Read 2 PETER 2:17-22

Setan’s life seemed to be turning around. She had been sold by her family to a brothel owner in Phnom Penh when she was 12 years old, with the hope that she would earn money for her family. But two years later the police raided the brothel and declared that she was free. A local couple offered to take in several of the young girls and provide them with schooling. But this salvation was actually a ruse: the couple intended to force the girls into yet another prostitution ring.

Such stories should horrify and anger us. Abuse of vulnerable children is a grievous sin, and even worse is the promise of freeing children from bondage only to enslave them again (see Matt. 18:6). This should help us understand Peter’s feeling about the false teachers who are ensnaring new believers, young children in the faith, and leading them away from the truth of freedom in Christ.

Scripture certainly doesn’t mince words about the sin of these deceivers and the judgment that awaits them. They promise life and freedom but deliver death and slavery (vv. 17, 19). They tell believers that following Jesus doesn’t mean giving up your sinful habits and desires—in fact, they claim that their pride and lust and greed are perfectly acceptable to God (v. 18). Doesn’t God want you to be happy? they hiss, an echo of the first deception perpetrated by Satan in the Garden of Eden (see Gen. 3:1–5).

Judgment will come: “Blackest darkness is reserved for them” (v. 18). What makes their embrace and propagation of heresy even more tragic is that these false teachers have heard the gospel (vv. 20–21). They have rejected the marriage supper of the Lamb in order to feast on vomit (v. 22; see Rev. 19:19).

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