2 Peter chapter 2 and verse 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. But chiefly them that walk after
the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government, presumptuous
are they, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak
evil of dignities. Whereas angels, which are greater
in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them
before the Lord. But these, as natural brute beasts,
made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that
they understand not, and shall utterly perish in their own corruption. and shall receive the reward
of unrighteousness as they that count it pleasure to riot in
the daytime. Spots they are, and blemishes,
sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast
with you. Having eyes full of adultery
and that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls, and
heart they have exercised with covetous practices, cursed children,
which have forsaken the right way and have gone astray following
the way of Balaam, the son of Bosar, who loved the wages of
unrighteousness, but was rebuked for his iniquity. The dumb ass
speaking with man's voice forbade the madness of the prophet. These are wells without water,
clouds that are carried with a tempest, to whom the mist of
darkness is reserved forever. For when they speak great swelling
words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh,
through much wantonness, those that were clean escape from them,
who live in error. While they promise them liberty,
they themselves are the servants of corruption. For of whom a
man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. For
if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world, through
the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are
again entangled therein and overcome, the latter end is worse with
them than the beginning. For it had been better for them
not to have known the way of righteousness than after they
have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto
them. But it has happened unto them
according to the true proverb. The dog is turned to his own
vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in
the mire. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. In some respects, I may not have
got past the first few words of our reading this morning,
because I want to dwell upon the little phrase that we find
at the beginning of verse nine, at least in the beginning part
by way of introduction. The Lord knoweth. The Lord knoweth. is a beautiful little phrase
full of meaning and full of comfort and consolation to the people
of God. And I want you to remember these
three words this morning as we have our service and part and
separate and remind yourself as the week unfolds that the
Lord knoweth, the Lord knoweth. How many times have we struggled
in a situation and then found peace in realising that the Lord
knoweth? How often we feel helpless or
misunderstood stripped of all remedy or recourse, left without
an answer or an option, but to be able to utter this
one vague, ill-defined, and yet wonderfully comforting
phrase. The Lord knows. The Lord knows. You lose a loved one and your
heart is breaking. The Lord knows. The doctor says, I've got some
bad news for you. The Lord knows. You miss a job. You fail a test. You hurt a friend. You fear an
outcome. You worry about what's going
to happen. The Lord knows. The Lord knows. The world is an enigma to us. It's a puzzle. We spend our whole day shaking
our head and thinking, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what to think of
that. I don't know what to do about that. I don't know what
to say about that. And it doesn't matter whether
you're looking at the small, personal, intimate things that
happen in our lives or the grand scheme of things at a national
or even an international level. We just don't have an answer. It's such a puzzle to us. The refugees whose bodies get
washed up on the shore, trying to get to freedom. The children
whose faces are stained by their tears because they're going to
sleep hungry. as they have done every night
for the last month. The hardship that is felt by
people throughout the world, which seems to be so callous
and so unnecessary. And we think how feeble we are,
how unable and incapable to do anything about these things.
And we find ourselves simply having to fall back upon those
three little words. The Lord knows. The Lord knows. That phrase is used multiple
times in scripture. David uses it. Paul uses it. And here, Peter is reminding
us that the Lord is always in our trouble before us. He is
always in our trouble with us, and He will dispose of that trouble
behind us. The believers' tribulations are
trials to us, but they have to be endured. They are troubles and trials.
which we will nevertheless emerge from. And we will have benefited
from them because the Lord knows. Of course, there is nothing that
the Lord doesn't know. We have a big word for that.
We call it omniscience. and it is an attribute of God. There is nothing that God doesn't
know. And so when we feel our own weakness
and limitations and frailty and inability, incapacity to deal
with the challenges that are around about us, and we fall
back upon those three little words, there is a propriety about
that. It's right that we do because
we are able by faith, through the revelation that God has given
us of himself and his attributes to know that he is in control
and he does know what it is that's happening. But this little passage is telling
us two things that the Lord knows. Specifically, as I say, it's
used many times and we can go to other parts of scripture and
find out other things that the Lord knows in the context of
his omniscience. But here the reference is to
two distinct and particular things that the Lord knows. The first
one is that he knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations. And the second thing is that
he knows how to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be
punished. Now the first of these we've
already touched upon. We've touched upon it last week
or previous week when we thought about Noah and we thought about
Lot. And these are examples that Peter
is giving us. They are in the earlier part
of chapter 2, 2 Peter chapter 2. It speaks there of Noah and
Lot. And we see that these are examples
of how the Lord knew how to deliver his people out of their temptations. These temptations are really
troubles. That's what the word here means. It's really speaking about troubles. That is not to say that the Lord
doesn't save us out of our temptations. He does indeed do so. He is able
and He does deliver us out of the temptations that we have
to sin or the failure that we have to trust. or the doubts
and the fears that come upon us, whether they have any legitimacy
or not. The Lord is able to save us from
our temptations in that sense, and he does. And it is good to
pray to him that he will. But this particular reference
here has to trouble, trouble, danger, if you like. And the
danger that these two men, Noah and Lot, were in in the examples
that Peter quotes. It shows that they were expressly
in danger for the places that they were and the circumstances
that they were in. And Peter is pursuing an argument
here in the context of false teachers, and false teachers
coming into the church with a false gospel. You would say, you know,
there's going to be a cataclysmic flood. There's going to be a
worldwide flood. It's going to rain for 40 days
and 40 nights. The heavens are going to be opened. The fountains of the deep are
going to be burst apart, and this world is going to be flooded
with water. What could be worse than that?
It's going to be a mass extinction of people. Peter is saying false
teachers have to be recognised in the same breath. Lot, lots
in the city of Sodom and Gomorrah, there is going to be judgment,
there is going to be fire falling from heaven upon them. Peter
says, you worry about your false teachers. That's the trouble
that believers are in, in the presence of false teaching. and in the presence of false
teachers. So it's speaking about trouble, trouble that there has
to be judgment for. Just as much as there was a watery
judgment or a fiery judgment in times past, so there will
be judgment upon these false teachers. And that's the point
that Peter is here making. Now, we're going to come back
to that in a moment or two. But I want to notice the contrast
that Peter is making here between the two distinct groups of people
that is in his view as he makes this argument. He speaks about
a great distinction, a great difference between these two
groups of people. He says, Verse nine again, the
Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, so we've
already established that that's troubles, danger, judgment, and
to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. So he's made this distinction,
he's making this difference between these two groups. God delivers
the godly and God reserves the unjust to be punished. The godly and the unjust. And in Peter's mind and in the
biblical revelation, these two distinct groups speak of the
settled state of all men and women in the world, in the sight
of God. Now, you don't know what the
settled state of a particular man or a woman is in the sight
of God, and I don't know what the settled state of a particular
man and woman is in the sight of God, but God knows the settled
state. He knows the difference between
the just and the unjust, the godly and the ungodly, the elect
and the reprobate, the chosen and the passed over. those who
believe or will believe, and those who will not. God knows
the difference, and that's what Peter is speaking about here. The former are godly because
they have an acceptable righteousness before God. The latter are unjust
because they have no justifying righteousness before God. They are unjust and culpable
in God's sight, while the godly will be preserved. The godly
shall be delivered, and the unjust or the ungodly, they are reserved
for judgment. And the difference between the
two is God's grace. The difference between the two
is God's mercy. The difference between the two,
those who are justified and those who are not, those who are godly
and those who are ungodly, those who will be delivered out of
judgment and those that are reserved to judgment, is the imputed righteousness
of God. It's the imputed righteousness
of God. So 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 1
tells us about that and shows us the way in which Peter has
set up this contrast, this distinction. Peter says in the very opening
verse of this little book, Simon Peter, a servant and apostle
of Jesus Christ, to them, see this is that one particular group,
to them that have obtained like precious faith with us, how? Through the righteousness of
God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. It is the possession of that
righteousness, it is the obtaining of that righteousness, it is
the understanding of the possession of that righteousness by faith
that distinguishes between these two groups. And the settled state of men and women before the Holy
God. And that settled state is the
purpose of God according to election. 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 19
says, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are
his. Now here's another one of these
little occasions when that phrase, the Lord knoweth, comes to the
fore. But that's the whole point. The
Lord knows them that are his. He knows those to whom he has
imputed righteousness. He knows those that he has dealt
with their sin in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
knows those who are justified before him because the Lord Jesus
Christ has taken away their iniquities. And of course, this speaks also
of The foreknowledge of God. The knowledge of God is the foreknowledge
of God. It is a knowledge which doesn't
ebb and flow, increase or decrease, or get overtaken or surprised.
God's knowledge is His knowledge. The Lord knoweth. And the way
in which scripture speaks about that is to tell us about His
foreknowledge and how that His foreknowledge has established
all of the graces which God is pleased to bring to his people. We're thinking about that in
Romans and in the eighth chapter, how that foreknowledge leads
to predestination, leads to justification, leads to our calling and justification
and glorification. This is the great chain, the
great purpose of God's saving covenant, the covenant of peace. And Peter again, okay, we have
to go back to his first epistle for this verse, but in his earlier
letter he said that he was He was writing to the elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. So here we can see the triune
God engaged in this great covenant purpose of salvation of sinners. And it is based upon the knowledge
of God. The knowledge of God. And notice this about God's deliverance
here. Notice the deliverance that God
knows how to do for his people. It is a deliverance out of temptation. Again, we're back to this trouble
or danger. It's a deliverance out of that.
You see, that tells us that the Lord's people will not be preserved
from danger. but they will be delivered out
of danger. You see the distinction? You
see the difference? There must be heresies. We read
this previously. There must be heresies. There
must be these false teachers. There must be this danger all
around about us. There must be these rioters all
around about us. overthrowing the gospel to the
best of their ability, denying the efficacy of the way of truth,
denying the Lord Jesus Christ and treading underfoot the blood
of Christ. There must be these dangers all
around about us. There must be heresies that they
which are approved may be made manifest among you. Paul exhorted
the believers to continue in the faith. and that we must through
much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. Trials, tribulation,
difficulties in our Christian experience are as sure as heaven
itself. You want to go to heaven? You
believe in heaven? Then you will have tribulation
and you will have to pass through these things. It's interesting when you look
about the judgment of God that is spoken about here upon this
other group of people, these ungodly, these unjust, unjustified,
irreligious, unrighteous. The judgment of God is a punishment
reserved. A punishment reserved. That little
phrase there means deferred. It's deferred, it's a punishment
deferred. People go around this world thinking
that, well, where is God? Where is God? Where's justice? He's a good
man and look what happened to him. He's a bad man and nothing's
happened to him. And men rationalize these things
and they say, well, where is God? We're going to speak about
that in the coming week, about how they go around saying, well,
nothing's changed. Nothing's changed from the foundation
of the world. Everything's just the same. And the word of God says, be not
deceived. God is not mocked. You might deny God. You might
say, well, where's justice? Where's truth? Where's fairness
in this world? But God's not mocked. You won't
be mocking God. You'll just be exposing your
own ignorance. You'll just be showing how little
you understand about the ways and the works and the purposes
of God. The judgment of God is a punishment reserved. Reserved. The word soweth is a powerful
word. It speaks about them sowing unto judgment. Not that they
are committing sins, but that they are sowing. Committing sins
is bad enough, but sowing Sowing means spreading. It's talking
about initiating. It's talking about the fact that
there are consequences of sin that run on and on and on and
on. You know why God doesn't just
judge someone for their sin? because that sin hasn't got to
the end of its hurt. And all the sin that that hurt,
or all the hurt that that sin will generate down through the
generations of an action that is perpetrated against one individual
or another will have its reckoning. It will have its day of accountability. And God is reserving punishment
so that the full extent and the full nature of punishment can
be delivered according to his strict justice. I saw the dead,
says John in Revelation 20 verse 12, small and great stand before
God and the books were opened. And the dead were judged out
of those things which were written in the books according to their
works. Let me tell you something about
an omniscient God. Let me tell you something about
a God who knows. He doesn't need books. He doesn't
need books. God isn't sitting on a stool
somewhere with a big feather and a pot of ink writing down
all the sins that people are committing. He knows exactly
what judgment will be dispensed. But that little picture there
of the books being open is designed to teach us this. that there
will be a perfection of accountability. You guys that run businesses,
you know about accounting, right? You know about the fact that
at the end of the day, it's got to balance. At the end of the
day, it has to be right. That's why we keep books. We
keep books because we need a record of those things that have happened.
Now, you know, if you had such a memory that you could sit down
with your accountant at the end of the year and say, yep, day
one, these were the transactions. These were the quantities. These
were the amounts. Day two, Day three, you know
that's what an auditor was for. An auditor was a person who listened
to the business. That's where the audio comes
from, an auditor. He listened, but we can't remember,
so we have to write it down. And that's the point that John
is making here. The books being opened is telling
us that there will be an exact accounting. God has reserved
judgment to the wicked. How blessed we are, friends,
brothers, sisters, people, hearers. if the Lord has laid upon our
heart a fear of God and a sense of his grace and mercy in the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. How blessed we are if God has
caused us to flee to Christ from the wrath that is to come on
that day of judgment. I want to touch upon the remaining
verses of this passage here really just in a general way because
it's a building up layer upon layer of the condemnation and
the wickedness and the judgment that these false teachers that
Peter is talking about have, and there are some pretty emotive
phrases, there are some pretty powerful and potent and pregnant
phrases there in that list, but I don't want to try to unpack
it in a sense because its power is in its intensity as a straight
statement. So I just want to touch upon
the remaining verses and the concluding verses in a rather
general way in the final points here. And we're going to conclude
with a reference to a donkey, a dog, and a pig. Okay, so just
stay with me and we'll get to the farmyard animals in a moment. But here, Peter is giving us
a powerful description of man's sinful nature. And I'm sure that
it is still these false teachers that are in view. But it's the
nature that spawns the corruption that is really at the heart of
the problem. The nature that spawns the corruption. And that's common to all men
and women. What awful people we are. What awful, sinful people we
are. Let none of us imagine that we
can lay blame for our sin at Adam's door. He's not responsible. You're
responsible. You're responsible for the things
that you've done. You're responsible for the things
that you've said. You're responsible for the things
that you've sought. You will pay the price for your
own sin. Outside of Christ, except for
grace and mercy, we speak evil of the things that we understand
not. Can you imagine being so stupid?
Can you imagine being so stupid as to bad mouth something that
you don't understand? There's so much of that goes
on in the world. We lament it in some ways. We
lament the anti-science, the anti-education, the anti-knowledge stream that seems to be in our
Western society at the moment. And that's just from a social
perspective. But when it comes to spiritual
things, We are ignorant of these things. We cannot know them by
our nature. We are opposed, rebellious to
the things of God, and yet we bad mouth them. We say that it's
not fair, it's not just, it's not right. That's the natural
man's reaction to the revelation of God. Peter says, we speak
evil of the things that we understand not. and shall utterly perish
in our own corruption and receive the reward of unrighteousness.
We are in bondage to our old nature. We are servants of corruption. We have been overtaken and bound
up, and unless we are liberated, we will remain in that bondage,
speaking evil of the things that we understand not. Our eyes are full of adultery. We cannot cease from sin. We have a heart exercised with
covetous practices. Men speak about free will. They
speak about the religion of native power. But our will is in thrall
to Satan. Our nature is fallen in Adam
and it is corrupt. And out of that corruption can
only flow more corruption. Our senses are triggered to self-satisfaction
and not the glory of God. Our hearts are black. And Balaam is called as an example
of these men, these false teachers, but all men, The history of that wicked sorcerer
is told in Numbers chapter 22 and 24. It's an amazing story. You want to read that sometime.
He was a prophet for hire. That was a mercenary right there. Prophet for hire. He put that
in front of a lot of churches, I guess, these days. Money, money,
money. He knew enough about the truth to condemn his own soul. He wrestled
in his heart with the outward revealed knowledge of God and
the inward lust of avarice and greed. And there could only ever be
one winner because he was a natural man. Balaam, for all his wisdom,
had an ass that was smarter than him. Luke 12 verse 20 says, Thou
fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose
shall these things be which thou hast provided? The final few verses of this
passage provide a stark reminder of the power of self-deception. These false teachers that were
in Peter's crosshairs. This world is awash with churches. It's heavy with religion. And there's so much prayer in
this world. And there's so much praise in
this world. And there's so much Bible. And
there's so much religion. But it is vile in the sight of
God. It is empty. It is hypocritical,
it is self-righteous, and it's rubbish. And we could be angry if it were
not that the deception was so pitiful and so sad. And like Peter, our proper response
is to call it out for what it is when we are confronted by
it. We have to be true to the revelation. We have to be true to the testimony
that we've been given. But we have to thank the Lord
for his grace and his goodness that teaches us better. without awakening of grace, without
the regeneration of the heart, without the conversion to gospel
truth, without a union with Christ, there go I. And the dog and the
pig, well, they're a plain blunt picture for us to take away from
the end of this sermon. Without grace, without a divine
work in our hearts by God the Holy Spirit, a man can never
rise above the corruption of his natural state. Can never
rise above the corruption of his natural state. A dog returns to its vomit. to eat again what made it sick
in the first place. And it repeats it and repeats
it and repeats it. And the eating habits of religious
men with gospel truth are just the same. Eat, vomit, repeat. The pig or the sow in its natural
inclination is to go roll in the mud and in the mire. It loves filth. And you can wash
it and you can scrub it. You can clean it on the outside.
But its nature always leads it back to what satisfies its heart's
desire. Wallowing in the mud. Robert Hawker concludes this
passage very aptly, and I'm just going to repeat what he has to
say. He says, the sheep may fall into the mire, but it will never
lay there. But the sow is in her native
soil. When there, neither can any keep
her from it. Oh, says Hawker. How sweet is
distinguishing grace. How sweet that the Lord has changed
us from being a dog or a pig or desiring our natural desires
and following after a lifetime of sin and wickedness only to
have judgment reserved to us for all eternity. In a sense,
the true church is no better, no different by nature than that
dog or that pig. But grace has made the difference. Grace has renewed. Grace has
converted. Grace has changed. What once
satisfied us now repulses us. We cannot stomach what we once
consumed with delight. We cannot rest content where
we once lay in peace. Sovereign grace makes the difference. Sovereign grace makes us to differ
by the indwelling power of God the Holy Spirit and faith in
the death and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us.