I've entitled the message this
morning, Not Willing That Any Should Perish. I think it may
be profitable for us to know what that verse means, that the
Lord's not willing that any should perish. We'll work our way down
to it, Lord willing. Now, this second epistle of Peter,
he wrote just before his death. He knew that very shortly that
he would be martyred. So in a way, these are Peter's
last words, aren't they? We usually put some emphasis
and weight on a man's last words. When Peter's last words, he encourages
God's people to persevere in the faith. He encouraged us to
grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. You're
a good way to be protected from the... Our world is filled with
false religion, false prophets. You find it everywhere. You're
engulfed in it. We're a good way to be protected
from that, from that error. A good way to be protected from
the sin and the error that's in all of our own hearts is to
grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. A good
way to be protected from error is to keep hearing the truth
of Christ preached. And here is a truth that will
comfort and encourage the hearts of God's elect, will encourage
us, make us desire to persevere in faith. The Lord's coming back. He promised. He's coming back
to gather His people to Himself. And He always keeps His promise.
And He's not going to leave you alone until He does. He's not
leaving you here. Isn't that good news? Doesn't
that encourage you to persevere in the faith, believing Him?
Here's another truth that will comfort the hearts of God's people
and will encourage you, make you desire to persevere in the
faith to the end. The Lord Jesus Christ will, without
any doubt, save all of his people from their sin. No one he died
for will ever perish. Does that encourage you to persevere,
to continue to believe him? I hope it will. Let's look here
at verse 1, 2 Peter chapter 3. This second epistle, beloved,
I now write unto you in both which I stir up your pure minds
by the way of remembrance. 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. Peter
writes to stir up the pure minds of the believer, and a better
word would be sincere minds, the sincere minds of a believer.
You who believe Christ, you really do believe, don't you? You really,
honestly, sincerely believe Christ. You honestly, sincerely love
him. But you'll admit your heart needs
to be stirred up. Our hearts need to be stirred
up to believe Him more, to love Him more. The word stir up here,
Peter uses, means to wake up. It means to keep us from being
complacent, being drowsy about spiritual things. And I tell
you the way that our hearts and our minds are stirred up is to
be reminded of the Word of God. You who are saved, God saved
you. You know God, don't you? You
know that salvation is in Christ alone. You know salvation is
of the Lord, and you know He cannot fail. You know that. But you also know this. We have
to be reminded often. Oh, we have to be reminded. And
that's what so much of preaching is. It's reminding God's people
of the truth of who Christ is and what He's done for His people.
I promise you, I will tell you nothing new this morning. I'm
not going to tell you anything you haven't heard before, but
we need to be reminded of these truths. The Apostle Paul said
to write the same things to you, to say them over and over and
over again to you. To me, indeed, that's not grievous, but for
you it's safe. And the Apostle Peter agrees
with him. Look here in verse 1 of 2 Peter, verse 12. Peter says, wherefore, I will
not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things,
though you know them and be established in the present truth. Yeah, I
think it meet. It's right. It's safe. As long
as I'm in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in
remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle,
even as our Lord Jesus Christ has showed me. Moreover, I'll
endeavor as long as I'm here, Peter said, I'll endeavor. that
ye may be able, after my decease, to have these things always in
remembrance. That's why I'm going to keep
reminding you of them, keep reminding you of them. Even the oldest,
strongest believer here needs to be reminded often. We need
to be reminded of the gospel often. We need to be reminded
of God's grace in Christ Jesus often. I'll give you three reasons
why we need to be so often reminded. Number one, we need to be reminded
because we're still in this flesh. God saved you. He's called you
to be born again. But we're still in this tabernacle
of flesh, aren't we? And this flesh is opposed to
God. This flesh is so forgetful. Matter
of fact, this flesh tries to forget the things which we've
learned, the things which the gospel teaches us. So we need
to be reminded often. Secondly, we need to be reminded
of the gospel often. Because this world chokes out
things that we've heard. We worry about tomorrow morning
going back to work and the responsibilities of our jobs and our life and
things start to choke out what we've heard this morning. As
soon as we step out that door, the world's going to start choking
it out, isn't it? We've got to be reminded often.
And thirdly, child of God needs to be reminded of the gospel
often. We need to hear the preaching of Christ often. Because I don't
care how long it's been since the Lord first revealed Himself
to you, we need to grow in grace. We always need to grow in grace.
We need to grow in faith, how our faith needs to grow. I remember
Janet was talking to my dad once years ago, and she said, oh,
my faith is so weak, it needs to grow. And he said, honey,
it always does. It's all how we need to grow.
Well, the way we grow in Him, the way we grow in the knowledge
and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is to hear Him preached over
and over and over again. And I tell you where we get our
messages, where we get our text, where we get the words that remind
God's people, that stir up our hearts and our minds. It's the
whole Word of God. I don't have to go get some book
on motivational speaking with motivational sayings. No, I've
got everything I need right here. stir up the hearts and minds
of God's people. It's the whole Word of God. Peter
says, I want you to remember, be mindful of the words which
were spoken before by the prophets and now spoken by us, the apostles.
He says, I want you to be reminded of those things because the whole
Bible, the Old Testament, the prophets, the New Testament,
the apostles, they all have one message. Just one message. It's
the message of Christ and Him crucified. The Bible does not
show us the law to give us a way that we can keep the law and
earn a righteousness before God. No, the Bible gives us the law
to show us we can't keep the law and to drive us to Christ
who did keep the law for His people. The Bible does not tell
us how to live in this world. The Bible is written to show
us eternal life is in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you want life,
run to Him. Life's in Him. The message of
the Bible is this, that in eternity past, before time began, the
Father purposed and promised salvation to his people. God
the Son in time came as a man, and he purchased that salvation
for his people with his own blood at Calvary's tree. And the Holy
Spirit comes in time, and he applies, at God's appointed time,
the Spirit comes, and he applies the blood of Christ. He sprinkles
that blood upon the hearts of God's people. and gives us life,
gives us faith in Christ. What a wonderful, gracious gospel
we have to preach found in God's Word. Just preach the Word. That's
a gospel of grace and mercy and peace that just thrills the hearts,
stirs up the hearts of God's people. But you know this too. Most people don't believe the
gospel. Not only do they not believe it, they actually make
fun of it. Peter calls them scoffers. Look
here at verse 3. knowing this first, that there shall come
in the last day scoffers walking after their own lust 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.
Now, these scoffers, they mock, they mock everything. Have you
ever been around somebody that just mocks everything? It just wearies you to death.
Well, that's what these scoffers do. They mock everything. They mock sin. They think sin
is funny. They think it's just funny to
say and do these awful things. They think it's funny. They mock. They think it's just funny. The
gospel of salvation in Christ by the merits of a man that lived
2,000 years ago. They just mock it. And you know
why they mock it? Why they're constantly scoffing
at it. because they want their own works to count for something
in salvation. That's what Peter's talking about
here. He says walking after their own lusts. It's not so much the
lust of the flesh and the sinful kind of things we think of. It's
the lust of the flesh that desires our own works to count for something
in salvation. That's why they mock this gospel.
They make fun of it. They're trying everything that
they can to disprove it. Because if they can disprove
the gospel, They can prove that God we preach does not exist. And if He doesn't exist, they
don't have to believe Him. They don't have to bow to Him. They don't
have to answer to Him. That's why they make fun of it.
And the means that they try to use to disprove the gospel, to
disprove the whole Word of God, is human science and human reasoning. They try to use science to disprove
historical facts that we read in the Scripture. They try to
prove they're not true. And the reason they do that is
if that point of scripture, that particular story, they're trying
to disprove with science or human logic. If that point of scripture
is not true, then they can say the rest of it's not true. They
put a question mark on the whole Bible. And if they put a question
mark on this word, they say, I believe God is going to bow
to him. They say God didn't create the
world. They say science proves This
world has evolved from a primordial ooh somewhere. And you know why
they're saying that? Because if God's not the creator,
if He didn't speak this whole world into existence, then He
doesn't exist and they don't have to bow to Him. These scoffers
say, you all meet together on Sundays and you say that this
man who was crucified, laid dead in a tomb, arose from the grave
on the first day of the week and he ascended back into heaven
and you all say he's coming back someday. They say that's ludicrous. He's not coming back. They say
he never came in the first place. Oh, they'll admit a man named
Jesus of Nazareth lived, but they deny that God ever came
into flesh in the first place. Jesus was a good man. He's a
prophet. He's a reformer. He's an example, but he's not
God in human flesh. He never came in the first place,
so he's not coming back. They say, that's foolish. This
world's not gonna end. This world's been in existence
for billions and billions of years. It stayed the same from
the beginning of time. The sun rose and the sun set.
The sun rose and the sun set. Yeah, there's been an ice age
and a heat age, you know, whatever, but nothing's ever changed. Men
live, men die, just keep going on forever and ever. They say
nothing's ever changed and so nothing ever will change. Wait
a minute, that's not so, verse five. 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. Now these coffers are willingly ignorant of the truth. Willingly. They don't know the
truth in Christ because they don't want to. They don't know
Christ because they don't want to know him. They're willingly
ignorant. Have you ever seen a child? You try to tell a child
something they don't want to hear. You try to tell a child,
all right, now it's time to brush your teeth and wash your face
and go to bed. Well, they don't want to go to bed, you know,
but we never want to go to bed when it's bedtime. And you're
telling that and they just sit, they go like this. Because they
say, if I can't see you, then I don't have to go to bed. I'm
going to brush my teeth and go to bed. And so they close their eyes,
but you keep speaking. So they go like this. If I can't
see you and I can't hear you, you're not there telling me it's
time to go to bed. That child is trying to be willingly
ignorant. I've got to bow to your authority
and go brush my teeth and go to bed. They're trying to be
willingly ignorant. That's what these scoffers have
done. They don't see because they don't want to see. They
close their eyes. They don't hear because they've
stopped up their ears and they don't want to hear. Willingly
ignorant. If you and I are willing to know
Christ, if you're willing to bow to Him, I'll tell you why.
We were born willingly ignorant, but God made us willing in the
day of His power. Willing to believe Him, willing
to bow to Him, willing to worship Him. Look at Romans chapter 1. Quit being willingly ignorant. Open your eyes and look around.
Creation tells you that God is. Romans 1.18 For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them, for God showed it unto them. For
the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen. being understood by the things
that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they
are without excuse. Now, if you can look at nature
and you can say God didn't create that, that that just evolved
somehow, you're simply being willingly ignorant. If you can
look at the events of history and you can say that God didn't
ordain all that. You can look at history and say
God doesn't exist. If you can just say all the events
of human history, the way things have worked out are just happy
accidents. You're being willingly ignorant
of God ruling and reigning his creation. God created this world
and he rules it by the power of his might. And if you try
to deny that just by looking at history, you're being willingly
ignorant. Now here's another way these
scoffers are willingly ignorant. Everything hasn't stayed the
same from creation, has it? At one time, God destroyed this
world with a flood. These scoffers, they try to use
science and they try to use human reasoning. I've actually seen
a television show where they went somewhere in the world and
dug down and they said, well, in this hole we dug right here,
we can't see any evidence of the flood, so there wasn't one. How foolish is that? These scoffers,
this is what they don't understand. They don't understand. How could
it be by using human logic? They don't understand. How could
God have covered this world in water in just 40 days? Was it
20 some feet over the highest mountain peak? They don't understand
how that can be. They don't understand. They say
it's not possible that all the species of animals could fit
on the ark. So they say it's not true because
I can't understand it. You know, actually, I believe
science gives us plenty proof of the flood. But, brethren,
faith does not need proof. Faith does not need science to
prove anything. I don't believe there's a flood
because I've seen scientific evidence of it. I believe there's
a flood because I believe God. At one time, water destroyed
this earth, covered every square inch of it. I know that's so
because I believe the Word of God. Faith just believes God's
Word. And the problem these scoffers
have is this. God cannot be understood by human
logic. God cannot be explained by human
science. When we don't understand something,
we read something in scripture, we don't understand how that
can be. That doesn't mean God doesn't
exist. You know, if something we read in scripture seems to
contradict human science, that doesn't mean the scriptures are
wrong. All that means is this. You and I cannot understand God
by human intelligence. We can't know God unless God
reveals himself to us. That's what that means. Now,
that's kind of a long introduction, but I wanted to go through that
to get to this, to get to these four things Peter says men are
willingly ignorant of. And I want us to look at them
this morning. I pray the Lord will teach us
these four truths. Let's not be ignorant of these
things this morning. Number one, first, these scoffers,
they're willingly ignorant of the fact God created everything. Back in our text, verse five,
2 Peter 3, verse five, 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. And how'd the
world get there? How did the world, the earth,
stand out of the water and in the water? Well, it was there
because Christ put it there. That's how. He says here, by
the word of God, the word of God is the Lord Jesus Christ.
He created everything. Look at John chapter one. Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the word of God is the creator. He spoke everything into existence. John one verse one. In the beginning,
was the word. You notice that W's capitalizes
speaking of a person. In the beginning was the word.
The word was with God. The word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by him. And without him was not anything
made that was made. And here's how I know that word
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 14. And the word was made
flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory. The
glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. Do you want to know where Christ
is? Would you see Christ? He's in creation. He created
everything that's in existence. And that same creator who created
the world is the one who creates life in his people. John said
in him was life. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter
4. In him, John said, was life. Here in 2 Corinthians 4, the
apostle Paul tells us that this creator, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the one who spoke the world into existence, is the same one who
creates life in his people in the new birth. 2 Corinthians
4, verse 5. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
that same God has shined in our hearts to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. These scoffers are willingly
ignorant of this fact. It's God who created everything. And I pray the Lord would teach
us not just that God created everything, but that life is
in Christ. Eternal life is given by the
Lord Jesus Christ. If we're not ignorant of this
fact, will run to him, will ask him for life, ask him to create
in us this eternal life. Second, these scoffers are willingly
ignorant of this fact, that salvation is totally in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse six, second Peter three,
whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished.
Now you know what? Do you want to know where Christ
is? Christ is in the flood of Noah. That's right, yeah. You
know where you find Christ in the flood of Noah? You find Christ
in that ark, floating on top of the flood waters. The story
of the flood in scripture is given to teach us this. Sin must
be punished with death. And life is found in the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the teaching of the flood.
The flood of Noah is not a story given to us that we can use to
try to prove or disprove the existence of God. The flood of
Noah is not a story given to us to determine whether God could
or could not cover the globe with water. The flood of Noah
is given to teach us that salvation is all in the Lord Jesus Christ. God sent the flood to destroy
the world because of sin. He saw a man's sin. It displeased
him. It grieved him. He made man on
the earth. He said, I'm going to destroy all flesh from the
face of the earth because of sin. And eventually, God sent
the rain, didn't He? The fountains of the deep opened
up and this world was covered with water. But the only way
a sinner, any sinful man, lived and was not destroyed by that
flood was being in the ark. And this is the picture. This
is the teaching of scripture. The only way a sinner cannot
be eternally destroyed by God's wrath against sin is to be found
in Christ. That ark is a picture of Christ.
It shows us a picture that salvation is in Christ. Noah and his family
were saved from dying by being in the ark, weren't they? Who
put them there? God did. God told Noah to build
the ark, and he built it, and God said, all right, get in the
ark, Noah. Noah didn't shut the door. God did. God put Noah and
his family in that ark. And then the rain came. The fountains
of the deep were open. And that ark bore all of the
wrath of God against the sin of Noah. God's wrath fell on
the sin of Noah and his family just the same as it did everyone
else who drowned in the flood. But here's the difference. That
ark bore the wrath of God for Noah's sin. And that's how Noah
was saved from drowning. That ark was a substitute for
Noah. That ark took Noah's punishment
and let Noah live. That ark was a shelter for Noah. He was protected from the flood
because the ark bore all the wrath and the rain and the flood
for him. And this is the picture. This
is the teaching of scripture. In the eternity past, God Almighty
put His people in Christ, in our ark. That's God's election
of a people. God chose a people to save just
like He chose a people to put in that ark. In the fullness
of time, the Lord Jesus Christ came as a substitute for His
people. He established righteousness
for them. And then on that awful day of days, Christ our Savior
went to the cross. The Father made Him sin for His
people. He made all of the sin of all
of His elect to meet on His Son. And the Father poured out His
unmitigated fury and wrath against that sin upon His Son. God's wrath for my sin has already
been poured out on the person of my substitute. Christ bore
all of God's wrath for the sin of His people and we live only
because he died in our place. You know, during that flood,
I saw a movie one time, or I didn't, I saw the trailer to the movie,
but it showed Noah, and the flood was getting ready, the rain was
getting ready to fall, you know, and God told him to get in the
ark, and all the animals weren't there, and everything was completely
disorganized, and the rain starts falling, and Noah's running like
mad, you know, getting in the ark, because the rain's falling
on him. He dives in the ark at the very last second before he
drowns or something. That's foolish. In that flood,
not one drop of water fell on Noah. That rain is a picture
of God's wrath. Not one drop of it fell on Noah. It all fell on the ark. And this
is the picture. This is the teaching. Not one
drop of God's wrath will ever fall on any of his people. Not
one. Because it was all poured out
on Christ our substitute at Calvary. Isn't that a blessing? Oh, what
a gospel. Does that encourage you to continue
in the faith, to continue? Look what he's done for his people,
my soul. Oh, what good news. And just
in case you'd like some scientific proof of the flood. Next time
it rains and there's some sun in the sky, just look up the
sky. You know what you'll see? You'll see a rainbow. That rainbow
is a token. of God's promise to Noah. Noah
had never seen rain in his life. And the first time he ever saw
rain, what happened? Everything died. Well, Noah got
off the ark. He probably tore the ark up to
firewood and to build him a house or whatever, you know. The ark's
gone. Well, the next time it rained,
what's Noah going to think? He's going to think everything's
going to die again. Now I don't have an ark anymore. So God told
Noah, Noah, I'll never destroy the earth with water again. The
token of my covenant, the token of my promise to you is the rainbow
in the sky. And the next time that rain started
to fall, Noah got a little iffy. He believed God, but he thought,
is my family going to die? Am I going to die this time?
He looked up in the sky and saw that rainbow as the token of
God's promise to him. And John said, At the end of
time, when I saw the throne, you know, I saw it surrounded
by a rainbow, the token of God's promise to his people, they'll
not be destroyed by God's wrath ever, because Christ, our substitute,
already born. Now, the earth will be destroyed
with fire one day, but never with water again, because that's
God's promise. And I understand there's scientific
reasons that that rainbow exists, but this is what I know. God
put that bowl in the sky as a token of His promise to His people.
That rainbow tells us the promise of God's mercy to His people.
That rainbow tells us salvation is all in Christ. Now brethren,
don't be ignorant of that. Don't be ignorant of it. And
if God will teach us that, we'll run to Christ, won't we? We'll
run to Him for mercy. We'll run to Him for salvation
because salvation is all in Him. Don't be ignorant of that. But
here's the third thing. These scoffers are willingly
ignorant of the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ rules everything. He rules every detail of his
creation for this reason, for the salvation of his people,
because he's glorified in their salvation. Verse seven, but the
heavens and the earth, which are now by the same word are
kept in store, reserved and a fire against the day of judgment and
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 one day. Now, do you want to
know where Christ is? His hand, His fingerprints are
on every event of human history. He's ruling it all for His people. In Colossians chapter one, Colossians 1 verse 15, here we
see it's Christ who created everything. Who is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creature. For by him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things, whatever you can think of, all things were created
by him and they were created for him. He created everything. and he rules everything in his
creation, verse 17. And he is before all things,
and by him all things consist. And he's the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the preeminence. God arranges
every event in human history to accomplish this one purpose,
salvation of his elect for the glory of his son. God was going
to send a flood. That was his purpose. He was
going to send a flood. But now he ordered every drop
of water in that flood. Not one drop of water fell until
Noah was safe in the ark. The earth could not be destroyed
until Noah was safe in the ark. God allowed his children, the
children of Israel, to go down into bondage in Egypt. He allowed
them to be horribly mistreated. God allowed Pharaoh to do the
unthinkable. He allowed Pharaoh to rip from
those Jewish mothers' arms their boy babies and drown them in
the river. Unthinkable. God allowed that. All those boy babies put to death.
Except for one. Moses could not be drowned. He
was put in the ark. And you know who raised him?
Pharaoh's own daughter. because God's purpose was for
Moses to be the deliverer of God's people. God determined
to destroy Sodom, and he's going to destroy, he's going to level
it. But he could not destroy that city until Lot was out of
the city. He couldn't do it. The angel
said, you've got to get out of here. I can't destroy this place
until you're out of here. Lot must be spared because Christ
died for him. And the same thing is true every
child of God. How is it that you're sitting
here this morning? You know, your ancestors may
have been born in Europe or wherever, you know, someplace far off.
And somehow they came here. Somehow they lived in this neck
of the woods and you were born here. Why did that happen? Because God is arranging everything
that happened to bring you into this world, to bring you to the
point that you'd hear the gospel, that you'd believe it. God gave
you the faith to believe that. How is it you see, when we talk
here about Noah and Ark, how is it you see Christ in that?
Because God gave you eyes to see. He gave you that. Now we
know this. We all know we're immortal until
the time God's appointed time of our death. We know that, don't
we? Well, this is just as true. This is so important. God's elect
are immortal. They cannot be killed until God's
appointed time to reveal Christ to them. And he's arranging all
those events, the events of billions of people to bring his child
to the place. They hear the gospel and believe
it. You say, boy, oh boy, I don't know, that's a lot of details
to take care of. Are you sure some of this is not left to chance?
No, don't you worry about that. Our God is so precise in arranging
the events of history, in arranging the events of our lives, that
to Him, one day is like a thousand years. You know, to us it seems
that the day rushes by so quickly. There are things I meant to do
that I didn't have time to get to do. There are things I meant
to do that I forgot to do. The deadline passed, the appointment
passed, and I messed up. One day is to the Lord as a thousand
years. The day is never going to rush
by so quickly that He doesn't have time to have His finger
on the most minute event of the day. God is eternal. He dwells outside of time. So He's never in a hurry. A thousand
years? That's just a day to God. He's
going to accomplish His purpose. Just wait on Him now. Don't get
in a hurry. God's not. The next thousand
years. I worry, well, is this going
to happen? God's not going to bring it to pass. The next thousand
years is just like a day to Him. He'll take care of it. He's not
in a hurry. He will accomplish His purpose. So what does that teach us? Just rest. Rest in the Lord. Cast your care upon Him. Just
cast it on Him. He will accomplish His purpose
in due time. Now, verse nine, back in our
text. He's gonna accomplish His purpose. Peter says, the Lord's
not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness,
but as longsuffering does work, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. Now the Lord's not slack concerning
his promise. Now what on earth is Peter talking
about? He's talking about God's promise to Abraham. God promised
Abraham that his seed would be as many as the stars of the sky.
So many, you can't count them. Now he wasn't talking about Abraham's
natural seed. He's talking about spiritual
history. The number that have faith in Christ, the number that
Christ died for. It's a number that no man can
count. And every last one of them, even though we can't count,
every last one of them is going to be saved. You can just believe
God's promise because he's trustworthy. He's not slack concerning his
promise. He's not going to break his promise. You just believe
him and wait on him. The Lord will save his people.
because his character is to be merciful and gracious. He's not
willing that any should perish. Now, when we read that, does
that mean God wants to save everybody? That God's not willing to send
anybody to hell? Of course, you know it doesn't
mean that. If God's not willing to send anybody to hell, he wouldn't
send anybody to hell. Well, then what does it mean
that the Lord's not willing that any should perish? Well, I'll
give you something I think might be helpful to you, something
Brother Henry told us so often. When you read the Bible, you
have to remember this, that the Bible is written to specific
people. This is a letter. Well, if you
can't take this letter, you can't take any part of the Word of
God and apply it to yourself until you find out, do I fit
the description of the person being described here? This letter
is written to a specific people. Who is it written to? Look back
in chapter one, verse one. Simon Peter, a servant and apostle
of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious faith
with us. This letter is written to those
who have obtained. They haven't earned, they haven't
merited, they've been given like precious faith in Christ. That's
who this letter is written to, those who believe Christ. Read
on, verse one, through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus
Christ. This letter is written to those who've been made righteous
through the imputed righteousness of Christ. They're not righteous
through their own words, it's through the merits of Christ.
This letter is written to those who've been born again, who've
been made partakers of the divine nature. Verse four, whereby are
given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by
these ye might be partakers of the divine nature. Look in verse
10, this letter is written to the elect of God. Wherefore,
the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and your
election. Sure, this is written to those
that God chose. This letter is written to those
that God loves. See that in chapter three, verse one, this second
epistle, beloved, I now write unto you. And he says in verse
eight, but beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing. This letter
is written to those who are beloved of the Lord. This letter is written
to those that God loves. The Father loved them, and He
gave them to Christ to save. And Christ loved them. He loved
them so much, He came and He earned a righteousness for them,
and He died in their place as their substitute, as their sacrifice. That's who this letter is written
to. That's the us here. That's the any. The Lord's not
willing that any of those people perish. He's not willing that
any of His elect perish. He's not willing that anyone
He loves perish. God's not willing that anyone
that Christ died for perish. He's not willing that anyone
that the Spirit gives life in the new birth to, He's not willing
that any of those people perish. And brother, they won't. Not
one of them will perish. Because that's God's will. It's
God's will that His elect, it's God's will that everyone He loves
come to repentance. and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And they will because he'll give them the gift. He'll give them
the gift of repentance and the gift of faith. Every last one
of God's elect will repent of their sin and trust Christ to
save them by himself. In order to accomplish that purpose,
God's gonna have to be long-suffering at the end. Thankfully, Peter
says he's long-suffering. Long-suffering to us Here's a
man. He's wicked. He's one of these
scoffers, scoffing at God's mercy and grace, scoffing at salvation
in Christ. He's a wicked man. Why didn't
God just smush him like an ant? Could be that man's going to
have a son, a daughter, a granddaughter, a grandson that God chose from
the foundation of the world. God's long suffering with that
rebel. because a child's coming from
him. Same reason God didn't wipe Adam out when Adam sinned, because
from Adam's loins was going to come a number no man can number
that Christ is going to save by his righteousness and by his
sacrifice. That's exactly why God didn't
snuff Adam out when he sinned. God has a people and he longs
suffering with the sin of this world so that his elect will
be saved out of it. Every once in a while I watch
the news And I need to be reminded. I told you I would need to be
reminded. I watch the news and I say, my goodness sakes, why
didn't God just wipe this whole thing out? And I'm reminded. Well, I know why. God's got a
people. Eric, some of them must not have
come to repent of their faith yet. Does that encourage you
to keep preaching your faith? Does that encourage you to keep
preaching? It does me. God's got a people. He's going
to save them. That's why he's so long suffering.
He said there in verse 15, account that the longsuffering of our
Lord is salvation. Don't be ignorant of this, brethren.
The Lord longsuffering with sinners. You can cry to him for mercy.
Could be he'd been longsuffering with you so long, so it's time
now for you to cry for mercy. Could be. God delights to show
mercy to sinners, doesn't he? Longsuffering with them, you
can cry to him for mercy. Then quickly, here's the fourth.
These scoffers are willingly ignorant of this fact. Christ
is coming again. He's coming again to judge this
world. Verse 10. 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 elements shall melt with
fervent heat. The earth also, and the works that are therein,
shall be burnt up. Christ is coming again. He's
coming again to destroy this world, and to take his people,
to be with him where he is, Now these scoffers know the end is
coming. They know they fear standing
before God in judgment. That's why they try to prove
He doesn't exist, because they don't have to bow to Him, don't
have to be accountable and judged by Him one day. But if you would
see Christ, if you want to know where He is, Christ is in eternity. He's coming back. My advice to
you is this. Don't try to figure out when
Christ is going to return because you can't do it. Our Lord said
no man knows it. No man can figure it out. So
don't try to figure out when he's coming back. When's not
the issue? Who is coming back is the issue.
Look for him. Find him. Look for him. Look
for the one who is returning. Believers, one of the evidences
of a believer is they wait for his return. Why are you waiting
for his return? We promise He's coming back.
That's one reason. But I'll tell you another reason. We wait for
His return. We long to see Him face to face.
Because when we see Him, we shall be like Him. We'll be like Christ. That's
why we look for Him. Don't try to figure out all these
events. Peter talks about the heavens pass away with a great
noise and the elements melt with fervent heat. Don't try to figure
out what all that is and what that's going to look like and
all that. Just look for who is returning. Everything will be
all right. I don't know what's going to
look like. I don't know what those events are going to be. But this I do
know. Everything's going to be all right when we see him. When he returns, it's going to
be all right. I hope that encourages that he's coming back. It's going
to be all right to see him. Hope that encourages us to call
on the Lord for mercy and to continue in the faith that he's
given. He's coming back. Let's continue
looking forward to it. All right, the Lord bless you.
Let's bow in prayer. Father, how we thank you for
your word, how we thank you for these great, exceeding great
and precious promises of mercy and grace and eternal life in
our Lord Jesus Christ, through his righteousness, through his
sacrifice. Father, we thank you. And how
we pray that you'd not Just let us see these words on paper,
these promises on paper. Father, that you give us a heart
to believe these promises, to rest in the promises of Christ
our Savior. He cannot fail. His people shall
be saved. His people shall persevere to
the end. We shall see him as he is and
be like him. Father, cause us to rest in his
promises by believing him, by believing the Lord Jesus Christ,
looking to him, Father, give glory to the name of your son
through the preaching of your word this morning. It's in his
precious name we pray.