chapter 2 the Apostle focuses on false prophets, false messages, and false salvation. You must REPENT to be saved!

False Prophets Never Speak Of Repentance

True Prophets are moved by God. In the previous chapter Peter wrote:

2 Peter 1:20-21 … knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

The Scripture of our Bible, that precious Book we revere, was written by “holy men of God {who} spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost”. The God inspired preacher will speak from God’s Book, and will be motivated by the Holy Spirit of God. The false prophets who abuse the Word of God are motivated by greed and lust for power. False prophets and false teachers are everywhere. The Apostle writes:

2 Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

False prophets never speak of REPENTANCE. To REPENT {the Hebrew word נָחַםשׁוּב shûwb, pronounced shoob, the Greek word μετανοέω metanoeō} means to cease going in the direction you are going, and to willingly and willfully return to God as your LORD. To change your mind, and begin to follow Jesus. In the Old Testament God said:

Ezekiel 14:6 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

Ezekiel 18:30 Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.

The first recorded sermon of our Lord Jesus Christ

Matthew 4:17 … Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

The intent of the false prophet is to get you to following anything and anyone BUT the God of the Scripture.

Israel had false prophets (pseudoprophētēs). Under the reign of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel there were …

1 Kings 18:19 … the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred

God raised up Elijah to stand against these false prophets on Mount Carmel, to bring Israel back to the Lord. The Prophet Jeremiah dealt with false prophets in both Samaria and Jerusalem (Jeremiah 23:13-16; 26-27). These false prophets always depart from the Word of God, the Bible:

Jeremiah 23:26-32 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; 27 which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams … he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord. 29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? 30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbor. … they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord.

There were false prophets in the age of Israel, and there are false teachers (pseudodidaskalos) in the Church age. Peter said that they “privily {or secretly} shall bring in damnable heresies {false teachings}”. They mask what they teach a “true”, though it cannot be supported by God’s Word. This is key:

vvs 1 “even denying the Lord that BOUGHT them”

If you are saved, you are “BOUGHT” by Jesus. You belong to the One Who saved you.

The “LORD is MY SHEPHERD, I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1).
“We are the sheep of HIS Pasture” (Psalm 100:3).
“O LORD, Thou art our Father;
we are the clay, and THOU our Potter” (Isaiah 64:8)

The believer in Christ is under Christ’s yoke. The believer belongs to God. As Americans, we like to be “Free Range Christians”, but there is no such thing Biblically. If you are saved, you belong to the One Who saved you. If you are redeemed, you have been purchased by God. God says to His people:

Isaiah 43:1 (ESV) … Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.

Our lives were saved by God so that we can live for God. We REPENTED and came to Jesus to be saved

Romans 14:7-9 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. 8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

The saved believer is only saved because they allowed themselves to be yoked to Jesus. We belong to God. We belong to God because He purchased our salvation with His very Blood.

1 Peter 1:18-19 … ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot..

God paid a high price for you, dear Christian. He became incarnate – very God of very God became Perfect Man. Perfect Man walked among us so that we could see the invisible God. The Scripture declares:

Galatians 4:3-5 … when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: 4 but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

The false prophets never speak of repentance, and the fruit of the false prophet is a “Cultural Christ” as opposed to an “Actual Christian”.

2 Peter 2:2-3 And many shall follow their pernicious {ἀπώλεια apōleia, indecent} ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

The false converts who heed the false gospel of the false prophets will cause the “way of truth shall be evil spoken of”. These false prophets do not preach because they care for the souls of those they minister to. Nor do they care nor love God. These false prophets speak “with feigned words make merchandise of you”. They want your money, your “stuff”, but care little for your soul. To them, you are but “merchandise”.

False Prophets Want Your Worship And Your Stuff
God Wants Your Heart And Your Best

Twenty years ago yesterday on September 11, 2001, terrorists attacked our nation. The 110 story Word Trade Center was struck by two hijacked aircraft. I remember watching that on television. Some 25,000 people were injured in the coordinated attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. There were 2977 deaths – more than were killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in World War 2. The nation was shocked. For a few weeks, Church attendance was up all across America. People asked, “Where is God in all this?” God was there. God is always there. People say,

How can a good and loving God have allowed the tragedy of 9-11? How can a good and loving God allow such evil things in the world?

People are asking the same questions today. How can God allow HIV? How can a good and loving God allow COVID-19?

Peter tells us that our Good and Loving God has not only ALLOWED, but ORCHESTRATED horrific events in the history of humanity. Our God judges sin. He watches over all that He has created, and judges when necessary – even harshly – in order to accomplish a greater good. Peter writes:

2 Peter 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell {ταρταρόω tartaroō, the pit}, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

Though angels are in many ways superior in creation to humans, God assigned some to a place called Tartarus, a holding cell of darkness. These angels were cast into this horrible place for rebelling against God.

2 Peter 2:5 and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

It was a loving and merciful God Who brought about a worldwide flood, killing all who were not on the Ark of Noah. Why? Because God saw that mankind had gone into such deep evil that, “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Genesis 6:5)”.

2 Peter 2:6-7 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; 7 and delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:

Is God overly harsh for destroying Sodom and Gomorrah for sexual sin? No. He delivered the man who repented, and listened to His leadership, as well as his family. God delivered Noah and his family because Noah listened and did as God said.

I read an article the other day written by Joni Eareckson Tada that helps us understand this better. Over 50 years ago Joni had a swimming accident that fractured the fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae, causing her to become a quadriplegic. Coming home from the hospital she asked her friend Steve Estes – in essence – how a loving and kind God didn’t protect her from that accident that so changed her life. Steve told her:

God permits what he hates to accomplish what He loves.

God either allows, or causes, all things that happen. God is omniscient (all knowing), omnipotent (all powerful), and omnipresent (everywhere). “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). So whatever happens, it happens because a loving and good God, a God who knows best, has either allowed or decreed it.

When Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, Joseph would later tell his brothers:

Genesis 50:20 … ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

When Peter was threatened not to preach the Gospel, he led a prayer meeting where he said:

Acts 4:26-28 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. 27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, 28 for to do whatsoever Thy hand {O Lord} and Thy counsel determined before to be done.

The Chief Priests, the Pharisees, and Judas Iscariot did evil – but God used their evil to accomplish a greater thing, the salvation of our souls. God permits what He hates to accomplish what He loves. God used Joni’s accident to give her a worldwide ministry by which the Gospel of Christ is preached.

God does not rejoice when He has to discipline, when He has to chastise, when He has to harm. God warned Israel to REPENT and return to Him. When Israel refused, God allowed the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem in 587 BC. The Bible said of that event:

Lamentations 3:31-33 (ESV) For the Lord will not cast off forever, 32 but, though He cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; 33 for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.

God “does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men”. God does not rejoice when He must bring the flood. God does not clap His hands with glee when Sodom and Gomorrah burn to the ground. God is not pleased with Himself when He sends snakes into the camp to afflict the sinner. God told us through the Prophet:

Ezekiel 33:11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

God bids we come to Him in repentance. That we turn from the evil, and run into His open arms. God said:

Ezekiel 18:23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?

It is God’s wish that we live joyous lives, serving Him in gladness and loving one another. God wants to “rejoice over them that do good” (Jeremiah 32:41). But God will discipline us – God will discipline America – if we do not repent. When Jesus walked the earth, He was asked about God’s Presence when disasters occurred. Jesus told them simply – just as He tells us –

Luke 13:3 … Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

To REPENT is not just to feel sorry or guilty that you were caught. It is to CHANGE YOUR MIND and YOUR DIRECTION. REPENTANCE is a Godly sorrow, whereas REMORSE is an earthly sorrow. The Bible says:

2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

Rely On The Lord, Not The False Prophets

The false prophets cannot bring you blessing from God. They are – as Peter so aptly puts it – wells without water.

2 Peter 2:17-19 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. 18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 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.

You cannot gain any lasting blessing from God from a false prophet. You must repent if you would be saved. You must commit to following the Lord. The false prophets have nothing for you.

False prophets only make false converts. As Paul preached on Mars Hill:

Acts 17:30-31 the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained {Jesus Christ}; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

If you would be saved and blessed, you must REPENT. You must receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. You must be willing to be bound to Him, to “take His yoke upon you, and learn of Him”. When you do so, you will become one of His Sheep, one of His Children, one of the Family of God.

If you have been saved, you are no longer a
spiritual dog or a pig. You are a child of God.

You are one of Christ’s sheep. You are the people of His pasture. You are the clay in His hand. But if you have never repented, and never turned to Christ for salvation, then you never changed internally. You may look like a genuine Christian, but you will, in time, return to the vomit or the mire, because that’s what you really are. To the question,

“What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30)

The answer of God’s Word is “Repent! Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31; Acts 2:38). Those who are not saved will, like the dog, eventually return to it’s own vomit. Those who are only outwardly “Cultural Christians” will, like the pig, wallow in the mire in due time. You must repent! You must turn from the other gods and goddesses of this world, and turn to Jesus Christ in faith. May God the Holy Spirit draw you to Christ’s side this very day. Amen and amen!