2 Peter 2:4

2 Peter 2:4 KJV 1900

4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

Peter has been talking about false teachers, and how they will bring swift destruction upon themselves

some things to think about concerning God’s judgement

verse 4 is talking about what happened in Noah’s days

Jude 6 KJV 1900

6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

if Peter’s verse sounded familiar, not the only similarity to the book of Jude

So these verses are talking about what happened in the days of Noah, where they left heaven and pursued after the “daughters of men”

Genesis 6:2 KJV 1900

2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

Genesis 6:4 KJV 1900

4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

sinners on earth will not escape judgement

God cannot tolerate or be in the presence of sin

We know that God is consistent, and that He is not a respecter of persons

we know that He’s the creator of the world, of humans, and of the angels, so He has the right to judge

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT “ANGEL” MEANS?

“messenger”, so these are God’s created heavenly assistants, workers, and messengers

they often delivered some of the greatest news in the Bible, think about the announcement of Christ’s birth, of John the Baptist’s birth

it seems in the Bible that they may have various other duties as well

PUT 2 PETER VERSE BACK UP

so in Noah’s day, it turns out you have these angels who sinned

so look at where the angels are compared to what we are

they are in a far greater position than we currently are, but God is still willing to judge them

so if God judged these angels, then humans will most certainly be judged, unless you have been born again

Status did not matter when it came to their judgement

this is one of the great things about God, the reality is that God deals fairly with us through His rules, and we can all expect equal scales

2 Peter 2:5 KJV 1900

5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

So we talked about the angel side of things, now Peter turns to the human side of things

he starts by mentioning the “old world”

so we have the humans, who did not have to cohabitate with the angels, they sinned as well and unleashed many problems on earth

the human/angel mixture, sin abounding, as sin abounded the earth plunged into

one thing about the flood

noah’s family was the only one deemed worthy of being saved by God - 8 people

not very many people and frankly points to the character of Noah and his family, the literal rest of the world had gone down the tubes

but he said I’m still going to follow God anyway

the entire rest of the earth had gotten to an awful place, the wheels came off with regard to sin

the verse speaks of “the world of the ugodly”

in a way it really kind of was the world of the ungodly, of course it always has been and always will be God’s world,

so not only can status not help you under God’s judgement, but a multitude cannot shield you either

Let’s talk about Noah as a preacher of righteousness for a moment

So Noah lives in this world, believes God, and starts building the ark

as you can imagine, there was probably a lot of ridicule, jeering, etc. directed at noah

he’s going against the grain of the entire world, people would have thought he was insane

but Noah didn’t care, he cared more about what God thought than what anyone in this world thought

he was willing to make a stand, even against the whole world, he had his work cut out for him!

he was strong, and did not let people get in his head

we all would do good to learn from the example of someone like him

2 Peter 2:6 KJV 1900

6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;

one of the most memorable examples of God’s judgement

ensample = example

Genesis 19:24–28 KJV 1900

24 Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; 25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. 26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. 27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord: 28 And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.

So Peter tells us that this story was an example to sinners, telling them that judgement will be coming, and that they will certainly not escape

by doing this, God’s given us a great visual example so that we will never forget or think light of the judgement that well be receiving

considering that sin is just rebellion against God, our creator, the sinner has judgement coming

we can think of other examples of flashy judgement in the Bible too, such as the plagues of egypt

in fact, Jesus tells us that some of the people of His day will face less bearable judgement

Matthew 10:15 KJV 1900

15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

talking about people who rejected Him

2 Peter 2:7–8 KJV 1900

7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)

basically this is saying that God delivered Lot who was vexed with the sinful behavior of the people of Sodom and gommorah

think about the world today, we have in many ways it’s a lot like sodom and gommorah

there is a lot of sin going on, people seemed to have lost their moral compass completely

it should pain us to see the state of this world

to see sin abounding in the way that it does, to see a world that is so far removed from what God would want

we want to be conformed to the image of the Son, and we certainly know that sin grieves God, and as we are more and more conformed to the Son’s image, it should be grieving us as well

we talked a bit about judgement this morning

we saw a few examples of judgement in the Bible, and can probably think of a few more

there is a lot at stake for each individual person on earth, they all are made in the image of God, they all have souls that will outlive the body

God loves these people, and we should love these people as well, no matter what section of society they’re in

there should be a sense of urgency, we need to show people the love of God

the highest form of love is telling someone the truth about the gospel, lest they should end up on the bad side of God’s judgement

this is something that could change their lives eternally, and even if they don’t thank you now, sharing the gospel is the best thing you could have ever done for them

not only is it the highest form of love, but we are commanded to do

think about the lengths that some of the Biblical figures went to spread the gospel

think about all that Paul went through, the beatings, the shipwrecks, being jailed, etc.

but look at all the fruit, look how many people’s souls were saved from hell

not only that, but the gospel was spread to new areas, which stuck until the very day

Think about what Peter went through, being killed for spreading the gospel, making the ultimate sacrifice for others

Think about what John went through, he got exiled to Patmos for spreading the gospel, what a hopeless situation

Consider what some of the old testament prophets went through, people like Jeremiah and some of the minor prophets

John the Baptist went through a lot, he was imprisoned and beheaded for doing the right thing

as Christians, we’re called to a self-sacrificial love, we might suffer for doing the right thing

but just as God judges for doing the wrong thing, we will stand before Him for everything we’ve done in our life

we want not only to be not judged for doing bad, we want to be able to have some good to show too

we are followers of Christ, and our time on earth should be used for the mission that God has given us

2 Peter 2:9 KJV 1900

9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

We know that Paul said that we’ll never be in a situation where we’re tempted without a way of escape

sometimes we might wonder, “why am I having such a hard time, but the ungodly are out here seemingly doing great?”

we have to understand that God is above all things, He knows all things, and God has a plan

we should accept the fact that hey, God is a lot more wise than I am, and He’s in charge of everything

in short, we just need to have faith and defer to God in these situations, as He knows what’s best for all of us.

we also have to remember that a day of judgement is coming

so whether or not someone was punished for their sins in this life or not, they will be eventually

all things will be made right eventually, so we need not be shortsighted, everyone will receive their just desserts

Job 38:4–7 KJV 1900

4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding. 5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched the line upon it? 6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the corner stone thereof; 7 When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Job 38:8–11 KJV 1900

8 Or who shut up the sea with doors, When it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? 9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, And thick darkness a swaddlingband for it, 10 And brake up for it my decreed place, And set bars and doors, 11 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: And here shall thy proud waves be stayed?

Job’s friends had been saying that he must had done something wrong for all of this stuff to happen to him

Job insisted that he’d done nothing to warrant what happened to him

Job had gotten a bit frustrated with how things were going for him

so God took him up in the whirlwind and told him these things

God is saying, “look, I’m above all, I created everything, I’m in charge of the world, trust me that I know what I’m doing and it’s all happening for a reason”

Remember how we talked before about being thankful for the hard times that come our way?

if we’re getting chastised, it’s God’s way of showing love to us and trying to make us better people

if it’s other hard times we can rejoice in that as well as it’s an opportunity to learn, to become better and stronger

we talked about being conformed to the image of the Son, Jesus suffered greatly in this life

so when these times do come our way, we just need to have faith, and believe that God has a plan and knows what He’s doing

we should do our best to be happy with His will, because if we aren’t in line with His will, that’s kind of an issue

2 Peter 2:10 KJV 1900

10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.

BUT CHIEFLY, but especially, but firstly

those that walk after the flesh… - so this is someone who is hedonistic, and pretty brazen about it

they live for their fleshly lusts, what a terrible way to live

when you talk to someone like this, they may say “oh you’re wrong, i love my life”, but sometimes people delude themselves

other times they are totally empty inside, and are just too prideful to admit it

our life is a puff of vapor, and living according to the flesh just gets you nowhere, you spin your wheels and have no true purpose

Theyre walking according to the flesh, the world, of evil, they need to walk according to the light in Christ

without Him, they’re just stumbling through the darkness of life

those who despise the government - the gist of this is that they’re defying and despising rightful authority

we know that the Bible tells us to just obey and not stir up the government for the sake of spreading the gospel, except if the government is trying to force us to sin

for many people, it’s a pride thing, thinking that they know better, or that they’re just going to follow their own rules

we know that pride is an issue that can be deadly to the soul, look what happened in the garden of Eden

it is urgent that these people, and all other sinners, hear the gospel

judgement is coming, and we don’t really know when

as we’ve seen, it’s coming and it’s going to hit the sinner hard

the ideal attitude for us is to feel that these people NEED the gospel, there’s only so many days of their life?

who knows when the next time they’ll hear about Christ is?

who knows what being saved earlier in life might prevent them from getting into?

if anything, there would be more workers for God in this world, fulfilling the great comission

that’s what we’re here to do, to build up the church, that’s our primary directive from Christ Himself.

let’s go out here, and show people that judgement is coming, but that there is hope in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ