2 Peter 2:17-19

v17: True teachers of God’s Word “should be like wells or fountains, where the people may find instruction, guidance, and encouragements.” Those who receive their teaching have their souls refreshed by the word of truth. False teachers, however, “have nothing of this to impart to those who consult them.” They are called empty, because what they teach contains no truth. They are deceivers “set on spreading and promoting error.”

v18: “False teachers have a special advantage toward winning people over to them, because they have physical pleasure to take along with them, whereas the ministers of Christ” teach that people must “deny themselves and put to death those desires that others satisfy.”

v19: “Be on your guard against everything that may corrupt your heart, so that you may not be taken in” by the promise of freedom that false teachers offer. They do not offer true freedom which is to serve God, but freedom to sin. This is because “their own sinful desires have gained complete victory over them,” and “their minds and hearts are so corrupted and depraved,” they have neither the power nor the will to refuse the “devises and desires of their own hearts.”