Home     2 Peter               
WHAT, ME WORRY?
2 PETER 2:4-10a

Pastor Stephen Muncherian
August 30, 1998

This morning we are focusing on God’s preservation in all of the circumstances of our lives and I’d to begin by sharing an incident from the life of Ira Sankey.

Ira Sankey was one of the most prolific hymn writers of the 19th century - our AEUNA hymnal has three of his hymns - “Under His Wings” - “Hiding In Thee” - and “Faith Is The Victory.” Back in the 1800’s Ira Sankey was famous. In addition to writing hymns he was also the song leader for the famous evangelist Dwight L. Moody - they were like the Billy Graham and Cliff Barrows of their day.

On Christmas Eve, 1875, Ira Sankey was traveling on a Delaware River Steamboat and was recognized by some of the passengers - and they asked him to sing one of his own hymns. Sankey declined - but sang a hymn by William Bradbury - “Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us. We are Thine; do Thou befriend us. Be the Guardian of our way.” (AEUNA Hymnal #52) - When he finished, a man stepped out of the shadows and asked, “Did you ever serve in the Union Army?”

“Yes,” Ira Sankey answered, “in the spring of 1860.”

“Can you remember if you were doing picket duty on a bright, moonlight night in 1862?”

“Yes,” Sankey answered - very much surprised.

“So did I,” the man said. “But I was serving in the Confederate army. When I saw you standing at your post, I thought to myself, ‘That fellow will never get away alive.’ I raised my gun and took aim. I was standing in the shadow, completely concealed, while the full light of the moon was falling on you. At that instant, just as a moment ago, you raised your eyes to heaven and began to sing. And you sang the same words you just sang, ‘Be the Guardian of our way.’

Those words stirred up many memories - of my childhood and my God-fearing mother. She had many times sung that song to me. When you finished your song, it was impossible for me to take aim again. I thought, ‘The Lord who is able to save that man from certain death must surely be great and mighty.’”

This morning we are focused on God’s preservation in all the circumstances of our lives. I invite you to turn with me to 2 Peter 2:4-10a. Its our desire this morning - as we look at these verses - to be renewed - refreshed - by seeing that no matter where we may be living our lives - no matter what the circumstances - as long as we are willing to trust God - we are never beyond His preservation.

2 Peter 2:4-10a:  For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of nether gloom to be kept until the judgment; if He did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven other persons, 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 and made them an example to those who were to be ungodly; and if He rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the wicked (for by what that righteous man saw and heard as he lived among them, he was vexed in his righteous soul day after day with their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, 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.

Read verse 9 with me one more time:  the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,

Peter gives two examples of God’s preservation - God’s desire and ability to rescue us. First Peter writes about:

1. THE PRESERVATION OF GOD IN THE MIDST OF SPIRITUAL DARKNESS (verses 4,5)

Even if the whole world is against God and His people - God will preserve us.

Peter’s first example comes from Genesis 6. Some angels who had been cast out of heaven at the time of Lucifer's rebellion left their spiritual domain and by incarnation or demonic possession came to earth as men. Then they had sexual relations with the daughters of men and the offspring of these unions were born as giants - as distorted humanity. As a result of these acts of rebellion against God, God banished these angels to pits of gloom and darkness - hell.

One result of this cohabiting by the angels and mankind is a tremendously wicked society - a world which had completely rebelled against God - a corrupt - distorted - ungodly society - spiritually in darkness. Genesis 6:5 says, “....every intent of the thoughts of man’s heart was continually only evil.”

And Noah lived in this society. But, the Bible says that Noah “walked with God" - that he was a righteous man - blameless in his time. We’re told that, “Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” (Genesis 6:8,9) For 120 years - God waited patiently while Noah preached righteousness and set about building the ark. (I Peter 3) And when God judged mankind with the Flood - God preserved Noah.

We live in a society which chooses to ignore God - a society which lives in increasing spiritual darkness.

In 1947, the United States Supreme Court - in a watershed decision - said: “The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach.”

As a result of this decision other decisions have been made by the courts:

In 1963 the courts said, “A verbal prayer offered in a school is unconstitutional, even if its both voluntary and denominationally neutral.”

1965: “Freedom of speech and press is guaranteed to students unless the topic is religious, at which time speech becomes unconstitutional.”

1969: “It is unconstitutional for a war memorial to be erected in the shape of a cross.” - which shows were we’ve come to - in 1934 - 35 years earlier - President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Mount Davidson Cross - on city land - as a war memorial for World War One sailors.

1976: “It is unconstitutional for a Board of Education to use or refer to the word ‘God’ in any of its official writings.”

1980: “It it unconstitutional for the Ten Commandments to hang on the walls of a classroom since the students might be lead to read them, meditate upon them, respect them, or obey them.”

In one of the more interesting studies that I’ve seen - comparing the court decisions since 1963 which move us away from God - each time our society takes a step away from God - there is a very noticeable increase in cases of sexually transmitted diseases, unwed pregnancies, divorce rates, and a decrease in SAT scores.

According to George Gallup (1980) most people in America today feel trapped. They know they’re losing their children to an educational system that turns out functional illiterates and fosters peer groups that destroy the character of their youth and the family structure. We sense the growing hand of the state closing in on our political, economic, and religious liberty.

Today’s society has been compared to the Titanic - the ship is going down - and most people are aware that something is wrong - but they refuse to acknowledge the true seriousness of the situation - there is an end to all of this and very few are prepared.

Just as in the days of Noah - our society refuses to acknowledge that the problem is spiritual - to recognize our spiritual darkness. That we are without God. We need God. We need to turn back to Him.

According to Pollster George Barna - approximately 3,000 to 4,000 churches are closing their doors every year. Attendance at weekly religious activities in the United States has slipped from 49% in 1991 to 37% today. 80% of church growth is by transfer of membership - in other words church growth is not by conversion - by new people coming to trust Jesus as their Savior.

Peter says - verse 5 - in the midst of the spiritual darkness of his day, “God preserved Noah.” - and we can trust God for His preservation today.

Second Peter writes about:

2. THE PRESERVATION OF GOD IN THE MIDST OF MORAL DEPRAVITY (verses 6-8)

Even if the society in which we live is morally evil - God will preserve us.

When President Clinton named Kristine Gebbie - a lesbian - as the new AIDS czar - four months later she spelled out her perceptions on traditional morality. She said, "The United States needs to view human sexuality as an essentially important and pleasurable thing. Until it does so, we will continue to be a repressed, Victorian society that misrepresents information, denies homosexual sexuality particularly in teens, and leaves people abandoned with no place to go. I can help just a little bit in my job, standing on the White House lawn talking about sex with no lightning bolts falling on my head."

Today - witnessing what is going on in Washington, D.C. with the President and main stream America’s reaction to his actions - it seems that to American society what is legal and moral is not as important as what is economically beneficial. Today’s society has only a feigned moral restraint. Today sexual immorality is described as “a loving, caring relationship,” pornography is “adult entertainment,” homosexuality is an “alternative lifestyle.”

What Peter has written concerns the immoral lifestyle of the society in which we live and the judgment of God which is coming.

Peter illustrates his point by reaching into the Genesis account once again - this time picking up the story of Lot's rescue when God judged the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their sin.

In Genesis 19, we read that two angels went to Sodom to perform the judgment which God had commanded. When they entered the city - the angels stayed in Lot’s home. Later that evening the men of Sodom - young and old alike - surrounded the house and demanded that Lot produce his visitors so that they might have sexual relations with them. Lot pleaded with the men to go away - even offering his two daughters to them to gratify them - but to no avail.

Peter describes Lot as having seen it all - prostitution, homosexuality, child sacrifice, Baal worship - every form of perversion. Peter writes (2:8), that "righteous Lot was oppressed - literally, beaten down to his knees - by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men - by everything that he saw and heard - his righteous soul was tormented day after day with their lawless deeds." And sometimes we feel this way - living in the society around us.

In the midst of the judgment - the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the moral depravity of their society - Peter writes that God “rescued righteous Lot” - and we can trust God for His preservation today.

This is the promise of 1 Corinthians 10:13. The Apostle Paul writes:

“No temptation - or testing circumstance - has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation - in the midst of the trial - will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.”

Paul writes that God is faithful in the midst of trials - "that you may be able to endure it." Noah spent 120 years building an ark in a godless society. Lot lived for years in a morally depraved society. In the midst of our circumstances God is providing a way for us to endure - He is preserving us.

And when Jesus - in glory and power - returns at his second coming - He will rescue us for eternity. But we need to be willing to trust Him for His preservation in all the circumstances of our lives.

There’s a story told about a group of pioneers who were making their way across one of the central states to a distant place that had been opened up for homesteading. They traveled in covered wagons drawn by oxen, and progress was necessarily slow.

One day they were horrified to see a long line of smoke in the west, stretching for miles across the prairie, and it was soon evident that the dried grass was burning fiercely and the fire was coming toward them very rapidly. They had crossed a river the day before but it would be impossible to go back to that before the flames reached them.

One man alone seemed to have understanding as to what could be done. He gave the command to set fire to the grass behind them. Then when a space was burned over, the whole company moved back upon it.

As the flames roared on towards them from the west, a little girl cried out in terror, "Are you sure we shall not all be burned up?" The leader replied, "My child, the flames cannot reach us here, for we are standing where the fire has been!"

The fires of this world have already touched Jesus Christ on the cross. On the cross Jesus endured all of the sin and depravity of this world - even death - for us. And He is victorious over them. If we stand - trusting in Jesus - the fires of this world - the society in which we live - cannot destroy us.