He would grant each one repentance,
making us holy by Him being formed in our heart and purifying our
heart through faith. And He promised the Father that
He would bring each one of God's elect to the Father and present
them to the Father spotless in His righteousness and in His
holiness alone. That's the everlasting covenant
word that's holding this world in place right now. You know,
when the scripture says Christ is upholding all things by the
word of his power, the word of his power is not only his sovereign
power to hold it, but it's that everlasting covenant word. And
that's what Peter's dealing with in our text here. That's the
promise in our text. Look at verse eight, but beloved
be not ignorant of this one thing. that one day is with the Lord
as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord's
not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness.
But as long suffering to us, we're not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repentance. First thing I
want to show you here this morning is men who scoff at the Lord's
word, they're sowing doubt. concerning God's Word. And that's
the devil's tactic. That's what he's used from the
beginning. The same tactic to try to question
God's Word and try to make us doubt the Word of God. Planting
seeds of doubt. That's his motive. Back in the
garden, he came to Eve. The serpent was more subtle And
the devil is more subtle than any other. And the serpent came
to Eve, to the woman, and he said, he said, hath God said, hath God said
you should not eat of every tree in the garden? See, he's questioning
God's word. And she said, We may eat of the
fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree
which is in the midst of the garden, God has said you should
not eat of it, neither shall you touch it lest you die. And
a serpent said to the woman, you shall not surely die. For
God does know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes
shall be opened. You shall be as God's knowing
good and evil. You see, and that's how she was
beguiled. She was tricked. How? He made her question God's word. He planted doubt in her mind.
When our Lord walked this earth, the scribes and the Pharisees
tried repeatedly to entangle the Lord in his words. Why? They tried to look for something
in him. Why? They were trying to justify
before men why they rejected him. and they were wanting men
to see him as a deceiver. That's what they called him.
It says that after the crucifixion, the chief priests and Pharisees
came together to Pilate saying, sir, we remember that that deceiver
said, that's what they called him. That deceiver said when
he was yet alive that after three days I will rise again. And they
said, let's go, let's send some officers to that sepulcher and
let's stand guard so that his brethren don't come and steal
his body away and tell people he rose again. They called him
a deceiver. They planted doubt. But here's
what God, see, if it was just of us, that might work. But it's
not of us. It's the spirit of God teaching
us. It's Christ the Word Himself teaching us, and He teaches you
in your heart, and He makes you know in your heart that the Word
of God is sure, and you can trust the Word of God. Proverbs 35
says, every word of God is pure. He's a shield unto them that
put their trust in Him, and God's going to keep His child knowing
that. Secondly, so concerning His promise that He will return
We don't listen to scoffers. We know this. Our Lord is not
slack, but rather long-suffering. He's not slack. He's long-suffering. He said there in verse nine,
the Lord's not slack concerning his promise as some men impute
slackness to him, but he's long-suffering. Slack means to be slow, to tarry,
to be late. God's eternal. He's not bound
by time like us. He said there one day is with
the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years is one day.
And the Lord's never late. He made time. He created time. He's the one who controls the
clock. And he's the one who comes in
his time and it's always on time when he comes and works. He's
not slack. He's long-suffering. He's long
suffering. God is provoked by sinful man. Continually. God is provoked. He's holy God. And he's provoked
by sinful man constantly, constantly. And yet God patiently endures
it. He suffers long, long suffering
is God's nature. That's who God is. That's who
he is. He's the God of patience, we're
told in Romans 15, 5. But be sure to get this now.
Be sure to get this point right here. God's long-suffering is
toward his elect. God's long-suffering is for the
elect's sake. He says here in verse 9, the
Lord's not slack concerning his promises. Some men count slackness,
but his long-suffering to us-ward. He's long-suffering to usward,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Now, vain religion says that this word usward, he's long-suffering,
we would say, toward us. That's how we would say it. He's
long-suffering toward us. They say the us right here is
all mankind. But always take note of who the
epistle is written to. When you read a letter, You always
first look and see who's the letter written to. That's who
it applies to. And he said back in verse 1 of
2 Peter, he's writing to them that have obtained a like precious
faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. That right there tells you why
the Lord's waiting. How did we obtain faith? Through
the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Because
Christ justified us, he sent a word to us and gave us faith. He said in his first epistle,
he was writing to the elect according to the foreknowledge of God,
the foreordination of God, of God the Father, through sanctification
of the spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. Foreknowledge doesn't mean God
foresaw some would believe. If that was the case, he would
not have predestinated us to be sanctified by the Spirit of
God. He wouldn't have had to, but
he did. Foreknowledge is God's foreordination. Acts 13, 48 says, as many as
were ordained to eternal life, they believe. So the us here
are God's elect. That us are God's elect, chosen
by God's free and sovereign grace, not based on anything in us.
Chosen in Christ, trusted to Christ, and God's not willing
that any of the elect should perish, but that all the elect
should come to repentance before Christ laid down his life on
the cross. Now think about this. Before he laid down his life
on the cross, All God's saints were saved through God's forbearance,
through his long-suffering. They were all saved that way.
That's what Romans 3.25 tells us. Romans 3.25 says, God has
set forth Christ to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God. What does that mean? Christ was surety for God's elect
from eternity. He's not a surety like we have
surety where, you know, I'll pay if this person can't pay.
Christ was surety and God knew we wouldn't pay. God never looked
to us. He looked to him. He knew we
would fall because he ordained it. And so he looked to Christ
the surety alone. And so Christ He had entered
covenant to lay down His life for those elect, those saints
before He ever came, I'm talking about. He had entered covenant
to lay down His life for them. He had entered covenant to make
them the righteousness of God by His obedience. He entered
covenant to make them holy. That's what He promised He would
do. And so He was surety from the beginning. But it was 4,000
years before Christ came and laid down His life. So it was God's forbearance,
it was his long-suffering that God saved his saints from Adam
all the way to Christ and imputed the righteousness of Christ to
them even though Christ hadn't come and laid down his life yet.
It was his forbearance, it was his long-suffering not to pour
out wrath on them. He waited and he poured out the
wrath they deserve on Christ Jesus, our substitute. So the long-suffering of God,
he's been saving his elect by his long-suffering from the garden. You notice here in verse 15,
it says, God's long-suffering result in God saving his people. Account impute that the long-suffering
of our Lord is salvation. That means everybody he's long-suffering
toward, he shall save. He shall save. That's his elect,
his elect. He's just putting up with the
non-elect. But he's being long-suffering
for the sake of his elect. In Noah's day, it says, the long-suffering
of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being
prepared, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
That's a picture of those saints being saved before Christ came.
The long-suffering of God waited till Noah had the ark prepared
and put him in the ark and then the flood came. Lot was in Sodom. Abraham prayed and, Lord, if
there's, you know, he started out with 50 or more and he kept
going down, down, down. If there's just 10 righteous
men, will you destroy it if there's 10 righteous men? The Lord said,
I won't destroy it if there's 10 in there. That's my people.
There was one man in there that was God's, that was Lot. And
God was long-suffering until he brought his chosen child out
of Sodom and then he poured out wrath on Sodom. In Isaiah's day,
the majority in Israel were not God's elect. People just fall
over when you make that statement because they think All, everybody
in Israel was God's elect. Not everybody in Israel was God's
elect. And the majority were not God's
elect. The majority looked to other
gods. They looked to Egypt to save
them. They looked to horses. They looked to other things to
save them besides the Lord. And it said this, except the
Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant. except the Lord had had a small
remnant of elect in Israel. We should have been a Sodom and
we should have been like to Gomorrah. The only reason God didn't destroy
the nation of Israel is he had some elect there. They must be
brought out. The Apostle Paul called himself
the pattern of God's long suffering. He said over in 1 Timothy 1.16,
he said, for this cause, I obtained mercy. that in me, first, Jesus
Christ might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on him to a life everlasting. Whenever Saul was
breathing out threatenings and when he was going after the Lord's
church and when he held the coats of the men that stoned Stephen,
all that time he was a chosen elect child of God. He was one
God saw in Christ his righteousness perfectly righteous, perfectly
holy in Christ, though Saul was an unregenerate, ungodly man. And it was the longsuffering
of God that waited until Christ sent him the word and called
him by his grace. And Paul said, I'm a pattern
of God's longsuffering. The reason Christ has not returned,
this is what, this is what, I'm just giving you examples throughout
the scripture to show you God's longsuffering, but what Peter's
saying is the reason the Lord has not returned and God has
not destroyed the world is not slackness. It's because God's
long-suffering, because He has an elect remnant still in this
world. The Lord instructs His saints
now. We've seen this about God's long-suffering, how long-suffering
He's been with us. The Lord instructs you and me
who believe to walk with all lowliness and meekness, with
long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. What's
our constraint and our motive to be long-suffering? That means
you're going to have to suffer a long time with brethren who
are offending you. You're going to have to forbear
with brethren who are offensive. And you're going to have to be
long-suffering toward those that don't believe, waiting on God
to work. Why? Why? What's our motive?
If you know what a sinner you are, and you know what a rebel
you were before God called you, and how he was long-suffering
to you all those days until he sent you the gospel and called
you. And then if you know how long-suffering he's been to you
since he's called you, because you still see your sin, and he's
still being long-suffering and forbearing with you for Christ's
sake. And if you know that, then for
Christ's sake, we'll be long-suffering and forbear with one another.
Trust them to Christ. That's what it means when you're
long-suffering, you're trusting your brethren and you're trusting
those he hasn't called yet to Christ. You're praying for Christ
to work and waiting on Christ to work through the gospel. So
it's God's long-suffering. Now, thirdly, we're given two
reasons the Lord is long-suffering toward his elect. Peter gives
two reasons here the Lord is long-suffering toward his elect.
One, he's not willing that any should perish. Oh, boy. Brethren, me and you sitting
right here who believe the gospel, that's a joy to me and you, isn't
it? He's not willing that any of his elect perish. When vain
religion says that this applies to everyone without exception,
when they say the us applies to everyone without exception,
I'll show you how bad that is. I'll show you the consequence
of saying that this applies to everybody without exception.
They say it's God's will that every sinner be saved. That's
what they're saying. It's God's will that every sinner
be saved. So they say if any perish, it's
not God's will. What they're saying is God did
all he could. They're saying man wouldn't let
him save them. God wanted to and they just wouldn't
let him. That makes man God. That's not
a God that can save. That's an idol God. Any God that's
not sovereign and powerful to work his will is not God. I wish the world could hear that. Any God that men preach that's
not sovereign and powerful to work his will, from the beginning
to the end, is not the God of this Bible. He's not the God
of this Bible. All who God wills to save, he
saves. That's why verse 15 says, the
long-suffering of our Lord is salvation. Everybody he wills
to save, he saves. He's not willing that one of
his elect perish. Whoever God's willing to save,
God shall save. It's God's will that saves. It's
not our will that saves. That's the other consequence
of saying the other applies to all mankind. They're saying it's
man's will that lets God do the saving, that lets God save whom
God will. We're not saved by our will,
we're saved by God's will. We're unwilling by nature. We're
not willing to believe Christ. We're unwilling to give all the
glory to God for salvation. Proof of it is in saying that
God wants to save but he can't unless you let him. That's proof
that we're unwilling. So God makes us willing. Repentance
is the gift of God. The same as faith is the gift
of God. Listen to Acts 531. Christ hath
God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior for
to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Christ
is the prince and savior. He has all power to give repentance
to all his redeemed Israel. Everybody he redeemed, he's going
to grant them repentance. And through faith, they're gonna
be forgiven all their sins. And that faith is the gift of
God. Salvation's the gift of God. By grace are you saved through
faith. And that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. What does scripture say about
Noah? Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The Lord shut
him up in the ark. Christ laid down his life for
his elect, and this is the other consequence. By saying, God,
us is all mankind, God is not willing that any man perish,
they totally say that Christ's work didn't accomplish anything.
Unless man, by his puny will, makes it to have accomplished
something for you personally. That is a lie. Christ Jesus the
Lord laid down his life for his elect and he justified his people
by his blood. That's what the word said. And
so because he justified his people by his blood, each one he justified
must be given faith. The point is the whole reason
God sent Christ forth was to manifest God is righteous. It
was to manifest God's righteousness. He's the just judge. Lord Jesus
came forth holy as a man to represent his unholy, ungodly people. And he was obedient through his
whole life to the death of the cross. And he never would sin. He's holy. So how's he going
to be made to bear our sin? God made him sin for us. And then God imputed our sin
to him. He charged him with our sin.
Imputation is the imputation of what is fact. What did he
say there? You account. The same word as
impute. You impute that the long-suffering
of God is salvation because that's what it is. Why did God impute
sin to us? Because Adam made us sin. Why
does he impute the righteousness of Christ to his people through
faith? Because Christ made us righteous by his obedience. You
see, And so because Christ justified his people, God will not impute
sin to them. He's already imputed it to his
son, and he's already poured out wrath on his son, and he's
already justified his people and his son. He's not going to
pour out wrath a second time on those Christ justified. So
they must be given faith because God is just, and God will give
them faith. God shall bring them to repentance,
the Spirit of God, because God predestinated them to it from
the beginning of the world. We saw that the other night.
He predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself according to the good pleasure of his will. That's
what Ephesians 2, 5 says. Whom he did foreknow, he also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. Whom
he did predestinate, him he also called. You see, Christ said,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. And then he told them,
don't murmur that this is a hard saying. He was preaching to a
bunch of free will Armenians. How do you know that? Because
they murmured and said, that's a hard saying. And that throws
our theology upside down. You're saying God's in sovereign
control. You're saying everybody he chose
and gave to you, he's going to make come to you. I'll also be
taught of God. That's what the scripture says.
Everyone that comes to me, he said, hath heard and hath learned
of the Father. He comes to me, he said. And
they say, and that throws our theology upside down. And he
said, don't murmur amongst yourselves. He said, no man can come to me
except it were given to him of my father. So that's why this world's held
in storage, because of God's everlasting covenant word, his
promise, Christ's promise to the Father, God the Father's
promise to the Son. He'll have his people. And it's
his word to us. He will return. It's because
of his justice, because Christ satisfied justice on behalf of
his people. So brethren, one day the appointed
time for that last elect redeemed child to be quickened and converted
will come. Every time I hear of somebody
that says they want to be baptized, my first thought is, what if
this is the last one? I don't know if it's going to
be immediate, I don't know how long he's going to wait, but
I know when he's called the last one, that's when he's coming.
Because that's what Peter's telling us right here. Verse 10, But
the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which
the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
shall melt with a fervent heat. The earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up. Nobody knows when, the Lord
said, He said, the day and the hour knoweth no man. The angels
of heaven don't know, only the Father knows. But listen now, there's salvation
in Christ. I'm telling you what Noah told
everybody in his generation. You young people that have never
believed on Christ, listen to me. God is going to come, and
he's going to pour out wrath on this world, just like he came
in Noah's day and drowned the whole world in a flood. He's
coming again to do that. And the only way to be saved
is to believe the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how you get in
the ark. He gives you faith to believe
him and trust him. He shuts you up in Christ just
like he shut Noah up in that ark. And when that rain fell
down, it fell on that ark. It fell on that ark, and they
were safe in that ark. The judgment fell on Christ at
Calvary, so the judgment settled for his people. But for everybody
found outside of Christ, oh, that wrath's gonna fall. But
you go to God and repent from scoffing and go to God and ask
for mercy. He delights to show mercy. He delights to show mercy. So
here's the word now to you and me who believe. That's the word
to the unbeliever. This whole world is going to
melt with a fervent heat. But here's the word to the believer.
Verse 11, seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved.
What manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation
and godliness? Stay on Christ. Stay separated
unto Christ. Walk after Christ. Look to Christ. That sin separates
and that's the whole purpose. Stay sanctified unto Christ. Keep looking to Christ and walking
in all manner of holy conversation and godliness. Looking for and
hastening unto the coming of the day of God where the heavens
being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with
a fervent heat. He says while you're walking,
you look to the author and finisher of our faith. and believe he's
coming, he's our motivation to keep walking because he's coming
again, that's our motivation. Look, nevertheless, though the
world's gonna be burnt up and dissolved, we, according to his
promise, the same covenant word that's saved, we're looking for
a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
you look for such things, Be diligent that you may be found
of him in peace without spot and blameless. There's only one
way. There's only one way to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. If you trust Christ, you'll be
at peace with God because of Christ and you'll be at peace
with your brethren because of Christ. If you trust Christ and
trust your brethren to Christ, if you found in Christ With Christ
dwelling in you, you'll be found without spot and blameless. That's by Christ Jesus the Lord. You've got to be found in Christ.
And you will if you're a child of promise. Remember, that's
what he calls us, children of promise. Children of promise. He said those that were children
of the flesh in Israel, they're not the true children, but the
children of the promise are counted for the seed. He said as it was,
In Isaac's day, that one that was born after the flesh persecuted
the one that was born after the spirit. And he said, so it is
in our day. He said, but we, brethren, as
Isaac was, are children of promise. And the promise is Christ has
justified us, and Christ is coming again for us, and Christ shall
not lose one. That's the promise. You're children
of promise. Trust him to the end. Father,
we thank you for this word. Thank you, Lord, that everything
you've done, you've done by the Word, Christ the Word, through
your written Word, through your preached Word. Lord, everything
we have is according to promise. We trust, Lord, that you've worked
it all out, everything in the covenant, and we believe your
promise. Lord, help us to walk holy, before
you, separated unto you, consecrated unto you. Keep us there, Lord. Keep us partaking of Christ's
holiness. And Lord, we pray for those that
don't yet believe, that elect remnant that's still without
faith. We pray, Lord, for them that
this would be a day that you'd please to send your word and
quicken your lost sheep and bring them into Christ our Lord. Forgive
us, Lord, our sins. Forgive us for doubting. Forgive
us for listening to those that plant seeds of doubt. Shut our
ears to that, Lord, and keep us hearing this sheer promise
of your grace. It's in Christ's name we ask
it. Amen.