November 3 2013 Steve Rahter 2 Peter 3 1 10 audio.mp3

Sunday November 3rd2nd Peter 3:1-10I saw an article entitled “Why Children Need to Be Reminded Over and Over” and it was accompanied by this picture: I wonder if Paul or Peter felt that way at all when they had to keep reminding their followers over and over about things they had already been taught. Look at the words that Peter uses as he opens up the final chapter of his second letter.“This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.”Peter says “I am STIRRING YOU UP”; “I am giving you a REMINDER”; “You need to REMEMBER the words of the prophets and the apostles and especially the words of Jesus.”Why is Peter so concerned that they might forget what they’ve been taught? In verses 3 and 4 he warns them about what might happen if they aren’t continually reminding themselves of the things they know to be true.3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.”Peter knows that people who want to live in disobedience to God’s standards will always find a way to ignore God and pretend His judgment won’t ever come.These people want to believe that they can live however they want to with no possibility of punishment for their actions - ever. That’s a nice fantasy, I suppose, but it surely isn’t true, and Peter addresses the unreality of their self-delusion in verses 5 and 6:5 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, 6 through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water.Somebody pointed out that, instead of God forgetting to judge the world, God actually has gained a pretty strong reputation for judging the world. Some of it is biblically accurate and some of it isn’t. For example, if you ask your insurance agent about the clause in your homeowner’s policy that excludes “Acts of God”, he’ll tell you it refers to destruction of property by means of “Natural Disasters” like earthquakes or tsunamis.I don’t know if those types of disasters are actually “Acts of God” or just the result of a fallen and sinful world. Peter says that it’s only by an act of God’s mercy that the world still exists, but one day He’ll unleash a REAL Act of God in His final judgment.7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the Day of Judgment and destruction of ungodly men.God created the world and then God judged the sinful world with a Flood. Peter also pointed out back in Chapter 2 verse 6 that God “condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter.”Now God, “by His Word”, is preserving this present world for the Day of Judgment, which isn’t going to be a flood like in the days of Noah; it’s going to be FIRE like Sodom and Gomorrah!So okay, these mockers say, but that stuff (Noah’s flood and Sodom and Gomorrah) happened a long time ago. We haven’t seen much of God’s judgment lately. Maybe God has decided to stop judging people and just leave us alone to do whatever we want. Well, Peters says, you’re forgetting one important thing:8 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.This is actually taken from Psalm 90 verse 4:For a thousand years in Your sightAre like yesterday when it passes by,Or as a watch in the night.Peter is reminding the scoffers and mockers that God is sovereign over time; He created time, and that His perspective on time differs radically from ours. He continues making that point in verse 9:9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.As Christians we should realize that what seems to be a long delay in God bringing forth judgment is really just a sign of God’s mercy toward unbelievers. If God decided to judge the world today or tomorrow, He could, but His mercy is so great that He keeps waiting for more people to have a chance to repent and come to salvation.Will God wait forever? No, He won’t. When will He finally decide that the time for judgment has come? Peter addresses that in verse 10:10 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 burned up.This phrase “the day of the Lord” refers to the Second Coming of Christ, which will bring about divine judgment.This has been prophesied all through the Old Testament.Isaiah13:9–11  says,“Behold, the day of the Lord is coming,Cruel, with fury and burning anger,To make the land a desolation;And He will exterminate its sinners from it.10 For the stars of heaven and their constellationsWill not flash forth their light;The sun will be dark when it risesAnd the moon will not shed its light.11 Thus I will punish the world for its evilAnd the wicked for their iniquity;I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proudAnd abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.Joel 1:15 “For the day of the Lord is near,And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.Joel 3:14 “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. Peter says that when that day finally arrives it will come “like a thief.” Paul used the same phrase in 1 Thessalonians 5:2 “For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.”And Jesus used that same metaphor to show how unexpected the appearance of His return would be in Luke 12:39-40“But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 40 You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.”So what’s it going to look like when that day comes? Peter says “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 burned up.”This is very much the same description Jesus gave in Matthew 24:29–30 “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.”To get a perspective on what this will be like for the people who are alive on the earth when it happens, let me read you this description of a terrible natural disaster that occurred over 300 years ago: “Cities have been smothered with volcanic ash, leveled by hurricanes, shaken apart by earthquakes. But no disaster quite matches the one that struck Port Royal, Jamaica on June 7, 1692. In the space of less than 10 minutes, the thriving pirate port, reputedly the wickedest city on earth, sank into the Caribbean.An eyewitness described the scene like this: "The earth heaved and swelled like the rolling billows, and in many places the earth cracked open - open and shut - with a motion quick and fast. In some of these openings people were swallowed up, in others they were caught by the middle, and then pressed to death. The whole thing was accompanied by the noise of falling mountains in the distance, while the sky turned dull and reddish, like a glowing oven."Upward of 2000 people perished in the chaos. Even today, many Jamaicans believe that Port Royal’s destruction was the price exacted by an angry God for its sins.Here’s the question we need to ask ourselves as we read these verses: What’s the ultimate reason that Peter is putting forth this warning? What does God want people to do once they realize that His judgment WILL come?Ezekiel 18:21-23 says "… if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die. None of the offences he has committed will be remembered against him. Because of the righteous things he has done, he will live. Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?”The ultimate issue isn’t WHETHER God is going to bring judgment. He IS!The ultimate issue isn’t WHEN God is going to bring judgment. He’ll do it when He is good and ready, and it will happen like a thief coming in the night, when people aren’t expecting it.The ultimate issue is whether WE will be ready when He returns!Look at this warning that Jesus gives in Luke 21:34-36"Watch out that your hearts are not weighed down by carousing, strong drink, and the worries of life. Do not let that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come rushing upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. But stay alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things about to happen, and to stand before the Son of Man."Don’t get “weighed down”, Jesus says. Stay alert! Pray! Make SURE you have asked for your sins to be forgiven by faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection! Because there will come a day when that’s the ONLY thing that’s going to matter…that you will be able to “stand before the Son of Man" when He returns.