2 Peter 2:17-22 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.… I. THAT GOD ASKS US TO GIVE HIM OUR HEARTS. II. WHAT IS LIBERTY? Is it licence and lawlessness? Must all conduct be without order and without law in order to constitute it freedom? We know better. Look at Paris and the bloody Commune! There is no tyranny like that of lawlessness. The would-be sinner complains of being tied to the apron-strings of his mother in order that he may put himself under the bonds of Satan. He does this to prove his independence. But no man in any condition of life is allowed to act as he pleases. If he were, society would be impossible. III. WHERE THE WISEST LAWS ARE, THERE IS THE TRUEST LIBERTY. We voluntarily place ourselves under such laws that our rights of liberty may be protected. It is so in the state, so in society, so in religion. That cannot be a bond which carries with it an endorsement of the high nature within us. IV. THE BEGINNINGS OF EVIL ARE DANGEROUS. 1. It was a bondage of the soul, of the spirit, of the higher nature within us. The fetters of sin were riveted around these. 2. The aggravation of this slavery is its voluntary assumption. It is a bondage more galling because self-chosen. 3. In this slavery we become subjects to our own servants. It is a revolution in our moral nature, by which the highest parts become the lowest, the lowest the highest. (H. Johnson, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. |
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