Good Morning Friends,
“For if God did not spare angels when they
sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for
judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on
its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;
if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and
made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he
rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless
men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in
his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard) – if this is so, then
the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous
for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.” (2 Peter 2:4-9)
I was talking with someone some time back who
said he did not believe that God would send anyone to hell. It just didn’t seem
logical to him that God, who created everything, would treat any of His
creation that way. He based his belief upon his own human logic. Such logic is flawed.
The truth, revealed here by Peter as well as
elsewhere in the Bible, is that God has already demonstrated that He has and
will punish sin. God has already cast rebellious angels out of heaven and they
await judgment. God has already demonstrated His willingness to judge the world
by the flood He sent in Noah’s day. God has already shown how He deals with sin
for which there has been no repentance when He sent fire and destruction upon
Sodom and Gomorrah. These are just three of many examples of the demonstrations
of God’s judgment of sin. They show us that God has and God will punish
unrepented sin.
The author of Hebrews reminded us, “It is a
dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31) God
will punish sin that has not been dealt with!
That’s the bad news and it is fearful
news. And the bad news is compounded by
the realization that all of us have sinned. We’re all subject to God’s judgment
and punishment.
But there is good news, too! The good news is
that God has made a way to avoid punishment for our own sin. He’s done that by
punishing Jesus for us and allowing us to access Jesus’ righteousness by coming
to Him in faith. That’s the good news.
But remember that there is bad news, too. Let
the bad news motivate us to tell others about the good news!
His, by Grace,
Steve
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