Peter Warns All Believers Against False Teachers Within and Exhorts Us to be Steadfast Volume 19

The Apostle Peter gives Three (3) Examples of God's Sure Judgement of the Wicked 2 Peter 2:4-6 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; 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; 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; KJV Note: NKJV=New King 👑James Version The Apostle has just given us in the first three (3) verses of this epistle that even during his era their were false teachers of the Word of God and false believers as well exposing them by their prevalent, purposeful, and persistent sexually immoral and greedy behavior. Those men back then and the men and women now are full of pride, that is, full of themselves and eager to lift up their achievements and not giving honor and glory to God. Peter's first (1st)example (2 Peter 2:4) were the very angels in Heaven who were surrounded by the love of God, the glory of God, and the holiness of God, yet in pride one of the angels (lucifer) (Isaiah 14:12) managed to persuade one third of those other holy angels to follow him in a rebellion against God/Jesus trying to take over His Throne. God/Jesus created the angels long before He created Adam (man) and He also created them with greater power than He created Adam (man). These beings were not created evil by God/Jesus. They were created (just like us man) with a will and although we do not and cannot understand why and how they being in the very presence of God thought they could defeat their own Creator, but they engaged in warfare with Arc Angel Michael and the holy angels who did not leave their appointed place by God/Jesus and defeated lucifer and the other rebellious angels, as it is written, "And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in Heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." (Revelation 12:7-9) (NKJV). Here is what the Expositor's Bible Commentary had to say of 2 Peter 2:4, "'For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.' To each of the three instances St. Peter adduces the reader is left to supply the unmistakable conclusion, 'Neither will He spare the sinners of today.' The sentences are all the more solemn from their incompleteness. Some have thought that the reference in this verse is to the narrative found in Genesis 6:3; but that account is very full of difficulties, and there is no mention of a judgment upon those who offended. It seems more sound exposition to take the Apostle's words as spoken of him concerning whom Christ has told us (John 8:44) that he was a murderer from the beginning and stood not in the truth, and of the condemnation of whose pride St. Paul speaks to Timothy. (1Timothy 3:6) For him and for his fellow-sinners the Gospel teaches us (Matthew 25:41) that eternal fire was prepared, and the Apostle (James 2:19) says that 'the devils believe and shudder,' it must be in apprehension of a coming judgment. All that St. Peter here says is implied in these Scriptural allusions to Satan and his fall; and it is more prudent to apply to them the highly figurative language of the Apostle here, which is exactly after his manner, than to seek for fanciful interpretations of the Mosaic story. We may rest assured by the way in which these things are spoken of, though but dimly, by Christ and His Apostles, that they formed a portion of Jewish religious teaching and constituted part of the faith of St. Peter and his contemporaries, though there is but little mention of the fallen angels in the Old Testament." The second (2nd) example (2 Peter 2:5) of the Righteous Judgement of God against the wicked is found in what happened when God/Jesus looked upon the earth 🌎during the life of a man named Noah, as it is written of Noah with these words, "And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 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.' But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." (Genesis 6:6-8) (NKJV). This is the first place where the word 'grace' is found in the Word of God. This is what the narrative was concerning the rest of the people who lived on the earth during Noah's life time ⌚, as it is written of them, "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth." (Genesis 6:11-12) (NKJV). So God/Jesus commanded Noah and his three (3) sons to build an Ark or boat on dry land when at that time there had never been any rainfall from the sky at all, for the ground was watered by God/Jesus with the dew upon it. It took Noah and his sons 120 years to finish constructing the Ark to the exact specifications that God/Jesus had given to him. The Ark was to save every living creature who went into it from the flood of water that would cover the entire earth as God had declared He would do against that wicked generation. Noah preached to the people for the entire 120 years pleading with them to repent of their wicked ways and come into the Ark with him, but not one soul listened and heeded his words. So, at the completion of the construction of the Ark, God/Jesus said these words to Noah, "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.'" (Genesis 7:1) (NKJV). And it was said of Noah these words, "And Noah did according to all that the LORD commanded him. Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth. So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood." (Genesis 7:5-7) (NKJV). All the rest of the people on the earth at that time ⌚were irreverent, impious, and iniquitous, so it is written of them with these words, "All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. 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." (Genesis 7:22-23) (NKJV). We see from this account of human history that being with the majority is not a good thing when the majority has twisted the Word of God to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16). Imagine with me for a moment as Noah was most likely laughed out and mocked and even received violence from the people he preached to for 120 years warning them of the pending Judgement of God that was about to come upon them, yet absolutely none of them heard and turned to get into the Ark of safety. Today Jesus Christ and what He did on Calvary is the Ark of eternal safety for every sinner who would repent or turn from their sin to Him and then they would be born again by Him and live with Him for eternity as His son or daughter. Just like in Noah's day the end of all flesh is at hand for everyday human beings die and when they do, they are either 'in Christ' (born again) or not in Christ unregenerate. Here is what Albert Barnes had to say of 2 Peter 2:5, "The world before the flood. The argument here is, that He cut off that wicked race, and thus showed that He would punish the guilty. By that awful act of sweeping away the inhabitants of a world, He showed that people could not sin with impunity, and that the incorrigibly wicked must perish. But saved Noah the eighth person - This reference to Noah, seems to have been thrown in in the progress of the argument as an incidental remark, to show that the righteous, however few in number, would be saved when the wicked were cut off. The phrase 'Noah the eighth,' means Noah, one of eight; that is, Noah and seven others. This idiom is found, says Dr. Bloomfield, in the best writers - from Herodotus and Thucydides downward. See examples in Wetstein. The meaning in this place then is, that eight persons, and eight only of that race, were saved; thus showing, that while the wicked would be punished, however numerous they might be, the righteous, however few, would be saved. A preacher of righteousness - In Genesis 6:9, it is said of Noah that he was 'a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God;' and it may be presumed that during his long life he was faithful in reproving the wickedness of his age, and warned the world of the judgment that was preparing for it. Bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly - Upon all the world besides that pious family. The argument here is, that if God would cut off a wicked race in this manner, the principle is settled that the wicked will not escape." The third (3rd) example Peter gives (2 Peter 2:6) is that of the people living in what was called the plains, that is, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, for according to the Apostle Peter those cities were turned into ashes when the Judgement of God fell upon them. The English phrase 'turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes' is translated by the Greek word tephroō (used this one time only in the entire New Testament) meaning to incinerate, that is, consume: - turn to ashes. Those cities had given themselves over to sexual perversion, that is, women having unnatural sex with other women and men having unnatural sex with other men (sodomy), as it is written for us by the Apostle Paul with these words, "Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 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. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;" (Romans 1:24-28) (NKJV). God/Jesus Judgement did not spare one soul in those cities and in so judging them righteously He turned everything into a pile of ashes and drove it all deep into the center of the earth 🌎, for there are no ruins of those cities that have ever been found nor will there ever be any found. However, the grace of God does not bounce off the people who live in these sins and even believe that they are not sins, but God's grace does what it does to and for every vile and filthy sinner it permeates, penetrates, and purifies the inner man 👨and inner woman 👩giving the sinner a new disposition, determination, and desires to no longer live in that dishonoring lifestyle. God/Jesus becomes their Father (Abba/Daddy) and every child wants to please their Daddy. However, the unrepentant will not escape the wrath of God on them against their sin and no matter how many people join together to say that is not sin and God excepts it they will not escape and the false teachers of today who use people to build themselves up in honor and in earthly wealth, their judgement (like that of Sodom and Gomorrah) has already been determined from the foundation of the world 🗺. God/Jesus made what He did to those cities an example or an exhibit to exemplify to all human beings that would live after those people of the vengeance and eternal punishment on all those who after them would live their lives in this ungodly manner with no design or desire to repent and be converted to Christ that He would heal them, just as our Lord Jesus quoting the words He Himself gave to the Prophet Isaiah, "'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn (repent), So that I should heal them.'" (Matthew 13:14-15) (NKJV). Here is what Matthew Henry had to say of 2 Peter 2:6, "See how God dealt with Sodom and Gomorrah; though they were situated in a country like the garden of the Lord, yet, if in such a fruitful soil they abound in sin, God can soon turn a fruitful land into barrenness and a well-watered country into dust and ashes. Observe, 1. No political union or confederacy can keep off judgments from a sinful people. Sodom and the neighboring cities were no more secured by their regular government than the angels by the dignity of their nature or the old world by their vast number. 2. God can make use of contrary creatures to punish incorrigible sinners. He destroys the old world by water, and Sodom by fire. He who keeps fire and water from hurting His people (Isaiah 43:2) can make either to destroy His enemies; therefore they are never safe. 3. Most heinous sins bring most grievous judgments. Those who were abominable in their vices were remarkable for their plagues. Those who are sinners exceedingly before the Lord must expect the most dreadful vengeance. 4. The punishment of sinners in former ages is designed for the example of those who come after. 'Follow them, not only in the time of living, but in their course and way of living.' Men who live ungodly must see what they are to expect if they go on still in a course of impiety. Let us take warning by all the instances of God's taking vengeance, which are recorded for our admonition, and to prevent our promising ourselves impunity, though we go on in a course of sin." If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...Sure