Peter Warns All Believers Against False Teachers Within and Exhorts Us to be Steadfast Volume 20

The Apostle Peter gives an Example of God/Jesus Delivering His People 2 Peter 2:7-9 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: KJV Note: NLT=New Living Translation Just as in the previous Volume 19, we saw from the Apostle Peter how those who have the judgment of God upon them (false teachers and false believers) cannot and will not escape the wrath of God because it remains on them (John 3:36). So now we see from the Apostle Peter how God/Jesus does and has already delivered all of us (those who lived long ago and we who live right now) from His wrath through the Righteousness we receive from Christ Jesus our Lord. Peter gives the example of Abraham's nephew Lot who lived among the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot way back then was a partaker of the Righteousness of God/Jesus, therefore, he and his family were rescued from the fire and brimstone by Angels of the Lord. Peter first says this of Lot, "And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)" (2 Peter 2:7-8) (KJV). The English word 'vexed' Peter uses here in verse 7 is translated by the Greek word kataponeō meaning to be labored down, that is, wear or worn with toil (figuratively harass): - oppress, vex. The little English phrase 'filthy conversation' in verse 7 is translated by two (2) Greek words aselgeia and anastrophē together meaning (as a negative particle) not able to abstain from sexual immorality; licentiousness (sometimes including other vices): - filthy, lasciviousness, wantonness behavior and conduct. Now Lot was by no means a perfect man, but Lot being clothed in the Righteousness of Christ was freed from the wrath that would be poured out upon those cities. Lot lived in anguish of soul and was weighed down in spirit by the lasciviousness of the people all around him and it was because he knew that God/Jesus would judge those cities at some point, he only did not know when or how the judgement of God would come. In 2 Peter 2:8 the Apostle uses the English word 'vexed' again but the Greek word used to translate it is basanizō which means to be tortured or tormented. Lot experienced these emotions as the Word says from 'day to day', that is, everyday. Yet Lot was prepared to do something that is incomprehensible in offering his very own two daughters (who lived with him) to the men of Sodom who wanted to rape the two angels (clothed in human bodies) that were in Lot's home, as it is written, "They shouted to Lot, 'Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!' So Lot stepped outside to talk to them, shutting the door behind him. 'Please, my brothers,' he begged, 'don't do such a wicked thing. Look, I have two virgin daughters. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do with them as you wish. But please, leave these men alone, for they are my guests and are under my protection.'" (Genesis 19:5-8) (NLT). Why would Lot do this? Why would he put his own daughters in jeopardy of being killed by these wicked men? The fact that Lot's soul was troubled by the filthy conduct and behavior of the people in those cities should have compelled him to keep his daughters safe and free from the corruption that permeated the place, instead he offered his daughters to be corrupted, yet despite this seemingly morally reprehensible thought process God/Jesus through those two (Angels) still rescued him from the destroying fire and brimstone (imagine that). Apparently Lot had pledged these two daughters of his to be married to two men of that city and he went to warn them of the pending destruction of the cities by God and they just laughed at Lot thinking he was joking, as it is written, "Meanwhile, the Angels questioned Lot. 'Do you have any other relatives here in the city?' they asked. 'Get them out of this place—your sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone else. For we are about to destroy this city completely. The outcry against this place is so great it has reached the LORD, and He has sent us to destroy it.' So Lot rushed out to tell his daughters' fiancés, 'Quick, get out of the city! The LORD is about to destroy it.' But the young men thought he was only joking." (Genesis 19:12-14) (NLT). Here is what the Expositor's Bible Commentary had to say of 2 Peter 2:7-8, "The Apostle points his misery in the strongest terms. He was distressed; and of the sights and sounds on every side, and never ceasing, he made a torture to his soul. It was no mere offence to him that these things were so. It was very anguish to see men setting at defiance every law human and Divine. To behold the evils of a lascivious life waxing rampant in the midst of the Christian Churches, and countenanced by those who assumed the office of teachers, must have been an agony to the faithful akin to that with which Lot tortured himself. St. Peter would strengthen the drooping hearts of the brethren; and no greater comfort could there be found than this which he offers, taking the lamp of prophecy and shedding its rays of hope into the dark places of their lives." The Apostle Peter then declares how our Lord God/Yahweh/Jehovah can and does keep His own who dwell among the unjust from His just punishment against them with these words, "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:" (2 Peter 2:9) (KJV). The people of Noah's day and the people where Lot dwelt were all under the judgement of God because they rejected, refused, or resisted Him and His salvation, but just Noah and just Lot were (as we who are born again today) clothed in His Righteousness and therefore, as it is written, "So now there is no condemnation/judgement for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to Him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death." (Romans 8:1-2) (NLT). With this as truth we look back in the Scripture and see how God/Jesus rescued Lot and his family from His Judgement upon the unjust in Sodom and Gomorrah, as it is written, "At dawn the next morning the Angels became insistent. 'Hurry,' they said to Lot. 'Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out right now, or you will be swept away in the destruction of the city!' When Lot still hesitated, the Angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the LORD was merciful." (Genesis 19:15-16) (NLT). The Angels warned Lot and his wife and his two (2) daughters not to stop or to look back to the cities. The little English phrase in verse 9 'to deliver' is translated by the Greek word rhuomai a verb meaning to rush or draw (for oneself), that is, rescue: - deliver. Lot and his family was rescued by the Angels away from God's Judgement against the wicked cities in the plains, yet as we read on in the Scripture in Genesis one member of his family disobeyed the Words of the Angels and looked back to the cities, as it is written, "Then the LORD rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah. He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation. But Lot's wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt." (Genesis 19:24-26) (NLT). God/Jesus warns as He did to Lot and his wife and his daughters through the Word of the Angels, but though He commands obedience, He does not nor will He ever force His own to obey. Forced love is not love at all, it is actually nothing. Jesus said, "'If you love me, obey my commandments.'" (John 14:15) (NLT). Here is what the Expositor's Bible Commentary has to say of 2 Peter 2:9, "'The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation.' Already he has given the lesson (2 Peter 1:6) that true godliness must have its root in patience. It is a perfect trust, which rests securely on the Father's love, and willingly waits His time. The hearts of the faithful ones must have found solace in the thought which he here joins to his former teaching. The trials they endure are grievous, but 'The Lord knows' is an unfailing support. The floods of ungodliness make His servants many a time afraid; but when they feel that there, as amid the raging ocean, the Lord ruleth, they are not overwhelmed. They are protected by Omnipotence; and the tiny grains of sand, which check the fierce tide, are an emblem of how out of weakness He can ordain strength. Hence there comes a knowledge to the struggling saint which makes him full of courage, whatever trials threaten. The world has its wrathful Nebuchadnezzars, whose threats at times are as a fiery furnace; but he is proof against them all who can say and feel, 'The Lord knows.' I am not careful nor disturbed; my God, in whom I trust, is able to deliver me, and He will deliver me. The Lord knoweth the way of the godly, and His knowledge means safety and eternal deliverance. 'And to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the Day of Judgment.' The unrighteousness, over them too God keeps ward. They cannot hide themselves from Him, and through their conscience He makes life a continuous chastisement. They may seem to men to walk on heedlessly, but they have hidden tortures of which their fellows can take no count. Even the offender against human laws, who dreads that his sin will be found out, carries in his bosom a constant scourge. Fear hath torment, and this it is of which the Apostle speaks. And if the dread of man's judgment can work terror, how much sorer must their alarm be who have the fiery indignation of the wrath of God in their thoughts and stinging their soul. Such men are kept all their life long under punishment. Yet in this constant anguish we trace God's mercy: He sends it that men may turn in time. His blows on the sinful heart are meant to be remedial; and those who disregard His chastisements to the last will go away, self-condemned, self destroyed, despisers of Divine love, to a doom prepared, not for them, but for the devil and his angels." 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...