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Bro. Bill Nichols
Okay, this morning, we're going to do about nine verses, actually seven verses in 2 Peter chapter 2. Chapter 2 verse 1 through 9 is where we're going to go. And what I want to do now is to go to the second verse, actually the third verse.
I hit the wrong button again. And begin. But first, let's pray. Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us this time and this place where we might come together and worship you. We honor you, we praise you, and we thank you.
We thank you for this time and this place where we're safe to meet together and worship. We thank you for the technology that allows us to reach out and touch people though they be sometimes hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles away.
Thank you for that. But thank you most of all for your Word, both your Son, the living Word, and the written Word. And along with the Son and the written Word, we thank you for the Holy Spirit, which will guide us and allow us to understand those things that you want us to be aware of and to understand as we study your Word as I worship to you.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen. I'm going to begin with a quote from Matthew Henry. And here's what he said. Men are apt to think that a reprieve is a forerunner of a pardon, and that if judgment is not speedily executed, it is or will be certainly reversed.
But the apostle tells us that how successful and prosperous, however, false teachers may be, and that for a time, yet their judgment lingereth not, the Lord has determined long ago how He will deal with them.
Such unbelievers who endeavor to turn others from the faith are condemned already, and the wrath of God abideth upon them. So now let's look a little closer at verse 3. And through covetousness shall they with vain words make merchandise of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
Now the false teachers that we read about in verses 1 and 2 will fall to the same judgment as the former violators of the truth. And what's going to happen here is Peter's going to list some people that suffered the judgment of God.
And keep in mind, God's judgment is never early, and God's judgment is never late. It is always at the exact time that God had preordained. The day of their calamity is at hand, and there is no force in nature capable of delaying it.
Now we're going to see how God dealt with the angels who sinned. And as we proceed, consider the following. Number one, there is nothing a sinner can do that will exempt him from punishment. Does anyone know how you are exempted from punishment?
Is it by anything that you do? What's it about? It's about Christ and what he has already done. He already did 2 ,000 years ago, all that needed to be done for any sinner to be exempt from the punishment of sin because he bore it all.
Well, is every sinner going to be exempt? And the answer to that is no. Not every sinner belongs to the Lord. The second thing you need to understand is the greater the status of the sinner, the more severe the punishment.
That is included as a warning to preachers and teachers. You're held at a higher standard. If you mess up, your punishment will be more severe. Number three, sin debases and degrades the man who commits it.
Four, those who rebel against God shall be sent to hell. There is no halfway house. There is no place partway between. No place to go to stay a while to become cured and then to come back. Not like a drug rehab place where they put you in a halfway house and say, live here for a while and follow the rules and we'll eventually get you out into society.
There is no halfway house. Number five, those who will not walk according to the light and direction of God's law shall be deprived of the comforts of his presence. That pertains to life here in this world, whether you're walking in the light and direction of God's law or if you're not.
If you are, you will receive comfort from him. If you're not, you'll be deprived of that comfort. And six, the ultimate destination of the sinner awaits his final judgment when he stands before the Lord at the great white throne in the final judgment at the end times.
We see that in Revelation chapter 20. I want to read a little bit from that. Revelation chapter 20 beginning at verse 11. And I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and heaven fled away.
And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works.
Now, I'll clarify that a bit. The book of life, if you were found written in the book of life, you were judged at a different judgment. You're not here at the great white throne. If you're here at the great white throne, you were not written in the book of life.
And so you'll be judged according to what you do. According to your works is how you will be judged. The ones who are written in the book of life are not written, are not judged according to their works.
Whose works are they judged by? They're judged by the works of Christ. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it. And death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. And they were judged, every man, according to their works.
And we've already clarified that that's just the ones that were not judged according to Christ's works. The ones that were judged according to their own works. And then he says, goes on in 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 4 to say this, if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them unto the chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment.
I'll pause here a second and say, consider this. If God didn't spare the angels that sinned, what makes you think he'll spare you? Now, this is going to lead us to a group of people that are controversial.
I'm going to tell you this up front. And there are at least two major viewpoints on these people. And the people I'm talking about are the Nephilim. But before we get to them, we got to get to their sires.
The phrase the angels that sinned is an allusion to Genesis 6. And I'm going to start Genesis 6 at verse 1. And I'm going to read it down until chapter 4. And then we're going to break it down and look at what it's telling us.
Genesis 6 verse 1. And you'll see what it's leading up to very quickly if you don't already know. And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair.
And they took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always dwell with man, for that he is also flesh. Yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years. Verse 4. And there were giants in the earth in those days.
And also after that, when the sons of man, I'm sorry, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bared children unto them, the same became mighty men, which were men of old, men of renown.
Now as I went through that, I highlighted or underlined five or six passages that I wanted to, phrases that I wanted to deal with. One is the sons of God. That was in chapter 2, verse 2. And then my spirit in verse 3.
His days shall be a hundred and twenty years. Also in verse 3. There were giants in the earth in those days. Giants in the earth. And also after that, when the sons of God, sons of God, came into the daughters of men, they bared children unto them, the same became mighty men, mighty men, which were men of renown, men of renown.
Now, the first thing we came to was sons of God. That's benign Elohim. It is my belief, and this is my belief, it's not universal. There are, as I said, two groups of people. I will tell you up front, Brother Otis, one of our mentors here, did not prescribe or subscribe to the same view that I have.
I'll give you both views in just a second. I believe that there are angels. The benign Elohim are angels. The sons of God. Directly created by God. Not sons of men created by men who were created by God.
I'm sorry? And not begotten sons either. There is only one begotten son, and we know him. You're right. Now, some have argued that the sons of God were sons of Seth. They call them the Sethites. And they cohabited with the daughters of Cain.
So they were the good guys and the bad guys. They talk about mixed marriage. Marriage between believers and non-believers. And there's an issue about believers and non-believers married together. In fact, we're warned not to be unequally yoked, aren't we?
So it's best if a believer be joined with a believer. And a non-believer, it doesn't matter, I guess. A believer with a non-believer is a prescription for trouble. But not the kind of trouble these guys got in.
Just because you have a person that believes in God, married to someone that does not believe in God, doesn't mean that their offspring is going to be a giant. So I think that Brother Otis and the early, about the 17th or 18th century, there was a push away from the sons of God described here as being angels to becoming sons of Seth because they couldn't think about anything so hideous as sexual intercourse between angels and women.
They couldn't wrap their head around that. And so the early, early Christians believed that they were angels. Then it became fashionable to believe that they were Sethites. Matthew, Henry, I've already quoted today, thought that they were Sethites.
Otis Fisher, I'd say my greatest mentor, my second greatest mentor, didn't know about Brother David and all, believed that they were Sethites. I think Schofield did. I think there was a lot, I think there was a lot of early, early Christians that believed.
He does give both views. I only guess Schofield, and I probably shouldn't have done that because I know Brother Otis from Perkins and all, and I thought maybe that's where he had his idea. But it was fashionable to think that they were believers, married with non-believers.
In any case, let's go on and look at my spirit. What spirit is he talking about when he says, my spirit shall always strive with man? Well, he's talking about the Holy Spirit. Now, the Holy Spirit has already been striving to call men to repentance.
We know that from the preaching of Enoch and Noah. We know that from 1 Peter 3, verse 20. We are going to know that from 2 Peter 2, verse 5, which is one verse down from where we are right now when we get back to Peter.
We will know that from June 14. We'll look at that a little bit later. He says, his days shall be 120 years. Now, when I was a baby Christian, I thought that the lifespan changed. In the early days, people lived a long time.
The Thucydides lived over 800 years. Noah lived over 600, but 700 years. Abraham lived hundreds of years. And the lifespan went down and down and down, and now it's way below 120. I don't expect to make it to 120, maybe 119.
But that's not what this is talking about at all. This has nothing to do with life expectancy. That's not what it's talking about. It's the number of years that God will allow for sinful men to repent before the flood.
Now, this was the time that Noah spent building the ark. You've got to consider this. When Noah set out and started building the ark, it had never rained. And what do you think the people said that came out?
They said, hey Noah, what are you doing? He said, I'm building an ark. What's an ark? Well, it's kind of like a boat. And what is it going to do when the flood comes? What's a flood? What is it when the rain comes down?
What's rain? They knew none about that. So when he started building the ark, he became a testimony to the destruction that is going to come. And how long did it take him to build the ark? 120 years. That's the time from when Noah started building the ark until the Lord filled the ark with every person that had repented in the whole wide world.
So, and understand this, the population before the flood was probably greater than it is right now. Probably more people on the earth before the flood than now because they lived. Methuselah lived 800 years and had sons and daughters for 760 years of that.
Probably 600 or 700 offspring, maybe 400 offspring just from Methuselah. And by the time he was done, it doesn't multiply by twos. It multiplies. It's exponential. There were probably more people on the earth at the time of the flood than there is now.
And they were much smarter than we are. They didn't let us go. How much we can go to this at the end of the year? And you didn't lose your milk facilities. Okay. Here's what 1 Peter 3, verse 18 said. I referred to that a second ago.
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, by which he also went and preached unto spirits in prison, which were sometimes disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing for him a few days later.
So we're saying, by what? Only eight. Multiple numbers. God was willing to wait a hundred and fifty years to give time for eight people to repent. That's amazing. That should tell you something about the importance of those eight people.
And it should tell you something about the importance of you. God waited for each one of you to give you time for you to repent before he touched you. If you're one of God's children, you are invulnerable.
You are incapable of being destroyed, of being healed. If you're one of his, then you will actually become one of his because you recognize him. So now you're all in a little bit more precarious situation than you used to be.
But before, we didn't know that we were one of his, so we thought we were one of his. Okay, let's go on. Let's go to Jude, verse 4. Pardon me, I'll say chapter 4. Jude, verse 4. I'm going to read a bunch of this, and there's a reason for reading this.
Well, there are certain men who have crept in unawares who were before Abel or Dan to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our Lord into the city and denying the only Lord God, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, he's talking about false teachers, false teachers who have crept in unawares. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example.
Suffering vengeance of eternal fire, likewise, these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, speak evil of bigoties. Yet Michael, the archangel, in contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses.
There should not be against him a ravening accusation, but said, To the Lord be the truth. But these speak evil of things which they know not. They're false teachers. But what they know naturally as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves, loathe and do evil.
Well, they have known the way of Cain, and they have run greedily after the arrow of Abel for reward, and perished in the game, saying, These are spots in your face, O chariot, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear.
Clouds they are without water, carried about by the winds, whose fruit wither. Without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the rivers, raging waves of sea, foaming out of their own chain, wandering stars.
So whom is reserved in the blackness of darkness forever? And Enoch, also the seventh from Adam, prophesied these. So Enoch prophesied these. Enoch said, This is going to happen. Behold, the Lord come with him thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all, and to lift all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and all of their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
That's Enoch. Now, back to Genesis 6 and then on. There were giants in the earth in these days. And also after that, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and their children, the same became nine men, which were of old, men of renown.
Now, this reference, along with Genesis 6, seems to confirm the identity of the sons of God in Genesis 6. The offspring of this unnatural intercourse were, I believe, this is me, the giants. The giants of the earth.
The word, the Greek word there that is translated giants of the earth is nephilim. Nephilim. Nephilim comes from the Hebrew word, the fallen ones. These were the heroes whose deeds are embellished in ancient mythology.
These are people like Zeus and Apollos and Poseidon and Hercules and all of the other Greek heroes. The giants whose deeds were great and are embellished in ancient mythology. Now, back to Peter. Second Peter, chapter four, chapter two, verse four.
For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into the chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment. And when I read this last time, I said, if God spared not the angels, what makes you think you're fair and equal if you are a sinner?
Matthew Henry says this, seeing how God dealt with the old world, even in much the same way that he dealt with the angels, he spared not the old world. Here observe these things. One, if the sin be universal, the punishment likewise will extend to all.
So if all sin, all will be punished. But two, if there be but a few righteous, they will be preserved. God does not, sir. Oh, I'm sorry. I thought I had a question. But if there be but a few righteous, they shall be preserved.
God does not destroy the good with the bad. Remember, he had to take a lot out before he could destroy something. In fact, he had to kind of drag a lot out by the hand. The angels took him by the arm and escorted him out.
Those who are preachers of righteousness in an age of universal corruption and degeneration, holding forth the word of life, shall be preserved in a time of general destruction. So if you're professing righteousness in a time when it's universal corruption and generosity, you will be preserved.
That doesn't necessarily mean you won't be slain in this world. And we're coming to a time when that may be an issue. When it may be that if you speak too harshly about sin, that you will be killed. Not happening here yet.
But it is happening in other places. And it could happen here. But that will not keep you from being preserved. It will just take you to a better place quicker. And four, God can make use of corrupt creatures as instruments of his vengeance in punishing sinners.
Corrupt creatures, angels, which he first made and appointed for their service and benefit. And he destroyed the whole world by fire. But he goes on to say, but what was the procuring cause of this? What caused all of this destruction?
Was it God? Well, in one sense, it was God. But in another sense, it was the world of ungodly man. Ungodliness puts men out of divine protection and exposes them to utter destruction. That was Matthew Henry.
There's another thing to note, though. Satan's attempt to corrupt the entire human race failed. It failed because of the intervention of God by the blood. He destroyed all of the world. God did. Jesus did.
He destroyed the entire world so that he could preserve the eight. Maybe I better read verse four again. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into the chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment and spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in a flood upon the world of the ungodly.
So he killed. He killed the entire population except for eight. Noah, his three sons, Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons. That's the eight. And from that, that was preserved. All else was destroyed.
Now, Noah was a preacher. Preacher of righteousness. He was a declarer. He spoke out. He spoke out the truth. What was the truth? Judgment is coming. Judgment is coming as soon as I finish building this ark.
And the Lord locks me in and all of the repentant ones with me, along with animals and food and the things necessary to preserve. The door will be sealed and all else will be destroyed. He preached that for 120 years and eight people were saved.
And then we go to Sodom and Gomorrah. And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemn them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that should live ungodly. Again, I'm going to quote Matthew Henry.
See how God dwelt with Sodom and Gomorrah? Though they were situated in a country like the garden of the Lord, like the garden of Eden, yet if in such a fruitful soil they abound in sin, God can soon turn a fruitful land unto barrenness and a well-watered country into dust and ashes.
You know where Sodom and Gomorrah is now? Partially under the Dead Sea and partially in the desert around it. It is barren. And he says, observe this. No political union or confederacy can keep off judgment from a sinful people.
Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring cities were no more secured by the regular government than the angels were secured by their dignity of their nature or the old world by their vast number. There were not too many people in the old world for the Lord to destroy them.
The angels were not too high of a status for the Lord to destroy them. And Sodom and Gomorrah were not protected by their government. God can make use of contrary creatures to punish incorrigible sinners.
He destroyed the old world by water and Sodom by fire. He who keeps fire and water from hurting people can make them either destroy his enemies, therefore, they are never safe. That was Matthew Henry.
The most heinous sins bring the most grievous judgments. You might consider that not all sin. We say, well, all sin is capable of sending you to hell. And it is. One sin will send you to hell if you don't have Christ.
And everybody will have at least one sin if they don't have Christ. So everybody go to hell. But that does not mean that all parts of hell are the same. They are better and worse parts. The worse the sin, the more grievous the place that you will be.
Those who are, this is Matthew Henry, those who are abominable in their vices were remarkable for their plagues. Those who are sinners exceedingly before the Lord must expect the most dreadful vengeance.
Now, what's the purpose of the punishment of these sinners? Just to be hurtful? Is that what it's for? Is God just mad? It's an example. The punishment of the sinner in the former ages is designed for an example of those who come after.
Men who live ungodly lives must see what they are to expect if they go on still in the course of impiety. Let us take warning by all the instances of God's taking vengeance, which are recorded for our admonition, and to prevent our promising ourselves impunity, though we go on in a course of sin.
To prevent our promising ourselves impunity, though we go on in the course of sin. So the Lord knows those that are his. He has set apart him who is godly for himself. And if there is one, just one in five cities, like there was one in Sodom and Gomorrah, in the confederation of the five cities, God knows him.
And where there's a greater number, he cannot be ignorant of nor overlook any one of them. So if one of us here is a child of God, the Lord will recognize us and will preserve us through every bad thing that could happen to us.
Now that doesn't mean that we can't be destroyed physically. But what it does mean is we cannot be destroyed spiritually. We will belong to him forever. So what did he do? Turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example to those that should live ungodly, and delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked.
Now, of course, we understand the word conversation doesn't mean something we're talking about. It's your lifestyle. But what intrigued me was the word just Lot. Was Lot just? I'm sorry? Well, he did deliver his two daughters as well.
But it only says here, and delivered just Lot. But what I'm focused on is, is Lot really just? Well, how did God see Lot? God saw Lot as just. Because when God looked at Lot, what did he see? He saw Jesus.
Because Jesus put his righteousness on Lot. So God always saw Lot as just. God saw Lot as one of his children, living among a host of the children of Satan. I know you can say his wife was not just. I don't know whether you can say the same for his two daughters or not.
I'm not sure. The only one I'm sure about is just was Lot was just. And why was Lot just? Because the Lord saw him as just. I'm sorry? Yes. Now you might wonder why Lot just didn't leave. If Lot was vexed all the time by the unseemly things that were going around him, why didn't he just leave?
Well, you might wonder that until you consider why he was put into Sodom in the first place. Why was he put into Sodom? Why was he in Sodom? Why was Lot in Sodom to start with? Or you can say Abraham gave him the choice between the fertile valley and the rocky hills.
And he took the fertile valley. And Abraham said, okay, go ahead. You take the fertile valley. I'll take the hills. But why did he choose to go to the fertile valley? Because God told him to choose that.
God wanted him there. Now why in the world would God want Lot in Sodom? To be an example. To be an example. So that he could show the world that no matter how bad the conditions are where you are, you can still be salvaged and saved.
He was placed in Sodom to serve an example of God's ability to deliver his children from his judgment that he is going to give to the evil ones. For that righteous man dwelling among them and seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.
He recognizes what they're doing is wrong. And it bothers him. Yes, Lot was a righteous man. That's the way God sees him. And yet he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And thus, he was in a constant state of vexation.
And a question I might ask you and us is, are we still shocked by sinful things? There was a time when I was repelled more by sinful things than I am now. I just saw something on one of my little newsflash things that was so appalling that I turned it off and deleted it right away.
And it was of an appointee, a projected appointee to one of the high offices of the nation. I'm just going to say the photograph that they showed was so appalling that I deleted it right away. I was still appalled by that, but there's things that I'm not appalled at anymore.
I see a lot of things that would, 10 years ago, shock me and I'm not shocked anymore. We need to be careful about that. We need to continually be vexed by sinful things. Well, one thing you could say about Lot, one thing you couldn't say about Lot, by faith, you couldn't say this, by faith, Lot dwelt in Sodom.
Still, he was saved, yet as if by fire. I'm going to read you two passages quickly. Romans 14, 22. Hath thou faith? This is talking about whether or not to eat meat that's been offered to evil gods. Hath thou faith?
Have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in the thing which is allowed. And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith. For whatever is not of faith is sin.
So, if you don't do it in faith, you're in sin. But, also linked with that is Paul's message in 1 Corinthians 3, 15. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss. But he himself shall be saved, so as by fire.
So, maybe Lot would have had a better time if he had left before the fire. If he had left, he wouldn't have served as an example. Maybe God would have been unhappy with that. But, because he stayed and was vexed in the spirit, he suffered loss, but he was still saved.
In verse 9, God knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. And, I've said it a couple of times. He knew how to get Lot out of Sodom.
He knew how to get Noah and his three sons and his wife and their wives out of the wicked world. He knows how to get you out of the situation that we're in. God knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.
And, that's where we want to stop for today. Any comments or questions? If not, a quick prayer. Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. And, thank you for all of the many wonderful people that we have here and online.
Bless us and keep us. Go through the services today. Bless Brother David as he delivers his message for today. And, have us all understand whatever it is that you want us to understand out of all the messages that we received today.
We know that it doesn't depend upon Brother David, and it doesn't depend upon me. It depends upon you, the Holy Spirit, and your Word. And, if we do your Word, if we read your Word in the presence of the Holy Spirit, you will teach us what you want us to know.
And, you will teach it to us exactly when we need to know it. Bless us and keep us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.