Okay, we'll be right there where
Robert read in 2 Peter chapter 3. Now my intention, and this
message is the beginning of a series that I'm going to do on the last
days. And that's the last days obviously
leading up to the second coming of Christ. several passages of
scripture there. My intention today is to go through
this whole chapter, but if I get a little verbose, I might have
to divide it into two messages. I'll just see how it goes, because
these are important things we need to understand. Title of
the message is, In the Last Days, And that's what Peter wrote here
in verse three, 2 Peter 3, knowing this first, that there shall
come in the last days. The last days, and we'll talk
about that. The book of 1 Peter and 2 Peter
are short epistles, letters, written to the church, written
to believers. showing them that in the last
days there will be a multitude of false prophets, false preachers,
claiming to preach Christ. And that's important for us to
understand. The Lord himself told his disciples
this same thing. And so just to kind of prepare
you to understand this is one of the greatest signs of the
nearness of his coming And I'll talk about this in another message.
Is not the immorality of man run amok in the world. That's
always been. Always. Now, it's a little more
prominent in our lives because of TV and the internet. We see
it in vivid technicolor in our living rooms now. But it's always
been that way. But one of the most prominent
signs of the nearness of the coming of Christ is false Christianity. And I'll show you that from the
scriptures, mainly in incoming messages. But what Peter is doing
here in 1 Peter and 2 Peter, since this is the case, he says
there will be scoffers here. That's those who mock They deny
the word of God, especially concerning the gospel and concerning the
second coming. And because of these false preachers,
we as the people of God have to be on our guard. We have to
be aware. We have to be awake. We can't
go to sleep on the job, that's what he's saying, basically.
We have to be ready and skillful in the word of God, and we have
to be diligent not only in our doctrine, we do have to be diligent
in our doctrine. Whatever it is I believe, I want
to make sure that it's according to this word. Forget your denomination. And I'll say it this way too.
Forget your upbringing unless your upbringing was strictly
according to the scriptures. Now I know my own upbringing.
I know I was a false Christian for years. And when I heard the
word of God and God opened it to me, it was like a slap in
the face to me. It turned my world upside down.
But anyway, not only in our doctrine, but also in our behavior, our
diligence, That's why he tells them grow in the grace and the
knowledge of Christ. So that's what's happening here. And here in chapter three, he
says in verse one, he says this second epistle, and notice the
word beloved. Now what these first two verses
tell us to whom Peter is writing and why he's writing it. What
reason he's writing. He's writing to the beloved.
Now when I think of the word beloved, the first one that comes
to mind is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. You remember on the
Mount of Transfiguration, at his baptism, and at the Mount
of Transfiguration, the Lord God spoke from heaven, the Father
spoke from heaven, and said, this is my beloved son, in whom
I am well pleased. Hear ye him. If you'll look over
in 1 Peter, just turn back a few pages, in the book of 1 Peter,
Now Peter, in his second epistle, is writing to the same ones that
he wrote to in his first epistle, and that's proven by what he
says there in chapter 3, our text, this second epistle, beloved,
I now write unto you. So I wrote you a first epistle,
a first letter, now I'm writing you a second letter, and who
did he write the first letter to? Well, look at verse 1 of
chapter 1. It says, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the
strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia. The stranger there has to do
with aliens or foreigners. In other words, these are believers
that are not in their homeland, they're living in a foreign land.
Peter says, I'm writing this to you, and here's how he describes
them. Now look at it. Elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father. They're the elect. Now,
I know people don't like to hear that, but this is God's word. And most people would say, well,
those who are elect are those who choose God. No, it's those
whom God chose. He says, elect according to the
foreknowledge. And in the Greek, that word foreknowledge
is foreordination. So it's a people of whom God
chose and gave to Christ. They elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father. He says, through sanctification
of the Spirit. Now what is he talking about
sanctification of the Spirit? That's the new birth. You've
been set apart and born again unto obedience of the sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus Christ. That's his blood sprinkled by
the Spirit upon our hearts, our minds, affections, and will.
Grace unto you and peace be multiplied unto you. Now, look at 2 Peter. Second Peter chapter one, verse
one. Who's he writing to? He's writing to the beloved.
That's the beloved of God. How do you know that you're an
object of God's love? Well, God's love is in Christ.
And those who are in Christ, he says, verse one, Simon Peter,
a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained
like precious faith. That's believers. They've obtained
it. And he says, with us through
the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ, or literally
the righteousness of our God and our Savior Jesus Christ.
That's Christ's righteousness. That's the work of Christ on
the cross. Righteousness, listen, in the
Bible, righteousness and right living doesn't refer to the morality
of even believers. Now the Bible does refer to the
morality and the behavior, the godliness of believers, but the
word righteousness always refers to the perfection of the law
that can only be found in Christ. Why, the Bible says, Romans 1,
verse 16 and 17, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
it's the power of God unto salvation, to everyone that believeth, to
the Jew first, the Greek also, for therein is what? The righteousness
of God revealed, from faith, from knowledge revealed, to faith,
to knowledge received, for it's written, the just, the justified
shall live by faith. What does that mean, you live
by faith? It means you live your life looking to, resting in,
and following the Lord Jesus Christ for all righteousness.
You're not trying to work one of your own in order to be saved.
Salvation is not by works. To be justified is to be forgiven
of all of our sins on a just ground. And what is the just
ground? The blood of Jesus Christ. You
believe that? If you don't, then don't ever
sing that old hymn again, What Can Wash Away My Sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. To be justified is to be declared,
accounted, righteous in the sight of God on a just ground. What
is the only just ground? The imputed righteousness of
Christ. And that's who he's writing here to. They are the beloved. the beloved of God. Now go back
over to chapter three of second Peter, over in verse 14 of chapter
three, listen to this. He says, wherefore beloved, seeing
that you look for such things, be diligent, be diligent. And I'll come to that verse again.
But this beloved here are the elect of God who've been born
again by the Spirit, brought to faith in Christ and repentance
of dead works. And they look with anticipation
for the coming of the Savior, with assurance. And they will
all be brought to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works. Now, Robert Minch says that I
said I knew when the Lord was coming back. I don't know the
date. I don't know the hour. Nobody does. And anybody that
tells you they do, they're going against the word of God. They're
fools. But when is the Lord coming back?
Well, the Bible says in John 6, 37, this is what Christ said.
He said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. He
said, him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. This is
the will of him that sent me, that of all which he hath given
me I should lose nothing, but what? Raise it up at the last
day. Now when that last sheep is brought
into the fold, that's when Christ is coming again. And Peter deals with that here
in chapter three. He talks about what he calls
the long-suffering of the Lord. It's salvation. In other words,
as long as Christ has not come back yet, God still has some
sheep out there that he means to bring into the fold. Over
in John chapter 10, Christ said, other sheep that I have that
are not of this Jewish fold, I must also bring. I must bring
them in. And so what are we to do in the
meantime? Preach the gospel. Not write books called Left Behind
in which the only thing that's really left behind is the Word
of God. Preach the gospel. Not make movies about some science
fiction that some man back in 1850-something concocted. Read
the Bible. And that's what we're about.
Look at what Peter says here. Verse one, this second epistle,
beloved, I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your
pure minds by way of remembrance. The pure mind there. Now we know
that the heart, the mind, is only purified by grace with the
application of the blood of Christ. That brings us to faith. But
the word pure here is different. It doesn't mean cleansing, it
means sincere. Your sincere heart, you genuinely
look to Christ, rest in Him. And he said, I want to stir up
your pure minds by way of remembrance. Well, what do I want you to remember? Well, now think about it. You
know, you talk to a lot of people today and you talk about salvation.
What do they normally remember? They remember a time in their
lives when they walked an aisle or got baptized or had some miraculous
experience, a dream or a vision or a feeling. But Peter, that's
not what he wants them to remember. Look at verse two. That you may
be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy
prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord
and Savior. The word of God. I want you to
remember what God said. Over in the book of 2 Peter chapter
1 and verse 20, Peter mentions that just up the page there. Talking about the sure word of
prophecy, verse 19, he says, we also have a more sure word
of prophecy. That's preaching. where until
you do well that you take heed as into a light that shineth
in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star rise in
your hearts. Whatever it is that you remember
about salvation, if you talk about your experiences and what
you felt and all of that, I've got something that is a whole
lot more sure than that. You see, feelings come, feelings
go. Feelings can be deceiving. All
I have is the word of God. Nothing else is worth believing.
And that's what Peter's saying. Verse 20, knowing this first,
that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation,
that is, it doesn't stand on its own individually, for the
prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, it wasn't
by the will of man now, whatever it is, People worship the will
of man today. I made the right decision. I
made the difference. Oh, no. By the grace of God,
I am what I am, Paul wrote. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. And
so it came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men
of God spoke as they were moved, inspired by the Holy Spirit. This is God's word. So that's
what Peter's talking about. This is the Word of God. And
then look back over in 2 Peter 3. Look at verse 3. Knowing this
first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking
after their own lust. Now, let me say this. This term,
the last days. Do you know if we go by the Word
of God, that we've been living in the last days All along, the last times, sometimes it's
said, look over in 1 John, it's really just over a page or two.
1 John chapter 2 and verse 8. Now, verse 18 is what I want
to read. The last days, when you read
that term in the New Testament, the last times, refers to the
period of time that ranges from the death, burial, and resurrection
of Christ, and when He ascended unto the Father, that's the beginning
of it, the last days, all the way to His second coming. That's
the last days. Look at what John says in 1 John
2 and verse 18. Little children, it is the last
time. This is the last segment of history
on earth that God has ordained. for the salvation of his people.
He says, and you've heard that Antichrist shall come. Antichrist. You know, the only time the term
Antichrist is used in scripture is by John in this epistle. And
he says Antichrist shall come, but now go on and listen, even
now are there many Antichrist. What does Antichrist mean? It
means against Christ. That's what it means. And so
he says, there are many antichrists in his day. And he says, whereby
we know that it is the last time. Now what he's talking about is
that spirit that comes in the name of Christ, but denies the
truth of Christ, denies the doctrine of Christ. In other words, it's
Christian in name only, but not in doctrine. And he says in verse
19, they went out from us, they were not of us. For if they'd
been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, but they
went out that they might be made manifest that they were not of
us. Talking about those who, at one point in time, claimed
to believe the truth, but then left it and turned against it.
They apostatized, that's what the scripture says. They never
were saved. If they were, they'd have remained
with us. That's what John says. That's the spirit of Antichrist.
And what that shows us is this. Here in the last days, what are
we to be concerned with? That's what Peter's going to
talk about here in this chapter. Are we to be looking for who
the Antichrist is? He's told us who the Antichrist
is. It's anyone who claims to be
a Christian but is against Christ. Now you say, well, I'm just looking
for one person to arise up on the political scene. That kind
of idea didn't even come into existence till around 1850. Now think about it. That's certainly
not what John is talking about. But go back to Peter. He says, we're living in these
days, and they'll be marked by scoffers, mockers, walking after
their own lust, Now what is lust? That's an unlawful desire. Any
unlawful desire is lust. Did you know that? I always give the example of Cain
and Abel. When Cain brought his works unto God, seeking to be
accepted with God, he was performing an act of lust. He was seeking
something that was unlawful. Salvation by His works. Did you
know that's unlawful? You know why? Because God says
salvation is not by works. It's by grace. Anybody who desires
salvation any other way but Christ, by the grace of God, that's lust. Any other way. When he says they're
walking according to their own lust, what he means is they're
walking according to their own fleshly ideas, their own fleshly
desires. They may be immoral people. They
may be thieves and robbers and perverts and all that, but they
may be religious people too. They may be preachers behind
pulpits, preaching a false gospel. They may be scientists. World
leaders, they may be somebody that everybody looks up to, but
they're walking according to their own fleshly ideas and desires. And he says in verse three, knowing
this first, that there shall come in the last day scoffers
walking after their own lusts and saying, verse four, where
is the promise of his coming? Now God has promised. You know,
in the Old Testament, God promised that Christ would come as the
surety substitute and as the redeemer of his chosen people
to put away their sins. We read about that Hebrews 9.
He came once to put away sin by the offering of himself and
he got the job done. He put away the sins of his people. They cannot be lost. His putting
away their sins means their sins are forgiven. Their sins cannot
be charged to them. They have righteousness. And
that means that at some point in their lives, the Spirit's
going to come and bring them, sometimes the Scripture says,
drag them under the preaching of the Gospel, and He's going
to give them a new heart. And bring them to faith in Christ
and repentance of dead works. But these say, well, where's
the promise of His coming? Talking about His second coming.
And he says, for since the fathers fell asleep, whoever their fathers
were, these could be Jewish unbelievers, referring to Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, I don't know. But they're unbelievers. And
they said, since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue
as they were from the beginning of creation. Do you realize what
they're saying here? They're saying everything's the
same as it always has been. Well, you know what the Bible
calls that? Willful ignorance. Look at verse five. For this
they willingly are ignorant of. They deny the obvious, that by
the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing
out of the water and in the water. That was before the flood. Water's
below and water's above. Verse six, whereby the world
that then was being overflowed with water, that's the flood,
perished. There was a flood. Do you believe
that? I do. I believe this whole earth
was covered with water. That's God's judgment. You can
read about it in Genesis 6, 7, and 8, and 9. Noah and the flood,
the ark, one way of escape, the ark, that's Christ. And it says
in verse seven here, But the heavens and the earth, which
are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto
fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
God is keeping this world in store to destroy it, to bring
judgment on this earth. And what he's saying here is
that these scoffers are denying the word of God. And you know
what? That's the problem. That's the
problem with people today. They don't know the Word of God.
They deny the Word of God. And even those who claim to believe
the Bible, listen to them, talk to them. They don't know the
Word of God. They might have a pet scripture
here and there. I heard a preacher the other
day, he said, well we believe John 3.16. I do too, but there's
more to the Bible than John 3.16, isn't there? That's not the only
verse in the Bible, friend. There's other verses. I know
the Bible talks about God's love, but the Bible, hold on now, the
Bible also talks about God's hatred. Oh no, God doesn't hate
anybody. Read the Bible. Well, that means
He loved less. That might mean that to you,
but that's not what it means. What's wrong for God to hate?
Nothing God does is wrong. You know why? Because He's God. The Bible says in Psalm 5, He hateth
all workers of iniquity. Now it doesn't say there he hates
iniquity. He does. It says he hates the workers
of iniquity. Well, where does that leave me?
Aren't I a sinner too? Yes. But God in Christ provides
a way that those who are sinful people, sinners who deserve nothing
but death and hell, can be justified in his sight. And here it's stated,
for example, it's stated all through the Bible, for example,
Psalm 32 too. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. Yes, I'm a sinner. Yes, I am
myself, I deserve nothing but death and hell. But if I'm in
Christ, I'm washed in his blood and I'm clothed in his righteousness.
Outside of Christ, there's only hatred from God, wrath, justly. But in Christ, there's the love
of God. Herein is love, not that we loved
Him, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation,
the sin-bearing sacrifice who brought satisfaction, propitiation
for our sins. And for whose sins did He propitiate?
those whom God brings to faith in Christ. That's what this is
all about. Well, the word of God says that
Christ is coming again, and the final judgment will follow. And
in that judgment, his people will be glorified, and those
found without Christ will be delivered to eternal destruction
and death. What is the standard of judgment at the judgment?
It's the righteousness of Christ. Acts 1731, God has appointed
a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom he hath ordained, in that he hath given assurance
unto all men, and that he hath raised him from the dead. Now
look back here. Now, these scoffers say, well
Christ, you know that God has not fulfilled His promise because
look at how much time has passed and things stay the same as they
always were, which is a lie. Listen to verse 8. But beloved,
be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord
as a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. Think about that. 1,000 years. You know we're not
going to live 1,000 years in this body, are we? I heard somebody
say, well, they say that in 2000 so and so, 2030, the average
lifespan of human beings will be 120. I imagine that last 20 is going
to be really something. Think about it. All right, so
it's 120. That's a far cry from a literal
thousand years, isn't it? Old Methuselah, 900, what, 69? Is that right? And he died. Where is Methuselah now? I'm
not gonna go into all that. Just read your Bible. It doesn't
say anything about he died in the Lord, it just says he died.
But either way, think about this. We go through a day. That day
is a thousand years to God and a thousand years is a day. This
time thing doesn't mean anything to God. Let me read Psalm 90 verse 14. For a thousand years in God's
sight are but a yesterday when it's past, and as a watch in
the night. You know in the Bible, and this
will help you when you get into Revelation. In the Bible, the
term thousand, when in reference to time, is always used symbolically. It's never a literal thousand
years. It represents any predetermined
time that God has chosen and one that only God knows. So we talk about the thousand
year reign. How many years do you think Christ
is gonna reign? Bible says he's gonna reign forever. That's more
than a thousand. Oh, but that means his reign
here on earth. Well, let's go on with Peter. And I am running
out of my time, so I'll make this a two-parter. Kristen, this
is a two-parter. But it's still in the series
of the last days. Let me read this verse, and then
I'll close. The Lord is not slack or slow
concerning his promise to send Christ. as some men count slackness. He doesn't measure time the way
men do. But he's longsuffering to who? Usward. Now who's the usward there? That's
the beloved. That's his children. That's the
elect. Not willing that any should perish, not all without exception,
but his elect. But that all, all of us should
come to repentance. Now what are we to be concerned
with in these last days? And I'll go on with this next
week, Lord willing. Preaching, witnessing, living
the gospel. That's it. Because that's how God brings
His people to repentance. He does it by bringing them to
faith in Christ, showing them the only right way of salvation
by the blood and righteousness of Christ, and bringing them
to forsake all other ways. That's repentance. And I'll talk
about that more next week. But that marks the last days. And we'll see more about that
next week when we get back into that. All right.