Sunday School: The Lord is Not Slow to Fulfill His Promise (2 Peter 3:8-11)

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New Testament book. On Thursday is a study in the Old Testament and then we answer questions from the listeners on Friday.

Each Sunday we are pleased to share our sermon series. Here's Pastor Gabe. 2

Peter 3, beginning in verse 5. For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God, the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being deluged with water.

But by his word, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day.

The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat and the earth and its works will be found out.

Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming day of God, because of which the heavens burning will be destroyed and the elements will melt with intense heat.

But according to his promise, we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, as we come to this word today, I pray that you will teach us and guide us and that our minds and our hearts would be trained according to the word of God that we have written down in the

Bible, that our thinking is being conformed to Christ, that our hearts are yearning for the things of Christ, even the very day of Christ, that we may pray with John at the end of Revelation, Lord Jesus, come quickly,

Maranatha, as it says in Greek. We desire for the day of the

Lord. We long for your kingdom, for as Jesus said in the

Sermon on the Mount, which we've been going through in our services, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

May our hearts be with you and our desire for Christ and his kingdom. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

So, last week we finished up with the scoffers who were saying, where is the promise of his coming?

For since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.

For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God, the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water.

It escapes their notice. Remember when we were talking about false teachers, back at chapter 2, verse 1, it says, but false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

And so, these are people who have been introduced to the doctrines of God.

They have been won out of the world. They have come to a knowledge of the gospel, though they may not actually believe it in their lives or not transformed by it.

They've just brought their worldliness from the world into the church and are attempting to lead people astray.

So they maintain this scoffing, this where is the promise of his coming?

For since the fathers fell asleep, everything is just continuing as it was. Tomorrow is going to be the same as it was today.

The next day is going to be the same after that. It's just one day after the next, where is the return of Christ?

Now, this thing that they say may not be exactly articulated in those words.

It may not be a sort of a thing where this false teacher is saying something like, well, where is God? I mean, you keep talking about the day of Christ as though it's something that's going to come, and I've not seen it.

Have you seen it? No, I haven't seen it. It's just one day after the next is going like it always has been.

They may not say that at all. It could be what Peter is describing here is a condition of their heart.

Just like we read in Psalm 14, 1, where it says, the fool has said in his what?

In his heart that there is no God. Now, we often take that passage and we apply it to like an atheist, right?

An atheist is a fool who says that there is no God. That's really not what the passage is saying. It's that the fool says in his heart.

He may say with his mouth that he believes in God. He may say with his mouth that he believes

Christ Jesus died for our sins. He may say with his mouth that he believes that a day of the

Lord is coming. Even false prophets out there will talk about the rapture and will talk about an eternal kingdom that is coming where Christ is going to reign.

They will say these things, but do they actually believe them? Is it something that really is in their heart and you can see by their teaching that their heart has been transformed by a knowing that Christ is going to return and he is going to judge the living and the dead?

Do they have the fear of God before their eyes because they know the judgment of God comes?

In Luke 13, Jesus is teaching and some people come to him and they tell him about some

Jews who were murdered by Pilate. They were some

Galileans, they were in the temple and they were sacrificing and Pilate had them killed.

Sometimes Pilate just did this because he was bored or he wanted to show people who was boss, say,

I'm not intimidated by you Jews at all. You still had the zealots during that time, right? The zealots who were trying to stir up their rabble so that they could rebel against the

Romans. Pilate's trying to show them, I'm not bothered by you. I'm not even afraid of your

God. So he orders soldiers to go into the temple where there are Galilean sacrificing and they're murdered and their blood is mixed in with their sacrifice.

This is just an incredibly blasphemous act that Pilate has done.

But in the eyes of a Jew, if something like that were to happen, then the people who got killed must have done something really bad, right?

This is almost kind of a deistic sense of karma. So these

Jews that got killed, it must have been because they were sinning and that's why they got murdered in this way, especially this brutal way that God would bring this judgment upon them.

And so they're talking about this and they ask this of Jesus and they say, were these

Galileans? I mean, what was their sin? What was their wickedness that they had done?

Because they're in the temple sacrificing. They're there asking forgiveness of sin.

So what exactly was it that they did? What was so evil and so awful about what they did that they would be murdered in this way?

And Jesus' response to them was, were these Galileans worse than anybody else in Israel because they were killed in this way?

What was Jesus' response to that? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will likewise perish.

And then Jesus brings up another example. He says, how about those 18 persons at Siloam who were killed when the tower fell and crushed them?

Were they worse sinners in all of Jerusalem because they died in this way? And Jesus responds,

I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Now, on the surface, that's a response that seems kind of insensitive, doesn't it?

Like, think of our own American sensitivities. To see such a tragedy like that happen,

Jesus doesn't respond with, oh, well, let's have a moment of silence for them. What were their names?

Let's all pray their names and, you know, it's not that Jesus didn't care.

But you hear about these Galileans murdered, you hear about these others who were killed in an accident, and Jesus' response to them was simply, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Consider what we have going on in our world right now. We have both things in the news today.

We have war and conflict that's going on, and we have a hurricane that's about to hit the

Gulf Coast. And so, what if Jesus today were teaching in a church somewhere, and some people came to him and asked, what's going on over there in Afghanistan?

How should we respond to that? This war, this conflict, all this violence that's going on, when is this going to end?

Does such a question come from a heart that would be saying, where is the promise of his coming?

For since the fathers fell asleep, all continues as it was from the beginning of creation until now, when you're asking a question like, why is this happening?

When is this going to stop? What would Jesus' response to that be? Exactly what we have in Luke 13.

I tell you, unless you repent, you will likewise perish. The hurricane coming up from the

Gulf. It's about to hit land. Lots of people. Some are going to die. Many will be displaced because of the devastation of the storm.

Someone asks of Jesus, why would something like this happen? And Jesus' response to them being,

I tell you, unless you repent, you will likewise perish. Jesus' response here is the reality of the fact that we live in a fallen world.

All of these things come upon us because of sin and not directly like saying, the people in the

Gulf Coast are greater sinners than everybody else in the United States. Because that was the question that had come to Jesus in Luke 13.

Are these Galileans greater sinners than everybody else because they were killed in this way? No, Jesus said.

So, these things happen because of sin and the futility that God has subjected this world to as a result of our rebellion against God.

That's what it says in Romans 8. All things have been subjected to futility by him who subjected them.

So, all of this disaster, all of this death, all of this destruction comes upon the world because mankind sinned against God and God cursed creation as a result, which is why it's even somewhat comical when you see certain political factions out there believing that we can change our environment, whether through some sort of social cause, or they'll even think that we can change the weather if we just enact these policies and we can reverse global warming or climate change or whatever else, as though we can undo what

God had done. God is the one who subjected the earth to the state that it is in, and in gradual decline as it comes deeper and deeper into corruption.

And this will be the case until Christ returns, and he will make all things new.

As we had in the passage here in verse 13, according to his promise, we are looking for a new heavens and a new earth, not for this earth to get better, but for Christ to bring a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

So, may we have hearts that look for the return of Christ, recognizing that in this world, as we talked about last week, in our present world, we will have trouble.

And the trouble that we have is not just conflict from enemies that come against us, the trouble that we have in this world are circumstantial sometimes.

Our health failing in our bodies, something happening financially that we did not foresee, somebody who was a trusted friend or family member that turns on us and betrays us, or whatever it might happen to be, things that happen that we think disrupt the natural flow of life, but in the reality of things, it's just life.

It's part of life. It's part of living in this fallen world in which we're in. And Jesus saying, in this world, you will have tribulation, but take heart, for I have overcome the world.

So, we have a heart that longs for Christ, is looking for his kingdom, and we not have this attitude of, where is the promise of his coming?

Why are these things happening the way that they are? When is God going to do something about this?

That was what Habakkuk said. In Habakkuk chapter 1, how long am I going to cry out violence and you're not going to do anything?

And God's response to Habakkuk was, watch and see, for I'm about to do something in the nations you would not even understand if I told you what it was going to be.

If God were to give us all the answers to all the questions we're asking right now, we still wouldn't get it until we get to the other side and we look back and we see how

God had been working in the midst of all these situations for our good and for his glory.

Romans 8 .28 is a verse that has become somewhat of a cliche anymore in Christian circles, but it is still a wonderful blessed promise when you understand it rightly.

For God intends good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

All things work together for good for those who love God. That's wonderful.

Now, we may not see that good on this side of heaven, but when we get to glory, we'll look back and we will see exactly how

God was working in every one of those situations. When I was much younger, and as I'm getting older, this has become an even more blessed truth as I'm growing into this.

But when I was younger, about 19 or 20 years old, I was reading Exodus. I was reading about God speaking to Moses through the burning bush, and I saw something there that I had never noticed before.

And this very much has to do with our anticipation of the day of the Lord. Even as God was speaking to Moses through the burning bush.

Turn with me to Exodus 3. Let's look at it together. Exodus 3,

Moses, who is tending sheep, sees this bush that is burning, and yet it is not consumed.

So Moses said, I must turn aside and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not being burned up.

This is Exodus 3, verse 4. When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look,

God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here

I am. And then he said, do not come near here. Remove your sandals from your feet for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.

He said also, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the

God of Jacob. Then Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look at God.

So even here in 2 Peter 3, 4, notice it says that the scoffers will say, where's the promise of his coming?

For since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.

How does God introduce himself to Moses as the God of his fathers? So just because the fathers have fallen asleep doesn't mean that some sort of plan hasn't worked out.

God is still working all things for his glory. Verse 7, the Lord said,

I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.

So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them up from the land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the

Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite, the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, exactly the land that God had promised

Abraham that he would give to his descendants. He says in verse 9, now behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to me.

Furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh so that you may bring my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.

But Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?

Now, consider what God says here in verse 12. This is the point that I'm drawing this to.

And he said, certainly, I will be with you. And this shall be the sign to you that it is

I who sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall what?

Worship God where? On this mountain. You will know.

This is the sign that I will be with you. And it is

I who sent you. When you have brought the people of Egypt, when you've brought them out of slavery, you shall worship

God on this mountain. What was it that was revolutionary to me when I noticed this 20 years ago, when

I was 19 or 20 years old? I was kind of at a place in my life at the time where I was asking for some kind of miracle.

I was saying, God, it would be so much easier for me to believe in you if you would just provide for me some kind of, literally, this is what

I prayed, some kind of burning bush type of sign. If you would give me a burning bush type sign, tell me exactly what you want me to do, it would be so much easier for me to believe.

And so I open up the Bible to Exodus chapter 3, and I'm reading about Moses' burning bush sign.

And I see that the sign is actually not the bush itself. The sign that God is with Moses is when all the people have been brought out of Egypt and they come back to that place and they're worshiping

God. God did not tell Moses, this is the sign that I will be with you.

I'm talking to you out of a burning bush, am I not? Is this not a good enough sign for you?

You're going to put your hand in your cloak, you're going to pull it out, it's going to be leprous. You're going to put it back in, you're going to pull it out, it's going to be healed.

You're going to take your staff, you're going to throw it on the ground, it's going to turn into a snake, it's going to gobble up Pharaoh's snakes. We're going to turn the

Nile into blood. We're going to cause flies, and gnats, and frogs, and all kinds of pestilence, and disease.

There's going to be hail that's going to come down from heaven. There's going to be darkness over the land. Livestock are going to die.

We're going to kill the firstborn, and then Pharaoh's going to let you go. And then when you're running away,

I'm going to guide you with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. You're going to come to the Red Sea, you're going to have nowhere to go.

Pharaoh's armies are right behind you, they're pursuing you. You're going to think you're as good as dead. But what's going to happen is you're going to raise your staff, we're going to part the

Red Sea, and you're going to walk across as though on dry ground. You've got a wall of water on this side, a wall of water on that side, and you know that this is the miraculous hand of God.

You're going to come across to the other side. Pharaoh's armies are going to pursue you. The waters are going to collapse in.

They're going to wipe out Pharaoh's armies. You're going to praise God on the other side. You're going to come through this place. You're going to come to the wilderness.

I'm going to give you manna from heaven. There's going to be quail. You're just miraculously going to have food from nowhere that's going to feed you, even though you're right in the smack dab middle of the wilderness.

And I'm going to cause water to come out of places that water should not be in the middle of a desert land. That's how you're going to know that I am with you.

Is that what God said? He said, the sign that I am with you is you'll come here and worship me.

You will stand in this place where I'm telling you now. And you'll be able to look back and you'll go, oh, now

I get it. Now I see what God was doing in the midst of these situations.

I wouldn't have even understood it if you told me what we were going to do. And Moses didn't.

God told Moses, here's what we're going to do. That's in chapter four. Moses is still trying to talk his way out of it.

And God, being merciful to him, said, fine, let your brother Aaron speak to Pharaoh on your behalf.

I'll tell you what to say. You tell Aaron what to say. Moses, who was reluctant to do this the entire time, but he comes back to that very place where God was speaking to him, and then he looks back and he sees,

I know God was with me because he did everything that he promised.

And we may not know or understand where God is in the midst of this situation and the thing that we're in right now, but we know his promises.

He's told us exactly what he's going to do according to Scripture.

We even have the end laid out for us and a whole book committed to it in Revelation.

And we hold fast to the promise that God has given through his word. And a day is coming in which we will stand on Mount Zion and we will look back and we will say,

I see it now. And we will worship God on that mount.

We have promises that have been given to us by the word of God and we hold fast to these promises.

And those scoffers and the false teachers who don't hold fast to these promises, they say in their heart, where's his coming?

And they continue in their ways, in their false teaching, and in their false way of life because they do not fear the judgment of God.

Hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ say to us, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

If there's one statistic that has been true from the time of the curse until today, it is that one out of every one person dies.

That statistic is true for everybody. And don't come to me going, well, Enoch got taken up into heaven.

Elijah got taken up in heaven. You're not Enoch and Elijah. One out of every one person dies, unless the

Lord comes back before you die. But one way or the other, you will stand before him. Turn from your sin and believe in the

Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Ultimately, we know the salvation that we receive from God is the salvation from the wrath and judgment of God that is coming against the sinful and fallen world.

Back to 2 Peter 3, continuing on in this passage, it escapes their notice.

It escapes the notice of those who are not fearing

God and his judgment. It escapes their notice that by the word of God, the heavens existed long ago. The earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being deluged with water.

So we have the sign of a destruction of all of creation that has already taken place, and that was through the great flood, which we read about in Genesis.

So they ignore the warnings that have already existed there in scripture about judgment.

You have the judgment that has come upon the world through the flood. You have the judgment, which

Peter had mentioned back in 2 Peter 2, about the fire that came down on Sodom and Gomorrah and how

God rescued righteous lot, so he knows how to rescue the righteous from trials. By his word, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, it says in verse 7, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day.

The Lord is not slow about his promises, some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

Let's stop there for a moment. That's a verse that I mentioned last week. I said I would explain it this week, so here we go. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some consider slowness, but patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

Who's Peter talking to? I just heard, blah, blah, blah.

Believers, there you go, the church, right? Saints. What was the word that he used for the church in verse 8?

But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, right? And not just beloved because, hey, you're my friends and I love you.

We're beloved because we have Christ. As Paul says with the

Thessalonians in his introduction to 1 Thessalonians 1, we know that God has chosen you because the gospel came to you, not only in word but also in power and in the

Holy Spirit and with full conviction. So, Paul is saying there are certain signs that we can see among you and know that you truly have

Christ, that God has chosen you for salvation because you're a follower of Jesus Christ.

So, when Peter refers to the beloved, he's not just talking about friends that he likes. He's talking about those who have been loved by God.

These are the churches that he's addressing in these letters. Do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved.

So, going back again, what was it that the scoffers had missed?

Verse 3, knowing this first of all, that in the last days, mockers will come with their mocking, following their own lusts, and they will say with their scoffing, and verse 5, they maintain this, it escapes their notice, this one fact, that by the word of God, the heavens existed long ago, the earth was formed out of water and by water.

So, it's by the same word that brought all things into existence, God's going to bring all things to an end.

If he can bring it into existence like that, he can take it out of existence like that, right? They overlooked the facts.

So, Peter says, don't let this fact escape you, that with the

Lord, one day is like 1 ,000 years, and 1 ,000 years is one day. This is really just a poetic way.

I mean, it comes from the Psalms. That's what Peter is quoting here. But it's really a poetic way of saying God is not bound by time.

So, he's not sitting around twiddling his thumbs waiting for something to happen. God created time.

As Augustine said, the creation of matter was the creation of time. But God himself is not bound by time.

He is outside of time. So, a day for him would be like 1 ,000 years.

1 ,000 years could go by for us. For God, it's like, huh, what? It's like a day to him.

One day for him could be like 1 ,000 years, as in God can accomplish so much in one day, we would be baffled to see that much accomplished even in 1 ,000 years.

So, Peter says, the Lord is not slow about his promise. Don't think of him as slow as you count slowness.

As you think of slowness in terms of human perception, the

Lord is not slow about his promise, as some consider slowness. He is patient toward who?

You, right, his own, the saints, the beloved.

He is patient to you. Not willing for any of you to perish, but for all of you to come to repentance.

Just follow the sentence structure here. There are some that will take this passage to mean that God is not coming back yet.

The reason Christ isn't coming back is because Jesus is just kind of sitting back, and he's just kind of waiting for everyone to come to repentance, or as many to come to repentance as possible.

God knows those who are his. As Paul said to Timothy, and let those who call on the name of the

Lord, praise his name. God does not want any of you to perish, any of those whom he has elected for salvation, but he wants all of the elect to come to repentance.

And until that happens, the Lord is continuing his plan, even in things that are happening in the world right now.

I believe that in God's perfect and good timing, the moment the last elect person in human history accepts

Christ as Savior, we're done. Jesus returns, and we're with him forever, right?

Somebody be sure to wash this mic off before you use it again. In Titus 1, verse 1, the apostle

Paul even says to Titus as he's writing to him, what his entire motivation in his ministry is.

He says, for the sake of the faith of God's elect. That's the very first words of Titus.

Paul is an apostle to take the message of Christ to the world for the sake of the faith of God's elect.

We all come to salvation exactly the same way. We hear the gospel preached, we repent of our sin, we put our faith in the

Lord Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace through faith in no other way. That is how everyone comes to salvation.

But God has chosen those who will come to faith and believe. It is not for us to know who the elect are.

God knows that. What's our responsibility? To take the gospel out so that people will hear the gospel and those who are elect will come to faith.

What a wonderful thing that God has included us in this plan of salvation that he has to bring the elect to faith.

And so we do so with praise unto his name that he would include us in this wonderful, perfect plan.

Why hasn't Christ returned yet? Because he's patient toward the elect, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

But again, we have this reminder, the day of the Lord will come like a thief.

We're going to talk about this a little more next week as we bring 2 Peter to a close. This reference to a thief,

Jesus makes, Paul makes it, Peter makes it. The day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be found out.

So we'll look at the specifics of that next week. But as we bring this to a close this week, it's simply the reminder that the judgment of God is coming.

And we go out with the gospel to the world so that they would not perish, but have everlasting life in Jesus Christ.

We should desire that all the world would hear the gospel because Christ wants all the world to hear the gospel.

And so in following with our instruction of the Lord Jesus Christ that we would take it everywhere. And those whom

God has chosen for salvation will believe it and live and escape the judgment of God that is coming. Those who speak falsely, those who continue to walk in their error and their sins without repentance, they do not fear the day of God.

They do not know of his coming. They might say it with their mouths, but it is not in their heart.

But since we know of the judgment of God that is coming, Peter says in verse 11, since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?

Looking for the hastening and coming of the day of God, who will bring all things into judgment, and he will deliver the righteous.

Amen. Got a few minutes left to close here.