WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.859 Pone, and I'm the pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church, and it's my 00:00:03.859 --> 00:00:09.300 joy to bring God's word to you today. Special welcome if you're new or visiting with us. We're 00:00:09.300 --> 00:00:13.339 glad that you're here, and we're glad that you're here not because we're trying to fill seats, 00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:19.339 but because we're following Jesus together as one community. And as we follow Jesus together, 00:00:19.339 --> 00:00:25.120 we become convinced that there's no one so good, they don't need God's grace, and no one so bad 00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:30.280 they can't have it, which is why we come back week after week to see what God has to say to us 00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:36.960 in his word. We're back in our series on 2 Peter. You remember we broke near the end of November to 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:42.280 do our Advent series in Zechariah, and now we're back. We're in 2 Peter chapter 2. We're again in 00:00:42.280 --> 00:00:48.359 verses 4 through 11, and you'll remember that 2 Peter is a letter written by a man named Peter, 00:00:48.359 --> 00:00:55.780 and he writes it to a church somewhere in the Roman Empire in the 60s AD. And you'll also remember 00:00:55.780 --> 00:01:01.780 in this letter, he has one hope, he has one desire, which is that these people, this church, would grow. 00:01:02.519 --> 00:01:07.420 And he wants them to grow in two ways. He wants them to grow in grace, and he wants them to grow 00:01:07.420 --> 00:01:13.400 in knowledge. We see that at the very beginning of the letter and also at the very end. Now we'll have 00:01:13.400 --> 00:01:17.239 to do a little bit of review here. When we were in this letter before, now over a month ago, 00:01:17.239 --> 00:01:24.259 we were in verses 4 through 10, and I told you that there was so much in verses 4 through 10 that 00:01:24.259 --> 00:01:29.280 we were going to come back to it again and look at it a second time. So last time, when we looked 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:35.299 at 4 through 10, remember there was one main point, which is that Noah and Lot serve as references to 00:01:35.299 --> 00:01:40.780 God, and they serve as references in two ways. They're references that God's judgment is real, 00:01:41.599 --> 00:01:47.199 and they're references that God's salvation is also real. And that was the main point of verses 00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:52.320 4 through 10. But there's some other rich things here that we don't want to skip over. And so we're 00:01:52.320 --> 00:01:59.620 coming back again, this time seeing Lot and Noah, not as references, but as examples. They're going to 00:01:59.620 --> 00:02:05.659 serve this time not as references, but as examples. And there is examples specifically of how we live 00:02:05.659 --> 00:02:13.819 in a wicked world. How do we respond to a wicked world? There's, of course, a variety of ways. We 00:02:13.819 --> 00:02:19.699 might be tempted to react. We might be tempted to just be inoculated, to be immune to it. We're 00:02:19.699 --> 00:02:26.300 desensitized. We've lived among wickedness so long, we stopped and we don't notice it anymore. It doesn't 00:02:26.300 --> 00:02:32.659 affect us anymore. Another way we might respond is by sort of self-righteous anger. We're just always 00:02:32.659 --> 00:02:40.579 angry at the world. We're always talking about how bad things are. Lot and Noah, however, are going to 00:02:40.579 --> 00:02:45.659 model for us a different way. And so we're going to see two things this morning. First of all, that they 00:02:45.659 --> 00:02:53.659 hurt for the world, and they also speak to the world. We're going to see Lot and Noah hurt for the world 00:02:53.659 --> 00:02:59.099 and speak for the world. And so it's with that that we're going to read now. I invite you to turn with 00:02:59.099 --> 00:03:04.739 me, either in your worship guide or in your Bible or on your phone. No matter where you turn, remember 00:03:04.739 --> 00:03:11.280 that this is God's word. And God tells us in Isaiah chapter 40 that the grass withers and the flowers 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:19.120 fade, but his word stands forever. And so that's why we read it now, starting at verse 4. 00:03:20.599 --> 00:03:27.299 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of 00:03:27.300 --> 00:03:33.439 gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment, if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved 00:03:33.439 --> 00:03:40.180 Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the 00:03:40.180 --> 00:03:47.800 ungodly, verse 6, if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, 00:03:48.520 --> 00:03:54.800 making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly, and if he rescued righteous Lot, 00:03:54.800 --> 00:04:01.060 greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked. For as that righteous man lived among them 00:04:01.060 --> 00:04:08.160 day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard. 00:04:08.900 --> 00:04:16.080 Verse 9, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:24.319 punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:31.199 despise authority. I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word. 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:40.399 Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word, that it gives us the knowledge that we need to live in 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:46.879 this world, and it also tells us about your grace, that you never call us to do what you don't also empower 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:54.239 and enable. And so we ask for your power this morning by your spirit to hear and know and believe and 00:04:54.239 --> 00:05:00.299 understand what you've given us in your word, that we would grow this morning by your spirit and your word to 00:05:00.299 --> 00:05:06.979 love you more and more, and to love the things you love, and so to hate also the things that you hate. 00:05:06.980 --> 00:05:14.680 We thank you that we don't have to earn your help, but instead we ask for it in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:05:17.300 --> 00:05:23.920 As we come, of course, to the end and beginnings of various years, it's tradition for us to list many 00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:27.620 things that have happened in the previous year, good things, bad things, and of course there's a long 00:05:27.620 --> 00:05:35.720 list of bad things for 2020. Of course there's good things as well. It's easy to forget how long ago now 00:05:35.720 --> 00:05:40.660 it feels that we had 2019 coming to an end, and of course there was also a list of good things and 00:05:40.660 --> 00:05:46.440 bad things then. If you remember, one of the saddest things that happened in 2019 happened in April. 00:05:47.160 --> 00:05:53.540 And in April of 2019, on the 15th to be exact, there was a structural fire in the Cathedral of Notre Dame. 00:05:54.780 --> 00:05:59.140 And you'll remember that caused the spire to collapse on the cathedral. 00:05:59.139 --> 00:06:06.680 The roof was destroyed. What was most interesting to me, though, besides the catastrophe of it all, 00:06:06.719 --> 00:06:12.500 was how people in Paris responded. There's a variety of ways you could respond, right, if you're walking 00:06:12.500 --> 00:06:19.019 along and you see this great historic monument being burned. Maybe you could be angry. Maybe you 00:06:19.019 --> 00:06:24.399 would snap pictures. Maybe you would call someone on the phone. But what showed up over and over in 00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:28.899 news articles about this was something different. Parisians cried. 00:06:31.099 --> 00:06:37.239 As they watched the cathedral burning, many of them were in tears. And this was mentioned not just 00:06:37.239 --> 00:06:42.419 in one news source, but in multiple news sources. This was their response to seeing something so 00:06:42.419 --> 00:06:48.719 beautiful on fire. Some of them, of course, were silent. They had nothing that they could say. 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:55.900 The question for us in this passage is this. How do we respond when the world is on fire? 00:06:57.580 --> 00:07:03.700 How do we respond when the world is on fire? Of course, we see right away in this passage that 00:07:03.700 --> 00:07:08.120 we're looking at characters who lived in a world that was on fire. I'm going to take things out of 00:07:08.120 --> 00:07:15.320 order, so we're going to look at Lot first. Lot's world was on fire. We're told in verse 7 that he was 00:07:15.319 --> 00:07:23.560 distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked. And so Lot was living in a world filled with sexual 00:07:23.560 --> 00:07:30.079 perversion. Of course, we also know from Genesis chapter 6 through Genesis chapter 6, excuse me, 00:07:30.139 --> 00:07:35.079 not Genesis, that was Noah. Genesis 18 and 19, not just filled with sexual perversion, but also filled 00:07:35.079 --> 00:07:40.860 with violence. So Lot was living in this terrible world. He was living in Sodom and Gomorrah, and this 00:07:40.860 --> 00:07:45.300 city was out of control. It was out of control with sexual perversion. It was out of 00:07:45.300 --> 00:07:49.240 control with violence. And of course, we're told in other parts of Scripture that it was judged also 00:07:49.240 --> 00:07:54.879 for its lack of hospitality. Then we're then told in verse 8 the same thing. He's living among them. 00:07:55.040 --> 00:08:02.259 He was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard. So this was a 00:08:02.259 --> 00:08:07.379 city that was on fire. It was a city where the law was not honored or respected. It was a city where 00:08:07.379 --> 00:08:12.720 there was this perversion. It was a city filled with violence. And of course, we find out also that this 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:19.180 is true of the world of the recipients of this letter. We're told about God's judgment, verse 10, 00:08:19.320 --> 00:08:26.620 for those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. And so just like 00:08:26.620 --> 00:08:31.760 Parisians looking at the Notre Dame Cathedral burning, Christians have a variety of options for how they can 00:08:31.760 --> 00:08:40.879 respond, how they can react to this world. Lot chooses to be in anguish. We're told, verse 7, 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:48.740 he was greatly distressed. Verse 8, he was tormenting his righteous soul. This word torment could also be 00:08:48.740 --> 00:08:58.279 translated torture. Lot was beside himself that the world was like this. He was beside himself that the world 00:08:58.279 --> 00:09:04.480 was filled with such wickedness. But of course, just like the Parisians didn't have to cry, there's a variety of 00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:09.000 options for us as well when we look at the world on fire. And there's Christians who choose different options. 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:13.559 There's, of course, one type of Christian. I would call this Christian the cool Christian. 00:09:15.080 --> 00:09:19.399 The cool Christian is proud of the fact that they're unfazed by the wickedness of the world. 00:09:20.539 --> 00:09:25.960 They're a live and let live kinds of people. They'll say things like this, you know, 00:09:25.980 --> 00:09:31.480 it's not really hurting anyone, this sin. It's not affecting me. You know, it's not what I believe, 00:09:31.480 --> 00:09:39.259 but I'm not going to worry about it too much. The cool Christian is proud of this. They're not like 00:09:39.259 --> 00:09:43.000 those uptight Christians, right, who are worried about these things. They understand there's a 00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:49.620 bigger picture involved. They understand it's not a big deal. In fact, it's common now sometimes for 00:09:49.620 --> 00:09:54.039 Christians to feel guilty for hating sin, like something's wrong with them. You'll find people 00:09:54.039 --> 00:09:58.180 trying to qualify their statements about how they understand the way things are, and it's really not that 00:09:58.179 --> 00:10:02.139 bad, and maybe it's not the way they would want the world to be, but that's the way things are. 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:07.879 You know, we're just going to agree to disagree. That's how the cool Christian operates. 00:10:10.519 --> 00:10:14.819 There's not just the cool Christian, however, there's also the reactionary Christian. If the 00:10:14.819 --> 00:10:21.120 cool Christian just lets sin slide off their back, the reactionary Christian is angry all the time. 00:10:22.500 --> 00:10:27.319 Reactionary Christian is always talking about how bad the world is. The reactionary Christian says 00:10:27.320 --> 00:10:31.820 things like this, I can't believe. I can't believe that people would be doing things like this. 00:10:32.340 --> 00:10:37.420 They would mock those who disagree with them. They mock their political enemies. They mock people who 00:10:37.420 --> 00:10:44.540 disagree with the Christian sexual ethic. These people love to talk about how bad the world is. 00:10:44.539 --> 00:10:54.959 And it's a great distraction, right? Because if we talk about how bad the world is, we don't have to 00:10:54.959 --> 00:11:02.319 look at our own sin. We don't have to think about the problems in our own families and our own 00:11:02.319 --> 00:11:07.679 communities. And of course, this anger tends to come from a place of self-righteousness. The reason the 00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:13.059 angry Christian says things like, I can't believe they would do that, because the angry Christian thinks he's 00:11:13.059 --> 00:11:19.979 above such things. He forgets that it's God's grace and God's grace alone that's at work in his life. 00:11:22.319 --> 00:11:29.019 Lot, however, gives us a different solution. He is tormented by the sin of the world around him. 00:11:30.139 --> 00:11:38.919 Lot is not a cool Christian. Lot doesn't pretend that it doesn't matter. Lot hurts over the wickedness of the 00:11:38.919 --> 00:11:48.779 world. It hurts him. Lot is also not a reactionary Christian. Notice what it doesn't say. It doesn't 00:11:48.779 --> 00:11:55.719 say Lot went around ranting all the time on social media. Whenever Lot showed up to parties and was with 00:11:55.719 --> 00:12:04.039 other believers, he went off about the state of the world. No, Lot chooses this third way. Lot is hurt. 00:12:04.039 --> 00:12:11.939 And so instead of coming from a place of self-righteousness, here it comes from a place of 00:12:11.939 --> 00:12:21.039 love. Lot loves God. And so he loves the things that God loves. He also hates the things that God hates. 00:12:21.159 --> 00:12:28.959 He hates seeing God's good design, God's good creation marred and despoiled and misused. 00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:36.440 And so what would we say about Lot? Here's another reactionary conservative. No, here is someone who is 00:12:36.440 --> 00:12:44.379 grieving over sin. Here's someone who looks at the world. They know it's not the way it was meant to be, 00:12:44.720 --> 00:12:54.120 and it hurts them at their core. It tortures them because they love God so much. Here is something 00:12:54.120 --> 00:12:59.799 good and beautiful that's being destroyed. That is why there were tears over Notre Dame, right? 00:13:01.139 --> 00:13:07.620 Look at what great greatness is being marred and destroyed and burned. Of course, there's many other 00:13:07.620 --> 00:13:14.919 examples as well. In 2003, when American troops went into Baghdad and shortly followed the fall of Saddam 00:13:14.919 --> 00:13:20.560 Hussein, one of the things that happened in the midst of the chaos was that the National Museum of Iraq 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:27.419 was looted. And so all these priceless artifacts from around the Middle East were stolen, taken away. 00:13:27.579 --> 00:13:33.199 Some things were destroyed. Destruction of things that were priceless, that were irreplaceable. 00:13:34.979 --> 00:13:39.939 And they're trying, even now, there's a news article that came out this summer in 2020 to recover these 00:13:39.939 --> 00:13:45.319 works of art. There are people who are scouring eBay and the internet. Apparently, there was a increase in the 00:13:45.319 --> 00:13:50.519 number of illegal artifacts being sold during COVID. And in this news article, there's this picture of 00:13:50.519 --> 00:13:56.860 this man who just has his head, his face in his hands. And the caption for the picture is this, 00:13:57.480 --> 00:14:05.019 Iraqi National Museum Director, Musen Hassan, holds his head in his hands as he sits amid destroyed artifacts 00:14:05.019 --> 00:14:15.240 in the Baghdad Museum in 2003. That is an appropriate response to the destruction of priceless works of art 00:14:15.240 --> 00:14:23.799 and history. How much more is an appropriate response for the Christian as we see the destruction 00:14:23.799 --> 00:14:32.860 of the goodness that God has put into this world? How much more is our grief an appropriate response to 00:14:32.860 --> 00:14:38.700 seeing people take what is evil and call it good and call what is good evil? 00:14:38.700 --> 00:14:46.000 That's how we grieve over the world without being cool Christians, without being self-righteous 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:52.720 Christians. We recognize there's something beautiful and good and right. And we mourn and lament when it's 00:14:52.720 --> 00:15:00.860 lost and destroyed. And so as we look at the example of Lot, the question for us is this, is to examine 00:15:00.860 --> 00:15:10.460 our hearts and ask ourselves, do we love what God loves? If we love what God loves, we will hate what 00:15:10.460 --> 00:15:16.600 he hates. We prayed the Lord's Prayer together. And in the Lord's Prayer, we pray that God's kingdom would 00:15:16.600 --> 00:15:23.639 come on earth as it is in heaven. Well, if we want God's kingdom to come, it means we want everything 00:15:23.639 --> 00:15:28.500 that stands in the way to be done away with. It means that everything that stands in the way, 00:15:28.500 --> 00:15:34.200 that keeps us from the fullness of the kingdom is something that makes us grieve in the same way 00:15:34.200 --> 00:15:40.720 that Lot grieved. We want to be like Isaiah, who said in Isaiah chapter 5, woe to those who call evil 00:15:40.720 --> 00:15:46.399 good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:53.080 and sweet for bitter. And of course, we could be like Isaiah in chapter 6 as well, when he says, woe is me, 00:15:53.080 --> 00:16:00.080 for I am lost. For I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:07.240 For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. And so it's not about being uptight. 00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:16.240 It's not about being cool. It's about grieving over the destruction of what is good and beautiful in 00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:25.440 this world. And longing for when God is going to come and restore it again. Of course, God doesn't 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:30.340 just tell us to pray for his kingdom to come. That's not the only thing Jesus tells his disciples. He also 00:16:30.340 --> 00:16:35.980 tells them to love their neighbors as themselves. He says this in Mark chapter 12, speaking about the 00:16:35.980 --> 00:16:40.320 two greatest commandments. He says the second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. 00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:48.740 There is no other commandment greater than these. Why is it so tempting to be the angry Christian? 00:16:49.740 --> 00:16:55.020 There's probably a lot of reasons. One of them is, it's a lot easier to be angry than it is to 00:16:55.020 --> 00:17:02.020 actually move toward your neighbor. Being angry is a lot easier than loving your neighbor as yourself. 00:17:03.900 --> 00:17:08.900 And so that brings us to our second example. Remember I told you we're going to hurt for the world, 00:17:08.900 --> 00:17:17.980 and we're going to speak to the world. Lot hurts for the world. Noah speaks to the world. We have this 00:17:17.980 --> 00:17:26.480 short phrase about Noah telling us that he is, this is verse five, a herald of righteousness. 00:17:28.440 --> 00:17:37.560 Another word for a herald is a preacher. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. If you remember the 00:17:37.559 --> 00:17:44.599 story of Noah in Genesis six, it's really six through nine, you remember that God comes and tells Noah 00:17:44.599 --> 00:17:48.759 that there's a flood that's going to come on the earth, and he instructs Noah to build an ark. And 00:17:48.759 --> 00:17:54.419 that's what we learn about in those passages. We don't see everything in chapter six through nine of 00:17:54.419 --> 00:18:02.419 Genesis. We don't see what we learn here. Noah was not just building an ark. He was actively engaged 00:18:02.420 --> 00:18:08.160 with the people around him. Noah was actively speaking to the world around him about the reality 00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:13.180 of God's coming judgment, what we saw last time from this passage, and presumably about the reality 00:18:13.180 --> 00:18:19.480 of God's salvation. It's subtle here. It's not explicit, but Noah is the opposite of the false 00:18:19.480 --> 00:18:25.440 teachers we saw at the beginning of chapter two. Remember the false teachers gloss over. They talk about 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:29.860 the fact that God's judgment is not real. Noah, on the other hand, was a preacher of righteousness. 00:18:29.859 --> 00:18:35.199 He was faithful in doing what I said we should do after the beginning of chapter two. We're faithful 00:18:35.199 --> 00:18:43.139 in speaking clearly about God's judgment and his salvation. And so Noah also fails to fall into 00:18:43.139 --> 00:18:48.259 these errors. Noah doesn't choose to be a cool Christian. Noah's building the ark as God has 00:18:48.259 --> 00:18:54.799 commanded him to. He also chooses not to be an angry Christian. Noah chooses to speak to the world. He is 00:18:54.799 --> 00:19:04.200 actively engaged in the lives of his neighbors. And so for us as well, as we answer this question, 00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:11.559 how do we respond when the world is on fire? How do we respond to a wicked world? We, like Noah, 00:19:12.059 --> 00:19:14.799 love our neighbors enough to speak the truth to them. 00:19:14.799 --> 00:19:22.539 We love our neighbors enough to speak to the truth of them. I've mentioned this book before 00:19:22.539 --> 00:19:28.059 called Evangelism as Exiles, and I read some excerpts to you when we were in 1 Peter. I'm 00:19:28.059 --> 00:19:35.119 going to read an excerpt to you now as we're in 2 Peter. So often now, American evangelicals are 00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:40.599 despondent and hopeless, specifically in light of our fading cultural power and social influence. 00:19:40.599 --> 00:19:46.219 Our knee-jerk reaction is to bemoan what is lost, to throw up our arms and call foul. 00:19:47.079 --> 00:19:51.779 That would be the angry Christian. As the ground erodes beneath our feet, we tend to fight for our 00:19:51.779 --> 00:19:57.719 rights in the public square and slam our opponents on social media. We're fearful about our future, 00:19:58.519 --> 00:20:04.500 yet fear of the future isn't necessarily the problem. We actually don't seem fearful enough, 00:20:04.839 --> 00:20:10.579 not nearly as exasperated or concerned about the certain and dreadful end of our unbelieving 00:20:10.599 --> 00:20:16.159 neighbors as we should be. More and more, I see Christians incensed when the world mocks us and our 00:20:16.159 --> 00:20:21.419 faith, but we seem to have no trouble disparaging others with whom we disagree, whether it's for their 00:20:21.419 --> 00:20:29.319 position on the environment or economics, guns, or gays. Meanwhile, we unnecessarily disenfranchise 00:20:29.319 --> 00:20:37.299 unbelievers by becoming ardent apologists for relatively unimportant opinions. But at the same time, 00:20:37.299 --> 00:20:43.460 we somehow lack an authoritative voice on far weightier matters. Few of us would ever risk 00:20:43.460 --> 00:20:50.919 offending someone by actually proclaiming the good news of Christ. Instead, we'll only passively or 00:20:50.919 --> 00:20:55.799 reluctantly share the gospel, provided someone else is inclined to listen. 00:20:55.799 --> 00:21:06.680 Of course, convicting words, but words that encourage us to be not just like Lot, but also like Noah, 00:21:07.359 --> 00:21:13.740 a preacher of righteousness who loved the world enough to tell them the truth, 00:21:13.740 --> 00:21:20.299 who chose the hard path rather than the easy path. 00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:28.599 Now, if you know much about reading and teaching the Bible, you notice I've done something this 00:21:28.599 --> 00:21:36.079 morning I'm not supposed to do. I have told you to be like someone in the Bible. I've told you to be 00:21:36.079 --> 00:21:42.699 like Noah and to be like Lot. Of course, that's moralism, right? We're not supposed to tell someone 00:21:42.699 --> 00:21:47.279 just to be and do like some character in the Bible. We're supposed to look at Jesus, right? 00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:54.740 The problem is the Bible actually tells us to be like people. Peter here is presenting these people 00:21:54.740 --> 00:22:00.500 as examples. And so how do we do this? How do we look to these people as examples without 00:22:00.500 --> 00:22:05.859 becoming moralist, without just commanding someone to do something they're not able to do? 00:22:06.859 --> 00:22:10.139 This is something we're going to talk about again. We're going to be in the book of Daniel, by the way, 00:22:10.179 --> 00:22:14.419 after we finish 2 Peter. Daniel, we're going to have the same problem. What do we do with the character 00:22:14.419 --> 00:22:20.819 of Daniel? Is it okay to say be like Daniel? Would I dare say something like dare to be a Daniel? 00:22:22.279 --> 00:22:26.339 This is going to be another quick little master class on how we read the Bible. What do we do with 00:22:26.339 --> 00:22:33.399 characters as models? It is not okay to simply say be like this biblical character. That is moralism. 00:22:33.400 --> 00:22:39.660 However, the Bible gives us characters as examples. And so what we have to do is we have to say be like 00:22:39.660 --> 00:22:50.440 this character as he had faith in God. Be like this character because she trusted in God. 00:22:50.440 --> 00:23:00.120 Moralism is saying do. The gospel is saying God has done. He's done something for this character. 00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:06.220 This character responded in this way. God has done something for us. We can respond in that way as 00:23:06.220 --> 00:23:13.200 well. And so we can remove the danger of looking to biblical characters as examples when we look to 00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:19.539 them as examples because of their trust and faith and hope and confidence in God. The same is true for 00:23:19.539 --> 00:23:29.819 Lot and Noah. They had faith in God. They trusted and believed God's promises. Remember, God came to 00:23:29.819 --> 00:23:35.079 Noah and said he was going to save him from the flood and to build an ark. Noah had to trust that promise. 00:23:35.980 --> 00:23:42.019 God had provided him what he needed. He had given him the ark. He had given him the directions and the 00:23:42.019 --> 00:23:49.599 instructions. Noah was responding in obedience. God initiated with his grace and his salvation. 00:23:50.399 --> 00:23:58.179 Noah responded with a faithful obedience. The same is true for us. We look to God's goodness and 00:23:58.180 --> 00:24:06.259 provision first. And like the characters who are our examples, we respond in faith and trust and obedience. 00:24:07.340 --> 00:24:18.519 And so, Christian, God makes you good promises as well. Remember, we saw this in 2 Peter 1 at the very 00:24:18.519 --> 00:24:24.840 beginning, verses 3 and 4. We heard about the great and very precious promises that God has given us. 00:24:24.839 --> 00:24:32.519 The same is true for us now. If we are going to be obedient, if we are going to hurt for the world and 00:24:32.519 --> 00:24:39.339 speak to the world, we can only do that after we have received and known God's good promises. 00:24:40.339 --> 00:24:46.299 If we're going to be like Lot, we hear Jesus' promise in Matthew chapter 5, 00:24:46.299 --> 00:24:50.220 blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 00:24:52.359 --> 00:24:58.460 If we are going to be like Lot, we start first with God's promise in Matthew chapter 5, verse 6. 00:24:58.940 --> 00:25:03.799 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 00:25:05.779 --> 00:25:10.279 How do we function like Lot? We start by knowing that God offers us his blessing. 00:25:10.279 --> 00:25:17.920 How do we function like Lot? We start by knowing that we'll be satisfied if we hunger for righteousness. 00:25:19.220 --> 00:25:21.839 We will be comforted if we mourn. 00:25:23.879 --> 00:25:25.619 How do we function like Noah? 00:25:26.879 --> 00:25:28.839 Jesus also makes us promises. 00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:31.839 Also in Matthew chapter 5, he tells us, 00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:35.399 Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you, 00:25:35.779 --> 00:25:38.700 and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 00:25:38.700 --> 00:25:42.940 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, 00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:46.319 for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:48.600 How are we like Noah? 00:25:49.240 --> 00:25:51.840 We know that our reward is great in heaven. 00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:54.940 How are we like Noah? 00:25:55.740 --> 00:25:58.680 We know that God offers us his blessing. 00:25:58.680 --> 00:26:05.039 And so how do we become not moralists, but people who look to Jesus? 00:26:05.220 --> 00:26:10.180 We are people who look to Jesus as we follow the example of Noah and Lot, 00:26:10.259 --> 00:26:13.759 because we know that God's promises are sure and true. 00:26:13.920 --> 00:26:17.340 And we know most of all that they are sure and true, 00:26:17.340 --> 00:26:20.759 because he has proven them in Jesus Christ. 00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:26.799 His greatest promise, that he would send his son to die for our sins, has come true. 00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:31.779 How much more are all the lesser promises going to be honored? 00:26:33.599 --> 00:26:37.579 Paul tells us this in Romans chapter 8, verses 31 and 32. 00:26:38.019 --> 00:26:43.220 If God did not withhold his own son, will he not also give us everything else? 00:26:45.299 --> 00:26:48.899 And so we look to Jesus, if we're Christians, on the cross, 00:26:48.980 --> 00:26:55.519 knowing that he is the guarantee of God's promises that empower and enable our obedience. 00:26:55.519 --> 00:27:07.119 If you are not a Christian, remember what was true when we talked about this passage last time. 00:27:07.220 --> 00:27:09.019 Remember what was true of Noah. 00:27:09.400 --> 00:27:11.279 He was a preacher of righteousness. 00:27:13.339 --> 00:27:17.599 If you look back at Genesis, he built the ark for a really long time. 00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:25.319 And there's probably a lot of people who thought he was crazy until the day the flood came. 00:27:27.219 --> 00:27:31.359 The same is true for us today in God's world. 00:27:31.759 --> 00:27:33.480 God delays his judgment. 00:27:34.099 --> 00:27:37.879 He has not yet poured out full and final judgment on this earth. 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:40.919 In fact, we're going to talk about that more in 2 Peter chapter 3. 00:27:41.059 --> 00:27:43.839 Peter's going to make the point that it's a proof of God's patience. 00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:45.759 He's giving people time to repent. 00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:50.399 God is still giving you time to repent. 00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:51.919 It will not be forever. 00:27:54.279 --> 00:28:00.379 And so the call for you is also to love what God loves and to hate what he hates. 00:28:00.879 --> 00:28:03.179 The call is to repent of your sins. 00:28:03.180 --> 00:28:12.420 To know that God offers forgiveness for anyone and everyone who accepts Jesus' sacrifice on his behalf. 00:28:13.220 --> 00:28:17.039 And he offers those promises of blessing to you as well. 00:28:18.580 --> 00:28:25.019 And so a Christian knows God's promises are true and trusts them in faith. 00:28:26.019 --> 00:28:32.220 A non-Christian knows that God's judgment is real and that the call to repent is now. 00:28:32.220 --> 00:28:32.819 Now. 00:28:35.299 --> 00:28:40.200 Elliot Clark also says this, and I'll end with this, later on in his book. 00:28:40.960 --> 00:28:44.220 As we've already seen, hope leads us to speak. 00:28:44.980 --> 00:28:49.880 Hope in future glory fills our hearts with joy and animates our witness. 00:28:50.740 --> 00:28:54.960 Even overcoming hindrances to evangelism like shame and exclusion. 00:28:54.960 --> 00:29:02.559 But hope in God's active providence in our present circumstances also loosens our lips to preach the gospel. 00:29:03.400 --> 00:29:03.740 Why? 00:29:03.900 --> 00:29:08.180 Because we recognize that God has put us where we are for such a time as this. 00:29:09.539 --> 00:29:17.900 Brothers and sisters, God has put us here in 2021 in Colorado Springs for such a time as this. 00:29:17.900 --> 00:29:19.900 And he's called us to hurt for the world. 00:29:20.500 --> 00:29:22.180 And he's called us to speak to the world. 00:29:22.300 --> 00:29:27.180 He has made great promises for everyone who answers this call. 00:29:28.380 --> 00:29:32.019 And those promises are guaranteed by Jesus Christ. 00:29:32.019 --> 00:29:34.740 Please pray with me. 00:29:36.920 --> 00:29:43.940 Our Father in heaven, we praise you that you do give us examples in your word of what it looks like to be obedient. 00:29:44.139 --> 00:29:46.519 What it looks like to live lives of faith. 00:29:47.240 --> 00:29:55.180 We ask that you would use your promises to stir up our faithfulness just like you did for Noah and Lot. 00:29:55.180 --> 00:30:01.600 We thank you that you show us our need for your grace and you meet us at that very same point of need. 00:30:01.680 --> 00:30:05.380 And we thank you that we don't earn these things or deserve them. 00:30:05.440 --> 00:30:08.580 That your promises are given us by Jesus. 00:30:08.759 --> 00:30:10.400 And so it's in his name that we pray. 00:30:10.920 --> 00:30:11.220 Amen.