I Am Coming Soon

The Promises of God  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Introduction

The promises of God set into motion for us His truth that we can trust.
Proverbs 3:5–6 NIV84
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
Years ago I developed an acronym for the word TRUST, totally rely upon sovereign truth.
Totally
Rely
Upon
Sovereign
Truth
That certainly is what we can do when we look at the promises of God. We can trust them. We can rely on them. We can live in them. They give us hope and bring us joy. They provide for us the blessed assurance that Jesus is mine. In fact, we do not have to keep them to ourselves but we are given these promises to tell others of God’s great love and mercy.
Psalm 92:4 NIV84
4 For you make me glad by your deeds, O Lord; I sing for joy at the works of your hands.
We are called by Jesus to share these promises. His great commission says Go!
Matthew 28:18–20 NIV84
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
We are to go, make, teach and be assured that He is with us to the very end of the age. But what happens at that end of the age? Well the promise He makes is this: I am coming soon! We see this throughout scripture but today we are focusing on 2 Peter 3:1-10.
2 Peter 3:1–10 NIV84
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. 2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. 3 First of 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? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed 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 ungodly men. 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. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 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 in it will be laid bare.
This is a promise that keeps me going, knowing that our Lord and Savior has promised that He is coming soon. Every generation in history has felt that they were in the last days. We may or may not be in the last days as the Word of God says we don’t know when that time will be. However, I can tell you this, we are closer now than any generation have ever experienced. The signs of the times are there. They are quite evident. Peter in his second epistle, gives us some things to thing about regarding the promise of Jesus coming soon. Look first at the stimulating signs.

Stimulating Signs (vs.1-2)

Peter tells us first that he has given us these reminders to stimulate wholesome thinking. The word of reminders means to put into remembrance. It is an attitude of thought that always on one’s mind. The word stimulate means to awake, stir up or arouse. The Greek language for the words wholesome thinking was used by Plato as a phrase to mean “pure reason.” The philosopher thought it good to have wholesome thinking that was uncontaminated. Peter was taking this thought a bit further to mean for one to have a correct understanding as opposed to an incorrect or false way of thinking. It means to be sincere and true in the way one thinks. The idea behind wholesome thinking is that when the sunlight shines on it, it is pure, whole and complete. I am curious this morning, do the thoughts you have pass this test? Are you a victim stinking thinking or do you practice wholesome thinking? How mature are you in your thoughts?
1 Corinthians 14:20 NIV84
20 Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.
In order to think maturely, our wholesome thinking should reflect a few things. Paul has a great list for us in Philippians 4:8:
Philippians 4:8 NIV84
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
What is in your thought lift that comes from wholesome thinking? Peter says, “I want your wholesome thinking to about words you have heard spoken in the past from holy prophets and by our Lord and Savior. The understanding I have about this phrase is that these are words talking. They are not just words from great people in the past. They are words uttered by the living voice. This is quite interesting to me because the Greek word is RHEMA which literally means just that: “the words uttered by the living voice.” Oh my we could have church on that! The living voice is from the Living God. We can depend on God’s word from the oral tradition of the holy prophets that we have in God’s Word.
Luke 1:70 NIV84
70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
And we can depend on the One that was called the Living Word.
John 1:1 NIV84
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Colossians 3:16 NIV84
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
The Living Word promises us that “it ain’t always going to be like this” but there are better days coming. One writer said, “If one knows the Old Testament, one knows that it prophesies that judgement will eventually come.”
The stimulating signs of wholesome thinking and words talking lead us to consider the wisdom taught. The wisdom taught was that the path to become like Christ, build the body of Christ, and attain the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Ephesians 4:11–13 NIV84
11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
This means for us that we need to obey the good news and submit to the life that it proclaims. Ultimately, we must live in the promise of Jesus is coming back to reign forever more as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. In doing so we are going to be to get called up with Him to live with Him for eternity. If we don’t, we won’t. In other words, we need to get right or get left!
Peter wants us to think about these stimulating signs because we will have scoffers scoffing.

Scoffers Scoffing

What in the world is a scoffer? A scoffer is one that does not believe and makes fun of those who do believe and casts doubt. The Greek word means one that mocks. I find it quite hilarious that 2 Peter 3:3 tells us that scoffers will come scoffing. Why do scoffers scoff? It is what they do! They come in to play here saying, “Well, it has not happened so it can’t be and won’t be real.” The main thing I see about scoffers is that they don’t desire to live the life God has called us to so therefore they cast doubt and try to bring others down to their level. Have you ever had a scoffer in your life? They are always critical and mean in their ways. They try to make you look stupid and question your very being. This passage tells us they focus on their own desires instead of God’s.
2 Peter 2:10 NIV84
10 This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings;
They try to cast doubt.
2 Timothy 3:1–9 NIV84
1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. 6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth—men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.
Peter gives a great argument against the scoffers. He debates their argument by telling how they have deliberately forgot how God’s word created the world into existence. I love the emphasis put in verses 8-9:
2 Peter 3:8–9 NIV84
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. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
As a result of this argument, Peter denounces the scoffers. You and I would do well to do the same. I have found that these scoffers are constantly adding to the Word of God.
Proverbs 30:6 NIV84
6 Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.
The greatest way to get the scoffers to hush is to point to the Savior Saving.

Savior Saving (vs.6-10)

There is a power in His Promise.
Habakkuk 2:3 NIV84
3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.
2 Peter 3:9 NIV84
9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
He is not slow as verse 9 says. He is patient. There is power in His promise and there is praise in His purpose. He is not wanting anyone to perish.
1 Timothy 2:4 NIV84
4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
I am convinced in the Lord’s promise of coming soon has not come to fruition because of He wants to get as many people saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. Guess what, He even wants the scoffers to be saved! What a love our God has for us! This Saving Savior gives us one more thing to consider. Notice the position of His presence.
2 Peter 3:10 NIV84
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 in it will be laid bare.
The Savior’s position is One of supreme authority. It is not included in our text today, but nevertheless it is a truth we can bank on:
2 Peter 3:13 NIV84
13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
The position of His presence will be a new heaven and a new earth. We will have a home of righteousness. Jesus is coming soon. That is a promise we can be assured of and one in which we can depend. Do you know him? He knows you and He loves you very much. That’s a promise!
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