2 Peter 3, verse 1, Peter writes
this second epistle, Beloved, I now write unto you, in both
which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance. Now, Peter's
writing this epistle, he says, Beloved, those who are beloved. And that's no small title. That's
not just an idle word, you know, he's putting here in his letter.
He's writing to people who are beloved of God the Father. Beloved of the Father who elected
them to salvation. They're beloved of the Son who's
made flesh and came and died for them. They're beloved of
God the Holy Spirit who came and called them, gave them life
and faith in Christ. And they're beloved of the Apostle
too. If someone's beloved of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit, I hope I love them. Don't you? Beloved. That's who
he's writing to. And he says, Because I love you,
I'm writing to remind you of some things. In verse 2 he says,
I'm writing 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. He says, I'm writing
to remind you of all the scriptures, of all the Old Testament scriptures,
all the prophecies and promises of Christ the Messiah. He's writing
to remind us of the whole counsel of God, all of the of all the
facets and the glories of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And he's writing to remind us of the commandment that Christ
gave to the church through the apostles. And the writers say
that could be one of two or both of these commandments. The commandment
to preach the gospel. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel to all men everywhere. And the second commandment, he
gives to the beloved. to love one another as Christ
loved us and gave Himself for us. And we need to be reminded
of these things. You know these things. You've
heard these things many, many times. But He's writing to remind
us of these things because we're still in this body of flesh. And because we're tied to this
flesh, we're prone to forget. And we need to be reminded. You
know, if someone week after week after week reminded you of things
written by a man, a book about this thick. You grow bored so
quickly, you just couldn't muster the interest to come back again.
But God's word to the child of God, you hear it over and over
and over again. And every time it's a blessing.
You've heard that before, but that just blesses your soul and
thrills your soul and feeds you again. You just you never get
tired of it because it's God's word. And it's good for us to
be reminded because even though we've heard it before, we forget.
You're like, oh, yeah, that's it. And we need to be reminded
of these things because that's how we grow in grace and grow
in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior to be reminded over
and over and over. And that's how we grow. And in
this chapter specifically, Peter's writing to remind us that Christ
is coming again. He's coming back. And there will
be things, there will be signs and things we can see happening
that will happen before his return so that we be warned. He goes
on in verse 3, he says, Now knowing this first, that there shall
come in the last day scoffers walking after their own lusts
and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the
beginning of creation." Now, these scoffers, they'll come
in the last days, Peter says. Now, the last days, you all know
this, are the days from the time of Christ's ascension back to
glory until his return. So far, those last days have
lasted roughly 2,000 years. And in those days, Peter says,
there's going to be scoffers who arise. They're scoffers who
will mock the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace. They'll
mock preaching. What good is preaching? You know,
we want to sit around the table and share. What good is preaching?
They'll mock right doctrine, the truth of Scripture. Oh, that's
not what that means. They'll scoff at that. They'll
make a mockery of sin. They'll not call sin, sin. They'll
call it by some other name. They make a mockery of these
things. They will mock everything that they can't understand with
science or human wisdom. In short, they'll mock everything
that takes faith to believe. That's what they'll mock. Anything
that requires faith to believe. Look at 2nd Timothy chapter 3.
2nd Timothy 3 verse 1. This know also that in the last
days, the same days Peter's talking about, perilous times have come.
For men should be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters,
proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
without natural affection, truth-breakers, false accusers, incontinent,
fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded,
lovers of pleasures, more than lovers of God, having a form
of godliness, but denying the power thereof. From such turn
away." Looks to me like these scoffers aren't just these mad
scientists out there. These are people who operate
under the cloak of religion. They have a form of godliness,
but deny the power thereof. These scoffers. And there's always
been scoffers. Peter was writing about people
he knew, and there's always been scoffers. But it would appear
in the last days, in the last times of the last days, there'll
be more of them. They'll be more deceptive and
they'll be more bold of the things that they'll scoff at. That certainly
seems to be the case over the history just of the last 50 years. Men are much more bold to scoff
at things than they used to be, scoff at the truth of Scripture
than they used to be. And the root of the problem with
these scoffers is, is they hate Christ. So they hate, they will
mock his second coming. They mock his first coming. They
mock the virgin birth. People mock at that. Couldn't
happen. It didn't happen. They mock his
first coming. They mock his second coming too.
And they say, where's the fulfillment of this promise? If this has
supposedly been promised, where's the fulfillment of it? Nothing
has changed in this world since the ancient men have died. We read about years and years
ago. Nothing's changed. This hasn't happened in the millions
of years that the earth has stood, so it won't happen now. It'll
never happen. That's their logic. And what
they're scoffing at is a precious promise, a comforting promise
to God's people. Look at John 14. Here's the Lord's
promise of his coming, and look how precious and comforting it
is to God's people. They're scoffing at one of the
foundation stones of our comfort. Our Lord says in verse 1 of John
14, Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that
where I am, there ye may be also. What's the prescription for let
not your heart be troubled? The promise, I will come again
and receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be
also. That's precious. Oh, that's precious
to the soul of the believer. Look at 1 Thessalonians 4. Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians
4 how to comfort one another. It's with the Lord's return.
1 Thessalonians 4, verse 16, this is when the Lord shall return.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with
the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. And the
dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with
the Lord. That's the promise of the Lord.
Wherefore, Paul says, comfort one another with these words.
This is our comfort. The Lord's coming back. This
is not all there is. This won't be forever. The Lord
is coming back. We'll meet Him in the air and
forever be with Him. Now that's comfort to the souls
of God's people. But these scoffers are scoffing
at that. In verse 5, back in our text,
Peter goes on. He says, 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 perdition of ungodly men. See, these scoffers,
so everything stayed the same for millions of years. Well,
wait a minute. No, it hasn't either, has it?
I don't know how long this ball is hung in space. It may have
been here for millions of years. You know, they say these rocks
have been here for millions of years. They may be right. I don't
know. But I don't know how old the planet is. But I know God
created the heavens and the earth and put man on it about 6,000
years ago. Man's history on this earth is
about 6,000 years. How old the ball is, I don't
have any idea. I reckon it probably is that old. All things haven't
stayed the same. It was for years in darkness
and void. And then God spoke and said,
let there be light. Everything didn't stay the same. The heavens were created by the
word of God. He spoke and it was. God spoke
with his word, the power of his word and light appeared. He spoke. And the oceans receded and dry
land appeared and he told the oceans you'll stay here and go
no further. And they stayed there ever since
at the power of God's word. God spoke and the animals were
created. God took a lump of dust and breathed life into it and
Adam, the living soul, breathed. That was by the word of God.
And scoffers have attacked this truth for years under the name
of Darwinism, the great scientist. This is under attack by scoffers
in the last days. After God created the world,
in time, Noah appeared. God told him, Noah, build an
ark. I'm flooding this place. I'm going to kill everyone. And
God spoke the word and the flood came. The rains came down. The
floods rose and covered this globe. And every living creature,
with the exception of Noah, Noah's family, And the animals that
God called to the ark died. And everyone in that ark lived.
The waters receded, that ark settled down, and God hung a
rainbow in the sky. He said, no, I'll never flood
this earth again with water. Never destroy man again with
water. And the sign of my promise to you is that rainbow. Now,
men can explain that rainbow, but I'm telling you the truth.
That rainbow is not light refracting through water mist in the air.
That's the token of God's promise. I'll not flood this earth again
with water. And that truth is under attack
in this day. I've noticed just in the last
month, I saw three different channels, the learning channel,
the history channel and the discovery channel. All three of them had
shows trying to disprove the flood of Noah. We're seeing this.
That didn't happen. That was a localized flood that
just became a story that spread. They said every different society
on the globe has some story about, you know, it's very similar to
the story of Noah and how the animals were saved. And this
is just an old wives tale. And they show all this science
and all these things. God flooded the earth. He covered,
the water went over the mountains. I think it's just 15 cubits.
Must be a long way. He flooded this earth and science
can't disprove it. Not to someone who has faith.
And these scoffers, they attack the truth of creation. They attack
the truth of the flood for this reason. To try to disprove God. If they can prove that God didn't
create the world. If they can prove, well here's
a story in the Bible, the flood of Noah. That's not true. Then
they say they disprove the whole Bible. And that's what they want
to do because they want to disprove God. So they don't have to fear
answering Him. Now they know these truths. God's put that in the conscience
of men. They know these truths. Peter
says they're willingly ignorant of these things. They know them.
They could know them. They could retain them in their
knowledge, but they're willingly ignorant. Look at Romans chapter
one. I don't imagine anything's worse
than being willingly ignorant, but this is what they are. And
they're willingly ignorant because they're spiritually dead. That's
if they don't have faith. Romans 1 verse 19. Because that
which may be known of God is manifest unto them, or in them,
or to them. For God has showed it unto them.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world
are clearly seen. Now what are the invisible things
of him? What's God's power? It's His sovereignty. It's His
wisdom. Those are the invisible things of God. But you can see
those things clearly in God's creation if you just look. Being
understood by the things that are made. Even His eternal power
and Godhead so that they are without excuse. Because that,
when they knew God, they glorified him not as God. Neither were
they thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their
foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools, willingly ignorant. They're fools because
they're willingly so. And despite all their scoffing,
this world by God's grace is still held in place. He still
allows it to spin. He still allows these scoffers
to breathe his air and drink his water and eat his food. He's
reserving by the same power of his word that created the world.
He's using that same power to reserve it now. He'll reserve
it until the day of judgment, until the day he comes, which
will be the day these scoffers will be judged. Now, verse 8,
Peter goes back to talk to the beloved. 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 is one day. Now, truth
never changes. I don't care how much time passes.
I don't care where you go. Truth never changes. It's just
like true north. I don't care where you go. North
is north. No matter where you go, no matter how long you live,
truth is true and God is truth. God dwells outside of time. Past,
present, and future are all the same to God. Now, you and me
can't comprehend that because we are so tied to time. Just
as I started teaching, I looked at that clock a hundred times.
We're tied to time. But God dwells outside of time.
And just because to us it seems like a long time since he promised
he'd come, he's right on schedule. Now, people think this verse
indicates that today, We are in the last days of the last
days. You know, God used six days to
create the world, and on the seventh he rested. Well, man's
history on this earth is about 6,000 years. From Adam to Moses
was about 2,000 years. From Moses to Christ is about
2,000 years. And from Christ until now has
been roughly 2,000 years. Just like 6,000 years, just like
the six days of creation. Maybe. Very soon will be the
seventh day, the seventh day of rest when Christ our Sabbath
will return. I don't know when it will be.
Nobody does. It could be one more day. It could be today.
It could be tomorrow. I don't know when, but I know
he's coming. It could just be one more day
to God or could be one more day to you and me. If it's one more
day to God, it'll be a thousand years. Who knows when he'll return?
The important thing is we know he will return and we know it. because of his word. He promised
he'd return. And I know this. I don't know
a lot about the coming of Christ, but I know this. He will not
return until the last of his elect has been called to faith
and repentance. Look at verse 9. The Lord's not
slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness,
but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. The Lord's not slack concerning
any of his promise, concerning any of his word, the Lord is
not slack. But Peter specifically here is
talking about the promise of his coming. Just because it's
been 2,000 years, the Lord's not slack concerning his promise
to return and gather his people to himself and to judge the world
in righteousness. Now, some people try to take
this verse, they take it, lift it out of its context and take
it by itself. And they try to teach people
that Christ died for all men, that Christ is not willing, it's
not God's will, that any son of Adam should perish. Now, someone
that tries to make this verse teach that, I would ask them,
then what good is the will of God? Now, we know beyond a shadow
of a doubt that men perish in their sins. Well, God's will
didn't prevent it. So what good is God's will? Obviously,
that's not what this verse is teaching. Now, I'll show you
what this verse is teaching. The Lord's not slack concerning
his promise. Well, what promise is Peter talking
about? He's talking about the promise. This is his answer to
the scoffers. The promise that they referred
to in verse four. Where is the promise of his coming? He's not talking about his promise
of redemption or of many of the other promises of God. He's speaking
specifically about the promise of his coming. Well, who's the
us-ward? He's long-suffering the us-ward.
Is that to every son of Adam? Who's he referring to there?
Well, it's the us that he's writing this letter to. Look back in
verse 1 of chapter 1. Here's who the us is. Simon Peter,
a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them who have obtained
like precious faith with us. That's the us, those who've been
given like precious faith through the righteousness of God and
our Savior Jesus Christ. Look at verse 3, according as
his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto
life and godliness through the knowledge of him that have called
us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great
and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of
the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the
world through lust. The us is those that God has given all
things that pertain unto life to. The us is those that he's
given these exceeding great and precious promises to. The us
are those who have, by God's grace, been made partakers of
the divine nature, who've been born again. That's the us he's
talking about. He's talking about the us that
God chose before the foundation of the world and gave to his
Son. That's who he's talking about, us-ward. Well, then why
has God delayed so long? Why has he been so long-suffering?
Because God's not willing. that any of his elect should
perish, but that all of those elect should be given precious
faith in Christ. He's not willing that any of
them should perish. And the Lord's long-suffering
with the wicked, and He's preserving this wicked, sinful earth until
all those that the Father gave Him have been brought to Him,
until they've been brought to repentance and faith. Look at
John chapter 6. Peter says that he's not willing
that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Well, who's the all? Our Lord tells us in John 6,
verse 37, here's the all. All that the father giveth me
shall come to me and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise
cast out. He's not coming again to all
that the father gave him have come to him. For I came down
from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that
sent me. And this is the father's will, which has sent me. That
of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing. He's not
coming back and lose one of them. He's not coming back until they've
all been called to faith in him. But that I should raise it up
again at the last day, the same day Peter is talking about. And
this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone would
see of the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting
life, and I will raise him up at the last day. Well, Christ
is not coming again to raise him up until they've all been
given everlasting life. And then he'll come back, but
not before. And that's the one and only reason
he's long-suffering. That's the one and only reason
he's delayed so long. All of his left, obviously, have
not been brought to Christ. But now this day that he's talking
about, the day of his return, is an actual day. Look at verse
10 back in our text. But 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." The return of Christ is going to be much
like his first coming. He'd been promised for a long
time. Years and years and years and years the prophets had been
promising him. And suddenly he appeared in Bethlehem's
manger and a star was over the place. And the heavenly host
came and sang joy to the world. he's come. Suddenly, he suddenly
appeared at his temple. Wasn't anybody looking for him
but Simeon, but he suddenly appeared. And he'll come again the second
time. It'll be suddenly when very,
very few, seems like no one's looking for him. It's like the
time when a thief comes. The thief comes when nobody's
expecting him or else he wouldn't come. He comes when nobody's
home or He comes when everybody's asleep and nobody will notice
He slipped in. And that's when Christ will come
at night time. It'll be a time of great spiritual
darkness and unbelief. When it could be, only Simeon's
looking for it. But when He comes, it'll be suddenly. And when He comes, this creation
that's been polluted with our sin is going to be destroyed
with fire. Fire is going to come and purge
this world of sin. Water destroyed the earth one
time, and the only safety at that time that was to be found
was in the ark, which was a picture of Christ. When fire comes to
destroy the earth, the only safety to be found is going to be found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. in our substitute who's already
suffered the fire of God's wrath against our sin and purged our
sin with his own blood. That's where safety is to be
found when he returns. Now verse 11, and I'll wind it
up here. Seeing then that all these things
should be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in
all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hastening 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 new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent
that ye be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless."
Now this world has got a short life. Shortly the Lord is going
to burn it up, fold it up and put it away. What would you do if you knew
for a certainty, you had God's promise, that within 30 days,
this building was going to collapse on itself? We've been mighty
thankful to have this building, haven't we? We enjoyed it. We're
thankful the Lord's provided it. But if we knew the Lord was
going to crush it in 30 days, what would we do? Well, I know
this. There's a few things we wouldn't
do. We wouldn't invest a lot of time and money in it. You
know, Wayne was talking the other day about we need to weatherproof
the doors. Well, Wayne, if this building is going in 30 days,
we're not going to bother spending the money and the time weatherproofing
the door. We're not going to get too attached to it. We've
been awful thankful for it, but I'm suddenly not real attached
to it if I know it's coming down in about 30 days. I know this. If we knew it was coming down,
we'd get out of it. We wouldn't let our children
be here. We wouldn't be here. We'd get out of it. And we'd
start looking for a new place to worship. That's exactly how
believers act with this world. It's coming down. It's going
to get burned up. How do you really act if you
truly believe that? Now, I know you've got to be
reasonable. Please be reasonable. You've got to live in this world
as long as the Lord requires it. But don't invest too much
in it. Just don't invest too much in
a sinking ship. The Lord gave you a body. He gave you one body. Take care
of it. It's what you've got to live
in until the Lord calls you home. Take care of your family, your
children, your home, the house you live in, the responsibilities
that you have, but don't let it be your first responsibility.
It's temporary. It's just dust, and the Lord's
going to burn it up. Don't get too attached to it.
Christ, seek Him first and His kingdom, and these things will
be added to you. And be looking to get out of it. Don't be tied
to it when the Lord burns it up. Be looking to get out of
it. Be like our father Abraham who looked for a better country.
We're not staying here. We're getting out. Be here with
your loins girt and your shoes on your feet and your staff in
your hand. Be ready to leave in a moment's notice. He'll return
suddenly. In all this, this understanding
of all the gospel, of the gospel of God's redemption and the truth
of His return, True preaching always leads to
practical, daily godliness and holiness. All of it does. When
you know that Christ will return at any moment, that will lead
to true godliness and holiness in our everyday walk until the
time He returns. And be diligent about these things.
Be diligent to be found in Christ. Be diligent to be found in His
righteousness, not in our own filthy rags. Be diligent to be
washed in his blood. Be diligent in labor to know
Christ better, to know him more fully, to be more Christ-like.
In verse 15, and I'll quit, an 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. This is the importance of preaching. This is the means,
right here. that God uses to call out his
elect. And as long as they're preachers,
as long as God's given a servant to preach his gospel, I know
this, God's still calling out his elect. And this is the importance of
prayer for the lost, for our loved ones, for our community,
and as long as the Lord hasn't returned, it's a day of mercy.
It's the time of mercy. God's still calling out his elect.
It's still a time to pray for mercy. Could be he'll show it. He's still calling out his elect.
Maybe he'll be merciful to me. Maybe he'll be merciful to you.
I know this. He's going to be merciful to
somebody because that's his character. All right. Well, I'm out of time.
We'll quit. We'll go over those another time.