"PAY ATTENTION!" 2 PETER 3:1-4

Introduction

As we make our way to chapter three verse one, it is good to take a collective breath and a sigh of relief because we have made it out of the very difficult second chapter of 2 Peter. Let me just commend those who have hung in there over the last several weeks as we were confronted by some of the most difficult parts of Scripture. I also appreciate the questions and the conversations I have had with some of you concerning the content of chapter two.

Now, we that we have made it out of chapter two, we now turn our attention to chapter three. Chapter three deals with eschatology, which is a long English word made up of two Greek words meaning, “the word or study of last things.” Chapter three is all about what God has done in the past, what God is doing in the present and what He is about today with each step we take into the future.

Let me say a quick word about the supernatural nature of our faith. You are not compelled to leave your brains at the door to believe in the supernatural. As a matter of fact, if you have a problem with the supernatural, you are going to have a problem with Christianity. Why? Because Christianity is built upon the rock of the supernatural. We serve a supernatural God who spoke everything into existence. The same Jesus who supernaturally rose from the dead is the same Jesus who is going to supernaturally one day come again.

C.S. Lewis said concerning the supernatural, “It is not a step into the darkness, but it is a leap into the light.”

Today I am asking you to join me into a leap into the light as we look at two remembrances that we are to think on. Jesus is calling on us to remember and pay attention to what is truly important.

Here is the context of the challenge that Peter was confronting. Peter is writing to a group of believers who were suffering from without (external persecution), but more insidiously they were suffering from within (internal division) because of the phoniness of the false teachers. You need to keep that thought in mind as we begin the text. [read text]

To the Coming of the Savior (3:1-2)

More than ever before we need to pay attention to the coming of the Savior. Both the Old and New Testaments speak of both comings of Christ. The first time Jesus came, He came as the Savior. The next time He comes, He will come as Sovereign. The first time Jesus came, He came to take the penalty of our guilt and shame. The next time He comes, He will come to take over. This is the message that brings joy to the believer. However, it is also this message that brings jealousy to the heart of the scoffer.

A. Promised by the Prophets

Peter is calling upon believers to remember what the prophets of the Old Testament have already said. The use of the word beloved identifies the audience. He is writing to the “agapatoi” or the “beloved ones.” “Dearly beloved, you need to pay attention. I am trying to stir up your sincere (without wax) mind by way of reminder. First, I want to remind you of what God has already said through His prophets in the Old Testament about the return of Christ.”

Reminders are important because they stir us up to what we need to know. We need to be stirred up and shaken awake concerning the reality of the return of Jesus Christ. This coming will change everything. We are told that we are to remember the words of the prophets.

We see this truth in the preaching of Peter early on. Peter, who was an apostle, by the way, was a proclaimer of the Lord’s coming. He had been with Jesus when the Lord had spoken of His coming in Matthew 24.

In his proclamation of Jesus, Peter repeatedly made mention of the Old Testament prophets. We see this in his first sermon found in Acts 2. He quoted from the prophet Joel (2:17-21). He spoke of David’s own prophecy in the Psalms regarding Jesus (2:25-28, 34-35). What was he doing? He was calling upon the nation of Israel to remember and realize that Jesus is both Lord and Christ.

In Peter’s second sermon in Acts 3, it is all in reference to the prophets (3:17). Moses said this (3:24-25). Peter was proclaiming the coming of the Lord as the prophets proclaimed it. He says he wants to remind the people facing persecution in Asia Minor of what was spoken by the holy prophets. While many today ignore what the prophets said, Peter reminds us that we need to pay attention to what the prophets have said.

B. Promised by the Apostles

Not only are we to pay attention to the prophets, we are also commanded to pay attention and remember what the apostles have said. In Acts 2:42 we are told in the first part of the verse, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine...” What was the apostles’ doctrine? It was the commandment of the Lord and Savior. The apostles did not make up things as they went along. They were faithful to continue what Jesus had taught them and what Jesus had commanded them. It was the command of Jesus through the apostles after Jesus returned to heaven. What they believed we are to believe. We too are not to make things up as we go along. The doctrine of the apostles was the doctrine of Jesus and the doctrine of this church is to be the doctrine of Jesus and the truths of the Word of God because the Bible was ultimately given to us by Jesus. He is the ultimate author through the biblical authors He appointed.

I am reminded of the Apostle Paul and his being taken to Rome as a prisoner to Rome. It was a long and dangerous trip and gave a warning concerning the dangerous voyage. Basically, he said, “Listen to me, guys. I know that you are in a hurry to get me to Rome and be shed of me. I realize that I am soon going to die for the sake of the gospel. Yet, here is the truth. God has spoken to my spirit and if we do not turn this ship around, this ship is going to be turned into a shipwreck.” They ignored the warning and do what many today concerning the Word of God. They did what they jolly well pleased. Guess what? The cruise to Rome turned into one shipwreck of a disaster.

Gone are the days when preachers can stand up and say, “One day this is what is going to happen.” The reason is that what I have been preaching for over two decades is here. If you do not understand by now what all this garbage is all about, your head is stuck in the sand like an ostrich. If you do not understand what God is doing and how daily the prophecies of God’s Word are being fulfilled, you are not paying attention.

Pay attention to the Word of God. Jesus is coming again and it is going to be soon. God ready! Jesus is coming! Do you believe today that Jesus is going to come again?

To the Coming of the Scoffers (3:3-4)

While we are to pay attention as wait for the coming of Christ, we are also to look around us and be alert to the coming of the scoffers. They are already here but they are going to increase in number (3). With this verse and continuing for the next few verses, there will be the anticipation of a list that follows for the next several verses. The fact that the scoffers will come is a matter of certainty (“scoffers will come”). If scoffers are coming, it would be a good idea to know what a scoffer is. Scoffers are those who intimidate by rebellion and violence. It is to be a barker. Literally, scoffers are those who bark. They are the ones who bark against the truth. We are living in the days of scoffers. We are living in the days of those who are barking and mocking the truth of the Word of God. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Scoffers are coming and they will come “following their own sinful desires.” These are not concerned with truth. They are concerned with fulfilling their own godless desires.

Biblical Principle: A Major Identifier of the Last Days is a Severe Hatred of Anything Related to God

What are they scoffing about?

A. They Mock the Parousia

The parousia is the return of Jesus Christ. Jesus promised that He would return. The Bible clearly states this to be the case. Acts 1:10-11 promises, “And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’” Peter was an eyewitness to what was said because he was there. Yet, these guys are smart that they declare that Scripture is wrong. They declare the preacher is wrong. They declare the church is wrong. [read verse 4]

Peter is going to break down the attack of the scoffers and their argument. There are two arguments they give in verse four for rejecting what the Old Testament prophets said, What Jesus Himself said and what the New Testament apostles said.

They give a moral argument (4a).

The main reason people reject Christ is not mainly for an intellectual reason. Their reasoning is moral in nature. The scoffers said that Jesus was not going to return. If He did, He would have to judge the earth. Jesus is not going to do that because Jesus is so forgiving and gracious. Therefore, I have no moral constraints. I can sleep around with whoever I want. I can live life as a hedonist. Their mantra was: Eat, Drink and Be Merry for Tomorrow We Die. God is not going to hold me accountable. Thus, the primary reason people today just as in Peter’s day reject Christ is because they do not want to bend the knee.

They give a type of intellectual argument (4b).

This argument is known as uniformitarianism. It bears the principle of uniformity. It refers to a uniform closed system. In this system there is no room for the supernatural that would dare supersede the strict empiricism that these held to and most people today hold to. There is no such thing as the supernatural. All that exists is the natural.

These refuse to believe and they mock what we are commanded to believe. These mock the supernatural and emphasize and love the secular by claiming that ever since the first day of creation everything is the same, it is permanent and it is never going to change.

B. They Mock the Punishment

They reject the doctrine of the return of Christ, but they also reject the doctrine of the holy wrath of God on sin. This is nothing new. This is why the prophetic books were written. If they would have just read their Bible, they would have known. Ezekiel 12:21-25 warns, “And the word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, what is this proverb that you have heard the land of Israel, saying, ‘The days grow long, and every vision comes to nothing’? Tell them therefore, ‘Thus says the Lord God: I will put an end to this proverb, and they shall no more use it is a proverb in Israel.” But say to them, The days are near, and the fulfillment of every vision. For there shall be no more any false vision or flattering divination without the house of Israel. For I am the LORD; I will speak the word that I will speak, and it will be performed. It will no longer be delayed, but in your days, O rebellious house, I will speak the word and perform it, declares the Lord God.”

Amos 9:10 declares, “All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’”

In our day naturalism has replaced biblical theism that once existed throughout the west. The naturalist view sees the world order as continuing through natural processes. There is no expectation of any god acting outside the contained processes that are observed all around us. That is our culture.

Then there is the truth. The Bible declares such a culture as living in a drunken stupor unaware of what is coming. The scary thing about that is it is happening in the world of theology and the church. Liberalism is a system of deadness that sees little hope in the future coming of Christ. The fundamentalists of the early 20th century understood the dangerous implications of such a system. Such a system would affect everything. It affects how you understand Christ and who He is. It affects your view and understanding of the Word of God. It affects every area of theology. This is so much the case that there is an increasing falling away within theology itself. This is exactly what Peter warns against at the end of this third chapter (3:17).

Conclusion

Through the leading of the Holy Spirit, Peter warns believers to not forget and to pay attention. We are to pay attention to the coming of Christ as promised by the prophets and the apostles. Most importantly, however, we must understand that Jesus Himself promised that He would return. We are also to pay attention to the coming of the scoffers as they mock and deride the commands we have been given to remember and pay attention to.

Grandma reminded her granddaughter, “Tomorrow, we’re going to Sunday School. The unimpressed granddaughter replied, “I don’t like Sunday School.” The grandmother explained, We need to learn more about God.” The granddaughter replied, “I learned about Him last week..” The grandmother returned, “I’ve been going to church all my life, and I haven’t learned enough.” To which the granddaughter replied, “Well, maybe you weren’t paying attention!”

It is not the grandmother who needed to pay attention. It was the granddaughter. It is not someone else who needs to pay attention today. We all had better pay attention. Folks, Jesus Christ is coming back. When we live in light and in anticipation of this truth, we live with hope. We live with spiritual zeal and enthusiasm. We live with the recognition that we will one day give an account to our Master. However, when we fail to remember and focus on the things of this world, we become absorbed in the temporary and apathetic to the eternal. Church, wake up and pay attention. Jesus could come any day. His return is foundational to our hope and motivation for living in the days persecution, scoffing, insult and intimidation. Pay attention!