Once again this evening, I'd like to ask you
to open your Bible if you brought it with you,
and I hope you did, to the book of 2 Peter in
the New Testament. Tonight we conclude our study
in this epistle and I'll begin reading in chapter
3 verse 10. But the day of the Lord will come
like a thief in which the heavens will pass away
with a roar and the elements will be destroyed
with intense heat. and the earth and its works
will be burned up. Since all these things are
to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people
ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
looking for and hastening the coming of the day
of God, on account of which the heavens will
be destroyed by burning and the elements will
melt with intense heat? But according to His
promise, We are looking for a new heavens and
a new earth in which righteousness dwells Therefore
beloved since you look for these things be diligent
to be found by him in peace spotless and blameless
and Regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation
Just as also our beloved brother Paul according
to the wisdom given him wrote to you as also
in all his letters speaking in them of these
things, in which are some things hard to understand,
which the untaught and unstable distort, as they
do also the rest of the scriptures to their own
destruction. You therefore, beloved, knowing
this beforehand, be on your guard, lest, being
carried away by the error of unprincipled men,
you fall from your own steadfastness. but grow
in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and
to the day of eternity. Amen. Peter was a man
of deep, deep passion. His passion in this letter,
as we have unfolded it, is that we grow as believers.
that we grow in Jesus Christ, that is, that we
become more Christ -like, following the pattern
which he laid out for us in chapter 1, verses
5 through 7. As Peter loved the Lord Jesus, so
he also loved the Lord's people. You will note
in this chapter four times he addresses us, his
readers, as beloved. Verse 1, again in verse
8, verse 14, and verse 17. Beloved, he says,
a man of deep passion. And he addressed his remarks
regarding Paul, the apostle, with this preface,
our beloved brother Paul. Now you think back
about all of the contact between Peter and Paul.
And you know, this is a rather remarkable statement
because they didn't always see eye to eye. And
indeed, Paul corrected Peter, who was in the
Lord before him. And yet, Peter has accepted
that, obviously, and deeply loves the Apostle
Paul. A motive for the discipline that it takes
to grow in Jesus Christ is the knowledge that
it matters that we do. It matters that we do
grow in the grace and in the knowledge of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It matters to us. Life is
different when you and I discipline ourselves
to grow. And furthermore, eternity is different.
It matters to the Lord that you and I grow. Indeed,
Peter lays out before us in this book the fact
that God has already appointed a time on His
calendar when there is going to be an accounting
of all people. All people. For the believer too.
We who are believers in Jesus Christ will be
called to give account of our lives at the Bema
Seat, judgment it's called. And based upon the
result of that judgment, we will then enter into
the Kingdom of our Lord with certain responsibilities.
And the Word of God seems to indicate that we
can have responsibilities or we can have those
responsibilities taken away from us if in fact
we haven't been diligent and faithful in this
life. So it matters that we grow in Christ. But
those who are outside of Jesus Christ likewise
face an appointment of judgment with God. It
is a final judgment and it is one that involves
eternal punishment and ruin. He is mentioned
already in this book but look in chapter 3 verse
7 where again he says the fire is kept for the
day of judgment and destruction. The word doesn't
mean annihilation but it means eternal loss.
the eternal loss of ungodly men. Who are ungodly
men? Well, those are people who live without
God. God may be in their vocabulary, in a good
way or a bad way, but even if it's in a good
way, if there's not a personal relationship with
God, if it's not a personal faith in God, then
they're ungodly. It means to live life without
God in the focus, in the center of it. And he
says those who choose to live that way face judgment
from God. Today it's becoming popular to think
of life as an unending cycle of reincarnations.
But life is not that. Neither is life a brief
senseless day in which to live as one wishes
as though we were only evolved animals of some
sort We are created as human beings in the image
of God and as such life has purpose and Life
has a destiny Life has a goal toward which it
moves with every tick of the clock The universe
is not eternal either. Like us, the universe
itself had a beginning, and the universe has
an ending, at least the universe as we know it
today. We talked last Sunday night about this
phrase, the day of the Lord, and the fact that
it embraces two different streams of thought
under its canopy. One is the thought of judgment
from God upon the ungodly. The other is blessing
from God upon the believers. The Day of the Lord
is not just one 24 -hour period. It's a lengthy
period of time in which God will both judge those
who are ungodly and will bless those who are
His own. The Day of the Lord involves the coming
reign of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then when
the Day of the Lord is finished, with a final
judgment from God. It ushers in what is called
in this text, and I think only in this text,
in all of the Bible, the day of God, which is
different than the day of the Lord. After the
kingdom reign of Jesus Christ, when He will reign
upon this earth, And believe me, His reign in
the future is as sure as His birth in Bethlehem
that we just sung about a few moments ago. He
is going to come and reign upon the earth. But
it's for a limited time. It's for a thousand
years. And when that thousand years is completed,
the scriptures indicate there is one final time
of judgment when God will deal thoroughly with
all wickedness and will put it away forever.
And then, God is going to bring to an end the
universe as we know it. And we'll start over
again with a new heaven and a new earth, which
He talks about in verse 13. The day of God is
that new heaven and new earth in the future.
It is the resumption of a timeless state or a
state when there is unending time, however you
may define eternity. But it's after the world
order as we know it now has been concluded. This
morning I talked a little bit about George Bush's
idea of a new world order. Whatever he has in
mind by that, believe me, it is nothing compared
to what God has in mind. Because God is going
to start all over again. with a brand new earth
and a brand new heavens and that will truly be
a new order and that is what the day of God is.
Now the day of the Lord He describes in verse
10 as coming like a thief which is a phrase meaning
it will come unexpectedly upon those who are
not looking for it. They will not be watching
for it. They will not be alert to it. and therefore
they will fail to anticipate it and suddenly
it will come upon them. And he says this day
of the Lord, and again it's a long period of
time, embracing initial judgment, then this thousand
year reign of Christ, and then a final spurt
of judgment, final judgment. The day of the Lord
then will conclude with the destruction of the
present heavens and earths. And that's what he
describes for us. in these verses. In verse 10
he says, the heavens will pass away with a roar.
Interesting word. It means with a hiss, with
the crackling sound as the sound of a roaring
fire in your fireplace when it's just going brightly
and it's cracking and popping. It's with that
kind of a sound, he says, that the heavens are
going to simply pass away and be no more at all.
Or for those of you who are hunters and you go
out looking for quail and you're walking through
that brush and the grass and suddenly that covey
of quail comes up in front of you and scares
you half into a heart attack. It's that sound,
the rushing of the wings of those birds. That's
the sound, he says, that will be present when
the present order passes away. He says it involves
the elements being destroyed with intense heat.
The word elements here means the very basic things
of the universe. It could mean the air, fire,
water, earth, or it could refer to the basic
atomic structure of the universe. which we now
know about, which of course Peter didn't know
about 2000 years ago. We understand something
at least of the basic structure of all the elements
in the world and the whole universe. And he says
that there is going to be a destruction, a breakdown,
an atomic breakdown if you please, of the whole
structure of the present order and he says it
involves intense heat. Well, anything that we
know about atomic bombs involves that kind of
sound and power and heat. This word, intense
heat, was used by medical doctors in the New
Testament day to refer to a feverish heat arising
from within the body of a person. Intense heat,
a fever. It can also be used of the conflagration
that arises from the internal buildup of power
and heat in a volcano, such as erupted with Mount
St. Helens some ten years ago, when the mountain
just blew its top and that tremendous cloud of
gases burst forth from that mountain, incinerating
everything in its path, including human beings.
That kind of intense heat is in view here. The
same thought. He says that it's all going to
be destroyed and the works of the earth, he says,
will be burned up. Interesting word because a
better understanding of this word is that it
will be exposed or found out. I think the NIV
even translates it that way. It seems to mean
that all of the works of man that are a part
of this whole present order of things. All of
those works are going to be exposed and dealt
with. Nothing, nothing will be left. He says
in verse 12 that the heavens will be destroyed
by burning and the elements will melt with intense
heat. That is, they will just melt into their
basics. The heavens and the earth, well let me
just read verse 12 for you in the original. It
says, the heavens being set on fire will be dissolved
and the elements burning will melt. That's what
it says. And all of that then will usher in what
we've called here the day of God. He describes
it in verse 13 as the new heavens and new earth.
It does not mean new in time. though that will
be true, but it means new in quality. It's going
to be substantially different than the universes
we know it now. And the basic difference is going
to be in its moral quality, because he says,
in it will dwell righteousness. That is, righteousness
will just settle down and be right at home in
that new order of the universe that God is going
to create. There are many texts in Scripture
that deal with this same theme. Isaiah 65, verse
17. Isaiah 66, verses 22 to 24. Revelation, chapter
21, verses 1 and following. A new order of things
characterized by righteousness. It will be entirely
free from the curse of Adam's sin. and the wickedness
of mankind. Free from that, all of that will
be gone and righteousness will be at home. Now
what in the world are we to do in light of what
we know is coming? Three times he says here,
in essence, you're looking for this. Notice it,
verse 12. Verse 13, we are looking. Verse 14,
you look for these things. The word look there
means to to think towards it. Just like the boys
and girls who are here tonight are probably looking
forward to Christmas. I don't know why particularly.
It may have something to do with presents. But
they are looking forward to that. They're thinking
about it. I've already had several lists revised
each time. Why? Because they're looking forward.
They're thinking toward Christmas. Peter says,
now you are thinking, your mind is set toward
this new order that God is going to bring to
pass. After all that we know now is gone, it
is no more. Now what kind of people ought we
to be? What ought we to do in light of this?
And he tells us, he tells us in the first place
we are to be diligent. Verse 14, be diligent.
The thought is here to do your best, to take
care, to give it everything you've got to do
two things. Number one, to live right. And he
describes that in verse 14. To be found by Him,
by Christ when He comes in peace. In other words,
as I look at myself and my circumstances, to
be living at peace. Not upset, not anxious, not
fearful in light of what's coming, to be at peace.
He says also to be spotless. That is, as God
sees me inwardly, to be free from heart problems.
Not of the muscle in my chest, but the moral
attitudes in my life. Be spotless when it comes
to the temptation to filthiness, which is so
prominent in our world. what we see, what we
participate in. He says, live spotless, be free
from that. Be spotless of bitterness. Be spotless
when it comes to covetousness, the attitude of
greed, of hanging on. Be spotless from worldliness.
As God sees me, he says, be diligent to be found
inwardly without any spot. And then he says also,
to be blameless. To be found by him to be blameless.
That is, as others see me, at least outwardly,
that there is no just accusation for blame against
me. He says, in light of what you're expecting,
live so that no one can point a finger and say,
yeah, look what you did. Now there are sometimes
people who will do that anyway. But the point
is, don't live so as to give them a reason for
doing it. If they must point their finger, let
them do it as liars, not pointing to the truth.
Be diligent, he says, to live right. In verses
15 and 16, he says, be diligent to think right.
To think right. About what? Well, he says in
the first place about the Lord's patience. You
may say, Lord, come on, hasten it. Lord, return,
come. But He says, God is patient. And you understand
that His patience, you think right about His
patience, understand that His patience in returning
means salvation. There are some people who need
to trust Christ yet and be saved from the judgment
to come. And they haven't done that yet. So you
be patient like God's patient. And understand
there are still people who need to come to faith
in Jesus Christ. And obviously by application
in your patience, get the word out. Be telling
people, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ
with them. We're to be diligent to think right
about the Lord's patience. We're to be diligent
to think right according to the Lord's pattern.
The Lord's pattern. I see that here in his words
regarding Paul. You and I are to think like the
Word of God tells us to think. Notice he talks
about Paul who has written several letters as
he puts it here. He equates Paul's writings with
the rest of scripture. Do you notice that? Here
is one internal evidence of the inspiration of
the Bible. Here is Peter, an apostle. pointing
to something that Paul has written and says it's
just the same what he's written as all of the
other scriptures, what Isaiah wrote and Jeremiah
and Moses and all the other writers of scripture.
An internal evidence of inspiration, very important
to note that. And he refers to these writings
of Paul for authority. conforming ourselves to
what Paul has written, even though some things
are hard to understand, and I think most of us
would agree with that. But he says, frame your
mind around the revelation of God. Think right.
Boy, our world today tries to force us to think
in an ungodly way. Just get God out of it. Put
God over here in his place and think for yourself.
The scripture says that we are to keep God in
the center and we are to let the Bible frame
our thought process to think right. He warns
that there are some people who take scripture
and distort it. The word means to twist it out
of shape. There are some preachers and other
religious leaders and theologians who are so
capable of doing this, just taking the Bible
and And suddenly they say it says something that's
not even there. Or what is there they say is
not even said. He says beware of those kinds
of people. He says these are people who are untaught.
It doesn't mean they're unschooled. It doesn't
mean they haven't been to seminary. But it means
that they have lacked the trained habit of reflection
from the Spirit of God. They lack a discipline
of good sense that comes from the Lord, the Spirit
working in their minds. They're untaught by Him,
in other words, and they're unstable. The thought
is that they have no foundation. There's no fixedness
to their lives. So think right. He says, be diligent
to be found of Him, to be living right, to think
right. And then he says, not only be diligent,
but be on guard, verses 17 and 18. The military
term, be on guard. If there's anything we've
learned this last week from watching the stories
about Pearl Harbor is that we were not on guard.
We were sloppy. We were sloppy. Peter says, you
be on guard for two things. Number one, be on
guard not to fall. Not to fall. He says, even
if you're steadfast, even if you have stability
in your life, in contrast to these people I've
just talked about, even though you have a foundation,
be on guard, lest you be dislodged. It doesn't
mean to lose your salvation, but it means that
you be carried away by error from men who are
lawless, who are unprincipled. Do not fall. Be
on guard against that. We need to put up the
walls in our lives. Be on guard against falling
away after the false teaching of the kind of
people He's described to us in this book. Then
He says also be on guard to keep growing. He
says keep growing in the grace of Jesus Christ.
That is becoming like Him. Keep growing in the
knowledge of Jesus Christ. coming to know Him
more intimately. You know, the Christian life
is something like riding a bicycle. If you stop,
you fall over. You got to keep pedaling. You
got to keep moving. And so Peter says, be on
guard to keep on growing in Jesus Christ. Now
why be so concerned about growing as Peter is
in this book? Because the one whom we can come
to know and be like is the one who is preeminent
over all." Peter concludes the book by saying,
to him, Jesus Christ, be the glory. Now I want
to tell you that meant something for a Jew because
the glory to a Jew meant the Shekinah, that visible
manifestation of God. The glory referred to God
Himself, to His essence. Peter now uses that
term and applies it to Jesus Christ. He says,
all the glory be to Him both now and to the day
of eternity. If you just draw the line under
this whole book, there is one concern that we
need to really focus on, just one issue. And
that is that whatever we do, that we bring glory
to Jesus Christ. In my tonight, in my tomorrow,
in my relationships, in my responsibilities,
in life, to be concerned to bring glory to Jesus
Christ because He alone is worthy. So that's
the one issue to focus on, says Peter. Glory
to God. Whatever you do, writes Paul, our beloved
brother, whatever you do, do it to the glory
of God. Let's determine to live that way and
keep on growing and not to fall and to be diligent
to be found by our Lord To be living right and
thinking right in light of what we know to expect
Let's pray together Well, my friend as we bring
this book to a close it's an appropriate time
to ask the question in our hearts Am I ready
for the judgment? If I were to stand before God
today, would I stand before Him as one of His
beloved children to receive reward or as one
who is a stranger to Him to receive damnation?
You see, all of us will stand before God in one
way or the other. That's sure. We expect that.
However religious you may have been and like
some of the ones who were baptized tonight, maybe
you've been raised in a Christian environment.
Maybe your parents are Christians or have been
Christians. Dear friend, God has no grandchildren.
He has only children. You must make the decision
for yourself. A Christian environment is a wonderful
way to be raised, but it doesn't substitute for
salvation. It can help prepare our hearts for
that day when we trust Jesus Christ. Have you
trusted Him alone? You say, no, how do I do that?
Simply by in your heart acknowledging your sinfulness
to God and saying, oh God, I confess my sins
to you. And I come to you through your Son Jesus
Christ who suffered and died on the cross for
my sins and who rose again. And I turn from everything
else that I've trusted in all of my life to place
my faith in your Son alone. And dear friend,
when you and I do that with all of our hearts,
when we do that, God receives us as His children.
He changes His relationship to us and He saves
us. I hope that might be your heart's decision
tonight. And oh, may those of us who know Christ
be growing. Father, we give thanks to you for
what we've studied in this book over the last
months, for Peter's heart of passion for us,
though we've lived now 2 ,000 years later, and
yet his intense desire recorded in his words
that we too might grow. in the grace and knowledge
of Jesus Christ. May it be true of us, Lord.
May none of us come short of the grace of God.
May none of us have received the grace of God
in vain, but may we be growing. Father, I pray
tonight that as we go out the doors, back to
our homes, and into a new week of responsibilities,
that will be mindful that you're with us, but
also mindful of what we expect in the new order
that's to come. And may we be living and thinking
right in light of all of that. In Jesus' name
I pray, amen.