10-17-2021 – “God’s Judgment is Sure”
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10-17-2021
“God’s Judgment is Sure”
2Peter 2:3-10a
Last week we studied 2Peter 2:1-3, about how false prophets had risen among the people of Israel, just as they had among those in the church.
False teachers give a bad name to the church of God, even though they don’t really belong to it. They use their positions of influence to fleece the flock of God and lead people into destructive heresies, even denying the lordship of Christ.
See 2Peter 2:3a…
One thing all false teachers have in common is greed. They seek to get rich off of those they are supposed to be ministering to. False teachers want to be popular and wealthy; for they are consumed and perhaps self-deceived by their own misplaced self-importance
(2Timothy 3:13),
“Evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
See 2Peter 2:3b…
Notice, false teachers are very good at fooling their audiences and exploiting them with lies, half-truths, and fables; but they aren’t fooling God, for He declared condemnation upon them long ago, and their judgment will be rendered and executed at the proper time.
Read 2Peter 2:4-8…
There are three prominent examples of God’s righteous judgment in the Old Testament that are citied here by Peter.
See again 2Peter 2:4…
What angels are Peter talking about? And what is the sin that got them imprisoned in hell?
See Jude 6…
These angels sinned by not keeping their own domain (lit. set place, dominion or sphere), i.e., they disobeyed God and went outside of what He had allowed them to do.
Most likely these “fallen” angels are the ones who inhabited the bodies of mortal men (cf Genesis 6:2), “the sons of God (this phrase in the Old Testament always means angels, cf. Job 1:6-8c 2:1-4, 38:4-7) saw that the daughters of men (human women) were beautiful; and they (the angels) took wives for themselves [had sexual relations with], whomever they chose,” (Genesis 6:4) “and they bore children to them.”
This unnatural union violated God’s order and plan in reference to human marriage, sexual relationships, and procreation
(cf. Genesis 2:24),
“For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”
These demons who disobeyed God (before the flood) are now in hell, kept in darkness, awaiting their final judgment into the “lake of fire,” which God originally prepared for the fallen angels who rebelled with Satan, but is now the eternal destination for all unbelievers
(see Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10, 15).
See 1Peter 3:18-20…
Between the time that Jesus gave up His life while on the cross, and then rose from the dead, Jesus went to hell and proclaimed His victory to these very same demons who are captives there.
Notice again in 1Peter 3:20,
this happened “when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.”
See 2Peter 2:4-5…
God not only judged those angels who committed acts of wickedness, but God also judged the world that He had made, at that time, and everyone except for Noah was found to be guilty of evil
(see Genesis 6:5-9).
As you read the rest of Genesis 6, the story unfolds of how God instructed Noah to build an ark, to supply it with food for his family and for all the animals, birds, and creeping things that God would bring to it, just before the flood waters from below and above would be loosed
(Genesis 6:22),
“Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.”
2Peter 2:5 tells us that God “preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.” Noah proclaimed God’s message for 120 years (cf. Genesis 6:3) while he, his sons (and most likely some hired hands) built the ark.
Noah would have passed down (through his descendants), the message of God’s righteousness and mankind’s need to repent and obey the Word of God.
The Gospel of Christ is clearly recorded in God’s Word
(see 1Corinthians 15:1-4).
God is holy, we are sinners; and because God loves us, He sent His One and Only Son to save us.
Read 2Peter 2:6-8…
The third illustration Peter gives about God’s judgment has to do with Sodom and Gomorrah
(see Jude 7).
The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of sexual perversion [lit. going after “strange” or “different” flesh]; notice Jude says, “in the same way,” as the angels who had cohabitated with human women, by indwelling the bodies of human men.
Genesis 19:1-7,
“Now the two angels [in the form of men] came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. And he said, ‘Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.’ They said however, ‘No, but we shall spend the night in the square.’ Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house [driven by homosexual lusts], both young and old, all the people from every quarter; and they called to Lot and said to him, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them.’ But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, and said, ‘Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly.’”
Genesis 19:9-26,
“But they said, ‘Stand aside.’ Furthermore, they said, ‘This one [Lot] came in as an alien, and already he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them.’ So they pressed hard against Lot and came near to break the door. But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. They struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway. Then the two men said to Lot, ‘Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place; for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.’ Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, ‘Up, get out of this place, for the Lord will destroy the city.’ But he appeared to his sons-in-law to be jesting. When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.’ But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the Lord was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city. When they had brought them outside, one said, ‘Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley; escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away.’ But Lot said to them, ‘Oh no, my lords! Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die; now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) that my life may be saved.’ He said to him, ‘Behold, I grant you this request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.’ Therefore the name of the town was called Zoar [lit. small]. The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.”
God ordained sexual relationships between a husband and his wife, between one man and one woman; and any other sexual relationship is condemned by God, e.g., between unmarried people, between a man and a man, or woman and a woman, for these are immoral and perverse
(see Romans 1:18, 26-27).
God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, raining down fire and brimstone from heaven, perhaps using volcanic activity that is indigenous to that region. God executed all those who committed such perverse sexual acts, but also those who gave approval to those who did such things.
The inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah serve as an example to those who reject God’s holiness and authority. This was just a preview of God’s final judgment upon all the ungodly, the Lake of Fire and Brimstone.
God rescued Lot and his daughters from among the inhabitants, demonstrating that the ungodly will be punished, but the righteous will be saved. All righteousness is validated in accordance with Christ’s righteousness
(2Corinthians 5:21),
“He [God the Father] made Him [God the Son] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
In 2Peter 2:7-8,
three times Lot is referred to as being righteous [being right with God; justified - just as if he’d never sinned], i.e., God forgave his sins and accepted Lot as His very own child.
Lot was oppressed [greatly troubled] to the point of exhaustion, by the unrestrained immorality of the people in and around Sodom, for they were unprincipled, i.e., without lawful standards or any conviction of conscience concerning their godless and reprobate behavior.
Notice (2Peter 2:8),
Lot’s soul was tormented by the indecent acts and debauched behavior all around him, day after day; and yet, he showed reverence for God’s angels and he obeyed God, leaving Sodom when instructed to do so by the angels.
Lot tried to convince his sons-in-law to leave with him, but to no avail; however, his wife and daughters went with him out of the city before the angels brought fire and brimstone upon it; but his wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Read 2Peter 2:9-10a…
God will judge and punish all who practice godlessness in the present and in the future, just as He has done in the past, e.g., the Angels before the flood, who were sent to hell; the corrupt world drowned by the flood; the people of Sodom and Gomorrah incinerated for their perversions.
God’s judgment is sure, but so is His rescue and reward for all who honor Him in, the present and future, just as it was in the past, e.g., Noah and his family, Lot and his two daughters.
God knows how, and He is able, to punish the ungodly and save the righteous (He is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent). God will bring eternal condemnation upon the wicked while simultaneously providing eternal exultation to those who belong to Him by faith in Jesus Christ.
God is especially condemning of those who seek only to please and feed the flesh and its corrupt [lit., polluted] desires; while also despising authority [lit. lordship], speaking of God’s authority; especially that which is exemplified in the sovereign Lordship of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior and Judge over all.
See 2Peter 2:1-3…
False teachers have always rejected and maligned the Word of God and the character of Christ; and so, they will receive their accumulated judgment in the future, at the Great White Throne; where all the ungodly, from all time, will be sentenced to an eternal hell, because they rejected God’s Son.
But all who believe in God’s Son will be saved
(John 3:16),
““For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
Colossians 2:8-10,
“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority”
1Corinthians 15:58,
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”
Pastor Mike
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