Temple Baptist Church - 3-28-2018
2 Peter 2:4
Introduction:
A. Last week, we looked at the “many” who choose to follow these false teachers. The god of this world, Satan, has been deceiving from the very beginning. He led a rebellion against God in heaven before he beguiled Eve in the Garden of Eden. He has blinded the minds of angels and men over the millenniums and continues to do so in our day.
B. Our text gives three specific examples of deception in those who follow error: the angels, those in Noah’s day, and those in Lot’s day. When prophesying about the end-time and its conditions, our Lord also spoke of these three examples.
C. These lead us to 3 reasons that people reject the God, the Bible, and sound doctrine.
1. Because people do not like Authority. If He is God, and He is, then He is to be loved and followed. Thus, the mention of Angels. People do not like a Final Authority found in the Bible.
2. Because people do not like Godliness that genders Loneliness. If they follow God, they may have to follow God alone. Thus, Noah’s Day.
3. Because people do not like Distinction. If it is God’s Word, it is to be believed—not debated. True Christianity demands Separation and Distinction. Thus, Lot’s Day. Lot called the Sodomites brethren.
D. Speaking in context of a judgment that lingered not, the Holy Ghost takes us back now to the beginning and shows God’s dealings with sin.
1. This is an interesting verse of Scripture. Speaking of the judgment of false teachers, the Holy Ghost gave reference to the fall of angels in the dateless past. When Satan sinned in his rebellion against God, he influenced a vast number of angels to go with him in his rebellion.
2. These fallen angels or devils are found throughout the Bible and are found to cause the people of earth great grief. Many in the days of Christ were filled with devils that afflicted the people that they inhabited. One had such a multitude of devils that they went into 2000 swine. The Apostle Paul was buffeted with a messenger of Satan in 2 Corinthians 12:7.
3. The angels found in 2 Peter 2:4 are again mentioned in Jude 6. These angels “kept not their first estate but left their own habitation.” The words first estate refers to their origin and purpose. The angels are beings created for the worship of God in heaven and for the ice of doing His will. The words their habitation refers to the place of their dwelling, which was heaven.
E. Our text ties angels with false teachers. The first false teacher was a serpent in the Garden of Eden. “Thou shalt not surely die!”
F. There are several things that I want to look at:
1. There Is A Warning Involved
a. The Warning Of The Destructiveness Of Sin
1) There Is The Warning Of Wickedness – angels that sin? Whereas man is born into the world with a sin nature (they come forth out of the womb telling lies while still in a state of innocence), angels were created in perfection in a perfectly holy environment.
2) There Is The Warning Of Justice – God spared them not. To whom much is given, much is required! Their perfection and environment along with beholding the face of almighty God brought about much accountability.
3) There Is The Warning Of Containment – God still controls! Though angels are free-moral agents, they can neither be forgiven nor redeemed. What they have written, they have written. Angels have a will to be exercised.
Isaiah 14:13-14 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I willsit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: (14) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I willbe like the most High.
4) There Is The Warning Of Judgment – they are reserved. They cannot escape the damnation of hell because hell was created specifically for them.
Ezekiel 28:18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. (An interesting statement concerning the first sin and mention of its impending judgment. Was the flame of hell a result of Satan’s sin?)
Matthew 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
b. The Warning Of The Deceivableness Of Sin
1) They Sinned In Spite Of Their Position - Psalms 8:5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
Psalms 68:17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand, eventhousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.
2) They Sinned In Spite Of Their Possessions - Psalms 68:17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. (You would think that they were satisfied living in heaven with God. Never having a need that was not fully met.)
3) They Sinned In Spite Of Their Power - Psalms 103:20 Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.
4) They Sinned In Spite Of Their Purpose - Psalms 148:2 Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.
5) They Sinned In Spite Of Their Place - Ezekiel 28:13-14 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
a) They Were Around The Right Crowd – (A perfect peer pressure)
b) They Were Around The Right Circumstances – (A perfect place)
c) They Purposefully Chose To Sin
c. The Warning Of The Destruction Of Sin
1) Lucifer (Light Bearer or Shining One) became Satan(Adversary or one who withstands)
2) The Son of the Morning (Son Of The Early Light) became Apollyon (Destroyer)
3) Their Blessing became Mischief.
4) Their Wisdom became Cunning.
5) Their Strength became Viciousness.
2. There Is A Wrath Incurred
a. The Judgment Of God Is Without Respect – “spared not the angels that sinned”
Romans 2:1-11 Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God.
b. The Judgment Of God Is Without Relief - “cast them down to hell”
Luke 16:24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
Mark 9:43-48 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
c. The Judgment Of God Is Without Reprieve – “reserved unto judgment”
Revelation 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Revelation 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet [are], and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
