The Day of the Lord

HBI - We must work on having a pure heart because of those that would turn us away from God and because the day of the Lord will come at a time we do now expect. We must be prepared.

Intro

We end this short series with a reminder of what we have already gone through, sometimes we need reminders. Willingly ignorant, that is a peculiar word.

There are many things in which we like to be willingly ignorant. I have heard the theory, don't ask questions because you might just get an answer and you may not like it. Sometimes it is better to be willingly ignorant that way you can claim “sorry I didn't know”. Unfortunately this does not work where there are clear rules in place. Maybe it is just wishful thinking, but being willfully ignorant to the rules doesn't always work, though it may give you a chance to get a warning instead of consequences the first time you are caught and told what the rules actually are.

but there is one thing we can not be willfully ignorant on, and that is the word of the Lord and His second coming. We are told that there are people that are ignorant of God and what He has done, and they chose to keep it that way. We see this in Archaeology all the time, People who find proof of the bibles truth and refuse to acknowledge it or say it is not true because it cant be possible.

What we need to be woken up to is the word of God and the truth it contains. we cannot be ignorant of the truth. In the truth we are given we are told to be prepared because Jesus is coming back again and His patience will not last forever. We must be prepared and refuse to remain willingly ignorant. We must be prepared to meet the lord with pure hearts. We end with a lesson that asks us the question, are you prepared to meet the Lord?

3:1-4 - Take God’s word seriously

2 Peter 3:1 CSB

1 Dear friends, this is now the second letter I have written to you; in both letters, I want to stir up your sincere understanding by way of reminder,

Starts similar to the way the letter started, Dear friends. Peter was coming from a place of love for the people not anger. There is a lot of correction and exhortations in the Bible. It was just a good reminder that it comes from a place of love.

Dear friends. It can be translated as beloved, or people whom I love. I wanted to remind you guys as well that I love you all. When I speak and it sounds like I might be angry it is coming from passion that you guys will hear what is written in the Bible, and that it will affect your lives, And I do it because I love you all to much to be weak on the truth in the word of God.

the point of all of this was to stir us up we are told. “wake up” it says. Sometimes I fear we hear things so often that we become hardened or apathetic to the truth we are being told.

this is to stir us up, to wake up. some people need more then one alarm to wake up in the morning. Some only need that one alarm and they are up for the day. whatever the case we need to be stirred up sometimes.

what we are to be woken up to is a sincere understanding. This means that we are to be reminded of and stirred up to a have a pure mind and heart. The danger is that we will fall asleep and be taken advantage of by the enemy.

sincere is an interesting word. In the Greek it can be translated as Sun Tested. There is a story behind the word that I find interesting though there is debate to the truth of it. But in Ancient times when making pottery sometimes quantity would win over quality. When drying the clay to quickly it would sometimes crack and they would fill the cracks with stuff like wax. When held up to the sun it would be seen whether it was high quality or not. Hence pure and suntested.

when held up to the standard of the word of God when we go to see Jesus, when held up to the son of God we need to seen as pure and holy, and the son of God will reveal if our hearts are pure or not.

2 Peter 3:2 CSB

2 so that you recall the words previously spoken by the holy prophets and the command of our Lord and Savior given through your apostles.

The thing that leads us on the path of a sincere heart and mind, a proper understanding of the word of God. As I have been saying, we need to go back to the basics and test and measure everything in our lives against His word.

the word of God was given to us by the HS through the work of the apostles and it is what spurs us on to having sincere hearts and minds. what leads us on to Holiness. This is where it all needs to start, we must grow through the word of God.

2 Peter 3:3–4 CSB

3 Above all, be aware of this: Scoffers will come in the last days scoffing and following their own evil desires, 4 saying, “Where is his ‘coming’ that he promised? Ever since our ancestors fell asleep, all things continue as they have been since the beginning of creation.”

We do this also because of the scoffers and false teachers who we are told will lead people astray. God’s word is true, and we are told to go back to the word of God because the scoffers will mock the word of God, saying it is not true mainly because the day of the Lord that was promised has not come yet.

People mocked Jesus and asked Him if He was the messiah to get himself off the cross. People will mock us for the Day of the Lord not coming yet, where is He they will say? We must work on having a pure heart and mind by sticking to the word of God because people will scoff us and try and turn us away from the truth.

His works into the next few verses. God’s word and his work is consistent. When people scoff and mock us we can remember that all things where started by God, continue as they have by the hand of God and the day of the Lord will happen as promised because we are reminded that God is consistent and every faithful.

3:5-9 - God’s word is consistent

2 Peter 3:5–7 CSB

5 They deliberately overlook this: By the word of God the heavens came into being long ago and the earth was brought about from water and through water. 6 Through these the world of that time perished when it was flooded. 7 By the same word, the present heavens and earth are stored up for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

But they overlook this fact, God created the world. Peter reminds us of what God has done and His word has come to pass. His work is consistent and true. if the prophecies and the word of God has come to pass then why would the future prophecies not come to pass.

God is God and we are not. We need to remember that God is sovereign and on His throne, He is in control. God is the author of creation, the author of time and He doesn't work on our time like we would want Him too. We must remember this. God is big enough for us to question Him, do not be afraid to come to God with your questions and cares. But like the Psalmists of old we need to rest in the promise that God is creator and we are the created. God is in control and His word will come to pass.

By the same word of God, judgement is coming for the world. If everything else God has done has come to pass then what makes us think that the judgement will be any different.

God is giving us a chance to come to Him, giving people a chance to turn to Him. When it comes to the judgement coming, God doesn't work like we do, the day of the Lord is delayed it would seem like, but that is because God does not work on our time schedules.

I do not know of many people that like to talk about it, but judgement is coming. It sucks to hear about but it is another promise that has been given to us.

2 Peter 3:8–9 CSB

8 Dear friends, don’t overlook this one fact: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.

But we have the reminder that we will not know the day f the Lord when the judgement will come and Jesus will come to reign. In regards to the day of the Lord it will come, that is a promise. That is where this verse comes in. the Lord God created time, He does not work according to our time frame.

that is what the day is like a thousand years verses till us. The Lord is giving people a chance to come to Him, He is patiently withholding judgement for sin for now. God does not wish any to be under judgement but a loving God has to also be a just God.

3:10-18 - so be diligent

Though we do not know when the day of the lord will come, when it does come wt will be in such a way that we do not expect it, we will have no chance at that time because it will be a surpiurse. Therefore we must strive to live our lives in Holiness now.

2 Peter 3:10–11 CSB

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; on that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed. 11 Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness

Like a thief in the night the day of the LORD WILL COME. We do not know but we are told to be prepared. We are warned it is going to happen.

so what does it matter the scoffers and the evildoers and the false teacher say. Jesus is coming back again and we do not know when, we will never know when until it happens. since God is consistent and ever faithful, His promsies will always come to pass as they have already, we know this truth will as well.

we must await with eagerness and live our lives in expectation of the coming of the Lord. we await with expectation the coming of the Lord.

2 Peter 3:14–15 CSB

14 Therefore, dear friends, while you wait for these things, make every effort to be found without spot or blemish in his sight, at peace. 15 Also, regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our dear brother Paul has written to you according to the wisdom given to him.

Make every effort to live a life of purity and be found in Him. God is patiently withholding judgement but that will not last forever. We must seek to be closer to Him, we can not remain willfully ignorant btu seek God.

So What?

willfully ignorant, sometimes we are tempted to remain willfully ignorant in life but not when it comes to the word of God and the day of the Lord. Our salvation is not based on the way that we live, but if we are saved by Grace then the way we live will change. so there are a few things we need to remember, true to tradition I have 3 points to leave you with, why three, I am not sure.

Back to the basics

we must not remain willfully ignorant of the word of God but must learn what it is the Bible says and allow it to change our hearts and minds. The reason being is when Jesus comes back we must be found having pure hearts and minds. A sincere understanding of word of God and let it affects our lives. We will not be completely holy in this life, but it is a process. When held up to the son of God we must be seen as pure and having lived our best by the word of God.

Because the day of the Lord is coming.

we must live this way, for the Lord God because we are promised that we will be held accountable for our sin if we do not know Him. We will be judged and found guilty. But it does not have to be that way. Jesus died so that we could have freedom instead of judgement. The free gift is there for all that would turn their lives to Him. Though Judgement is promised if we give our lives to Jesus in repentance for our sin we are promised that the day of the Lord will be a time of celebration instead of sorrow. Beauty instead of mourning.

The day of the Lord is coming, the word of the lord will come to Pass and Jesus will come again. The scoffers can scoff, the false teachers come and go but we must be found living for God when He comes.

In the meantime, live for Him

God does not work and act according to our timelines, He works in ways we do not often understand. That is Because God is in control, God is on His throne, He is sovereign and yet He loves us enough to Give us a chance. God could come down and judge us now all for our sin if we do not know Him and live for Him. Anyone that has rejected the message of Jesus deserves death and judgement. We all deserve death for our sin, I do not deserve the love of Jesus. The offer is there and God is patient in His judgement wanting you to turn to Him today, we do not know the day so we must turn to Him now.

It is now not the time to be willfully ignorant. We must go back to the basics and stand on the word of God. We must know why we believe what we believe. As hard as it is we need to turn our Live to God and change our lives as we learn from Him. I refuse to back down from God’s word, and my pray for you my friends is that we will be found as sun tested and pure in heart when we are held up to the son f God.