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Salvation and Judgment (2 Peter 2:3-10)

Scott Kercheville
04/30/23 - Sun AM

Have you ever imagined what it would have been like to be Lot living in Sodom and Gomorrah before it fell? Peter tells us in 2:7-8. He was greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked. Day after day he tormented his righteous soul over their lawless deeds. Do you ever feel that way in our current environment?

Initially, Lot’s response might strike us as odd. Of course we’d all be disturbed by the violent crowds that surrounded Lot’s house, but the sensual conduct that was ongoing before that? Maybe we think, “So… they liked to sleep around. Or they are greedy, or they lie, or are wrathful. What does that have to do with with Lot? He should focus on his own problems and not be so arrogant, Pharisaical, and judgmental.”

If our distress turns into a disgust at everyone else while rarely reflecting on our own weaknesses, then yes, that’s a problem. We should tend to the logs in our own eye first. But if we aren’t distressed by wickedness — we just see it as the personal choices of others that don’t affect us — that’s another problem. Should we not have compassion for what they are doing to themselves? Should we not see that anyone’s sin — ours and theirs — affects God’s good world and everyone in it? Should we not be concerned with God’s purpose for his kingdom to come, and his will to be done on earth as in heaven?

Consider Jesus. We could say he was so tormented by the world’s wickedness — and ours — that he left heaven and died a sinner’s death to end it. And he is angry enough about sin that he is coming to save those who turn from sin, and to destroy those who refuse.

The point is this: Lot’s distress over Sodom’s wickedness is a sign that he was a righteous man in need of salvation from the wicked. Lot was flawed — as we have been and are too. But Lot’s grief over their lifestyles was right. The only reason things are not good in the world is because of sin — all strife, all corruption, sickness, disability, sadness, and death comes from it. So, while we humbly kill sin in our lives, it is right to be tormented by wickedness.

When Lot urged the people of Sodom and Gomorrah to not behave so wickedly — they became angry. “The outsider is trying to become our judge! You’ll pay for that.” And people inside and outside the church may respond to us like that too — “You’re being judgmental.” We certainly don’t want to be harsh. We come with truth in love to protect the unprotected and to save the world. But being misunderstood is a certainty.

How do we live in a sinful world where Sodom and Gomorrah are built up around us? How can we endure when wickedness infiltrates the church? Peter gives us two solid pillars to hold onto in verses 3-10 that he succinctly summarizes in verse 9: The Lord knows how to rescue the godly and how to punish the unrighteous.

Peter has cautioned that false teachers will secretly bring in destructive heresies and lead people into sensuality. But he declares in verse 3: Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. His point is that we don’t have to worry, their fate was sealed long ago and God is actually in the process of bringing their destruction about.

Peter wants us to be confident about this so we are not afraid or led astray when this wickedness comes into the church, so he gives three examples of how God is in the process of restraining and destroying wickedness.

Peter reminds his readers that God did not even spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell. Genesis 6 and other Jewish writings speak of the “sons of God” sleeping with the “daughters of men.” And the result was giants walking the earth. Consider how scary it would be to see days where dark spiritual powers are plainly invading the earth and animating wickedness, sensuality, and violence in such epic proportions. And yet, God did not stand by quietly — he cast them into Tartarus — the underworld — and has confined them in darkness until the day of judgment. Note the two-fold judgment: God punishes and restrains wickedness in our own day in advance of the final day when wickedness is judged.

Peter tells us that God did not spare the ancient world either, but that he did preserve Noah with seven others. He refers to Noah as a “herald of righteousness.” Consider the world Noah lived in. Genesis 6 says that the wickedness of man was great and that people’s thoughts were on evil continually. Sensuality was rampant. Corruption and violence surrounded them. Only Noah and his family walked righteously. This is the world Noah preached in and to.

And we have talked about Lot. Day by day sensuality filled the streets and homes of Sodom. And as we see in Genesis, violence and injustice was allowed to reign on the streets — foreigners were oppressed. And Ezekiel tells us that though the city was very wealthy, the poor went hungry, and none shared their bread with them. And Lot tried to do what he could do — when he saw the two men — angels unbeknownst to him — he brought them into his home. He was the kind of man who shared his home and food with those in need. But there was only so much he could do. And when he simply tried to protect the two men and urged others to stop, they turned against Lot.

And in our world we too see that sensuality without restraint is on the rise. People sleep with whomever they want. People transform their bodies however they want. People watch videos of whomever they want. And we try to raise our children to not be stained by this world. It is scary to raise boys in a world with such availability to pornography; it is scary to raise girls in a world where boys are trained to see and treat women like that — and where pornography has infiltrated us as the church as heavily as it has. Violence is on the rise too — more random attacks. Our world is not Noah’s or Lot’s, but the ways it mimics it are troubling.

It can be quite scary to consider what people might do against us. And it is even scarier to recognize that Peter is addressing this because he is certain it will infiltrate the church. It is not merely people outside who will lead astray and harm the righteous — both false teaching and wicked behavior will spring up within Christ’s own church. Sometimes that is scary. And sometimes it’s just disturbing — as with Lot, we  may be tormented by what we see and hear from people in the church who — in terms of verse 10 — indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. And mark that again: Peter is saying that in the church people will freely indulge in lust and in the church people will disrespect the authority of our Lord.

And yet, the Lord preserved Noah when he brought a flood on the earth. He rescued righteous Lot in his distress too. And if he did that, the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from all the trials they may encounter. He knows how to rescue you and me.

But note that the Lord does not deliver us from ever encountering trials. Noah and Lot both suffered in the wicked worlds they lived in — as did Job, Abraham, Elijah, and our Lord Jesus — and we will too. God has never promised it will be easy. He has promised it will be hard. Satan has done a number on this world, but he has promised to deliver us. Often, as with Noah and Lot, he delivers us in our lifetime. But, if that’s not we can be certain that on the day of judgment God will deliver all the righteous from their trials — even after they have died — by raising us from the dead and granting us entrance into his eternal kingdom. He will not deliver us from encountering trials, but he will rescue us from our trials.

And, Peter says, the Lord knows how to punish the unrighteous both now and in the day of judgment too. He did not spare angels, he did not spare the ancient world, and he turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes. And note verse 6: these are each intended to be examples of what is going to happen to the ungodly.

Will we live in these times with that confident hope in mind — that God knows how to rescue the righteous and punish the wicked? Until our final rescue, fear of what may happen can get the better of us. Yes — flee wickedness! Young people, do not befriend fools and rebels! And yet, while we stay far away from wickedness, we do not fear it but God. Fear God, but fear of wickedness can become overpowering to the point that it takes over our identity: maybe we become paralyzed by anxiety over what is happening in the world, we can’t turn off the news, we accumulate earthly treasures in fear of the future, we hide out in our homes. The righteous have been surrounded by the wicked before, and God dealt with them. Let us not at all be naive about the world or about the ways it comes into the church. And let us also not have a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-control.

Therefore, let us pray without ceasing, always pleading for him to do justice. God answers prayers and rescues in this age! And no matter what happens, God will indeed intervene in our time-space reality to rescue the righteous in the final day. But when the Son of Man comes, will there be faith left on the earth?

And will we live in these times with a certain fearfulness over the destruction of the wicked? God turned Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes as an example — this fortifies our hope and cautions us with fear. Sensuality can seem harmless and tempting and innocent. And the world paints it that way — but it is actually a plain rejection of our King who made us and who has the authority to govern our bodies. And it is all for our good, for the good of the world, and for the glory of his name. But if we despise what God has made and the glory of his name and his right to govern us — he has given an example of what he will do.

When Peter wrote this, it was still widely recognized what God had done to Sodom. Josephus wrote: “In fact, vestiges of the divine fire and faint traces of fie cities are still visible. Still, too, may one see ashes reproduced in the fruits, which from their outward appearance would be thought edible, but on being plucked with the hand dissolve into smoke and ashes. So far are the legends about the land of Sodom born out by ocular evidence.” (J.W. 4.484-85) The ancient “legend” is true, and so are the prophecies: Jesus is the rightful king over this world, and one day he will appear from heaven to rescue those who have been loyal to him and to bring fiery destruction upon the rest of mankind and their works. On that day it will not matter if we have justified ourselves before each other: God alone will judge. Let us fearfully turn back to our Lord! And let us not fear but loyally wait in hope for our salvation.