Grace & Punishment

All choices carry consequences. Good choices lead to certain outcomes. Bad choices lead to certain outcomes.

God, in His love for His human creation, pours out grace, and grace can overcome the consequences of our bad choices.

In 2 Peter we are shown the greatness of God’s grace and the seriousness of His judgment. 

2 Peter 2:4-10

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until 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, and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly

distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 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.

Peter makes sure that we understand that God will punish sin and rebellion against His authority.

Peter mentions:

The fallen angels being cast into hell and chained up in gloomy darkness.

The ungodly people of the ancient world who refused to hear and respond to the truth.

The wicked people of Sodom and Gomorrah who lived their lives focused on sensual pleasures.

All three of these groups had access to the truth and opportunity to change. They chose to ignore and reject God and His will to do their own will.

Bringing judgment is not God’s preference. God is love and a God of grace and mercy. He loves His human creation and desires to grace us, not judge us.

But God is a just God and will judge and punish sin. When we make choices that are sin, we face the danger of judgment.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is recognizing that sin leads to God’s judgment.

We also see God’s grace in this passage.

God’s grace saves Noah and his family from the flood.

Genesis 6:8 says that Noah found favor in the eyes of God. Favor is grace. Noah was given grace by God.

It was not Noah’s life that caused God to save Noah. It was God’s grace that caused Him to save Noah.

Out of God’s grace we are told twice (Genesis 6:22 & 7:5) that Noah did what God commanded. This obedience came after God had pour out grace on Noah.

Peter calls Noah a herald of righteousness. This again came after God graced Noah.

When God gave Noah grace, Noah’s response was obedience and proclamation of God’s truth.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is receiving God’s grace and responding in gratitude and obedience.

Noah was not a perfect person.

In Genesis 9:21 we are told that Noah drank wine and got drunk and he then passed out naked in his tent. His sons had to come in and cover him up.

God does not require perfection. Grace overcomes our imperfections.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is not depending on always doing it right but on God’s grace.

 God’s grace delivers Lot from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Peter calls Lot a righteous man.

Lot selfishly chose the Jordan Valley area. This area was lush and green. It was the best pasture land around and Lot chose it as where he wanted to go when given the opportunity by Abraham. Lot moved to live close to Sodom and Gomorrah and then eventually into Sodom itself.

And even when Lot was told what God was about to do, destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, he was reluctant to leave.

In Genesis 19 after Lot and his daughters had escaped the destruction, Lot had sex with his daughters and produced children.

Lot didn’t look very righteous from a human point of view.

God declared him righteous based on His grace.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing God’s view of us to be who we are.

Sin brings punishment, but God’s grace overcomes the sin and punishment.

By and Through the Grace of God,

Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                       Joe