TUESDAY 10th
2 Peter 2:4-22
vv6-10 ‘. . . if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority’.
We are covering a number of verses today, and again they firstly remind us of the severity of the punishment for sin. The sins of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were an abomination before the eyes of God and he came down to destroy both the cities and the inhabitants of the cities. Did God need to do this, yes, he needed the world to know that he will not tolerate open rebellion against his righteous standards, the latter part of verse 10 clearly states ‘and especially against those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority’.
We are living in almost identical days today, where the standard that God has set for morality, in particular to human relationships in sex and marriage have been totally torn apart, deconstructed and are despised by so many. We can only ask the question, how long will God tolerate this rebellion without visiting the world with judgement again.
The second thing we discover is that God rescued the ones who were righteous within those cities, as an example we see in verse 7 he rescued Lot. Note what the verse says about Lot, he was ‘greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked’.
In the midst of the unrighteousness, Lot remained faithful to God, going back to the previous verses in the midst of the depraved society that Noah lived, he also remained faithful to God and as a result God honoured their faithfulness and delivered them from the judgement that came upon those around them.
God is looking for us to be faithful today. As we are living in a world where the darkness of sin and the depravity of mankind would seem as if it can sink no lower, he wants those of us who have been saved and who are called by his name to be faithful. May we also be greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked, so much so that it will cause us to be men and women who will seek the Lord God to come and pour out the Spirit of revival upon our nation again so that the wicked will forsake his own way and that many will call upon the Lord and be saved while there is still time.