The sermon 'Doom and Deliverance Are In the Hand of Almighty God' by Trent Moody explores the dual themes of God's judgment on the ungodly and His deliverance of the righteous. It uses biblical examples such as the fallen angels, the flood, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to demonstrate God's unwavering authority and power in executing judgment. The speaker highlights that regardless of the seeming delay in God's judgment, it is certain and will come to pass. Personal anecdotes and historical examples are employed to illustrate the human tendency to misinterpret God's patience as forgetfulness or pardon. The sermon further emphasizes God's mercy and deliverance through the stories of Noah and Lot, reminding the audience of the assurance that God knows how to deliver the godly from temptation. It concludes with a call for the ungodly to repent and turn to Christ for salvation, affirming God's righteousness and merciful nature.

By covetousness, they will exploit you with deceptive words. For a long time, their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. For if God did not spare the angels who sinned but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment and did not spare the ancient world but save Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly, and delivered righteous lot who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked. For that righteous man dwelling among them tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds. Then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority.

They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, whereas angels who are greater in power and might do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord. Let's pray. Our gracious Father, we ask you, Lord, to take your word and to implant it into our hearts. Lord, in this passage, you are giving us not only examples, but strong warning, and also great consolation.

Lord, you mix these challenging things also with very delightful things. And we are so thankful for that Lord. You understand our frame. You know our weaknesses. Lord you know how our minds do not often think rightly but Lord your word corrects that and I pray Lord that this morning that the power of your word to the power of your spirit Lord would give us understanding into your word and Lord help us to think rightly about these things and Lord may you be glorified and Lord may you be exalted not only in our thinking Lord but also in this world.

And we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated. Doom and deliverance. Thank you brother.

Doom and deliverance are in the hand of the Almighty God. As we consider our text this morning, I would like to begin with this thought. There is a certainty of God's judgment on false teachers. We see this in the latter part of verse three here. He says, for a long time, their judgment has not been idle and their destruction does not slumber.

Matthew Henry says men are apt to think that a reprieve is the forerunner of a pardon and that if judgment be not speedily executed it is or will be certainly reversed. But the Apostle tells us that how successful and prosperous so ever false teachers may be, and that for a time yet their judgment lingereth not. God 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 on them. The righteous judge will speedily take vengeance.

The day of their calamity is at hand and the things that shall come upon them make haste." Let me repeat that first thought. Men are apt to think that a reprieve is the forerunner of a pardon. Years ago when I was in grade school, I once deceived myself like this regarding corporal punishment, not eternal as what we see here, from one of my teachers in grade school. And I pray that this is not the only thing you remember from this message today is how I messed up when I was a child. I had done something that was really not worthy of this degree of punishment, at least in my estimation.

Nevertheless, the teacher was not known for being the most patient and the most kind, but really that's beside the point. She told me that I would receive discipline. For the rest of that day, every time she looked in my direction, my heart began to beat faster, and my thoughts began to turn to what was going to be. I thought about the moment of my doom. To my amazement though, that day passed with no discipline and without receiving the promised punishment.

The next day came, and I thought, surely today is the day. This is the day that I will receive my punishment. But that day likewise passed. By the morning of the third day, I had assumed to myself that she had forgotten, or hopefully had thought better, of the situation and changed her mind. I went to school that day confident that I had escaped.

That is until she called me to the principal's office. My heart sank. There was no escape. All of that dread flooded back into my heart and into my mind and in the moment of punishment had arrived and there was nothing I could do about it. We entered that office and she applied the Board of Education to the seat of instruction.

And I knew. And as you can tell, my memory is still marked with this, has not faded from my mind. This is what the ungodly do. They tell themselves, does God really know? Does he remember?

Does he see? They, like I, are deceiving themselves. That day did come for me, and that day will come for all of the ungodly. Notice what he says in verse 3. He says in the latter part, for a long time their judgment has not been idle and their destruction does not slumber.

God has not fallen asleep. God has not forgotten about what they had done. He has not pardoned them. He has not thought better of their deeds. But this day is appointed unto them.

And on that day, it will come. You see, one of the challenges in our minds, just like our brother Josh read in Psalm 73 this morning, one of the challenges of our minds as Christians is the seeming slowness of God to mete out judgment upon the ungodly. We look around us as Asaph did and we're confused by this and we think surely I have cleansed my hands and my heart in vain. They go on in their wealth and in their pleasure and in all of the things that they enjoy and the false teachers are much like this. We look at them and they're flying jets around the world.

They're enjoying mansions and they're enjoying abundance. Thus God see. There have been times when I have heard false teachers say things that I thought to myself, surely they are getting ready to get it. There have been times I had literally wanted to move away from the place, from the things that I have heard, because I knew lightning was going to strike. But God in his long-sufferingness, even towards the ungodly, he holds back.

God does not wipe them out in an instant as we often see, but be assured his judgment is not slumbering. Don't be fooled by the long-sufferingness of God whether it be toward the ungodly or towards you. You know when I'm honest with myself what is really more amazing is that God has not cast me into hell. Thank God for his long suffering. Thank God that he has not dealt with me as I have thought that he should deal with others.

You see, in this thought there are actually two encouragements. One is that God's judgment on false teachers has been determined from the beginning and will not be escaped by any. And secondly, even though we as God's children truly deserve God's judgment, he in his abundant mercy spared us because his judgment was poured out upon his son instead of on us. His robes for mine. Oh wonderful exchange.

This is our God. However, regarding the ungodly, we may be confident that God's judgment upon these teachers is not idle. The word here that this idle means inactive or to linger or delay. In other words, the power and certainty of God's judgment has not worn out nor run out of power. It is effective, it is powerful, and it will be, as verse 1 says, swift destruction.

They will bring on themselves swift destructions. Just like Psalm 73 in the middle part of that Psalm, right after the hinge of verse 17, I call that the hinge verse, until I went into the house of the Lord. That's what changed his whole view. That's really what I want this all to be about this morning. Your thoughts may not be right about yourself, it may not be right about the ungodly, until you came to the house of God.

Let God's word set your thinking right. Let it fix your theology. Let it inform your minds. Listen to what he says in verses 18 of 19 of this Psalm 73. He says, surely you have set them in slippery places.

You cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are brought to desolation as in a moment. They are utterly consumed with terrors. You see, God's judgment will be swift and will take away the ungodly in a moment. They have their feet in slippery places.

God's judgment does not slumber and God has not forgotten and he will bring these men to their day. So in verse four, Peter continues his point regarding this judgment of destruction of the false teachers and he wants them, both us and them, to understand that false teachers, they know that they will not escape the judgment of God. He says this, that in verse 6, the latter part of verse 6, he says, making them an example to those who would live ungodly. He wrote these things so that the ungodly and the false teachers would know that God does bring judgment. God has the power to judge and Peter, in these next few verses here, he lays down the proof and the surety of that judgment by laying out for us historical cases in point.

These things have happened. And so, I really want us to focus now in verses 4 through 6 on these historical examples to prove God's authority and ability to judge the ungodly. God's authority and ability to judge the ungodly. Look with me in verses 4 through 6. For if, the word could be sensed there, this is something that has happened.

For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment, and did not spare the ancient world but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, and bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly. So Peter lays out for us in these three verses here these great examples, these historical biblical examples whereby God proves his authority and his ability to bring judgment on anyone and anything. Nothing escapes God's judgment and he lays this out in three ways. You see, Peter's writing to believers to assure them of the surety of this judgment upon the ungodly. Remember, these are the people who were scattered abroad, who were experiencing challenges and difficulties.

They were experiencing these difficult circumstances of temptation and persecution and now they're dealing with these issues of false teachers who are bringing indamable heresies and who are trying to lead them astray and so they were experiencing this difficulty here and Peter wanted them to know brothers and sisters be assured God will deal with them and it's really even in this these words which are hard and they speak about the judgment of God. Even in the judgment of God, God brings comfort to the heart of the believer to know that he sets all things right. We'll see in a few moments This surety of God's ability to deliver the godly out of temptation as well. Again, it is tempting for us sometimes to think that because God's judgment is delayed, that it is not coming. But do not be troubled by the scoffers who mock, as we see in 2 Peter 3.

Peter writes, knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lust and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation, for this they willfully forget. They forget on purpose. They lie to themselves. Much like I did in grade school, I deceived myself to think it was not coming because it was delayed.

You see, what they willfully forget is that God has brought judgment in the past and He will bring judgment again. Nothing can stop it and no one can restrain it. And I want to show you that in Peter's first example here, he says this, for if God did not spare the angels who send, no amount of dignity, power, or might will save the ungodly from the judgment of Almighty God. No amount of dignity, These are angels he's speaking of here. His first example is he's arguing from the greater to the lesser.

We know here just in a few moments he speaks about angels being greater in power and might than we are. And so he starts here and he works his way right on down the list to prove to us that God has the ability and the authority to bring judgment upon the ungodly. And let me just say this, if you're here this morning and you're one of the ungodly, You've not trusted in Christ and repented of your sins. God has the authority and the ability to bring judgment on you if you do not repent. So turn and live like we heard a few weeks ago in Ezekiel, turn and live.

Note what Peter says, for God did not spare the angels who sinned but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment. Jude verse 6 says, and the angels who did not keep their proper domain but left their own abode, he has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day. Many of you may have read this sermon by Jonathan Edwards, a famous, his most famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. If you've never read that or listened to it, obviously it's not him reading that, but if you've never read that or listened to someone else read it, you ought to do so. It is worth the read.

He says this, and think about this in relation to the power and might of angels when they stand in relation to the judgment of God. If God should withhold his hand from the floodgate, it would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God would rush forth with inconceivable fury and would come upon you with omnipotent power and If your strength listen and if your strength were ten thousand times greater than it is Yay Ten thousand times greater than the strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would be nothing to withstand or endure it. God, yes our God, the true and living God, be warned, God did not spare angels who send, who are greater in power than might. When they send, God casts them down. So he's giving this example here, this huge example, that even when the angels send, God had the authority and the ability and the power to cast them down and to reserve them into chains of darkness until the day.

These once holy fiery beings when they sinned and rebelled against God were unable to withstand God's arresting power. In Hebrews 1 7 we read, and of the angels he says, who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. These fiery beings could not resist God. He cast them down. When they rebelled, they fell.

As a side note, not all of the fallen angels are reserved in chains of darkness, and I'm not going to get into all of the theology of angels because we could spend the rest of the afternoon there. But I want you to understand this that there are those who are possessed and tormented by demons today on this earth. I believe it is the most wicked, the most diabolical of these fallen angels and demons who are reserved into chains and to darkness and to that day. In Matthew 829 It says this, and suddenly they, the fallen angels or the demons, cried out saying, what have we to do with you, Jesus, you son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?

Even the fallen angels knew that there is coming a day. Even in their state, they know that there is a time in which they will be tormented forever. They do not deny this. They acknowledge this publicly before these people who are here and before the Lord Jesus Christ. And if God did not spare the angels, These mighty beings that once dwelled in the presence of God, these mighty beings that once serve God, these beings who were able to do what humans cannot do.

In verse 11 it is said that they are greater in power and might. They may be greater in power and might than man, but they are no match for almighty God. Again, I read from Edward's sermon, and if your strength were 10, 000 times greater than it is, yea, 10, 000 times greater than the strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would be nothing to withstand or endure the judgment of God. That's terrifying. But that's our God.

But not only that, this next example shows us that even an evil majority cannot overrule the righteous judgment of God. Not only the angels in heaven who sinned against God could not resist it, but also the majority of the entire earth together could not resist it. He gives us this example here in verse 5. He says, and did not spare the ancient world but save Noah. We know that he's speaking here of the ancient world as all of those before the flood that were living in an ungodly way.

They could not resist the judgment of God. Even though the whole world be stacked against God, they were nothing in comparison to God. Nothing. All people of the earth during the time of Noah, all people, every person upon the earth except for Noah and his family, did not have the ability to resist God's judgment. I think about these foolish leaders of our day who think as Psalm 2 says that these nations come together and they make their plans to resist God and God sits in the heavens and laughs Aren't you glad just for a moment aren't you glad that you're on his side?

I pray you're on his side. This is our God. They could not resist even though they were unified together against God and their wickedness they could not resist and let this be a warning to us in America who have such high thoughts of our constitutional republic and our democratic process we cannot either. You see in the city of God the majority means nothing. God's judgment is not determined by a democratic process.

He can't be outvoted, he can't be kicked out of office, he is God. You see, every person in the world be ungodly. If every person in the world be ungodly and unrepentant, then God will destroy the entirety of the world as he did during the flood. And that's really Peter's example to them. They're wanting them to know, dear brothers and sisters, I know that you're experiencing persecution and tribulation and difficulties and false teachers and all of these things but don't worry though the whole world be against you if God is for you.

Know what Paul said in Romans? If God be for us who can be against us? For him who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? This is our God." You see in Genesis 6 verses 5 through 7, this is what the scripture says, then the Lord saw the wickedness of man that was great, the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he made man on the earth and he was grieved in his heart.

So the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I'm sorry that I have made them. To quote again from Edward's sermon is so fitting. Listen to what he says, there is no want or in our day we would understand this as lack. There is no lack of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment, men's hands cannot be strong when God rises up. The strongest have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his hands.

He is not only able to cast wicked men into hell, but he can do it most easily. Sometimes earthly princes meet with a great deal of difficulty to subdue a rebel who has found means to fortify himself and has made himself strong by the numbers of his followers, but it is not so with God. There is no fortress that is any defense from the power of God. Though hand joined in hand in vast multitudes of God's enemies combined and associate themselves, they are easily broken in pieces. They are as great heaps of light chaff before the whirlwind, or large quantities of dry stubble before devouring flames.

We find it easy to tread and crush a worm, he says, that we see crawling on the earth. So it is easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that at anything hangs on. Thus easy is it for God, when he pleases, to cast his enemies down to hell, what are we that we should think to stand before him at whose rebuke the earth trembles and before whom the rocks are thrown down? The entire earth is no match for our God. He destroyed it all and used natural means to accomplish this judgment.

Water. Imagine if God determined to use his supernatural divine power to accomplish this. Not only that, but I think of the suddenness of it. It's at that moment when they think they are confident in their status that God can bring judgment on them swiftly. When asked about the last days Jesus responds in Luke 17 verse 26, and he says this about the suddenness of the judgment of God and it coming without warning.

He says, and as it was in the days of Noah, So it will be also in the days of the Son of Man. They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Think about this. They ate, they were continuing on in their normal daily activity. Even though Noah was the preacher of righteousness building this huge ark, They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage.

Think about that. On your honeymoon, the deluge. And it swept them all away, destroyed all of them. Likewise, he says, as it was in the days of Lot, Jesus gives the same two examples here that I'm going into. So the first was angels and then we go into Noah and next he goes right into Lot and Jesus does the same things.

These are the universal examples of the power of God to judge the wicked. Jesus gives them, Peter gives them, and listen to what Jesus says. He goes on, he says, in the days of Lot they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. But on the day that lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so, it will be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

It's the suddenness of it. Because of God's long suffering they think they are pardoned. They think it will never come. Just like in Peter, the latter part of verse Peter, he speaks about the scoffers will come say, where's the promise of his coming? You've been saying this for thousands of years.

He's not come. We're fine. There's no trouble. And then the flood comes. However, in this case, we know Peter tells us here in later verses, not with flood but with fire.

This leads me to our next example of Lot. Not only is God's judgment not overruled by angels and their power and might, not only is it not overruled by the majority of all human beings in coordination against God at one time, But beauty, fruitfulness, and economic prosperity will not deter God's wrath from falling on a wicked people. We see this in verse 6. Look at what he says, and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemn them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly. Now this example is given, as you just saw Jesus used it in Luke, it's given in other places in the scriptures of God's judgment.

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is universally known. In fact, even the word itself of Sodom, we use to describe Sodomites. We read of one instance in Luke, and now Peter uses it. And you know often when we think about Sodom and Gomorrah, we only think of the sin and of the destruction. We think of the fire and the brimstone.

But I wanna take you before the fire and brimstone. Listen, before the destruction, it was a beautiful, fruitful place of economic prosperity. Listen to how these cities are described before God's judgment fell in Genesis 13 10. He says, and Lot lifted his eyes and saw the plain of Jordan and it was well watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Like the garden of the Lord.

It was like the Garden of the Lord. Beautiful, fruitful, abundance. Not only was it like the garden of the Lord to bring this understanding into the minds of the hearers. He said, it was like the land of Egypt as you go towards Zohar. Listen to what one commentator says about this two-fold appraisal of the Jordan Valley.

He says, with its meadows on either side of the river to which Lot was so strongly attracted, highlighted its lush and fertile nature. Moses reading this to the Jews about to enter Canaan and likened it to the Garden of Eden, referred here and reader to God's revelatory description of it in Genesis chapter 2. He likened it to the obviously well-known and well-irrigated region of Egypt, referred them to a place that the Jews had likely known well in their sojourn in Egypt. This place was beautiful. Who doesn't like to walk into a gorgeous garden and you see the fruits and the plants and the flowers and just the natural beauty of God's creation and the abundance of it and the grass was growing tall and the cattle were fat from eating that grass and you see the children playing and it's a place of abundance.

Economic prosperity. But these qualities would not deter God from bringing judgment upon these wicked cities. Sodom was situated in one of the most fertile places in the world and as I said was compared to the garden of God but that was not the only fruit they bore. Like nearly every other prosperous people in city and land in all of history when abundant prosperity comes, wickedness grows right along beside it. Therefore, God turned this beautiful and prosperous place into ashes.

Everywhere it's spoken of in scripture, it speaks about God destroying it, just like in Genesis 13 10, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. This was what it was like. Peter speaks of it. Jesus speaks of it. Jude speaks of it.

You see, this would be our stark warning for America. America is one of the most beautiful lands in all the world. We produce enough food to feed the world. We have the economic prosperity to supply the world with the goods that are needed. We live in a land of abundance but we live in a land of wickedness before the Lord.

Take heed brothers and sisters. You see our culture now calls good what God calls evil and they call evil what God calls to be good. And when these things happen, judgment is sure to come. Wickedness abounds, every commandment of the Lord is lightly esteemed and broken in abundance. Beauty and prosperity will not restrain God's hand.

And forget not that delayed judgment is not pardoned judgment. Sodom and Gomorrah were like the gardens of the Lord, yet God rained down fire and brimstone from heaven and turned the garden to an ashy. Genesis 19 says, then the Lord rained fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of the heavens. So he overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. Total destruction.

God did not spare Sodom. Jude 1, 7, as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality, gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. What a warning! Remember Jude is almost a parallel to the book of 2nd Peter. They show the destruction of these false teachers and of the ungodly and how this is what will be the promise to the ungodly.

So these events of judgments were given as examples and the Bible is full of these examples, but let me ask you a question. Are you the ungodly? Are you the ungodly? I pray not. Next, I want you to show you this and to turn this pretty heavy message of God's judgment and these examples that God has given into something that is really encouraging in which Josh mentioned and he referenced that in verse 9.

I want you to see In verses 5 and 7 through 11, the wisdom and power of God to deliver the godly out of temptation, and yet at the same time to reserve the ungodly until the day of judgment. He shows us both of these things in these examples that he has given us, Calvin gives us a great help on this point. He says, what first offends the weak is that when the faithful anxiously seek aid, they are not immediately helped by God. Now listen, he's speaking here about when people struggle because they are in trial or in temptation. This is what Peter was doing.

These people were in trial, they were in temptation, they were dealing with false teachers. And Calvin says this, what first offends the weak is when the faithful anxiously seek aid, they are not immediately helped by God. Have you ever felt that? When you were in need, you anxiously sought the Lord, but you were not immediately helped by God. I think we have all been there.

But on the contrary, he suffers them sometimes, as it were, to pine away through daily weariness and languor. This is an offense to the weak mind. I'm talking about believers who may be weak and are struggling in trials and temptations. This is a weariness. He goes on and he says, "'Secondly, when the wicked grow up, wanton with impunity, and God in the meantime is silent, as though he convened at their evil deeds.

This double offense Peter now removes. So this is what Peter's point is. He's coming in to remove this wrong thinking. Remember in Psalm 73 Asaph is coming in and he's thinking all wrongly. He said my foot had almost slipped.

He said I just couldn't figure this thing out how the wicked were prospering until I went into the house of the Lord." And then he saw it clearly. I pray that's what's happening here this morning that you see these things and you're like, how can it be that the wicked prosper? How can it be that when the godly are in the midst of this, think about it, Noah was living in that generation when the whole world was against him. Lot was in that city when everyone, even some of his own daughters and sons-in-law, laughed at him when he warned them of judgment as if he was joking. And Peter brings this in to help us to understand that He goes on, Calvin does, for he testifies, Peter testifies that the Lord knows when it is expedient to deliver the godly from temptation.

Brothers and sisters, do you believe that? Do you believe that God knows when it is expedient to deliver you from temptation. That's our biggest struggle because we think we know God like now would be good. I cannot, we say this, I cannot bear it any longer. But God does not deliver you yet.

That's a hard providence. But Peter writes to give you comfort. Peter writes so that you will know something. Peter writes to correct your feelings. Peter writes to correct your wrong theology.

And he says this, continuing, Calvin's does, he says, by these words, Peter reminds us that this office ought to be left to God. To determine when I am delivered from temptation, leave it to God." By these words again, he reminds us that this office ought to be left to him, God, and that therefore we ought to endure temptations and not to faint. When at any time he defers his vengeance against the ungodly, when we see the ungodly prosper, leave it to God. Jesus himself, when he's on his way, and we read this in Peter earlier on, it says, when he was reviled, he reviled not in return, but he committed himself unto him who judges righteously. Are you willing to commit yourself unto him who judges righteously?

That's hard. I'm not up here telling you, hey, I've done this and follow me. I'm saying this is hard. But this is true. You see, he gives us this great encouragement.

History itself proves that God will punish the ungodly, and history itself proves in these next two examples that Peter gives us that God knows, the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation. That verse has captured my thinking. Since God knows how to cast down angels, since God knows and is powerful enough to throw down the entire population of the world, since God knows how to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, look at what he says. And I want to say something, this whole thing that we've been reading is one sentence. He brings us to this point in verse 9, and I'm going to back up into a couple of the verses as well, but he says in verse 9, then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation.

Brothers and sisters, no matter how wicked the world becomes, no matter how devastating the judgment of God upon them, no matter how trying the temptations and the trials and the difficulties that you face, the Lord knows how to deliver you. You see the wisdom and power of God to deliver the godly out of temptation is seen in this. Matthew Henry says, the wisdom of God is never at a loss about the ways and means to deliver his people. God's never trying to figure it out. He goes on, they are often utterly at a loss and he's talking about God's people.

We're often utterly at a loss to figure out and we can see And we can see no way God can deliver a great many. Think of this brothers and sisters, Hebrews 2.16 says, for indeed he does not give aid to angels. Think about that just for a moment. He did not give aid to angels. There's no salvation for angels.

When they fail, they fail. But the mercy and grace of God and the abundance of God's deliverance towards us, and that when we fail, He made a way. He made a way through the Lord Jesus Christ. He made a way in coming to this earth. We sang it, O come, O come, Emmanuel, God with us.

He sent forth his Son to deliver us from the wrath to come. This wrath that is coming upon the ungodly, God sent forth his Son as a propitiation for our sins that we should be delivered from the wrath to come. Isn't this a glorious thing? He does not give aid to angels but he does give aid to the seed of Abraham. He does.

And we know this in 1 Corinthians 10 13, no temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it and I know that you've heard that a thousand times and you think well I don't know I've been in it pretty tough. It's easy to say and hard to believe passage But I want you to understand something. God's word is true. At what point did the flood begin?

When God had shut the door on Noah and his family in the ark. At what point did the brimstone and fire fall from heaven and destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and the other cities? When the angels came to Lot, and the scripture says, and I'll read it in just a moment, the scripture says that they lingered, Lot lingered, and the angels took Lot and his wife and his daughters by the arm and took them out of the city. Why was he lingering? God is able.

God knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation. God knows that if you're weak or you're lingering, God knows how to send forth his ministering spirits as we just read in Hebrews, and he gives aid to the seed of Abraham and those angels will come along and take you out of that place. God knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation. Do you believe that? He knows.

As soon as Lot and his family were outside the city, the fire fell. At what point will he deliver you? Man, I hope about two weeks before it gets hard. He will deliver you at the perfect moment to accomplish his purpose for his own glory. He will deliver you at the perfect moment to accomplish his purpose for his own glory.

That's when. Not one moment before that, and I assure you not one moment after that. Do you believe that? You see, God saved Noah. Verse 5 tells us that, and he did not spare the ancient world but saved Noah.

God saved Noah. One of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing the flood on the world of the ungodly. One of eight out of the entire population of the whole world, God spared and saved Noah. I love these very descriptive words that describes the work of God. God saved Noah.

He doesn't say the ark saved Noah. He doesn't say all of Noah's labors in building the ark saved Noah. God saved Noah. Did he use means to do it? Yes, he did.

But God did the saving. God does the saving. He's a preacher of righteousness. It says Noah was a fateful man to preach the righteousness of God. Noah did not pine away in how terrible everything was, but he faithfully fulfilled his God-ordained role as a preacher of righteousness and as a builder of the ark until the day.

Don't get tangled up in all the end times. Don't do that. You rest right here. You be faithful like Noah was. He preached righteousness and he built the ark until the day.

Until the day. Remain until I come, Jesus says. Watch and pray, Jesus says. Occupy until I come, Jesus says. You see, God also, not only did he save Noah, he delivered Lot.

In Genesis 19, 15, and 16, think about how God delivered. I referenced this earlier. It says, when the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry. Can you just put yourself in that? Imagine your lot and the angel of the Lord.

Hurry! Get out of the city! That was me this morning. Can I confess something? This morning on the...

I'm pulling the horn a little bit. Hurry. That just amazes me how transparent it is. The angels, they looked at him and he says, hurry, saying arise, take your wife and daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city." And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand and his wife's hand and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful. Don't miss that.

And they brought him and set him outside the city. Though you may linger, God is merciful because God knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation. He knows. He has all wisdom. He has all might and power and authority and nothing shall harm you.

Matthew Henry says when God sends destruction on the ungodly, he commands deliverance for the righteous. And if he rains fire and brimstone on the wicked, He will cover the heads of the just and they shall be hid in the day of his anger." I hope that comfort just filled your heart. God knows how to deliver the godly. He says he did this of righteous Lot. Can we all scratch our heads on this?

If we did not have Peter, what would we think of Lot? Our brother Paul helped us with this a few months ago. Righteous Lot? Question mark. Peter helps us.

If we did not have this in the New Testament, we would think Lot was anything but righteous. It seemed that Lot didn't want to leave. Why? Maybe because of his daughters? The angels basically drug him out of the city.

Maybe it was because... I don't know. I don't want to speculate. I don't know why. But we know this.

He lingered. The angels said, hurry. But God showed mercy. The comforting thing here is that even in our weakness, God is more than able to deliver. God saved Noah.

God delivered Lot. They did not deliver themselves. Lot was not perfect but according to Peter he was righteous. And here's my understanding of that. He was made righteous by faith.

Genesis says the Lord being merciful to him and of Noah, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Is this not the case with us? God has been merciful to us. The one and only reason we have been spared from the judgment of God is because the Lord has been merciful to us and he has made us righteous. Can we all say praise be to God for his mercy endures forever.

Let all the house of Israel now say his mercy endures forever. This is our God. But listen to what it says about Lot. He was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked. This is one of the determining factors that helps us to understand of the righteousness of Lot and understanding what was going on in his heart.

We would not see that if God did not tell us this. He understood that this filthy conduct oppressed him. And may I ask you this question, what effect does the filthy conduct of this wicked world have upon your heart? That is a telling sign to determine if you're of the wicked or if you're of the godly. Are you okay?

Are you okay with what you see? You know the other day I was sitting at a little restaurant by myself and eating and I looked over and this isn't terrible but this is a good thing but I'll explain And I looked over and there was a mom and her two sons and the waitress came up and she had asked the little boy, he was probably about 10 years old, asked a little boy something and he said yes please and the waitress she said amazing. I didn't know whether to smile or cry. That's amazing. We live in such a society where when someone says please, it's amazing.

What does that tell us about our society? I actually talked to her about it and said I was watching this interaction and saw that you were amazed by this. She said I am. I don't see this. What effect does the wickedness of the wicked have upon your heart?

Does it torment your righteous soul from day to day? Do you participate in their lawless deeds? Are you okay with it? I've heard many conservatives on radio and interviews saying I don't really care who you marry. I don't really care what you do with your body.

It's not my business. It is your business. It vexes my soul. May I say it again? The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation.

In 1 Thessalonians 1 and in the last part of verse 10, he says this, whom he raised up, God raised up from the dead, even Jesus, who delivers you from the wrath to come. God is able more than able. For sake of time, I want to close, and I'll pick up some of the rest of this that I had here next time, but I want to close where Josh began in Psalm 73. Will you turn there with me and let us use this as our closing text. And I hope that you can think of this passage in such a way of what Peter is speaking about here.

I want you to pay attention to verse 17 as this hinge point in the story or in the song. Truly God is good to Israel to such as are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For when I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked, for there are no pains in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men nor are they plagued like other men.

Therefore, pride serves as their necklace violence covers them like a garment, their eyes bulge with abundance. They have more than heart could wish. They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression. They speak loftily. They sit their mouth against the heavens and their tongues walk through the earth.

Therefore, his people return here and waters of a full cup are drained by them. And they say, How does God know? And is their knowledge in the most high? Behold, these are the ungodly, who are always at ease. They increase in riches, surely.

I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I have been plagued and chastened every morning. If I had said, I will speak thus, behold I would have been untrue to the generation of your children. When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then I understood their end.

Surely you have set them in slippery places. You cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are brought to desolation as in a moment. They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awakes, so, Lord, when you awake, you shall despise their image.

Thus my heart was grieved and I was vexed in mind I was so foolish and ignorant I was like a beast before you nevertheless I am continually with you You hold me by my right hand and you will guide me with your counsel and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart fail but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever, for indeed those who are far from you shall perish. You have destroyed all those who desert you for harlotry, but it is good for me to draw near to God.

I have put my trust in the Lord God that I may declare all your works. Amen. Our Father, we rejoice in who you are. Lord, my prayer for your people this morning is that you would take this passage of scripture and you would affirm two things for them. Number one, Lord, that they would not despair over the prosperity of the wicked, but surely know that your judgment is coming upon them and it will be perfect.

And secondly, Lord, that you would assure them that you are more than able to deliver them out of all temptations because you are merciful. You're abounding in mercy. You're full of grace. And so Lord if there is anyone here this morning who is lost and undone, if they are of the wicked, and Lord, this truth and this weight of your judgment is pressing upon them, oh Lord, I pray that they would flee to Christ, the ark of our salvation, and Lord that you would spare them because that is why your Son came, to deliver us from the wrath to come. Would you do this oh Lord.

Amen.