Title: A Message for Lots
Text: 2 Peter 2: 6-9
Date: April 1, 2012
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Are there any Lot’s here? As Peter warns believers of false teachers and their damnable heresies, who deny the person of Christ Jesus the Lord and redemption accomplished by his finished work at Calvary, he tells us their destruction is certain, their judgment and damnation is sure. He gives three examples comparing false teachers and their damnation:
1) The rebellious angels in verse 4: For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;” (2Pe 2:4)
2) The old world in verse 5: And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
3) Then Peter compares the ungodliness of false teachers and their judgment to the ungodly cities of Sodom and Gomorrah—our text is verses 6-9.
2 Peter 2: 6: And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; 7: And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 8: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) 9: The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
I. THE WICKEDNESS OF SODOM AND GOMORRHA WAS GREAT BUT THE LORD DECLARES THE WICKEDNESS OF FALSE TEACHERS WHO EXALT MAN’s WORTH, MAN’S WILL, MAN’S WORKS, MAN’S MERIT, SELF-RIGHTEOUS, SELF-HOLY, SELF-REDEEMED-MAN-EXALTERS—THEIR SIN IS GREATER THAN SODOM.
Turn to Ezekiel 16. While you turn I will remind you how the LORD addressed Judah in the days of Isaiah—
Isaiah 1: 10: Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. 11: To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD:…13: Bring no more vain oblations;…it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting…15: And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
Ezekiel 16: 1: Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2: Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,…48: As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. 49: Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride,
Pride is the mother of contempt of God and of all cruelty. Pride is the tyrant sin which controls the natural, human nature. God hates pride.
Pride is the stuff of vain religion. It makes men forget their own wretched, helpless condition. It makes sinners take to themselves not only more than is right: dignity, excellence, and so on—but men claim for themselves the very glory that belongs to God alone, making the sinner equal to God, deserving of God’s favor. That is what works religion is.
Works—religion, self-sanctifying religion—promotes pride. It makes a sinner unable to acknowledge his own sin and the fault in his own heart but continually makes him uncover the faults of others and despise others for the very sins he himself is guilty of. Jerusalem looked down their noses at the idolatry of Samaria (the ten tribes of Israel) and at Gentile cities like Sodom—the Lord says there sin was worse.
Pride is the sin of the angels who abode not in the truth and were cast out of heaven, the sin of Adam and Eve which plunged the whole human race into spiritual darkness, the sin of the old world which God destroyed in the flood, the sin which condemned the Sodomites. But the LORD says of false teachers and their followers in idolatrous works religion—in Jerusalem itself—that their sin was far worse than Sodom.-they did it in the name of the LORD.
Ezekiel 16: 49: fulness of bread,…
The land of Sodom was very fruitful like the garden of the Lord, great fullness of provision, plenty of food. Their sin was they took the things God had given and lived for themselves in luxury and intemperance, eating and drinking to excess.
Christ is our Bread. God keeps his regenerated child humbled under his mighty hand. So that believers live in dependence upon his fullness—of his fullness have we all received grace for grace.
But the natural religious man takes the word of God and the things that are the sustenance to the believer, and abuses them—in the name of building churches for Christ.
Example: Earlier in the chapter the LORD speaks of the gold and silver he provided Jerusalem—a picture of the privileges and bounty of the word and the worship God gave to Judah—my comeliness that I put upon thee—but you trusted in your own beauty and played the harlot--they took the silver and gold and set them up as an idol which looked like a man.
Works religion loathes the bread from heaven. It takes the things of God and uses them to fuel man’s pride, to entice and please men, to worship the creature more than the Creator, teaching men to indulge and feast on the fatness and fullness of the works of their own hands all in the name of Christ. It creates the next thing…
Ezekiel 16: 49:…and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters,…
The problem in Sodom, the problem in Jerusalem, the problem if you and I begin to find contentment in what God has given us rather than in Christ himself is that we will wax fat in abundance of idleness—we will be in a firehouse for another 5 years. Remember the church at Laodecia…why did they grow lukewarm?
Revelation 3: 17: Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19: As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
The riches of God’s grace, the fullness of Bread in Christ, only creates idleness when we become zealous for the beauty God has bestowed rather the beauty and riches in Christ our Redeemer.
Do we need faith—the Lord says, 18: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; Christ is the tried gold that makes us rich in faith which is more precious than gold that perishes—we never do one thing waiting till we get enough of the gold that perishes—but if we have faith as a grain of mustard seed then mountains move. Christ is our Righteousness of white raiment who covers the shame of our nakedness. Christ and his gospel is the eyesalve that anointes our eyes so that we may see. The Lord said, I counsel thee to come to me for these things.
Ezekiel 16: 49:…neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy…
The poor and needy are sinners bankrupt of all righteousness in need of Christ. Christ is all the Strength of poor and needy sinners. The truth—the gospel—is the message whereby the poor and needy are enriched, clothed, provided for by the righteousness of God revealed in the person and work of Christ Jesus.
Romans 1: 16: For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17: For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
Romans 3: 21:…the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22: Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24: Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26: To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
But where man is not told clearly he is absolutely ruined in sin, where man is exalted and the righteousness—how God is Just and the Justifier—how mercy and truth are met—all found in Christ and him crucified—then there is nothing for the poor and needy sinner:
Romans 10: 2: For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 3: For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. 4: For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
The poor and needy are not clothed, not fed, not enriched, not strengthened where God’s righteousness is replaced by the will and work of man. Even worse, the poor and needy are oppressed—they are pressed—constrained—to bring forth the payment of righteousness and holiness that they can no more produce than the poor and needy can produce money or clothe themselves.
Illustration: Peter said the false prophets will make merchandise of you—the Lord said you have turned my house into a den of thieves—In most circles in religion everything has a price on it—conferences, books, church membership—if you are poor and needy you can’t even afford it. Christ says,
Isaiah 55: 1: Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Isaiah 45: 13: I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of hosts.
The Lord Jesus is a refuge for the oppressed not more oppression for him. Peter said they will not provide for your soul—but through covetousness they will make merchandise of you
Ezekiel 16: 50: And they were haughty,
They lifted up themselves above God and man; swelled with plenty and prosperity, and looked down upon, both their fellow citizens and strangers. That was so of Sodom, but God says it was worse in the idolatrous works religion of Jerusalem and Peter warns us of it today.
The Lord Jesus said to those who rejected John the Baptist and himself that they were wise and prudent. Haughty men won’t listen to a hick like John the Baptist—or even the Master—they’re too haughty, too good for the simple, too wise and prudent for those they regard as nothing. The Lord Jesus said:
Matthew 11: 23: And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24: But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee. 25: At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. 26: Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.
Ezekiel 16: 50:…and committed abomination before me:…
This probably refers to the sin—of Sodomy—which is a sin abominable to God. God says the religion of Jerusalem was worse. Paul said those who are circumcised don’t really keep the law, they just constrain others to keep it so they can glory in your flesh.
Why does God so often compare the sin of works religion to the sodomy performed in Sodom?
· Both were committed openly and publicly
· Both are committed with no fear of God
· Both sodomy and works religion change the nature and order God ordained to glorify Christ the Husband of his bride who alone produces children by the Incorruptible Seed of his Gospel
· And neither sodomy or works religion produces children.
1 Thessalonians 4: 3: For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:…6: That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
If we have been sanctified then go no more unto that harlot (go back and read Eze 16 and see how Judah is described as fornication, a harlot, an adultress woman), don’t use falsehood to defraud Christ our Brother to attempt to entice his bride, his sons and daughters into your house of illrepute. The Lord is the avenger of all such.
2 Peter 2: 2: And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 3: And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
Ezekiel 16: 50:…therefore I took them away as I saw good….52: Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.
Their playing the harlot against God justified those they condemned who committed fornication in the carnal sense, the same as if they joined in with them.
Do we hear Peter’s warning to us: the damnation of those who have heard the gospel and rejected Christ for religion which makes the blood of Christ an unholy thing-by their works, by the doctrine of universal atonement, by constraining poor sinners with the law of Moses, is far worse than Sodom. The Lord told his disciples:
Mark 6: 11: And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.
II. BUT THE LORD KNOWS HOW TO DELIVER HIS CHILDREN OUT.
2 Peter 2: 7: And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 8: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
Why was Lot in Sodom in the first place?—There was no gospel there. Abraham worshipped God. Lot was righteous in Christ but he made some errors in going to Sodom—why did he go? Pride of life—Lot had become rich in Egypt, the plain of Jordan looked the same. Lust of the eye—Gen 13: 10: And Lot lifted up his eyes on Sodom. Lust of the flesh—it appeared well-watered—prosperous and fat—Peter reminds us that false prophets make merchandise of men, their groves always appear as a well-watered plain.
Lot only pitched his tent in that direction at first but he ended up living there. Lot soon found he had made an error in judgment by going to Sodom.
2 Peter 2: 8: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
He sat at the gate as people entered to invite them to his house to spare them from going into Sodom. Lot spoke out against the men of Sodom and they said,--you are a so-journer here, now will you make yourself a judge over us.—“they pressed sore upon Lot, and came near to break the door” (Gen 19: 9)
But Lot was justified in Christ—righteous in Christ. The Lord told Abraham he would bring Lot out before he destroyed that place—the Lord knows how to deliver his children out…
· Brought Noah out—in the Ark
· Brought Abraham out of Ur
· Brought Lot out of Sodom
· Brought his elect out of Jerusalem--Saul of Tarsus (apostle Paul) was a ruler in Sodom and Gomorrah, the synagogue of Satan which men called the synagogue of God. But God delivered him out.
Isaiah 1: 9: Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
Conclusion: My fear is Paul’s fear, I say this from the bottom of my heart.
2 Corinthians 11: 3: But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
I warn you, along with Peter--we do well to take heed to the sure word of Christ and his gospel—if you do this you will grow in grace and shall never fall. But beware of false teachers their ways are subtle-privily-their doctrine is damnable heresy. Many shall follow their pernicious ways by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. Through covetousness they will make merchandise of you
I say this to anybody—here or elsewhere—if your eyes are on Sodom, come consistently and hear the gospel and see what happens (don’t give a dime, don’t do a thing, just come and hear—ye do well to take heed). One of two things will happen: the Lord will settle the heart or the heart will grow more angry and hardened. Whatever the thoughts of the heart are—truth or enmity—Christ the Word reveals the intents of the heart.
But this I am assured of if you are a child of God, like Lot, your righteous soul will be vexed in Sodom. A true child of God will find no peace there. And this I know and rely upon—
2 Peter 2: 9: The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
AMEN!