even denying the Lord that bought
them." Now look at this, "...and bring upon themselves swift destruction,
bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious
ways, many, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil
spoken of, And through covetousness shall they with feigned words
make merchandise of you. Now look at this. Whose judgment
now of a long time lingereth not. It may appear to them that
it does, but it's not lingering. And their damnation slumbers
not. It's not asleep. It's swift. It will come swiftly. Now here's
our text. 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." He carries on
the thought, but we're going to just look at this verse. But
this is the thought, if God spared not the angels that sin, He will
not spare any man who sins, though they appear as angels of light.
God will cast them down to hell. Now, what a solemn subject, brethren,
Every teacher in every capacity, husbands before our households,
parents before our children, believers before our neighbors,
and especially, especially teachers in the church. And we're talking
about teaching spiritual things. We're talking about teaching
that which is honoring to God. Brethren, the most important
thing above everything else, above all things, the preeminent
important thing is to abide, abide in the truth of God. I want to look first at these
angels that sinned and then look at God's judgment upon them and
then have, secondly, a few words of comfort and encouragement
for the believer. Now, here's the first thing we
see. Angels sinned. Now that ought
to stop us right there and just make us think about this. A host
of heavenly angels, even that chief one that we now know as
the devil, as Satan, these were spirits created by God. And they
were created good and holy. They were with God in heaven.
But these angels rebelled against God. What was the sin in heaven
that caused them to rebel? What was this sin that they rebelled,
this sin of their rebellion? Let's look at John chapter 8.
John chapter 8. Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us,
John 8.44. He's speaking to the Jews here
who were teachers and rulers and what have you. And He says
to them, John 8, verse 44, Ye are of your father the devil,
and the lusts of your father ye will do. Now here's the devil. This is what he is. He was a
murderer from the beginning. And here's this great sin, an
abode not in the truth. He did not abide in the truth
because there is no truth in Him. When He speaketh a lie,
He speaketh of His own, for He is a liar and the father of it.
And the Lord said to him, Because I tell you the truth, you believe
Me not. He abode not in the truth. Be
looking at Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1. And hold your
place in Hebrews. We'll come back here. God in
heaven made known the truth of the gospel to the angels. We don't know everything, but
we have some understanding of what He made known to them. I
think He made known to them the truth. I think He made known
to them what He was going to do. This is before man ever sinned.
This is before He ever made the heavens and the earth. But he
was taught Satan and this host of heavenly angels. It was declared
to them the truth of Christ Jesus, the Son of God Himself. It was
declared to them that God would save chosen sinners by the work
of Christ Jesus, the Son of God. That the truth that the Son of
God would take the nature of man who was beneath these angels,
He would take the nature of man and that He would glorify God,
declaring Him just and the justifier of all that believe in Jesus
and that He would redeem each one for whom He would lay down
His life. And that Christ was and He would
be exalted to be head, in that nature of a man, to be head over
all angels and men. And they heard that. He heard
that. Look at Hebrews 1. It's talking about Christ's coming
and it says in verse 3, He's the brightness of God's glory.
He's the express image of His person. He upholds all things
by the word of His power. When He had by Himself purged
our sins, He accomplished what He came to do. He put the sins
of His people away. He purged them by Himself. And
He sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Look
at this now. being made so much better than
the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name
than they, a more excellent name than angels. For unto which of
the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have
I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a
father and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he bringeth
in the first begotten into the world, when Christ came into
this world, God said, let all the angels of God worship him. Let them fall down and worship
him. This one who came as a babe that came with no form of comeliness
about him. And of the angels he saith, verse
7, who maketh his angel spirits and his ministers a flame of
fire. But, that's what he made, he
gave the angels honor. He made his angel spirits and
ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son he said, thy
throne, O God, is for ever and ever. A scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of thy kingdom. That's who Christ is. He's God.
He's over, He's righteous. The scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of His kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with oil of gladness, look at this word,
above thy fellows. Look down at verse 13. But to
which of the angels said he at any time, sit on my right hand
until I make thine enemies thy footstool? He never said that
to an angel. Are they not all ministering
spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of
salvation? He said they would be ministers,
they would be serving and be in subjection to this one. Look
at Hebrews 2 and verse 5. For unto the angels hath he not
put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak? But one
in a certain place testified saying, what is man that thou
art mindful of him? Or the son of man that thou visitest
him? These lowly creatures, lowly,
more lowly even than the angels. And look, thou madest him a little
lower than the angels. Christ came lower than the angels.
But thou crownest him with glory and honor, and didst set him
over the works of thy hands. Set him over the works of your
hands. Thou hast put all things in subjection
under his feet, under Christ's feet. For in that he put all
in subjection under him, he left nothing that's not put under
him. But Satan and these fallen angels, When they were in heaven's
glory, they heard this word of what Christ would accomplish. God the Son come in human nature
and do this for His people and they'd be exalted above them
and exalted and behead and they'd be ministers of His and be in
subjection to this One who was beneath them, who they thought
was beneath them. And pride wouldn't let them bow
to cry Jesus. He wouldn't let them bow down
knowing He'd be exalted above them in our human nature. And
Satan, probably just like he led Eve in the garden and beguiled
her, he led these angels in rebellion against God. And now we see the
judgment. Go back to 2 Peter 2 and verse
4. And God spared not the angels
that sinned. God did not spare these angels
that sinned. but cast them down to hell and
delivered them into chains of darkness. to be reserved unto
judgment. Now the Holy Spirit's drawing
a parallel here between false teachers and those who follow
those false teachers. He's drawing a parallel between
false teachers and those who follow false teachers with Satan
and these fallen angels who followed him. As the fallen angels sin,
so false teachers. The damnable heresies that men
bring in exalts man rather than God, exalts the creature over
the Creator. These angels were created beings
and they wanted to be as equal with God. They wanted to be as
the Most High God. That's why the doctrines of men
are called the doctrines of devils because they are the doctrines
of devils. The devil's doctrine is we will not have this man
reign over us. We will not. When he speaks a
lie, he speaks of himself, Christ said. That's his message. Self. Self. Self. I will. I will. I will. I will be as the Most
High. I will exalt my throne above the heavens. He's a liar,
God said, and the father of lies. Now, just as those fallen angels
were cast down to hell and delivered in the chains of darkness, false
teachers and those who follow them are cast down. Just as these
angels were reserved until the day of judgment, Those who false
teachers and fallen men follow them are reserved unto that great
day of judgment. Do you realize what a solemn
warning that is? What a sobering thought that
is? All men who've heard the truth
Now this is critical. All men that have heard the truth
and maybe even profess to believe on Christ, but afterwards denied
Christ, afterwards said they're going to bring Christ down a
little bit and bring man up a little bit and try to make this thing
not quite as offensive because man is so proud by nature. Anybody
who does that, the Scripture says, it's impossible if they
fall away to renew again until repentance, seeing they crucify
to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open
shame. This is Hebrews 10.26. You've
probably read this and you've probably thought, now what is
that sin if I sin willfully? Look at Hebrews 10.26. I don't
think I've ever sinned against God in anything I've ever done or
thought that wasn't willful, that I didn't do it knowing I
was doing it. Have you ever done anything that
you didn't know you were doing, being honest about it? You knew
it and you did it, went into it knowing it. But this willful
sin we're talking about, it's forsaking the assembling of the
saints, that church that God has assembled, that Christ has
assembled, and not abiding in the truth, just like these fallen
angels did. Verse 26, for if we sin willfully,
after that we have received the knowledge of the truth. That's
the key. If we go, if we say, well, I
must, I'm telling you, it's serious business, brethren, when we have,
when God has crossed our path with the gospel of free and sovereign
grace, and He's truly crossed, it is a serious thing for us
to hear the truth and say, eh, the waters of Damascus are just
as good. Why can't I be washed in those
waters? Look, if we sin willfully after that we receive the knowledge
of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. But
a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation
which shall devour the adversaries. In Moses' day, he that despised
Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses.
And I think the word Moses Law there is speaking about the word
Moses preached in his day. When he spoke the words of God,
if a man treated him lightly and didn't give honor to whom
honor was due and despised the God he represented in his heart,
that man died under two or three witnesses. And he said, how much
sore punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who
hath trodden underfoot the Son of God? He's come now. There was time past when God
winked at this ignorance, but He don't anymore. His Son has
come in these last days, and He's spoken, and He's sent forth
His apostles and His prophets and His teachers into this world,
and there's no man that's perfect. I understand that, and we all
make errors and say things that are wrong, but God has sent forth
the truth, brethren. And it's trodden underfoot the
Son of God and counted the blood of the covenant wherewith He
was sanctified. And I believe He refers to Moses,
that blood of covenant wherewith Moses was sanctified. It counted
the unholy thing, and that's what it's doing, counting the
blood of Christ, an unholy thing. The blood of the everlasting
covenant of grace, an unholy thing. And due to spite unto
the Spirit of grace, how much sore punishment. And that's sobering,
that is, oh, it makes you, when you get up to teach somebody,
and even in our home, it makes you think about that and think,
I want to be careful what I say. I want to speak that which is
true. I want to say that which is so. Some have said that the deepest,
deepest parts of hell will be reserved for those who taught
people lies and led them in the false way. against God. That's
serious. That is a serious thought. Here's
some comfort, brethren, for you who believe on Christ. This is
opposite to what these false teachers taught and opposite
to what their followers do and opposite to those fallen angels. He that glories. You want a glory. You want to make a boast about
something. Glory in God. Glory in the Lord
Jesus Christ. We owe everything to God's grace,
everything to His grace. God chose us in Christ before
He made the world for no reason in His elect whatsoever, simply
because He would. And if He had not have chosen
us, us who were conceived in sin in our mother's womb and
come forth speaking lies, if He would not have chosen us,
we would not have chosen Him. And brethren, if God We owe it
all to His grace. We owe everything to His grace.
And that very word of truth, look over at Hebrews 2.6. That
very word of truth that those angels despised in glory, the
very truth that men despise in our day. We've got something
that fallen angels despise, but we've got something that they
never had. We've got something that the
angels never had. Look at Hebrews 2.16. For verily,
He took not on Him the nature of angels." He didn't take the
nature of angels. Christ took on Him the seed of
Abraham. He came in the likeness of His
sinful flesh. Here is one completely opposite
to Satan and his angels. Here is one who thought it not
robbery to be equal with God, because He is God, and yet He
made Himself of no reputation. and He took upon Him the form
of a servant, and He came down. Christ came down to where we
are, was made in flesh and blood like His people, because as God,
He can make eternal satisfaction, but He's got to be a man that
He can die for His brethren and be made under the law and fulfill
that law. And He did that, and He justified
all for whom He died and made atonement for us with God. That
never would have happened to the angels. That never had happened. God's done something for sinners
that He's never done to angels who are above us and created
and made greater than we are. And this is something else. We
don't want our will to be free. I've said this to you before.
What is our will going to be free from? Free from God? Is
that what men want to be? That's what Satan and his angels
wanted, to be freed from God. We don't want our will to be
free from God's hand. We want Him to keep us. These angels were holy, they
were pure, and God left them to their will. He left them to
do what they would. We've seen it in Adam. He put
him in the garden, holy, pure, and left him to do what he would.
And they're both in a perfect state and a perfect environment.
Do you think we who are sinners would do anything less than what
Satan and his angels did and what Adam and Eve did in the
garden? Do you think we'd do anything
less after we are sinners that we are? We saw that the carnal
man is not subject to the law of God. He can't be. The natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. He just
won't. He can't. They're foolishness to him. But
brethren, by the grace of God, we want to be. And we are, we
want to be, we are and we want to be continually and separably
united with Christ by His blessed Spirit. We want to be, we want
our will to be inseparably united in subjection to God's will and
kept in subjection to Him by the Spirit of God. And God does
so by His power. He said, He said, thy people
That's His chosen elect people whom He gave to Christ. Thy people
shall be made, made the righteousness of God by the blood of Christ
Jesus. Made new creatures, being born
again of the Spirit of God. Thy people shall be made willing. Willing to do what? Willing for
Christ to have the preeminence. Willing for God, all the glory
in our salvation, all the glory in heaven and earth to be God's.
Willing to be in subjection to Him. Willing to be willing bond
servants of Him. Willing for Him to keep us. Willing
for Him to be our husband who provides for His house and takes
care of us and so that we are provided for in all things by
Him. Willing. Willing. When did we experience
that? Thy people shall be made willing in the day of thy power. Of thy power. Our gracious Father
has made a covenant with us. He says to us, I didn't leave
anything in your hands. I ordered this thing and all
things and I made it sure Because I put my son over the work of
my hands, and I gave it all into his hands. And by his blood,
he has done everything required of his children. as a man. He's done everything required
of them. And as God, He's done everything required of them,
of God. So that here you've got from
God and from man, you've got in Christ Jesus, God fulfilling
His aspect of the covenant and man fulfilling His in Christ,
by Christ, who is the God-man, so that now God and His elect
can come together in perfect harmony. And we're kept by that
Word of Truth. That's the Word of Truth. And
we're kept by that Word of Truth. The Scripture says, Whosoever
is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed, that incorruptible
seed, that incorruptible Word whereby we're born, his seed
remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he's born of God.
We're made members of His bones, of His body, of His flesh and
of His bones. But do we boast any confidence
in ourselves? Do we look to ourselves and think
for a minute, well, I can go over here and I can dilly-dally
in this sin a little bit over here because I'm kept. turn out
of the way and not have to hear the gospel. And I can walk a
while on my own. I don't have to have God every
day, every hour. I don't have to be reading His
Word. I don't have to be seeking His face in prayer. Is that what
we think? Oh no, brethren, that's not what
we think. We're kept and we shall never fall, but we're kept by,
not ourselves, but by God's grace, by His grace. And it's only by
His unchanging grace and power that we're kept in the day of
temptation. When Satan comes around speaking lies, when he
sends one of his ministers of light, one of his angels of light
that transforms himself into an apostle of Christ, and he
comes around and he whispers in our ear and he says, has God
said That's not what God meant. Here's what God meant. Has God
said you'll die? You won't die if you eat that
which God said not to eat. That's a lie. He's a liar and
the father of it. The Lord knows how to deliver
the godly out of temptation. That's what verse 9 says. The
Lord knows how to reserve the unjust until the day of judgment
to be punished, but He knows how to deliver the godly out
of temptation. My brethren, ever depend upon
God's grace, the God of all grace, ever depend on a sinner saved
by grace, we never arrive at any lofty place. Look at the
angels in heaven. Here they are as high as you
could get, as near to God as you could get. Here they are
in the presence of God. We never arrive at any lofty
place to where we can do without God's keeping hand of grace.
And anybody who says otherwise is just lying. The truth's not
in them. Put no confidence in the flesh,
in ability, or in office, or learning, or service, or experience,
or gifts. Don't put any confidence in any
of those things. Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth
take heed, lest he fall. That's what God said. We see
the example here. This is the example in these
angels. He is so wise of God not to begin with men to give
us this example, but to go to angels who are so far above us
that we can't even enter into what they are or who they are.
Let men cry out free will all they want to. Let men say that
liberty, speak of liberty, which is nothing more but the bondage
of Satan, called those chains of darkness. Let men talk about
that all they want to. Here's what God's child says,
hide not thy face from me. Put not thy servant away in anger.
Thou hast been my help. Leave me not. Neither forsake
me, O God, of my salvation. That's what we're praying. Lord,
don't leave me to myself. You've shown me just enough of
what I am that I know. Lord, don't leave me to myself.
Please don't leave me to my will. The God of all grace promises
us, brethren, for the sake of Christ Jesus, our righteousness,
that he won't. He won't. Aren't you thankful?
Aren't you thankful? Here's what we'll end with. Christ
and Christ alone must and shall have the preeminence. He's got
to have the preeminence in every aspect of our lives, brethren.
whether it's husbands as a head of the house, whether it's parents
feeding the children, whether it's me, your pastor, whoever,
brother. Christ has got to have preeminence
in everything. Even if we start thinking that
we can stand, we're already entangled, already. Let's follow Christ. Here's what the You be looking
over to Jude, and I'm going to read this passage to you while
you turn over there. This is from Hebrews 12. He says,
Lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees, and make
straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned
out of the way, but let it rather be healed. In other words, come
straight to Christ. Come to Him. Follow peace with
all and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord, looking
Diligently, looking diligently to Christ Jesus, lest any man
fail at the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing
up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled. Just like Esau, who
for one morsel of meat, that's all it took, just one bowl of
beans is all it took for him to say, I'll sell everything
for that. That's what we'll do if we're
not kept by God. And we run this race looking
diligently to Him. Here's what we'll end with, Jude
24. Now unto Him that is able to
keep you from falling and to present you faultless before
the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise
God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion, power, both
now and ever. Amen.