Tuesday, March 12, 2019
For God did not spare even the angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, in gloomy pits of darkness, where they are being held until the day of judgment. And God did not spare the ancient world—except for Noah and the seven others in his family. Noah warned the world of God’s righteous judgment. So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood. Later, God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people. But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him. Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day. So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment. He is especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desire, and who despise authority. 2 Peter 2:4-10(NLT)
Who hasn’t
sung that simple children’s song, He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands? It’s got a great and comforting message about
God’s providential care for His creation, and it’s easy to sing if you’re able to
carry anything close to a tune. But,
while generally thought a child’s song, this is a jingle with the deepest of
theological truths: the whole world IS
in His hands…for good or bad, like it or not, no matter which side of that
fence you try to occupy. It is in HIS
hands, not ours!
Peter describes
the punishment of sinning angels, Noah’s wicked generation being covered with the
flood, and Lot’s escape from Sodom’s destruction. There’s not a lot of “pretty” in these Old
Testament images, but there is plenty of eye-opening reality about God’s idea
of tolerance. To be tolerant (in the Biblical sense)
carries with it no hint of acceptance; God never winks at sin. Tolerance is a period of second, third,
twentieth, and umpteenth chances to repent, and bow before our Creator. There is no scenario in which God simply
overlooks our rebellion. Jesus put it in
as black and white as can be expressed:
“Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven. Matthew 10:32-33(NLT)
Now there
are plenty of people who claim “acknowledgment” of Jesus, that they are
believers, and therefore on the plus side of God’s approval. But they deny the simplest understanding of
what acknowledging really means – confession of sin, and then rejection
of sin. You change your mind about
sinning, and then you change your ways from rebellious self-pleasing to
pleasing God.
Knowing
about God, and even doing some Godly things, like charitable work, giving,
going to church, loving your neighbor…these are all good, decent activities,
and there is no law against any of it; they’re all … well, rather good. But all of that, with just one sin on your
record, tips the scale in the direction of being lost…an enemy of God.
Many people
want to escape God’s judgment for sin, but still want to hold onto their
sins. Later in this passage Peter says
those people would have been better off having never been aware of the truth,
than to understand the truth, and live a lie.
And this is the whole message of Scripture; God’s Word shows us truth as
an invitation to live truly. The whole
of Genesis through Revelation is confrontation with the truth, as opposed to
the lie of our independence from God.
One more
thought before we head off to living on the rocky road this morning; Peter declares
God will deal more harshly with those who despise God’s authority, and who live
a life of twisted sexual practices. Without
mincing words, let me describe what un-twisted is: Sex only within heterosexual marriage. Frankly, every other kind of sexual
expression is subject to punishment. And
the fact is, you cannot change that, no matter how many people in America, or
the church want it. It didn’t work in
Sodom, or in Noah’s day, and not even for the angels who disobeyed.
For You Today
What you can
do is change your mind and your actions.
It’s called repentance, and that’s a prayer God is just waiting to hear.
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