You Can Count on God!

Last Sunday, Bro. Ronnie introduced the false teachers of 2 Peter to us.  Remember, these were individuals within the church who claimed to be followers of Christ but were teaching a false gospel.

 

From the text, their main problem was that they denied Christ.  It isn’t clear whether they denied His deity or His Lordship or even His humanity.  Regardless, all are heretical.  Furthermore, they were infatuated with money as evidenced by their covetousness, and they also exploited the body with their deceptive words trying to get more money.

 

Consequently, God will judge them.  We know this because of some form of destroy that Peter uses on four occasions in three verses: 1, 1, 2, 3.

 

Today, we continue thinking about the false teachers.  However, Peter will also offer us a word of encouragement.  The title of my sermon this morning is “You Can Count on God!”

 

 

1. You can count on God to deliver the godly, 2 Peter 2:9a.

9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.

 

In the language of the NT, verses 4-9 are actually one sentence. However, the main points of this sentence aren’t found until verse 9. 

 

You can count on God to deliver the godly out of temptations.  Our text gives two examples. 

 

First, God delivered Noah and his family in 2:5.  2:5 says that God saved Noah. 

 

“Saved” means to guard a person so that he may remain safe.  This was certainly true of Noah and his wife and his three sons and their wives.  See Genesis 7:1, 23.

 

1 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.

 

23 So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive.

 

Secondly, God not only delivered Noah and his family, but He also delivered Lot.  2:7 tells us that God delivered righteous Lot. 

 

Notice it doesn’t say “perfect Lot.”  Some would say that Lot was hardly righteous, and he certainly wasn’t the picture of godliness.  As a matter of fact, Genesis 6 tells us that he was depraved offering his daughters to those who wanted to sexually abuse Him, was a drunkard, and had to be drug out of Sodom and Gomorrah.

 

However, God did rescue him from that ungodliness.  Peter called him righteous because he had believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness just like Abraham. 

 

By the way, let me caution you about holding up biblical characters as examples to follow.  Make no mistake about it.  There is only hero of the Bible.  It wasn’t Noah or Abraham or Moses or David or Mary or Paul or Peter or John.  It was Jesus!

 

2. You can count on God to destroy the godless, 2:9b.

9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.

 

In addition to delivering the godly, 2:9 also says that God will destroy the ungodly.  This present tense participle translated “under punishment” in the NKJV denotes continuous action.  There will be no end to their punishment.

 

Next Sunday, we will look some more at the characteristics of these false teachers.  However, for the rest of today’s sermon, Peter gives us three examples from the OT of when God destroyed the ungodly. 

 

First, God destroyed some angels in 2:4.  What angels is Peter referencing?  It is really hard to know. 

 

Some believe this is reference to Satan and the original fall.  Jesus spoke about it in Luke 10:18, and it could possibly be true of Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. 

 

18 And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

 

Others believe that Peter is referencing a controversial scene in Genesis 6 where angels procreate with humans since Peter’s other examples are from Genesis.  However, the bottom line is that is hard to know, but God destroyed these godless angels. 

 

Second, God destroyed the ancient world in 2:5.  Again, this example is also in Genesis and is the global flood.  By the way, our Wednesday Men’s and Woman’s Bible Studies that will start back after Labor Day will be studying Genesis 1-11.  If your schedule will allow, I would love for you to join us.

 

You know the story.  Noah and his family were godly.  The rest were ungodly, and God destroyed them.  See Genesis 6:5-7.

 

5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

 

 

Thirdly, God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah in verses 2:6-8.  The story of Sodom and Gomorrah can be found in Genesis 18 and 19. 

 

The residents of Sodom and Gomorrah wanted nothing to do with God’s design for heterosexual relationships.  They longed for homosexual relationships. 

 

2 Peter 2:7-8 says that Lot was tormented by what he felt and what he saw and what he heard.  In some ways, we can sympathize with him in 2021. 

 

One commentator described these examples like this.  The angels demonstrate the height of God’s judgment.  The entire human race demonstrates the breadth of God’s judgement, and Sodom and Gomorrah demonstrate the depth of God’s judgment.  You can count on God to destroy the godless.

 

 

Conclusion

So let me close with three applications. First, be confident that God knows how.  You can then fill in the blank.  God knows how.  Trust that.  Be assured.  Be confident.

 

Second, be comforted because God will deliver the godly and destroy the godless.  I don’t know what your temptation is today, but God does, and He will provide the appropriate strength and escape for you.

 

Finally, be cautious.  The angels’ sin was their pride.  The ancient world lived like there was no god.  Sodom and Gomorrah was guilty of homosexual immorality, but are you guilty of heterosexual immorality?

 

Don’t point your finger so much at the sins of others that you fail to deal with your own sins.  Repent of your own sin, and trust God to deal with others.  See Luke 13:1-5.

 

1 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”