EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/26/2025
7:00 PM
My
Worship Time Focus: PT-4“Their Perversion”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
2 Peter
2:20-22
Message of the verses: “20
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. 21 For it was
better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, having known it,
to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 But it has happened to them according to the
true proverb: “The dog returns to his own vomit,” and “The
sow, that was washed, returns to her wallowing in the
mire.”
I will continue to comment and quote
from John MacArthur’s commentary along with quoting the verses he brings out in
his commentary.
“Apostate teachers, as Peter
describes them, actually develop from within the church where, partially exhumed
from the muck of society’s wickedness, they hear the truth but ultimately
reject it. Like Judas Iscariot, they
breed in close proximity to Jesus Christ and His Word—cloaking themselves in
the feigned righteousness of hypocrisy.
Ultimately, they use the church solely for their own selfish purposes,
like spiritual parasites, seductively seeking to drag as many as possible down
with them, to the fiendish satisfaction of the hosts of Satan (cf. 1 Tim. 4:1-2).”
“1 ¶ Now the Spirit expressly says that in the
latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits
and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies
in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,”
“In a final portrayal of their despicable nature,
Peter described the false teachers by using graphic imagery from the animal
kingdom. His first analogy of what happened
to them is according to the true proverb, Proverbs 26:11, ‘A dog
returns to its own vomit.’ The
second is probably borrowed from an ancient secular adage, ‘A sow, after
washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.’
In biblical times, dogs and swine were both contemptible animals (cf. Job 30:1; Ps. 22:16; Matt.
7:6; Luke 16:21).”
“1 ¶ “But now they laugh at me, Those who are younger in days than
I, Whose fathers I disdained to put With the dogs of my flock.”
“16 (22:17) For dogs have surrounded me;
“The company of the wicked have
enclosed me. They pierced my hands and
my feet;”
“6 Do not give what is holy to the dogs;
nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them with their feet, and
turn and tear you.”
“21 and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which
fell from the rich man’s table. And even the dogs which came
licked his sores.”
“Dogs, for
instance, were rarely kept as household pets because they were usually
half-wild mongrels—often dirty, diseased, and dangerous (cf. 1 Kings 14:11; 21:19; 23-24; Isa. 56:11; Rev.
22:15).”
“11 He who dies in the city of Jeroboam
will the dogs eat, and anyone who dies in the field will the
birds of the air eat, for the LORD has spoken."’
“19 And you shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says
the LORD, "Have you murdered and also have taken possession?"’
And you shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, "In the
place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs will lick your
blood, even yours."’”
“23 And concerning Jezebel the LORD also
spoke, saying, ‘The dogs will eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. 24 Whoever dies of Ahab in the city the dogs will
eat, and whoever dies in the country the birds of the air will eat.’”
“11 Yes, they are greedy dogs, Which can never have enough. And they are shepherds Who cannot understand; They all turn to their own way, Every one for his own gain, from his own
quarter.”
“15 But outside are dogs, and sorcerers,
and sexually immoral, and murderers, and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices
a lie.”
“They
lived on garbage and refuse, and were even willing to eat their own vomit. It is not surprising, then, that the Jews
treated dogs with contempt and disgust.
Swine similarly represented filth, being the ultimate in uncleanness to the
Jews (cf. Luke 15:15-16).”
“15 And he went and joined himself
to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed
swine. 16 And he would have filled his
stomach with the husks that the swine ate, and no man gave anything to
him.”
“This was
primarily because the Mosaic law declared them ceremonially unclean (Lev. 11:7; Deut. 14:8).”
and the
swine, though it is dividing the hoof, and having split
hooves, yet does not chew the cud, is unclean to you.”
“8 And the swine is unclean for you,
because it divides the hoof, but does not chew the cud;
you shall not eat their meat or touch their carcass.”
“Peter’s
comparison, then, is unmistakable: False
teachers are the epitome of spiritual uncleanness and smut.”
“Contemporary Christianity, sadly,
contains many peop0le like the ones Peter describes in this passage. They have sought personal improvement and
moral reformation in their quests for spiritual and religious experience. Many of them have become teachers, preachers,
and self-styled prophets within the professed church. Tragically, like dirty dogs or unclean pigs,
they eventually return to their old lifestyles—rejecting the only One who can
truly reform them. Those who become
spiritual leaders are in reality false teachers, motivated by their own selfish
pursuits and sensual desires. In view of
their appalling character and damning influence, Peter’s warning is clear: Stay away from false teachers and expose
them! Believers are to listen to true
apostles and prophets, not the false ones (3:1-2).”
“1 ¶ But there arose false prophets also among the
people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring
in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord
who bought them, and bring upon
themselves swift destruction. 2 And many
will follow their pernicious ways, because of whom the way of truth will be
spoken evil of.”
12/26/2025
7:47 PM
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