“For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)-- if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.”

Notice judgment falls on all who reject God, who fail to respond to God’s offer of forgiveness, but to those who are made righteous there will be deliverance. Noah was protected along with seven converts from his own family. Lot was rescued from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, because, though he lived among the sin he hated it and rejected it, he sought God. God was his heart love. He was desirous of righteousness, not sin. The Lord knew how to rescue holy men from judgment. He knows who to save - those who have received the precious faith and laid their lives at the foot of the cross, who seek forgiveness and to be granted eternal life.   

We have trials and people may make fun of us. We may be persecuted. We may lose jobs, and never be wealthy. We may be looked down upon and all those things that may make this life uncomfortable, but God knows His own. He remembers those who are His own. He knows those who are pretending and those who are not.  He knows those who are playing Christian games and those who have the Spirit.   

God so seeks our salvation that He redeemed us with the blood of His dear Son Jesus Christ. He never gave angels a savior, but He did you and me. He never gave the angels a second chance as far as we know, but He did for you and me. He never gave angels the gospel story, but we have the gospel story. He never allows angels to repent of their sin, but praise God, He allows you and me to repent of our sins, turn to Him and invite Him into our lives.           

Noah was amid disobedience and sinning people, but he remained faithful and obedient to the Lord. He was a preacher of righteousness among a people that did not like to hear what he preached, but he was a herald of truth and announced and proclaimed truth whether people liked it or not. He was concerned that others would know the true God.           

God warns against falling away by following false teachers and lying prophets. Peter wanted to prepare the people to know how they would detect them and know their destruction, yet for themselves have hope in God's promises of deliverance for those who are His own. Are you His own?  If you sense the need to open your heart to Christ, do so today. Pray to receive Him today.           

In his early days as a disciple, Peter believed in Messiah, but he wanted nothing to do with a suffering Savior. The Jewish religious leaders, along with the nation Israel, also looked for the coming "Messiah", but it was not the Messiah the prophets described so they rejected the true Jesus, because He was not their kind of Messiah.      

In the parable of the soils, two of the soils initially received the seed (Jesus), but when they learned what kind of "Jesus" He really was, they fell away. The crowds congregated around Jesus when they thought He came to give them a free meal (John 6:22-27), but when He began to speak of His death, the crowds vaporized (John 6:60-65). False teachers speak of "Jesus," but it is a "Jesus" of their own making, a "Jesus" with whom sinful men feel comfortable and affirmed. They wish to follow and imitate such a person, but they deny the real Jesus, substituting a more palatable Jesus. So it is that false teachers gain a following by “tickling” the ears of those who will not have the real Jesus.

The good news for sinners is that there is time to repent and be saved from the wrath of God. God delayed His judgment on the corrupt societies of Noah and Lot.  God had His witnesses in those wicked places. People were given an opportunity to repent and they did not. The God who did not spare the people of Noah's time and who did not spare the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, is also the God who did not spare His own Son, sending Him to die in the sinner's place so that we might be declared righteous in Him and thus be delivered from sin and judgment.

Have you put your complete trust in Him to save you?

 

Dale