Certainty of God's Actions

ILLUST: Playing pinball, video game, any game with lives or a timer - eventually it’s game over, promise

Three Examples of God’s Judgment

In the past

1) Angels who sinned

Genesis 6:1-4 - adding to evil before the Flood

Differing views here - either demonized godly men, enticing them to interact with pagan women; or actually having sexual relationships with women, creating “demon” offspring

(I side with fallen angels demonizing people)

Sent to Tartarus, dungeons

Restrained in some way, very likely spiritually

Two dimensions of punishment

Immediate - resulting from sin

Future - upon Lord’s return

2) Flood

“Did not spare” = repeated for emphasis

Judgment was a reality - emphasizing the reality of judgment

No hope that God will show mercy and spare the world from judgment - that has already been determined

A known account - not fictional, not metaphor

Crucial to Peter’s argument

Concrete evidence that God judges sin

Universal - worldwide

The ungodly did not escape - focus is on the people destroyed

The righteous - preserved, protected

POINT for PETER: God will protect those who resist the enticement of the false teachers - those who deny Christ and His return

Judgment! “But God...” so often used

Noah was not alone - he was completely outnumbered - but he prevailed because God is faithful to His followers - HUGE

God’s faithful followers have ALWAYS been a very small percentage of the total

God destroyed many, saved a few

A bit on Noah - a “preacher of righteousness” - sharing with people alongside him building the ark

A preacher of righteousness - spared; World of the ungodly - destroyed

Repentance - a key part of righteousness; righteousness is not “living perfectly” but it is living as one who repented, turned back toward God

Those who enjoy salvation, God’s saving righteousness, are those who had (and have) repented.

POINT - the false teachers in Peter’s time - rejected Jesus’ returning, rejected a future judgment, abandoned His standards, refused to accept His saving grace and righteousness

3) Sodom and Gomorrah

Another concrete example of God’s judgment

The sin was well known from Scriptures and tradition

Cities were reduced to ashes - physical evidence existed to that day (attested by Philo, Josephus)

…the result of God’s swift and effective judgment - “destruction” = katastrophe

Peter uses this example as well, to stress that judgment for the ungodly (un-repentant) is still very much pending

Previews the condemnation of the false teachers in that day

Peter warns of: Judgment to come, not ungodly to come - the ungodly are already there, and will be as well

And from the many that were destroyed, Lot was spared

Abraham prayed that the city would be spared if there were even 10 righteous in the city; turns out He spared 4 (Lot, wife, two daughters)

Genesis 18:25 NASB95

“Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?”

The Judge of all the earth does not destroy the righteous with the wicked

A bit on Lot - not exactly the champion of godly living

When the angels were in town, He offered hospitality

The men of the town demanded that the angels/men be sent out so that the men of S/G could have sex with them

Lot offered his daughters instead, trying to protect his home and visitors

Lived in an ungodly context, even though he chose to be there

The immorality surrounding him would have taken a toll on him psychologically

Lot wavered, doubted, just as readers in Peter’s day, giving in to the lure of false teachers

Peter was confident that the church would resist opponents, and God would rescue them, just as He rescued Lot

SIDE POINT - one strong indication of righteousness (having repented) is torment and distress over those who have not repented, and who live unrighteously

Today, like then - we are confronted, daily, regularly, with ungodliness all around, what we see and hear - just as Lot was, and just as Peter’s readers were

VERSE 9 - If....

Three examples of divine judgment; two examples of divine preservation (Noah and Lot)

SO WHAT? TWO HUGE POINTS IN THE FACE OF CERTAIN JUDGMENT

1) God knows how to preserve the godly in their trials

Many “righteous” (having repented) here have been through trials, and it is the Lord who brought you through

God will protect you from temptation, if you allow Him to

God knows that we face challenges to our faith - there is always possibility of “trial”

The danger when trials come is “apostasy”

“It’s just too hard,” some face trial and refuse to follow God, refuse to accept His protection

The “righteous” (those who are repentant and saved) - feel the hard times, feel like quitting, but NEVER do!

When asked about teaching the disciples about prayer, Jesus says to pray that the Lord would lead them not into temptation - “keep us from yielding to temptation”

“God will not give you more than you can handle “- not Bible, TRUTH: this world is more than anyone can handle, without the Lord. This is a false teaching designed to make you feel better, and not really understand God

He allows trials, and always, ALWAYS, provides a way to escape temptation to sin

1 Corinthians 10:13 NASB95

No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

Noah and Lot lived in the middle of a wicked and sinful world - Hello.....the majority is evil and under the control of evil

If you ever fear that you will fall away, and no longer be a Christian - remember that God promises that you who are truly saved, truly repented and trusted Christ for salvation, will be prevented from doing so - He spared Noah, He spared Lot, He’ll spare you

SO STAY FAITHFUL - or GET THERE

2) God will keep the unrighteous for future judgment

If God judged angels, and the wicked in Noah’s and Lot’s days - He will also hold the unrighteous today for judgment

The angels, flood generation, and Sodom and Gomorrah - not judged immediately

They carried on for some time, freely pursuing their sin

So don’t wonder if God is faithful, just because the wicked and evil persist now, and seem to be “winning”

God is giving them time to repent, still (we’ll explore this more in chapter 3)

False teachers seemed to be prospering then, and now - Evil seems to be the popular choice now

Vengeance - the opponents of God will experience condemnation - promised

Romans 12:19 NASB95

Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.

MEANWHILE - We, the “righteous” have some work to do for Him

Resist the false teaching

Trust God’s perfect timing

Live each day like another one God has given you to live for Him - let others see that