Alright, now in 2 Peter chapter
3, Peter is writing to stir us up to live a holy life in all
godliness as we watch and pray awaiting Christ's return. That's
the purpose of the first and second epistle. The Lord Jesus
will return very soon. He will be returning very soon. I've titled this, Christ Shall
Return. Now, we'll read a few verses
here to get down to our text, what we'll primarily be looking
at. Peter says in verse 1, this second epistle, beloved, I now
write unto you, in both which I stir up your pure minds by
way of remembrance. He uses this word, beloved, three
times in this chapter. Beloved of the Father, chosen
by Him. Beloved of the Redeemer. Beloved
of the Holy Spirit, called by Him. And believers love one another. And he says here, I'm stirring
up your pure minds. We want those we love to be established
in the truth, so we don't hold the truth from them. We want
them to know the truth of God. And we don't have a pure mind
by nature, we have a mind defiled in sin. But it's been washed
by the Spirit of God in regeneration. And if we walk in the light as
He's in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And the blood
of Christ His Son cleanseth us of all sin, continually cleanses
us. He says, I'm going to remind
you here. Remember, Paul said, to write the same things unto
you is not grievous to me, for you it's safe. We have to be
reminded of the Gospel continually, repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly. Verse 2, he says, 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. It might be said, of the commandment
of the Lord and Savior delivered by us the apostles. And he said,
knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers
walking after their own lusts. Now, we live in the last days.
The last days started when Christ came, and they will continue
until Christ returns. John said, little children, it
is the last time. And as you've heard, that Antichrist
shall come even now. Are there many Antichrists whereby
we know it is the last time? These are the last days. What
do scoffers say? Verse 4. Saying, where's the
promise of His coming? Now the prophets declared Christ
would return. Christ declared it to us. He
said, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you to myself. Where I am, there you may be
also. The apostles declared it to us. The angels declared it
when He ascended up to heaven. Now, the chief lust of the natural
heart is for God to be a liar and man to be true. That's the
chief lust of the natural heart. Because man hates God and he
hates for God to be true. And he hates the thought of having
to meet God. And so he would rather God be
a liar and man be true. The scriptures say, let God be
true and every man a liar. Now, the Scoffer's argument is
this, verse 4. For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation."
The man looks at how long the world's been around, and he uses
that as his argument that this world's going to continue on
forever, to scoff at the fact that Christ is coming again.
Verse 5 says, "...for this they willingly are ignorant of." Now
here's what I want you to see today. Natural man's ignorance
is willful ignorance. He refuses to believe the clear
word of God. Now, here are four things men
are willfully ignorant of. First of all, the natural man
is willfully ignorant of the fact that God, by the word of
God, created the heavens and the earth. Look at verse 5. 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 water. You see, it's not that the earth
that now is, is eternal. God is eternal. Before this earth
existed, God existed. And He made everything in creation
Himself, and He did it by His word. In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same
was in the beginning with God, and all things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was
life, and the life was the light of men. The psalmist said, By
the Word of the Lord were the heavens made. all the host of
them by the breath of His mouth. Colossians 1.16 says, For by
Him were all things created that are in heaven, that are in the
earth, visible and invisible, thrones, dominions, principalities,
powers, all things were created by Him and for Him. And He's
before all things and by Him all things consist. And particularly
this Word of God that was in the beginning, that is God, was
made flesh and dwelt among us. We're talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ. The whole work was put into His hands. He is
preeminently the Word of God. He is the Word of God. And through
faith, we understand. That's how we believe. We understand
through faith that the worlds were not framed from things that
are seen, but God created them. He spoke them into existence. Now, we make a huge mistake.
Natural man makes a huge mistake to think that this world made
itself and that this world's going to last forever. God made
it, and only God's eternal. Now, look over at Romans chapter
1 with me. Romans chapter 1. If there be
any scoffers here, listen carefully to this verse of Scripture. A man may pass from this life
willfully trying to ignore God's eternal power in Godhead, but
when man meets God, he will not be able to plead ignorance with
God. Look at this, Romans 1 verse 20. For the invisible things
of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen. being understood by the things
that are made. You can look at the creation
of the world, at the things that are made, and understand invisible
things. What invisible things? Even His
eternal power, His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are
without excuse. So, first of all, we see here,
men are willfully ignorant that God, by His Word, made the heavens
and the earth. and that he's the one who made
it by the word of God. All right, secondly, let's go
back to 2 Peter 3. Men are willfully ignorant of
the fact that all things have not continued as they were from
the beginning of creation. God destroyed man from the face
of the earth one time. Look at verse 6. Whereby the
world that then was being overflowed with water perished. Now men
are saying that everything's continued as it was since creation,
but it hasn't. It hasn't continued as it was
from creation. Look at Genesis chapter 6. God's
shown us the end from the beginning. He's shown us that in the end,
He's going to destroy the world with the ungodly. He's already
done it once. Now let's learn from the scoffers
in Noah's day. In their day, in their day, Everything
had continued as it was from the creation. Somebody said for
1,656 years, everything had been the same. 1,656 years, everything
had been the same. Millions of people lived on the
earth. Several kinds of industry existed. There was metal industry,
there was the agricultural industry, there were the arts and sciences.
There was various classes in society just like they are today.
There was rich, there was middle class, there was poor folks.
And a vain religion was thriving just like it is today. And mankind
looked upon themselves at that time as having been far advanced. They had mouths to feed, they
had business to, they had bigger fish to fry than to listen to
what Noah was telling them when he preached the gospel to them.
But this is what the Lord said about that. What man considers
advancement is more and more ungodliness and corruption. Look
at Genesis 6.11. The earth also was corrupt before
God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked
upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had
corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said to Noah, The end
of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with
violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with
the earth." Now look over at Genesis chapter 7. Noah sat there
and he preached the gospel, just like I'm preaching the gospel
here today. Noah sat there and he preached
the gospel, and he said that everybody's going to perish except
you get in the ark. That was his message. Everybody's
going to perish except you get in the ark. My message is everybody's
going to perish except we get in Christ. get in Christ. But they scoffed, and they continued
walking after their own lusts, and they were saying, where is
the promise of His coming? And since creation, everything
continued just the same. They said of Him, you know, Abel
said that way back there, and he died, and the Lord hadn't
come. They said, ain't that prophesied of that? Jude tells us, ain't
that prophesied of that? He died, and the promise hadn't
yet been fulfilled. Why do you keep telling us the
Lord's going to come in judgment, Noah? What was God true to His
word? Look at Genesis 7 verse 11. In
the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventh
day of the month, the same day, God had a precise time for this,
were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the
windows of heaven were opened." Look down at verse 19. And the
waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth, and all the high
hills that were under the whole heaven were covered. Verse 20
says, 15 cubits upward did the waters prevail, and the mountains
were covered. That's 25 to 30 feet above the
tallest mountain. That's how far the waters rose. Verse 22 says, "...all in whose
nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land,
died. And every living substance was
destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man
and cattle and creeping things and the fowl of the heaven, and
they were destroyed from the earth. And Noah only remained
alive, and they that were with him in the ark. That's where they were. That's
how they remained alive. They were in the ark. Now that ark's
a picture of Christ. So sinner, don't be willfully
ignorant of these things. God made the heavens and the
earth by His Word. And by His Word, all things have
not continued as they were. By His Word, He sent a flood
and destroyed men from off the face of this earth. And He's
going to do it again very soon. Now look at this third thing
that men are willfully ignorant of. Back in verse 7, 2 Peter
3, 7. Men are willfully ignorant of the
fact that by the same word of God this world is now held in
place and shall be destroyed again. Look at verse 7. But now
the heavens and the earth But the heavens and the earth, which
are now, by the same word, are kept in store." By the same word,
they're kept in store. Reserved unto fire against the
day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. Now, after that
judgment came in Noah's day, and Noah came out of that ark,
The Lord made a covenant with Noah and he promised that he
would no more destroy all flesh from off the face of the earth
with a flood. And as a sign, a reminder of
that covenant, he put the rainbow in the sky. That rainbow in that
sky is a picture. It typified the everlasting covenant
between the triune God and Christ. You see, Christ bore the wrath
of God for his people. And when Christ was raised from
the dead and came out of the waters of judgment, just like
God made that covenant with Noah, The Lord promised His Son, being
well pleased in what He accomplished, He promised Him as He did before
the world began, that this world would not be destroyed until
Christ has called out every last elect child of God. That's what
that rainbow is a picture of. The covenant of God. There's
seven colors in that rainbow. It's a perfect covenant. And
that's what the everlasting covenant is. When John looked into the
heavens and he saw the Lord seated upon his throne. You know what
he saw around that throne? A rainbow. He saw a rainbow around
that throne. That means everything that's
going to take place in this earth cannot take place unless it goes
through Christ who is the Word and it's okay by Him. And this
world won't be destroyed till he's called out his sheep, cuz
that's not okay by him. Till he's called out his sheep.
Now, the Word is Christ Jesus who is God. And the Word is Christ
Jesus who created all things. And the Word is Christ who was
made flesh and dwelt among us. And the Word is Christ who fulfilled
all the everlasting covenant promises of God for His people.
And the Word is seated in the throne of God right now. And
right now the heavens and the earth, which are now by the same
Word, are held in store. It's by Him that they're held
in store. The scoffer may despise the gospel word. He may despise
it. But the fact of the matter is,
it's by this same word, the word of His everlasting covenant,
this word that I'm declaring in this gospel, that this whole
world's held in store, held in place right here where it is.
Here's the fourth thing man's willfully ignorant of. The everlasting
covenant word of God is holding all things in place until Christ,
by His gospel word, calls the very last elect child to Him. Look at 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 as one day. Time is nothing
to one who's eternal. He's doing everything right on
time, just like He said He would. Verse 9, the Lord is not slack
concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward. The usward are the elect of God.
They're the beloved. They're those that He chose by
His everlasting word of grace. They're those that Christ redeemed.
They're those that Christ is going to call out. And God's
not willing that any any of the usward, any of his children should
perish, but that all should come to repentance. That all should
come to repentance. And when it says God's not willing
here, that any should perish, it doesn't mean that God wishes
all would come to repentance. It doesn't mean He's just sitting
there wishing they would all come to repentance. Though He
finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked, what it means
is, is God shall be glorified Christ shall be honored and extolled
and be very high and exalted in the salvation of everyone
he elected unto salvation. Because Christ shall not fail.
Because Christ has satisfied the judgment of God, the righteousness
of God demands that they all be called out and brought to
repentance. And not any for whom Christ died
shall perish, but all shall be brought to repentance. That's
what Peter means down in verse 15 where he says, account that
the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation. Because that's
why He's waiting. Long-suffering is Him waiting
a long time, suffering with sinners right now on this earth, till
He calls out His sheep. The Lord said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. It's written in the prophets,
they shall all, they shall be all taught of God. And every
man that's been heard and been learned of the Father, been taught
of the Father, he comes to Christ. In Adam's day, when Adam sinned
in the garden, the only reason God didn't destroy the world
right then is because He had an elect people He put in Christ.
In Noah's day, the long-suffering of God waited in the days of
Noah while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls
were saved by water. Not a drop of water fell from
the sky, not a drop of water was broken up from the deep until
Christ shut Noah up in that ark until everyone that God purposed
to save from that flood of judgment was put into that ark. Then the
rains came, but not until then. In Lot's day, the Lord waited
before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, and He waited to bring that chosen
child out of Sodom and Gomorrah. Peter told us why back in chapter
2. Look back there at chapter 2 and verse 9. Here's why it
waited. Because the Lord knoweth how
to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust until
the day of judgment to be punished. You see that? In Isaiah's day, The only reason that God waited,
all of Israel and all of Judah had turned to Egypt and they
had turned to other nations and they were looking to the strength
of their own hand to save themselves and they would not hear the gospel
of God going forth. They willfully ignored God's
gospel. And the only reason God didn't
destroy the whole nation and just wipe it off the map was
because of this. Isaiah said, except the Lord
of hosts had left us a very small remnant, we should have been
as Sodom and we should have been like Gomorrah. That's the only
reason. God had an elect people and he would not destroy that
nation until he brought them out. And in our day, The only
reason right now that this world is held in place and the only
reason this world exists is because God has an elect people scattered
throughout this world. Therefore, will the Lord wait
that He may be gracious to you. He's going to call out His sheep
before the glory of God is at stake. And we need to acknowledge
God. We need to acknowledge history.
It's His story. And everything that He's shown
us in history is that at the time of His choosing, of His
appointing, He quickens and He converts His child. And that
time is set by His hand. And each one is going to be called
out. And when Christ our King and
our Savior has called out the last one, then the Lord's going
to come. I think about this a lot. I think
about it when I preach the gospel. I think about it, I've thought
about it when we were getting ready to go and have a baptism
service. I've thought, what if this is
the last select child of God? Because one day, the last one's
going to be called. And when He does, it's over.
He's going to return and judgment's going to come about. And then
what's going to happen? Look at verse 10. The day of the Lord
will come as a thief in the night. into 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." I really don't doubt at
all that there's such a thing as global warming. I don't doubt
it at all. If it is, it's just a sign of
us to remind us he's fixing to burn the whole thing up. I mean,
it's not going to be long at all. Not long at all, but we're
not going to fix it. We're not going to prevent that
from happening. That's self-righteousness in man. To think we can stop
this world from, and stop nature from running the course that
God set it upon. But no man knows when he's coming.
The Lord said this clearly, Of that day and hour knoweth no
man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. It's coming
like a thief in the night. You don't know when a thief in
the night's coming. He comes like a thief. It's coming like
that. God stood on this earth. Look
over at Luke 17. He stood on this earth 2,012
years ago. 2,012 short years ago. Luke 17, verse 26, and he said
this, As it was in the days of Noah,
so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat,
they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage,
until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came
and destroyed them all. Now He showed us that once already.
Everything in this Old Testament is showing us what Christ has
done and is doing and shall do, what's coming about. It's already
all been done. Solomon said there's nothing
new under the sun. He's shown it plainly to us. There'll be
men in that day who are looking for an earthly kingdom just like
men were when they came the first time. Look to Christ. Trust Christ.
Heed His Word. The only reason Noah and his
family survived that flood is because they were in that ark.
They believed God. Do you believe God? Do you believe God? The only
reason that they weren't destroyed is because the ark bore judgment
for them. Christ has borne judgment for
somebody. When you look at all those different kinds of animals
that were in that ark, you say, I'm such a sinner or I'm so whatever,
some excuse. Think of all the different kinds
of animals that were in that ark. God says he has a people
from every nation and kindred and tongue and people. You think
of how many different kinds of people God's got that he's elected.
Just like there was all those different kinds of animals in
that ark. I pray you'll hear his word, salvation. is in Christ
Jesus. And everybody under the sound
of my voice needs salvation. We need salvation. We need to
repent from scoffing at the Word of the Lord and believe the Lord.
We need to beg God for mercy. If He's come through His Spirit
and He's broken your heart and He's drawn you to have a heart
to call out for Him to mercy and confess your sin to Him,
then hear this, listen to this, the Lord delights to show mercy.
He delights to show mercy. This is the word we preach. If
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord, the Lord Jesus, and
shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation." That means we cease from our labors, we cease
from our working, we cease from trying to make ourselves acceptable,
we cease from this vain thought that I've accepted God, and we
trust that by Christ's work and what Christ has accomplished,
what Christ has finished, He's made us accepted with God. by what He's done, and we rest
in Him. And everybody that rests in Him,
the righteousness of Christ is our righteousness. So that God
says, we're as righteous, the believers are as righteous as
God is righteous. And He receives us to Himself
gladly. Because we've got to be holy
for God to accept us. And He says of His children,
by what My Son has done, they've been made fit to be a partaker
of the inheritance with the saints in glory. Now here's a word to
us who believe. Now this is Peter's writing this
whole thing. We're going to look at this more
in depth later, but I just want to read it for now. But Peter's
writing this whole thing to me and you. And he's stressing this
matter to us that the Lord's coming. And it won't be very
long. It's not going to be long at
all. It may be in our lifetime that the Lord comes back. Everything
that the Lord says it'll be like is just like it now. This is
perilous times we live in. I mean, our government's more
for, if it's in this book and says God's against it, our government's
for it. And perilous times, scoffers,
lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. That's how this
world is right now. It wouldn't surprise me if Christ
came back today. That wouldn't surprise me at
all. But this is what Peter's stirring up our minds. We need
to be stirred up. And he's stirring up the believer's
mind. And here's the word. Let me just read this out through
verse 14. Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved. All these things are going to
be dissolved. What manner of persons ought you to be in all
holy conduct and godliness? Looking for and hasting unto. praying to God to come quickly,
as John did in Revelation, looking for and hastening unto the coming
of the day of God wherein the heavens being on fire shall be
dissolved and the elements, everything in this earth, shall melt with
a fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to
His promise, according to that Word that's holding everything
in place right now, this Word that's calling out His sheep
through His Word, according to His promise, we look for a new
heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore,
beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent. Be diligent. Be timely. Be timely, be diligent, watchful,
that you may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless. I thought I had peace with God.
I thought I had no spot with Him. I thought I was without
blemish in Christ. You are. This is talking about amongst
ourselves in this world. That you may be found of Him
in peace, without spot, and blameless. That's what our minds need to
be stirred up toward, isn't it? Everything we hold dear is going
to be dissolved. Take some sugar and take a glass
of water and look at that sugar as this whole world and everybody
in it and everything that we hold dear in this earth and think
is just so valuable and take that little bit of sugar and
just drop it in that water and stir it up real good and watch
what happens to it. It's just going to dissolve.
Everything's going to dissolve. The only thing that's going to
remain is Christ our righteousness and everything that he has created
by his word. that He's made righteous by His
blood, all His people. And that new heavens and new
earth won't have a taint of sin in it. It'll be perfectly pure. And everybody there will be too.
And we'll see Him as He is and worship Him as He is without
any of this scoffing and any of this flesh that we have that
hinders us from worshiping Him now. That'll be a good day, won't
it? Christ will return. He's coming. He's coming. Amen.