8, the last chapter of 2 Peter, page 1019, if you're using the church Bible. Doing a study through this book, we've looked last time at verses 1 through 7, basically teaching about the coming of the Lord. In chapter 2, we had focused on false teachers. False teachers are the same as the scoffers. They're the ones that we are to avoid. Peter and the apostles are true teachers. They're the ones we are to listen to. The contrast between those and the coming of the Lord. And in this passage, since we are supposed to be eager for the coming of the Lord, why is there a delay and how are we to view it? Peter takes up this question. Starting verse eight, this is God's word. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. This far we read in God's word, fascinating topic about the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. We always want to know the future. People are asking weathermen, what's the weather going to be next week? People are asking financial advisors, what's the market going to be like next week? People always want to know what's going to happen. When will the quarantine be over? When can life get back to normal? When will the vaccine be delivered? When, when, when? We're curious about the future, and here I am bringing a message to you about the end of the world, about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ far in the future, you have got to be fascinated with this topic as I am. We looked last week about the coming of Christ, that we are to remain mindful of it, studying it, and longing for it. It brings us to Peter's next logical question. For people who are mindful of the second coming, for people who are eager for the second coming, you might want to ask, what is God waiting for? What is it taking so long? Why the delay, in other words? And in these verses, Peter explains because it helps to know why we are waiting. The short answer is God's mercy to give more time for sinners to be rescued through ministry and missions. And the longer answer is this whole sermon. So the Lord shared why his return is delayed so we can handle waiting in this broken world. Number one, we'll look at the Lord's patience before his return, verses eight and nine. Number two, point number two, we'll look at the Lord's suddenness in his return, verse 10, just the first part. And then the second half of verse 10, we'll look at point three, the Lord's plans after his return. I'm even going to uncover things that happen after the return of Christ to pique your interest. So first point, the Lord's patience before his return. We read verses eight and nine again. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you. Not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. Notice the verb overlook as Peter begins verse 8. Do not overlook. If you paid attention last week, very closely I talked about this verb because it's also found in verse 5. Verse eight, the same verb, overlook, is found in verse five. And we saw last week how Peter used it in verse five, that the scoffers deliberately overlook. Remember that? The scoffers deliberately overlook the fact of God creating the world by the power of his word. And here in verse eight, Peter tells his Christian readers of this letter not to overlook, same verb, not to overlook one fact. The one fact is that God is eternal. And so God views the second coming of Christ from the perspective of eternity. What does that fact mean? That God knows the weight of eternity is heavier than the years we're living in right now. It might seem like a long time, but from the perspective of eternity, it's not a long time. That God will have right in front of him the dealings of Adam in the Garden of Eden. just as readily as the dealings of Noah, and the dealings of everything that happened in all the centuries since, and right down to these last few weeks. All of it will be laid before God as if it just happened, because court is now opened. He is the judge who is eternal, and so all things will be treated at that moment when he comes. We have this sense, living within time, that it was such a long time ago who could even remember such a thing. But God is eternal. And so that's the thing that Peter has them keeping in mind. And in writing this, Peter now echoes a psalm written by Moses. It's Psalm 90, verse 4. We read this earlier in our service. See, Peter had read Moses on this. Psalm 90 is one of the rare psalms written by Moses. This Peter had also heard Jesus teaching on this topic of the schedule of the return of Christ. Jesus as recorded by Matthew in chapter 24, 36 of Matthew. But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. Matthew 24, 36. So Peter has listened to Moses on this. Peter has listened to Jesus on this. Peter knows that he cannot discover that scheduled moment of the return of Christ. That's not what he's after. But furthermore, Peter understands the patience of God in the schedule of the coming of Christ that unless we see the eternity of heaven future, we won't understand. Verse nine, Peter gives an encouraging word to people who are called to wait patiently. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, he encourages us. Here, Peter's alluding to a prophet named Habakkuk, the Old Testament prophet of God who wrote in Habakkuk two, verse three, for still the vision awaits its appointed time. It hastens to the end, it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it. It will surely come, it will not delay. Habakkuk 2 verse 3, it will not delay. This is old Testament Habakkuk. It will not delay. What do we need to understand here? Because to us, that seems like a delay. Aren't we instantaneous people? I can't believe the microwave takes one minute and 11 seconds to heat my oatmeal. One minute and 11 seconds? Can't they make these microwaves faster nowadays? After all this research they've had, right? Habakkuk is saying it will not delay. What do we need to understand here? Both Habakkuk and Peter are recommending that we trust God's promises are being fulfilled. We're right on schedule. And there's a good reason why the second coming hasn't happened. There's no delay here. Wrong word. There is something we don't know and it's right on schedule. The New Testament agrees with Habakkuk. The New Testament agrees with Peter's advice to us. Don't think of this as slow. The Lord is not slow in fulfilling his promises. The writer to the Hebrews echoes this. Hebrews 10, 37, when he's assuring us that God will keep his promises, we read, yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay. There we have it again, will not delay. Habakkuk said will not delay. The writer to the Hebrews says will not delay. Peter says it's not slow. Hmm. Then why does the second coming of Christ seem really slow in coming to us? Are you with me or is it just me? Peter is writing to people who feel like they're suffering, feel like the way to punch out is for Jesus to come. They're longing for it, as he just taught them to do in the previous verses. Peter has to address this question. Remember, the book of 2 Peter is being written to people who are scattered and discouraged. Does that sound familiar? These are verses that come across to us because we're scattered apart from one another and fighting discouragement. Peter writes in verse 9, it's not a broken promise. Rather, something important is happening. Something we don't understand because we can't see what God sees. We don't see from the perspective of God and perspective of eternity. The important thing that is happening is God's mercy is being given to generations of sinners. God the Father has not yet signaled for the return of Christ because God the Father is allowing more time for sinners to repent. Peter wants us to understand that this intentional interval shows one thing, the love of God preferring the repentance of sinners to the perishing of sinners. Who thinks God is slow? Peter writes, as some count slowness. Who are those some? You take a guess. You've been studying this book with me, right? It's literally certain ones. The some is a good translation in English, but in Greek, the certain ones count slowness. It's the scoffers. It's those false teachers that he's been railing against in the previous chapter. Some scoffers and some false teachers count it slow. This timing is too slow, they say. But as God counts timing, Peter retorts, the timing is not slow. Instead, the timing is mercy. Praise God for his mercy. You see, if we start to listen to the scoffers, we will become impatient, and we will start to say, it's slow, it's too slow, it's too long, and I'm impatient, and I want it now, like we do for so many things. If we listen to godly prophets and apostles like Habakkuk, Like Peter, who keeps saying, wait for it, it will not delay, God is up to something good, it's not slow. We will grow in our understanding. We begin to agree with God that showing mercy to sinners by giving more time for sinners to repent is a beautiful thing for God to do. And we say, you are in charge of the timing, our Lord and our God. You are saving souls. You know what you're doing. Far be it from me to say, hurry up. I could say, come quickly Lord Jesus, that's just me yearning for you to come, but I'm really not upset at the delay. Since the Lord is not slow, Peter instructs us, we must interpret the delay as God's patience. Verse nine, God is patient toward you. What if he had come a couple of centuries ago? His patience toward you allowed you the time to reach repentance. Now he's not talking about patience towards gophers. Now he's not talking about patience towards false teachers. He's talking about patience towards the recipients of the letter, towards the Christians. It's God's patience towards Peter's readers, toward believers like us. In other words, we gain ourselves from this delay. God has granted us sufficient time to reach repentance. Who benefited from the schedule of Christ's return? We did. You did. If you want your children, if you want your grandchildren, If you want the coming generation of those in the church and our neighbors and extended families to be saved, then we kind of want a delay in the coming of Christ until they too can hear the gospel and we participate in evangelizing them. So next in verse nine, Peter is telling us more and more perspective to set in perspective our urgency about Christ's coming. He tells us what's happening in the mind of God. How do you like that? Verse nine. God, not wishing that any should perish. Now we know a wish of God. Wow. We have to distinguish here between the wishes of God and the decisions of God. And Peter's now writing about God's heart, God's wish, God's attitude, if you will, his wanting, his preferring. It's an attitude. It's an outlook. It's not teaching that everyone is saved. Down through the decades, down through the centuries, people have taken this verse and misunderstood soteriology or the idea of how God saves people. We cannot build a case for the Bible teaching that all people are saved from a misunderstanding of this one verse. No, let me address this. For one thing, Peter has already clearly said in this very same chapter that some people are going to perish. Verse seven, in fact it's just two verses prior to this. He clearly says that scoffers and false teachers are stored up for fire. Now if you missed that, I'll translate it for you. It's Bible speak for they're going to die, okay? By God's command of fire. It's of course not the case that Peter is saying everyone is going to be saved. Then verse seven makes no sense, okay? So when we read here in verse 9 that God does not wish that those same scoffers should perish, how do we understand that? God is the one who will destroy them, but God does not wish to. Why? because God is loving toward all people that he has made, even the false teachers and scoffers, the ones who disregard God's holy command to repent, they're the ones who waste the extra time granted by God in his patience, they reject God's offer of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ, and they use any knowledge that they have of God to work against God, as we saw last week. They bear full responsibility for their own condemnation. But as far as God is concerned, the wish of God, the attitude of God, the heart of God toward all of this, He doesn't wish for them to perish. God's heart remains warm towards those who are made in his image. He doesn't delight in their destruction. God is filled with wrath for their wrongdoing. And God has a perdition awaiting those who will not repent. But his heart is a heart of love for all. God has a holy love and a holy anger that are lined up with each other. And it all works in our understanding of God. And if we don't have an understanding, let's dig deeper. We understand this and we need to understand this if we're gonna understand why Jesus has not yet returned. The most significant thing that has happened today is that Christ has not yet returned. It might be helpful if we understood the most significant thing that has happened. We get to know God better in this verse because Peter tells us, Peter reveals for us, he pulls back the curtain for us and says, this is the wish of God. It's an incredible thing. And Paul agrees with Peter, of course. We've got that by now, right? That Paul agrees with Peter on all things. Paul wrote to his student Timothy in 1 Timothy 2.4, listen carefully, that God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2.4. That does not mean that all people are saved. Even while God desires the redemption of the entire human race, God has not decreed the redemption of the entire human race. If the redemption is not decided by God, then they're not redeemed. God can never be found, in other words, gleefully and with a sinister laugh, rubbing his hands together and saying to the wicked with that deep, dark, heavenly voice of revenge, and future revenge saying, I'm gonna get ya. Never, never in the Bible because Peter has showed us the heart of God. God doesn't have a wicked sort of rebellious, revengeful heart. It's false teaching from false teachers that's got into us. This instead is the sort of thing that the true God truly says. We read from the true prophet Ezekiel, chapter 33, 11. As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?" Ezekiel 33, 11. And it's not just God the Father, and it's not just the Old Testament, it's not just select verses here and there. To the last moment before Christ returns, we can find our God holding out his hands all day long to sinners. This is the status. This is the posture. This is the wish. This is the heart of our God. All day long, holding out his hands towards sinners, inviting them to come and saying genuinely, with a heart filled with mercy, why won't you turn to me? Why insist that you die? This insight into the heart of God helps us to understand the patience of the Lord before his return. And I had two more pages on this and I cut it because I preached too long. But I think you got the idea. This insight into the heart of God brings us to the second point, understanding the suddenness of the Lord's return. So what we've said so far, you could get the impression that God is really loving. Well, he is. You could get the impression that he's really patient. Well, he is. If you conclude that he's really loving, if you conclude that he's really patient, you might think he has no standard whatsoever. And so we go right away to verse 10 where we talk about the suddenness of the Lord's return and why that's also important. Verse 10a, the day of the Lord will come like a thief. And what he's communicating here, what Peter is driving home to the minds of his readers is there's no split second left to fall on your knees and repent then when Christ is seen returning from heaven. When the heavens split and Christ himself is coming, that's not time left for you to then suddenly repent of all the wrongs that you've done everywhere and anytime and all that. The people at the tavern will tell you that. False teachers will be glad to tell you that. The Bible never tells you that. There is no split second left. Read it. The day of the Lord will come like a thief. Now I need to explain this to you because it's an example, a metaphor given by Peter, but it comes with biblical force. When children are home alone, they think they can jump on the couch. And then when they see dad or mom's car enter the driveway, they will right away stop jumping on the couch, puff it up a little bit, and walk away from the couch, and they will get away with it. But you know what that is? It's child think. It's elementary thinking, and Peter will have nothing of it. Peter urges us to see this important life-or-death matter like adults. We cannot have a split second of time to fall on our knees and repent after Christ returns. Why is this such a big deal? Because it's false teaching and it prevents people from repenting. it prevents people from reaching the point of repentance. What Peter says is crucial that we understand about the timing of the Lord's return. It's that it will surprise all of us. Absolutely no one will have any premonition or any advanced notice whatsoever. For anyone to say that, for anyone to publish that, for anyone to tweet that, is absolute lies. No one knows No one has a really good guess. Nobody knows. No one's going to get a whiff. No one will have a hint of the approaching moment. It will come how? Like a thief comes, without any warning. A seeming contrast to his patience in verse 9, which is important to cover here in verse 10, his suddenness. It's true that he will return like a thief. It's an undisputed fact taught by the Bible, by Peter, confirmed by the apostles. For example, need I confirm with Paul again? He wrote to the believers in 1 Thessalonians 5, While people are saying there's peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them, 1 Thessalonians 5.2. But back to our point here of the thief, the suddenness of the return is a well-established, well-accepted fact in the scriptures, but what is the interpretation of that fact? What does it mean? It means that the return of Christ is characterized as unexpected in terms of timing, quite expected in terms of its coming. The surprise nature of the timing of the return is a key piece of our understanding of this delay. The amount of time must remain unspecified in the amount of time for the delay. Why? Because the return must remain sudden. and unexpected in its occurrence to the exposure of the genuineness of the faith of believers and to the exposure of the fakeness of those who are false teachers and those who follow them. God demands true repentance. Nobody's going to fake their way into heaven by jumping down off the couch and pretending like they didn't jump on the couch when dad comes. It doesn't work like that with God. Peter urges us to put our thinking caps on and not be duped by false thinking. The comparison is to a thief. Do I need to spell this out? I think I do. A thief doesn't send you a text message. Don't recognize that number? Hey, just wanted you to know. First, I got to go to the store. I need a ski mask, some good gloves this time, and a longer crowbar. And then I should be at your place approximately 2 AM. But please don't wait up for me. Signed, tonight's robber. Never are you going to get a text message like that from someone actually coming to rob your house. Similarly, Christ, what Peter's saying is so real, so serious. He doesn't say to sinners, you can sin all you want. Right up until the moment that, I'll give you the day, get a pencil, I'll give you the day. I'll give you the day, the month, the year, and the millennium. And right up until that moment, have at it. But right before then, I'd recommend a good three hours before that you stop and repent. Is that the gospel, my friends? That's what the false teachers would have us conclude that the gospel is. Christ doesn't come back that way. He doesn't say that to us. Both Peter and Paul, when teaching about the second coming, use the word picture thief. Grasp what it means. A thief comes unexpectedly. He strikes in darkness so you can't see him. Can't leave the whole house unlocked until the thief is seen arriving down your street. Huh. Then you quickly go around and lock the doors that night. The apostles Peter and Paul are giving us the exact understanding. You can't leave your whole life a mess until you see Christ arriving and then quickly go around cleaning up your life. The only way to prepare for a thief is before the thief arrives. The only way to prepare for Christ is before Christ arrives. You have to always be ready for the thief to come. You have to always be ready for Christ to come. A thief comes suddenly. Christ comes suddenly. Remember that Old Testament man Esau? He led a godless life. Esau didn't respect his birthright on earth and similarly didn't respect his future place with God. We know that because Esau sold his large earthly inheritance to enjoy something small today. For him it was a bowl of soup. Then later, when Esau reached the end and wanted to receive anyway the forfeited large blessings on earth, Esau still would not repent. He even tried to repent. But the funny thing is, it's not funny, the odd or the difficult thing is that he had gone on too long with a hard heart. He had traveled too far in a bad direction. He couldn't soften his own hardened heart. Friends, my neighbors, your neighbors, your co-workers, those who don't believe, won't believe, and are mocking and are falling for every false teacher, when we explain these things to them, are they even open anymore? Hebrews 12, 17 says, Hebrews 12, 17. The phrase, no chance to repent, might stand out to you. You might think that's unfair. It means it was too late. Esau had too far to go to get to the finish line of repentance. Esau found no place for repentance in his own heart because there was no remaining time. There's no remaining occasion. There's no other opportunity. You can't go back. The inheritance had already been given away. It was too late. The painful, painful lesson of Esau illustrates Peter's point in verse 10. When sinners appear before God, receive their verdict, arrive at the place of torment, there will be no more time, no more chances, no opportunity or occasion to repent anymore. It will be too late. And the Lord's return is sudden, and it suddenly issues in that chain of events. That's the point two. 10a. We're moving on to our third point, last point today, the Lord's plans after his return. What's the Lord planning right after his arrival? Well, Peter actually reveals that to us. Now that's fascinating. Verse 10b, or I'll read the whole verse 10. The day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then The heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed." Fascinating. What is fascinating is that we do not know the appointed time of Christ's return, but we do know what will happen right after He returns. What will happen? You just read it. The heavens will pass away with a roar. Revelation 6.14, Isaiah 34.4, we read that the sky will vanish. How is it the sky will vanish? Imagine the sky being like a giant, one of those roll-up shades you have in your house, or like a blind, it's like a scroll, Old Testament scroll, or a modern-day blinds. Let the thing go and da-da-da-da-da-da-da, right? It's the whole sky will go up like that. It'll vanish like it'll open. And we'll begin to see things that have never seen before because all we have is the sky covering. That's what happens. Revelation 6.14, Isaiah 34.4, the sky will vanish. The same time that the rolling up of the sky is happening, you're going to hear something. You're going to hear what? We don't know what it sounds like, but we know this. We know it's loud. And we know it's a windy sort of sound from the word. The heavens will pass away with a roar, and the word with a roar is a loud noise indicating a sudden and violent movement through the air. Like if you move a whip, you can hear that whoosh, like that. That's the kind of sound that it describes. Like a long and loud rush of wind. People who survive tornadoes tell us that the sound of just the wind is so loud, it sounds like a freight train, just from the air moving. That is the kind of sound that we're talking about here. We also know, there's more, are you interested? There's more. We will know that there will also be destruction by fire. Verse 10, the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved. Verse 12 tells us that heavens will be set on fire and dissolve. The word dissolved was in verse 10. The word dissolved is in verse 12. It means literally breaking something down to its smallest component parts. Yeah, we know there's destruction by fire. And after the loud roar, the heavenly bodies will be burned up. The heavenly bodies are the sun, the moon, the stars, and the planets. When the day of the Lord comes, it's not just earth, but also the heavenly bodies that are affected. Listen to God's prophet Joel on this, when Joel wrote about the day of the Lord. Joel 2.10, the earth quakes before the army of the Lord, the heavens tremble, the sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. In addition, consider the teaching of Christ himself in Matthew 24, 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Matthew 24, 29. Now coming back here to Peter's passage as we close, verse 10 ends, the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Where exposed is discovered, or to learn the location of something by intentional searching. The Creator God, who's done with the sun, done with the stars, everything is being rolled up, done with the sky, what's He up to next? He's going to look for stuff. Stuff that will be exposed. The Creator Himself will destroy what He created, the sun, the moon, and the stars. And then Peter wants us to understand that God will take the works that were done on the earth, including everything that has happened in all of human history. And the moon is gone, and the stars are gone, and the sky's rolled up, and he's taking all the works that were done on this planet, and he's exposing them. That whatever is done for his glory will be rewarded and acknowledged. The works of his son, for example, and the people of his son, and whatever was done for evil. will be punished because it's too late. That's the Bible's teaching about the end of the world. Hope you're fascinated still because it's true. What have we seen today? The Lord shared why his return is delayed so he can handle waiting in a broken world, his patience before his return, the suddenness of his return, and his plans after his return. I have four concluding lessons for you how this applies. Number one, imitate the Lord's mercy. I find that we're judgmental people. We give up on people. We think that such and such a person doesn't deserve such and such a thing. And we have people for whom we're praying, but do we really mean it? We want God's salvation for so and so. Do we understand the importance of the delay of Christ's return? It's because God is merciful towards those persons. And God wants his people to take on the character of himself. He wants us to be merciful. What do we wish for, for our worst betrayer? If someone hurts you, someone hurts someone you love, they brought down your church, they brought down your family, they brought down your marriage, a group of boys and girls, they brought down a school, a business, a city, a country. What do we wish for him or her? See, one of the evidences of having the Spirit of God within us is goodness. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness. You know what goodness means? It's imitating the Lord's wishes. We wish that the perishing would not perish. We wish good, goodness forever. That's the Spirit of God. Imitate the Lord's mercy. Number two, rely on the grace of Christ yourself. That Christ died to wash your sins away. He rose again, gaining victory for us and the resources of heaven to live our whole lives. Rely on that grace for salvation, but also rely on it for daily living. We live by grace. We breathe by grace. We sleep by grace. Everything that we have comes from the grace of God. You don't have to wait for God's grace. It's here. It's being dumped on you, poured out every day. We wait for His coming, but we have His grace. Rely on His grace. We're already saved. We're already safe. We're right now being supplied with grace for life and godliness. We can be content and secure and thankful. Rely on the grace of Christ. That was number two. Number three, always be ready for Christ's return. the thrust of the passage. Live the whole of your life in a state of remaining ready. Let that influence how you pray before you put your head on your pillow at night, because it will come suddenly. Always be ready for Christ's return. That was number three. The fourth one, last one, share the good news. Tell everyone about the grace of God. Tell everyone about the mercy of Christ. Offer the forgiveness and the eternal life of the gospel. Support churches and missions that give out this good news. The reason that Christ has not yet returned is the patience of God for more people to be rescued. Get in on the work of God. Share the gospel with the goal that all will reach repentance, salvation, and God's rich blessings. Imitate the Lord's mercy, rely on the grace of Christ, always be ready for his return, and share the good news. Let's pray. Lord, keep us aware of your coming and of your mercy. May we, oh Lord, rely on your grace. May we remain ready for your return. May we always be sharing the good news to everyone we see. In the name of Jesus Christ, the coming one, we pray. Amen.