to be here by Thy providential
hand. We pray that You would build us up in You, Lord. Not
that we may boast in the things that we know, but that we might
glorify Thee, O Lord, and magnify You, and give You all the praise
and glory as we look at these texts today and the wonderful
salvation we have in You. In Jesus' name, Amen. Okay, open
your Bible, if you would, to 2 Peter 3. The name of the message
today is Usward. Usward, 2 Peter 3. We'll continue
our study in this book. We've probably got a few more
lessons left in this one. And we'll be on to another book.
But this wonderful epistle is the second one that Peter has
written to the same saints that he wrote to in 1 Peter. 2 Peter,
let's start in verse 1 and we'll read all the way to verse 10
of chapter 3. The second epistle, beloved,
I write, I now write unto you in both which I stir up your
pure minds by way of remembrance, that you may be mindful of the
words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the
commandments of us, the apostles of the Lord, of the Lord and
Savior, knowing this first that there shall come in the last
day scoffers. walking after their own loss,
and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the
beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant
of that by the word of God, the heavens were of old in the earth,
standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world
that was then that then was being overflowed with water perished.
But the heavens in the earth, which are now by the same word
are kept in store, reserved under fire against the day of judgment
in perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, Remember, that's
divinely loved ones. We've been looking at in our
study in 1 John. Divinely loved ones. I love that. I know every time I see that
now, that's what I think of. Divinely loved ones. But beloved,
be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord
is 1,000 years, and 1,000 years is a day. The Lord is not slack
concerning his promises. Some men count slackness, but
is long-suffering to usward. not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will
come as the thief in the night, and that which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein
shall be burned up. So last week we looked at verses
one to seven, where we saw that Peter, writing to the elect of
God, those he had wrote to in his former epistle, in the first
epistle of Peter, that he wanted to stir them up to remembrance.
He wanted to stir them up to remembrance. And he stirred them
up to the remembrance of what the Law and the Prophets said,
the Old Testament. And they testified, we know,
of Christ. They testified of Christ. They testified of Christ
in promise. They testified of Christ in prophecy. And they testified of Christ
in type. And Peter so wanted to bring to the remembrance the
commandment of Christ is being as we consider the preaching
of the gospel or his commandment to love one another. And it's
brought out clearly in our study in 1 John, which says this, and
this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name
of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, and love one
another, as he gave us commandment, 1 John 3.23. And as I said last
week, nothing is more important to God's preachers than preaching
the gospel. Nothing is more important to
God's preachers than preaching the gospel. And nothing should
be more important to God's saints is hearing the gospel. So it's
double, a double there for all of us. Because even God's preachers
are sheep. And so we desire to hear the
gospel preached too. That's why I love the conferences.
I was mentioning that to Sister D, because I get to sit and listen
to the gospel preached too. And it's absolutely wonderful.
Listen to our words of our master in John chapter 13 verses 34
and 35. If you want to turn there you
can, but I'll read this here, John 13 verses 34 and 35. He
says this, a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love
one another as I have loved you, as I have loved you, that ye
also love one another by this, by the fact that you love the
brethren, by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples.
if you have love one to another. And then we also, let's go back
to our text in 2 Peter, then we also looked at the verses
where Peter brings out that there'd be scoffers in the last days.
There'd be scoffers in the last days. Well, I remember before
the Lord saved me, I was a scoffer. I said, well, what's going on?
Where is he? And I heard other people say that, too, all the
time. I'm not a scoffer anymore. The Lord is coming. He's coming. He is coming. He's coming, just
like He promised to come. But Peter brings forth that there'll
be scoffers in the last days. And we know we've been in the
last days since Christ's coming. And these scoffers are walking
after their own loss. They question the promise of
Christ's coming. They say, well, He's not here
yet. He must not be coming. But the scripture says they're
willfully ignorant. of what the word of God proclaims.
And I can say that I was at that time too. All of us were in our
natural state, weren't we? We were willfully ignorant of
what the scripture said. And the word of God proclaims
that they do not know him. They do not know him. They do
not know that the heaven and earth are now kept by him. They
do not know that the heaven and earth is reserved right now for
fire. It's all gonna burn up. It's
all gonna burn up. on the day of judgment, the day
of perdition of ungodly men. And they forget that the same
word, the second person of the Trinity, created the world. Created
the world. And it's sustained, and it's
kept intact, and it keeps giving out resources according to the
power of God. He's the one who keeps everything,
visible and invisible. There's not, I like what one
guy said, there's not one maverick molecule. Not one. All of them are under the control
of God. Every single one. Turn if you would to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 1. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. Look what the scripture declares
here. And to you who are troubled, rest with us. Now God's people
are troubled in this world, aren't we? We're troubled by the world. We're troubled by religious people. We're troubled by the things
that go on in this world. Look at this in 2 Thessalonians
1. 2 Thessalonians 1. And to you
who are troubled, verse 7, rest with us. Rest with us. When the Lord Jesus Christ shall
be revealed, shall be, there's no question there. He shall be
revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. Look at this.
In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and
that obey not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a
great day of reckoning. There is a great day of reckoning.
Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence
of the Lord and from the glory of his power. Now think of that.
That's the opposite of what we get. We don't get what we deserve. We'll be in everlasting glory
in the presence of our great God. Those who reject Christ,
it says here, will be punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power.
When he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired
in all them that believe, because our testimony among you was believed. Now, keep this in mind too. because
on Sunday morning message, we're gonna be looking at the fact
that one of the marks of God's people is we believe what the
word says. We believe what it says. There was a time when we
didn't, and now we do. We believe it. In that day, it
says. Let's go back to 2 Peter chapter
three. We'll look at verse eight now.
But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing. That one day
is with the Lord is 1,000 years. And 1,000 years as one day. So we see here that Peter uses
the enduring term for God's elect, calling them beloved. Again,
divinely loved ones. Divinely loved ones. Marvel at
that term. You who are the people of God.
Peter and John use this in the scriptures and they declare,
and so does Paul, they declare us Beloved of God. Beloved. My. And again, this is all the
elect of all the ages. All the elect of all the ages
are God's beloved. And we are accepted in the beloved.
That's why we're called beloved. Because we're accepted in Christ
and Christ alone. This includes all people who
are born again by the Holy Spirit of God, all who are washed in
the precious blood of Christ. Because God loves every member
of the body of Christ. Every single member. And He loves
us. Now, think of this. He loves
us with the same love that He loved John with. He loves us
with the same love that He loved Paul with. An immutable, eternal,
unchanging love. And that leaves us in absolute
awe, doesn't it? But it's the truth. It's a perfect,
eternal, immutable love. Now, if we're born again, then all of God's elect should be
very dear to us. And we should lay at heart the
words of Christ, our sovereign Lord, when he said, verily I
say unto you, inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the
least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me, Matthew
25, 40. And remember when Paul was unregenerate.
Remember when Paul was unregenerate. Before he was born again, what
was he doing? He was persecuting the church,
wasn't he? He was laying waste to the church. And remember the
words of our master? He said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? Again, that shows the vital union
between the head and the body. So when you persecute God's people,
when someone persecutes God's people, they're actually persecuting
Christ, who is the head of the body. And Paul, in his natural
state, remember, he hated the Lord Jesus Christ. He hated the
teachings of Christ. He hated those who followed Christ.
And he was persecuting the church. It says he was laying waste to
it. He was laying waste to it. Men and women who loved the Lord
Jesus Christ. But again, our Lord said, Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me? Me. So what we do to one of God's
children, we clearly see that we do to our Lord. As one grace
preacher said, he takes it personally. He takes it personally. So let
us love one another. And remember that we're all part
of the body of Christ. All part of the divinely loved
ones that are spoken here. Beloved. We're all part of the
divinely loved ones. Now let's look at the next portion
of this verse. Beloved. Be not ignorant of this one thing,
that one day is with the Lord is a thousand years, and a thousand
years is one. Listen to this quote from Pastor
Henry Mahan. The length of time that has passed
since the promise of Christ's coming has no significance upon
the fulfillment of that promise. He goes on to say, since the
longest term of time is nothing with God. A thousand years is
like a day to him. He says, however important it
may be to man. Remember, he dwells outside of
time and space. He's not constrained by time
like we are. He dwells in the heavens. And
always remember that our Lord created time. He's the one who's
created time. And again, he dwells outside
of it. Where does he dwell? He dwells in eternity. We're stuck in this little time
that we're here, and it's but a vapor, isn't it? But one day,
we're gonna step into eternity. And we who are his people are
gonna be with him forever, forever. So I ask you this, what is time
to God? Knowing that 1,000 years is like
one day, what is time to God? By using time according to this
verse to gauge how long it's been since our Lord Jesus reconciled
us to God by His death, He's only been gone for two days. If you use the gauge, the time
gauge that's here in this verse. Not very long, yeah. Two days
goes like that for us, doesn't it? Just goes so fast. There's no years to our Lord.
He dwells in everlasting. He's the ancient of days, the
scripture says. Thousands of years would seem
like a mere speck in comparison with his everlasting existence.
Have you ever thought of that? In comparison to his everlasting
existence. A thousand years is like a speck
of time. See, again, we're constrained
in time and space, so we don't think like that. But he dwells
in everlasting, he dwells in eternity. And we know he's always
been. So probably what is even gonna
occur in this, the time of this earth is but a speck of time. Not even time because he doesn't
have time. Again, the reason we say time is because we're
in time. But he's not. He's not. Time passes away here
on this earth swiftly, doesn't it? Swiftly. Empires rise. Think of the empires
that have been on this earth, that have risen up. The Greek
empires, the Byzantine empire, the Roman empires, and they've
all just passed away into history, haven't they? Men and women are born and die,
and yet God still inhabits eternity. He still inhabits eternity, and
He still rules and reigns, just like He ever has. And He reigns
over all. Over all. Now we're looking at verse 9.
But again, we must read this verse in context. As I said before
in this study, this is a verse that has been torn out of context
so much. So much. It's probably, next
to John 3.16, it's probably the second most verse that is torn
out of context in the scriptures. Misapplied by false teachers.
Misapplied by false professors. So let's read verses 1 to 10
again. And we'll see that this actually speaks of the second
coming of Christ. It speaks, and that all God's
people will come to repentance. They all be born again before
he comes. Hear not, lose one. That's the
context of the verse. Look at this. This second epistle,
beloved, I write unto you, in both which I stir up your pure
minds by way of remembrance. Again, he's bringing the gospel
before them. that ye may be mindful of the
words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and the
commandments of the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing
this first, that there shall come in the last day scoffers,
walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise
of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
For this they willingly are ignorant, of that by the word of God, the
heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water
and in the waters, whereby the world that then was, being overflowed
with water, perished. But the heavens and the earth,
which are now by the same word, are kept in store, reserved under
fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise." What promise? That
He's coming again. That He's coming again. That's
what this is talking about. As some man counts slackness,
but is long-suffering to usward. To usward, not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day
of the Lord shall come, look at the next verse, look at the
context of this verse. But the day of the Lord shall
come as a thief in the night. He's talking about the second
coming of Christ. That's what he's bringing forth,
beloved. Come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall
melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are
therein shall be burned up. So the beginning of this verse,
it says the Lord's not slack concerning the promise of what?
His coming. His coming. He will come again. We know that from verse 10 again.
Like a thief in the night, and men will be saying, peace, peace.
They'll be saying, peace, peace, when there's no peace. And they shall be eating and
drinking, just as in the days of Noah. And then what? Sudden
destruction will fall upon them. That's what will happen. Again,
let's read verses 9 and 10 again. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promises. Some men count slackness. That's
why they're saying, where is he? Where is he? Right? Well,
they don't know him. but is long-suffering to usward.
Who's he writing to? He's writing to the elect of
God, beloved. Not willing that any should perish, but that all
shall come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall
be burned up. Now think, when Peter wrote this letter, to the
elect of God, it had been some years since our Lord's ascension.
And some men began to charge God with slackness, we see that.
They began to charge God with slackness. See that in verse
nine, for the delay of his second coming. Which is not a delay
in God's eyes, because he planned and purposed it all. And only
the Father knows when Christ is coming back. If you ever hear
someone predict when the Lord's coming back, you know it ain't
gonna happen that day. Because only God knows when Christ
is coming. We just preach that He's coming,
and we know it's sure, we just don't know when. We don't know
when. So we see that our Lord is long-suffering.
Long-suffering. In the time between His death
and His second coming, why is He long-suffering? That there
might be a gathering in of the elect. And that makes our hearts
rejoice, doesn't it? Because we're some of the ones,
we who are His people, who've been gathered in. Gathered in. And there's still
some of the elect who are lost sheep. And the Lord will not come back
until that last sheep is saved. And when that last sheep is saved,
it's all over. Oh my, beloved. That's what the
context of this is all talking about. Our Lord will save every one
of His lost sheep, every one for whom He died for. And we
see in verse 9 that He is longsuffering to His people who are called
usward. Look at this, the Lord is not
slack concerning His promises, some man counts slackness, but
is longsuffering to usward. Not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. All of God's sheep, His lost
sheep shall be saved. They will be born again by the
Holy Spirit of God. They will be granted faith and
repentance. They will turn to Christ, and it's all a result
of the power of God. So we see very clearly in this
portion that the Lord is not sly. He doesn't delay. He doesn't
delay. He's not slow or tardy concerning
His promised return. And we also know that God cannot
lie. God cannot lie. And in the eternal covenant of
grace, God promised the people to his son. The us word. They were promised to his son.
And conditional upon what Christ did, right? Not conditional on
anything in us, but conditional on what Christ did. And he died
for them as their substitute. He paid everything God demanded.
And our blessed surety meant all the conditions set forth
in the covenant of grace for us. And God will not go back
on His promise. Every one of those He gave to
the Son shall be saved. You see how this verse, this
ties in with this verse, right? The Lord is not slack concerning
His promise, as some man counts slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward, to all the elect, to all that the Father gave to
Christ. Not willing that any should perish. Not willing that
one of those sheep should perish. Not one. Not one. And what assurance and security
that gives us when we doubt and when we have times of struggles. We're one of the Lord's. He's
going to keep us. He saved us. He's going to keep
us too, isn't he? Oh my. Not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repentance. And we know that
faith and repentance is a gift to God. It's a gift to God. Turn, if you would, to John chapter
6. John chapter 6. And look at the assurance that
the Lord speaks with here. And tie it in with the verse
that we're looking at. Not willing that any should perish. The us
word, should perish. Why? Well, why? Well, let's look
at this here. John chapter six, verses 37 to
40. Look at this. And look at the
utmost assurance that the Lord says this with. All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me. Okay? I'm gonna read this
over here again. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promises. Some man can't slackness, but his long-suffering
to us were not willing that any should perish. Oh, all that the
Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out. John chapter 6 verse 37 to 40. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that all which
he hath given me, the us word, I should lose nothing. Not going
to lose, what does the scripture say over here? The Lord is not
slack concerning His promises. Some men count slackness, but
His law is suffering to us. We're not willing that any should
perish. Same language, isn't it? Oh yeah. That all of which He hath given
me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last
day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on
Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the
last day. Oh, my. So with the exception of John
3, 16, this verse here in 2 Peter 3, again, is probably one of
the most misunderstood scriptures by people in the religious world.
And I've seen people tear this out of context so much. I had
someone one time tell me, well, Wayne, this verse says that God's
not willing that any should perish. And I said, well, who's the letter
written to? And we looked at this here, and
it says the second, this is the second letter. I said, well,
so this is the second letter that he wrote to him. Let's go
to the first letter. Elect. It's written to God's elect. To those who are, let's turn
there, 1 Peter, look at this. And this is what you, if someone
does that, pulls it out of context like that, you just say, well,
this is the second letter it says here in 2 Peter 3.1. Let's
go to the first letter. Let's see who this us word is,
because the us word there is key. The us word there is key. Look at this in 1 Peter 1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ
to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia. Elect. That means chosen in the
Greek. Elect. According to what? The
foreknowledge of God. Oh my. Through sanctification
of the spirit, In obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus
Christ, grace be unto you and peace be multiplied. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according
to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again into a lively hope,
born again by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
But look who it's written to, the elect, according to the foreknowledge
of God. And that does not mean that lie
that's put out there where it says God looked down through
time and saw who would choose him. No, that makes man the sovereign.
Our God looked down through time and saw that everyone fell in
Adam. And by his mercy and his grace, he chose his people. Out
of each generation. Peter wrote about that. We looked
at that in the first epistle. Out of each generation. Oh my.
Oh my. So we see very clearly in this
portion of scripture that Peter's writing to those who are called
the elect of God. Those who are born again by the
power of God. and we see there in 1 Peter,
to a living hope. We know who our living hope is,
it's Christ. It's Christ and Christ alone. The elect are those
who are begotten by God, not according to our so-called free
will, but according to God's abundant mercy, according to
his abundant mercy, which we know comes to we who are the
elect and through the Lord Jesus Christ in him alone. So we can
conclude then, who Peter wrote to in the first
epistle, the elect of God, because the word elect there in the Greek,
it means to choose, to select. Beloved, you are a people of
God's own choosing. My, Thayer brings forth this,
that it means picked out, chosen. chosen by God to obtain salvation
through Christ. And Thayer also brings forth
that Christians are called chosen or elect of God. Chosen or elect
of God. So we can say chosen according
to the foreknowledge of God. And we know that we're only chosen
in Christ because it says according to this, he had chosen us and
him being Christ before the foundation of the world, and we should be
holy and without blame before him in love. So we clearly see then that the
us word refers to God's left. Let's go back to our verse there.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promises. Some men count
slackness, but is long suffering to us. We're not willing that
any should perish, but that all should come to. The us word there
is the elect of God. What did our Lord say? My sheep
hear my voice and I know them. And I give and they follow me
and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.
Never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my father's hand. My father which gave them to
me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out
of my father's hand. I and my father are one. So our great sovereign redeemer
is not willing that any of his sheep for whom he died for will
perish. Not one of them. Not one of them. None of them will perish. And
what does he do? He does all things after the
council of his own will, doesn't he? And it was His will to save us.
And it's His will to keep us. And it's His will to bring us
home one day. In His presence forever. So we've seen today
that our Lord is not slack concerning the promise of His return. And
praised be the God, He's not willing that any of His sheep
should perish. Because left to ourselves, we'd perish in our
sins, wouldn't we? But He's not willing that any of us should
perish. He died for us. He redeemed us with his own precious
blood. Now, the majority of people in
this world mock the promise of Christ coming his eminent return,
they mock it. And God's born again, children
will not only rejoice in the blessed promise of his coming.
But we look forward to it, don't we? We look forward to it. We look forward to that great
day. And marvel at the words in our text, the scripture declares
that he is long-suffering to us, we who are sinners, by birth,
nature, and choice. I ask you who are born again,
has not God been long-suffering to you? My, he's so long-suffering
with us, isn't he? My. But before our Lord returns,
he's going to make sure that all for whom he died for are
delivered from the power of darkness, every one of them, and translated
into his eternal kingdom, and that they're all safe in his
fold. We're his sheep, and he's the
great shepherd, beloved. And our God endures with much
long-suffering also the vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction,
that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels
of mercy, which he had aforeprepared unto glory. We know we don't
get what we deserve. We don't get what we deserve.
We get mercy. And God is not willing that one
of his people shall perish, not one, but that all shall come
to repentance. And it's God's will that His
born-again blood-bought children shall come to repentance. And
you know what? They shall come to repentance. And every believer
can testify that's true. He made me well in the day of
His power. He saved me by His grace. I've obtained mercy through
Christ in Him alone. Nowhere else. So we see so far
in this chapter that the Apostle Peter has made a deliberate distinction
between the elect of God who believe on Christ, the called
us word, and then the scoffers who he spoke of in verse three.
There's a distinct difference. God's distinguished us, hasn't
he? He's made us to differ. It's all by his power. And this
church set up before us will make our hearts rejoice. And
we've been granted repentance. Just quickly, what is repentance?
Repentance means a reversal, change of mind. Think about this
in light of these three things. And we're close. God changed
our minds about the holiness of God, hasn't he? We didn't
know about the holiness of God, we didn't think about the holiness
of God, and now we're in awe of who he is. We're in awe of
his holiness. We're in awe of his absolute
sovereignty. And God changes our mind about
ourselves. Oh my, now we're helpless and hopeless sinners before God. And then he just keeps us relying
on him, doesn't he? Oh my. And then God changes our
minds about the Lord Jesus Christ. Who he is. Why he became a man. What he did as a man for his
people. Where he is now. He's risen,
beloved. He's the glorified God-man. And he's king, reigning supreme.
Praise his mighty name. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for your goodness and mercy and grace. Oh Lord, as we look at
this scripture and we see that you're merciful and long-suffering
to the us-ward, which we know is your people. And we who are
born again, it humbles us so much to know that we're in that
number, not based on anything in us or anything we've done,
but all by thy grace and mercy. Oh, may it fill our lips with
praise as we think about these truths this week. Glory to your
name, in Jesus' name.