2 Peter 2:12-19
“They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you” (2 Peter 2:19, NLT).
Have you ever been controlled by something and you did not even realize it? Maybe the people around you see it and they try to tell you, but you just do not want to hear it because you think you are wise and correct even in your complete foolishness. I have been there before.
We like to think that we have control over things. I thought that I had control over alcohol. Well, I would like to think at one point in time I did. I would have a drink after work just to relax and slow down a bit. Maybe once or twice a week – but that is how it started. By the time I realized it had become 4 times a week, then 5 times, then every single day.
“They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight” (2 Peter 2:13b). I am starting to look kind of like these false teachers in a sense. My drinking was affecting all those around me and I was lying and trying to use God’s Word to justify it! Some days I remember being hammered by noon and still trying to go out and do stuff. My lifestyle was surely sending the wrong example to people that depended on me! I was beginning to watch porn and lust after women. I have a beautiful wife. I have no reason in the world to look otherwise. But that is exactly what happens when our sinful desires take control over us.
These false teachers had no shame in their game. Their sinful habits and addictions were completely controlling them just like mine were me. And what is weird about this is that we brag about it! We brag about drunkenness, immorality, and all kinds of other filth. In doing so we are encouraging others to jump right on the wagon with us. And what really gets me about this verse is that it is one thing to party during the nighttime; but when you are partying through the morning and day – drunk by noon! (me) I mean dude – you have a problem!
“They lure unstable people into sin” (2 Peter 2:14). If you are not super strong in your faith it is easy to be led astray by these types of people. Have you ever trusted someone that led you into a bad situation? I know I sure have, and I know that I have led a few people into bad situations myself.
I was so blinded by my wrongdoing and distortion that I did something horrible and I did not even realize how bad it was when I did it. Angie and I was smoking CBD for headaches and other problems that we were dealing with. One day I went and got some “real weed,” and asked her, “Hey, do you want to smoke this with me?” I never told her it was the real thing. She thought it was CBD. So, I went outside and smoked it and when I came in, she said, “Chris, that better not have been the real thing!” I said, “It was.”
She was so upset with me. She said, “Was you really just going to ruin almost 10 years of sobriety for me?” It hit me, “What was I thinking? What was I doing to her?” I had become that horrible of a person. I was already being overtaken by my sinful desires and bad choices, why was I trying to bring her down with me?
“These false teachers are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct” (2 Peter 2:12). Animals are creatures of instinct you know. We on the other hand are ruled by reason – or at least some of us are! Do you know what the difference is? Instinct acts blindly without a knowledge of consequences. Reason, however, foresees the end that is to come. These false teachers were acting like an animal running out in front of a speeding truck chasing a leaf, not knowing what was going to happen, while we with reason know the outcome of that is going to be horrible!
I was acting in this same manner. My sin had taken complete control over me and I was acting as a creature guided by instinct rather than a man guided by reason! This can happen so easily to any of us! Read 2 Peter Chapter 2 and see that it was happening 2,000 years ago. People were being led astray. They were being freed from their sinful destructive lifestyles by Christ, and they were turning around and running right back into it wide open.
We that have been through addiction know the outcome, but yet we relapse like an animal driven by instinct even when we know the horrible outcome and consequences that we will face!
“They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you” (2 Peter 2:19, NLT). These false teachers were enslaved to their sin and they did not even realize it!
“Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living” (Romans 6:16). My sinful behavior controlled my life for so long. It cost me everything and I did not even realize that I had fallen so far away until it was to late.
Thank God that He grabbed me, and I finally came out of denial with it. It took something horrible to bring me out of it though. I hurt someone that I love dearly. But I am almost 3 months sober and my sinful behavior is not controlling my life anymore! The reason for that is right there in that verse above (Romans 6:16) I gave control to God and He is changing me from the inside out. My sinful behavior is being transformed into righteous living. I mean I am not perfect. I still make plenty of mistakes, but they are becoming less. And for the 1st time in a long time I feel free. Not free to continue in my sinful habits like these false teachers are saying, but free from them Amen!
Be Encouraged, Chris
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