Published on
June 30, 1998 in
2 Peter.
Read Introduction to 2 Peter
“And especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries”
Peter exposes the false teachers of his day. They were rebellious against truth. They brazenly opposed God’s truth. These apostates are not weak types who simply fall into sin; they are people who fly against the truth knowingly with their will.
and especially
“Especially” means chiefly. More than any other group, we need warning of this group more than others. “Above all, look out for these types.” Their chief characteristic is that they walk according to the norm of their flesh. This is their outstanding characteristic. This is a special category of false teachers.
“This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness” (Ephesians 4:17-19)
those who walk
The word “walk” carries the idea of joining a certain person as an attendant and follower. Some people run after these leaders because of their lust orientation to life. “Lusts” are their norm for living. These types live by lust as their essential belief system. They pledge allegiance to lusts.
according to the flesh
False teachers follow their own hearts. They refuse to bend under the authority of God’s revelation. They bring the Bible under their authority. Their norm for life is their “flesh” which operates in “lust.”
“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:7-8).
in the lust of uncleanness
This is the motivation for false teaching–lust of uncleanness. These false teachers enter lusts that defile their orientation to truth. They change their standard of truth to fit their own corrupt nature.The word “uncleanness” means pollution, corruption. It denotes the act of defiling rather than the defiling thing. This person is tainted and stained by evil. These false teachers enter lusts that defile their orientation to life. Their standard is their own corrupt nature.
“For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness” (1 Thessalonians 4:7).
Polluted motivation starts in the heart. Our sin capacity corrupts every part of our soul including our mind. Our mind and heart must find standards of operation outside themselves. We only find absolutes in the Word of God.
Principle:
Immorality is at the base of false teaching.
Application:
Immorality is always at the base of false religion. Immorality and apostasy marry and live together intimately. Bible perversion and sex perversion go hand in hand.
When people reject biblical authority, they have no absolute to guide them in their conduct. They have no absolute to determine whether premarital sex is wrong. If you believe the Bible, that issue is not open for discussion. It is a closed issue because God declares Himself clearly on the subject. The Bible has the last word on the subject. We might as well start rethinking murder as to rethink premarital sex. No, God has spoken once and these issues are not debatable. Non-Christians have no compass for living, but Christians have a map to guide them through life. That map is the Bible.
Immorality is the motivation behind the rejection of the authority of God’s Word in our lives. This is what spawns false teaching.
Published on
June 29, 1998 in
2 Peter.
Read Introduction to 2 Peter
“Then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment“
Now we come to the point of Peter’s thesis. God has know how. He knows how to deliver Christians out of trials. This is His punch line.
Then the Lord knows how
Peter formulates a conclusion drawn from the earlier illustrations. God sovereignly delivers the godly from the reversals of life, for He is never at a loss to deliver His people.
to deliver the godly out of temptations
The term “godly” means a person with awe for God. He holds reverence for God (Acts 10:2,7; Timothy 2:2,12; James 1:26). This is more than a godly belief, but a belief that lives out what one believes.
“Temptations” means tests or trials. God knows how to deliver people who revere God.
and to reserve the unjust under punishment
God keeps the wicked under guard, waiting for punishment. God is the cause of this punishment. God holds the ungodly in a holding hell.
God also has the “know how” to reserve the unjust for punishment. There is a “pay day some day” as Vance Havner used to say (Romans 6:23).
for the day of judgment
One day those without Christ must face the Great White Throne Judgment.
“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:11-15).
Principle:
God has the “know how” to deliver us from trails or temptations.
Application:
There is no doubt that the temptations teens face today are more insidious than a few years ago. Most youth today do not have what it takes to say “no” to temptation. They move with the herd and run with the crowd. Thank God that there are some who have the spiritual stuff to say “no” to temptation.
“Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me” (Psalm 50:15).
“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:12-13).
Published on
June 28, 1998 in
2 Peter.
Read Introduction to 2 Peter
“(for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)”
tormented his righteous soul
Lot took a glance at the sin of Sodom and he was tormented by what he saw. “Tormented” carries the idea of mental torture or torment. He was tormented by the lawless deeds he observed.
A person who is “tormented” experiences mental anxiety and sorrow about what he sees. What Lot saw tormented his heart. The sins of Sodom tormented his righteous (born again) soul. He knew enough truth that this situation tortured his soul.
from day to day
Lot’s soul was tortured on a prolonged basis. The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah grieved and vexed Lot’s soul. His soul was vexed day in and day out with their sin. Guilt was an ongoing feeling in Lot’s soul. Evidently, he constructed a guilt complex in his soul.
by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)
Lot saw and heard too much. The sin of Sodom was blatant. It was out in the open much like it is in our day. When a civilization does not care about blatant sin in its society, that society begins to devolve. This was the testimony of the Greek and Roman civilizations. Those civilizations decayed from within and disappeared as world powers. Will historians in years to come write about the erosion of our society during our watch?
“Lawless” means unprincipled. Their deeds carried no standards. Lawlessness pertains to what is not consecrated or devoted to God–unholy, impious, and godless. Here it refers to people who do not subject themselves to God’s law. The idea is not simply doing what is unlawful, but flagrant defiance of the known will of God about homosexuality.
Principle:
A principle of victory over sin is not to build a platform for sin. That way, sin can’t gain a foothold in our life.
Application:
Lot was vexed, but he was not vexed enough to pick up his belongings and leave Sodom. He evidently didn’t care enough for his daughters and his wife to leave when he should have. Are you in a situation where you are dwelling too long? Get out of the situation and do not allow a platform of sin to develop in your soul.
There is a valid separation from sin and even sinners (2 Corinthians 6:14). Many young women go into situations thinking that this is an opportunity for some fun but it ends in great pain for them. It would have been better for them to separate from that crowd in the beginning.
Published on
June 27, 1998 in
2 Peter.
Read Introduction to 2 Peter
“(for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)”
Verse eight is parenthetic and interprets verse seven. This verse explains the personal torture that Lot went through in Sodom.
(for that righteous man
Lot was a man of God although his life did not manifest this at times.
dwelling among them
“Dwelling” comes from three words (to live, down and in) and means to live down among. The word “dwelling” thus carries the idea of settling down permanently in a community. Lot settled down among homosexuals. He lived there as a fixed dwelling or habitation. He made his home there. He felt at home among homosexuals and enjoyed their company. His social life was with them.
Why did Lot not move from Sodom before he got into so much trouble? “What? And lose his job?” Which would you rather lose, your job or your family?
Principle:
When we compromise our standards because we enjoy the company of people, we put people over conviction.
Application:
When we develop a process of thinking that lowers our standards we end in trouble. First, we think that people are nice although their sin is perversion. Then eventually we think that the sin is not so bad. The logic goes something like this: “Since they are nice people their sin must not be so bad.” Therefore, we go along with the sins of sodomy because we like people.
Are you in an environment of sin and feeling comfortable there? You would rather switch than fight? This thinking puts maudlin thinking over conviction from God’s Word.
Published on
June 26, 1998 in
2 Peter.
Read Introduction to 2 Peter
“And delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked“
and delivered righteous Lot
God “delivered” Noah. Now Peter alludes to another deliverance, the deliverance of Lot from the city of Sodom. “Delivered” means that God rescued Lot from the sins of Sodom.
“Righteous Lot” does not necessarily refer to his moral character. It refers to his judicial standing before God. Lot stood justified before God eternally. We would never suspect this from reading the Book of Genesis.
who was oppressed
“Oppressed” means tormented, distressed with the implication of being worn out by this experience in a homosexual community. The New Testament uses this word two times, here and Acts 7:24. Lot was tormented by the overwhelming degradation all around him. This depravity overcame him and exhausted him.
Homosexuality tortured Lot’s soul. Lot was distressed by the lawless sin of Sodom. It’s sin wore him down because it exhausted his sense of right and wrong. Homosexuality in Sodom tormented and vexed his soul.
by the filthy conduct of the wicked
These “wicked” people live a life of disgrace. They have little sense of decency. They are “past feeling” (Ephesians 4:19). “Filthy” means sexually debauched (2:2). These people live like dogs morally and have little sense of shame.
“Filthy” means to refuse to be subject to legal requirement. This is a lawless person, unruly. Lot was troubled by the lawlessness of the people of Sodom. The word “filthy” carries the idea of unprincipled (here and 3:17). Papyri uses this term for a father who breaks off his daughter’s engagement because he learned that her fiancé gave himself over to lawlessness. This person refuses to be subjected to legal requirements of society. He was unruly, not complying with the law.
Homosexuality is a state of anarchy toward God. Homosexuality leads to lawlessness. They love to make a law out of their own abnormality. They want to call homosexuality normal. However, homosexuality is outside God’s law. Sodom and Gomorrah lived under mob violence as well.
Principle:
God sometimes protects the believer from assaults.
Application:
Homosexuality is an assault both on God and humanity. Sometimes only God can deliver us from the assault of this society.
Published on
June 25, 1998 in
2 Peter.
Read Introduction to 2 Peter
“and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly“
condemned them to destruction
“Condemned” means appointed. When a nation rejects Bible doctrine, God appoints ingredients of destruction for that nation. A homosexual society is like a hand grenade with the pin pulled; it looms ready to explode society. When a military accepts homosexuals into its institutions, it incorporates “destruction” into its infrastructures. This will undermine social life as we know it.
We get our English word “catastrophe” from the Greek word for “destruction.” Metaphorically, “destruction” comes to mean a state of total ruin, a disaster. God brought disaster on cities of homosexuality.
making them an example
Sodom and Gomorrah are examples of God’s hatred toward the sin of homosexuality, a sin of perversion. These cities were filled with male and female perverts. God made their cities an example to those who might live like they did in the future.
An “example” signifies a sign, a representation of a thing (Hebrews 9:23). Here is an example we are to avoid. Homosexuality is something to avoid in God’s eyes.
When Lot went to Sodom and Gomorrah, he gradually learned to accept their sin and then live with them. Eventually he came to believe that their lifestyle was acceptable. Lot could have separated himself from these people, but he chose to live there.
God sent two messengers into town. A mob tried to rape the messengers (a society devolves into its maximum depravity when depravity develops into mobs). Lot would not let the mob have these two men. He brought out his daughters to give them to the mob, but they would have none of it. They wanted men.
to those who afterward would live ungodly
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah foreshadow the coming judgment of God (3:7,10).
The idea of this phrase in the Greek is “those who are about to live ungodly.” The “ungodly” here are unbelievers. People involved in homosexuality are non-God in their thinking.
Principle:
Homosexuality is ungodly in its orientation.
Application:
The Bible clearly views homosexuality as sin, not as a disease. It is more than unnatural; it is “ungodly.” God’s standards are altogether different than our society.
Homosexuality is not only unnatural, it is also a sin. Not only is it a sin, but it is also “ungodly.” The Lord Jesus can deliver thieves from their evil. He can make drunkards sober. He makes immoral people clean. He can deliver sex perverts from obsessions. That is why the gospel is good news.
“As Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh (homosexuality), are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 7).
Published on
June 24, 1998 in
2 Peter.
Read Introduction to 2 Peter
“And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly”
Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes
Let us take a survey of how God views sodomy in the Bible. Even today, “Sodom and Gomorrah” is an idiom for degradation. Sodom and Gomorrah were filled with homosexuality (Genesis 19:4-5).
“There shall be no ritual harlot of the daughters of Israel, or a perverted one of the sons of Israel. You shall not bring the wages of a harlot or the price of a dog to the house of the Lord your God for any vowed offering, for both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 23:17).
Biblically, a “sodomite” is a sexual pervert. The sodomite in verse eighteen is the “dog” (with all apologies to the dog). Dogs have no interest in marriage.
“The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and His wrath” (Deuteronomy 29:23)
God destroyed four cities in anger because of sexual perversion.
“The look on their countenance witnesses against them, And they declare their sin as Sodom; They do not hide it. Woe to their soul!” (Isaiah 3:9).
Isaiah tells of brazen, blatant homosexuals who have no shame. Today homosexuals want to come out of the closet.
“Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: ….And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you” (Matthew 11:20,23-24).
The Lord Jesus is the speaker here. He says that homosexuality is a sin of greater degree. It is probably greater in the sense of the social consequences.
“They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed” (Luke 17:27-30).
Principle:
God views homosexuality as perversion.
Application:
It is interesting how God thinks about depravity in contrast to how present day evangelicalism thinks about it.
“Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due” (Romans1:27).
Published on
June 23, 1998 in
2 Peter.
Read Introduction to 2 Peter
“and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly”
Peter gives three illustrations of divine judgment, all taken from the Book of Genesis. The first illustration is the angels who fell. The second is the flood generation. The third illustration of God’s judgment is that against Sodom and Gomorrah, covering verses six through eight. Peter gives more space to this judgment than the other two.
and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes
The word “turning” means to subvert or overthrow one’s existence. These cities enter a state of total ruin, complete destruction. “Into ashes” means that God reduced Sodom and Gomorrah into complete ruin.
We get the term “sodomites” from the city of Sodom. Sodomites are people who pervert God’s standard for sex. Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom and eventually moved into Sodom (Genesis 13:12,13). Lot was Abram’s nephew. He knew this city was wicked. Nevertheless, he took his wife and two daughters into this atmosphere. Eventually he became a politician there.
“Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom” (Genesis 19:1).
To sit in the “gate” during this time meant that you were a politician. Lot was an official in the town council of city hall. Imagine a man of God being an official in a city of homosexuals! He advanced his career in Sodom, but he lost his family there. He succeeded materially but lost his family. Money was more important than his family. That is the only thing that counts for some men.
While Lot entertained two messengers, homosexuals came demanding that Lot bring the men out to them.
“Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. 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 know them carnally‘” (Genesis 19:4-5).
The men of the city beat on Lot’s door. He went out and tried to placate them (he had power as an official of the city). They would not be appeased but turned on Lot. The messengers reached out and rescued Lot. These messengers smote these men with blindness. Then God rained judgment on the city.
“Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground” (Genesis 19:24-25).
Lot’s wife lived in Sodom a long time. She had become prominent in social circles and women’s clubs. God warned them, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed” (Genesis 19:17). She disobeyed God by looking behind to the city. She lost her life. She never made it to the city limits. Lot’s daughters lost their morals and by the end of the chapter they were both pregnant by their own father. Although Lot was a carnal believer, God preserved him from the catastrophe at Sodom and Gomorrah.
Principle:
Some of us are more interested in our careers than our family.
Application:
Many of us advance our careers by compromising with the society around us. We put priority on business rather than our families and lose our families in the process. We succeed materially but lose our families. That means money is more important to us than our families. That is the only thing that counts for some of us.
Published on
June 22, 1998 in
2 Peter.
Read Introduction to 2 Peter
“And did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly“
bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly
The word “bringing” alludes to God’s sovereign judgment on the world at that time.
“Flood” means deluge. The flood was worldwide and catastrophic. The Grand Canyon and the Himalayan Mountains testify to this flood (there are thousands of fish fossils on the top of the Himalayan Mountains). This flood was of such magnitude that God promised never to do it again and gave the sign of the rainbow to ratify this promise.
“Ungodly” are those who do not hold reverential awe towards God. They are impious. There were only eight people on the entire earth at that time that held awe toward God. God exterminated everyone else. This catastrophic judgment was of such magnitude that God never duplicated it again. Such an unprecedented result demands an equally unprecedented reason. With an effect of such magnitude, there must have been cause of equal magnitude.
What contributed to such devolution on earth? Why did the pre-flood world become so polluted and corrupt? That generation became so degenerate that God had to exterminate all of civilization except eight people. Genesis six gives four contributing factors for the flood:
1. Perversion of the human race (6:2)
2. Widespread wickedness (6:5)
3. Corruption (6:11)
4. Violence (6:11)
There will be a future day that will be as degenerate as Noah’s day. Jesus made the prophecy that His Second Coming will come with judgment like the flood came in judgment.
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:36-39).
Jesus is the speaker in Matthew 24. He believed in the flood. To question the credibility of the flood is to question the credibility of Jesus. If you deny the flood, you call Jesus a liar.
The ante-diluvians would have been saved had they turned to God. They heard Noah preach and saw him build the ark. Every nail Noah drove into the ark nailed their judgment. They had plenty of warning and opportunity by the time the flood came.
Principle:
Christ died for the ungodly; God sent His Son to die for the non-God crowd.
Application:
Do you know that the reason Jesus came to earth was to die for the “ungodly?” Jesus came to die for those who do not have God in their life.
“But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness” (Romans 4:5).
“For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6).
If you do not have God in your life, know that Jesus died to pay for your sins so that you can have eternal life.
Published on
June 21, 1998 in
2 Peter.
Read Introduction to 2 Peter
“And did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly”
We come now to the second illustration of God’s judgment.
And did not spare the ancient world
The “ancient world” here is the ante-diluvian (pre-flood) civilization. God did not spare the ante-diluvian civilization but destroyed it by the flood. He did spare eight people out of the flood. Peter talks of the flood in three places in his Epistles (1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 3:6).
God will not spare apostates. He did not spare the apostates before the flood and He will not spare apostates after the flood. God did not withhold retribution.
but saved Noah
Noah spoke out against the depravity all about him.
one of eight people
The eight people were Noah, his wife, his three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth and their three wives (Genesis 6:10,18).
a preacher of righteousness
Noah preached righteousness. This is judicial–the righteousness of God’s salvation.”Preacher” means herald. A herald was an eminently respected person. This person frequently spoke for the emperor or an ambassador.
The verb means to proclaim or announce. Noah announced God’s message for 120 years to the ante-diluvian civilization warning of the coming flood.
Noah preached for 120 years with only his family as converts. This was 120 years of long suffering on God’s part.
Principle:
God cannot spare societies that compromise the essence of who He is.
Application:
God deals with societies that lose their standards and become corrupt. The media condition us to accept filth, profanity and vulgarity. Our educational institutions pass off filth for art. They parade pornography as literature. This we call education!
Nothing shocks us any more. It is going to get worse and worse. Today it very difficult to spare our children from filth and smut.
