We're on 2 Peter and we are always
reminded as we read that passage of scripture that Brother Al's
been speaking on that the worth of man has no bearing on the
grace of God. And I was struck as we read there as Nathan worked upon as a Lord through
Nathan, broke the heart of David and brought him to a place of
repentance. And Nathan delivered this message
to him. He said, but God has put away
thy sin. David knew he had sinned against
the Lord, and he knew he didn't have any excuse whatsoever but
the Lord put away his sin. But then he went on to tell him
that the child that was born would die. And he said that the
reason for that was that David had caused the name of the Lord
to be blasphemed. And we need to remember that
the Lord does all things for his glory. And he will not share
that glory with anyone. And while he forgives the sins
of his people, he doesn't always take away the consequences of
those sins. Because he would make it known in the earth that
he is a God who judges sin. And he does so for his own namesake.
and there's nobody that can stay his hand, or say unto him, what
doest thou? Peter, 2 Peter, chapter three,
in verse one says, this second epistle, beloved, I now write
unto you, in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of
remembrance, that ye 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. Knowing this, first that
there shall come in the last days 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 water, 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 unto fire against the day of judgment
and the perdition, of ungodly men. 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 a day. The Lord is not slack
concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward. not willing that any should perish,
but that all should 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, the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein
shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in
all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto
the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens, being on
fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat? Nevertheless, we, according to
his promise, look for a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, see that
ye look for such things. Be diligent, that ye may be found
of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. and account that
the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved
brother Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him,
hath written unto you. As also in all his epistles,
speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard
to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable
rest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing
ye know these things before, beware, lest ye also, being led
away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.
But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and
ever. And so Peter brings to a close
his second epistle. And he says he wants to stir
up their pure minds by way of remembrance. Now, sometimes it's
hard for us to have any consideration that we have a pure mind. because
we are beset by many impure thoughts. But those in whom the Lord is
at work, even as David in the midst of such great sin as his,
the Lord stirred up his pure mind because otherwise David
would never have been brought to repentance. And so it is the
stirring up of the pure minds of the Lord, of the people of
God that causes them to cry out to the Lord and to recognize
what they are by nature and how much they need him. And so he
says, I want to stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance
that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before
by the holy prophets and of the commandment to us of the apostles
of our Savior. In other words, those things
that have been written are written for our profit. And this book,
as we have it in this day and time, is that which we rely upon. Now, there are the scoffers,
as he speaks about these here in this passage. There are scoffers in every age. And many say, well, the Bible
was just a book written by men. I mean, you know, anybody could
have come up with it. Well, such men who say such things
are ignorant. Because when you are led by the
Spirit of God, to see the unity and the cohesiveness of the Bible,
from the beginning to the end. There's not two or three things
talked about in there. Now if you get you a Koran, and
I'm not telling you to go read the Koran, I have read some of
it, that's about the most uncohesive book I've ever read. There's
no continuity of thought in it whatsoever. It's just one random
thing after another. And so such things as that testify
to us that such a thing cannot be of God. But when you look
at the scriptures, they testify, and they don't testify to everybody.
Because like I say, there's plenty of people that scoff at them.
They say, ah, the Bible's nothing. Just a book. But we know that
it is the word of God. How does a man come to that conclusion?
I certainly can't convince him of it. Neither can you. Now there's
no way that a man can be convinced that this is the Word of God
except that the Spirit of God presses upon his heart. And I
have to say to you, I can't not believe that it's the Word of
God. I mean, you can do whatever you want to tell me or tell me
anything you want, but you won't convince me that this is not
the Word of God. And if it is the Word of God,
which we certainly believe that it is, we'd do well to pay heed
to it. And so that's what Peter's saying
here, you know, that we want to make you mindful of the words
that were spoken by the prophets in the old times and by the apostles
in the New Testament as the Lord has brought these things to pass. And we're blessed, people, in
that we have all these things concisely put together for us. And he says, knowing this first,
that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after
their own lusts. Now there, as we said, there's
always going to be scoffers, always have been. He says in
these last days. Now does that mean like start
now to the end of the world? I mean, no, the last days were
the days from the coming of Christ to the end of the world. That
is the last days. How long a period of time that
is, we don't have any idea. Now there's plenty of people
that think they do, and they'll take this scripture and that
scripture and put it together here and there, and they've got
a timeline, and they can tell you when this is gonna happen
and that's gonna happen, and this, that, and the other. I
can't do that, because I don't think the Bible is a timeline.
I believe it's a Christ line. You know, everything in this
book points to Christ. It doesn't point to a time, a
season, or something that's gonna happen, but it points to Christ. And I believe we need to be mindful
that we keep that ever in our mind. And so the scoffers, he
says, walking after their own lusts. In other words, they don't
have any consideration of the word of God. They're going about
doing their own thing. I mean, we live in a day and
age when that's so obviously prevalent. How can anybody even
doubt it? I mean, when people can just
overturn the very natural creation in their minds, men becoming
women and women becoming men, and all manner of ridiculous
blasphemies, You know, we see it around us every day. The world
is not a friend to God. The world's not a friend to this
Bible. But that's what he's warning
about. Walking after their own lusts.
They don't care what the Bible says. I mean, that's really what
is the issue in our country. It's not whether you're a Republican
or a Democrat. You know, that doesn't make any
difference at all, really, in the analysis of things. But what
matters is that men have abandoned the very foundational truths
upon which all truth is found. And they have been scoffers.
And they say, where is the promise of his coming? Now this is one
of the things that You know, men like to make fun of this.
Well, the Lord's coming back. Yeah, when's he gonna come? I've
heard this all my life. And I hadn't seen any evidence
of it yet. When's it gonna happen? Well,
the scoffers will continue to say that up until the time of
the end. But God's people are not scoffing
at this because these are great and precious promises to us. And he says here, This they willingly
are ignorant of. In other words, they're not ignorant
just because they're ignorant, they're willingly ignorant. That's
what Paul said. He said because men did not like
to retain God in their knowledge, God turned them over to a reprobate
mind. Because men will not seek the
Lord. And so it is, for this they are willingly ignorant of,
that by the word of God, that is God's creation, he made the
world, the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of
the water and in the water. He made the earth, and he caused
the dry land to appear, the scripture says. So there was, from his
beginning of creation, there's been the water, and there's been
the dry land. And men, it says here that they
don't want to receive that. They're willingly ignorant that
by the word of God these things are true. Now they look at them
and they scientifically, we believe these things are true, but they
don't attribute the creation of them to the Lord. They have
no consideration of it in that way. And he says now, considering
that the earth was standing out of the water and in the water,
whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. How did that happen? I don't
know. I mean, well, I do know. I mean,
the scripture tells me how it is. I can't fathom it, but it
says that it began to rain. Never had rain on earth. Now,
can you imagine being there at that time and these raindrops
start falling from the heavens and you've never seen rain before?
They were scoffers. They scoffed at Noah. You know,
they said, I mean, the thoughts of their hearts was only evil
continually, and they had no desire. They were willingly ignorant
of that which Noah, preacher of righteousness, the scripture
says, declared to them. He told them what the truth was,
but they would not believe it. They did not want to believe
it. Whereas by the world that then was being overflowed with
water perished. So not only did the rain come
down from above, but the scripture says that the fountains of the
deep were opened up. We know there's water down in
the ground, don't we? How'd it get there? God put it
there. What'd he put it there for? Well, he put it there for
the benefit of men, but he put it there at this time so that
it might destroy men. And so it is that they didn't
want to receive this. They wouldn't receive it. Just
like they won't receive what we're gonna tell them now that
the world is going to perish, but it won't be by water. Scripture
says the Lord said he wouldn't ever destroy the earth by water
again. There'll never again be a flood
that comes upon the earth and destroys all men. But there is
going to be a destruction of men. there is going to be a destruction
of the earth according to what he says here. But the heavens
and the earth which are now by the same word, the same word
that created the world, the same word that caused the dry land
to appear, the same word that covered the dry land with the
water, the same word is that which we declare unto you now.
This is the word of God. And he says, the heavens and
the earth, which are now by the same word, kept in store. In other words, we're just kind
of in a holding pattern. I mean, this world, we see it,
but it's nothing really. In essence, it's just a place
God put us at. And we're being held in store,
the earth is being held in store for a momentous event. And this
is that momentous event that's going to occur that he's describing
here. The word is kept in store, reserved under fire against the
day of judgment. You know, if you've ever made
a reservation, at a restaurant, you know that if you call them
up and they make you a reservation when you get there, you're gonna
expect that they're gonna have a table for you, are you not?
He said here that the world is, he said this thing's reserved
under fire. I mean, that's the end of it. I mean, that's the purpose of
God with the earth. Ultimately, that he might destroy
it. Now a man might say, well, that
doesn't seem quite right. Well, it's his world, he made
it. Shall not the potter have power over the clay to make one
lump undone and another to dishonor, to create a world, to destroy
it according to the good pleasure of his will? Of course he can. Kept in store, reserved unto
fire against the day of judgment. There is a day of judgment. There
is a day when all men shall give account unto the Lord. According
to what the scripture says, they are reserved unto fire against
the day of judgment and the perdition of ungodly men. Now that word
perdition right there, is a very plain word as you look it up
in the original language. It means the destruction. In
other words, that's what, when you think of fire, you think
of destruction, do you not? I mean, have you ever lit a fire
and went looking in the fire to find what it was you set on
fire? No, because why? Because it's
not there. It's destroyed. And that's what
he says here, that they are, that the world is reserved under
fire against the day of judgment and the destruction of ungodly
men. Now why do we believe ungodly
men will be destroyed? Because of what he says over
here about this kingdom that's coming. He says, wherein there's
a new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. And ungodly men cannot dwell
in a kingdom where there is righteousness. Cannot be. But then he says,
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 has no, God is not in any
way affected by time. You know, men think about You've
heard this. We've said it. I've said it.
Other people have said it. Eternity past and eternity future. That's really ridiculous because
there's no such thing as eternity past. Why? Because there's no
time in eternity. Neither is there any time in
that which is to come. Now there are ages to come according
to what scripture says. but not in the same sense in
which we consider what time is. Now I'm not 100% sure that we
as creatures will ever be in such a way that we are not creatures
of time. We're not eternal. We've been
given eternal life, but we live because he lives. I mean our
existence is wrapped up in him. And so I'm not certain that we
will ever be in a situation where we have no concept of the passing
of time. That's why Paul wrote that through
the ages to come, we're gonna praise him. So I believe there
will be to some extent at least a consciousness of the passing
of time, but it'll be a glorious thing because we'll be in a kingdom
wherein dwelleth righteousness. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise. Now this is a verse right here
that many men have taken the last two phrases of it and made
it say something completely opposite to what it says. It says the
Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness. Now who is the promise made to?
Well, it's first of all made to Christ, but in Christ, that
promise is made to the sons of God. And that's what he's talking
about here. He said, look, the earth's gonna
be destroyed, but the Lord is not slack concerning his promise. Now listen to what he says here.
Here's a very important word. He says, but is longsuffering
to usward. Now, quite often that word's
left out. In the last part, men will just
take this out. Well, you know, he's not willing
that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Well, that's not what it really says. It says he's longsuffering
to us, we're not willing that any of us should perish, but
that all of us should be brought to repentance. That's what the
promise of God's about. I mean, he's calling his people
out of the world. And he's not slack concerning
that. He didn't give up on it. He hadn't forgot about it. He
will bring his own. 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. So the Lord is not slack concerning
his promise. As some men count slackness,
they say, well, you know, I don't know if that's ever gonna happen.
You can be sure it's gonna happen. The Lord's calling his people.
And he's long-suffering to us. Were it not, was he not long-suffering
to us, we'd be destroyed. It's like Jeremiah said, it's
of thy mercies. Thy mercies are new every morning,
lest we should be consumed. So he's not slack concerning
his promise. But then he says, 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. The earth and also the works
that are therein shall be burned up. Now that's pretty final, is it
not? And he said, the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief
in the night. But you know, Paul said in one
of the passage of scripture, he said, brethren, he said, these
things should not overtake you as a thief in the night, because
we're not of the darkness, but we're of the light. And so what
he's saying here is the day of the Lord will come as a thief
in the night to the world because they're not looking for him.
They've got no consideration of him. They don't go to bed
at night thinking, well, the Lord might come tonight. You
know, they don't have any concept of that, don't have any desire
after it. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night to them. It will come suddenly
and without warning and the destruction that follows will overwhelm them. 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. All the works. The works of men. The things men have labored so,
oh, look at what we did. Look at what we are. I mean,
we've been, you know, we've done so many great and wonderful things.
All those things are just gonna vanish. They're gonna be destroyed. What it says here, the works
that are therein shall be burned up. Your works, be they good works
or bad works, they're not gonna follow you because they are going
to be destroyed. Seeing then that all these things
shall be what? dissolved. You ever dissolve
anything? Usually every day I take an airborne
tablet and it's a little thing about like an Alka-Seltzer and
you put it in water and it'll fizz and then that tablet dissolves. And I've never yet been able
to go into that glass after that thing's dissolved and get the
airborne out. Why? Because it's dissolved. We know what that means, and
that's what he says about the world. All these things, he says,
are going to be dissolved. They're not going to be able
to be reconstituted. And he says, if we know that
to be true, seeing them, we're not wondering if this is true,
He says, seeing then, this is an absolute fact, we know it's
true. He says, seeing then that these
things shall be dissolved, all these things, what manner of
persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation in godliness? You see, that's what we're prompted
to, is it not? I mean, the Lord has called us
out of darkness into the light, not simply that we could say,
well, we're in the light, but that we might walk in a way that
would be pleasing to him, that we might walk in a way that would
bring honor to him, that we might walk in a way that wherein we
manifest the glory of Christ as we walk through this world.
What manner, then, of persons ought ye to be? In all holy conversation
and godliness, that's an exhortation of the highest order. If you
know that all these things are true, what are you doing? Awake thou that sleepest, he
says. What are you slumbering and going on for? You know these
things are coming, looking for and hasting unto the coming of
the Lord. See, we're looking for it. The
Lord shall appear to them that look for him. And he says here we're looking
for him and hasting for the coming of the Lord. We'll not be surprised
because we know that what the word of God says and we're even
as those who say even so come Lord Jesus. I mean this world
is not a place of great enjoyment to the sons of God. Not to say
there's not enjoyments in the flesh as we go through this world,
but this is not the place that brings us enjoyment. You know,
it is not. It's just temporary. And so we're
looking and desiring that the coming of the day of God should
come wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved and
the elements melt with fire and heat. There it is again. That's
pretty straightforward. There's nothing that anybody
can say much about that to controvert it. You know, I've heard men
say that, well, it just means that the earth's gonna be cleansed
with fire. I don't, I can't find that. It's gonna be cleansed, but it's
gonna be cleansed because it's gonna be burned up. It's not
gonna be around anymore. It's gonna be gone, everything
about it. is going to be gone. Nevertheless,
we look for His promise. Look for the new heavens and
a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. You know, the
only thing wrong with this world is what? Sin. I mean, that's the only thing
wrong with the world. I mean, the Lord created the
world and He put man in it. And the only thing that causes
us grief and heartache is sin. Only thing that makes us miserable.
You know, the only thing that holds us back is sin. And this is a place, he says,
that we look to his promise, we look for a new heavens and
a new earth. So we're done with this one.
There's nothing here that I want to hold on to. But we look for
new heavens, a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. It has
to be a new one because we know that this one, there can't be
any righteousness dwelling here because what happened in the
beginning has only been magnified down through the ages as everyone
who has sprung from Adam's loins has continued on in the way of
sin. And you know, that's a gloomy
picture for the world to consider. That's why men don't like to
think about this. They're willingly ignorant of
it. They don't want you to tell them that the world's gonna be
destroyed by fire. Why? Because they love the world.
Their greatest enjoyments are found in the world. Certainly
not in any, what they would call pie in the sky by and by. I mean,
they can hold it in their hands. But we, according to his promise,
look for new heavens and a new earth. And we'll stop there. A kingdom wherein dwelleth righteousness. And why does it, why is that
kingdom wherein dwelleth righteousness, why is that? Because it's the
kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. and he is righteous. What righteousness
does that kingdom? What defines the righteousness
of that new heavens and new earth? It's Christ. It's Christ. And we don't desire any other
righteousness but that. May the Lord help us, teach us,
and lead us, and cause us not to be slack. in our consideration of these
things. But daily, to be reminded that
this world is not our home. This is a passing thing. May
we apply our hearts unto wisdom. Teach us to number our days that
we might apply our hearts unto wisdom. You know, the older that
you get, the more you realize the passing nature. of this life. Oh, a young man, he very seldom
thinks about that, you know, he's not going to just be here
forever. I mean, he might not really think
that necessarily, but he just kind of lives his life in that
way. I mean, he's looking for the future, and he's doing this
and doing that, and he's got all these plans and everything.
And I'm not saying that's necessarily wrong, that's just the way the
Lord made men to be, but as you get older, the more you realize
the emptiness of all of this stuff, and your body breaks down,
and you don't feel as good as you once did, and all these things
are real and true. And the Lord sends them to us
for our benefit. that we might not become enamored
with this world. May he teach us and lead us in
these things.