5. 2 Peter 3:1-10
2 Peter: Be on Guard, Grow in Grace • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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The passengers have boarded the plane. All are sitting waiting in their seats. All the rows are full - all but one row that is.
Some passengers believe they ought to be leaving by now - surely the departure time is past? WE’RE here… why can’t they just push back and get underway.
But the wait goes on.
Passengers on the plane are waiting. And waiting.
There’s also a growing gaggle of people back in the terminal. Some onlookers start to laugh… they scoff at the idea of the plane ever taking off. They’ll all be taken back off that plane again soon (they say)… take off aint happening (they say).
Is the plane going? or isn’t it? And who gets to decide when?
After a length time the plane door is re-opened… “there you go” say the skeptical onlookers - “that’ll be them taking all the passengers off… that plane ain’t going anywhere”.
But rather than taking passengers off, a family of three are hurried onto the aircraft. They bustle along to their seats - the last empty row, the doors are shut again.
And THEN - after what feels like a thousand years - the authoritative voice of air traffic control squarks into the pilot’s headphones.
“You are cleared for take-off”
That story captures SOMETHING of the message of this passage.
There are naysayers… false teachers who are denying the return of Christ “he isn’t coming back” they say - don’t be so ridiculous. Those who are onn-board with Christ maybe shalken by this…. and troubled by the delay… who’s VOICE (whose WORD) is right? Have they gotten on board with Jesus in vain? Is their faith in his saving grace and his soon return in vain?
Who’s WORD is right on the matter?
And if Jesus IS coming back… why does it sometimes feel like there’s such a long delay?
BREAK OFF
Pickup with me in today’s passage - read from verse 1…
1 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.
Peter, remember, is writing for two important reasons.
Firstly he wants them to GROW in GRACE. Or (as he puts it here) to stimulate them to Godly, wholesome thinking.
And this isn’t just a 2 Peter thing, he’s said this from the start - even in his previous letter to them… he uses the same word here for THINKING as he did back in ONE Peter chapter 1 verse 13
13 Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.
It’s a wonderfully positive vision of growing to know Jesus better… and to follow him more closely, having minds filled with him more fully - so we are ever more ready for this return. A wonderfully positive vision of Growth - GROW IN GRACE.
But in order to do that there are also dangers to watch out for.
They need to be on guard - there are false teachers influencing the churches.
Yes we’re back to those false teachers again today - that’s our first heading.
You’ll see the two headings (by the way) on your sheet - you’ll see that this passage is all about drawing CONTRASTS - between the false teachers (one the one hand) and the Lord (on the other hand).
Firstly then:
1. The False Teachers:
1. The False Teachers:
And we see them (once again - this is letter a)
a) Doubting the Lord’s ’coming’
a) Doubting the Lord’s ’coming’
Look at verse 3.
3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?
They are saying ‘Jesus isn’t coming back’. All this talke of ‘the coming’… all this expectation about Jesus returning to judge the world and save his people…. it’s all none-sense, pie in the sky, stuff for people who are soft in the head.
And what evidence to they have for this?
How do they try to back up this claim?
Well, read on - see what they are saying (verse 4)
4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”
In other words…. they fact that it has been SO long since Jesus promised to come… and the fact he hasn’t yet come… well that tells you he isn’t coming at all! “Everything just goes on as it always has” they say “where is this ‘coming’ - this return of Jesus , it’s nonesense”.
(By the way remember that these scoffers are saying this sort of thing in the first century AD! Barely a generation has passed by since the time of Christ.
If they walked into Burghead Free Church this morning you can imagine they’d make their point even more strongly - where is this return of Jesus?! Generations come and generations go… weeks, and months, and seasons, and years, and decades, and centuries pass and there’s NO SIGN of him. Don’t kid yourselves, he’s not coming back don’t be so deluded.
You’ll come across this today I’m sure - this kind of sneering tone that ‘how can you be so silly as to believe that’ tone.
I came across this just the other night. I saw a report from the journalist Emily Maitliss for her news podcast. I saw it on YouTue and clicked through to watch because I saw she had done a piece about (qhat is being called) the Quiet Revival.
Studies out recently show some evidence that CHristian faith is on the rise, and particularly on the rise amongst young adults.
Maitlis had visited a Christian festival to meet some of these young people who had become Christians. Now perhaps I’m wrong - and it’s always dangerous to assume motives…. but it seemed to me (at least) that skepticism dripped off the report… the under-current of ‘how can you believe this stuff’ It was quite refreshing seeing young people making it clear that Maitliss’s generations atheism and skepticism hasn’t served them well - and that they’re hungry for something more.
Wether or not it’s the RETURN of Jesus, there are plenty of scoffers… and mockers…
And (in Peter’s day at least) Peter says that their main problem is forgetfulness. In fact - deliberate forgetfulness.
Letter b then…
The false teachers DOUBT the LORD’S COMING… they also…
b) Deliberately forgetting the Lord’s Word
b) Deliberately forgetting the Lord’s Word
v5
5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water.
We’re going to unpack what Peter means in just a moment - all this stuff about things being formed by words and by water…
For now just notice that these teachers DELIBERATELY forget God’s word.
You might say ‘that’s an odd phrase’ - why would you deliberately forget. Well… we chose to forget things which are uncomfortable. Uncomfortable truths if you like… (don’t we? - I think we all have that tendancy, truth be told).
It means that the False teachers rejection of Jesus…. and (especially here) their rejection of the truth that Jesus IS returning, is not merely an intellectual problem.
They’re not saying ‘well, I’ve weighed the evidence’ and on the balance of it all I’m not intellectually persuaded that Jesus is the riegning Son who’ll return to judge’…
No… theire rejection of Jesus is more PERSONAL than that…. and it’s not just INTELLECTUAL…. it’s MORAL.
Why do I say that? Well, remember their lifestyles….. (we saw this last week, in ch 2). It’s convenient for them to bury the truth that Jesus is returning…. because if he’s not returning then there’s no final judgement…. and if there’s no final judgement then how can they live? (they can live however they want).
This is not uncommon today, folk don’t usually reject Jesus ONLY for intellectual reasons - there may be an element of that and, of course, we believe there ARE good credible intelectual reasons to believe in the Jesus of the Bible - the evidence IS there, it IS intellectually credible…. but usually when folk reject Christ, it’s deeper than that.
The gospel is, after all PERSONALLY confronting….. and (even) PERSONALLY offensive (in a way).
The gospel tells me I am not the centre of the universe… that there is a King who reigns (and it isn’t Peter Turnbull). The gospel tells me I am a sinner unable to save myself, entirely dependent on the garce of Jesus - who loved me and gave himself for me at the cross. The gospel tells me I deeply need that grace becuase Jesus IS returning and he will, rightly judge those who remain opposed to him. The gospel also tells me that if I come to Christ, it means real change - I cannot have Jesus as Saviour without him also transforming me as my Lord.
The false teachers deliberately forget… they push the uncomfortable truths out of their mind. Are we the same?
In contrast to the false teachers though, is the Lord Jesus…. this passage shows how different he is. So, secondly…
2. The Lord:
2. The Lord:
The first big contrast is between the WORD of the false teachers…. and the WORD of the Lord.
We’ve already seen that the false teachers speak EMPTY WORDS… (remember this from last week - chapter 2 v19)
19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”
WHat they promise turns out to be meaningless - their words have no power. By contrast Peter now lines up example after example… instance after instance where GOD’S WORD proves to be entirely dependable.
Letter a…
a) Dependable Word
a) Dependable Word
So get back into the text read from v5 once again
5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
You want to see how dependable and how Powerful God’s word is?
When God speaks HIS word…. the universe springs into existence.
That phrase “Out of water and by water” is, of course, a reference to the creation account in Genesis… God separates waters, he orders creation, and sea and land and sky and all the rest are formed.
And since he’s mentioned WATER he riffs on that theme… “you want another example” he says? “of the power of God’s word?”….. well what about Noah… God promises it’s going to rain, and boy does it rain.
Do you see the point?
when God spoke creation his word brings creation….
when God spoke destruction (the flood)…. God brings destruction….
And SO…. and so…. when God speaks to promise the return of his son… when God promises the coming judgement of the wicked and salvation of his people. You can be as sure as night follows day that his word is good…. and the promise is true.
It’s all encompassing - you have creation (beginning) and final judgement (the end). You have fire, you haev water - as if to say all the natural elements are within the control of God’s WORD - when he speaks it, it’s as good as done.
PAUSE - BREAK OFF
By the way, just a word on v10
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
Peter is drawing here on teh poetry of Isaiah and Zephaniah - who speak about the Day of Lord being a time of consuming fire.
Now, There are different takes on this verse… and they have some implications so it’s worth camping out here for a brief moment. Let me give you three takes which may be correct and then tell you why I think some combination of number 2 and 3 are probably right…
The key word here is στοιχεῖον (stoicheion).
The NIV translates it as ‘elements’ - mid way through v10
10 …The heavens will disappear with a roar; the στοιχεῖον (elements) will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
So firstly… this could mean the physical elements of the universe. IN which case it means that when Jesus returns the physical universe will be completely done away with, scrapped, melted down. IS this what Peter means? Well, maybe… This kind of thinking CAN sometimes lead folks to be quite skeptical about our responsibilities to steward the planet - care for natural resources and so on. ‘Well’, they say ‘it’s all getting melted down anyway so why bother (for example) to care for the planet’.
However… there are good reasons to think that isn’t the correct reading here.
So, secondly… we know that Peter is quoting from or alluding to Isaiah 34 v4… And there this word is used to refer not to “Elements” but heavenly bodies (like the stars). In which case this line may be a metaphor for the sky being ‘peeled back’ as it were to reveal or (as v10 says) ‘lay bare’ the true state of things - exposing evil and injustice.
Thirdly… this word can also be used to refer to ‘elemental forces’ - meaning spiritual forces of evil. Paul uses the word this way in Galatians and Colossians - now, of course we know that Peter was familiar with Paul’s letters (he tells us that in this very chapter)…
It seems to me mostly likely that Peter means that when Jesus returns… it is the spiritual forces of evil and injustic that will be exposed…. peeled back… revealed… destroyed (judged) - all those who oppose Christ.
It seems to me that the vision the Bible gives us of the end times isn’t so much of the world being destroyed… but of it being renewed and remade as heaven and earth come are united under the Lordship of Christ.
ANYWAY if we’ve lost the wood for the trees…. Peter’s big, clear point here is that when God speaks… it happens… the LORD’S WORD is dependable… so if he says Christ is coming back… Christ is coming back.
When the passengers on the airoplane are told by the voice of airtraffic control - you are going to take off…. then you can know - you’re going to take off.
In which case the obvious come back would be…. WELL WHY THE DELAY? WHY IS IT TAKING SO LONG?!
That’s letter b….
b) Divine timing
b) Divine timing
Read on, v8….
8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.
If Christ is definitely returning in this way…. why the delay? Well two reasons - heres the first.
Peter is quoting here - or paraphrasing from Psalm 90:4
4 A thousand years in your sight
are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night.
God stands over and above time.
God stands outside time and space.
He isn’t bound by these things like we are - he knows the end from the beginning. The sheer vastness and scale and power of the Lord means a time which seems an eternity to us, is a blinking of the eye to him. After all - what is the passing of 1000 years to a God who who was, who is, and who is to come - one who is outside time… who one has always been.
We find it desperately difficult not to want instant gratification… hopelessly hard to wait or be patient. But God has no problem taking the Long view… ESPECIALLY when he has this second good reason fo rhis deliberately delay….
To see what that second reason is - we need to get into letter c…
c) Deliberate Delay
c) Deliberate Delay
Read on - the very next verse…
9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Here is a pattern repeated and repeated in the pages of the Bible. The Lord is slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is patient and longsuffering with us.
Remember those famous words spoken to Moses when the Lord revelead himself?
6 …“The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,
From the Lord’s perspective, there is no slowness. He will certainly keep His promise for Christ to return, but it will be on His timescale. Currently, though, the Lord is choosing to exercise patience. His aim is to give people time to repent and avoid perishing in his judgement.
What grace!
9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
ANd this, of course, includes those false teachers Peter is addressing…. and the people they have led astray.
And it’s true today. One of THE main reasons that Jesus has not yet returned is that, in the plans and providence fo God, more time is being given…. for men and women and boys and girls to turn and trust in him… to find forgiveness in him…. to come to know him as Saviour so they might never need meet him as judge.
RIFF - transfer window… football.
That is a trite example… to make a very serious point - today is the day of grace, now is the window of opportunity. Becuase soon (letter d) we will reach Jesus’ DEFINITE COMING.
d) Definite Coming
d) Definite Coming
We reach v10 again…
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.
These are the words of Jesus of course - heard, first hand and now quoted here by Peter. You can read the full parable they come from in Matthew 24…
43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
Be ready - by receiving Jesus, and by sticking with him…. by growing in the grace and likeness of Jesus and by being on Guard for false teachers who would lead us astray from all of this.
BREAK OFF
The passengers sat on the airplane. They had gotten on board and they had been promised it would depart…. although they weren’t sure when. The naysayers back in the terminal didn’t believe it.
After a while it because clear that the delay was actually a gracious one. More time was being given for folk to make it onto the plane so they wouldn’t be left behind.
And the authoratative voice of air traffic control made this all clear.
Jesus is comign back - we have the authoritative voice of GOD to gaurantee this. We need to be on board with Jesus…. to ignore the naysayers…. and to make the most of this window of opportunity to encourage others to get on board by faith in Jesus too.
Let’s pray
