008 The Certainty of God’s Judgment

2 Peter 2:4-10

October 10, 2010

When last we met we learned about spiritual terrorists.

They are those enemies of the church

Who seek to destroy the church from a privileged position.

They do not wear uniforms, nor fly an opposing flag.

They do not line up in ranks or come straight at you.

They dress like you, talk like you, fly your flag

And seek to get in close with you.

And once they infiltrate your location

They subtly place a virtually undetectable bomb in your midst

Which is meant to destroy all those around it.

They are spiritual terrorists – you know them also as false teachers.

They are an absolute certainty in the life of the church

As they worm their way in and bring with them “destructive heresies”

Meant to “deny the Master”.

They are successful because they operate in the realm of “sensuality”

But in reality they are simply greedy people who wish to make a profit.

They are dangerous because they malign the way of the truth

And distort the means of true salvation.

Their ultimate result is the damnation of many men and women

Who believe their lies and follow their sensuality.

And before Peter finished his discourse on them,

He said in verse 3, “their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is no asleep.”

And from that we learned that these men have never been,

Nor are they now, on God’s side.

Jude said they were “long ago marked out for this condemnation”

And that is precisely what they will receive.

And so we are reminded of the extreme danger

Of being associated with them.

There is no upside.

They have no redeeming qualities.

They are heading to a place where we do not wish to go.

Paul told Timothy about them:

2 Timothy 3:1-5 “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.”

And so regardless of how likeable they may be,

Or how wonderful you think they are,

You need to know that following them

Will most certainly lead you to a place of judgment.

And that is the point that Peter is going to drive home to us tonight.

One of the irreducible minimums of Christian theology is this:

JUDGMENT IS CERTAIN

Hebrews 9:27 “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,”

Regardless of what man thinks, regardless of what man hopes,

Man must understand that at the end of this life,

He will answer to the One who created Him.

There is a judgment.

And in regard to this judgment,

Scripture has remained extremely consistent.

The wicked will be destroyed

The righteous will be delivered

It is absolute biblical fact, and in case you forget that,

Peter reminds us of it tonight.

There is no chance that in following some sensual preacher

That you might end up being rewarded in eternity,

For God does not allow them to receive reward.

If you follow them you will only receive destruction,

For that is all they will ever receive.

And in our text Peter helps us see that fact with certainty.

There are two points which form an “If” – “then” statement.

Peter is saying, IF God did this THEN God will do this.

So let’s see the “If”

#1 GOD’S CREDENTIALS

2 Peter 2:4-8

When I say God’s credentials, I simply mean God’s track record.

Let’s see who God has been in the past,

And that helps us know who He is today, and who He will be in the future.

His name is I AM, and so He never changes.

And so Peter gives us God’s credentials.

Peter reminds us of 2 separate events,

Each which came with a judgment,

Each which came with a deliverance.

Let’s look at them.

1) THE FLOOD & NOAH’S DELIVERANCE (4-5)

Peter reminds us here of one of the great judgments in all of history.

And it starts with an often forgotten part of the story.

“For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;”

Many of you know what event we are speaking of,

But in case you are not familiar, let’s explain it a little.

We do know that there was a time in the past

In which Satan fell from heaven.

We also know he swept a third of the angelic host away with him.

And this is where we got the demonic armies of the world from.

However because they were not initially cast into hell,

Nor put into prison, it is obvious

That Peter is referring to a more specific event.

The event he is referring to is the event of Genesis 6.

Genesis 6:1-4 “Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”

In Noah’s day there was a strange sort of immorality occurring.

We actually have angelic beings “sons of God” who were

Lusting after the women of earth and were even cohabitating with them.

The goal was to form a half human, half demonic, unredeemable race.

And it angered God.

Jude referred to this as:

Jude 6 “And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,”

They rejected their proper domain or abode and

Sought to enter the human sphere, and committed acts of immorality.

And because of these crimes against God,

God placed them in eternal bonds under darkness.

Peter even referred to this in his first letter.

1 Peter 3:18-20 “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, 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.”

Those evil spirits who sinned were instantly thrown into prison.

It is a place of torment, a place of darkness,

A place that Peter even called “hell” in his second letter.

We know it was a horrible place for as Jesus ministered on one occasion

The mass of demons even begged Him not to send them there.

Luke 8:30-31 “And Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Legion"; for many demons had entered him. They were imploring Him not to command them to go away into the abyss.”

And I think that makes the obvious point.

That if angels don’t get away with wickedness

Then certainly humans do not either.

These angels transgressed against God’s commands

And as a result they were captured, imprisoned, tormented,

And await their final judgment.

But of course it was not just the demons who felt God’s wrath on that day

(5) “and did not spare the ancient world,”

The entire population of the earth was destroyed.

Genesis 6:5-7 “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them."

And according to that same chapter,

Not only did God open up the heavens,

But He also opened up the waters of the great deep.

They had sinned against God.

They had perverted God’s commands.

They had rebelled against Him.

AND THEY WERE JUDGED.

Yet, in the midst of this global judgment,

God also simultaneously worked a great deliverance.

(5) “but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;”

In the midst of this global destruction,

God also worked a picture of salvation.

Genesis 6:8-14 “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. Then God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. "Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch.”

And you know the story,

It was that ark that God used to preserve the life of Noah.

WHY DID GOD DO IT?

Because Noah was righteous in the sight of God.

Furthermore Peter indicates that he was “a preacher of righteousness”.

And therefore God spared him.

And so we have Peter’s first reminder.

It is a familiar story, yet it reminds us very clearly

That when people live wickedly God judges them,

When people live righteously, God delivers them.

The flood proved it.

But Peter still isn’t finished.

There is a second event Peter reminds us of.

2) THE FIRE & LOT’S DELIVERANCE (6-8)

And of course this is also a very familiar story.

We all know about “Sodom and Gomorrah”

God had issue with those two cities.

Genesis 18:20-21 “And the LORD said, "The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. "I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know."

We all know that Sodom was a wicked place.

And I were to ask you the main sin of Sodom and Gomorrah,

You would probably say homosexuality.

Jude 7 “just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.”

So we know homosexuality was one of the problems.

But that is not the only sin of that place.

Ezekiel 16:49-50 "Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. "Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it.”

Here God indicates that not only was she committing abominable sins,

But she was also rich, greedy, and stingy.

This too was heinous in the sight of God.

And so God “condemned [them] to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter;”

You remember what occurred.

Genesis 19:23-25 “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.”

This was not a volcanic eruption.

This was not a great oil fire.

This was not a nuclear bomb.

This was God doing what only He could do.

This was a supernatural judgment in which

God changed rain into fire and hail in to brimstone

And literally incinerated that place from the heavens.

The point was clear that God judged the wicked.

Yet in the midst of that supernatural judgment,

There was again a supernatural deliverance.

(7-8) “and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds)”

There we learn that Lot was a righteous man.

And we know he was righteous

Because the iniquity around him tormented him.

He was “oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men”

(Remember false prophets come with “sensuality”?)

Lot saw it and it made him sick to his stomach.

And of course you are familiar.

REMEMBER THE TWO ANGELIC MESSENGERS WHO WENT TO SODOM?

They wanted to stay in the city square,

But Lot persuaded them to come home with him

Because the square was not safe.

And sure enough, during the night, the men of the city

Showed up at Lot’s place looking for the men

Wanting to have homosexual sex with them.

Genesis 19:4-11 “Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, 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. "Now behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof." But they said, "Stand aside." Furthermore, they said, "This one 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.”

And there we get just a glimpse of the wickedness.

These men were so engrossed in their sin

That even when struck with blindness they did not go home,

But “wearied themselves trying to find the doorway.”

And it is obvious that Lot was so disgusted with their sin

That he even tried to offer his daughters instead.

He was tormented by their wickedness.

And as a result, before God destroyed that city.

He supernaturally delivered Lot.

Genesis 19:12-17 “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.”

And the obvious conclusion is that

Everyone whom God wanted to judge was judged

And everyone whom God wanted to deliver was delivered.

He did it through the flood.

He did it through the fire.

Those that followed sensuality and spurned the way of God

Were destroyed.

Those that rejected sensuality and followed the ways of God

Were delivered.

THAT IS WHAT GOD DID

#2 OUR CERTAINTY

2 Peter 2:9-10

Earlier we got the “If”.

If God did this in the past…

Here comes the “Then”

“then God knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment”

If God did it then, then God can do it now.

And in that statement Peter solidifies what he said back in verse 3.

“their judgment from long ago is not idle,

and their destruction is not asleep.”

There is no chance that these guys will ever escape God’s penalty.

There is no chance that these guys will miss it.

They have been marked out for it, it has been determined long ago.

AND SO THIS PASSAGE SPEAKS OF CERTAINTY.

Certainty in two areas.

1) GOD CAN RESCUE (9a)

“then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation”

This is a comforting thought.

That those who truly belong to God, and who truly long for righteousness

Will not be destroyed with those who are deceivers.

Even if God has to shut the door on the ark…

Even if God has to pick you up and set you outside the city…

And that further reinforces the point we made to begin this letter.

The only way to truly be secure from the deception

And judgment of the false prophets is to be a true child of God.

You have to be one who truly loves righteousness.

You have to be one who truly is tormented by wickedness.

And then you are saved by God from the coming judgment.

In fact God couldn’t judge Sodom and Gomorrah until Lot was gone

For after the angels set Lot outside the city, here is what occurred.

Genesis 19:18-22 “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.”

Lot was safe.

Lot was rescued.

And if you will hate wickedness and love righteousness

By being a true child of God, then you will be exempt as well.

But if you fall in love with the sensuality of the false prophets,

Then you are in grave danger of being swept away with them.

Just look at Lot’s wife.

But the point is God can rescue.

2) GOD CAN RETAIN (9b-10)

“and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.”

Not only does God know how to deliver the righteous,

But God knows how to detain the wicked.

He can hold them for judgment.

It is easy to do.

“especially those who indulge the flesh”

Because they refuse to let go of the sin they love (Lot’s son-in-laws)

“and despise authority”

Because they won’t listen to the warning or instruction.

And so the obvious point is clear.

If you want to be judged,

Just follow the sensual promptings of those false prophets.

If you want to be judged, then believe all they have to say.

But if you want to be delivered, then reject the sensual urgings

And cling to righteousness, for then you will be delivered.

The false prophets are sinking ships, stay away from them.

2 Peter 2:1-3 “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”