2 Peter chapter 3. We began our lesson last week
in this third chapter, and we talked about scoffers. What's a scoffer? Somebody who
wants to mock, wants to make light of, and question the promises
of God. It's one thing to mock men. It's another thing to mock God. He said, God is not mocked. He won't tolerate it. He'll take
care of it. And when they mock God, they
mock God's people. If you mock God's ambassador,
you're mocking God. You mock God's Word, you're mocking
God. You do despite unto the Spirit
of grace. How does a man do that? He just
don't pay any attention to what's being said. That's doing despite
unto the Spirit of God. And there's nothing, I would
say this to you, there's nothing in the Word of God, nothing in
the work of Christ, and nothing in the faith of God to mock or
to question or especially to make light of. And only ignorant and rebellious
men would even dare to mock God. Now, here's what I want to say
to you. I kind of dropped this last week
because we run out of time. Ignorant is not the same as stupid. Ignorant means they don't know.
They don't know. They're making light of something
that they don't know anything about. Ignorance is not stupidity
to me is ignorance on purpose. That's stupidity. When a man
rejects the truth and rejects God's counsel and rejects God's
word and makes, then when he makes light of those things,
that's stupidity. But these are mockers and they're
ignorant. Just ignorant. And you know,
in Numbers chapter 15, you can take a look at this this afternoon,
but there was a law which made provision for sins of ignorance. Over in Numbers chapter 15, verses
24 through 26, he states that law. It was a law that made provision
for sins of ignorance. What are sins of ignorance? Now, if I go, if I walk in the
store, and I'm a young man, I'm about 15, 16 years old, and I
go in the, we used to have five and dime stores when I was young,
and you go in that five and dime store, and you don't really have
any money, but you see something you want, and nobody's looking,
and you put that in your pocket. I know what I did when I picked
that up. That's not a sin of ignorance.
I knew exactly if I shoot somebody and kill them, that's not a sin
of ignorance. So pretty much everything you
do is not a sin of ignorance, isn't it? We know. Our conscience lets us know that
this is not right, and yet we do it. That's not a sin of ignorance.
these sins of ignorance that was made provision for under
the law. They're religious sins. That's the only time you ever
hear this word mentioned in the books of the New Testament, if
you go through there. And well, let's just take, for
instance, I think it's over in the book of Acts, where he talks
about these men who crucified the Lord. Now Paul said, I want
that they did it by ignorance. They did it by ignorance. Had
they have known who he was, they would not have crucified the
Lord of glory. But they did it out of ignorance.
Paul, talking about his past and his persecution of the church
and being an injurious man, he said, those things I did in ignorance. He did them in ignorance. So
when you're talking about sins of ignorance, you're talking
about religious sins. And these mockers are religious
men who are making light of the apostles and their doctrine and
the promises of God. They're going to be mockers,
he said, scoffers, scoffers. 1 Corinthians chapter 2, Paul
talks about the wisdom of God in a mystery. And that one that even the princes
of this world did not know, for had they known it, they wouldn't
have crucified the Lord of Glory. And then again, Paul talking
about his past said the same thing. I did those things in
ignorance and unbelief. And so it is with every man before
conversion. It says having the understanding
darkened. being alienated from the life
of God, now listen, through the ignorance that's in them. In them. That's why they do what
they do. That's why they say what they
say. That's why they argue when they should be listening. That's
why they rebel when they should be in submission. Ignorance. And so I say thank God that he
made provision for our sins of ignorance in the atoning blood
of the Lamb. And I don't want to seem overly
critical of false prophets and scoffers, but I do this for a
reason. I do this because they're a danger
to your soul. Peter told us that back in chapter
2 at the very beginning. And it's not so much a personal
hatred for you that causes a separation, but the ignorance that's in them. In other words, this man hears
what you're saying, and he don't want to talk to you anymore.
And he just turns around and walks away, and he don't want
any more to do with you. It's not so much a personal hatred
for you. He don't even know you that well.
But it's the ignorance that's in him that causes this separation. alienated from the life of God,
which is a saving knowledge of Him through the ignorance that's
in them. Well, what are they ignorant
of? These men who question God, no
man who knows God would question God. So why do these men question
God? Why do they scoff at God? Why
are these scoffers doing this? What are they ignorant of? Well,
they're ignorant of the fall of man. Ignorant of the fall of man.
They're ignorant of the grace of God. And they're ignorant
of the person and work of Jesus Christ. They're ignorant of those
things. The example given us here in the scripture is the
promise of His coming. He doesn't say promises. He said
promise. Where is the promise of His coming? But the ignorance that's behind
it runs all the way back to the beginning. Men are ignorant of
the purpose of God in creation. They think God created the world
and just set it adrift like out here on the sea of evolution
and just here it is, I've made it, it's going to do whatever
it does and he sends it out and he's got no control over anything
that's going on and it's just apt to disintegrate at any moment.
That's what the scientists are telling us. They're ignorant
of the purpose of God in creation. God had a purpose for which he
created this world. God's going to, he's going to,
somebody asked me on the phone yesterday, he said, why did God
save anybody? I said, for the glory of his
name. He said, that's exactly right. But he said, you know,
most people don't know that. And that's why he created the
world, for the glory of his name. And this world's not going anywhere
until that glory is fully manifested and fully accomplished. But they're
ignorant of the purpose of God in creation. They're ignorant
of the power of God who created it, spoke it into being. They say that was just a phrase.
That wasn't really what happened. Well, that's how the scripture
portrays it. That's how the scripture declares
creation. God spoke, and it was done. He
commanded, and it stood fast. That's what it says. They're
ignorant of the power of God who created it. They're ignorant
of the power of God that manages it. Why don't this world just
self-destruct? Why don't we unleash some kind
of plague that's going to wipe out the earth? Why doesn't those
things happen? Why doesn't a meteor, a giant
meteor, that's the new fear, they're spreading all over the
place, this giant meteor is going to come out of the darkness of
space and it's going to collide with the earth and that's going
to be the end of everything. Why don't that happen? Because God who made it manages
it. Now, all you've got to do to
know that what I'm telling you is so is read it in the word
of God, first of all. But secondly, go into the science
books and look at these other planets and moons. Their surface
is nothing but one big crater right after the other where these
asteroids and where all these things have collided and continue
to collide. How come they're not colliding
with us? Huh? Why are we the only planet in
the whole solar system that these things are not hitting? Because God manages His creation. That's why. And they're ignorant of the person
of Christ for whom this world was created. The purpose of God is a redemptive
purpose. That's what it is. He's going
to redeem a people for the glory of His name. That's what He set
out to do in eternity, and that's exactly what He's going to do
when He winds this thing up. Everything else is being used
of God to this end. Isn't that what He says in Romans
chapter 8? All creation waited for the manifestation of the
sons of God. That's what it's here for. It's
why it's being preserved. Everything is given a continuance. By Him was all things created
and for Him. And by Him all things consist. That word consist means have
a continuance. And everything is given a continuance
until such time as His elect have all been called. So now
He tells us, beginning in verse 7, 2 Peter 3, verse 7, But the heavens and the earth
which are now, we talked about before the flood last week. Now
we're going to talk about the heavens and the earth which are
now. By the same word are kept in store. What's he doing with it? Keeping it in store. Unto fire. against the day of
judgment and perdition of ungodly men. This world is not going
to self-destruct. Men will not destroy this world.
And some out-of-control asteroids are not going to collide with
it and destroy the world. It's absolutely amazing to look
at these other planets, like I said before, and look at their
surfaces and look at ours. It's just not going to happen.
God will take care of the destruction of this world when the time comes. Being kept in store, preserved,
managed, ordered by the Son of God, and nothing in it or on
it is out of control. It's out of our control. It may
be out of the control of our nation, but it's not out of His
control. No, sir. 2 Peter 3.8. 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 not relevant
to God. Now, here's where Peter begins
this lesson. He said, God is not slack concerning
His promise. There's nothing in God to make
Him slack. There's nothing in this world
that opposes itself to God to make Him slack. There's nothing
in the glory of His person to cause Him to be slack. He already
knows what's in us. He putteth no trust in His saints,
Job said. And so here's what he's saying
here. Time's not relevant to God. Now,
here's where these scoffers were coming from. They said everything's
been the same from the beginning, and last week I told you that's
not so. Man fell since the beginning. God destroyed the world since
the beginning. False religion came together
in the city of Babylon, and God divided it and sent it out into
the earth. Lots of things. Christ came,
died on the cross. All things have not continued
the same. God's doing his work in his time. But my friend, God's time is
not relevant to God. It's relevant to me. We were
just talking about it before the service. One day you're 25,
next day you're 65. What happened? We're at all this
time. It's relevant to me, but it's not relevant to God. And time has its effect on us,
but it doesn't have its effect on God. You know, men look back
over the centuries past, but with God, that's just yesterday.
Just yesterday. Paul told those scientists and
philosophers on Mars Hill that he made of one blood all nations
of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth and have determined
the times before appointed. Isn't that what he said? Who
did that? God did. God did. And nothing comes to pass by
chance and nothing happens before its time. Take the greatest event that
ever happened, the coming of Christ. How did he describe it? When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under
the law to redeem them that were under the law. Nothing's going
to happen before it's time. Not a sparrow, he said, can fall
to the ground without your father. Nothing comes to pass by chance,
and it doesn't happen before it's time. It says that our Lord said something
to them in such and such a city, and that city was built right
on the brow of a hill. And he came in and spoke some
things to them, and it angered them to no end. And they grabbed
hold of him and said they would have thrown him off the cliff.
Why couldn't they? His time was not yet come. Huh? His time was not yet come. Don't use time as an excuse to
doubt or lose faith in the promise of God. You know, I'm guilty
of this. You're guilty of it. All of us
are guilty of this. We bring somebody here, and they're
here for a little bit, and then nothing happens, and we say,
well, you know, Lord's not going to do anything for him. I was thinking about Russell's
daughter, Kelsey, professing faith. She'd been listening for
eight years. Eight years. I expect you to
hear, because I know who does this work, and I know he can
do it instantly, but I expect you to hear one message, and
God create faith in your heart. That's not always how God works. And he'll work in his time. He'll
work in his time. Most generally, he uses a message
that I didn't think much of, and that's the one he'll use.
That's the one I get calls about. I was thinking about some examples
in the scripture, and then I thought about myself. I'm a living example
of that very thing. God saves men when He will, when
He will, in His time and not yours. That thief was caught
in the last hour of his life. He was hanging on the cross.
He was just hours from death hanging there. Christ saved him. My dad was in his seventies before
he ever heard the gospel. So listen to this, what he's
saying here in 2 Peter 3.9. The Lord's not slack concerning
His promise, as some men count slackness, but He's longsuffering
to the whole world. That's not what this is. He's long-suffering to usward,
to his church, to his people, to his body, to believers. He's
long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should be called to repentance. All going to be
called. God not slack concerning his
promise. And this could be said of every
promise of God. But here the apostles eros in
on the second coming of Christ because this is what was being
questioned and scoffed at. And I would say this to you again,
being ignorant of God leads men to say all sorts of foolish things. Men are ignorant of God. Did you know all you have to
do is read your Bible. It states who God is, at least
in an outward sense. By definition, I know it's manifested
in Christ and His glory is manifested in Christ. But God is declared
in the scripture as He is. And one of the things that He
is is immutable. God's unchangeable. I change
all the time. You change all the time. You
don't believe me, go look in the mirror. You might be shocked. We change all the time. God doesn't
change. He said, I'm the same yesterday, today, and forever. He told old Israel, He said,
I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob are not consumed. In the book of James, he tells
us that every good gift and every perfect gift cometh from above,
cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is what? No
bearableness, neither shadow of turning. God's unchangeable. So if I question his promise
as though it changed, some event in time or something happened
to change, it doesn't change. It doesn't change. God's unchangeable. God is immutable. He cannot and
will not change. God's sovereign. What's that mean? It means He's
almighty. That means He rules. Well, He
rules when we let Him. No, He rules. He rules. He gives men over. You say, well,
that man don't let him rule. Oh, yeah, he does. He's just
not aware of it. God gave him over to strong delusion
to believe a lie and be damned. Who did? God did. God did. That's what He says. They think they rule. God rules. He rules. He's sovereign. He's
sovereign in all things. He's always been sovereign. He
always will be sovereign. He's never going to change. He's
sovereign. He's ruled over everything from
the beginning of time, and He'll continue to rule throughout all
eternity. He is the sovereign. He worketh all things, the Scripture
says, after the counsel of His own will. Well, I thought He
was dealing with the aftermath of our decisions and our will
and whatever happens in the nation and whatever happens in the economy
and whatever happens in the West. No. No, he worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will. And then thirdly, God's
all wise. There's nothing in time or eternity
of which God is ignorant. I'm ignorant of everything. He's
ignorant of nothing. He knows all things. David said,
he understandeth my thought before I ever think it. You think about this. Christ
knew where the coin was in the fish's mouth. Did he not? You go down there, and you get
that fish, and there's your tax money. He knows all things. He's all-wise, all-wise. And God's everywhere present.
David said, if I ascend up to heaven, he's there. If I make
my bed in hell, he's there. If I take the wings of the morning
and fly into the uttermost parts of the sea, there he is. He's everywhere present. And
these four things alone tell us that God is not slack concerning
his promise. All you need is a basic knowledge
of God to know God is not slack. So what is this long void of
time all about? Well, listen. He's long-suffering
to usward. That's what it's all about. What's
long-suffering? That means putting up with. That's
what that means. Long-suffering to usward. Why? He's not willing that any
should perish. They're all going to be caught.
God chose a people in Christ to save for the glory of His
name. That's what He says in Ephesians chapter 1. And this
salvation consists of three parts. Election. God chose a people. Redemption. Christ redeemed those
people, and reconciliation. Elections attributed to God the
Father, redemptions attributed to Christ the Son, and reconciliation
to the Holy Ghost. He reconciles God's people. Be ye reconciled to God. God's not slack, but long-suffering
to us, but patient, enduring. managing, ordering, controlling
all things until the very last soul redeemed in Christ is called
by the Spirit of God. You can't take God's unwillingness
for any to perish and try to apply that to the whole world.
He's willing that some men perish. He is. He was willing for Judas
to perish. He said it would have been better
for him if he had not been born. Being better for Esau, he's not
being born. He's not unwilling for all men
to perish, but he's unwilling for his people to perish. Brethren, repentance. is that
which God's people are led to. All shall be called to repentance.
They receive a divine call, an irresistible call. My dad had two calls. He'd come up the stairway and
holler up there, son, it's time to get up. And I might listen, and I might
not. If it's a cold morning, I might just lay there in the
bed. But I tell you, he come back to the stairway, and there
wasn't going to be another call. That was an effectual call. I
moved. I got up. I knew better than
to continue laying in the bed. There's an effectual call when
God calls an individual that's irresistible. Now, he can resist
most of the time, but he can't resist that. God opens his heart and his head,
and He fills him with knowledge. Alright, look back at our text,
2 Peter 3, verse 10. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass
away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
a fervent heat. The earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up. I touched on something last
week in the message that I want to talk about here. The first
coming of Christ had no intimidation to it. None whatsoever. Here's
a tiny babe laying in a manger. And as he grew older, he went
to the people. He went about doing good. He
went about healing all their diseases. There was nothing intimidating
about him. He didn't go around with a big
entourage and a bunch of big bullies like the Pharisees had.
And you knew better than to not listen to their commands because
they had a half an army behind them. That wasn't how Christ
came. He oftentimes dealt with people
one on one. There was nothing intimidating
about that coming. But don't you get the idea that
it's not going to be intimidating when he comes again. The scripture
said, as the lightning shineth from the east to the west, so
shall his coming be. He's coming in all the glory
of his Father's house with all his holy angels. You talk about
intimidating. They're going to call, he's going
to call all of his elect up to him and shame on everything else.
It's going to be intimidating, that second coming. Christ was the most accessible
man who ever lived. The disciples said, don't let
them little kids come up here. He said, you come right up here.
Sat him on his lap. He was the most accessible man
that ever was. But his second coming is not
going to foreshadow his first. I think perhaps if these scalpers
knew something about his coming, they wouldn't be so quick to
desire it, and they wouldn't be so quick to mock it. In that
day, our Lord describes men's hearts as failing them. It's
going to fail them for fear of what's going to come upon them. And not as we sing around Christmas
silent night. It's not going to be silent in
that day. Like a great noise. Like a great
noise. That's what the Scripture says.
The elements melting with a fervent heat and everything not gathered
unto the Son of God burnt to ashes. Nothing of this earth
so cherished by men shall remain. You know, there came a day when
Noah entered into the ark. God shut the door. Everything
outside that ark was destroyed. Everything. That's the way it's
going to be when Christ comes again. Now, look at 2 Peter 3, verse
11, and then I'll wind this up. Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in
all holy conversation, that is, in all holy behavior and godliness? It's the grace and mercy of His
first coming. that accomplished redemption,
and the solemnity and severity of his second coming that has
a great effect on believers and how they live their lives. It
affects you, doesn't it? It affects you. In Titus chapter
2, Paul exhorts the aged believing men to be sober, grave, and temperate. I tell you, if you know what's
coming, that'll sober you up. All you got to do is read about
it. That'll sober you up. And I'm not talking about being
sober from alcohol. I'm talking about being alert
to what's actually going on, aware. Aware of what's going on and
aware of what's taking place now and what shall take place
pretty soon. Brother Don has this expression
he uses all the time, walking on tiptoes of faith and looking
with anticipation and expectation for the coming of our Lord. What
manner of persons ought we to be? We ought to be thankful persons,
watching persons, busy persons. Christ said, I'm always about
the Father's business.