Remember Jesus is Coming

II Peter 3:1-8

Introduction

Our journey through II Peter was put off for several weeks. It is great to be back in the Word of God together. I am thankful to be able to preach again. But let’s take a few minutes to review some of the highlights of the things we have learned in II Peter.

Peter began the first chapter telling of the blessings we have in Christ that help us to be all that God wants us to be as we submit to Him and His Word. Peter explained why he wanted these believers and us to remember, our salvation and election in Christ as well as the reliability of God’s Word.

In chapter 2 Peter made clear the characteristics of the false teachers and their doctrines. These individuals who are driven by their flesh take advantage of those around them and though their words on the surface sound great they have no substance.

Today as we come to chapter three we will become aware of some of the arguments the false teachers use to mock and ridicule believers and we will be reminded of the truths of God’s Promises and God’s Word that give us motivation to live for Him.

Jesus is Coming!

The promise of His Coming. vs. 1-2

vs. 1 Peter wrote this epistle to stir up the minds of these believers. He wanted them to be “mindful” to remember the things that were taught by the prophets and apostles.

Note: Peter is equating the teaching/ writing of the apostles with the OT prophets. He does this further with Paul’s letters when he compares them to the rest of Scripture in verses 15-16. Though the cannon of Scripture was not yet complete, Peter was recognizing the importance of the apostles teaching/writing.

What were they to remember of Jesus coming?

Paul said in Titus 2:11-14 that is was the blessed hope. His return is to be what we are eagerly awaiting in Romans 8:23. Jesus return is the time of redemption of believers according to Ephesians 4:30.

Jesus return is to bring judgment on those who stand opposed to Him II Thess. 2:1-12.

It is at this second coming of Jesus Christ that He will set up His earthly kingdom a kingdom that brings peace and righteousness (Isa. 9:6-7). We as Paul should desire to see this day II Tim. 4:7-8 “7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

Peter’s desire was to remind us of this promise of Jesus return. This reminder was because of the attack of the false prophets.

The Attack on the Promise vs. 3-4

The idea of the Promise was not something that was kept a secret by the apostles or the church.

Jesus himself spoke of His return multiple times. Mt. 10:23 “23 When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.” Mt. 24:29-31, 42“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. 30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” “42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.” Mt. 25:31 “31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.”

The angel in Acts 1 promised His return as did the prophets Acts 3:20-21 “20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” Paul, John, and Peter all spoke of the second coming of Christ.

These individuals attacked by mocking vs. 3

When we take a stand for truth we can expect to be mocked. Sarcasm is often used to make us uncomfortable with what we believe about God’s Word. If we are not confident about the truth of God’s Word this mocking can make us lose confidence and waver in our stance. Peter said, “knowing this first”. This is making it a priority that we understand that there will be those who mock and ridicule.

This is to be expected in the last days. The last days is the time between Christ’s coming to earth as a baby, dying on the cross, rising again and then ascending to heaven until He comes to set up His kingdom. It is spoken of many times in the NT (cf. Acts 2:17; 2 Tim. 3:1; Heb. 1:2; James 5:3; 1 Peter 1:20; 1 John 2:18; Jude 18) (John F. MacArthur Jr., 2 Peter and Jude, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2005), 112.)

These mockers have been with us all through the church age and will continue until Christ returns. We must remind ourselves of the truths of God’s Word and stand firm in the faith. My experience is that some of the greatest mocking I have faced is from other professing Christians or those who once professed but walked away from the faith.

These individuals attack because of their lusts. vs. 3

The false teachers who deny Christ’s return do so because of their immorality. They “walk” or follow after the course of sin that they have been for some time. To acknowledge that Christ would return would mean that there is someone to whom they are to be accountable. They don’t want accountability they want to live by their fleshly desires. Paul told of the wrath of God on the sin of individuals in Romans 1:18 “18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,” To deny the coming of Christ gives them freedom from accountability and therefore freedom to live as they want though they are deceiving themselves. Green stated,

Anthropocentric hedonism [man-centered pleasure-seeking] always mocks at the idea of ultimate standards and a final division between saved and lost. For men who live in the world of the relative, the claim that the relative will be ended by the absolute is nothing short of ludicrous. For men who nourish a belief in human self-determination and perfectibility, the very idea that we are accountable and dependent is a bitter pill to swallow. No wonder they mocked! (The Second Epistle of Peter and the Epistle of James [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1968], 127) John F. MacArthur Jr., 2 Peter and Jude, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2005), 113.

As believers who look forward to Jesus return, we are motivated to a godly life. This is part of our motive for attending church and being accountable to other believers (Hebrews 10:25). We know that God will make us give account of our lives (Rom. 14:12; II Cor. 5:10) and will reveal the secret things of our hearts (I Cor. 4:5). Peter later in this chapter and Paul in Phil 3:20-21; 4:1 as well as John in 1John 3:2-3 motivate us to live in light of Christ return.

These individuals attack because things don’t change. vs. 4

The mocking comes, “Where is the promise of His coming?” Things have been the same since “the fathers” fell asleep. Since Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob died there is no difference. The promise has not been fulfilled. Things have been this way since creation.

These false teachers reject anything miraculous. They claim things continue as they always have. This is called Uniformitarianism. The idea that there is simply natural cause and effect there is no work of God in creation. God does not intervene in any way. The evolutionists of our day and those who founded the movement would base their beliefs on this idea.

2 Peter and Jude: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Uniformitarianism

To be sure, there is an element of general uniformity in the universe; it is a manifestation of God’s providential care for His creation. After all, if the natural laws and universal processes did not normally function in a consistent manner, chaos would ensue. A biblical view of the universe, then, sees creation as an open system—in which God has ordained a uniform operation of natural causes, but also a universe in which He has intervened and still does intervene. Those who go beyond this, advocating a uniformitarianism so rigid as to preclude God’s involvement in history, have foolishly deceived themselves. Like the false teachers of Peter’s day, they deny the promises of Scripture (including Christ’s return) on the basis of their conveniently devised worldview.

Reasons We can believe in Jesus Coming.

Peter gives these believers and us reasons we can believe that Jesus will return. He has some answers that help to refute the mocking philosophy of the false teachers.

God’s Word Can Be Trusted. vs. 1-2

As we began today, Peter is reminding us that we need to remember what the prophets and the apostles said of Jesus return. He wants to “stir up” their sincere or pure minds.

This is the second letter, a reference to His previous book we call I Peter. Both of these letters Peter wrote to remind believers and to encourage them to live lives that were faithful.

Peter’s challenge to remember the Holy Prophets which he clearly stated in chapter 1 were carried along by God as they wrote II Peter 1:20-21 “20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

God for centuries through the prophets told of the coming final judgment.

Joel 2:31 “31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.”

Malachi 4:1-5 “1 “For behold, the day is coming, Burning like an oven, And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,” Says the Lord of hosts, “That will leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings; And you shall go out And grow fat like stall-fed calves. 3 You shall trample the wicked, For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet On the day that I do this,” Says the Lord of hosts. 4 ...5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.”

Isa. 66:15-16 “15 For behold, the Lord will come with fire And with His chariots, like a whirlwind, To render His anger with fury, And His rebuke with flames of fire. 16 For by fire and by His sword The Lord will judge all flesh; And the slain of the Lord shall be many.”

Not only the Holy Prophets but as we mentioned in the opening the New Testament as well. When Peter says, “The commandments of the Lord and Savior spoken by the Apostles” he is referring to none other than the NT.

2 Peter and Jude: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Scripture

Twenty-three of the twenty-seven books in the New Testament explicitly refer to the Lord’s return. Of those four that do not (Galatians, Philemon, 2 John, and 3 John), Galatians 5:5 does allude to it: “For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness.” And 2 John 8 speaks of the believer’s future reward, a doctrine that finds its ultimate fulfillment after the second coming. In reality, then, only Philemon and 3 John are completely silent on the subject. In the two hundred sixty chapters of the New Testament, there are about three hundred instances in which Christ’s apostles make reference to His second coming.

Jesus own statements such as Mt. 16:27 “27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.”

Paul likewise promoted his belief in Christ’s return

II Tim. 4:1 “1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:” , 8 “8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” Titus 2:13 “13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,”

John looked forward to Jesus return too! Rev. 19:11-16 “11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS”

There are many more references we will not take the time to look at or read today, but the scriptures are riddles with references to Jesus second coming and proclamations of it.

We need to remember the past. vs. 5-7

These false teachers mocked the idea that things do not change, but Peter takes us back to the past where God stepped in and did miraculous things outside of the realm of the natural.

God spoke the world into being. vs. 5

In Genesis 1 God spoke the world into being out of nothing. Then he took that world that was covered in water and through his words gave the earth its order. Likewise, he spoke the heavens into existence. Yet these false teachers “willfully forget” or ignore the facts before them. The KJV uses “willingly are ignorant” very much like the rebels of Romans 1.

Peter argues for God’s spoken creation as proof that God can and will bring Jesus Christ back. He then uses the account of the flood to show that God brings judgment as He chooses.

God Destroyed the world with the flood vs. 6

The sin of man was so great that God sent the world-wide flood to destroy all life. In His grace He saved Noah, his family, and the animals on the ark. The greek term here for “flooded” is katakluzo from which we get the word cataclysm, which means to flood or inundate, bring about complete destruction. The water in the atmosphere the subterranean water added to the water that covers 3/4 of the world would be plenty to cover it all. The fossil records seem to imply that it would have been after the flood that we have the heaving of the many of the mountains that did not exist before.

The hard hearts of these false teachers that are wilfully ignorant and not willing to acknowledge these two major events that defy the realm of the natural bring condemnation on themselves and those who follow them.

Remember the rainbow, God’s promise to never destroy the earth by water. A sign that there must have been some great climactic changes to allow the refraction of water to be visible that was not before… Yet, this promise to not flood the entire earth does not mean that God will not bring judgment by another method such as fire as is presented here.

We saw in Isaiah 66:15-16 the connection of fire and judgment. Paul warned his readers as well of the coming judgment of fire. II Thess 1:6-8 “6 since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, 7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

It does not take much imagination to guess from where this judgment of fire might come. The sky is full of stars, comets, meteors that burn entering our atmosphere, and besides the earth is full of fiery lava which we see pour out from time to time in different places around the world.

It is God who is preserving the heavens and the earth for the the judgment of ungodly men to come. II Peter 3:7 “7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”

God sees time differently. vs. 8

Peter here is paraphrasing Moses statement in Psalm 90:4 “4 For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it is past, And like a watch in the night.”

When God has been here for eternity 1000 years is nothing.

How long is 10 minutes to a 4 year old? How about a 20 year old? What about someone who is 80? (Doug) It is simply a blip on the screen. This is how an eternal God would see 1000 years.

Though we as believers have been waiting for 2000 years, mockers can attack us for even believing in Christ’s return. Yet, God is Isa. 57:15 “15 ... the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, ”

God keeps his Word vs. 9

II Peter 3:9 “9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, "

These mockers would attack the character of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit for making promises they do not plan to keep or are not capable of keeping. Peter reminds us that the Lord is not a slacker! He will keep His Word.

Application

Today we are reminded that there are those who will mock and ridicule us for our faith and hope in the return of Christ. We are challenged to keep the faith.

For some here you have never acknowledged your sin before a righteous God putting your faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. Therefore, you like the rest of those who reject Him stand under the Wrath of God ignoring His mercy in allowing you to live another breath. Stop putting it off put your faith in Jesus Christ today.