2 Peter 2:21–22: “For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn back from the holy commandment that had been delivered to them. They are illustrations of this true proverb: ‘A dog returns to its own vomit,’ and ‘A sow, after washing herself, wallows in the mire.’”

This is a strong warning passage. Just like Jesus Christ said, “Remember Lot’s wife” (Luke 17:32). There was a decreed destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and God sent angels to save Lot and his family. So Lot, his wife, and two daughters were leaving Sodom and Gomorrah, and they were told, “Don’t look back” (Genesis 19:17).

It just seems like a tiny phrase, right? “Don’t look back.” What is that? Why would you tell me not to look back? “If I want to look back, I can look back. If I don’t want to look back, I won’t.” But she looked back and became a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26). She became an eternal example of how violating what looks like a “small” instruction can be a very big deal.

I have been going through the Sermon on the Mount in my radio program. If you want to listen, it’s on Melody FM Ibadan, 8:00 p.m. WAT every Sunday. I started talking about the Sermon on the Mount and how we may disregard the words of Jesus. But in Matthew 7, at the tail end of the Sermon on the Mount, He said, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand… and it fell, and great was its fall” (Matthew 7:26–27).

When you look at the list of things He mentioned there, you might say, “He is just joking with us, right? Who can do these things? ‘Do not be angry, do not lust’—who can do all these?” We can use other interpretations to blunt the power of His instructions. But He said, “You think it is a joke, but the person who does not do these words of mine has built his house on sand, and a crash‑out is on the horizon.”

We are seeing something like that in this passage: “Do not look back. Do not turn back.” Peter says, “For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn back.” Jesus said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). The point is: it is not a joke. There are consequences. That is what we are talking about. There are consequences.

Peter is saying, “Receive this as a warning.” “It would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness.” Remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount: “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by people” (Matthew 5:13). Would it not be better for that thing not to even be salt at all—just to be sand? But once you are the salt, to lose your flavor is dangerous.

“It would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn back from the holy commandment that had been delivered to them.” They are illustrations of this true proverb: “A dog returns to its own vomit.” Can you picture that? It is disgusting. That is exactly the reaction Peter wants you to have: that feeling of disgust. “A dog returns to its own vomit, and a sow, after washing herself, wallows in the mire.”

It is a mighty, mighty warning. But all is not lost. You can retrace your steps. You can lean on the grace of God. You can “do the works you did at the beginning.” Those are the words of Jesus.

He said to a church, “I have this against you: you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the deeds you did at first” (Revelation 2:4–5).

God bless you.