“According to His Promise”
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“According to His Promise”
“According to His Promise”
If you have your bibles, please turn with me to the book of 2 Peter. Today’s passage will be in chapter 3 and we will focus on verses 10–13. To help us hear this passage in context, let’s read from verse 8 down to verse 13.
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.
Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
PRAY
We are weak and frail. We come this morning from a busy work week. Spirit, come and exalt Christ in our midst. Cast our minds upon Your Word and show us Christ. Fill me with You power to powerfully explain Your Word I also ask that You would bring about conviction of sin and spur us towards holy living.
ILLUSTRATION
March 12, 2015
That was the day that Chloe and I started dating. Many of you who have known Chloe and I for a while might remember that time. But a date that you may not know is March 10, 2015. That was the day that I asked Chloe’s father, Scottie, for permission to date his daughter. I asked him if we could meet at Dairy Queen and we did that evening.
After the usual small talk, I explained to him my feelings towards his daughter, my views concerning dating, my future goals, and what was happening in my life at the time. I also did something else. I gave him a promise. I told him that I would only date for a year and a half. My intention to date Chloe was just that…intentional! I knew that within a year and a half I would have either known that I wanted to marry Chloe and therefore ask for her hand in marriage or I would have known that marriage probably wasn’t the best thing for us and I would have ended the relationship.
The next year, on March 12, 2016, I asked Chloe to marry me.
July 2, 2016, we were married.The promise was kept!
But while we were dating, Chloe and I lived according to the promise that I first made to her father, and subsequently, to her. All of our dating was lived in view of one day being married. The promise made Chloe and I live in such a way that many couples around our age do not. The promise made us live intentional—In everything that we did, we looked forward towards marriage. The promise also gave us security—Chloe and I both knew that each other was serious and that brought about an abiding comfort.
Peter, in a similar way, is encouraging these Christians by calling them to remember God’s promises that the false teachers deliberately rejected.
You remember them? Peter throughout the letter has been dealing with false teachers over a number of issues. In chapter 2, we find that:
They denied Christ (2.1) They advocated immoral living (2.2, 14, 18) They were filled with greed (2.3, 14–15) They blaspheme about matters that they are ignorant (2.12)
And in chapter 3, we find that these false teachers even denied the second coming of Christ and the final judgment. Hunter preached last week concerning the first portion of chapter 3 and we leaned that these false teachers deliberately overlook the creation of the world and God’s previous judgment concerning the flood.
In verse 8, Peter reminds these Christians that this is not the case and to remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord through the apostles.
Specifically, Peter tells us not to overlook this one fact that God’s timing is not our timing. We learned last week that God’s patience is not to be considered as God acting slowly. But rather, God is intentionally delaying future judgment desiring that all would reach repentance and that none would perish. What an incredible attribute of God! He is so merciful!
But this is not an argument against final judgment, but an argument for His delay. Peter tells us very boldly now that God will keep his promise of final judgment. Let’s look into the text for today starting in verse 10.
God’s Promise of Future Judgment (10–12)
God’s Promise of Future Judgment (10–12)
This verse comes right after Peter’s treatment of God’s timing and His character. Although God is mercifully delaying future judgment, desiring that all would reach repentance, He will not delay forever. Lest we think that Peter’s words mean that God will hold out forever, Peter rightly considers the doctrine of God’s future judgment. “But the day of the Lord will come.”
Paul warns of people taking advantage of God’s patience in :
Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
We are never to take lightly God’s actions. He is the Sovereign over the whole universe! To presume on God’s patience and live however we want like these false teachers were doing is foolish! We must worship and praise God for Who He is! We can’t pick and choose what we like about God and cling to those attributes alone.
We must cling to God’s love! But we must remember His wrath and hatred towards sin. We need this promise of final judgement.
But what exactly is the day of the Lord?
Lets look at some OT passages concerning the day of the Lord:
In Peter’s sermon at Pentecost, he quotes
“And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.
In , we read:
zephaniah 1:14
The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter;
the mighty man cries aloud there.
A day of wrath is that day,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
a day of trumpet blast and battle cry
against the fortified cities
and against the lofty battlements.
I will bring distress on mankind,
so that they shall walk like the blind,
because they have sinned against the Lord;
their blood shall be poured out like dust,
and their flesh like dung.
Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
In the fire of his jealousy,
all the earth shall be consumed;
for a full and sudden end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
Finally, we see in ,
malachi 3:2, 4:1-2
But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
The day of the Lord therefore is a coming day of judgment where God will destroy the heavens and the earth,
judge the wicked,
vindicate His name, and
rescue His people. This is God’s promise that He has made throughout all of Scripture.
Next we see that this great day will come like a thief. Perhaps Peter read this in Paul’s writings. Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 5.2 that, “for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”
Or perhaps he recalled that Jesus used this language. Jesus says in :
matthew 24
“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Chloe and I have never had our house broken into, nor do I recall my family ever being robbed growing up, but last fall, Chloe and I had one of our debit cards stolen. We were at a Sonic about to purchase food, and then our card was declined. I looked online to see what might be the issue only to discover that hundreds of dollars were stolen!
Thieves never give notice to when they are going to steal. That’s Jesus’ point.
The coming of the Son of Man, The Day of the Lord, will come like a thief.
It will come (the very first word in the sentence is this verb—Peter is sure that God will make good on this promise!), but we will not know the day or the hour in which it comes.
Now Peter begins to describe some aspects of that day.Peter does not fully paint a picture of what will happen in that day, but his main goal is to show us that this climax of history will happen.
To quote Micheal Green at this point, he writes that “Peter’s language is not entirely clear in detail, which is hardly surprising. He is using the language of the apocalyptic in the attempt to describe the indescribable.”
This is true. There are several phrases and words in this passage that are very uncommon or only occur in this passage throughout the NT.
Peter describes three aspects of this Day of the Lord:
The heavens will pass away with a roar.
Peter describes that the Heavens will pass away with a roar. This word for roar is incredibly colorful. It can refer to the “swish” of an arrow in the air, the hiss of a serpent, the rumbling of thunder, the crackle of a fire, or the rushing of many waters. The word itself is an onomatopoeia—a word that sounds like what it is describing. The words swish, hiss, and roar are clearly onomatopoeias in our language. The word in Greek is pronounced ῥοιζηδόν—do you hear the rushing sound that it makes?
It tells me that Peter is not only trying to capture our mind by giving us information concerning this great and awesome day of the Lord, but that he is also trying to capture our hearts. he wants us to somehow feel this day. On that day the Heavens will pass away with a roar and verse 12 tells us that they will be set on fire and dissolved! Perhaps that is how they will pass away with a roar—they will be set on fire and dissolved!
The heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved
There are three common interpretations concerning what is meant by the word that is translated “heavenly bodies” in the ESV. The first is that the word refers to elements—that is, the common philosophical understanding of elements referring to earth, air, fire, and water. The second is that the word means heavenly bodies such as the sun, moon, and stars. The third meaning is that this word refers to angelic powers and demons.
What are we to make of this? Although each interpretation has its own support, I am inclined to think that Heavenly bodies are in view. This fits much more with the imagery that is presented in scripture. Peter here has in mind that the sun, moon, stars, will be burned up and destroyed when God comes to judge the earth. So far, we see that in order for God to come in judgment, He must peel back everything that stands in His way. This same idea is present in verse 12 “and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!”
The earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
Here we see that God has made His way to earth. In judgment, God will expose all of the earth and the works on it. This refers to God exposing everything that is going on in the world. This includes everything that we do in worship towards God, but it also includes every so-called hidden sin. On that day, God will wipe out everything and call everyone to account for what is going on in the world. He will see everything—nothing will escape his unblinding eye.
Peter does not stop here so that we can say, “Great! now I know what to expect in the future!” and go on living our lives in the same way. Peter knows that the more we understand God’s character and actions, the more imperative it is that we live in a way that reflects our theology!
The false teachers in his day denied this theology because they wanted to pursue ungodly living. They were “following their own sinful desires” (v.3) Now that we know God’s promise concerning final judgment, we have no excuse to live lives that reflect this truth.
“Since all these things are to be dissolved”
This is a reference to verses 7 and 10. In those verse, we see that the heavens and earth are stored up for fire, being kept for judgement and that when the day comes both the heavens and everything in them (sun, moon, and stars) will be set on fire and destroyed leaving the world and everything that is done on it exposed. “All these things” then refers to everything that has been said before
Since the Heavens and the Earth are going to burn up in the fire of God’s final judgment, we must be people who live lives of holy conduct and godliness.
Peter puts it in a way of reasoning, “what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness.” The ides is that Peter is asking what kind of people must we be. The word translated as “ought” carries with it the idea of necessity.
We haven’t gotten to the second promise yet, but this promise of final judgment alone is enough to cause Peter to consider how we are to live.
If this world will not last for eternity but instead be burned up at God’s final judgement, why would we put any stock in anything here? Why would any of us put our hope in anything in this world? This affects more than our morality, it affects everything!!—our finances, our hobbies, the way we spend our time, our work, life goals—everything!
Furthermore, if God is so sovereign over every atom that He may melt down and refashion according to His choosing at the coming of Christ, how much more must we live underneath this same sovereignty in our lives? Holy living is always dependent on God’s character!
That’s Peter’s argument
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Peter’s argument here is that our living must be determined by four different aspects.
First, our living must be determined by holy conduct.
The word for lives (or conversation in the KJV) carries the idea of how someone conducts their life. It’s the manner of how one lives. Peter says here that our manner of life should be holy. It’s the same words and argument that he uses in Peter also uses this word in to describe the sensual conduct of the wicked men and women in Sodom and Gomorrah.
This makes sense, those in Lot’s day did not know about God’s character nor in His coming judgment, therefore they were free to act sensually. We, on the other hand, must live lives of holiness.
and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked
This makes sense, those in Lot’s day did not know about God’s character nor in His coming judgment, therefore they were free to act sensually. We, on the other hand, must live lives of holiness.
Second, our lives must be filled with godliness.
This was Paul exhortation in ,
This word also refers to a manner of life. It’s a life lived towards God in reverence. In fact, as far as Peter is concerned, it is God Who enables men and women to live such a life. In 1.3, he writes that “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.” We must live lives that reflect the fear of God. We must revere Who God is.
Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
This word also refers to a manner of life. It’s a life lived towards God in reverence. In fact, as far as Peter is concerned, it is God Who enables men and women to live such a life. In 1.3, he writes that
We must live lives that reflect the fear of God. We must revere Who God is.
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
We must live lives that reflect the fear of God. We must revere Who God is.
Third, we must live waiting for the coming day of the Lord
This word has the idea of expecting someone to do something or to act in a certain way. It’s considering the character of a person and expecting that person to act according to their character. When we consider God’s character and His promises, we expect Him to remain faithful towards what He has said. Jesus tells a parable concerning a wicked servant that failed to trust his master in ,
matthew 4: Context: Final Judgment On the contrast, Peter will command us to be waiting for God to fulfill His promises in verses 12, 13, and 14.
Matthew Context: Final Judgment On the contrast, Peter will command us to be waiting for God to fulfill His promises in verses 12, 13, and 14.
“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Context: Final Judgment On the contrast, Peter will command us to be waiting for God to fulfill His promises in verses 12, 13, and 14.
Finally, we are to live in a way that hastens the coming Day of God
This means that we can urge on the coming day. Question: How can you wait for something and simultaneously make it come faster? that is hasten it? Answer, like all of the Christian life, we must live in the tension of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. This final judgment will come—God does know the day and hour, we are called to wait and look to Him. But we are also called to hasten God’s future judgment. This seems to indicate human responsibility and given the context of repentance and God’s patience, it would seem that Peter has in mind evangelism. Not only evangelism, but prayer—Jesus taught us to pray, “Your Kingdom come” Also, here in the context, lives of holiness and godliness in verse 11.
All of these things point us to true Christian living. It’s not just good morals, but Christians morality lived out alongside true Christian piety that is both expecting all of God’s promises to come to pass and urging God by saying “Come Lord Jesus, Come quickly!” not only by our words, but by our actions by evangelism, prayer, and Godly living.
GOD’S PROMISE OF FINAL DWELLING (13)
GOD’S PROMISE OF FINAL DWELLING (13)
“But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”
Peter now turns our attention to another promise. This promise is the positive aspect of the day of the Lord. It is the promise of a future dwelling place for God and His people.
The false teachers of Peter’s day were not expecting a new heavens and a new earth, because they were living for this one. Peter would have his readers and us believe and therefore behave differently.
Peter tells us that we are waiting for a new headers and a new earth. This verde waiting is the same verb mentioned in verse 12. We are to wait for the coming day of the Lord, and His promise of a new Heavens and a new Earth.
But our waiting is not just something we do blindly, but we wait according to His promise. This is important for Peter and a theme that has been seen in the letter.
1.3–4 says that “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”
We live according to God’s promises! How else could we live the Christian life? Is not our faith built on promises?
The promise of Jesus’ return
The promise of a new heavens and a new earth
The promise that scripture is from God and therefore His perfect revelation to us
Those have primary importance in the book of 2 Peter, but Paul says it this way in , “so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.”
Also, Paul writes that all of God’s promises find their “yes” in Christ! in
Our faith is fueled by our love for God and the fulfillment of His promises.
Peter here links faith in God’s promises to holy living. Paul says it this way in ,
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
This is Peter’s aim! He is encouraging us to live holy lives according to what we believe!
(Sometimes I hear a stories about a person or a couple going to buy a car and they purchase a car that is way above their budget and it adds a new dimension of stress to their lives, but when asked about it they would say something like, “Well, we’re just trusting God.”)
Faith is not an excuse for foolishness, but the activating motivation for us to live holy lives. You want to increase your faith? Do you want to trust in God’s promises? We must read His Word and look to Christ! says that,
And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
Incredible! Growing in the knowledge of Christ involves knowing His promise and knowing Him. This is how we grow.
Finally, let’s look at the substance of this promise. After God’s final judgment, He will refashion the world into a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells. The best picture we have in scripture is in
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
This world that Peter describes is the sum and substance of where history is heading!
If Eden is Paradise Lost, this new Heavens and New Earth is Paradise Regained!
Peter here uses the language of our world to capture the wonder of the next. We can’t know every detail about the new Heavens and the new Earth, but can know for sure that it will be a place where righteousness is dwelling. —that’s the idea of the verb. It has a continuous aspect to it.
And why wouldn’t it be? Christ is the King of kings! He reigns in this new world! He is making all things new! He will take every wicked person and thing and rightly judge them according to His righteous law. He will find them wanting and therefore guilty and deserving of His eternal punishment. And then Christ will rule and reign and redeem all things! New Heavens and a new earth! Glorified bodies! Consequently, it is not a stretch of the imagination that He will also redeem society and how people interact. What a joy will it be to serve Him without sin.
CONCLUSION
Until that day, we are to live according to His promises. In this text, Peter is concerned about us living in light of eternity. How does this affect us? It affects us in every way. Of course it means living lives of holiness and godliness, but practically, it affects our finances, our time, our hobbies. It does affect everything! It makes us consider that to invest in this world, is to invest in something that will burn up and fade away.
Living in that mindset, a retirement fund is not more important that what you invest in the Kingdom. If I live for the next forty years to create a large retirement fund so that Chloe and I can go live on the beach and collect seashells til we die, that’s not investing for the Kingdom and it’s foolish in the context of eternity.
John Piper said in a sermon that “A life lived for the world will go naked into judgment. And a life lived for Christ will be laid with riches in the last day.”
Christ is the righteous King over all things. Do you know Him? If you do, we must live to serve and please Him with all of our lives in anticipation of an eternity spent with Him.
But perhaps there are some of you that do not know Christ. You are not Christians and upon hearing God’s Word, you realize that. Jesus in His ministry proclaimed,
and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” ()
The call to repent is now the divine summons that comes to you this morning. If you have not repented of your sins and trusted Christ to be your Lord and Savior, today is the day to trust in Him.
pray