Book of 2 Peter - Ch. 3, Vs. 7-18 (03/13/2022)

giving us the ability to reach out and touch people that are not here, as well as those that are here. Bless us and keep us, go through all the services today.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. So, we did have a little bit of a glitch starting up this morning, because all of our technicians are gone and we're winging this.

So hopefully everything's getting out to everyone in a proper fashion. If it's not, you can let us know with an email or a text or whatever.

In any case, we're gonna begin a little bit earlier in chapter three of 2

Peter, chapter three, verse three. Knowing this first, that there shall be in the last days scoffers walking after their own lust and saying, where is the promise of his coming?

For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.

Now, what's important is a literal belief in the creation, in the fall of man and in the worldwide flood are essential for a true understanding of God's work, both then and now.

To deny these things undermines the very foundations of our faith.

All things will continue as they were from the beginning of creation.

That's the complaint the scoffers have. Things haven't changed. All things will continue as they were from the beginning of creation.

Well, that's not true. In fact, the creation, the flood and the fall all added together entirely disprove the theory that things always remain the same, that all natural phenomena have behaved in exactly the same way, following exactly the same rules since the beginning.

No, the reality is there are several sets of rules in play at various times, at least four that I know of.

One set is during the creation itself. The very act of creation took time after it began.

In fact, it took six days for God to complete the creation after he started.

And during the creation, in the creation itself, the six -step process, each step involved bringing order out of chaos, where once there was only chaos, now there is order.

Another set is from creation to the fall. And during that set, the rules changed.

It's all order all the time. There's no aging from the creation of man to the fall.

There was no aging, no suffering, no persecution, and only one test.

The test is, would Adam and Eve obey or disobey? And it is a test that they eventually failed.

Now, the third set of rules that are different from the first two is from the fall to the flood.

During the period of time from the fall to the flood, order changed to chaos.

We had the introduction of entropy, of disorder. We had the introduction of the second law of thermodynamics, that disorder always increases in this natural world, at least during this set.

It didn't do that during the creation. It didn't do that during the time that Adam and Eve spent in the

Garden of Eden before the fall. But now, entropy increases.

Order goes to disorder. Aging begins to happen, albeit slow.

And we have death and decay. There's a fourth set from the flood to the final judgment.

And then, of course, there's gonna be a fifth set after that. But during this time period, we have order to disorder at a faster pace.

Aging is faster, and death comes quicker. To illustrate that fact, compare the average lifespan of those who lived before the flood.

That was about 900 years. That's kind of the average age for people who lived before the flood to the average of those who are alive today, about 70 years.

And so now we get to verse five. For this, they were willingly ignorant of, that by the word of God, the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water.

Peter's getting ready to describe the flood. And the scoffers are willingly ignorant.

They're ignorant because they want to be. Unfortunately, there are today many who are crawl

Christians, but who willfully forget these very same things and become one of the scoffers who say, all things as they've always been, things will never change.

What's the point? Peter goes on to say in verse six, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished.

But the heavens and the earth, which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

So now Peter tells us that the catastrophic fall and the flood will not be all of the cataclysms that occur.

There is an even greater catastrophe on the horizon, on our horizon now.

And moreover, the same word that created the heavens and the earth will destroy them with fire on the last, on the day of judgment.

Now, if you look for a second, first John, not first John, John one, verse one, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was

God. This same word that created the heavens and the earth will destroy the heavens and the earth with fire on the day of judgment.

John MacArthur was saying, John MacArthur said this, Peter was making the point that there is a third.

Now, actually by my count, it's the fourth because he didn't count creation and I did.

That's the only difference. There's a fourth form of heavens and earth yet to come after the following, after another cataclysm.

The present world system is reserved for future judgment, which will come by the word of God, just as creation and the flood came.

God will speak it into existence as well after the present order is again restored.

So there's gonna be a new heaven and a new earth formed after this one is destroyed. And this is

John MacArthur speaking. God put the rainbow in the sky to signify that he would never destroy the world again by water.

However, in the future, he will destroy the heavens and earth again, but this time by fire.

And we have references for that. In Isaiah, Daniel, Michael, Malachi, Matthew and second

Thessalonians all indicate that the present earth will be destroyed by fire.

Now he goes on to describe a process by which God may destroy the earth by fire.

I'm gonna read that and then I'm gonna make a little comment about it. In the present universe, the heavens are full of stars, comets and asteroids.

He didn't say this, but I will. All potential agents of destruction.

If a star were to run into our star, we would have a great catastrophe. He's just laying out things that are probable, possibly harmful.

The core of the earth is also filled with a flaming, boiling liquid lake of fire. The temperature of which is some 12 ,400 degrees

Fahrenheit. That's very hot. That's enough to melt rock. The human race is separated from the fiery core of the earth by only a thin 10 mile crust.

Far more than that, the whole creation is a potential fire bomb due to its atomic structure.

As man from atoms creates destructive bombs that burn a path of destruction, so God can disintegrate the whole universe in an explosion of atomic energy.

And the earth awaits for the day of judgment and the destruction of ungodly men.

Now, I just wanted to make this comment. You need to understand. This is not a science lesson. Some of Dr.

MacArthur's details are incomplete and not exact. For example, the earth, there's a crust about 10 miles thick.

Then there's a mantle about a thousand miles thick, and then there's the core. So it's more complicated than that.

But rather than try to explain it that way, here's a better way to look at it. Instead of attempting to explain the destruction of the universe by God's use of physically known forces and mechanisms,

I would refer to Colossians 1, verse 16.

And just look at it for a second. Colossians 1, 16. For by him were all things created.

Now he's talking about God, Jesus Christ. For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth.

Visible and invisible. Whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him.

And he is before all things. And by him, all things consist.

Now that's the King James translation of that passage.

They did an unfortunate translation of the word consist. Even though that is one of the meanings of the word.

The Greek word translated consist, sunistene, could have been translated better, held together or stand united.

So why does the universe as it is stand together or be held together?

By God holding it together. If God, the

Lord were to simply stop holding things together then everything would disintegrate.

And so when things disintegrate, after they are disintegrated, we have the day of judgment, the great white throne judgment.

Go to Revelation 20 and we'll begin at verse 12 and read the rest of that chapter.

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books were opened.

And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which are written in the books according to their works.

Now, how were they judged? According to their works. And the sea gave up the dead, which were in it and death and hell delivered up the dead, which were in them.

And they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.

This is the second death. And verse 15 says, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Now that's the last verse of that chapter. Now there are two groups of people considered here.

One group is all of those people found in the book of life. And the other group is all those who are not found in the book of life, who will face the final judgment.

And that judgment is based upon works. And since as Paul tells us in Romans 3, 23, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

All that are judged will be cast into the lake of fire. So where are those whose names are written in the book of life?

Well, what I can say is this, they're nowhere to be found in the old universe. The old universe is gone.

At the time of judgment, there is no old universe. It's been totally destroyed and has been replaced by a new heaven and a new earth.

And that's where you will find those that are written in the book of life. Not at the judgment seat being judged by their works to be cast into the lake of fire, but in the new heaven and the new earth.

And then the very first verse of chapter 21 of Revelation, the next chapter says, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea.

That's interesting too, but I'm not gonna go there. There's a reason why the sea is not needed in the new heaven and the new earth.

There's no more death and decay. So we don't need the purifying effect of the seas. The seas exist today to be purifiers for the earth.

We need it anymore. Okay, we're now to verse eight. But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the

Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. Now I have two takes on this thousand years, one by John MacArthur and the other one by Charles Spurgeon.

Here is what MacArthur had to say. God understands time much differently than man.

From man's viewpoint, Christ's coming does seem like a long time away.

At least it did a few years ago. I'm not so sure now.

It seems like it's much more imminent. Psalms 94 says for a thousand years is in thy sight, but as yesterday when passed, and as a watch in the night, just a part of a day.

From God's viewpoint, it will not be long. But beyond that general reference, this may be a specific indication of the fact that there are actually a thousand years between the first phase of the day of the

Lord at the end of the tribulation period, and the last phase a thousand years later at the end of the millennial kingdom when the

Lord creates this new heaven and the new earth. And I think that's the issue there. Now, Charles Spurgeon said this,

I like this. All things are equally near and present in his view. The distance of a thousand years before the occurrence of an event is no more to him than would be the interval of a day.

With God, indeed, there is neither past, present, nor future. He takes for his name, the

I am. He is the I am. I am in the present.

I am in the past. And I am in the future. Just as we say of God, he is everywhere.

So may we say of him, he is always. He is everywhere in space, and he is everywhere in time.

So as Jonah found, you can't run away from God. He's everywhere all the time.

Verse nine, God is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness, but is long suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Now, the first thing is, the truth is God will keep his promise, and he will keep his promise without delay according to his timing, according to his timetable, not according to ours.

Any perceived delay from our perspective is due to the long suffering of God who allows man as much time as possible to repent.

Now, there's another thing that I need to deal with. If Brother David was in the room right now, he would be concerned about this.

And in all, if you read that verse with just a casual reading, might present a problem.

I'm gonna read it again. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Now, my first question is this. If an omnipotent God does not want anyone to perish, why do some perish?

Now, this is John MacArthur's take. The any must refer to those whom the

Lord has chosen and will call to complete the redeemed. In other words, it's the us.

Since the whole passage is about God's destroying the wicked, his patience is not so he can save all of them, but so he can receive all of his own.

He's given himself time. He's given the earth time. He's given everything time enough so that when he does do what he's going to do, all of his will be in the fold.

So since the whole passage is about God's destroying the wicked, his patience is not so he can save all of them, but so he can receive all of his own.

He can't be waiting for everyone to be saved since the emphasis is he will destroy the world and the ungodly.

Those who do perish and go to hell go because they are depraved and worthy only of hell.

Well, unfortunately, that applies to all of us as well. We're all depraved and unworthy of hell, but God gave us in his eternal mercy a remedy.

These perish because they are depraved, worthy only of hell, and have rejected the only remedy that there is,

Jesus Christ. The path to damnation is the path of a non -repentant heart.

It is the path of one who rejects the person and provision of Jesus Christ and holds on to sin.

Now, the phrase all should come to repentance, the all must refer then to all of God's people who will come to Christ to make the full number of the people of God.

The reason for the delay in Christ's coming and the attentive judgments is not because he is slow to keep his promise, or because he wants to judge more wicked, or because he is impotent in the face of wickedness.

Why does he delay? He delays his coming because he is patient and desires the time for his people to repent.

You see, it's not the case that we all repent at once. We don't all repent the first day, and we don't all repent right after we sin, even after we have come to him, even after we've accepted him as our

Christ, even after we have accepted him as our provider of salvation.

We still sometimes sin, and sometimes we don't repent five minutes after we sin.

Sometimes we repent five days after we sin. Sometimes we repent five years after we sin, and we have experienced punishment and things to drive us back to God, but eventually, if we are his, we will repent, and he's waiting for that to happen.

He delays his coming because he is patient, and he desires the time for his people to repent.

Verse 10, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the earth shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

Without warning, the Lord will speak the physical existence, the physical universe out of existence in much the same manner as he spoke it into Genesis, into existence in Genesis 1.

I'm having trouble. He will simply let go. He will simply quit holding things together, and when he quits holding them together, they will disintegrate, and the matter, the very matter, the particles that make up matter will be converted to heat in the form of light and sound.

Remember what it said? The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, that's the sound, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, that's the heat.

Heat and sound, the very matter is changed to heat and sound. That's why a lot of people think that he's gonna use some sort of non -physical mechanism to do this.

I don't think so. I think he just lets go, and it happens, but in any case, seeing that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye be in all holy conversation and godliness?

Now, conversation doesn't mean talking about it. Conversation means lifestyle.

What manner of person ought you be in your holy lifestyle, your set -apart lifestyle and godliness?

This is an exclamation rather than a question. It is a straightforward challenge for Christians to conform their lives to God's standard in light of the reality of the coming judgment and eternity.

Now, can you or can I conform my life to God's standards?

Well, the answer is no. Only one person is able to do that, and that was Jesus Christ himself.

We can't, but we can endeavor to do so. We can come as close to him as we can, and when we fall short, when we slip, when we sin, we ask for forgiveness, and he says, okay,

I'll take that on me. You go on. Verse 12, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements melt with fervent heat.

Looking for and hastening. You know, they wrote that word in the

King James Version, H -A -S -T -I -N -G, and it didn't really occur to me what it was saying.

What it's saying is there's a sense in which we can make the Lord's coming quicker.

It's remarkable to think that we can actually do things that will affect the return of Christ.

In the immediate context, Paul is, Peter is saying, we can hasten the

Lord's coming by our holy conduct and godliness. What does our holy conduct and godliness have to do with Jesus' return?

Well, if you accept the fact that God is waiting for all of his believers, all of his children, all of his people to repent, don't you think that our model of our holy lifestyle and our godliness might be a guide, a help for those that are struggling with repentance?

And if we show a holy lifestyle, then they may repent quicker?

Just a thought. Now, the day of the

Lord refers to, or the day of God, refers to the eternal state in preparation of which the heavens and the earth are burned up and the new creation is made.

So there is a time after this world has gone away, dissolved, disintegrated, and a new creation is made.

That time, time in that state is the day of God. And when the day of God comes, man's day will be over.

The corrupting of the universe by man and by Satan will have been terminated, judged, finally and forever.

And the new world in which righteousness dwells requires the

Lord to first destroy the old sin -cursed universe. And so that's, and now it's destroyed.

Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Charles Spurgeon said this, "'We are puzzled at the longsuffering "'which causes so weary a delay.

"'One of the reasons is that we have not much "'longsuffering ourselves.

"'We think that we do well to be angry with rebellion, "'and we prove ourselves to be more like Jonah "'than like Jesus.'"

Remember when God asked Jonah, do you well to be angry at the destruction of the gourd?

And he said, yes, it's good that I'm angry. We think we do well to be angry and prove ourselves more like Jonah than like Jesus.

Well, fortunately for us, Jonah, I believe, was a child of God as well.

I think he is saved, and I think we can do worse than patterning after Jonah, but we could do better.

We could do better by patterning after Jesus, not Jonah. We could do better by patterning after David, the king, or David Mitchell.

We can do better than that. We can do better by conforming ourselves to be like Jesus.

"'A few have learned to be patient and pitiful "'to the ungodly.'" This is Spurgeon's deal.

"'A few have learned to be patient and pitiful "'to the ungodly, but many more are of the mind "'of

James and John, who would have called fire "'from heaven upon those who rejected the

Savior.'" We're in such a hurry to do God's word for him, God's work for him.

We think we are better judge of time than Jesus. We always say, why did

Jesus allow that to happen? Well, we can't know. Now, John MacArthur said, "'The promise of a new universe "'is rooted in the

Old Testament.'" We have Isaiah 65, 17, which says, "'For behold,

I created a new heaven and a new earth, "'and the former shall not be remembered nor come to mind.'"

Now, the word new means new in quality, different from before, not just new in time, not just new in chronology.

The universe is new in quality because righteousness has settled in and taken up permanent and exclusive residence.

Isaiah 60, verse 19, says this, "'The sun shall no more be the light by day, "'neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee, "'but the

Lord shall give thee an everlasting light, "'and thy

God thy glory. "'The sun shall no more go down, "'neither shall the moon withdraw itself, "'for the

Lord shall be thine everlasting light, "'and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. "'Thy people also shall be all righteous, "'and they shall inherit the land forever, "'and a branch of my planting, "'and the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.

"'A little one shall be a thousand, "'and a small one a strong nation.

"'I, the Lord, will hasten it in his time, "'and of course, we just read this a moment ago, "'Revelation 21, verse one, "'and

I saw a new heaven and a new earth, "'for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, "'and there was no more sea.

"'And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, "'coming down from God out of the heaven, "'prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

"'And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, "'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, "'and he will dwell with them, "'and they shall be his people, "'and

God himself shall be with them and be their God. "'And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, "'and there shall be no more death, no sorrow, no crying, "'neither shall there be any more pain, "'for the former things are passed away.

"'We are certainly in a new era now, "'with a new set of rules. "'No more death, no more punishment, "'no more sin, no more crime, no more punishment, "'only righteousness forever.'

"'And he that sat upon the throne said, "'Behold, I make all things new. "'And he said unto me, "'Write, for these words are faithful and true.'

"'And he said unto me, "'It is done. "'I am

Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, "'and I will give unto him that is a thirst "'of the fountain of water freely.

"'He that overcometh shall inherit all things, "'and I will be his

God, and he shall be my son.'" So it's more than just being a child of God.

You're a son of God. Verse 14. "'Wherefore, beloved, "'seeing that you look for such things, "'be diligent, that ye may be found in him of peace "'without spot and blameless.'

"'When Christ returns, "'every Christian should be found "'enjoying the peace of Christ, "'which knoweth no worry or fear.'

"'Paul said in Philippians 4, "'Be careful for nothing, "'but in everything by prayer and supplication, "'with thanksgiving.

"'Let your requests be known unto God, "'and the peace of God, "'which path of all understanding, "'shall keep your hearts and your minds "'through

Jesus Christ.'" So if you're a child of God, you have nothing to worry about. Now, verse 15 and 16 describes

Peter's account of Paul. An account that the long suffering of our

Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother, Paul. Also according to the wisdom given him, hath written you.

As also in all of his epistles, speaking in them of those things in which the some are hard to understand, which they are that are unlearned and unstable rest, as they do also with other scriptures unto their own destruction.

Since Paul had by the time Peter wrote this,

Paul has written all of his letters and died. And the readers of 2

Peter would also have already received letters about future events from Paul.

And of course, as Peter says, some of Paul's explanations are hard, but not impossible to interpret.

Nevertheless, Peter uses Paul as support for his teaching. This is one of the most clear cut statements in the

Bible to affirm that the writings of Paul are all scripture.

But some of the writings of Paul false teachers distort. The New Testament apostles were aware that they spoke and wrote

God's word just as surely as the Old Testament prophets did. So the scripture that we have both the old and the new is all the word of God.

17, ye therefore beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware lest you also being led away with error of the wicked fall from your own steadfastness.

Fall from your steadfastness. It doesn't say fall from grace. It doesn't say that you'll lose your salvation, but it does say you'll lose some of your rewards.

But grow in Christ, I'm sorry, but grow in grace. And in the knowledge of our

Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to him be the glory, both now and forever.

Amen. And that concludes the third chapter of 2

Peter. And that concludes the two epistles by Peter. Any comments or questions?

Yes, sir. Yeah, I was hastening, means eagerly awaiting something.

So I think maybe that's an old English word that changed meanings on us. We became hastening and it's originally used meant we're waiting for something eagerly.

Now it means we're trying to speed something up. Okay, so. It doesn't mean we can speed up the second coming.

It's set in stone. I mean, Jesus didn't know the date when he was here.

He knows it now, I bet you. I suspect he does. I suspect he doesn't.

And that is a better take on that particular verse.

Although I will stick with what I said. God is, he has set out that time ahead of time to give people time to repent.

And we can, by our lifestyle and by our speaking to them and the things we do, do things that will bring them,

I don't know whether even that's true or not. I was gonna say, bring them to repentance quicker, but maybe that's not the case.

Well, you're mentioning this a lot, some of this is in service, but God has given in his mercy and patience, he's given time for people to repent.

And a large purpose of the tribulation period is to cause the church to make herself wild, right?

Yes. Right now she's not doing that. But when she gets under persecution and the entire world is in apocalypse and the toys are all taken away and we'll be praying.

And all of that is, all that's right. I think you said that right. I just,

I didn't want people to think that we think that we can change the day by anything we do that we can't.

No, I absolutely, totally agree with that. I know you do, I know you do. And I was concerned that even, you can talk to me and you can give me instruction and you can, and I will process that and I will come to a point of repentance.

And I will come to the point of repentance exactly when God knew I was going to, that would have changed a bit.

But you, did you have to do that? Well, not necessarily, somebody else could have done it, but he chose to use you to tell me something that would make me repent and I will repent exactly when he says in the, before time began, he already knew when

I was going to repent. From a human viewpoint.

That's right. And prophecy and teaching and all of it.

Like you said, God had chosen not to do that by himself. He chose to do it with us, together with us.

And because that's how he wanted to do it. So that's how you do it. So yeah, from a human viewpoint, you can look at it that way, that as we do what we're supposed to do, we're hastening the day because that last person will be saved eventually.

I think the main thing, I just think it's an old English word, it's a very Greek, the underlying

Greek is like, eagerly awaiting, looking for and eagerly awaiting his return while we're doing the work we're supposed to do.

It all does, it all plays together. It does always all fit together. And it has to, because it was designed by God.

If I do something, it doesn't have to fit together. But if God does it, it does.

It does always fit, yes. Let's pray. Most gracious heavenly Father, thank you for this day and thank you for all our many blessings.