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That last hymn of course is one that we're probably not very familiar with, the hymn reflects a general judgment of mankind at the end of the age.
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That's not commonly taught among evangelicals and we'll address that this morning. You might have noticed it was written by John Newton, former slave trader who was converted to Christ, became a quite a well -known pastor in England, of course he's known best for having written the hymn
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Amazing Grace and he also wrote that hymn about the judgment. So here we are in 2
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Peter 3. Now this is the final message in our series that we began last
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July, the ABCs of the Christian life. I had no idea it was going to last this long, it could probably be extended past today,
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I'm sure there are other issues that we could discover or consider but I think that we've done enough to cover this matter and so I think today's subject is a fitting conclusion to our series,
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Waiting and Watching for the Coming of the Lord and this is an important matter for every
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Christian. This is one of the ABCs of the Christian life, of Christian living, to live in eager anticipation, ready preparation to stand before the
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Lord when he returns. And so we want to consider the last words that we have recorded by the
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Apostle Peter which is 2 Peter, this is of course the third chapter, last chapter of that epistle.
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And he exhorted the Christians to whom he was writing that they would be mindful and prepared for the second coming of the
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Lord Jesus Christ. And so this is the word of God and it is applicable of course to you and to me.
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We're going to initially read four verses and then we're going to stand back and consider the entire chapter and what the message is that's being conveyed.
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And so 2 Peter 3, 10 -13, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat, both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
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Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
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Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
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So it speaks about the end of the age and the coming of Christ. We considered this theme of living with view to the second coming of Christ just a little over a year ago when we were working through 1 and 2
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Thessalonians which addressed the matter quite clearly. And so actually what we're taking from 2
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Peter 3 today is pretty much the same of what we declared from 1
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Thessalonians 5 and 2 Thessalonians just a little over a year ago. There in 1
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Thessalonians Paul had declared that the day would come, would take place when the Lord himself would descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of an archangel with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first and then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
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Lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Now we assert,
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I assert, that the Holy Scriptures teach the second coming of Christ will occur and a general resurrection of all mankind will take place at that event.
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And the Lord will at that time sit upon his throne of glory and he will execute judgment on the world.
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Every human being that's ever been born into this world will be brought to stand before King Jesus.
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I don't know how it's going to play out, billions of people individually coming before the Lord Jesus but that's what the
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Scriptures teach. And everyone whether they're Christian or not will give an account of their works to the
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Lord Jesus and will be judged, our works will be judged according to God's law.
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And, of course, sin will be revealed. Thankfully there is another book aside from the books that record our works, the book of life.
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And the book of Revelation tells us anyone and everyone who's found written in that book of life which should be understood as a registry of citizens of the new
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Jerusalem, they will be granted everlasting life, all of grace of course.
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But it's a general judgment of mankind, not everybody believes that and teaches that, that's certainly the historic
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Protestant understanding all the way up until the middle of the 19th century when things began to change and then evangelicals generally changed significantly at the beginning of the 20th century even until today.
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But we advocate that there will be a general judgment of all mankind on that day with King Jesus sitting upon his throne in judgment.
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And the outcome of that judgment of works will be the declaration of the eternal fate of both believers and unbelievers.
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Matthew 25, Jesus himself recorded that judgment and when he will assess and one of the criteria of judgment there is how have you regarded and treated
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Christians, Jesus describes as my brethren. Did you clothe them when they were naked, did you visit them when they were in prison for the faith, did you care for them?
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And some of them wouldn't even recall that that was characteristic of their life.
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But Jesus will declare to them in as much as you did it to the least of these my brethren you did it unto me, enter into the joy of your
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Lord. But those who had complete disregard for the Christians, for the people of God who failed to love their neighbor as their self, which is a manifestation of true salvation, they will be consigned to their fate because he said when
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I was naked you didn't clothe me, when I was hungry you didn't feed me, when I was in prison you didn't visit me. When Lord did we see you that way that we failed to do this, when you failed to do it to the least of these my brethren, you failed to do it unto me.
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And so that judgment of works is a judgment to either prove or discredit our life as Christians, it's not what we claim to believe but it's what our life demonstrates that we believe.
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We're justified by grace through faith alone, but that faith is never alone. God created us onto works, good works, we are his work,
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Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, but he created us onto good works, Ephesians 2, 10, and he's ordained that we walk in them and one day we'll be judged according to those works when
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Jesus returns. This is incredibly important because very frankly you know very few are proclaiming this kind of future for the
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Christians, they advocate well the Lord's going to return and there's going to be a rapture of the church and all
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Christians will be taken out of the world, there'll be a seven year tribulation, then the second coming will take place and then a thousand year millennium and after a thousand years then the judgment of the unsaved will take place, that's the most popular position.
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But it flies into the face of what's declared here in 2 Peter chapter 3 as we will see.
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Now last year when we addressed 1 Thessalonians 5 in which Paul addressed the same manner we asserted the following points and so this was an outline we actually used last year.
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The day of the Lord will be sudden and unexpected, we're at the bottom of page one of your notes, the day of the
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Lord will bring sudden destruction on non -Christians, the day of the Lord will not surprise
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Christians, you know he'll not come as a thief to them because they'll be ready.
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The day of the Lord should be before the eyes of Christians, Christians are to be prepared for the day of the
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Lord, salvation is certain for Christians in the day of the Lord and then there's a word on how
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Christians are to treat one another until the day of the Lord. And so basically what Paul set forth there in the
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Thessalonian letters we have very similar assertions here by Peter in 2
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Peter 3. And so let's begin to consider the inspired words of God as penned by the
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Apostle Peter, the words we already read but we want to consider it in the context of the entire chapter of 2
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Peter 3. First of all we have a paragraph in our
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New King James Version and that's the text, the version we have in front of us in your notes and in which believers are to be mindful of the coming of the
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Lord. So here's verses 1 -7, Beloved I now write to you this second epistle in both of which
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I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder 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
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Lord and Savior, knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days walking according to their own lusts and saying where is the promise of his coming?
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For since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation for this they willfully forget that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of water and in water by which the world then that existed perished being flooded with water.
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But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
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This first paragraph again is set forth in the New King James Version in the first seven verses.
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In this translation there are three sentences and in the text we just read three sentences in one paragraph.
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The first sentence is verses one through four a that is the first portion of verse four.
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The second sentence is a short answer to a question which is the second portion of verse four verse four b and then the third sentence is verses five through seven three sentences in one paragraph.
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The newer English translations differ in their sentence structure than the New King James Version and I might just say the newer
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English translations generally are more accurate to the original text than the
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New King James Version but in some ways the New King James Version is more like the
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Greek text than some of the newer translations and this is one way here. The newer
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English translations differ in sentence structure than the New King James Translation. The newer English translators produce these seven verses in more and shorter sentences to ease the reading comprehension of modern
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English readers. We're not as good readers as we once were and translators of the
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Bible into English therefore give us a translation that is easier to comprehend.
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For example the New American Standard which is an excellent translation by the way sets forth these seven verses of 2
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Peter 3 in two paragraphs instead of one and does so in five sentences instead of three and to do that of course you've got to impose different subjects and finite verbs in each of the sentences that is not really there, there are more participles and what not in one sentence in the
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New King James Version. The ESV which we read out of publicly earlier
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Psalm 95 and Luke 15 the ESV English Standard Version another excellent translation expresses 1 -7 in one paragraph but in six sentences instead of three.
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And then interestingly the NIV the New International Version which is perhaps one of the most readable
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English translations has verses 1 -7 expressed in two paragraphs but nine sentences instead of three and so in my as I look at it it's kind of choppy and doesn't flow that well but it's more easily understood by most
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English readers. The editors of the modern Greek text and the translators of the
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New King James Version reflect Peter's original sentence structure and division. In other words if you had a copy of 2
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Peter in your hand from Peter's own hand really the sentence structure and the paragraph division of that original
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Greek text is reflected better in the New King James Translation than the others. And so you sacrifice some things with readability.
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Now Peter opened with an explanation of why he was writing this epistle to his readers and in doing so he refers to 1
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Peter the first epistle he had written to them. He wrote in verse 1a beloved I now write to you this second epistle and so this statement helps identify to whom
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Peter sent intended to write and sent this second letter. It was to the same group of people that he addressed 1
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Peter. It was probably written not long after 1 Peter. And so we read of the addressees of 2
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Peter back in 1 Peter chapter 1 in verse 2 and there we read of his opening Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, that would be
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Asia minor, Bithynia elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in sanctification of the spirit for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ raised to you in peace be multiplied and so he gives this
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Trinitarian introduction but he identifies the ones to whom he is writing.
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He was writing to Gentile Christians although by those words you might think he's writing to Jewish Christians he wasn't he was writing to Gentile Christians who lived in the region of what is now western and northern
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Turkey even up perhaps to the shores of the Black Sea southern shores of the Black Sea region.
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Peter referred to these Christians as pilgrims of the dispersion now that expression is usually
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Jewish applied to Jewish people in the Old Testament. The dispersion of the
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Greek word diasporas was a term that had been historically applied to the remnant of Jews that had survived the destruction of Israel by the
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Assyrians in the 8th century B .C. and by the Babylonians in the 6th century
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B .C. they were exiled taken out of the land taken to Babylon scattered among the nations and so those
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Jews were commonly referred to as Jews of the diaspora the
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Jews of the dispersion but here Peter identified Gentile Christians as these ones scattered these exiles of the dispersion and so basically what
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Peter is doing is saying these Gentile Christians are the true Israel of God they're the true
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Jews the true Israel Gentile Christians by virtue of the fact that they are believers in the
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Jewish Messiah they're described as pilgrims of the dispersion in other words they were
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Christians journeying in faith to their promised homeland they were scattered throughout the world but they were journeying they were pilgrims temporarily sojourning in a world that is no longer their home they're journeying in faith to their home their promised land they were traveling to Zion and I put that in quotes because it wasn't a promise to traveling to a literal city of Jerusalem in Israel but it was the city whose builder and maker was
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God that Abraham looked forward to a heavenly Jerusalem a heavenly Zion and these
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Christians were the true Israel traveling through a wilderness onto their heavenly home and so it was to this spiritual city of Zion that the
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Lord had promised the return of a remnant of Jews and Gentiles who came to faith in the promised
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Messiah of Israel and we won't turn back to Isaiah 49 to show that but basically what
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Peter was doing through these opening words of 1st Peter 1 and 2 was to set forth
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New Testament believers as spiritual Israel and again just to say that would result in all kinds of reactions negative reactions by well -meaning
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Christians today who say Israel is Israel and they're ethnic Jews and the church is a church and should never be identified with Israel they're two different people two different destinies two different kingdoms two different sets of promises that's not taught in the
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Bible clearly the New Testament teaches that Christians are the true people of God and Paul declared this in Romans 2 he said he's not a
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Jew who is one outwardly in other words a true Jew in God's sight a true person in the covenant relationship with God is not identified by his race because he's a physical descendant of Abraham but it's all of grace and so a true
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Jew is not one who is one outwardly nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh it's not physical circumcision that makes someone a true child of Abraham who inherits the promises of Abraham but rather a
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Jew is one who is inwardly and the circumcision is that of the heart and that's a description of the new birth where God gives a new heart and causes people to be converted and transformed and so the circumcision of the heart is in the spirit not in the letter whose praise is not from men we're the covenant people of God not because we descended from somebody who was a believer at one time but because God caused us to come into his family through a spiritual circumcision which was the new birth and so Paul had declared the same spiritual identity of Christians as the promised
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Israel to whom God gave his promise of salvation when he included himself among Gentile believers of the church of Philippi which was primarily
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Gentile not Jewish remember Paul received a vision when he was in Troas from a man in Macedonia come over to help us so he traveled over there first time in Europe he went to Philippi there weren't enough
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Jews in that city to have a synagogue so he went down to the river that's what Jews usually did when there were less than 10 and that's where the
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Jews would meet on the Sabbath and there he found Lydia a Jewish lady from Asia Minor she was converted the
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Lord opened her heart and then of course Paul and Silas were arrested put in the
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Philippian jail was incarcerated by a Gentile jailer and then he was converted in the middle of the night he and his family and then
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Paul later wrote to this church at Philippi mostly Gentile Christians some Jews and he wrote for we are the circumcision he's not referring to himself he's saying we collectively we new
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Christians we are the circumcision in other words the true Israel the true Jew we're the circumcision who worship
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God in the spirit rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh we relate to God not because of who we are physically not because of who our daddy was or mother was as Christians but because of whom
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God has made us to be true Christians are the truest for the people of God and Peter affirms that in first Peter 1
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Paul affirms it everywhere it's affirmed and I don't know why people deny it frankly. Well again
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Peter declared in second Peter 3 verse 1 he was writing the second epistle to the same Christians to whom he had written the first epistle and so his readers were
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Christians who were probably both Jews and Gentiles who had embraced Jesus Christ as their
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Lord and Savior. Now in verse 1 of second
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Peter 3 we have a parenthetic statement in other words a statement set forth in parentheses at least it is in the
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New King James version and so he wrote of these ones he was addressing in both of which
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I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder the both he's referring to there as both epistles first Peter and second
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Peter he says in both epistles I've been reminding you about certain things and so both first Peter and second
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Peter contain instruction that either Peter had given them in person or that he knew they had already been instructed in he was reminding them about these matters in other words they already knew it and there are many truths of the
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Christian faith in which although we've been previously instructed we need to have stirred up in our thinking and this is one of them you and I need to be living in the light of the second coming of Christ and it's easy to lose sight of that when we get mixing up in the world day after day week after week and it has to be reminded to us and brought back into focus and that's what we're doing today that's what
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Peter was doing in second Peter 3 and so Peter was indicating that by his rehearsal of the teaching of the future second coming of Christ he was directing their attention and focus on a matter of great importance a matter in which he had previously instructed them.
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Specifically Peter desired that they would keep the matter of the second coming of Christ before them even in the presence of scoffers those who would dismiss or discredit the idea of the
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Lord's return and so along with verse 1 we read verses 2 -4 which speak about this matter people we encounter who just think you're a fool for advocating
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Jesus is coming back again. Beloved I now write to you the second epistle and both of which
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I stir up your pure mind by way of reminder and then he gives the purpose here for his writing 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
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Lord and Savior knowing this first that scoffers will come in the last days walking according to their own lusts 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 and so Peter reaffirmed to his readers the truth that the
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Lord Jesus would return to judge the world. This affirmation of the second coming of the
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Lord to execute judgment upon his enemies and bestow salvation on his people is denied and scoffed at by unbelievers.
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Peter is pressing upon his readers the authority and the veracity of all biblical history it was taught in the
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Old Testament taught by the apostles taught by the Lord and his apostles this event would occur and there would be scoffers who would deny that it will occur.
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There were scoffers who were mocking these Christians and their belief in the second coming of Christ and their belief in the end of the world and the final judgment eternal damnation of the unsaved and of God's creation of a new heavens and a new earth prepared for his people for believers who are
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Jesus Christ. Peter was appealing and asserting the authority of the scriptures that uniformly throughout the scriptures teach of this event even though it's being scoffed at by people around us maybe our own family, friends, acquaintances.
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D. Martin Lloyd -Jones wrote a wonderful commentary actually a collection of his expository sermons on second
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Peter and these are his words on these verses. Here's a case to put against those who are described as scoffers or if you prefer it as mockers the people who ridicule the gospel and its promises and especially all that the gospel has to teach us with regard to the course of history and the final outcome of life in this world.
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The position today of course is not only similar to that which obtained at the time when the apostle penned these words there is a sense in which it is still more accentuated.
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All the appearance seem to be against what is taught here in the Bible and all this opposition is greatly reinforced today by various so -called scientific teachings which seem to fly flatly in the face of the teaching of the
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New Testament. Now what has the apostle to say to all this?
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Let me summarize his statements. His first statement is this, that this whole matter is fundamentally and finally a matter of faith and a matter of acceptance of the teaching of scripture.
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That's what Peter is arguing. All of the Bible teaches this. The gospel tells us that there is to be a definite end of the world and Peter goes on to tell us how that end is to take place.
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He tells us that world history is heading up to a great climax and final judgment. That is perhaps one of the most difficult things which we are asked to believe.
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There are large numbers of people who are ready, very ready to accept the gospel in general with regard to its doctrine of forgiveness and with regard to its doctrine of atonement.
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There are many people who are prepared to accept the doctrine of the cross but they find this whole idea of the second coming of our
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Lord or the return of our Lord in judgment and the destruction of the world and the new heaven and the new earth particularly difficult.
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They find it strangely incredible. Everything they say seems to be against it.
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It is very difficult for the natural mind to accept such teaching. And Peter's reply to them is that ultimately it's not a matter of reason, it's not a matter of argument.
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He bases his whole case primarily upon the scriptures themselves. Amen. And that's what we do.
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We don't care if the world laughs at us and accuses us of being foolish for believing such things they regard as nonsense.
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We believe it's the word of God and the Lord Jesus himself said he would return.
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Well let's consider what the Lord has revealed to us in the words of this apostle. First, the
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Lord has already helped us in a measure by revealing that we would encounter opposition to our belief in the second coming of Christ and the judgment that he will execute upon the world.
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If opposition comes or rather when it comes we perhaps will not be unsettled as we might have been had the
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Lord not forewarned us that they would be doing this. We should not be surprised or shocked when those infidels challenge us.
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The word of God has already told us they would do so. And so the Old Testament scriptures and the
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New Testament apostolic witnesses has spoken of these mockers from a long time past.
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And so actually if we perceive the challenge of the mockers rightly, their voiced unbelief only confirms to us the truthfulness of Holy Scriptures because the
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Holy Scriptures said they would be here and doing what they're doing. Men today by scoffing at this doctrine are simply confirming biblical prophecy.
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You're proving to me the Bible's real. The Bible said there'd be guys like you, you know, that are confronting us with this as nonsense.
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Peter declared these mockers would appear in the last days. And when we read that we immediately think of the, you know, last decades before the second coming of Christ.
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But that's not right. Most people think this. But Peter is not speaking of far off events at the end of the age.
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He was talking about people that these Christians were going to be encountering. The last days began with the crucifixion and ascension of Jesus Christ.
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We're living in the last days and Peter was too and these Christians that he was writing to.
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The last days is a reference to the entire church age. The recipients of this epistle were living at the beginning of the last days and we're living,
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I hope, at the end of the last days. But we don't know. Peter described these scoffers as walking according to their own lusts.
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This is the nature of all unconverted people, not just unique to them. This is the way of unregenerate people born into this world.
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Unregenerate means not born again. In other words, naturally born into this world and they're sinners. We all are born into this world that way.
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Due to the sin of Adam and Eve, the former headship of the mind, before Adam and Eve sinned, their mind controlled their soul as they were informed by the will of God in the garden.
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Then they would go out each day and perform the will of God as instructed. They would come back and reflect and rejoice in what
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God did to them throughout that day. The mind governed the soul. But once they sinned, the headship or the hegemony, the leadership of the mind was deposed and instead the lusts, fallen sinful lusts, the desires of the fallen man now became preeminent and the mind was suppressed as secondary.
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People do what they want to do rather than what they know they should do. That's because they're governed by their lusts.
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And Peter says this is the case with these mockers. The fallen nature of man is lust governs his thinking about spiritual matters.
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And so a fallen man will shape his theology, shape his doctrine by how he lives.
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A person's practice will shape their doctrine. You start living in sin and I guarantee you your understanding of biblical truth is going to be compromised before long.
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And it won't be long before you're believing things that you don't believe today.
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And you will reject the things you believe today. And it was because there is a tendency, each of us, to shape our theology, our understanding, our belief in order to justify how we live.
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That's the nature of the beast. So a fallen man will shape his theology or doctrine in order to give a pass on his practice.
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People will reshape their understanding of God, cast him into a different image because if you present the
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God of the Bible it's not going to turn out too good for someone. And so they have to change their understanding of God and their own thinking.
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His behavior will shape the content of what he believes about God and himself. And Peter declared these mockers live according to their sinful passions.
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And this is the reason they reason against God and His Word. They're sinful. And what is it these scoffers say to challenge a
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Christian's faith in the coming of the Lord? They say, where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.
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These are not people who are concerned about seeking the truth. They are ones who justify their own belief and practice by discrediting you and your belief system.
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And they can become pretty sophisticated in their attempts. Your faith is a rebuke to them.
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And so they scoff at you in order to discredit and perhaps silence you. I was very close to my grandmother.
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I loved her. But she was a Christian scientist. She was raised in a
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Christian home. My great -grandfather, I have a portrait of him in my office, was a Christian man. Good friends with D .L.
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Moody at the end of the 19th century. And my grandmother asked me one day, this was back in the 70s, you ever hear a man named
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Dwight Lyman Moody in your family? Grandma, yeah. He was my dad's friend. He was in the house the night my older brother was born.
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My older brother was named Dwight Lyman Johnston after D .L. Moody. So my great -grandfather was a lay preacher.
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He was a Methodist, became a Presbyterian. They moved from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to Fresno, California for the dry climate for my grandmother.
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That's how that side of the family got to California. They had nine kids and my grandmother said he'd read the
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Bible every night from the classics. The nine kids gathered around the table. But then when my grandmother was nine years old, he died suddenly of an infection in his ear.
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And the Bible instruction came to an end because he had married a non -Christian woman. He was one semester away from graduating from Moody Bible Institute.
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He went back home, met my great -grandmother, fell in love, married her. She was not a Christian. So when he died, the
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Christian instruction came to an end. But my grandmother had an understanding of Scripture.
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She would visit our church. People would come after her. What a saintly grandmother you have.
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She could remember when she was supposedly saved walking a sawdust trail in a tent in Fresno.
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And she said, it stuck with me for about three years. But when she lost a baby in 1920, a neighbor out in the desert of Southern California befriended her who was
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Christian Science. She adopted Christian Science religion and had it all the rest of her 93 years.
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And so I would try and witness to her. She was very happy as a preacher, but she'd be happy, you know, no matter what denomination
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I was part. And she said, when I hear you, it sounds like you're my dad reincarnated.
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No, Grandma, I'm just saying the same things he used to say. And so she'd spout off all this nonsense.
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And I, you know, and so I'd be quiet. I wouldn't respond many times, just out of respect for her.
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Finally she got real upset with me one day. You never respond. You're always quiet. My very silence she took offense at because I wasn't agreeing with her.
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And oftentimes, you know, you might be going through life and you're not even saying anything and all of a sudden some unbeliever will, you know, launch out at you.
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Your very life and what they know you believe is a rebuke to them. And you wonder where did that reaction come from?
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It came from them. They walk according to their own lusts. And they think you're foolish.
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Why everything's always been the same and you saying there's going to be an end of the world and a judgment of mankind. But Peter says these scoffers are willingly ignorant and uninformed of the evidence that supports the
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Christian faith and understanding. Peter declared they are willfully ignorant. They willfully forget that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of water and in the water by which the world that then existed perished being flooded with water.
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They forget there was a flood when God judged the world. Now there are people that deny worldwide flood, you know, but you can find seashells up in the
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Rocky Mountains in Colorado. My grandfather was an oil driller. He was pumping seashells out of 8 ,000 foot oil wells.
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You know, there was a great climatic event, the flood. The Bible talks about it.
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There's evidence of it all over, but people deny it. It was evidence that God has judged men in history and there's a greater judgment coming.
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And it's a judgment not of water flooding the earth, but of fire consuming everything. Some of us struggle to remember the things of God and we lament it, but here
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Peter says that most people are willfully forgetful. They want to forget the word of God.
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They forget and dismiss the judgments of God in history. They portend to the final judgment of the world.
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You see that video this week of a retired Marine Christian man who was invited by a retiring
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Marine, his friend, to speak at his retirement ceremony and they agreed beforehand to read this
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God -centered description of how God delivered troops and whatnot through battle and whatnot and an officer,
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Air Force officer, had two of his men go up and drag this man off the stage because he mentioned
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God. You know, back in World War II and World War I, you know, it was publicly acknowledged of God's great deliverances in history.
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You know, the destruction of, you know, of Germany, that was seen as a work of God.
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You know, the rescue of the British soldiers off of Dunkirk, you know, when all the little boats and ships went across the
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North Sea, it was perpetually rough, incapable of small boats going across.
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For three days it just laid flat and allowed what, 300 ,000 British troops to return to England and fight another day.
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And there was universal recognition. Our president, Roosevelt, prayed publicly over the radio that the
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Lord would be gracious to this land and now they're dragging men off a platform for mentioning
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God within the same context. It's not going to go well for us. Well, we can get off on some things.
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We don't want to do that. They willfully forget. Now, the next paragraph we see on page five of your notes, the reason for the
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Lord's delay of a second coming. There had been a delay. Man, it's been 2 ,000 years. And so Peter wrote, but beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the
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Lord one day is as 1 ,000 years, and 1 ,000 years is one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is long -suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
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Peter declared the reason for the Lord's delay to bring about the end of the world was due to his mercy and his desire for salvation for the lost.
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That's why he hadn't come yet. There's lost people that he wants to save from their sin. The Lord is much more merciful than you and I are merciful.
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If we could and would be patient and merciful toward another for 1 ,000 years, it would be like God showing his mercy for a single day.
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In other words, what's being conveyed by Peter, God is infinite in his mercy.
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You and I can't even comprehend that. We have limitations to our mercy, don't we? We might put up with someone for a while, and then we feel, that's enough.
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I've given no more. No more mercy. That's it. God's not that way.
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God is infinite in his mercy. Peter was using a figure of speech here. 1 ,000 years was not to be taken literally, but figuratively.
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He's not talking about 1 ,000 years literally. It was a figure of speech.
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In other words, God is infinite in his mercy. Peter used this figure in comparison of a day to show the vast degree of mercy that characterizes our
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God. You and I can't even enter into that. Now there are many Christians who put a terrible spin on this verse.
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They argue that God's time is different than the time that you and I experience as human beings. Why, 1 ,000 years to us is like one day in Him, according to Him, in time, in God's time.
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This is wrong and irrational. Actually, God is eternal. That is, God is outside of time.
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You and I can't even fathom that because we're creatures of time. He exists in eternity.
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God created time. One of the fascinating aspects of the incarnation is the infinite
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God who is outside of time, entered into history, taken upon himself a human nature. Jesus Christ is now and forever within history, which is amazing.
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In his human nature, Jesus Christ is within time as you and I are within time. Peter is not saying time is different with God than it is with us.
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Peter asserted that the Lord's delay in His coming was not due to a weakness or failure of God to keep
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His promise. Some might consider this as a legitimate explanation for His delay. No, the reason,
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Peter says, for the Lord's delay is due to His purpose to save lost people from their sin through Christ.
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So Peter wrote, the Lord is long -suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
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Now, this verse 9 is a center of argument between those who are reformed, such as we are, historically
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Protestant, Calvinistic if you want that term, and those who are Arminian, who follow, whether they realize it or not, the teaching of Jacobus Arminius, who believe that God loves all people everywhere in the same way, to the same degree, and that God's trying to save everyone in the world.
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That's what Arminians believe and teach. If that's the case, then God is ultimately a terrible failure and a very disappointed
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God. The Bible doesn't present God in that way. And so Arminians will argue from this verse, see, the
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Lord is not willing that anyone perishes. He wants all people to be saved. Now, aside from the teaching that strips
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God of his sovereign rule over his creation, the argument of the Arminian is faulty and cannot be legitimately based upon this verse.
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First, understand there's a textual variant in this. In other words, there are different manuscripts that have a different reading.
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The New King James Version, which we read, renders verse 9 this way, the Lord is not slack concerning his promises, some count slackness, but is long -suffering toward us.
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I am bold in that pronoun us, not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance.
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Actually, the pronoun in the Greek text should be translated you, not us. And so in the other translations, any of them except for the
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King James or New King James, it reads this way, the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promises, some count slowness, but is patient toward you.
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Not wishing that any, in other words, that any of you should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
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And so this second reading is certainly the original that Peter penned. Peter was asserting that the
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Lord was long -suffering toward the ones that he was addressing this epistle. He's long -suffering toward you, not willing that any of you should perish, but come to salvation.
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Whom was he addressing? Well, back in 1 Peter 1, verse 2, which I emphasized earlier, and this is the reason,
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Peter was writing to the elect. Those of the dispersion. And he mentioned those regions up there in Turkey.
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Elect according to the fore knowledge of God, sprinkled with the blood of Jesus, blessed or, you know, worked upon by the
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Holy Spirit. And here in 2 Peter 3, he declares that God is not willing that any of you perish, but that you all come to repentance.
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In other words, what Peter is declaring in the text, that God is not willing any of his elect would perish, but that they would all, all the elect, would be saved.
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God is not trying to save everybody. And by the way, I think the NIV has a terrible translation here.
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Instead of that all, that all should come to repentance, they translated that everyone may come to repentance.
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The text doesn't say that. Now don't misunderstand, the gospel goes to every creature and we sincerely offer
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Christ to any and every human being in this world, no matter who he or she is, anywhere in the world, if he or she would come in faith and repentance to Christ, there's free and full forgiveness.
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But just an offer of salvation will not save anyone because we're sinners. It has to be an inward work of grace.
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I would have never come unless God would have given me a new heart to do so. Neither would you have.
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None of us would have. But the offer is a gracious one. However, even as we can argue our reformed understanding in this verse regarding the doctrine of election and God's special mercy and love toward his people, we don't therefore dismiss the idea of a general universal benevolence of God for all people everywhere.
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God is a good and gracious God. He desires the well -being of even the reprobate, even the most defiant of sinners.
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The ones he's purposed, he will judge and damn for their sins. And this can be demonstrated in many ways.
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Consider the words of our Lord when he was pronouncing judgment on Jerusalem. Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophet stones those who are sent to her.
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He wasn't trying to save Jerusalem, just the opposite. He made a declaration of desolation, pronouncing judgment on Jerusalem.
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And yet he says, I would have gathered you as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. He desired their well -being.
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There is a general benevolence that the Lord had even for these wicked people of Jerusalem that were about to crucify him.
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And so when we talk about God's love for the elect, you know, we're talking about a special covenant love that he has for his people because he sees them in Christ.
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But even those that are outside of Christ, he is loving toward them in manifold ways throughout their entire life.
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But every loving action that the Lord bestows upon those people who remain in their sins actually aggravates their condemnation.
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And the weight of their sin and their guilt and their punishment will be that much more severe on the day of judgment.
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Because look at all the loving things I did for you. I gave you life. I gave you health. I gave you family, friends.
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I preserved you, protected you, sustained you. And you have lived a life in defiance and ignoring me, not giving me the due me.
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And there's nothing but desolation, damnation, and justly so.
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We have to get through this. I realize the time, but I wanted to emphasize that important matter.
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Now notice on page seven of your notes, quickly, he begins to describe what the day of the
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Lord would be like. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise.
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Elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. And therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat.
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Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
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Now our dispensational friends, and that disguised most Bible believers and evangelicals, argue that there will be a future rapture of the church that's to be distinguished from the revelation of Christ at the end of a seven -year tribulation.
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And so they claim these two events, the rapture and the revelation, are separated by a seven -year tribulation period.
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But they also claim that these two separate events are basically two stages of one second coming.
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The second coming of Christ is in two stages, the rapture and then the revelation, separated by seven years.
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And so they say the first second coming, I like that term, of the rapture of the church is quiet and secret.
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Jesus comes down, snatches his people out of the world, takes them into the air, and then the seven -year tribulation begins.
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And they say it's like a thief, secretly comes into a house at night, snatches his goods, and then leaves suddenly. But the second second coming will be the visible return of the
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Lord whenever I will see him. So they see the second coming in two stages. And so they say when the rapture occurs, airlines at high altitude will have a
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Christian pilot disappear. And suddenly, you know, unbelievers will be left to crash in their planes.
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Husbands and wives will be together in a bed and a Christian spouse will be removed.
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Mothers will have their baby suddenly disappear from their arms. A Christian doctor who's just made the incision of a major surgery suddenly disappears to the ceiling of the operating room.
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That's a quote from somebody. Members of churches who missed being taken in the rapture now realize they must face a seven -year tribulation.
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So they meet to make plans and appoint new leadership for their churches as they go through the tribulation.
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And so all these scenarios will take place in the future after Jesus Christ comes as a thief in his secret rapture, or so they say.
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And so here are a few statements of those who hold this view. His appearance in the clouds will be veiled to the human eye and no one will see him.
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That's the rapture, they say. And by the way, we believe in the rapture. We just believe the rapture and the second coming are the same event.
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Okay, we don't deny the rapture. We just deny that it's two different events. Quickly and invisibly, unperceived by the world, the
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Lord will come as a thief in the night and catch away his waiting saints. The rapture will be a secret appearing.
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Only the believers will know about it. In the rapture, only the Christians will see him. It's a mystery, a secret.
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It will be a secret rapture, quiet, noiseless. Suddenly is the step of the thief in the night.
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All that the world will know will be that multitudes at once have gone. But the belief that the coming of Jesus Christ is secret because he's coming as a thief is to misunderstand and misapply the meaning that our
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Lord intended by the metaphor of the thief. God's Word does not intend to convey by the metaphor of a thief that his coming will be quiet and unnoticed, but rather the idea of a thief is that he comes unexpectedly.
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You don't expect a thief. And so he would return at his second coming unexpected by those who are not prepared and look for his coming.
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It's not secret. It's unexpected and sudden. And our passage in 2
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Peter 3 completely dispels the idea of Christ coming as a thief as being a secret, silent event.
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Peter wrote, but the day of the Lord will come like a thief. What happens when the Lord comes like a thief?
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Secret departure of all Christians for seven years? No, he'll come like a thief and then the heavens will pass away with a roar.
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Our friend Bill Downey said, you know, the world teaches the world began with a big, universe began with a big bang.
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He says, no, no, the Bible says it'll end with a big bang. He's absolutely right. That's what he says here.
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When he comes as a thief, the heavens will pass away with a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
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No seven year tribulation here, no thousand year earthly millennium here. When Jesus returns the end of this universe is going to take place and a new heavens and a new earth will be created.
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The second coming of Christ as a thief describes how unbelievers will be unprepared and caught unaware it is coming.
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If we had time, we could go into 1st Thessalonians 5 and Paul taught the same things. And so when our
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Lord comes as a thief, it's not a secret rapture to snatch away his people. Rather his coming as a thief will result in the sudden destruction that will come upon them.
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While affirming the second coming of Jesus at the end of the age, Peter then gave instruction on how Christians are to act and react in the light of his coming event.
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We had to get to this point before I closed because this is the whole point of the message. Therefore since all these things will be dissolved, what manner persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness.
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See our awareness, this everything created is coming to an end.
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It's temporary and therefore it ought to shape your value system and your goals, the way you think, the way you evaluate matters.
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What kind of persons ought we to be in all holy conduct and godliness looking forward hastening.
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In other words we're anxious for it to come, not that we can speed it up, it's coming. And what will happen then because of the which the heavens will be dissolved being on fire the elements will melt with fervent heat.
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And so we're to be characterized by holy conduct and godliness. John wrote, I didn't put it in the notes, but the one who has this hope in him looking for the coming of Christ purifies himself.
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And that's what Peter is declaring here isn't it? We ought to be holy and so may the
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Lord help us do so. May we persevere in living as Christians with view to the second coming of Christ.
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There's going to be a judgment of works. But I want to underscore this, this should not cause fear or be terrorized to think man
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I'm gonna have to give an account of everything I've done. Every word I've ever spoken, horrors.
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You know every attitude I've ever exhibited, every thought that's ever gone, the secret things of men's hearts being revealed.
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Why wouldn't that terrorize me? Because Peter argued that we are living in the light of the promise of an inheritance of a new heavens and a new earth.
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That's how he concludes this. Even though there's going to be a judgment of works and the damned will be damned on that day, nevertheless we, verse 13, nevertheless we, that is
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Christians, according to his promise and his promise in Christ is that you're not going to be damned but you're going to be given the gracious gift of eternal life in a new heavens and a new earth according to his promise.
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We look for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. And therefore we are not to fear his coming, we are actually to desire it and want it to come soon.
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Because we're not going to be damned on that day. We've been saved from damnation through Jesus Christ having died on the cross to pay for our sin.
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And so even though I think probably the outcome of that judgment we're going to be painfully aware of what we deserve, nevertheless we're going to be rejoicing greatly in what's bestowed upon us so freely by God's grace because he promised it to us and God cannot lie.
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Don't you thank him for that? Eternal life. And therefore he says you need to prepare yourself for that day.
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Beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace and without spot and blameless.
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We ought to seek to resolve any tensions or difficulties we have with one another. Trying to be without spot, that is with spotless say as a sacrifice without spot and blameless with regard to following the
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Lord and obeying the Lord. And then consider the long -suffering of our Lord is salvation, his delay is because he's merciful and he's got other people he wants to save.
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I've got some loved ones that I want to see come to Christ. Talked to my 91 year old mother the other day at her birthday the beginning of this week and I'm concerned about her soul.
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And for that sake alone I hope the Lord doesn't come right away. But his long -suffering is salvation, he's got more people he's got to save and he's going to and then the end will come.
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And therefore let's consider these matters. He says Paul in all his epistles taught the same things and he said, therefore beloved since you know this beforehand beware lest you fall from your own steadfastness being led away by the error of the wicked but rather grow in the grace and knowledge of the
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Lord Jesus. That's what we ought to be about as we anticipate with joy and with you know with a joyful anticipation of what
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God has promised us in Christ. It's going to be a glorious eternity and we're going to be delivered from this fallen world and we're going to be delivered from this fallen self on that day.
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Thank the Lord. Let's pray. Thank you father for your word and we pray that you would help us
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Lord to understand the clarity of expression in these matters and that you would help us to unlearn perhaps that which sincere people have taught us that we would conform our understanding to your holy word.
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And help us Lord to live in the light of your second coming. Help us our Lord to be diligent in these matters and we look forward
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Lord to that great work of mercy and grace on that day when you declare us to be righteous in your sight due to Jesus Christ alone our