so so StSq2 2.60 so so so so Hi! Yeah. CCoSp4 3.50 Yeah. StSq2 2.60 StSq3 3.30 (-0.99") so so Good evening. Good to see all of you here, and if you are tuning in online, also welcome. Good to have you worshiping with us tonight. I'm just going to remind you of the Christmas party RSVP to carry in. If you haven't, do so by tonight. And the rest of the announcements are there for you in the bulletin, so let's stand for our call to worship. from Luke chapter 2 and verse 14. Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased. Let's pray. Father, we do come this evening to give you glory, to give you all glory, glory in the highest. We want to worship you in a way that would please you. And now that you have in the gospel given us peace in our hearts, that there is peace between us and God, that there's been reconciliation, we come with confidence tonight. We come to you before whom our hearts are open. And all our desires are known, and we ask that you would cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit. That we would perfectly love you and worthily magnify your name through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forevermore, amen. People of God, your God greets you, saying, grace, mercy, and peace be yours from God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Amen. Our opening hymn of praise is number 318, 318, Angels We Have Heard on High. Angels we have heard on high Sweetly singing o'er the plains And the mountains in reply Echo back their joyous strains Gloria in excelsis Deo in excelsis Deo. Shepherds, why this jubilee? Why your joyous strains prolong? Say, what may the tidings be which inspire your heavenly song? Gloria ♪ In excelsis Deo ♪ Gloria ♪ In excelsis Deo ♪ Come to Bethlehem and see ♪ Him whose birth the angels sing ♪ Come adore on bended knee ♪ Christ the Lord, the newborn King In excelsis Deo Gloria in excelsis Deo If you remain standing for our confession of faith tonight, we want to confess some incarnational truth using the Heidelberg Catechism. This is page 878 in the back of the Psalter hymnal. 878, questions 35 and 36. Beginning with question 35. What does it mean that he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary? that the eternal Son of God, who is and remains true and eternal God, took to himself, through the working of the Holy Spirit, from the flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary, a true human nature, so that he might also become David's true descendant, like his brothers in all things except for sin. Question 36, how does the holy conception and birth of Christ benefit you? He is our mediator and in God's sight, he covers with his innocence and perfect holiness my sin in which I was conceived. You may be seated. And then now we take our Bibles and we turn to Psalm 140. Psalm 140. As we work our way through the psalm and the Sunday evening services, this is a personal lament, a psalm of David asking for God for his deliverance against his enemies. And there is some war imagery here, battle imagery that might make it seem like this psalm is removed from our day-to-day experience. We don't go into battle, we're not really familiar with that kind of struggle. But there's another trial that David is pleading deliverance from, and that is those who would lie against him. And we all know what that's like, having people who speak falsely against us. And indeed, the image of fighting in battle is really just drawing out how David feels when he's up against these people who are lying against him. It's that real to him. It's like he's in war. And I was struck as I was reading this by verse 7, Lord, my Lord, the strength of my salvation, you've covered my head in the day of battle. Just this past week, Ruben lent Jacob a knight costume, so he could dress up like a knight around the house. And with it came a little head covering, mesh, what do you call that stuff? Mail, right? Yeah. And I've always thought, what in the world is that going to do for anybody in battle, right? What can that possibly do? And yet, what we learn here is that we don't have these links of metal covering our head when we go up against the foe. The Lord is the one who covers our head. He is our strength. He is our perfect protector. That's what this psalm teaches us. Let's read it together. Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men. Preserve me from violent men who plan evil things in their heart and stir up wars continually. They make their tongue sharp as a serpent's, and under their lips is the venom of asps. Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked. Preserve me from violent men who have planned to trip up my feet. The arrogant have hidden a trap for me, and with cords they have spread a net. Beside the way they have set snares for me. I say to the Lord, you are my God. Give ear to the voice of my pleas for mercy, O Lord. O Lord, my Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle. Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked. Do not further their evil plot, or they will be exalted. As for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them. Let them be cast into fire, into miry pits, no more to rise. Let not the slanderer be established in the land. Let evil hunt down the violent man speedily. will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy. Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name, and the upright shall dwell in your presence. Well, let us now give thanks to God's name using a setting of this Psalm 140 in the Psalter hymnals. Oh, save me, Lord. O save me, Lord, from evil men, From men of violence set me free. For evil schemes are in their hearts, And stir up war continually. Like spares, their tongues have sharpened tips, With my first voice on their lips. O keep me, Lord, from wickedness, From men of violence set me free. They conspire to trip my feet. The proud have hidden snares for me. The wishes of their head they spread. Beside my breath, rain strips are set. I say, You are my God, Lord, listen to my cry for aid. O Sovereign Lord, my Savior strong, have told You, protect my head. Refuse the wicked their desire, to shame them, make their plots misfire. O Lord, let those who have me in be conquered by their wicked lies. Let them be cast in bowls of fire, in iron pits no more to rise. Let none who slander keep their land, let evil hunt the violent man. Give the righteous praise, we'll give The upright in your presence live Will you join your hearts with me as we go to God in prayer? Lord, we come to you now as the one who hears prayer. And we would ask, along with the disciples, that you would teach us how to pray. We confess that in Religious exercises, the language of our lips and the feelings of our heart are not always agreed. We know how to say the right things, but often our hearts are lacking true devotion. And while we might before others, amongst one another, speak truth and say what is good and what is right, how rarely then we turn to you and speak and join in conversation, divine dialogue with you in prayer. And in this way, Lord, it is evident we lack reverence and humility, and our hearts are still sick with sin. We desire things that would bring injury upon us and we take your mercies for granted. And we are in need of your help. And so by your spirit, help our infirmities, our weaknesses, even our weak prayers. We know not what to pray for as we ought. And so let your spirit produce in us right desires by which we would ask for good and right things. Let us not be content with just temporal blessings, but give us a bigger scope of our condition and would we seek eternal blessings from you. Would we come to You as the Father who loves His children and who loves to give every good and perfect gift to them? And so, teach us. Teach us to seek Your holiness in our lives, Your kingdom's manifestation in this world, that Your will would be done in our lives, in our families, in our church, that it would be done perfectly as it's done perfectly in heaven. Meet our every need, give us our daily sustenance, and give us forgiveness. Erase our debt. Cancel the record of wrongdoing by nailing it to the cross of Christ. Keep us from further sin. Keep us from temptation. And help us to always acknowledge you as the one to whom belongs the kingdom, the power, the glory, and these things forever. We want to see that kingdom and that power and that glory in mighty ways here in our congregation. And so give us a faith that you can and will do more than we even ask. Grow us, Father, grow us in grace, grow us in the knowledge of you, grow us in our love for one another. Cause us to grow up to that full maturity. in Christ. We want to see your kingdom, your power, and your glory in this city. Bless every Bible-believing and gospel-preaching church with sanctuaries that are filled to bursting. Give these local ministers unction and boldness to declare, even against a culture that has rejected your truth, give them boldness to declare it. and build up your church. We want to see more churches and church plants that and we continue to pray for. Marcus and his work in Battle Creek give him direction there in the presbytery direction as well. We pray for. Our missionaries who are serving overseas, the Westervelds, the Hopps, the Johnsons, we ask that the Hopps would continue to have a good furlough and that the work would not slow down while they are away. We know, Lord, you are the one doing the work anyway, but would they be able to be refreshed and return and set their hands to the plow? And would you, by your grace, reap a bountiful harvest there in that needy, that needy nation, would you bless those who lead us in the civil sphere, bless them with knowledge, with understanding, with wisdom, with justice, preeminently by granting salvation. Lord, we want to be led by those who are led by you, who know you, who bow the knee to you as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. But ultimately, we do not put our hope in princes. We don't depend upon men. We look to you. We look to Christ, the Prince of Peace. We look to him as the one, as we heard even this morning, meets all of our needs. We thank you that you sent him to us. when the timing was just right. Increase our dependence, our reliance upon Him, we pray. We ask all this in His name. Amen. Let us now worship God with our giving. so so Our hymn of preparation is on page six in the bulletin, Joseph C. The Holy Child. Let's stand and sing now together. Joseph, see the holy child Born to Mary, mother mild Call him Jesus, Adam's son Now in Christ our God has come Call him brother, close of kin, Human nature without sin. Born to us a fallen race, God incarnate, gift of grace. Shepherds run to Elahim, Seek the way outside the inn, Shepherd in the manger lies, Born to comfort all your sighs, Unto you the Savior lives, For the sheep His life He gives. Born to save our wandering race, Jesus leads us by His grace. Eastern kings, your glory bring Royal treasure for the King King of all, the Son is given Destined for the throne of heaven Raised on high, the Christ will reign Conquer sin and death and pain Born to govern and embrace, Jesus rules us by his grace. Jesus, brother, shepherd, king. Christians, let your voices ring. God made flesh the living word. King of kings and mighty Lord. Faithful shepherd, David's son. Christ Messiah, Holy One, born to save His chosen race, Jesus gives us grace on grace. Let's pray. Lord, we want to ask What you promised to give us and that is more grace. Would you give us grace as we open up the scriptures? Grace to read and to understand. Would you give us grace by showing us the gospel of grace? Help us to see our need and help us to believe in your rescue of sinners. The rescue that you accomplished by sending Jesus Christ, the King of grace. We ask this in his name, amen. You may be seated. Let's turn in our scriptures now, if you will, to 2 Peter chapter 2. 2 Peter chapter 2, the first 10 verses-ish. 10a is where we're going to end. So let's begin though in verse 1, giving careful attention to this reading. This is God speaking, this is not Jonathan speaking. I am doing the reading, but God is the one who's speaking to us. So let us come with reverence and carefulness and give attention now to God's word. But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words, Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment, if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly, 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. Again, verse 9, the Lord knows how to rescue. It struck me as I meditated and prepared this past week on these verses, just how important it must be for us to understand that the Lord is a rescuing Lord. Because Peter says he knows how to rescue the godly. And I'm thinking, well, yes, the whole Bible is proof that the Lord knows everything. He knows how to do everything. He knows all, and yet Peter wants us to see, and he wants us to know, and he wants us to trust, and even to celebrate that included in the infinite knowledge, in the unbounded knowledge of God, is knowledge that benefits his people particularly. Yes, the Lord knows all, but Peter says, and that means he knows how to rescue you. That's where we're going to be headed tonight as we study this passage. Peter, that's the point that he culminates with. He wants his readers, he wants us to know and to have this assurance that as we face the threat of trouble from within the church, which we'll diagnose here in a minute, as we face that threat, as we consider the inescapable reality of the judgment of God, In both of these instances, our comfort, our hope, is that the Lord knows how to rescue us. Well, now here for the first time in the epistle, Peter explicitly mentions the threat that is facing the church, and that is false teachers. He has just concluded chapter one. If you were here last week, I know you remember, but I'm going to tell anybody who wasn't here last week what happened. He concluded by talking about true teachers, the true apostolic message. They have that. And on top of that, they have true prophets from of old. This is kind of the rich deposit given to the church. True apostles, true prophets. But now he speaks of false teachers and false prophets. And that's the threat. That's the first thing to consider this evening, the threat. that faces the church. Peter notes a number of things about this threat. First, there's nothing new about it. There's nothing new about this threat. He writes there, false prophets also arose among the people, the people of God in the past. This has happened just as there will be now false teachers among you. The reality of a renegade group of Teachers should come as as no surprise because this is an age-old problem The true prophets of Israel gave warnings time and time again That there would be people who would come in the name of the Lord, but they would not actually speak on behalf of the Lord They would try to trick the people Deuteronomy 18 is a particularly well-known passage that kind of gives instructions for how you can discern a real prophet from a fraud Later on in Jeremiah 23, we read this. This is Jeremiah 23, verses 16 and 17. Thus says the Lord of hosts, do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, it shall be well with you. And to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, then they say, No disaster shall come upon you. Is that not the modern church? in the 21st century context that we find ourselves in. You do you, and God's going to be right behind cheering you on. It doesn't matter what kind of lifestyle that means. If it gives you some sense of fulfillment, if you want to follow your own heart, no disaster shall come upon you. And God says, don't listen to anybody like that. Now, it's one thing to say that the culture tells us that, right? It's one thing to say that that's what we read in the popular books of the day, or the popular articles of the day, or that's what we see in the popular mainstream television of the day, but for instance, what we see in the church of today. Hundreds, thousands of churches across the country have built their ministry off of this key value. This is their core commitment. We want you to be you, to follow after your hearts and dreams. And we don't want you to feel bummed out if there are some sects of Christianity telling you that, well, that's actually sin. No, no, no, no. We love everybody. We put flags out that tell you we want you to be you. Come. Welcome. No disaster will come. Jesus warned of the threat of false teachers. This is a problem. As Jeremiah proved, as Peter sang, and as what Jesus says here in a moment, this is a problem not for the world out there as much as it's a problem for us in here. Jesus said, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly, what are they? They're wolves. They want to devour you. I recently learned the story of a Mr. Gerald Barnes. who between 1976 and 2000 was caught, arrested, and sentenced and imprisoned, not once, not twice, not three times, four times, but five times for impersonating a medical doctor. He had this system that they couldn't seem to catch where he would steal the identity of somebody else who had his name who was a medical doctor. And so in the 70s and 80s, when he would apply, they'd type in that name in the system and it would show a real Gerald Barnes who really did have a medical degree. And so they took that to be true for this man and they'd hire him. And he served a number of clinics before getting caught and then arrested. And as I said, as soon as he gets out, he would do it again. It was this compulsion, this obsession that he had. It's as though he could not stop. He needed to pose as a medical doctor. Well, why are false teachers a perennial plague upon the church? I think for many of the same reasons as why Barnes kept returning to those same old tricks over and over again. People like power. They like to have power. They like to have authority. They're drawn to it. They like to feel important and be looked up to. Just like in the medical world, there's a real need to be met. People are vulnerable in hospitals and doctor's offices. They're vulnerable in the church as well. And so to be in a position where people are coming to you and they're looking for answers and they're listening to what you have to say, that's alluring to some. And for these reasons and under the influence of Satan's scheming, there will never be a day this side of the return of Christ where false teachers don't present a very real and present danger for the church In the words of John Calvin, the Spirit of God has declared once and for all that the church will never be free from this internal trouble. And so Peter says, this is nothing new. But there's a second thing he points out about this threat. And that is that it is extremely dangerous. Destructive is the word that is used a number of times. They will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. They will bring in destructive heresies. That word heresy, we shouldn't think of it the same way. As Peter uses it, we shouldn't be thinking of it the same way as we use it today, as kind of a well-articulated doctrinal diversion, something that councils long ago have stamped out and trustworthy theologians have said, this is wrong. This is not orthodox. The word really means opinion. or perhaps a school of thought. They'll bring in destructive variations of the truth, destructive schools of thought. They're destructive though. They're damnable. The problem with false teachers is that they can kill the soul. It's one of the ways that this Gerald Barnes was caught is that he's prescribing medication and giving advice for things he knows nothing about, and people died. People died under his care. Well, that happens if we're not careful about what we teach. And, you know, a common criticism of people in our circles is that the reformed care far too much about doctrine. I hear that personally a lot. Why do we think we're right? Why do we feel like everybody else is wrong? Why are we so strict? Why can't we just chill out and just be loving? Now, I do understand what I think many people are getting at when they say things like that. The reformed have been less than gracious at times. And I'm not saying, I am not saying that the reformed, if you're not reformed, you are belonging to destructive or damnable schools of thought. I'm not saying that either. But what I am saying is this, that I think the Reformed understand better than most what Peter is getting at here, and that's this simple truth. Doctrine matters. It does matter. You should care about it. Doctrine matters. We're not content to just let people believe whatever they want to believe, as long as it really doesn't affect me, or they don't get in the way of me believing what I want to believe, or as long as they're kind and nice people, they can just believe whatever we want. No, because why, friends? Why does it matter? Why does doctrine matter? Because you don't get to heaven based on your behavior. You get to heaven based on your belief, on what you believe. It's what we believe, not what we do, that makes us right with God. And so doctrine matters more than even we often acknowledge. And so Peter's telling the churches here they need to wake up and pay attention and be discerning of the lessons that are coming from these teachers. If they're not careful, they'll be swept up in them, they'll be caught up in them, because not only are these heresies destructive, they are attractive. That's the third thing Peter says about this threat. It's an age-old problem. It's a dangerous problem. It's an attractive problem. Verse 2, many, many will follow their sensuality. That is, there's something pleasing. There's something attractive about their message. And of course there is. Alexander Nesbitt wisely said that, quote, it is not strange to see that the most dangerous heretics have many followers because every error is a friend of some lust. Every error speaks to to a desire we have, a wrong desire that we have, that kind of scratches us where we itch, and we're drawn to it. A false message is one that tickles the ears, it delights the senses, it speaks to our wants, but it actually bypasses the truth. It says nothing about faith and repentance. It says nothing about sin. And so when Peter says that many people will be drawn to their sensuality, he's referring to a kind of teaching that just entirely bypasses the mind and goes straight to the senses. It feels good. That's what he's talking about here when he says many will be drawn to their sensuality. One commentator says, an approach more concerned with feeling good than finding truth. That's the problem. More concerned with feeling good than finding truth. But no matter how good it feels, ultimately it disappoints. and for the Christian community to actually buy into it damages our witness. Peter says, did you note that? The end of verse two, because of these false teachers and because we would follow them, the way of truth will be blasphemed. A mockery will be made of of God's Word because people claiming to be Christians twist God's Word. And that's why there's so much scrutiny from the outside as to why Kenneth Copeland has such a big jet and house. Or houses, I'm sure. Right? People on the outside see that and they say, look, I might not know a lot about Christianity, but this doesn't seem to be it. The way of truth is blasphemed. The whole Christian message in life is marred because of it. And so one commentator got it so spot on, I want you to hear what he says about why this is important. He says, early Christian writers were acutely conscious of the impression, favorable or otherwise, which the pagan world is bound to form from the conduct of its members, the church's members. Christian writers, the apostles, they cared about how the world thought about them based on how they behaved. He goes on to say, and it is certainly a consistent theme throughout the New Testament, that the Christians' lives, and especially the Christian leaders' lives, are a shop window for the gospel. This is one of the first opportunities people have to kind of peer and to look and to see what Jesus is all about. That window is you and me and the way we live. What a privilege! What a responsibility. And so that means, all this means that we must be discerning listeners and discerning learners. If that's a real threat that's out there, that infiltrates the church, then we need to be discerning every man, every minister, every ministry is fallible. And so take everything that you hear and take it to the scriptures. Compare it with the scriptures. Don't think that just because I have a seminary degree or just because you really appreciate and trust the elders of this church that you can just come and sit down and kind of passively receive the ministry here. We need to all be Bereans. Remember them in Acts chapter 17? This is the testimony of the Bereans. Acts 17 verse 10, the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. And when they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica. And here's why. They received the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so. So it's not that you come to church and you're suspicious, you're looking for error. They received the word eagerly, but then they also searched the scriptures to see if this message, which sounds too good to be true, is it really there? Because every man is fallible, every minister is fallible, every ministry is fallible, but the Word of God is infallible. The stakes are too high for us not to be discerning. I want you all to come to church every morning, every Sunday morning, every Sunday night, and I want you to come with your own Bibles. I want you to open up your Bibles. I want you to mark your Bibles. I don't want to embarrass anybody, but after church today I was speaking with a dear sister and she was just sitting in the pew there as I sat down next to her and she had her Bible open and there was just all kinds of highlighting and marginal notes and different color, ink, and it was even a pretty obscure book of the Bible, and yet it was filled with notes. It was evident she was a Berean. Peter's saying the stakes are too high for you not to come to church and bring your Bible and open up your Bible and to follow along and to be discerning. Because we could be swept away and destroyed by teaching that sounds good, feels good, but is false. And that can be a scary thing. But Peter calms our fears now in the remainder of our passage with two realities. First is the judgment that God will bring upon those enemies, those false teachers who would try to twist us and get us to lose the way. There's the judgment that he brings, but then also there's the rescue that God performs for us. So first, the judgment. We've seen the threat, now the judgment. And Peter cites three examples to underscore what God will ultimately do to those who distort his truth. And this is meant to both be an encouragement to us, but a wake-up call also, and a warning. And he argues kind of from the larger to the lesser, you'll note, starting first with an incident that is cosmic in scope. Verse four, God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but he cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment. There's a very clear overlap we'll learn in a few weeks from Jude, verse six. And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day. Now, everybody wants to know, what is this about? When did this happen? Details, details. I have no idea. I don't know exactly what this is about. Revelation 12, perhaps, gives us some insight. If you want to turn there, we can read verses 7 through 9. But we want to avoid speculation and speak only where Scripture speaks. Revelation 12 verse 7 now, war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon, stands in for the devil, and the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And that great dragon was thrown down, the ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him. That's about all the information we're given. And so, as I said, we want to avoid vain speculation, but the point is simply this. Even angelic beings come under God's ultimate judgment. Peter starts there. Even the angels who twisted the truth, God cast them out. Okay, so we start there with the cosmos. Next example moves from the cosmos to all life on earth in the days of Noah. God did not spare, verse 5, the ancient world. The whole world was deluged with floodwaters from heaven, and not a single individual survived, except, of course, Noah. and his family. Beyond that, the entire human race was extinguished. Peter's saying God's not beyond casting down angels. He's not beyond starting over with humanity. And the final example gets even more narrow, focusing on a particular community, Sodom and Gomorrah. In scripture, any reference really to Sodom and Gomorrah is simultaneously a reference to great sin and God's judgment. We're even told that in our text. When it says, speaking of Sodom and Gomorrah, it says, these were made an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly. This is an example of God's coming judgment And so do you understand what Peter's saying? Are you following him so far? He's saying if the angels can't escape God's wrath, and even the entirety of the ancient world can't escape God's wrath, or the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah can't escape God's wrath, then even any individual who threatens you will not be able to escape God's wrath and get away either. But just as God knows how to bring judgment upon the wicked, he also knows how to bring mercy on those who seek him in faith. And so we consider finally tonight, after the threat and the judgment, finally the rescue. With each of those examples, or with the example of Noah and the flood and the example of Sodom and Gomorrah, Peter also highlights a rescue. God did not spare the world, but he preserved Noah. He rescued Righteous Lot from the fire and the sulfur that rained down. God knows how to rescue. It might look bizarre. like a really big boat built in the middle of the desert. It might sound unbelievable, like a couple of strangers showing up and saying, you need to get out of here because this place is about to be destroyed. Fire is going to rain down from heaven. It looks like a nice day out there. What are you talking about? God knows how to rescue. And it might look like It might look like a common criminal hanging from a torture device. God knows how to rescue. He rescued Noah, a preacher of righteousness. That's what it says, a herald of righteousness. He rescued Righteous Lot. Again, emphasis on righteous. Now, if you know the story, that seems to be a stretch. Righteous seemed like Lot was kind of lingering. He didn't want to leave. How could we call him righteous? Well, I think a couple of things could be said for one. tells us just how wicked those cities really were and their citizens really were. Says that he was distressed by the conduct of the wicked. He was tormented by it. But I think beyond just maybe highlighting how wicked Sodom and Gomorrah was, we also need to remember what it means to be righteous. what it means for God to say that we're righteous. And it's not our behavior, and it's not our morals, and it's not always making the best decision at key and important moments, which Lot didn't quite do. And we know even after he escapes, he descends into awful, awful sin with his daughters. But it's not our behavior that makes us righteous, it's being in covenant with God that makes us righteous. You remember he had an advocate, he had a mediator, he had Abraham praying, Abraham praying that God would spare the city if there was 50, 40, 30, 20, 10 righteous people. God doesn't spare the city, but he spares the righteous one, the one who is righteous because he comes from the line of Abraham, because he belongs to that family that God had entered into a gracious covenant with. That's what makes him, in the eyes of God, righteous, because he's received God's favor, founded upon God's grace. And so here's the takeaway for us tonight. It's the message that Peter wants to drive home. If God knew how to save Noah from a flood and Lot from raining fire, then he knows how to save you. He knows how to save the godly from trials. The flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, and we could add other stories to that as well. The exodus, or we think of Rahab and her family as Israel comes in to ransack Jericho. All these scenes teach us that anytime God ushers in judgment with one hand, it's as though with the other hand He also is rescuing a remnant. The God of wrath is the God of mercy. The one and the same God. And if you are in Christ today, you are part of that rescued remnant. You're counted amongst the precious number by His grace. God knows how to judge. He knows how to keep the unrighteous, and it goes on in verse 9, He knows how to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passions and those who despise authority. That's the starting place. We start there. The sinner must first come to a recognition that God is a holy God. We need to come to an understanding of the seriousness of our sin that offends this holy God, and we need to come to an understanding of the severity of judgment that will come upon us because of our sin against a holy God. We start there, but isn't it wonderful that that's not where we end? We don't stop there. Yes, that's the starting place. God knows how to judge, but he knows how to save too. Amen? He knows how to rescue. For he is just as much savior as he is judge. Just as much filled with grace and compassion and mercy as he is the one who says, I will by no means clear the guilty. There is evil out in the world, brothers and sisters. You don't need me to tell you that. There is trouble. There are trials that will come out there in the world. And there are trials that will come even within the church. In Peter's message about these trials, if you look at verse 9, it isn't that if you're in Christ, everything's going to be smooth sailing. He doesn't say that if you're a Christian, you will avoid trials. Indeed, God doesn't spare us from trials. He rescues us through trials, through them, just as Noah was brought through the floodwaters, as Lot was brought through that horrific event in his town. He rescues us through trials, and as trials come, can you rest in that word tonight, that God knows what he's doing? Isn't that so interesting that Peter wants to underscore and to underline for us, yes, we know God knows everything. Peter says, you really need to know this. He knows what he's doing. You can trust him. You're in the car with somebody, and you're in the passenger seat. And they're making turns and taking directions that you're not really sure is accurate. And you start making comments. And I am mostly speaking to husbands and wives at this moment. And eventually, there will come a time where the driver will turn and say, hey, trust me. I know what I'm doing. I have said that many times and we have ended up lost. When God says he knows what he's doing, he means it. When he says, trust me, you have every reason to do so. No reason to doubt, to disbelieve, to think, maybe I would do it this way and maybe that would be better. Peter wants you to know tonight. that there's a rescue, there's a rescuer from your trial, that rescuer is God, and as it seems like the world is closing in, and whatever it is you're going through, everything's kind of closing in on you, and you're thinking, where's that rescue plan? Peter says, trust Him. He knows what He's doing. God says to you tonight, you will be okay, you will be safe, you will not be crushed by the weight of woe, you won't be lured away by the destructive lies of false teachers, because Jesus promised, all that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will never lose them. And anybody who comes to me, I'll never cast them out. I'll hold on to them, and the world and the flesh and the devil, they can do all they want, but I'm not going to let go, because you know why? I know what I'm doing. I know how to rescue. It's kind of my thing, Jesus says. It's what I do. But of course, the ultimate rescue that we need isn't from momentary affliction, but it's from eternal judgment. Remember, that's what the flood pointed to, that's what Sodom and Gomorrah is pointing to, they're harbingers of what will happen to the ungodly. And so these scenes are telling us, as I mentioned already, they're telling us two things simultaneously, that the wicked cannot escape the wrath of God, and that the godly in no way will ever endure it. We're learning both those things at the same time, that the wicked cannot escape the wrath of God and the godly will not be touched by it. And all of humanity is split into really just two categories, those who find shelter under the shadow of the cross and those who don't. And so the important thing for you tonight as you read this verse, as you reflect on this verse that the Lord knows how to rescue the godly, the important thing for you tonight is to be numbered amongst the godly. And what does that mean? Well, that means that you come to the one who redeems us from the eternal wrath, the eternal curse of God by being made a curse for us. God knows how to rescue. It might seem like a strange plan to us, like that boat in the desert or a cross outside of Jerusalem. Tonight, the question is, can you look to that man hanging from the tree, bleeding, sweating, crying, dying, and can you say, that's my escape? Let's pray. Our Father, we give you all thanks that you do not leave us, In our sin, and you don't leave us to fend against the sin of others that would affect us or even infiltrate the church through the destructive power of false teaching as we've learned tonight. But in every trial that we face, every foe that we come up against, you have provided a way of an escape as we would find shelter in the Lord Jesus Christ. Cause us not to fear, not to fret, not to worry, but to have that calm inner disposition that can trust you, since you know what you are doing. We pray it in Jesus' name, amen. We want to sing now of the God who would stoop so low to earth, but raise sinners up. That is the rescue that we've heard of. So number 324, thou who is rich beyond all splendor. Thou who was rich beyond all splendor, All for love's sake becameest poor. Thrones for a manger did surrender, Sapphire-made courts for stable floor. Thou who was richly mottled splendor, All for love's sake becameest poor. Thou who art God beyond all phrasing, all for love's sake becamest man. Stooping so low, but sinners raising, and word by Thy eternal plan. Thou who art God, beyond all praising, all for love's sake becamest man. Thou who art love beyond all telling, Savior and King, we worship Thee. Emmanuel within us dwelling, Make us what Thou wouldst have us be. Thou who art above beyond all telling, Savior and King, we worship Thee. Receive your Lord's promise of blessing to you. The Lord will keep you from all evil. He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. Amen. Oh, say does that star spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave so Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's it. Okay. And it takes a lot of patience, a lot of hard work, and a lot of inspiration to get to where you want to be. So I'm glad to be a part of this movement. And I'm so glad to be a part of this movement. And I'm so glad to be a part of this movement. And I'm so glad to be a part of this movement.