Doom and Deliverance
Already the early Church was threatened with destructive heresies introduced by men who desired only their self-aggrandizement. All the Apostles give warning against such, and point to character as the one supreme test of doctrine. The real drift of the heresies is to deny the Master, who bought us as slaves in the market of the world. Of all the bidders, there is none who has bidden so high as he.
Many instances are quoted from the past to prove the fearful judgments which must overtake such false teachers. The angels who placed their self-will in antagonism to their Maker were cast down to Tartarus-a Greek word used only here in the New Testament. The people who lived previous to the Flood, and they who afterward at Sodom disregarded the laws of purity and self-restraint, dictated alike by nature and conscience, were overwhelmed in destruction. But even amid such judgments, God discriminates His Noahs and His Lots, preserves and delivers them, and numbers them among His jewels, Malachi 3:17. God has His eye on you and will succor you.