No Matter Where You Go, There You Are

By Rev. Mike Malone

In the Word of God, as you find it in the second letter of Peter, the second chapter, beginning at verse one:

But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 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 saved 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 temptations 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.

The Word of the Lord.

I’m not going to ask for a show of hands, but I want to ask you a question: Who among us has sinned this last week?

Not little ones, not little sins, but big ones— and the same ones.

Who among us has really sinned this last week? Who of us has acted like Jean Valjean, the central character in Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables?

Who among us, having experienced the kindness of God, the mercy of God, has stared that kindness in the face and violated that kindness, and violated God’s righteous character by an act of premeditated—or if not premeditated, at least self-conscious—sin?

Jean Valjean is the character in Victor Hugo’s novel: a convict, a criminal who is paroled from prison and who makes his way to a village where he is rejected by everyone but the bishop. It is the bishop who extends mercy to him, who takes him into his home, who gives him a hot meal, who gives him a room, who gives him a bed with fresh linens. And Jean Valjean, after having received this mercy, this kindness, steals the bishop’s silver—stares that kindness in the face— and in a premeditated and self-conscious act violates that kindness.

Anybody sin this last week? Anybody yell at your children? Anybody be insensitive to your wife—again? Anybody be argumentative with your husband? Anybody fudge in a business deal? It’s tax time. Anybody mess with the numbers? Anybody engage in malicious gossip about another human being, an image-bearer of God?

Anybody do the kind of thing that we have confessed in these Ten Commandments? Anybody covet? Anybody give false testimony against a neighbor? Anybody cave in, again, to some sexual temptation?

If you’re in that category of people—any one of those categories of people— this sermon is for you. It’s for you, especially if you’re saying to yourself, “I’ve done this so many times. There’s no way I can be forgiven again. There’s no way that God is going to extend me mercy—not in this case. I’ve failed too often, violated God’s kindness, gone too far.”

I want you to pay close attention to this passage, and I want you to look at Lot one last time. A couple of people confronted me—if you will; I mean, it wasn’t hostile—but they confronted me last week after the sermon. Not about what I said about Lot in terms of giving a profile from his own biography of his waywardness and his sinfulness, and talking about sin and Lot at all, and talking about Lot’s future descendant, Jesus, according to his humanity—touching his humanity.

Not about that.

But a couple of people said to me, “What in the world is Peter talking about when he calls Lot ‘righteous’?” Three times in this passage the word righteous is connected to Lot. In verses seven and eight he is called “righteous Lot.” In verse eight, he’s called a righteous man. And again in verse eight, his soul is described as a righteous soul.

I want you to look at Lot again, and I want to say to you — no matter how low you have sunk, no matter what trouble you have brought upon yourself, no matter what trouble you have brought upon others — God’s mercy is greater. Greater than all of it.

We say that grace is amazing, but do we really believe it? Do we really believe it?

That’s Peter’s burden in this passage.

Here’s the situation, very briefly. What I want to do is not only look at this passage, but scan the whole of Scripture and list startling examples of God’s mercy. But I want to begin here, because Peter’s burden in this passage is to show the greatness of God’s mercy and to press it home to the people who will read this letter.

The situation is this: there are false teachers around them. These false teachers are described in verses one through three, and then again in verses twelve and following. In verses one through three he describes them as covetous, exploitative, deceptive.

Then down in verse twelve, he says they are like natural brute beasts. They speak evil things. In verses thirteen and following, he says they will receive the wages of their unrighteousness. These are mean spirited, vicious people. They are people who dress evil in appealing garb — like Count Dracula, as I mentioned last week. Evil rarely dresses itself in its natural clothing; it dresses itself in something attractive. These false teachers have wormed their way into the congregation, and Peter is warning them.

But the important thing — the thing he wants to press home — is that they will not escape God’s judgment. That’s his burden. In verses four and following, he gives three examples to buttress his argument that these false teachers will not escape God’s judgment.

The first example is the angels who sinned — angels who violated God’s righteousness, who abandoned their proper place, who were cast down and are being reserved in chains of darkness for judgment. The angels, he says, will not escape.

But who really knows much about angels? Maybe Frank Peretti, but the rest of us — not so much. An argument about angels isn’t all that helpful. So Peter moves from the realm of angelic beings down into the horizontal plane, where people like Noah and Lot live.

Recall the biblical accounts of Noah and Lot. Here are two examples of people who were vindicated, delivered, rescued, saved out of a proliferating unrighteousness. And they are described as righteous people — Noah, the preacher of righteousness, and Lot, the righteous man whose righteous soul was vexed by the pollution around him.

And what Peter is pressing home is this — as he says in verse nine:

You find yourselves in a similar situation. You are surrounded by these things.

Peter is no fool; he knows these people have stumbled and fallen.

He knows they have succumbed to temptations.

Perhaps not all of them. Perhaps some are like Noah.

Read Noah’s biography — he is stellar. God speaks; Noah responds. That’s the pattern. For a century, in a desert, he builds a boat, awaiting the floodwaters of God’s judgment. Day in and day out, he perseveres in righteousness, preaching God’s righteousness and warning the people that judgment is coming.

If you were Peter and wanted an example of God delivering the righteous, you would choose Noah. He’s exemplary. He’s the kind of person you’d expect God to look upon with favor and rescue.

But would you choose Lot as your second example?

Would you?

We know what he’s like. You can draw your own conclusions. Yet Peter chooses Lot — someone at the opposite end of the spectrum from Noah.

What is Peter doing?

He is covering the waterfront of possibilities for the people who will read this letter.

Who would be the object of God’s saving, rescuing, delivering work?

Who would God lift out of the sewer of temptations — temptations that have overcome many and caused many to stumble?

People like Noah. And people like Lot. People who, in a sense, stand at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Peter is saying:

Make no mistake. As you face trials and hardships and temptations, as you struggle and sometimes fail, know — verse nine — that God knows how to deliver you.

Just as He knew how to deliver Noah, and just as He knew how to deliver Lot.

He knows.

And don’t forget Lot. Recall his profile from Genesis 19. He was seduced by worldliness, drawn into worldliness. He was virtually indistinguishable from those around him — willing to give his daughters to a crazed mob. He was drunk in a cave. He committed incest. And don’t forget: when the angels told Lot and his family, “Get up, get out of here — judgment is coming,” Lot was reluctant to leave.

He knew he was in a bad place.

He knew what he was doing was wrong. And he was reluctant to let it go.

But did God abandon him?

Did God leave him alone in that?

No.

The angel took him by the hand — took his daughters by the hand — and dragged them out of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Sometimes God’s salvation is like it was with Noah. And sometimes God’s salvation is a forced rescue, like it was with Lot. But it is all the mercy of God.

And that is what you see in Lot’s life.

Forgive me if I step on toes.

I go nuts when people quote Revelation 3:20 and talk about Jesus standing at the door, saying the handle is only on the inside, and that Jesus is a gentleman who will never break through the door — that He will always honor your will.

Folks, if He had honored Lot’s will, Lot would have stayed in Sodom and Gomorrah and been destroyed with the rest. It was a forcible entry and a forcible rescue. And it has been that way with anyone who is a Christian.

It is forcible — and it is loving.

It is forceful — and it is merciful.

God reaches into that sewer of depravity and rescues Lot out of it. And that is what Peter is saying to these folks. Don’t mistake this.

Here are the poles: you’d expect Noah to be delivered.

But would you expect Lot to be delivered?

It covers the waterfront — polar extremes and everything in between.

Lot is a man who is selfish, worldly, weak, vacillating. He’s not a man; he’s a civil war. A man, frankly, like Thomas Cranmer. Read Cranmer’s biography. At the end of his life he was back and forth — he recanted his Roman Catholicism, then recanted his recantation, then recanted that recantation, and then recanted that recantation again.

And at the end of his life, even though he had recanted his Protestantism, they put him at the stake. As the flames rose around him, he thrust his hand into the fire and laid hold of a log, saying in effect,

“May this hand, which signed my last recantation, be the first to burn.”

At the end, he recanted his recantation of his Protestantism.

We celebrate that. We give thanks for that.

But the man was all over the map — just like Lot was. You ask, Is this man a candidate for God’s mercy? Is this man a candidate for God’s deliverance? Yes.

Yes.

Don’t shorten the arm of the Lord. Don’t weaken the arm of the Lord. The Lord’s arm is mighty to save. Don’t qualify the mercy of God. Don’t limit the mercy of God. Don’t restrict the mercy of God.

How broad is the mercy of God?

How broad is that deliverance?

Lot.

Lot.

That’s how broad that mercy is. That’s how great that mercy is.

Let me suggest a couple of other examples from the Old Testament.

You know the story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5. Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Syria. He was highly regarded — and he was a leper. In one of his conquests against Israel, they brought back a young girl captive. She became a slave in Naaman’s household, attending his wife. This young Israelite girl tells Naaman’s wife that there is a prophet in Israel who can deal with his leprosy. So Naaman sends a gift to the king of Israel, and eventually he is directed to the prophet. Naaman wants to know if this prophet really has power to heal him.

The prophet says, “Go dip yourself in the river seven times, and your flesh will be restored.”

What river? The Jordan River.

And this proud, self reliant, self righteous general says, “Immerse myself in the Jordan? We have better rivers in our own country than the Jordan.” But he is prevailed upon by his servants. He goes. He washes.

He is made clean. He dips himself in the Jordan seven times, and he is restored.

What happens in 2 Kings 5? this man who led conquests against God’s people, This enemy of Israel — who tore little girls from their parents and made them slaves — is converted. He becomes a worshiper of the Lord.

What is so startling is not that God would rescue a Syrian general. What is startling is Naaman’s request in verse 17. After being cleansed, he says:

“Let your servant be given two mule-loads of earth, for your servant will no longer offer burnt offering or sacrifice to other gods, but to the Lord.”

He wants tangible soil from the land of the true God so he can stand on it and worship.

But then look at what he asks next.

Verse 18:

“In this matter may the Lord pardon your servant: when my master goes into the temple of Rimmon to worship, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down in the temple — when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord please pardon your servant in this thing.”

And Elisha says,

“Go in peace.”

Naaman is converted. He wants to worship the one true God. But his job requires him to accompany the king into the presence of a false god and bow down. It is premeditated. It is self conscious. He will do it. And the prophet says,

“Peace. Shalom. The peace of God be upon you.”

What do you do with that?

Do you see the mercy of God as big enough to cover the self conscious idolatry of a new convert?

Isn’t it interesting that Elisha doesn’t hand Naaman a copy of the Westminster Confession, Larger and Shorter Catechisms, and send him off to the mountains for two weeks to get his theological house in order?

Isn’t it interesting that the prophet doesn’t require Naaman to fix everything before he says, “Peace be upon you”?

What do you do with that?

I’m not entirely sure — except to understand that the mercy of God is big enough for Naaman.

What do you do with Manasseh?

Second Chronicles 33. Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah.

Hezekiah had restored right worship in Israel — and Manasseh undid everything his father had done. He became king at twelve years old. He reigned for fifty five years. And Scripture gives a chilling description of what Manasseh did during his reign.

He re erected all the pagan altars.

He incited the people to participate in Molech worship — the offering of children to the god Molech. But at the end of Manasseh’s life, Chronicles makes clear: he humbled himself before God and knew the Lord.

Is Manasseh a candidate for the mercy of God? Is the mercy of God wide enough, broad enough, great enough for Manasseh?

Or what about David?

I’m not sure we’ve always been told the truth about David. We’ve been told half the story. David is often made out to be a hero. But David died alone — not materially, but emotionally: lonely, destitute, sad, broken hearted, willful, selfish.

Is the mercy of God big enough, broad enough, for David?

Hebrews 11 — the All Stars of the faith, the heroes of the faith.

And in that list you find Barak and Samson, listed alongside the prophets, alongside Abraham, alongside Noah.

Barak — a coward.

Samson — seduced by a pagan princess.

Is the mercy of God broad enough for them? These people are in the Hall of Fame. How wide is the deliverance of God? How great His mercy?

I hope you understand — I’m not justifying Naaman’s idolatry. I’m not justifying Manasseh’s idolatry. I’m not justifying David’s willfulness and self absorption. I’m not justifying Barak’s cowardice or Samson’s sexual infidelity. I’m simply asking:

How broad and wide and deep is the mercy of God?

New Testament examples abound — parables full of teaching about the breadth of God’s mercy.

The laborers in the vineyard: those who worked the last hour, the last five minutes, the last five seconds receive the same wage as those who bore the heat of the day.

How great, how broad, how wide is the mercy of God?

Mary Magdalene — a prostitute. How broad is the mercy of God?

Peter denied Jesus. That’s significant, isn’t it? In a certain sense, it’s a polite sin — one we commit every day.

We can understand Peter. We can relate to Peter.

But think about it: Jesus is the incarnate Lord of Glory, the King of kings, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He created Peter. He loved Peter. He ordered Peter’s life. He preserved, protected, defended Peter. He made Peter His own.

And Peter denied Him — called down curses on himself rather than acknowledge he knew Jesus.

The thief on the cross — heaped scorn and abuse on Jesus for hours. Mocked Him with the crowd. Joined in the chorus: “If He’s really the Son of God, let Him come down.”

But somewhere near the end — somewhere in those final moments — this thief asked Jesus to remember him.

“Today you will be with me in paradise,” Jesus said.

And what about Paul — the least of the apostles, who later in life calls himself the chief of sinners, who opposed the purposes of God, opposed the cross of Christ, murdered the people of Christ?

How broad, how deep, how rich, how wide is the mercy of God? How great is it?

A couple of things emerge from this.

First: Be very, very careful in how you think about other people who profess faith in Christ. Be very careful not to arrogate to yourself a prerogative that belongs to God alone. God is the final judge of the condition of Lot’s heart and soul. Do not take to yourself what belongs to Him.

See how wide and broad and deep the mercy of God is.

Don’t create first and second class citizens in the church. Don’t remove people from the church whose proper place is in the church. Someone once asked, “Will Arminians be in heaven?” (Not Armenians — Arminians.) The answer was, “Yes… just barely.”

Come on. Do we really think — as Reformed people — that our apprehension and articulation of the doctrines of grace is the ground of our acceptance with God? Or anyone else’s? Be very careful.

Contend for what must be contended for. Encourage one another toward righteousness.

Nothing I’m saying condones wrong behavior or wrongheadedness — none of it.

But be very careful not to shorten the arm of the Lord, not to diminish the grandeur of His mercy, that He is mighty to save.

And second — we come back to where we began.

What is your condition?

What’s your condition this morning?

What has this last week been like for you? The mercy of God is great enough for Naaman. The mercy of God is great enough for Lot. The mercy of God is great enough for Barak and Samson and David and the thief on the cross and Paul.

The mercy of God is great enough for Peter. The mercy of God is great enough for a prostitute — Mary Magdalene.

What’s your condition this morning?

If you know who you are, and you know who Jesus is, let me tell you: you’re safe. You’re safer than you know.

And may God — may God take the person of Christ in all His beauty, and may God take the sufficiency of the work of Christ in all His majesty and greatness, and may He, by His Spirit, get your attention off of you and onto Jesus, so that you may know what Naaman knew — the shalom of God, the peace of God.

Rev. Mike Malone attended the University of Michigan and then Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. There he met his wife Barb. The Malones have served in churches in Virginia, Indiana and Florida and currently Independent Presbyterian Church in Memphis. They have three daughters and three grandchildren.