2 Peter 2:18-22 (Living Bible)  ^“They proudly boast about their sins and conquests, and, using lust as their bait, they lure back into sin those who have just escaped from such wicked living.“You aren’t saved by being good,” they say, “so you might as well be bad. Do what you like; be free.”But these very teachers who offer this “freedom” from law are themselves slaves to sin and destruction. For a man is a slave to whatever controls him. And when a person has escaped from the wicked ways of the world by learning about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and then gets tangled up with sin and becomes its slave again, he is worse off than he was before.It would be better if he had never known about Christ at all than to learn of him and then afterwards turn his back on the holy commandments that were given to him.There is an old saying that “A dog comes back to what he has vomited, and a pig is washed only to come back and wallow in the mud again.” That is the way it is with those who turn again to their sin.”

It is very easy to slip back into sin. But we see here that when we do, it enslaves us and we are worse off than before. We start making excuses and rationalize.

We see in Acts 2:37 how “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” (NIV) Peter replies in verse 28, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

What does repentance look like? In the last part of Acts 26:20 Peter says, “…I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.

Here we see a purposeful way of living where we are to demonstrate our repentance by our deeds. A statement I hear often is “God wants us to be happy.” There are various reasons people make this statement, but most of the time it is used to help rationalize ending a marriage or something to do with a relationship.  While I am sure that our happiness is something that God enjoys, I am confident to say that God is more concerned about our being righteous.

Romans 1:21-22 shows us how when we do not glorify God, we become futile and foolish. We profess to be wise, but are actually fools. Then in verse 24 and 25, we read; “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”