Pay attention!
Scripture reading for October 20th: 2nd Peter 2
Key Scriptures: 2nd Peter 2:4-8 “For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if He did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes He condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; . . .”
Peter, in writing his last letter before his own execution by Nero, warned the church family against being taken in by false teachers and prophets. He pointed them to the Scriptures and God’s past acts of judgment upon the ungodly. God shows mercy towards the repentant and those keeping faith in Him, but He judges the wicked who refuse His mercy. The angels were created by God to serve Him and the heirs of salvation, us. Some of these created beings rebelled under Satan and God cast them into hell. The word here in Greek is “Tartarus” and is a special holding place for wicked spirits. God judged the ancient world of people and animals living before the flood by destroying them but preserving Noah and his family through their faith. God judged Sodom and Gomorrah with fire from heaven for their sinful rebellion, saving Lot and his daughters, and left that as an example of the fate of the ungodly. These warnings are clear and powerful and from God through the apostle Peter! Let’s not despise his authority!
2nd Peter 2:9-10 “. . then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.”
Faith confession and prayer: Father God, thank You for Your loving warnings through the apostle Peter to Your church. We repent of complacency and failure to listen to Your warnings and those You place in authority. Have mercy upon us and our nation in these rebellious last days. Use me to preach Your Word clearly and lovingly to the lost today and to live as an example of Christ Jesus my Lord.
2nd Peter 2:20-21 “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.”
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