Winston Churchill rightly warned, Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it. There is a familiar assumption that because judgment is not instant, judgment isn’t coming. We think our personal and private behavior is hidden from God, and that because He is love and only love, He ignores sin. But sin and false teaching always bring suffering and destruction.

Peter listed three examples of God’s judgment from the Book of Genesis: the seditious angels, the spiritually apathetic world of Noah, and the sensual cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The false teachers are likewise predestined to God’s eternal judgment as unsaved creatures (2 Pet 2:3).
God judges the wicked, but also faithfully delivers His own.

I. Noah (2 Pet 2:5; Gen 6:8 - 7:10). For 120 years as he built the ark, Noah was a preacher of righteousness, warning the ungodly world of God’s impending judgment and grace. Noah didn’t have a revival, in fact, he had no converts but his family. A preacher may be faithful to God and still not be successful by worldly standards. Success is obedience to God, not numbers or applause. God alone is the Saviour, not the preacher.
God saved Noah by grace (Gen 6:8), then 120 years later saved Noah from His judgment of the Flood (Gen 6:8-13). When God delivered Noah from sin, He also saved Noah from His wrath against sin (Is 54:9-10; 1 Thess 5:9; 1 Pet 3:20).

II. Lot (2 Pet 2:7-8; Gen 19:1-29). Citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah ate, drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built (Lk 17:28). They were also sexual perverts (Gen 19:1-11; Ezek 16:49-50; Jude 1:7). Peter calls them wicked (athesmos), demonstrating actions that are uncontrolled and contrary to nature, conscience, and commandment. They were engaged in lawless deeds (anamos), they hated the law and its purpose to restrain evil. Their conduct (anastrophe, lifestyle) was filthy (aselgeia) outrageous, unbelievable behavior. We’re told homosexuality is just another “lifestyle” deserving of “rights” and “equality”; God calls it filthy, anti-law, and deserving of the death penalty (Lev 20:13; Rom 1:26-28). Those who accept this sin are as guilty as those who perform it (Rom 1:32)!
Lot sat in the gate (Gen 19:1; 34:24) of Sodom where business and legal transactions were made. He had influence and was liked by the Sodomites, but his soul (heart) was tormented (basanizo, to torture continually) and oppressed (kataponeo, to exhaust with labor so one is continually worn down) by witnessing their sin. A soul tormented and oppressed by sin is evidence of salvation (Ps 97:10; 119:7, 67-69, 77, 101, 106, 121, 123; Prov 8:13; Rom 12:9). So why did Lot stay where his soul was tortured? He had power and prosperity, but more likely, he felt trapped by the family he loved, and which loved the city life.
God delivered (rhuomai) Lot. Rhuomai means to drag along, to snatch to oneself from severe danger, evil, or an enemy and preserve. Lot appears in Genesis to be the weakest of saints. His deliverance wasn’t because he lived a spotless, sinless life, but because God had declared him righteous by grace through faith just as He saved Lot’s uncle Abraham (Rom 4:2-5, 9, 13, 16, 22 - 5:2) and us today (Ps 24:3-5; Phil 3:9). God wouldn’t bring His wrath upon the cities of the plain as long as Lot was present, delivering him by force so He could judge the wicked. Mrs Lot was dragged from the city, but she left her heart there, loving the world and its things (1 Jn 2:15-16).

III. You (2 Pet 2:9). You won’t know how He’ll do it, but Jesus knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations. Temptation (peirasmos) refers to an attack with intent to destroy. Deliverance (rhuomai) describes being guarded, protected, supported, defended, set free. No one is free from life’s troubles, but God meets us in the midst of those trials. He certainly delivers His own from the daily temptation to sin (10.13" class="scriptRef">1 Cor 10:13; Jas 1:13-18), but Peter’s reference is eschatological. Peter isn’t writing of daily deliverance but freedom from the Father’s eternal judgment and wrath through faith in Jesus (Is 53:6, 10; Rom 5:6-10; 1 Thess 1:9-10; 5:1-11; 2 Thess 2:13-17).