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I'd like to speak to you this morning about the Lord is not slack concerning His promise. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise. Please turn with me this Lord's Day morning as we continue our study in 2 Peter 3.
We're only looking at two verses today, but it's really loaded up. I'd like to focus in on this and as the Apostle Peter gives to the church a wonderful and a warm encouragement by the inspiration of the Spirit of God.
It's an exhortation to God's people as he just warned God's people in chapter 2. Now we come to chapter 3 and his conclusion. And like I said, this is basically his last will and testament to the church.
So here God's written words this morning. Verse 8,. But beloved, do not forget this one thing, this one thing, that with the Lord one day is a thousand years and a thousand years is one day. Verse 9,.
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness. But is long-suffering, long-suffering or patient toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
May God richly bless His holy word from our hearing of our ears this morning to the receiving of our hearts. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, we truly thank You, Lord, from the heart of gratitude of Your great mercy toward us in Jesus Christ this morning.
We would all perish unless it be for that mercy that You have showed toward us, You demonstrated toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And there at the cross, at the cross where we first saw the light, the burden of our soul was rolled away.
It was there by faith we received our sight. Now we're happy all the day. It's all because of Your mercy and Your love toward us. Lord, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for the written word. We thank You for the living word.
And the written word, as You said in Psalm 119, Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven. O Lord, Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Lord, You also said, For the commandment is a lamp and the law is a light.
Thank You for the light and thank You for the heat. For proofs of instruction are for the way of life. And as David cried out and prayed in Psalm 19, Moreover, by them, by Your warnings, by Your word, Your servant, Your slave is warned.
And Lord, in keeping them, there is great reward. So Lord, I pray this morning, help us by Your grace, I pray, and help us by the power of the Spirit, who is the true teacher of the Holy Spirit, Lord, that we would fully trust You, as the songwriter said, fully trust You in Your word, to rest upon Your promise, and Lord, help us to truly obey.
Help us just not to be hearers of the word, but to be doers. As we walk this short journey from the cradle to the grave, and then we have forever to be with You in this celestial city. We pray this for Your honor and for Your glory, and we pray this in the name of Jesus.
Amen and Amen. There's a wonderful story that's adapted from our daily bread I love, and it was a little devotional, and it's a short devotional, and I think it sets the stage in everything that's being said in these two verses.
It speaks of an atheist farmer that often ridiculed those who believed in God. And this atheist farmer basically wrote a letter to the local newspaper in which he scoffed. He scoffed and said this, quote, I plowed on Sunday, I planted on Sunday, I cultivated on Sunday, but I never went to church on Sunday.
Okay.
And then he goes on to say, yet I harvested more bushels per acre than anyone else in that community, even those who are God-fearing and never miss a service. Well, the editor-in-chief basically printed the man's letter, and then I love the words of wisdom that he added in the print-up.
He said, quote, God doesn't always settle His accounts in October. That well says it. You know, it basically reminds us of Psalm 37, 35, and 36. I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself like a native green tree.
And yet he passed away. And behold, he was no more. Indeed, I sought him, but he could not be found. Judgment has come. It is appointed for once man to die. And after this, the judgment. No one will escape the judgment day.
No one. Whether it's passing from this life to the other or it's when Jesus comes. One of the two. There is a day of reckoning that's coming. Old preacher Robert G. Lee, you can find it online. It's quite a message.
It's called, he preached, payday someday. Payday someday, it's coming. Judgment day will come. And again, like I said, no one, no one will escape it. Only those that will escape the wrath of God will be in the ark, safe from the wrath of God.
And that is in Jesus Christ. But as far as judgment comes, even God's people will be judged. Yet, there is no condemnation that they are under, that we are under. Because we are in Jesus Christ. But we will still be judged according to our works.
You know, the reckoning day will come. And this is the final great day of reckoning. When Jesus Christ will come. And speaking about the promise, really. The promise. That our Lord Jesus Christ gave that He will come again.
And when Jesus comes again, that is the blessed hope of God's people. There's a certainty of it. And even though there's been polls taken, I was going to write it down, but I thought it would be a little bit too lengthy.
But polls have been given, years back, of the percentage of people that believe that Jesus will be back by 2050. And supposedly, like, it was in the 40, the highest was 49 of so-called evangelical Christians that in America believe that Jesus will be back before 2050.
Then the percentage went downward to those who basically believe. But this Bible, the Word of God is even better on the percentage because it says when Jesus Christ comes back, it's 100 guaranteed. It's not 40%, 50%, even 99 .9%.
It is 100 Jesus Christ will come back. There's a certainty of it. And every true Christian is, the blessed hope is His return. The return of Jesus Christ to this earth is He comes back as King of Kings and Lord of Lords and our Lord has promised to come back in great power and glory.
And I mentioned this last Lord's Day in the opening, Revelation 1 verse 7. The Apostle John writes this down, Behold, He is coming with clouds and every eye will see Him. How is that going to happen? I'm not sure.
But every eye will see Him. Now, in one sense, you could study this and the next portion of that says, Even they who pierced Him. How are they going to know? I really believe that when Jesus Christ comes back, those that are in hell and all the sea will give its dead, they will see Him and stand before Him.
That's what basically I believe He's talking about. So that's how every eye will see Him. They're going to stand before Him and all the tribes of earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen. Anticipated day.
And this is a glorious day and we will see this later on because we're looking forward and hastening in verse 12 the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be dissolved and being on fire.
And then He says it in question, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. God's going to make all things new. Isn't it wonderful? Jesus said, even after what John said about after He comes and those who pierced Him will stand before Him and they will see Him and they will mourn.
In verse 8, I am the Alpha and the Omega, I am the beginning and the end, says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. So the day of judgment is coming, right? Look with me please to verse 7 before we go to verse 8.
In chapter 3, 2 Peter, he says, God's Word, notice what does He do? He gives us a warning. First is the warning, then the promise, then the reality. The warning is found in verse 7 of chapter 3. 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.
Preserved and reserved. Preserved and reserved. It's like God preserves it and reserves it with that judgment. That's the warning. That's the warning. Judgment day is coming. There will be no escape. The great day of the Lord will come.
And then in verse 8 and 9, there's the promise. What's the promise? What's the promise? That promise is Jesus Christ will return again in power and glory to this earth. This is the great promise that is based upon the words of Jesus Himself.
And so many people get caught up, when, when, when? We've already looked at that a little bit. Only the Lord knows. But Peter goes into some detail about this somewhat, about God's timetable. And we're going to look at that.
But this coming is guaranteed. Look with me to Matthew's Gospel very quickly. In chapter 24. Look at verse 29 through 31. Immediately after the tribulation, Jesus is answering the question, when are these things going to happen?
When will be the sign of your coming? And then Jesus brings out, basically in a very long answer, the signs of His coming immediately after the tribulation of those days. And notice, this is speaking about the great day of the Lord.
The sun will be darkened. The sun will be darkened?
Yes.
And then Jesus says, the moon will not give its light. Well, the moon definitely is not going to give no light, because the sun is going to lose its light. And then He says this, not only the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from heaven.
Wow.
And the powers of the heavens will be shaken. All the powers of heaven will shake. The writer of Hebrews said it's going to be like rolled up, like a scroll. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
This is coming from Jesus Himself. He knows. He's the Master. He's the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings. Verse 31,. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet. There's the great sound of the trumpet.
Paul speaks about the sound of the trumpet, the last sound of the trumpet. And ushers in. Usually trumpets are blown at the arrival of a great king coming in. And the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords will come.
And when He does come and the holy angels come, we'll usher Him. And then the sound of a great trumpet. And then He comes in power and glory. And then He says,. And they will gather together His elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other.
This is basically the words of Jesus Himself. Now, back to verse 8 and 9 in 2 Peter to tie this in.
Chapter 3,.
This morning we're going to look at four great truths that's presented to us in verse 8 and verse 9. We first of all see the Lord's timetable. The Lord's timetable first. Second, that's in verse 9. I'm sorry, verse 8.
And then second, in verse 9a, we see the Lord's promise. The Lord's promise. That's in verse 9a. Then third, we will see in verse 9b, we see the Lord's long suffering and patience. The Lord's long suffering and patience.
And fourth and final, we will see in verse 9c, that the Lord's command, the Lord's command, and that is to repent. Then as God gives us some time, we will look at some personal application to these wonderful truths presented to us in God's holy word.
Let's look at these wonderful truths that's based upon the promise of the Lord that God is not slow concerning His promise. We see from Scripture, from this wonderful text, that we see the Lord's timetable, the Lord's timetable.
Now, I love this because God's clock is different than our clock. His calendar is different than man's calendar. He does not bow to the whims of men. God is God and He's sovereign and He's Lord. It's His clock, it's His timetable when His Son will come back.
But notice what the Apostle Peter says, but beloved, he speaks to God's people, beloved, they are beloved. Do not forget this one thing. Do not forget this one thing. We're so forgetful, aren't we? And again and again and again, we see this in the Old Testament.
Brother Ben's been reading through Deuteronomy. Notice it. Do not forget, do not forget. You see this in Psalms. Do not forget, do not forget, do not forget, do not forget. We are so forgetful, folks.
And again and again and again, we need to be reminded of these great, great truths. And Peter says, do not forget this one thing. What one thing is he talking about? That with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day.
Now, this verse is meaning to be an encouragement to God's people. It is to exhort them to the blessed hope that Jesus will return and He keeps His promise. He's not slow, He's not slack concerning keeping His promise.
He says, do not forget this one thing. What's the one thing He's talking about? That Christ's return seems to be delayed. Now, it seems to be delayed on man's timetable. You have the scoffers, the mockers, doing their thing for thousands of years, and yet Jesus has not returned.
Yet they continue to scoff and say, yeah, yeah, where is this coming? Ah, He said He's coming, but He's not back yet, basically. Because, really, God's perspective on time, t-i-m-e, time, is completely different than our perspective.
That's the truth. That is the fact. And this is what, basically, Peter is saying. God's clock is different than our clock. His calendar is different than our calendar. The Apostle Peter draws this wonderful truth, and we looked at this shortly, but I'd like to look at it again, from Moses, the prophet Moses, from Psalm chapter 90, verse 3 and 4.
You can turn there if you like, but I want to quote it. And I think this is where Peter is drawing this great exhortation from, to encourage God's people. And he says in Psalm 90, verse 3 and 4, You turn man back into dust.
Wow, that's sobering, isn't it? We were made from the dust, get turned right back to dust. We're here for a short time, life is like a vapor, it's like a shadow. You turn man back into dust and say, Return, O children of men.
And then he says this, and this is where Peter draws this from. For a thousand years it passes by, or as a watch in the night. And then, of course, he goes on to compare our little lives to the grass that sprouts in the morning and withers away in the evening.
Our lives are so short in comparison to eternity. It's so short and so frail and so feeble. And our lives are spent, but God is eternal. That whole chapter of 90 is basically talking about man's frailty and God's eternity.
That God is the everlasting God from everlasting to everlasting. Thou art God, and basically He's saying He never changes. I am the Lord that changes not. But man changes. What's going on in this earth is changing.
Look, we're experiencing right now the changes of the seasons. The seasons change, and God set that like that. He set it in order like that, but God is unchangeable. He's eternal. And our lives are short.
One commentator, pastor, he's a wonderful evangelical pastor out of California. His name is Steve Cole. I read this from his comment. Quote, this is what he says about this text here.
He says,.
All time is equally present with God. He sees the past, the present, and the future with equal vividness. We remember a few things from the past, but forget a lot. We're limited by our finite perspective in perceiving the present as God can see everything happening everywhere all at once, and we have no knowledge of the future except for our clouded view of biblical prophecy, but God sees it all in great detail.
End quote.
Isn't that wonderful?
God sees everything in great detail. Jesus even said, even the very hairs of your head are numbered. We're talking about the wisdom of God, that God is all wise. And it's amazing if you look at how many people on the face of this earth there are, and the ones that has lived and died, and they come and gone, and they're in the grave, and they are presently living, and there will be soon some more to come as God wills it, and yet He knows every detail, every hair of the head numbered by precision all at once.
He has already lived our yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows, and He knows everything all at once from the beginning to the end. And by the way, I love the way Tozer said, and God is not trying hard at it either.
He's not doing it with great effort. It's effortless to God. Now, doesn't that just boggle our mind? You know why it boggles our mind? We are created beings. We're creatures of the dirt. We're talking about the eternal being, who is almighty, all powerful, He's ever present, and He's all wise.
We're talking about God, the sovereign God. Well, basically what Peter is saying, and God's timetable is different than our timetable, interesting as this speculation may be, Peter does not say that a thousand years equals one day.
He's not saying that. Rather, what he says from the text is, as a thousand years are like one day to God. In other words, he's making an analogy, not a literal equation. A thousand years is like one day to God.
Two thousand years to God is like Brother Keith said last week. It's like a weekend to us. Two thousand years is like two days to God in comparison. So Peter is applying this great truth to us as we await the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ when He will come to judge the earth in righteousness and equity, and then Jesus will reign forever and ever upon the earth as King of kings and Lord of lords.
And so He's the eternal God. He will surely accomplish His purposes and His promises even though it may appear to be slow. Now, He may appear to delay it, but He's not delayed. It may appear to be delayed to us on this time spectrum, but not on God's.
God's never late. God's always on time. He sent Jesus into the world when the Father made the covenant with the Son, and Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, came into this world in flesh and entered into this world of darkness and woe and came into the womb of the Virgin Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit.
It was in the fullness of time, the Bible says. In the fullness of time. It's amazing. There was 400 years of silence and John the Baptist came out preaching. Then Jesus, John was born first, right? That was His cousin.
Then Jesus is in the womb of Mary. This was in the fullness of time. Perfect timing, in other words. Same here, God is always on time.
Always.
His eternal clock is accurate. We can always count on that, folks, can't we? He's never late. Never, never late. In other words, the delay that's seemingly to be a delay of God's judgment is not due to His slackness or slowness, but the Lord is longsuffering toward us.
That leads me to the second point. So first of all, we see that God's timetable is not our timetable. Next, we see the Lord's promise. The Lord's promise. Look at verse 9a. The Lord is not slack or slow concerning His promises.
Some count slackness. In other words, God is not loitering,.
Or He's late.
This is a wonderful verse because it's a great practical application that we can easily miss. But then it dives into some serious controversies theologically. And I'm not going to go into details of the serious controversies that is ignited from this that's caused debate.
But really, I don't see a debate here because if you really study the Word of God and rightly divide the Word of Truth and look at the whole counsel of God, it basically is brought to our attention there's God's general call and there's God's effective call.
If we understand that, then we will understand what Peter is basically saying here. And it comes from the perspective of God's general call. God's general call. Look at this. If the Lord has promised something from His Word, first of all, let's look at the promise.
He is true, He is faithful, as He said He is, and that's who He is in His character. Then God will truly keep His promise. Jesus is the true and faithful one. God, Scripture says, is impossible for God to lie.
He cannot lie. It's impossible against His nature. He cannot break His own Word, especially if He gives it into an oath, and He has.
And if He did, and He did,.
And if God could break a promise, by the way, that means He was not God. But God cannot break a promise, His promise. God is not a man that He should lie, Scripture says. And even the Apostle Paul says, let God be true and every man found liar.
So Peter seems to be alluding here to the charges to the false teachers. Now, where do we see this? Well, he says when the Lord is not slow concerning His promise, He's not slack, in other words, about His promise, as, notice the word some.
Some count slowness. That word some would be the false teachers. That's the false teachers. They are the some here, the false teachers that wrongly presumed on the return of Jesus Christ because God wasn't acting according to their timetable, but God doesn't act according to their timetable or our timetable, He acts according to His timetable.
You know, I tell you right there, they really didn't believe that God was truly Lord and that He's sovereign. And like R .C. Sproul says, if God is not sovereign, then God is not God. 1 Peter chapter 3, 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 20 says this, you can turn to that if you like.
Who formerly were disobedient when once the divine, notice what he says, and Peter's already spoken about this in the first book,.
When once the divine longsuffering, this is when Noah was preparing the ark for 120 years, he waited in the days of Noah, God waited in the days of Noah, the divine longsuffering, while the ark was being prepared in which a few, that is, eight souls were saved through water.
So Peter's already addressed this in a sense, even though now God waits and even presently, God is being patiently waiting while evil abounds in this corrupt and evil world before He brings the day of judgment, but at some point, we don't know that point, God, and only to God, a day will come when His patience will run out.
His patience will run out. His patience will end. That's one thing that will come to an end with God, and we do not know, only God knows when that time will come, but that patience will come to an end and His flaming, fiery inundation, His judgment, His anger will fall like a hammer.
Harder than a hammer. Matter of fact,.
There'll be a day like.
This world has never known. It will even surpass the great flood, and we're going to look at that, Lord willing, later on, but if you see that, you see that in verse 10,.
Notice,.
But, that's the transition, 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, the elements will melt with fervent heat, both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
That's what God's Word says, but that's when God's patience comes to an end, but right now is the age of grace. Right now, God is patiently delaying for a reason. God is not slack, nor is He slow about His promise in which some counts, counts, slowness, which is the false teachers, but refers to that promise again, that promise that Jesus made that I will come again.
He told His disciples that in my Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you so, John 14, and He says,.
I will come again,.
And when that judgment day comes and it's going to fall when God's patience runs out, it's going to be over with. And all who have not responded to Christ's call, which is Christ's command to repent, will be forever excluded from the ark, a type of Christ, from the judgment to come.
If you're in the ark, you're safe. If you're in Christ, you're safe.
Right?
It's the symbolism there. Those that were in the ark will be safe from the wrath to come. Those who are in Christ will be saved, saved from the wrath to come. All who ignore the warnings, the divine warnings in which is given in Scripture, will perish.
And then you've got people saying, yeah, but God is not fair. He's not fair? As Brother Keith read this morning, I see nothing but fairness there. I see nothing but grace and patience and long-suffering.
We're the ones that's not fair. We're the ones that has sinned. We're the ones that has fallen short of the glory of God. We're the ones that are impatient. We're the ones that's mummering. We're the ones that shake the fist toward God in rebellion.
We're the ones that are not fair. God is more than fair. There's divine warnings after warnings after warnings. And look at how many years.
God has patiently.
Have allowed us to give us time to repent. Then it's going to come to an end. That leads me to the third point. The Lord is long-suffering. He's patient, isn't He? How long is God's fuse? You ever thought about that?
I think it's quite long. Longer than we can ever think of. But notice what the text says. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us. Oh, long-suffering, patient.
God seemingly delays in Christ's return and judgment. It's not due to indifference. By the way, it's not due to inability or indifference. But rather, to His patience and His tender compassion, He extends time for us to repent.
For sinners to repent. The Lord is not slack, He's not slow concerning His promise, as some count slackness. Long-suffering toward us. Don't you love that? Long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish.
John 3 .16. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Now, let's point out this.
God is speaking about the general call, folks. Not the effective call. The general call. We're going to look at this a little bit, okay? We can truly understand. There's no contradiction between the doctrine of election and to whosoever will.
There is no contradiction here. There's the general call, there's the effective call. Peter is speaking about the general call to salvation. God is not willing that any should perish. In other words, it's based not upon His decree that He's made in the sense of His eternal decree, even though that decree will happen, okay?
Nothing's going to stop it.
But He's based upon the decree, the desire. The desire, what God desires. Let's look at this. The text does not teach that God actually decrees all that will be saved basically universalism. There's some people that teach universalism basically, in other words, God's going to save every single person that ever lived.
Now, let me see. Is that teaching a contradiction to what Jesus speaks of in Matthew? In Matthew chapter 7, in verse 13, Jesus says, Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, broad is the way that leads to destruction.
That doesn't sound like everybody's going to be saved. And there are many who go in by it. Jesus says, in other words, many will go to the road of hell. There are two roads, two gates, two ways, and Jesus says in verse 14,.
Because narrow is the gate, and difficult, hard is the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Is that a contradiction? Well, there's no contradiction in the word of God, but that completely teaches different than what people teach about universalism.
Universalism says, Oh, God's going to eventually save everybody. That's false. It's erroneous. It's blasphemy, and it's heretical. So, no. The reference again here is not to God's decree, but to His desire.
What does He say? What does He say?
He's not willing.
That's God's desire.
Let's look at this.
This desire is God's compassion. What does it say in Scripture? Is that in Ezekiel, God does not delight in the death of the wicked. He speaks about warning the wicked. Warn them, warn them, warn them.
Love always warns. Love always gives the truth. It gives the general call to salvation to everyone. No one is excluded, in other words. How do we know this? Well, go with me to Luke chapter 2. Christmastime is coming.
When we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, and really chapter 2, and the beginning of chapter 2 really is speaking all about what Christmas is about. I want to give you a really very personal example to this.
I love, and we got it on DVD. I'm a big kid at heart. I love cartoons, really good cartoons, and I love Charlie Brown Christmas. And you know, in that little picture, it's only short, but you know, Charles Schultz, is that right?
Charles Schultz really compacts together, and they made that in the late 60's, and they aired it, and they still do air it today, which is wonderful. But packs together what Christmas is really all about.
You got this little beagle dog named Snoopy, and he's all wrapped up in the commercialism, and it's really comical, you know, about that dog, but in reality it's not comical, is it? And Charlie Brown is basically, you know, he's a thinker.
And really, that's Charles Schultz. You know, that's him really in the cartoon. And he's thinking, what is Christmas all about? And at that point, later on, and they're on stage, and you know, trying to get a play together about Christmas, and Charlie Brown just bursts out, and he says, can anybody tell me what Christmas is about?
And then you got Linus. Little Linus. I love Linus. And he tells the story, and actually, he quotes right from this right here. Verse 7, And she brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in his swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
And now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over the flock by night. This is chapter 2 of Luke. Verse 9, And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.
And then the angel said to them, Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. For there is born to you in this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.
And this will be a sign to you, and you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth.
Peace, goodwill toward men. I'll stop right there. But did you notice? Verse 10, the end of verse 10. This is the general call. Then the angel said to them, Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings.
That's the gospel. The good tidings is about the Savior, the Messiah that was born, of great joy,.
Which will be to the elect.
No.
Even eventually the elect are the ones that will believe in it. But it will be to all people. No one is excluded in that sense of hearing the general call of God. But not the effectual call. The effectual call is to the elect.
That's to God's people who do respond to the gospel,.
Who believe.
Even the reformer, the French reformer, John Calvin says, How do you know that you're elect? You know what his answer was? Those who believe the gospel.
That's Scripture. That's Scripture.
Not everyone's going to believe.
Jesus said it.
Many's going to go to the path of destruction. There is no universalism. Not everybody will be saved. And here's another Scripture. Turn with me to 1 Timothy 2. 1 Timothy 2, beginning at verse 3. The general call.
The general call. Paul says, For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. He is our Savior, right? Notice what he says. Who desires. There it is again. He desires. He's not willing.
He desires all men to be saved. Even though God desires all men to be saved, not all will be saved. And people say, Why doesn't God save everybody? Well, God has a right to save only who He desires to save.
But in His heart of hearts, He does desire all men to come to repentance.
Because He's compassionate.
In other words, He does not delight to see anyone go to hell.
Even though there's millions that will perish and go to hell, you think God is really glad about that?
Even God is the one that gives the elect the ability to come. But see, that's where the debate comes in, folks. But that debate is settled in Romans chapter 9.
Because Paul basically says,.
And he brings out the story about Esau and Jacob. Esau, I've hated. Jacob, I've loved. And he talks about how God has compassion on whom He wills to have compassion on. In other words, no one tells God what to do.
He can do whatever He so desires because He's God! And basically, Paul brings out, Who are you, old man, to even question God in this? And then he talks about the potter and the clay. And the potter has the right to do whatever he desires, wants to, over the clay.
That's why a lot of people don't like Romans 9. Because it humbles man's pride to the dirt. He basically is humbled to the dirt because he is not in charge of his salvation. God is. But if God gives us desire to believe, we better go after it with everything we have and all the means of grace we have.
And I don't know about you, but I need all the means of grace I can get. Paul says,. Who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Verse 5,. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.
God is not slow concerning His promise. Folks, because His timetable is different, rather God is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Today is the day of salvation.
If He's calling you today, I would tell people, you better repent while you can. And even though faith and repentance are gifts of God, God does not come down to believe for us or repent for us. It's almost like He gives us the gift and you use the gift.
Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day to repent. Today, today, today. Do not put it off. You know why He says don't put it off? Basically because our hearts harden. And our hearts harden because of unbelief.
Well, God does not delight in the death of the wicked, right? My last point. We see the Lord's command. The Lord's command. God is longsuffering, He's patient, not willing that any should perish.
Why?
Because He desires. He desires that all should come to repentance. I quoted this last week, but I'd like for us to look at it again very quickly. Look at Acts. Paul uses this general call in Acts 17. He does.
Acts 17. We should as well. Acts 17, Mars Hill, right?
He's preaching.
And He's burdened. You read this whole chapter. He comes to these philosophers in Athens, and He addresses them. And then He comes, of these people that are so known, intellectuals. And He comes to this inscription, an altar of this inscription of the unknown God.
And He says, in verse 23, for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even, in verse 23, I even found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God. Well, you know that burdened His heart because He wanted people to know the true living God.
And it's only through Jesus Christ. But notice how He preaches this. Therefore the one whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you. In other words, God, God, God, the Creator, who made the world and everything in it.
See, He starts with creation. And since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is He worshipped with men's hands, and though He needed anything. See, God is self-sufficient, what He's saying.
And since He gives to all life breath and all things, He has made for one blood every nation and men to dwell in all faces of the earth and has determined, listen to this, He has determined their pre-appointed times.
God's sovereign. And the boundaries of their dwellings. God's providence. Verse 27, so that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.
And for in Him we live and move and have our being, as some of your own poets have said, for we are also His offspring. Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art or man's devising.
He's basically saying that God is God, and He's talking about the second commandment, right? He brings the second commandment in there. That you're not to worship graven images, right? Verse 30, truly these times of ignorance God overlooked.
That's God's grace. His loving kindness, His patience. But now, here's the command. What's the command? But now commands all men everywhere to repent. All men has the command to repent.
Well, you better repent. You better change your ways, because in verse 31, because He has appointed a day, the day of judgment, on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the man, talking about Jesus Christ, whom He has ordained, and He has given assurance of this by raising Him from the dead.
It's going to happen because Jesus is risen from the dead. He's Lord of lords. He's King of kings. God has raised Him from the dead. He's victorious. Therefore, He's your judge. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, that really got their attention.
Some mocked. The others said, well, we'll hear you again on this matter. Talking about an evangelist. Talking about a missionary. Well, there's another missionary that was very prejudiced and did not want to see people repent like Paul.
Go with me to the book of Jonah, and I'll conclude with this, and then we'll give some quick application. Jonah, you know Jonah. It's only four chapters, and it's four short chapters, and I love this book because you can learn so much, but it's convicting as we can be so much like Jonah at times with a heart, not just seeing people perish in their sins and say, you're a sinner.
You need to go and perish into hell. Somehow in our depravity, in a sense, we can be so much like Jonah, can't we? And after God humbled Jonah in chapter 2, chapter 2 basically is the discipline of the Lord to Jonah.
He allows him to go. The Lord basically prepared this sea monster, this whale, to swallow up Jonah. And it's amazing how this prayer is recorded. And this whole prayer is chapter 2. God prepares a storm.
God prepares a fish, a great fish, to swallow up Jonah. And he was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. And then in chapter 3, Jonah basically has been disciplined of the Lord, and he obeys the Lord.
But in his heart, he's still regretting this. He preaches to Nineveh.
Notice what it says.
Let me read chapter 3. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, Now arise and go to Nineveh in the great city, and preach to it the message I tell you. Well, he obeyed this time.
The first time he disobeyed, right? He went the opposite direction. You can't outrun God, so God is there, and God prepares the storm and everything to get him back on course. God providentially did that.
He disciplines him.
Verse 3, so Jonah arose, he obeys, and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three-day journey in extent. Jonah began to enter the city on the first day's walk.
You know, I kind of picture him. He's fresh out of a belly of a whale. I'm sure he didn't look very nice. And this prophet begins to preach repentance, and then we don't see the message he preached, but I'm sure his repentance didn't.
He cried out and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be on the throne. So he gives warning. He trumpets basically repentance. So the people of Nineveh believed God. They believed God. Proclaimed a fast.
Put on the sackcloth and the greatest to the least of them. The word came to the king of Nineveh. It goes all the way to the king. He arose from his throne. Listen to what he does. He laid aside his robe.
He covers himself with sackcloth and satin ashes. Basically, he was humbling himself to repent. And he caused it to be proclaimed, published throughout Nineveh, with the decree of the king and his nobles saying, Wouldn't you love our president to do something like this?
Let neither man nor beast nor flock taste anything. Do not let them eat or drink water. You going to repent? He said, You got to repent. Let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily to God.
Yes, let everyone turn. That's the repentance. Turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. That was a very violent city. Who can tell if God would turn and relent, turn away from his fierce anger so that we may not perish?
Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and God relented from the disaster that he said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it. God turned from his anger. Jonah was angry with God about this, folks.
He was displeased because the Lord showed grace and mercy and patience, and then Jonah had a pity party and he wanted to die. He prayed to the Lord, Oh Lord God, in chapter 4 verse 2, Oh Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country, therefore I fled?
See, him being a Hebrew, they basically felt like he had a monopoly on God, that these heathen countries are not deserving of the covenants of God, the promises of God, but yet God's intention was to reach the world.
And think of this,.
This man right here hardened in his heart, God still used him, but yet in his heart he did not want to see these people repent. Very religious. As Brother Keith said, and then he says, therefore I fled previously to Tarshish, and I know that you are,.
Listen to this,.
And then he says, I know you are a gracious and a merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in love and kindness, one who relents from doing harm. And you know the rest of the story. And God teaches them a lesson from a shade of a plant, and God even prepares a little worm to take away his shade.
God can do whatsoever He pleases.
Well, my time's gone, but very quickly let me say this. From the Scriptures, in John chapter 6, Jesus Himself,.
He says this,.
In verse 34,.
John chapter 6, I love this. And they said to Him, Lord give us this bread always. Oh, these people are really thinking about their own appetite. And then Jesus says, I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet you do not believe. And all that the Father gives, here it is in this verse, and all that the Father gives Me, that's the sovereign effectual call, gives Me, will come to Me, and the ones who come to Me, I will in no means cast out.
For I have come down from Heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that all that He has given Me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.
Now, I want to say this quickly. There's a two-fold will of God here. All who come to the Son will be received and not lost, number one. Number two, all who see and believe on the Son will have everlasting life.
That's the two-fold will of God. God gives faith, God gives repentance as a gift, but we must do the believing, we must do the repenting. God gives this freely in the gift, free salvation, but yet there's another side to it.
We must turn towards God, and turn from our sins. No one enters Heaven, as J .C. Rowell says, unless they have faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ and repentance from sin. That's why Jesus said, repent and believe the Gospel.
Repent and believe the Gospel. Let me close with a quote from Matthew Henry. I didn't have a chance to write this down, but I want to get this commentary right from the Scriptures, I'm sorry, right from his commentary, I'm sorry.
Matthew Henry says this in concise commentary,.
Quote,.
Had these scoffers considered the dreadful vengeance, speaking of 2 Peter 3, verses 5 -10,. If these scoffers considered the dreadful vengeance with God, which God swept away a whole world of ungodly men at once, surely they would have scoffed at His threatening and equally terrible judgment.
The heavens and the earth, which now are by the same word, it is declared to be destroyed by fire. This is sure to come as the truth and the power of God can make it. Christians are taught and established in the truth of the coming of the Lord.
Though in the account of men, there is a vast difference between one day and a thousand years, yet in the account of God, there is no difference. All things past, present, and future are ever before Him.
The delay of a thousand years cannot be so much to Him as putting off anything for a day and for an hour is to us. If men have no knowledge or belief of the eternal God, they will be very apt to think Him such as themselves.
How hard it is to form any thoughts of eternity. What men count slackness is long-suffering and that toward us, it is giving more time to His own people to advance in knowledge and holiness and in the exercise of faith and patience to abound in good works, doing and suffering what they are called to that they may bring glory to God.
And listen to what Henry says. Settle therefore in your hearts that you shall certainly be called to give an account of all things done in the body, whether good or evil. And let a humble, diligent walking before God, a frequent judging of yourselves, show a firm belief of the future judgment.
Though many live as they were never to give an account at all, this day will come when men are secure and have no expectation that the day of the Lord, the stately palaces and all the desirable things wherein worldly minded men seek and place their happiness, shall be burned up.
All sorts of creatures God has made and all the works of men must pass through the fire, which shall be a consuming fire to all that sin has brought into the world, though a refining fire to the works of God's hand.
And listen to how he ends this. What will become of us? It's almost like Peter. What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? What will become of us if we set our affections on this earth and make it our portion, seeing all these things shall be burned up?
And he ends with this. And let us not forget this, beloved. Therefore, make sure of your happiness beyond this visible world.
And praise God, amen?
Make your calling and election sure, amen?
Let's pray.
Our Father and our God, we thank you, Lord, for all the warnings, for your grace, Lord, for your long suffering toward us. Today is the day of salvation. Lord, you're not willing that any should perish.
You desire all to come to repentance. And Lord, we know that in reality, many will go to destruction, but only few will come to the straight, narrow gate, which is hard. But Lord, we know it's impossible.
What's impossible to me is very possible for you. That you're able. You're more than able. You're more than willing to bring people to salvation. Lord, help us to continue and persevere until the end by the grace that you have given us in Jesus Christ.
And we give you the praise and the glory.
Amen.
And amen.