“The Coming Judgement”
2 Peter 2:4-10a / Jude 5-7
A sermon for 2/1/26
Pastor John Bright
Laurel Hill GMC
2 Peter 2 “4 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; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; 6 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; 7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)— 9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed.”
Jude “5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 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; 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”
Here I go again… I want to remind you of a basic truth of Scripture - the Law of Sowing and Reaping that we read about in Galatians 6:7: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” I always illustrate this with the same example: if I plant an apple tree, can I expect to harvest oranges? Last week, I mentioned the faulty input and the resulting algorithmic output. This actually happens with social media.
A young man complains that life feels unfair—no real friendships, constant drama, and a restless spirit. But look at what he’s been sowing every day: sarcasm online, outrage in the comments, envy while scrolling, and very little gratitude or praise on positive postings. Then a young woman lives in the same world and uses the same social media. But she sows encouragement instead of criticism, discipline instead of distraction, prayer instead of panic. Over time, her life looks different— marked by peace, meaningful relationships, and spiritual steadiness.
Right now, I spend very little time on Facebook. When I do, I share positive, Biblical posts. I like things that are positive. I give encouraging comments on friends' posts. Over time, the top of my Facebook feed consists entirely of posts from churches and ministries. As Laurel Hill increases its social media presence, I hope many of you will look for those posts and share them.
Jude: WHEN? & WHAT? & WHY?
There are so many similarities between 2 Peter and Jude that they are often dated to the same period. I’m not going to spend any time on the debate about which letter came first. Both address false teachers in the Early Church. There were very early attacks on the free grace of God that Paul addressed. These false teachers wanted Gentile Christians to follow the Law of Moses – especially the requirement for men to be circumcised. Acts 15 records the meeting we call the Jerusalem Council, which is dated to 48-50 AD. It took less than two decades for false teaching to become so widespread that the leaders had to put a stop to it. 2 Peter and Jude sound like they were written for Jewish Christians living in a Gentile culture. Is that like us, are we Jesus Followers living in a culture that has turned away from the Living God?
Both authors now turn to examples of God’s judgment and mercy:
The fall of the angels 1 Peter 2:4 & Jude 6
“4 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.”
“6 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.”
We read about a rebellion in heaven in Revelation 12:7-10: “7 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” This must have happened before the serpent tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Most of those fallen angels, now called demons, are being held in a pit that will be opened during the Seven Years of the Great Tribulation: Revelation 9:1-3 “Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. 2 And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. 3 Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.” These demon locusts will torment those on the earth. It will be bad!
So, are there more angels on our side or demons on their side? We have many, many more on our side! It was one-third of the angels that were cast out of heaven(Revelation 12:4). At that point, it’s two-thirds on our side. Then, the majority of the one-third were locked in the pit. Our percentage is currently way more than 66%.
That means we have the awesome power of the Holy Spirit within us, the authority to use that power to fight the devil, and a vast army of angels that fight for our side! How does that make you feel?
The great flood and Noah 1 Peter 2:5
“5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;”
Here’s what was happening before the flood: Genesis 6:5-8 “5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 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 am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” God’s sorrow and the judgment that followed were a direct result of the evil in the world. Is there evil in our world? Will God judge our world? That’s what we read in the book of Revelation.
Sodom and Gomorrah 2 Peter 2:6-8 & Jude 7
“6 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; 7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)”
Jude “7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”
There is a false teaching in the Church today that has been around for a couple of decades. Here’s a quote from an article back in 2013: “People find what they want in the Bible. If one looks hard enough, he can find “biblical” support for reincarnation, Eastern religions, Jesus as a guru, divorce for any reason, and flying saucers. Every cult of Christianity uses the Bible to validate its claims, and so does some of the occult.
It’s not surprising, then, that a recent trend in biblical scholarship holds that a careful reading of Genesis in its historical context offers no solid basis to conclude that the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah had anything to do with homosexuality.
This view may seem far-fetched to biblical conservatives, but it is taken very seriously in academic circles. It represents a significant challenge to the rank-and-file Christian who finds in the Genesis account a straightforward condemnation of homosexual behavior.” Greg Koukl, https://www.str.org/w/what-was-the-sin-of-sodom-and-gomorrah-1
If you read Genesis 18-19, it is clear that God has condemned these two cities for the evil of sexual immorality. What’s that? It’s any behavior that is contrary to the means God has given humanity for the fulfillment of our sexuality and gender. God’s order for sexuality and gender is that sexual relations are reserved for one biological male and one biological female within the covenant of marriage. That’s it. The folks in Sodom and Gomorrah were doing the same thing that Paul warns about: Roman 1:26-27 “26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.”
Should we continue to turn a blind eye to sexual immorality in our midst, or should we warn folks of the judgment to come? It can be hard to love folks and still speak the truth. I want you to hear me loud and clear: We do not condemn anyone. We should love folks and proclaim the love of God for each and every human being. When folks begin to desire holiness of heart and life, we gently guide them to examine their lives in the light of God’s Holy Word. Then, the Holy Spirit takes over. BTW – we all need to do the same because sin is sin. Amen?
Israel in the wilderness Jude 5
“5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.”
Jude includes an example that Peter does not: the Israelites who disobeyed in the wilderness. This is not just one example, but many:
• Complaining at Taberah - Numbers 11:1–3 The people complained bitterly about their hardships, so God sent fire that consumed some at the edge of the camp. The place was named Taberah (“burning”).
• Craving Meat - Numbers 11:33–34 The people wanted meat, not just manna. God struck them with a severe plague.
• Report of the 10 Spies - Numbers 14:20–35 Israel refused to enter the Promised Land after the spies’ negative report. God told them that the entire unbelieving generation (20 years and older) would die in the wilderness over 40 years. Those ten spies died soon after - Numbers 14:36–37
• Korah’s Rebellion - Numbers 16:1–35 Korah and others challenged Moses’ and Aaron’s authority. Some were swallowed up by the earth, and fire from the LORD consumed 250 men offering incense. The judgment continued in Numbers 16:41–50 as God sent a plague that killed 14,700.
• Fiery Serpents - Numbers 21:4–9 The people complained, AGAIN! God sent venomous snakes, and those bitten died, until Moses lifted up a bronze serpent on a pole.
This is not a complete list, but in these examples, we see that God’s judgment would fall on those who did not follow His Word given through Moses. In the last example, the fiery serpents, Moses was told to hold up the bronze serpent on a pole. Jesus would connect His own sacrifice for you and me to that event: John 3:14-17 “14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” Everyone in this world is offered the same choice.
A choice 2 Peter 2:9-10
“9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed.”
Peter and Jude were dealing with false teachers within the house churches throughout the Roman Empire. They are seeking to give a warning to the whole group. Some of the examples of judgment they used show that God saves the few from a whole culture that will not turn to Him. Since I arrived at Laurel Hill, I have been in the workroom by the office multiple times each week. On the cabinet door is a quote from Booker T. Washington that is our secretary’s favorite: “A lie doesn't become truth, wrong doesn't become right, and evil doesn't become good, just because it's accepted by a majority.” (repeat)
In this morning’s reading, Lot is referred to as righteous. Lot made many mistakes and sins that are recorded in God’s Word, and probably many more that are not. To be righteous or godly doesn’t mean you have to be perfect. Instead, think of it like this – you don’t lose sight of what God desires for you while living in the larger culture. Many of those who have suffered persecution in the past and in the present found their desire to follow Jesus to be in conflict with the larger culture, so they made the hard choice.
There is part of me that wishes we could just hang out in our little Jesus building and do our little Jesus thing and let the rest of the world “go to hell in a handbasket.” It would be so much easier, but that’s not our marching orders. We have to be in the world but not of the world. Jesus knew it would be this way when He told the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares(Weeds): Matthew 13:24-30 & 36-43 “24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”
“36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”
37 He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
We are sown into the field of this world as children of the King who have been saved by the Son of Man who was lifted up on the Cross of Calvary. We need to protect one another with the TRUTH, but also proclaim that TRUTH so that others will come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord. We each have a choice that matters – both now and in the future when judgment comes to everyone. Amen.
Homework:
• Look up all the scriptures in today’s sermon. If the Law of Sowing and Reaping is always true, do you need to change any of your thoughts, words, and actions?
• God is a Righteous Judge, so He must judge evil & sin. Do you think God will judge by our standards or God’s Holy Word? Hebrews 4:11-13 “11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”
• Next week: 2 Peter 2:10b-16 / Jude 8-12 “The Wisdom of a Talking Donkey”
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TEACHING SHEET
February 1, 2026
2 Peter 2:4-10a / Jude 5-7
“The Coming Judgement”
Law of Sowing and Reaping Galatians 6:7: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”
Jude: WHEN? & WHAT? & WHY?
2 Peter and Jude that are often dated to the same period. Both address false teachers in the Early Church. 2 Peter and Jude sound like they were written for Jewish Christians living in a Gentile culture. Is that like us, are we Jesus Followers living in a culture that has turned away from the Living God?
Both authors now turn to examples of God’s judgment and mercy:
The fall of the angels 1 Peter 2:4 & Jude 6
We read about a rebellion in heaven in Revelation 12:7-10. This must have happened before the serpent tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Most of those fallen angels, now called demons, are being held in a pit that will be opened during the Seven Years of the Great Tribulation: Revelation 9:1-3
So, are there more angels on our side or demons on their side? We have many, many more on our side! It was one-third of the angels that were cast out of heaven (Revelation 12:4). At that point, it’s two-thirds on our side. Then, the majority of the one-third were locked in the pit. Our percentage is currently way more than 66%.
That means we have the awesome power of the Holy Spirit within us, the authority to use that power to fight the devil, and a vast army of angels that fight for our side! How does that make you feel?
The great flood and Noah 1 Peter 2:5
Genesis 6:5-8 God’s sorrow and the judgment that followed were a direct result of the evil in the world. Is there evil in our world? Will God judge our world? That’s what we read in the book of Revelation.
Sodom and Gomorrah 2 Peter 2:6-8 & Jude 7
There is a false teaching in the Church today that has been around for a couple of decades. “It’s not surprising, then, that a recent trend in biblical scholarship holds that a careful reading of Genesis in its historical context offers no solid basis to conclude that the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah had anything to do with homosexuality.
Greg Koukl, https://www.str.org/w/what-was-the-sin-of-sodom-and-gomorrah-1
If you read Genesis 18-19, it is clear that God has condemned these two cities for the evil of sexual immorality. What’s that? It’s any behavior that is contrary to the means God has given humanity for the fulfillment of our sexuality and gender. God’s order for sexuality and gender is that sexual relations are reserved for one biological male and one biological female within the covenant of marriage. Roman 1:26-27
We do not condemn anyone. We should love folks and proclaim the love of God for each and every human being. When folks begin to desire holiness of heart and life, we gently guide them to examine their lives in the light of God’s Holy Word. Then, the Holy Spirit takes over. BTW – we all need to do the same because sin is sin. Amen?
Israel in the wilderness Jude 5
• Complaining at Taberah - Numbers 11:1–3
• Craving Meat - Numbers 11:33–34
• Report of the 10 Spies - Numbers 14:20–
• Korah’s Rebellion - Numbers 16:1–35
• Fiery Serpents - Numbers 21:4–9
Jesus would connect His own sacrifice for you and me to the last one: John 3:14-17. Everyone in this world is offered the same choice.
A choice 2 Peter 2:9-10
Peter and Jude were dealing with false teachers within the house churches throughout the Roman Empire. They are seeking to give a warning to the whole group. Some of the examples of judgment they used show that God saves the few from a whole culture that will not turn to Him. Booker T. Washington: “A lie doesn't become truth, wrong doesn't become right, and evil doesn't become good, just because it's accepted by a majority.”
We have to be in the world but not of the world. Jesus knew it would be this way when He told the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares(Weeds): Matthew 13:24-30 & 36-43
We are sown into the field of this world as children of the King who have been saved by the Son of Man who was lifted up on the Cross of Calvary. We need to protect one another with the TRUTH, but also proclaim that TRUTH so that others will come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord. We each have a choice that matters – both now and in the future when judgment comes to everyone. Amen.
Homework:
• Look up all the scriptures in today’s sermon. If the Law of Sowing and Reaping is always true, do you need to change any of your thoughts, words, and actions?
• God is a Righteous Judge, so He must judge evil & sin. Do you think God will judge by our standards or God’s Holy Word? Hebrews 4:11-13
• Next week: 2 Peter 2:10b-16 / Jude 8-12 “The Wisdom of a Talking Donkey”
