Sermon: When Wrong Seems to Be Winning – 2 Peter 2:1–10 (9/13/26)
Introduction
Service Announcement
At First Baptist Church Nacogdoches, it is our purpose, goal, and delight to do two things...
Make much of Jesus...
Make disciples of Christ here in Nacogdoches and around the world...
The Lord has blessed our efforts to do both of those things.
The Lord has given us a strong church...
The Lord has given us a healthy church...
As measured by every possible metric...
The Lord has given us a growing church...
There are probably 1,000 people here on campus right now or very close to that number.
But with growth comes GROWING PAINS...
Today, our pain points are really two fold...
Worship space...
Parking...
(And really adult Sunday School space as well...)
I will have much more to say about both of these things over the next three weeks.
We will record a Pastor's Show this week to fill in details and explain the decision making process...
I'll share more about the path and the next steps in the next two or three Sundays...
But today, I am excited to announce a big change...
Our new Sunday morning schedule...
Beginning Sunday, October 4...
Summit Worship 1 – 8:30am (In the Crossing)
Sunday School – 9:45am
Celebration Worship and Summit Worship 2 – 11:00am
<< ONLY SHOW ANNOUNCEMENT SLIDE AFTER I MAKE THE ABOVE ANNOUNCEMENT >>>
It provides us additional worship capacity.
Specifically for Summit Worship.
It spreads our Sunday morning attendance and parking across a longer period of time.
And it allows us to make better use of the facilities the Lord has already graciously provided for us.
A few things I want you to understand...
First, our mission is not changing.
We are doing this so that we can make much of Jesus and make more disciples of Christ.
That mission matters more than any one of our personal preferences, including mine.
THIS CHANGE IS MISSION DRIVEN.
In my almost ten years as your pastor, this is our second major Sunday morning schedule change.
The first one, six years ago, led to significant growth.
That change was in 2020 when we changed every part of our Sunday morning schedule and added a simultaneous worship we call Summit.
It is our hope that this mission driven change will do the same.
Second, the identity and focus of our ministries are not changing.
We will continue to offer the same children's ministry opportunities, adjusted across the new schedule.
Celebration Worship will continue to be Celebration Worship.
No changes!
Summit Worship will continue to be Summit Worship.
No changes!
We believe in this model.
We love both services...
We are committed to both services...
Third, this has been a complicated decision.
We have spent a great deal of time working through the details.
There were more factors involved than even I initially realized.
We have prayed about it.
We have worked hard on it.
This is our best decision with the information we have...
But there is a chance we will have to stand back up in January and say we did not get things exactly right.
Give us a little grace here...
We are all trying hard to do what is best for the mission of our church.
We feel very good about this decision.
You will hear much more about this this week on the Pastor's Show and over the next couple of Sundays.
But I am excited about where we are.
Growth creates challenges...
But these are good challenges to have.
God has blessed our church and is blessing our church.
And I believe this new schedule will give us greater capacity to reach our community, make disciples, and make much of Jesus.
Prayer
Message Introduction
Scripture
Turn to 2 Peter 2.
Counterfeits
Have you ever noticed that the more valuable something is, the more likely someone is to attempt to counterfeit it?
Nobody counterfeits a one-dollar bill.
People counterfeit what has value.
The same thing is true with truth.
Wherever God gives truth, Satan produces a counterfeit.
Wherever God gives light, someone will try to imitate it with something that only looks like light.
Greatest Problem Faced by Early Church...
The greatest problem faced by the early church (the New Testament church, the church of Peter and Paul)was that of false teachers.
Twenty-one of twenty-seven New Testament books explicitly mention or clearly confront false teachers and deceptive doctrine.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, Jude, and the writer of Hebrews all address the danger explicitly.
At least nine whole New Testament books were primarily addressed to the problem of false teaching...
Galatians
Colossians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
Jude
It is difficult to think of another problem that receives more sustained attention across the New Testament.
It was a great problem then and they had...
No internet...
No podcasts...
No social media...
No television...
If false teaching was a great problem in the early church, then it is an even GREATER THREAT today!
Today, all you need to have a platform is a free TikTok account...
If you believe something heretical, with the proliferation of internet videos, you can find someone somewhere who will affirm your twisted view...
And the general biblical illiteracy makes people way more vulnerable...
Yet, the church today tends to hold its tongue when it comes to false teaching.
That is a problem!
That is exactly where Peter takes us in 2 Peter 2.
In chapter 1, Peter has been telling us that God has given us everything we need.
He told us to grow in our faith.
He reminded us that the apostles were eyewitnesses of Christ's glory.
And he told us that we have the prophetic word made sure.
In other words, chapter 1 says:
You can trust the truth God has given you.
Then chapter 2 begins with a warning:
But not everyone who claims to teach the truth is TELLING the TRUTH.
Peter's concern is not merely that error exists.
It is that error can enter the church world.
It can sound convincing.
It can become popular.
And for a while, it can look like it is winning.
So the question before us is:
How do we remain faithful when WRONG seems to be WINNING?
Peter writes to warn of a significant problem and threat...
Let's read 2 Peter 2 together...
Scripture
2 Peter 2.1 | There were indeed false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves. (CSB)
There is a lot in that verse!
There will be false teachers among you...
As we said, this was one of the greatest problems in the early church.
Look at how Paul said it to the elders of the church of Ephesus...
Acts 20.29 | I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. (CSB)
Acts 20.30 | Men will rise up even from your own number and distort the truth to lure the disciples into following them. (CSB)
It is not a stretch to say that false teaching was the number one category of problems the church faced measured by how much of the attention it gets in the Epistles.
They will bring in destructive heresies...
Bring in...
This false teaching does not speak from OUTSIDE the Christian community.
It infiltrates the church.
It speaks from inside.
Destructive heresies...
Peter calls these DESTRUCTIVE HERESIES.
Destructive is a serious word.
ἀπώλεια
It is used in the same sense here as it is in Matthew 7.13 where Jesus preaching the Sermon on the Mount warned...
Matthew 7.13 | Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it.(CSB)
DESTRUCTION... Same Greek word...
So, we are not talking about what football team you cheer for...
We are not talking about what kind of music you prefer to listen...
We are talking about heresies (falsehoods) that ultimately lead to people missing heaven and finding hell.
Even denying the Master who bought them...
They repudiate the AUTHORITY of the very master who bought them and to whom they owe allegiance.
We will see this theme repeated in chapter two.
Will bring swift destruction on themselves...
We will read more about this later in this chapter.
But God will not relent from bringing destruction upon these false teachers.
Their false teaching leads to the destruction (eternal ruin) of others...
And it ultimately leads to their own destruction and eternal ruin...
2 Peter 2.2 | Many will follow their depraved ways, and the way of truth will be maligned because of them.(CSB)
Many...
This is one of the most sobering words in this passage...
There is a sense in which we are losing the battle for the truth in our culture.
More and more our culture, the world, is following a lie.
This calls us to be even more diligent to stand firm on the truth.
The very good thing, though...
We cannot measure truth by how many people believe something.
Do not confuse popularity with truth!
In Romans 3.4, Paul said that God will be found true even if every man denies that truth.
Romans 3.4 | Absolutely not! Let God be true, even though everyone is a liar, as it is written: That you may be justified in your words and triumph when you judge.(CSB)
Depraved ways...
Shameless, unrestrained, sensual way of living...
This wording is stronger than simply saying they sin.
Every Christian sins.
Every Christian still battles the flesh.
Peter is painting a picture of people who make peace with sin.
They indulge it.
They justify it.
They normalize it.
And then they lead others into it.
Ways...
False TEACHING often eventually produces false LIVING.
The way of truth will be maligned because of them...
He does not simply say that truth will be maligned.
He says that the WAY OF TRUTH will be maligned.
Christianity, the whole system of worship, truth, godly living, and salvation (the way of truth) is maligned and mischaracterized because of this false teaching.
Notice what Paul said to and about the false religious leaders in Rome...
Romans 2.24 | For, as it is written: The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. (CSB)
2 Peter 2.3 | They will exploit you in their greed with made-up stories. Their condemnation, pronounced long ago, is not idle, and their destruction does not sleep. (CSB)
Here we see a motive, a method, and the destiny of false teachers.
Motive
Greed...
That is not the only motive, but it is a significant motive.
Method
Made-up stories...
The word "stories" is an odd translation of the original word.
The Greek is πλαστοῖς λόγοις
Think...
Plastic words...
(The Greek word is the word behind our word "plastic.")
These are words they have molded and shaped themselves...
Manufactured, counterfeit truth...
The basis of what these false teachers assert is not Scripture.
It is something they have invented.
Destiny
Condemnation...
We will see examples of this condemnation in the next verses.
Their destruction does not sleep...
Judgment may appear delayed.
But it is not dormant.
Do not mistake delayed judgment for dormant judgment.
2 Peter 2.4 | For if God didn’t spare the angels who sinned but cast them into hell and delivered them in chains of utter darkness to be kept for judgment; (CSB)
Three Illustrations...
Lest anyone think that God is too loving and merciful to judge the wicked false teachers and their deceived people, Peter gives 3 powerful illustrations of past divine judgment on the wicked.
These illustrations set the precedents for the future and final judgment on liars and deceivers. (John MacArthur)
Angels...
Peter begins with rebellious angels...
They were judged and condemned to hell for their rebellion and their lies.
2 Peter 2.5 | and if he didn’t spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others, when he brought the flood on the world of the ungodly; (CSB)
In Genesis 6 we read how God brought a disastrous flood to the entire world minus eight people because of their rebellion.
Genesis 6.5 | When the LORD saw that human wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time, (CSB)
Was God "fair" to the people he destroyed in the flood?
What was not fair is that he provided an undeserved means of escape, the ark...
Their refusal to get on the ark was the final reason they died.
The ultimate cause of their death was their sin and rebellion.
But the proximate cause was their refusal to get on the ark.
GOSPEL
If the reference to the judgment of the angels points to the fact that no creature is so great that he can escape God's judgment...
Then this reference points to the fact that even if the rebellion is popular and widespread it will not escape God's judgment.
2 Peter 2.6 | and if he reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes and condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is coming to the ungodly; (CSB)
Example number three...
Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of their perversion and sin...
A perversion and sin that closely resembles what we see today.
Example...
This is an important word in the text...
What God did to the people and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah is an example of how God hates and ultimately condemns evil.
God has left evidence in history that he takes sin seriously.
Do not read aloud...
Scripture
2 Peter 2.7 | and if he rescued righteous Lot, distressed by the depraved behavior of the immoral (CSB)
2 Peter 2.8 | (for as that righteous man lived among them day by day, his righteous soul was tormented by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— (CSB)
The third illustration of judgment with Sodom and Gomorrah...
In verses 7–8, Peter reminds us that while God judged Sodom...
He rescued righteous Lot.
2 Peter 2.9 | then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, (CSB)
The Lord knows how...
To rescue the godly from trials...
To keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment...
You hear people say that Bible Christians are on the WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY...
They say that we are gradually losing the argument with our culture...
They say that the prevailing views of truth are moving further and further away from our antiquatedconvictions...
Well, it all depends on how long your history is.
Culture does not write the last chapter of history.
God does.
In the end, God's truth will reign.
1 John 2.17 | And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever. (CSB)
Do not read these verses aloud...
Scripture
2 Peter 2.10 | especially those who follow the polluting desires of the flesh and despise authority. Bold, arrogant people! They are not afraid to slander the glorious ones; (CSB)
2 Peter 2.11 | however, angels, who are greater in might and power, do not bring a slanderous charge against them before the Lord. (CSB)
2 Peter 2.12 | But these people, like irrational animals—creatures of instinct born to be caught and destroyed—slander what they do not understand, and in their destruction they too will be destroyed. (CSB)
2 Peter 2.13 | They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are spots and blemishes, delighting in their deceptions while they feast with you. (CSB)
2 Peter 2.14 | They have eyes full of adultery that never stop looking for sin. They seduce unstable people and have hearts trained in greed. Children under a curse! (CSB)
2 Peter 2.15 | They have gone astray by abandoning the straight path and have followed the path of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of wickedness (CSB)
2 Peter 2.16 | but received a rebuke for his lawlessness: A speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. (CSB)
In verses 10–16, Peter piles up descriptions of their arrogance, sensuality, greed, and rebellion, comparing them finally to Balaam, who loved the wages of wickedness.
2 Peter 2.17 | These people are springs without water, mists driven by a storm. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them. (CSB)
Peter's purpose is to give us a quick and clear description of the false teachers that had infiltrated the church.
Springs without water...
Mists driven by a storm...
To people living in a world where water could be scarce and precious, these were powerful metaphors.
A spring meant provision, plenty, health, security...
But a spring without water was a LIE.
A rain storm on the horizon meant water for crops and life...
But a storm that only brought a mist was a LIE.
False teaching always over promises and under delivers.
Today's culture promises freedom, power, peace, pleasure...
But its promises are lies.
2 Peter 2.18 | For by uttering boastful, empty words, they seduce, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have barely escaped from those who live in error. (CSB)
Peter says that false teachers appeal to sinful desires...
False teaching often becomes attractive because it tells fallen people something fallen people already want to hear.
False teaching often says:
You can have Christ without surrender.
Grace without repentance.
Salvation without lordship.
Sexual freedom without consequences.
Prosperity without sacrifice.
Spirituality without holiness.
Heaven without a cross.
2 Peter 2.19 | They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, since people are enslaved to whatever defeats them. (CSB)
Here is the sad irony of their false teaching...
They promise... freedom...
But they themselves are slaves of corruption...
Sin always offers freedom, and always becomes a slave master.
Do not read these verses aloud...
Scripture
2 Peter 2.20 | For if, having escaped the world’s impurity through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in these things and defeated, the last state is worse for them than the first. (CSB)
2 Peter 2.21 | For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy command delivered to them.(CSB)
In verses 20–21, Peter says that after escaping the world's corruption through knowledge of Christ, they become entangled again, and their final condition is worse than their first.
2 Peter 2.22 | It has happened to them according to the true proverb: A dog returns to its own vomit, and, “A washed sow returns to wallowing in the mud.” (CSB)
Very unpleasant pictures...
A dog returns to its own vomit...
A washed sow returns to wallowing in the mud...
False teaching is not...
Progress
Enlightenment
Freedom
False teaching just brings people back to the mud.
How to Stand When WRONG Seems to Be WINNING
I. Recognize deception.
Look again at how Peter began chapter 2...
Verse 1 begins...
2 Peter 2.1 | There were indeed false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you...
There WILL BE false teachers AMONG YOU!
There will be people who call themselves Christians, preachers, Bible teachers, and Christian influencers who are in fact FALSE TEACHERS.
Then verse 1 continues...
They will bring in destructive heresies...
This deception is not harmless but destructive.
In fact part of its deception is that it will hide its danger.
Like how a tiny termite might look relatively harmless, but over time can destroy the most beautiful home...
Verse 2 begins...
2 Peter 2.2 | Many will follow their depraved ways...
This will not be an insignificant problem.
Mistaken ways to recognize deception...
So, how do we recognize this deception?
I think people often look for the wrong indicators.
The ways we evaluate if something is true and reliable or false and dangerous are often the biggest part of the problem.
four mistaken ways to recognize deception...
1. By how closely it resembles the truth...
The most dangerous deceptions will be very close to the truth.
That is the power of a deception.
Illustration
If I told you right now that the time was 11:30pm and the temperature outside was a bone-chilling 12 degrees...
No one would believe me.
But if I told you it was 11:00am and an unexpected breeze had blown in to bring the temperature down to the low 80s...
You would at least look at your cell phone to see if I was telling you the truth.
The most dangerous false teaching sort of sounds like it could be true.
Let me give you list of ten things you often hear. You tell me which ones are taught in the Bible...
Top Ten List
Love means accepting people just as they are.
Be authentic.
Whatever I feel inside represents my truest self and therefore ought to be expressed.
To criticize a lifestyle is to hate a people.
You DESERVE to be happy.
Jesus affirmed everyone.
As long as you love someone nothing else matters.
God made you this way.
Do what makes you happy as long as you are not hurting anyone.
As long as it involves consenting adults it is good.
We should not impose our beliefs on other people.
There is a little bit of truth in all of those statements...
Just enough to fool many people.
When you heard them, you thought...
Well that is sort of true and helpful...
"Sort of" is not TRUTH.
Is a cold tall glass of water with a few drops of arsenic in it good for you?
Well sort of...
At least the water part...
But none of them, as our culture commonly uses them, is an adequate biblical standard for deciding what is true or right.
2. By its promises...
Peter taught us that false teachers are always making a promise that is a lie.
Scripture...
2 Peter 2.17 | These people are springs without water...
2 Peter 2.18 | For by uttering boastful, empty words, they seduce...
2 Peter 2.19 | They promise them freedom...
Today's so-called enlightened, therapeutic, and tolerant culture has promised us...
Stronger and happier marriage relationships...
Escape from stress, anxiety, depression...
Happy, well-behaved children...
Freedom from addictions...
But if any honest person tracked the progress in those areas in the last 100 years, he would have to conclude that at least in the macro, ALL OF THAT WAS A TERRIBLE LIE.
3. By its popularity...
One of the greatest temptations we face is to conclude that something is right and true because many or most people believe it to be right and true.
Let's not skirt around real examples...
SO CALLED SAME-SEX MARRIAGE AND HOMOSEXUALITY...
This cultural shift in the US...
Twenty years ago, the vast majority of Americans believed same-sex relationships were morally wrong.
Today, the vast majority of Americans believe these relationships are right and good.
So, a significant percentage of churches in the US have now changed their view...
They have jettisoned 2000 years of Christian history for 20 years of cultural change...
More importantly they've jettisoned the clear testimony of Scripture for the lies of our culture.
COHABITATION...
Now we are getting a little closer to home...
The shift...
I remember early in my ministry, living together before marriage was a SIN.
Now, as long as the couple is fairly committed to each other for the term of the apartment lease, cohabitation is mostly celebrated.
In 1970, the rate of cohabitation in the US (number of cohabitating couples versus the number of married couples) was 1%.
I read an article last month that said Pew Research reports that 77% of Americans ages 38–43 had or were cohabitating.
And 38–43 years old is even not the slice of Americans for whom cohabitation is most common.
This number is clearly trending higher.
Friends, right and wrong has not changed since 1970.
By just those two illustrations, we can see that most people determine right and wrong, truth and error, by the movements of popular culture.
God does not determine truth by popular opinion...
A lie does not become truth when it gets enough followers.
Immorality does not become morality when it gets enough votes.
What if Noah had taken a poll...
4. By its expertise...
Trident Chewing Gum
Do you remember the old Trident sugarless gum television campaign...
"Four out of five dentists surveyed recommend sugarless gum to their patients who chew gum."
Don't you want to meet the one dentist in five dentist who recommended sugar gum!
The message of those commercials was to convince you that experts believed that sugar-free gum was better for you.
Now, that is probably a true statement.
And the message was logical because being a "dentist" means something, and it suggests some specialized knowledge and skill in the field of dental care.
The campaign would not have been as effective if it said...
"Four out of five ball-headed guys surveyed recommend sugarless gum to their friends who chew gum."
Why?
Because while ball-headed guys are generally smarter than everyone else, there is no evidence that they have any truly exceptional expertise in dental care.
Over time it seems the functional definition of EXPERT has changed.
Long ago, an expert was someone who demonstrated and recognized knowledge or skill in a particular field.
Today, an expert is often just someone who claims to be an expert.
Today we have "experts" telling what is right, proper, and good.
But "expertise" should never be the standard of moral truth...
It is not true simply because...
Four out of five Tiktokers say it is true...
Four out of five therapists say it is true...
Four out of five professors say it is true...
Or four out of five PREACHERS say it is true...
Please do not outsource your ethics to experts!
How do we recognize deception?
I cannot give you a list of every deception you might face.
And even if I could, how would you know you could trust my "expertise" over someone else's "expertise?"
The bottom line is that we must know God's word well enough to be able to recognize any distortion of the truth.
I've read that when training Secret Service agents to spot counterfeit currency, the primary training tool is to teach them about the authentic bill.
Once they are an expert on the authentic bill...
Then they can spot the fake bill.
Do you know about the early Christians in Berea?
Scripture
Acts 17.11 | The people here were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, since they received the word with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. (CSB)
That is what I'm talking about!
If you are regularly studying God's word then you will spot the error...
When a therapist says...
If the marriage isn't making you happy anymore, you should leave...
Don't worry about whether it was right or wrong. Ask whether it was healthy for you...
Your primary responsibility is to make yourself happy.
When a church teaches...
Doctrine divides. We just need to love Jesus.
It doesn’t really matter what you believe as long as you are sincere.
We shouldn’t call people sinners because that language is harmful.
The church has to reinterpret Christianity in light of modern experience.
The key is to be in Scripture daily and under the faithful teaching of God's word in a place that holds Scripture in high regard.
You cannot recognize every lie by studying every lie.
YOU RECOGNIZE LIES BY KNOWING THE TRUTH.
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So, recognize deception...
II. Trust God to judge and rescue.
Brief point...
I will be brief here, but this is too important to skip.
What is God going to do about the false teaching, the deception, and the rebellion?
Should we panic?
Should we despair?
Peter taught us there are two things we can be certain about...
God will bring divine judgment to those who lead people astray.
Luke 17.2 | It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to stumble. (CSB)
God knows how to preserve and ultimately rescue those who belong to him.
God's Judgment
Peter gave us the three excellent examples of God's judgment...
The rebellious angels...
Angels: no creature is too great to escape judgment.
The people of Noah's day...
Noah's world: no rebellion is too widespread to escape judgment.
The people of Sodom and Gomorrah...
Sodom: no culture can normalize what God condemns and thereby make it safe from judgment.
This corrects some misconceptions people often have...
God will not judge those who rebel against him...
Evidence shows that God will ultimately defend his word and his truth.
God's patience is a sign of God's approval...
Romans 2.4 | Do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? (CSB)
Romans 2.5 | Because of your hardened and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed. (CSB)
God's Protection
As we read earlier...
2 Peter 2.9 | then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, (CSB)
God judged the sinful world yet saved Noah and his family...
God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah yet saved Lot...
Assurance
I had a friend long ago who was mistreated because he stood for truth against people with more influence and power.
I took him to my pastor at the time for counseling...
I'll never forget what my pastor said...
He quoted a 17th-century German poet:
The mills of God’s justice may grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine.
Wrong may seem to be winning because we are looking at the scoreboard before the game is over.
God writes the last chapter.
So, trust God to judge and rescue.
III. Refuse to make peace with untruth.
I want us to go back to a couple verses I intentionally skipped the read through earlier.
2 Peter 2.7 | and if he rescued righteous Lot, distressed by the depraved behavior of the immoral(CSB)
Distressed...
2 Peter 2.8 | (for as that righteous man lived among them day by day, his righteous soul was tormented by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— (CSB)
Tormented...
Lot was living in a sin-saturated culture.
I want to be careful not to speak anachronistically, imposing modern categories on the ancient world, but...
The culture of Sodom and Gomorrah was...
Committed to personal autonomy...
Immersed in an LGBT world...
God ultimately destroyed the cities and the people and rescued Lot and his two daughters.
But what was Lot's mindset and attitude while he lived in the cities?
This is an important question, because this is the situation we live in...
I think we can draw some conclusions about Lot's mindset and attitude...
First, Lot was a respected member of the community.
So, he must have shown respect and kindness to the people.
Genesis 19.1 | The two angels entered Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in Sodom’s gateway. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them. He bowed with his face to the ground (CSB)
That is an important observation for us to make.
Secondly, he was DISTRESSED (2 Peter 2.7) and TORMENTED (2 Peter 2.8), about their lifestyles and sin.
This is instructive!
How should we live in this environment of false teachings, deception, and rebellion?
A. We should show Christian respect and kindness.
B. We should be distressed and tormented by the sins around us.
How can we show Christian respect and kindness?
Treat every person with dignity as someone made in the image of God.
We can strongly disagree with what someone believes or how someone lives without treating that person with contempt.
Be genuinely kind, not merely strategically kind.
Help people.
Befriend people.
Listen to people.
Show hospitality to people.
Speak the truth with gentleness and respect.
1 Peter 3.15 | ...make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do this with gentleness and respect... (CSB)
Never confuse kindness with affirmation.
Jesus loved sinners without redefining their sin.
We do not have to approve of everything about someone in order to genuinely love them.
Remember that our goal is not to win an argument but to win people to Christ.
How can we remain distressed and tormented by the sins around us?
Recognize the desensitizing effect of constant exposure to sin.
What once shocked us can gradually become normal to us.
What becomes normal can eventually become acceptable.
Recent experience watching movie on a streaming service...
New movie... "Mayday"
Comedy...
The details we had said it was a clean movie...
Wife and I decided to save it for an at home date night...
We were enjoying the movie until we got about one hour in...
Then out of no where the movie introduced a homosexual theme into the plot.
I thought...
I have enough problems in my life...
I'm not going to voluntarily sit here and let my "entertainment" become a tool of Satan to poison my mind.
We switched off the movie.
Refuse to prioritize pleasing people over honoring God.
We should never become so afraid of appearing intolerant that we BECOME TOLERANT of what God calls evil.
Remember the destructive consequences of sin.
False teaching is not merely incorrect.
Peter calls it destructive.
Sin destroys people we are supposed to love.
Grieve over sin rather than merely becoming angry at sinners.
Lot was distressed and tormented.
Let that grief move us toward prayer and the gospel.
If we really believe people are in danger, love will compel us to speak.
Would you wake them up if their house were on fire?
So, refuse to make peace with untruth.
Conclusion
Friends, wrong may seem to be winning.
Lies may become popular.
Sin may become normal.
Truth may become unpopular.
But do not panic.
Recognize deception.
Trust God to judge and rescue.
Refuse to make peace with untruth.
Know the truth.
Stand on the truth.
Speak the truth in love.
And trust God with the outcome.
Wrong may seem to be winning today, but God writes the last chapter.