2 Peter 3:1-11
As always it is a great privilege to address the faithful of this church. I know that this is like preaching to the choir, but sometimes we need to hear or be reminded of some very basic and important, as well as timely, bible truths.
If you have been here on the last three Sunday nights you have heard Brother Carl Stone speak on Bible prophecy and end time events and conditions. He has given us much meat to chew on and we need to be aware of the many things that he informed us about.
My message tonight is sort of a follow-up on what he has shown us.
My intent is to show the seriousness of the hour and how we should not be slothful in either our manner of living or in our service to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Turn in your bibles to 2 Peter chapter 3.
Outline:
The scoffers of the word (verses 1-7);
The longsuffering of the Lord (verses 8-9);
The suddenness of destruction (verse 10)
The seriousness of our witness (verse11-12).
I want to draw your attention to a few things before I begin;
The first is found in verse 1 where Peter tells us that he wants “to stir up your pure minds.” What he is saying that he wants to excite their minds, he wants to activate their minds.
The second is found in verse 14 where he tells us “seeing that ye look for such things be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless.”
The third thing is found in verse17 where Peter reminds us that “seeing ye know these things.”
Brother Carl Stone has certainly stirred up our minds, he has excited our minds and now we look for these things because we know about them. We are not of those that are willingly ignorant.
We desire truth because it is how we know and understand the times we live in.
First the scoffers of the word (vv.1-7).
“This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior: Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 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 the creation.’ For this they willingly are 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: 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.”
Peter is not addressing the scoffers in these verses, rather the beloved, the faithful, the Christians, you and me! He wants to put them in remembrance of the judgment to come which was prophesied by the prophets of old and the apostles; our church patriarchs. His desire is that the church will be vigilant in proclaiming this important truth, that there will be scoffers come and doubt the word of God, the bible.
Why do they doubt? Well, the first reason is that they have taken the “world view” of the bible and it’s standard of morality. They say that it is old fashioned and out of date. They say that it cannot be relied on to govern our lives today. They say times have changed and the bible and the church needs to go along with the world. Sadly, this is true in a lot of churches today. Many preachers are not holding to the biblical standards taught in the word of God. Sin is not preached against and there is no conviction as a result.
Then we see that not only have they accepted the world view of morality, but because of that, they are walking after their own lusts. That is why they are so given to the sexual sins; the drug addictions and the violence that is so common today. Not a day goes by that we don’t read in our papers of at least one of these sins made public.
We can also take note that they do not believe in the judgment to come because they have never known this God of judgment. They have been taught by people like Bill Nye, Bill Cunningham, comedians Bill Mahr, and Jon Stewart as well as Charles Darwin and other evolutionists; they have been taught in our schools by so- called experts that make the claim that the bible and the flood are myths, and we have nothing to fear of any sort of judgment.
The bible says here in our text that they “are willingly ignorant.” they do not want to believe, so therefore they don’t.
Peter gives the prophets and the apostles as witness of the truth of God’s word; Judgment has happened before and it will happen again.
We must understand that it had never rained on the earth until the skies were opened and the fountains of the deep broken up and the earth was flooded. The people of Noah’s day didn’t believe judgment was coming, but it came anyway. The bible says that they were living their lives as if nothing could or would happen. They were living their lives without God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.
The skies had never rained fire and brimstone before the destruction of the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah but it came down like rain. Those people never thought it possible either, but it happened.
There will always be disbelievers and scoffers. But they do so at their own peril. Listen to what Charles Spurgeon preached in one of his sermons:
Quote, “When Christ comes a second time, there will be a marvelous change in the way men talk. I think I see him; there he sits upon his throne. Now, Caiaphas, come and condemn him. Judas, come and kiss him now. What prevents you? Are you afraid of him? Now, Barabbas, go and see if they prefer you to Christ. Swearer, now is your time; you have been a bold man; curse him to his face. Drunkard, stagger up to him. Infidel, tell him to his face that there is no Christ now that the world is lit with lightning and the earth is shaken with thunder. Tell God there is no God. Now laugh at the Bible, now scoff at the minister.
Why, men, what is the matter with you? Why cannot you do it? Ah, there you are; you have fled to the hills and to the rocks. “Rocks hide us. Mountains fall on us. Hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne.” Ah, where are your boasts, your vaunting, and your glories? Alas, alas, for you in the dread day of wonders.” End of quote. And I might add so shall it be with all scoffers.
The longsuffering of the Lord (verses 8-9); 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. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Our God is a long-suffering God, full of mercy and grace. He does not want any to suffer the judgment that is coming. He wants all to repent and turn to His Son, Jesus. He does not want the drunkard to suffer eternally, but wants him or her to repent. He does not want the person of vile language and that curses Him to miss out on heaven but that he or she will repent. He does not want the fornicator or the adulterers to suffer loss of their souls but that they should repent. It is true that He wants to rid all the world of drug pushers and users, but He wants to do it by their repentance and not by His judgment. He does not want your family, your neighbor, your friend, your co-worker, your fellow student to suffer through the judgment to come. That is the reason for this Day of Grace; that is the mission of the Church; that is why He left us here instead of just taking us on to heaven when we were saved.
God’s grace, mercy and longsuffering is the reason and the only reason that our Lord has not brought judgment before now. He is a patient God, but His patience will one day run out.
Most of the people of the world today believes like what our scripture says of the scoffers; Nothing has changed since the world began, why should it be different now? We have had fornicators, drug dealers, rapists, blasphemers for time eternal, why judgment now? Because of God’s love He has not given this world what it deserves yet. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.” That is why He is so long-suffering.
The suddenness of destruction (verse 10).
Having refuted their false claims, Peter then reaffirmed the certainty of the coming of the Day of The Lord. When will it come? Nobody knows when, because it will come to the world as a thief in the night.
Not only does Peter use the phrase “like a thief in the night” but also did Jesus in Matthew 24:43 and Luke 12:39. The thief does not announce the time when he will come. We must always be on guard against the thief and we must be always on alert for the coming of the Lord from heaven. It will come when the world least expects it. “When they shall say peace and safety,” then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
Did the scoffers in the day of Noah know when the flood would come? Matthew 24:36-39 “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark. And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
It will be sudden and unexpected by the world and it will be completely disastrous.
First it says that the heavens shall pass away with a great noise. Every ear will hear it. Everyone will know that something has and will happen. No one will doubt that God has entered into the realm of man in judgment.
Then we see that the elements shall melt with fervent heat. A lot of bible scholars believe and teach that this is the result of an atomic or nuclear war. While I admit that in a lot of respects it does sound like one, however I do not believe that our God needs the help of man to bring judgment. I personally believe that when God judges the earth and mankind He wants man to know that it is Him that performed it and not the work of man.
Next, we see that the earth also and the works that therein shall be burned up. Everything that man has worked for shall be burned up. All our great cities; all our great industries and employments; all our amusements and enjoyments; Disney World, Kings Island, sports arenas, ball fields; all our fashions and arts; Even our churches and houses of worship will be burned up and gone. Nothing that man can boast about that he has accomplished will remain. All our schools and institutes of higher learning will be gone and done away with.
All of the earth’s great monuments will be gone; The Eiffel Tower; The Great Wall of China; The Leaning Tower of Pisa; the Sistine Chapel with the great works of Michael Angelo; the Golden Gate Bridge; the Statue of Liberty; the Empire State Building; everything man has made will be burned up and gone, even Mount Rushmore with the faces of the Presidents, gone.
When sinners stand before the throne of God, they will have nothing to point to as evidence of their greatness. It will all be gone.
Only God and His Son will remain in testimony to their greatness and they will be worshipped by all. Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Seeing this and knowing this, what manner of person ought we be? What manner of person ought you be?
This is certainly a solemn truth and we dare not take it lightly. But it would be wise for us to pause and consider; where will I be when God destroys the world? Is what I am living for only destined to go up in a cloud of smoke and vanish forever? Or am I doing the will of God so that my works will glorify Him forever?
The seriousness of our witness (verse11).
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
This then is the question for us tonight. What manner of persons ought we be? Can we afford to continue in our daily lives as though nothing will happen? That Jesus will not return in judgment? Dare we believe like the scoffers that everything will continue as they always have?
Dare we tempt God like they did in the days of Noah?
Let me give you these ways that we ought to behave and what manner of people we ought to be;
1.We should be living our testimony. If we tell others that we are saved and are Christian in character, we should be living like it. We cannot say one thing and live differently. Jesus knows all and sees all.
We should not be engaged in secret sin. God has a way of making public what man tries to hide.
2. We should be diligently at work in His vineyard. The fields are ripe unto harvest. He has bidden us into His fields and we must go and be faithful in our labor for Him. Muncie, Indiana is our field. The southside of Muncie is where we should be laboring. There are enough lost souls in Muncie that we do not need to look elsewhere. Muncie, Indiana is a city that has pretty much been given over to reprobate minds. We have violent crime; drug usage; fornication; wild partying at Ball State University; and we have corruption in our city government. Muncie, Indiana needs the gospel of Jesus Christ; this is our field of opportunity and labor.
3. We must be faithful to His house of worship. Jesus said that we should go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that His house may be full.
It glorifies the Lord when His house is full. It shows our love for Him. It shows our devotion and thanks to Him for all that He has done for us.
It glorifies our Savior when we meet to pray. It glorifies Him when we come to sing to Him, testify about His goodness, learn more about Him; and serve Him with our presence.
4. We should be a giving people and supporting the House of God with our resources, talents, and Spiritual gifts.
As Brother Stone said, we spend more money on dog food than we spend on our churches.
We support our favorite sports teams and our favorite political parties and politicians. They will all be gone. Then what? They have no power to help you, they will have no way of delivering themselves or anyone else.
We have seen the building of magnificent sports arenas and yet the Houses of God goes in need of repair.
We pay our entertainers millions of dollars and our pastors a small pittance. We certainly have a warped sense of values.
5. We need to be a praying people. It is such a shame that our church has opportunities for prayer for our people, city, and nation and church and pastor, yet we cannot take an hour or two to meet and pray for them. We want God to bless our church yet the Lord sees how sincere we are in imploring Him for it. Did not our Savior say that we must ask to receive? Did not the apostle James tell us that the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much?
Do we think that the Lord doesn’t see our hearts? Do we think that the Lord doesn’t know where we are at times of worship?
But He also sees us when we are in our prayer closets and on our knees in prayer. He sees us when we are seeking His will through the word of God the bible. He sees us when we are witnessing to His goodness and grace.
6. We should be people that are more concerned with eternal things. We need to be looking on things above and not concerned and looking on things that are temporal and without lasting value. Jesus said that we are to lay up our treasures in heaven where thieves cannot enter and steal and moths cannot eat. And as Peter adds, where the fire cannot burn up.
7. We should be people that are looking for the return of Jesus. Jesus said in Luke 21:28 that “when these begin to pass, then lookup, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.”
8. We ought to be people growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We can only do this as we continue in our fellowship with Him.
9. We need to be people that have a desire to hear not only with our ears but with our hearts. It is so sad that one out of every three pages is given to prophecy and yet there are too few preachers that will commit themselves to the study and preaching of bible prophecy. They may as well be like King Jehoikim that took his knife and cut the pages of the scriptures and burned them. He did not like them so he tried to destroy them. If preachers are not going to preach the whole council of God, then they may as well cut those pages out of their bibles that they will not preach.
In conclusion, where are your treasures? If they are of this world, they will be burned up. Where is your heart? Is it fixed on things above and not on things below? Do we really believe that judgment is coming? Do we really believe that the time is short? Do we really believe that we must be about our Fathers business? If so, then we need to be a praying, faithful people that are looking for the return of Jesus at any moment. Jesus asked this question; When the Son of man returns shall He find faith on the earth? Good question. It needs to be answered. The altar is open for anyone who needs to talk to the Lord about this matter.
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