The Truth About When the Odds Are Stacked Against You 2 Peter 2:1-9
Have you ever felt like the odds were stacked against you, that evil has the upper hand? Corruption is everywhere, wickedness seems to flourish, and God’s people often wonder, “Is it ever going to change?” By the time we finish exploring what the Holy Spirit communicates in 2 Peter 2, you’ll discover that no matter how heavily the scales appear to be loaded against you as a righteous Jesus follower, the Lord knows exactly how to protect and rescue His people. The question isn’t whether God knows what to do—the question is whether you’ll cooperate. God knows—so cooperate. The Truth About When the Odds Are Stacked Against You, that’s our focus on this week’s Light On Life.
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This Week: Trust God’s protection by asking the Lord for your next step of obedience, then cooperate with Him knowing that He already knows what to do.
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Accept the Challenge
Trust God’s Protection—Cooperate with His Direction.
This week, whatever challenge you’re facing, stop focusing on the size of the problem and begin focusing on the greatness of your God. Ask the Lord to show you your next step of obedience—then take it.
God never asked Noah to figure everything out—He asked him to build an ark.
God never asked Lot to defeat Sodom—He asked him to leave it.
Your Challenge:
Listen to God’s direction.
Trust what He says.
Cooperate with Him immediately.
Let your confidence rest in the fact that God already knows what to do.
Remember: God already knows what to do. Cooperation positions you to benefit from what He already knows.
God knows—so cooperate.
2 Peter 2:9 (KJV) —
9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
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Each week's podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believers life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).
This week's question:
Join the Conversation:
Have you ever experienced a time when the odds seemed overwhelmingly stacked against you, yet God faithfully protected or rescued you?
Share:
What did the Lord ask you to do, and how did your obedience position you to experience His protection or deliverance?
Remember:
God knows exactly how to protect and rescue His people. The question is whether we will listen to His direction, trust what He says, and cooperate with Him.
God knows—so cooperate.
About Emery and Sharon
For nearly five decades, Emery has devoted his life to helping people grow in Christ through the power of the Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Together with his wife, Sharon — his partner in life and ministry for 44 years — he equipped believers to live Spirit-filled, practical lives of faith.
At the heart of the mission is this: helping believers apply God's words so faith becomes active and unstoppable.
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Podcast Notes:
Well again, welcome.
Let’s pray.
Father God, thank you for your protecting and delievering hand. How we need you in a world gone nuts. We thank for looking out for us. Help us to see and know your delivering power in these last of the last days in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Notice the Negative
So in the last two episodes we looked at the first chapter of Second Peter.
Here we start on chapter two.
Now, as we read the Word of God today, notice the negatives.
Peter is doing something very deliberate here.
He keeps adding one negative after another.
At first, you may wonder why.
Well just hang in there because before you know it, you’ll see why.
So, Second Peter two and verse one — notice the negative.
2 Peter 2:1 (KJV 1900) — 1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
Notice the word ‘false’ followed by damnable heresies.
False prophets will bring damnable or destructive heresies.
Verse two follows with…
2 Peter 2:2 (KJV 1900) — 2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
Pernicious is not a word that we use much today.
The word means shameless, unrestrained behavior.
Verse three now follows - again notice the negative.
2 Peter 2:3 (KJV 1900) — 3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
Covetousness is greed and feigned words are false words.
These bad people will try to make merchandise of you or exploit you for the sake of money.
Now, verses four through seven.
2 Peter 2:4–7 (KJV 1900) — 4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensemble unto those that after should live ungodly; 7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
The NASB translation of verse seven says this—again notice the negative.
2 Peter 2:7 (NASB 2020) — 7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the perverted conduct of unscrupulous people
The NASB says ‘oppressed by the perverted conduct of unscrupulous people.’
So the King James reads ‘vexed with filthy conversation of the wicked.’
Sometimes when we see the word ‘conversation’ in the KJV, we tend to think that it’s talking about dialogue.
It’s not — it’s talking about conduct or the way one lives his life.
Now, we come to verse eight and one more negative to notice.
2 Peter 2:8 (KJV 1900) — 8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
Here in verse eight, you see the words unlawful deeds.
2 Peter 2:9–10 (KJV 1900) — 9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: 10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
The NASB helps us again here with verse ten.
2 Peter 2:10 (NASB 2020) — 10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt passion, and despise authority. Reckless, self-centered, they speak abusively of angelic majesties without trembling,
In these ten verses, Peter finishes off with a host of negatives: indulge the flesh, corrupt passion, despising authority, reckless, self-centered behavior, speaking abusively of heavenly beings without reverence and respect.
So count the number of negatives: false, destructive heresies, shameless unrestrained behavior, greed, false words exploitation for money, perverted conduct, unscrupulous, unlawful deeds, indulge the flesh, corrupt passion, despising authority, reckless, self-centered behavior, speaking abusively of heavenly beings without reverence, respect.
In only ten verses, Peter piles one negative description upon another—at least fifteen expressions of deception, corruption, greed, rebellion, and sensuality.
Think in your mind of a set of balancing scales — call it scales of balance if you would.
You know you put so much weight on one side of the scale and then you try to put weight on the other side and even it out.
So, in your mind, place these fifteen really bad, ungodly traits on one side of this balance scale.
Now that we’ve loaded one side of the scale.
Let’s see what Peter puts on the other side.
We’ll go back and reread verses five through seven.
I’m going to read this in the NASB.
2 Peter 2:5–7 (NASB 2020) — 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example of what is coming for the ungodly; 7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the perverted conduct of unscrupulous people
Notice God protected Noah and rescued Lot.
Put protected and rescued on the other side of the balance scale.
It’s fifteen against two.
And here’s the question you need to see—fifteen against two—which way does the scale tip?
It tips in favor of the righteous—and it doesn’t just barely tip either.
The scales of balance slam down in favor of the righteous—so much so, it catapults all the negatives off the other side of the scale.
Why? You have to ask why?
Because God put His thumb on the scale.
What does that mean ‘God put His thumb on the scale?’
It means God put the exceeding greatness of His power on the scale.
Bang!
No matter what is arrayed against you, God has His thumb on the scale.
Just His thumb—not His whole hand, not His whole arm.
And that is more than enough. Glory be to God!
God Knows How to Protect You
Notice verse nine once again.
2 Peter 2:9 (KJV 1900) — 9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
How does He deliver?
2 Peter 2:5, 7 (NASB 2020) — 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but protected Noah… 7 and if He rescued righteous Lot.
God protects—God rescues.
He protected Noah, He rescued Lot.
The Greek word ‘protected’ is the word we want to look at and with that thought, here is the Definition of the Day.
The Greek word ‘protected’ [phylasso] means watchfulness and protection through vigilance.
We’re talking standing guard or maintaining careful oversight.
So here’s the question, How did God vigilantly and protectively watch over Noah?
To answer that question, let’s return to the scales of balance we talked about earlier.
On one side of the scale, put Noah and his household—eight people.
On the other side, we’re going to place everything that stood against Noah.
Once you see how heavily weighed down that side of the scale was, you’ll begin to marvel at the magnitude of God’s protection.
Knowing that if He did it for one person, He will do it for you.
The Scales Were Loaded Against Noah
Genesis 6:11–12 (NASB 2020) — 11 Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for humanity had corrupted its way upon the earth.
Put the corruption of the earth on the scale—add the violence that filled it.
You see the earth was a bad place in the days of Noah—the Nephilim roamed the earth.
Nephilim were giants who were the offspring of the union between corrupt, rebellious angels and the daughters of men.
These daughters were raped by these rebellious angels.
Genesis 6:1–2 (NASB 2020) — 1 Now it came about, when mankind began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.
Listen to the language carefully: “These angels saw—They took for themselves—they chose.”
Where is the woman’s choice in all of this?
It’s absent.
These angels saw.
They chose.
And they took.
The women’s right of choice is never mentioned.
I don’t know about you—but this language doesn’t sound consensual.
So, add the rape and violation of these women onto the scales.
Now we know from both Jude and Peter that God locked up the angels in chains in hell for this blatant attempt to corrupt the lineage of Jesus by engaging in sexual relations with human women.
Jude 6–7 (NASB 2020) — 6 And angels who did not keep their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling place, these He has kept in eternal restraints under darkness for the judgment of the great day, 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these angels indulged in sexual perversion and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
Jude tells us that these rebellious angels were confined under darkness, awaiting judgment.
Now, add the rebellion of these angels and the Nephilim that resulted from that union to the scales.
Now, the fact that these women were violated does not mean they were righteous before God.
God-fearing righteousness is a separate issue.
The injustice committed against them was evil.
But their own rejection of God was still part of the corruption upon the earth.
At any rate, the offspring of this union between angels and women were the mean and nasty Nephilim.
Put all of this on the scales of balance: the rebellion and violence of these angels, the corruption of human society, and the atrocities of the Nephilim.
The point here is that the world was super-corrupt at this time.
So much so that the Lord was grieved in His heart that He had created man in the first place.
Why are we examining all of this?
Because you need to understand how bad the environment was in the day God protected Noah.
Noah and his household were surrounded by evil—every kind of evil you can imagine and a lot of evil you can’t imagine.
So with that, you can begin to get a sense of the odds that were stacked against Noah.
Let’s go back to the scales of balance and just talk quantity for a moment.
Put the eight people that God vigilantly guarded on one side of the scale.
How many corrupt individuals do you think were on the other side of the scale?
Well, first, the Bible does not give us the exact number.
However, if you base the population on a 1.2% annual growth rate, you end up somewhere around 750 million people alive at the time of the Flood.
Now watch this.
Increase that growth rate by just one-tenth of one percent—from 1.2% to 1.3%—and the estimated population explodes to nearly 4 billion people.
That’s amazing!
A change so small you can barely see it produces an enormous difference over time.
With all that, we don’t really know how many people were alive on the earth at that time.
What we do know is that Noah stood alone as a preacher of righteousness.
What we do know is that Noah was a preacher of righteousness and the scales were overwhelmingly loaded against him.
That is again, until God put His thumb on Noah’s side of the scale.
Genesis 6:13–14 (NASB 2020) — 13 Then God said to Noah, “The end of humanity has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of people; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. 14 Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with compartments, and cover it inside and out with pitch.
So, how did God protect Noah?
He was watching man’s overwhelming corruption unfold on the earth.
When God saw it and knew it had passed the point of no return, He warned Noah.
God told him what was coming so he could get himself ready.
He told Noah what to do to protect his family—build an ark.
And then God told him exactly how to build it.
So there was God’s role and Noah’s role.
When there is cooperation, there is protection.
You see Noah had to believe what God told him and then obey Him.
Genesis 6:22 (NASB 2020) — 22 So Noah did these things; according to everything that God had commanded him, so he did.
There it is.
God spoke—Noah obeyed—simple.
Do you want to be protected?
Then listen, trust and obey.
The Lord knows how to protect you.
The question is, will you cooperate?
Saying this simplier: God knows—so cooperate.
Now, I made this statement: God spoke—Noah obeyed—simple.
Well, that’s an overstatement really.
Let’s get it down to reality.
It wasn’t easy for Noah to obey.
Think about it.
Outside of his family, Noah had no one on Planet Earth to encourage him.
They all hated him.
How do we know that?
Look at what Jesus said about the world.
John 15:18–19 (NASB 2020) — 18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.
Noah was a preacher of righteousness in a world that had rejected God.
2 Peter 2:5 (NASB 2020) — 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly…
By faith Noah built the ark, and by it, condemned the world.
Hebrews 11:7 (NASB 2020) — 7 By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Noah didn’t have an easy life but He had a protected life.
So, Noah listened and God protected him.
But, He also rescued Lot.
So now let’s look at the second word—rescued.
The Scales Were Loaded Against Lot
2 Peter 2:6–8 (NASB 2020) — 6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example of what is coming for the ungodly; 7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the perverted conduct of unscrupulous people 8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),
So the Word says that God ‘rescued’ righteous Lot.
The word ‘rescued’ could easily be the Definition of the Day along with the word ‘protected.’
The Greek word ‘rescued’ [rhyomai] means to rescue or deliver someone from danger—to draw that person out of danger to oneself.
So we’re talking about an active rescue here.
God did not merely sustain Lot while judgment fell around him—He brought Lot out before the judgment hit.
This rescue is similar to what we saw with Noah.
God protected Noah from the judgment that fell on a planet full of people gone bad.
God rescued Lot from the judgment of a city full of people gone bad.
God knows—so cooperate.
Again take a look at the scales of balance.
Lot was oppressed by the perverted conduct of unscrupulous people.
Let’s look at these words individually.
The word ‘oppressed’ [kataponeō] conveys the sense of being pressed down by labor, pain, or distress—literally worn down from above.
Lot was exhausted by the relentless wickedness surrounding him.
He was flat wore out by the weight of that corrupt environment pressed down upon his righteous soul.
Have you ever been there?
So, just as in the case of Noah, put oppression on one side of the scales of balance.
Now, look at the word ‘perverted.’
Lot was oppressed by the ‘perverted conduct’ of the people in the city of Sodom.
The word ‘perverted’ [aselgeia] points to unrestrained indulgence of greed or animal lust in whatever one’s passions desire - no matter what anyone thought about it.[2. Lawrence O. Richards, in New International Encyclopedia of Bible Words: Based on the NIV and the NASB (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1999), 212].
This city was a mess.
Add that to the scale as well.
Now comes the word ‘unscrupulous.’
The people of Sodom were not only oppressive and perverted, they were unscrupulous.
Unscrupulous people are shameless people without principle.
You see, the people of Sodom had no human decency at all.
Wow, this scale is getting pretty heavy again.
But then comes verse nine again declaring.
2 Peter 2:9 (NASB 2020) — 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from a trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,
God rescued Lot and protected Noah.
The Scales Were Loaded Against the Chilean Miners
God is the same God as He has always been.
If He protected anybody, He will protect you.
If He rescued anybody, He will rescue you.
Some people may say, “Well, that’s just the Bible—Noah and the Ark is a good story—Sodom and Gomorrah sells comic books.”
And on they go… blah, blah, blah.
Did you know that we have modern examples of God doing just what He did with Noah and Lot?
Consider the story of José Henríquez and the rescue of the 33 Chilean miners in 2010.
On August 5, 2010, the San José mine in Chile collapsed.
Thirty-three miners were trapped more than two thousand feet below the surface for sixty-nine days.
Sixty-nine days means protection.
Think about it.
There was no way out.
There was very little food.
And for seventeen days, nobody above ground even knew whether they were still alive.
One of those miners was José Henríquez.
José was a Jesus follower, and the other miners knew it.
In the darkness of that collapsed mine, they asked him to lead them in prayer.
José became the pastor of that underground congregation.
He led the men in prayer twice every day.
Mr Henriquez led Bible studies down in the mine twice a day and he has been marked out for bringing “calm, God and unity to the most difficult moments”.
He requested that thirty-three Bibles be sent down—one for every miner.
Now think about that.
They were trapped underground—but God knew exactly where they were and He protected them through the prayers of a Jesus’ follower.
Many of the thirty-three came to faith in Jesus.
The rescue team above ground couldn’t see them—but God could see them.
For seventeen days, the world did not know whether those men were alive—but God vigilantly watched over them.
Eventually, a drill broke through into the chamber where the men were trapped.
Food, water, medicine, letters and Bibles began coming down through a narrow shaft.
Then the rescue workers developed a plan to bring them out one man at a time.
After sixty-nine days underground, all thirty-three miners were rescued.
Not thirty-two.
Not thirty-one.
All thirty-three came out alive.
José Henríquez was the twenty-fourth man brought to the surface.
Afterward, people called José a hero.
But José said Jesus Christ was the real hero.
He said, “I believe that the key to all this was in the Word of God, in having believed God.”
Do you see it?
God protected those men while they were underground.
God gave wisdom to the people working above ground.
God supplied a rescue plan.
But the miners also had to cooperate.
They had to trust in the God of Jose Henríquez.
They had to ration their food.
They had to maintain order.
They had to follow the rescuers’ instructions.
And when the rescue capsule finally arrived, they had to step inside.
God protected.
God supplied the plan.
The men cooperated.
And God brought them out.
God knows—so cooperate.
The Lord knew how to protect José Henríquez in that mine.
The Lord knew how to rescue him from that mine.
And the Lord still knows how to protect and rescue His people today.
José Henríquez’s role as the miners’ spiritual leader and his 69-day ordeal were reported at the time[4. BioBioChile —(https://www.biobiochile.cl/noticias/2010/10/13/jose-henriquez-es-el-vigesimo-cuarto-minero-en-ser-rescatado-desde-el-yacimiento-san-jose.shtml). His statement crediting Jesus and God’s Word is recorded here.]
You have to love this statement from the Protestant Chaplain to the President of Chile, Reverend Alfredo Cooper.
He said:
“Many of the miners went down as atheists or unbelievers or semi-believers and they have come up to a man testifying that they were not 33 but that there were 34 down there – that Jesus was there with them and that they had a constant sense of his presence and guidance.”
The Lord knows how to protect and rescue.
You can take that to the bank.
God knows—so cooperate.
Trust God’s Protection—Cooperate with His Direction.
Life has a way of making us feel as though the odds are stacked against us.
Are you facing opposition at work?
Difficulties at home?
Or, money problems that seem to be pressing down on you?
Whatever the battle, remember what the Holy Spirit said through the Apostle Peter: “The Lord knows how to rescue the godly…” (2 Peter 2:9).
He knows—aren’t you glad He knows?
So, instead of concentrating on the size of the problem, look at Jesus.
Ask the Lord to show you what your next step is.
Then, make sure you take it.
God never asked Noah to figure everything out—He asked him to build an ark.
God never asked Lot to defeat Sodom—He asked him to leave it.
As you cooperate with God’s direction, trust Him to do what only He can do.
God knows how to rescue and protect you.
God knows—so cooperate.
Why?
Because God already knows what to do.
Cooperation positions you to benefit from what He already knows.
Let me pray for you.
Father God, I pray for the people today that you would stretch out your saving and delivering hand. Thank you for protecting and rescuing your people for you are an ever present help in the time of trouble. We praise you for these things in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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These and other podcasts are available at emeryhorvath.com.
The Truth About When the Odds Are Stacked Against You.
Until then, remember: God knows—so cooperate.
You guys have a great God week and we will see you next time for another edition of Light on Life.
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Listen Now →References
- Lawrence O. Richards, New International Encyclopedia of Bible Words: Based on the NIV and the NASB (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1999), 212. ↩︎
- BioBioChile . José Henríquez’s statement crediting Jesus and God’s Word is recorded by The Christian Institute . ↩︎