05. IF... There Is Sin, THEN... God Will Rescue

GOD… a wrong concept of Him, who He is, how He deals with sin… it can impact this life and all eternity to come. A right concept impact and change our behavior as we will see today. A wrong concept can have dire consequences.... WHAT IS YOUR CONCEPT OF GOD?

What is your concept of God?

Is He a sweet grandpa in the sky sitting in His rocking chair on some cosmic porch?

Do you see Him as a great cosmic bully, showing off His power at different times just because He can

Are you thinking of Him more as an essence or feeling like love or goodness

Maybe God to you is on the far side of the galaxies, watching us from afar, being entertained by what he made like some intense reality show

These ideas allow for no conviction, God is at a distance

MAYBE…you have looked at the pages of scripture and even seen what appears as two sides of God…

In the Old Testament you see this angry God judging sin

In the New Testament a God of grace and love

Exodus 34:6-7 depicts this well

Exodus 34:6–7 NASB95

Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

How we see and even engage with God does not depend on His mood, rather it depends on your relationship that you have!!! Paul states this clearly in Romans 11:22

Romans 11:22 (NASB95)

Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness;…

The problem is we try to look at God through ourselves, our desires, our will… He seems far off when we perceive this way BUT … When we look at ourselves through God and His desires, His will… He comes a whole lot closer into focus.

Peter is addressing false teachers… false teachers love for us to keep God distant!!!

They portray God in ways to appeal and confuse

I submit to you today, that we have a God who is very aware of every detail of our lives, One who is intimately involved in the workings going on in our day to day lives. So aware of all the evil and unjust in this world that He sent His Son, and nothing escapes His attention. Do not be fooled God is not to be mocked by those who think or teach otherwise! He is a God who will judge and rescue… 2 Peter 2:1-10

2 Peter 2:1–10 NASB95

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. 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; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; 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), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, 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. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties,

For If God...

Peter in this loooong sentence which builds into a solid argument... (vs 4-10) give us three “if” “then” statements…

Angels

Flood

Sodom & Gomorrah

“if” this is how I dealt with … “then” I can rescue like this …

Peter is making a clear point to those false teachers, and any who would follow them!

One illustration… is clear

Two illustrations… is powerful

Three illustrations… you have a powerfully clear point that is FIRM in the outcome!

“if God” what we are looking at here this morning is the dealings and actions of God Himself… not what He observed, BUT what He did!

NOTICE… God is actively dealing with the evil in this universe, yet He knows and cares for those who follow Him.

“IF” God did not spare Angels...

There are angels who have sinned! disobeyed God...

Some view these angels and the punishment as those 1/3 that followed Satan and revolted against God

Others see this as the Angels in Genesis 6 who who had perverse interactions with mankind

NO ONE is outside of God’s Holy character and His authority!

Verse 11 Peter states angels are even greater in might and power… yet they faced His judgement… so can we

Hell a place of torment, even this is just a waiting place until the Lake of Fire according to Revelation

“IF” God did not spare the Ancient World...

In Genesis we read the account of Noah and the flood God brings to the world!

ALL humanity wiped off the face of the earth! (Spare 8) God takes sin serious!

Wow God that’s harsh… Really? God waited and warned the people 100 years!

Judgement did come though! On a day when no one would expect it…

It says Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord… a righteous man, not perfect.

Preaching to the people

Even in the midst of God’s judgement we see GRACE!

At Calvary we see the God’s Greatest Judgement on sin and His greatest Grace extended to mankind

“IF” God Condemned Sodom & Gomorrah…

With Noah, God destroys the world by flood, here God destroys with Fire and brimstone!

These towns were as ungodly as you can imagine!!!

Perverse sexual sin was rampant, no morals were present, all that God hated was lifted up and exalted there

They serve as an example to those who live ungodly live thereafter...

Example: God punishes wickedness

Example: You will not escape

Example: God is patient but just… Lot and Abraham’s multiple request...

You read Genesis and it is hard to see what God sees in Lot… this side of the cross he is called righteous Lot!

Something in him was even oppressed by the sin he lived around…

Does sin still bother you?

We live among sin and sinners as saints of the most high

This does not mean we live as them, do not become callous to sin!

“THEN” God knows how to Rescue...

To Rescue!!!

The righteous… He knows who they are!

He knows how to protect and rescue His own from the false teaching and teachers this world throws at His people

He also knows how to rescue the righteous from His wrath!!!

God is aware of the situation… in all the world Noah was seen and spared. Cities full of sin, God saw righteous Lot.

To Deal With The Unrighteous

There is judgement coming… a day when time will be up

But NOTICE Peter says… “especially those” these teachers are ones who not only :

Indulge their fleshly corrupt desires, BUT...

Ones who despise authority, God’s authority, scriptures’ authority, and even authority set in place by God...

They are daring, blasphemous, self-willed… shaking their fist at God

It is bad enough that they themselves live like this, BUT they are teaching it too! Drawing people into this!

They take God’s Word, twist it, malign it, pervert it… Peter warns “Especially those” will be judged.

God is going to judge, Peter will speak to this in the next chapter, BUT CHURCH… those who have a right relationship with Jesus Christ will be spared!!!

The Day of the Lord is coming, His Wrath is imminent, but He knows how to rescue His Own,

He does not punish the righteous with the sinner

Church… “IF” we can look at scripture and see God aware of the things in His Word and handle it, respond to it, deal with it, EVEN protect those who are in the midst of it...

“THEN” we can rest assured He is able to know what you and I are facing, bring us though it, and deal justly with those who unrighteous in our lives. God has worked, is working, and will continue to work in His creation.

1… The God of GRACE in His compassion will rescue ALL believers in Jesus Christ

2… The God who Judges and brings His wrath on sin will punish ALL who do not believe!!!