2 Peter chapter 3, and I will read the entire chapter. My text is verses 8 and 9. Let's give attention to the reading of God's word. The second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you. In both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word, are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for, and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you. And also in all his epistles, speaking in them of things in which some things hard to understand, hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable rest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. Your word is clear. The fault lies within our own sinful hearts. And so we pray, Father, that you will give us clarity, that you would pour out your spirit upon us and soften our hardened and deaf hearts. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. One thing that is clear in scripture is that Jesus is coming again. In fact, it is an article of the Orthodox Christian faith which we confess every Sunday. From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. He is coming again. Peter was there when Jesus ascended bodily into heaven. Peter was there with all of the disciples and Jesus was talking to them. And then he started going up into the air. And they watched him as he went up into the air, gazing at the sky until the clouds covered him. And even then they still gazed at the sky. And then an angel descended and said to them, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven. In other words, he's going to come again the same way that he went up. A few weeks before this event, Peter was there and heard what Jesus told the Sanhedrin when they asked him if he was the Christ. Jesus said, Thou hast said, nevertheless I say unto you hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. The Sanhedrin knew what Jesus was talking about. They immediately issued the death penalty for blasphemy. Jesus was quoting from the book of Daniel. Daniel writes, I saw in the night visions and behold, one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the ancient of days and they brought him near before him and there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom and that all people, nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. This is what they were expecting when Jesus, the Messiah, came to the earth. Jesus had come. And he had gone into heaven. And he promised his disciples that he would come again in judgment. And he would bring the new heavens and the new earth and the kingdom of God would be brought in its fullness. And when he went into heaven, it sounded as if he told his apostles, I'll be right back. In fact, many in the early church expected Jesus to be right back. As Christians, we are taught by the Holy Spirit and by Scripture to set our affections on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. As Christians, we expect our reward in heaven. We expect Jesus to come again and to bring judgment, and at that time our salvation will be complete and our bodies will be raised from the dust. This is what we long for, and as I said last week, it's what motivates our lives. And so it was in the early church. And while the early church was suffering great persecution, Suffering the loss of all things, suffering trials and persecution, difficulties, death. They were plagued with scoffers saying, He's not coming again. Where is the promise of His coming? You put your hopes in a deliverer that you think is coming down from heaven? Alright, where is He? And the church from that time into this has been in great danger of losing sight of the second coming of Jesus Christ. If we lose sight of the second coming of Jesus Christ, then our lives become just as empty and as futile as everyone else's. If we lose sight of our Savior coming to gather His sheep into His kingdom, if we lose sight of that, then we will spend our whole lives trying to create some kind of comfort on this earth. And that will always lead to despair and destruction. So as Peter says, it's very important to stir us up by way of reminder. As we saw last week, Jesus is certainly coming again, and he's coming for judgment. The question is, why the delay? What's taking so long? It's now been 2,000 years. Is He still coming? If there were scoffers in the early days, there are certainly scoffers today. Many in the church act as if Jesus is never coming again. And in our text, verses 8 and 9, Peter is answering that question. Why the delay? And he gives two answers. First, God is eternal. And second, God is patient. Before we get into those two attributes of God, there's something that we must remember. We must remember the attribute that we call the incomprehensibility of God. That's a big word. It means that God is infinite, all-wise, the unchanging creator of heaven and earth, and we are finite. We're stupid, we're ignorant, we're sinful, and even if we weren't sinful, there would be no way that we could comprehend an infinite God. We can know what God has revealed to us. But we also must remember that even in God's revelation, it's not exhaustive. There are things that are going to confuse us. There are things that are going to be a mystery to us. Things that we will never exhaust. In fact, we know that when God speaks to us, He speaks in human language. Everything that we know about God is put in human terms. And so we can never know God as He is in Himself. But we can know God as He has revealed Himself to us. As an aside, Peter told us in his first epistle that we must gird up the loins of our minds. That will be necessary in this sermon. For there are things that are mysterious and difficult to understand. To put all of this very simply, Anytime that we are talking about God, and who God is, there will always be a mystery. There will always be things that we will never fully understand or comprehend, and therefore it will be very important for us to stick closely to exactly what Scripture says, and not step to the right hand of it or to the left of it. As soon as we try to explain it from human wisdom, we will always fail. So let's look at Peter's first argument in verse number 8. One day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. In other words, his first argument is taken from the eternity of God. When we speak of God's eternity, what we mean is this. He has no beginning, and he has no end. That is enough to be incomprehensible. We read in Psalm 90, before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hast formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Psalm 93, thy throne is established of old, thou art from everlasting. Psalm 106, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting and let all the people say Amen. God has no beginning and God has no end. He is always and forever the same. That is enough for us to have a difficulty grasping, but there's even more to the eternity of God than simply that. The second part of that, and this is far more difficult for us to grasp, God does not have any succession of moments. We, as we pass through time, we have a present. And we have a past that's no longer with us. And we have a future that hasn't happened yet. Time means change. Time is a way of marking continual change. God, on the other hand, is unchanging and lives in an eternal presence. And there's no possible way to put that in words that will capture it exactly. For how can a creature of time explain eternity? But that's precisely what God means when He's revealed Himself to us and says, Grace be unto you and peace from Him which is, and which was, and which is to come. He also says in Psalm 102, Of all thou hast laid the foundation of the earth, the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure. Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment, as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed, but thou art the same." Now listen closely to this last phrase and think about it. Thy years shall have no end. Think for a moment about that phrase. We have a lot of things that we use to measure time. We have seconds, we have hours, we have days, we have minutes. We have months, we have hours, we have years. All of those things that we use to measure time have a beginning and have an end. There was a time when this sermon began and there will be a time, Lord willing, that this sermon will end. Every one of our moments is like that. A second has a beginning and has an end. A year has a beginning and has an end. We celebrate the beginning of the year, we celebrate the ending of the year. God's years have no end. In other words, each one of the moments that we use to measure time If you can explain God this way, those moments don't exist for God. Each moment is eternal. Think of it this way. When we think of infinity, we think of, for instance, the string of numbers in mathematics. You can start counting from one, and you can count up, and that number will have no end. You can count forever, theoretically. You can also count backwards, and count backwards forever, theoretically. When we think of infinity, that's what we think about, because we're creatures of time. But that's not precisely what infinity is. Because a string of numbers, each one of those numbers is finite. A 2 has a beginning and has an end. A 10 has a beginning and has an end. God has no beginnings and has no ends. Therefore, He has no succession of moments. For there to be a succession of moments, the previous moment has to end. And God says, My years have no end. For this reason, we cannot ask the question, What was God doing before He created the heavens and the earth? Because before God created, there was no such thing as before. Before is a word that has to do with time. before applies to the creature, it does not apply to God. Now how many of you understood everything that I just said? It's fairly complicated, isn't it? It will take some meditation and some thought and some discipline to fathom this. And even then we will never exhaust it. And as we're discussing it, this finite discussion of the infinity of God will come to an end. That God is eternal. His years have no end. That is exactly Peter's point here in verse 8. If we can't even understand that God's years have no end, how can we possibly say that God is taking too long, when we can't even define what too long is? For God dwells in eternity. We are not called to pry into the secret things of God, for we cannot even fathom the secret things of God. We're called to wait, to be patient, to leave it in His hands, and to understand that the term delay doesn't apply to God. It's His first reason. A day is as a thousand years, a thousand years is as a day. We can't possibly fathom eternity. And the second coming of Christ is put in the eternal decree of God. And He hasn't even revealed that to the Son of Man, according to Jesus. The second point begins in verse 9. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise. In other words, He's not lazy. He's not slacking off. There are some, certain people might say He's slacking off, but He's not slacking off. God has reasons for His timing, and He has revealed those reasons to us. Christ has not yet returned because God is patient. Now that verse, verse 9, is used by the opponents of God's decree of election. And those opponents of election tell us that this verse shows that God loves everyone equally, and since he doesn't ever want to send anyone to hell, he leaves it all up to everyone's free will. And of course, just simply reading the text, you can see that Peter doesn't say that at all. You have to twist things a lot, and you really have to add a lot of stuff in there to get that. It's one thing to say that God does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked, It's quite another to say that God abdicates his throne in favor of imaginary free will. It's one thing to say that God is patient and long-suffering towards mankind. It's quite another thing to say that God loves everyone equally and has decreed their salvation without regard to whether they repent or believe. And I hope we can understand the difference. If human language means anything, there's a difference between those two thoughts. That being said, it's not only the opponents of God's election that read into the Bible what isn't there. We also fall into the same problem. I have also misunderstood this passage. I've misunderstood and twisted this verse in my mistaken zeal to uphold God's decree of election. But God's decree of election doesn't need me to twist the meaning of words around. There are plenty of passages such as Romans 9 that teach very clearly that God's eternal decree of election and God's eternal decree of reprobation are facts. And I wholeheartedly confess and believe the same as being the teaching of God's holy and infallible word. God has decreed his people from before the foundation of the world. That decree is unchangeable. But that isn't what this passage is about. God's eternal decree of election is not everything that the Bible talks about. Sometimes when we get a hold of a doctrine, we read everything in light of that doctrine, as if that was all that God ever taught. For this reason, the theologian Mike Horton says that every new reformed Christian should have some cage time, where he's not allowed to talk to anybody until he thinks a little bit. It's pretty good. What does he mean? What does Peter mean when he says he's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance? The whole passage, of course, depends upon who Peter includes in the word us. He's long-suffering toward us. What does he mean? Does he mean the elect of God? Or does he mean mankind? Those are the two different views of this passage. I used to teach, and I used to understand this verse as meaning that Peter is speaking of the elect. God is long-suffering toward his elect, and so he's not willing for any of his elect to perish, but that all of his elect might have eternal life. I no longer believe that that's what this passage teaches. And I'm going to tell you why. First, The people to whom Peter is writing, he refers to in the previous verses, beloved. He calls them beloved, he assumes that they have repented and believed. He says in verse 1, they have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. If us is referring to those people, the elect of God, who have repented and believed, then why would God delay the second coming of Christ because he doesn't want any of them to perish? If Christ came today they would all be in heaven for they have already repented and believed. That was the first question that was plaguing the back of my mind. These people whom Peter is writing to are people who have already come to Christ for forgiveness and cleansing and healing. They are constantly called to persevere in the faith, not to repent and believe. So if us refers to the elect who have already repented and believed, the passage makes no sense. Let's say the word us refers to the elect who have not yet repented and believed. The problem is Peter doesn't say that there. That's twisting those words. Nowhere in the Bible are the elect who have not yet repented known as potential saints. They're always called unbelievers. They're always called children of wrath. They're called to repentance and faith. And the third thing that I would like to point out is the word us there is defined by those on whom God is patient. God is long-suffering towards us. Who is He long-suffering towards? Very clearly in the scripture He is long-suffering towards all of mankind. Paul talks about it in Romans chapter 2. He says, "...or do you spies?" The riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. And there Paul is talking about the wicked Jews and the wicked men who have opposed and attacked the gospel. He's not talking to the elect. He's not talking to the church. He's talking to mankind. The goodness of God should lead you to repentance. It is also interesting to note in our text that the word willing is not the normal word that is used to describe God's eternal decree. Peter is not talking about God's eternal decree here. He is speaking about the long-suffering and patience of God. And so here is the meaning of the text. Us refers to all mankind. God is long-suffering to the children of Adam. Not willing that any of the children of Adam should perish, but that all should come to eternal life. God told Ezekiel, say to the nation of Israel, I don't take delight in the death of the wicked. Repent and live. I take delight if you come to repentance. God is not willing that anyone should perish. He delights in the repentance and faith of men. In other words, the free offer of the gospel is made sincerely to everyone. Peter is saying the exact same thing that Ezekiel said when he wrote, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? It is true that only those who are born again by the Holy Spirit can repent and believe and turn from their evil ways. That's taught thoroughly elsewhere in Scripture, but that isn't what Peter means here. It is true that God has decreed from before the foundation of the world who His elect are, and who those are who will perish in their sin. But that also is not Peter's point. The point is simply this, these mockers who scoff at the second coming of Christ despise the forbearance and goodness and long-suffering of God. For the goodness of God should bring them to repentance. When Jesus came into the world the first time, it was not to bring judgment. It was to save his people from their sins. And the gospel called from God goes to all mankind. And that hall is genuine and sincere. All who repent will be saved. For God does not take delight in the death of the wicked. Does Peter then here say that God has not decreed the death of the wicked? He doesn't say that. An analogy here might be helpful. If you have a human judge, and this human judge is righteous and just, This human judge may indeed decree the execution of a criminal. He may do it with no qualms and no regrets. And yet he could also do it without rejoicing, dancing over his grave singing hallelujah. Too often I think in our zeal to uphold the justice of God, we portray a God that is different than the God portrayed in scripture. And we happily call for the execution of all of those who do not agree with our point of view. When God is not desirous that any perish, but that all should come to eternal life. That's Peter's point. Until a man is dead, or until Jesus comes again, God has revealed himself to be patient, And long-suffering and greatly desiring that the wicked repent from their evil ways. And men are exhorted to repentance and faith. And of course we know from the rest of scripture that the day will come when God's patience is expired. And that is a dreadful day. Now the question is how can God decree the death of the wicked? And at the same time, not desire. The wicked man's death. Remember when I began this, I talked about the incomprehensibility of God. There is mystery in the infinite being of God. We dwell in space and time, God dwells in eternity. We are creatures, but even more we're fallen creatures. How can we exhaust the ways of the decrees of God? We know on the one hand that God's decree of election and reprobation are fixed and a fact. And on the other hand, God sincerely and genuinely calls all men to repentance and faith. And when it comes to these difficult questions about the nature of God, people generally go in one of two ways. I'm going to quote a man named William Plummer. He writes, some give it all up. Give up everything that's mysterious as untrue, or at least doubtful. Others pretend to explain everything so as to make it comprehensible. The former go on the open road to unbelief, the latter travel the parallel road of rationalism. In other words, you can say, well, it's not true. Or you can try to explain it and make it fit together in our finite minds and air. Plummer goes on to say, let every man love whatever his Creator teaches. If he cannot measure the azure vault above him, he may still perceive that it is there. If Jehovah hides himself, he is still Jehovah. If salvation is wonderful, God so revealed it from the first. Therefore beware lest you come boasting rather than praying. lest ye use great swelling words of vanity, rather than the fitting petition, open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. And this is a wondrous thing, that God, the holy and just judge of all, who has decreed the salvation of his elect, and to leave some to perish in their sins, also genuinely desires the repentance of all mankind, and calls all to repentance and faith. That's the clear meaning of the text. And we know that everything that God has given to us, that God has revealed to us, is revealed to us for a reason. In fact, Peter began his epistle saying God's given us everything we need for a life of godliness, to live a life of pleading to the Lord. So why is this given to us? As Reformed Christians, we know that the doctrine of the eternal decrees of God is a great comfort to us many times. It's a wonderful thing to know that not a hair can fall from our head without the will of our Father in Heaven. It's a joy knowing that from before the foundation of the world, God called us and that we belong body and soul to Jesus Christ in life and in death. But let me ask you this, what about all those times in your life when you're not sure if you're one of the elect or not? What about before we came to Christ when we were overwhelmed with our sins and saw only the righteous judgment of God hanging over us? And we asked ourselves the question, how does a sinner stand before God? How do you even approach God when you know that you're deserving of God's eternal wrath and judgment? And the question plaguing you is, will God be gracious or will God be a vindictive holy judge against my sin? And the question plagues us our whole life is God just waiting for us to step out of line so He can punish and destroy us while all the saints dance on our graves singing hallelujah. These are real questions that will plague everyone. And it is not at all helpful to discuss the eternal decrees of God when a man is hanging by his fingernails over the pit of hell. God would not have us be ignorant of this. God does not delight in the death of the wicked. He does not command you to pry into the secret decrees of God. He commands you to repent and believe. He commands you to come unto Him if you are weary and heavy laden and He will give you rest. For He has long suffering and He is patient with all. For a man hanging over a pit of destruction does not need a lesson on eternal decrees. He needs to know that God is near to all who call upon Him. That the blood of Christ is sufficient to cleanse them from all sin. That God delights in the repentance and forgiveness of the sinner. That God's offer of salvation is free to all, open to all, and whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. For we spend our lives running from God. We spend our lives making new gods, pretending we're going to avoid the wrath of God. But who can run from Almighty God? That throughout Scripture, to all who are weary, afraid, overwhelmed by sin, trembling before the wrath of God, remember this. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That means you. God is not willing that you perish. He calls you to repentance and faith, for He delights in receiving you as a child. But also know this, there does come a time when His patience is at an end. The next time Jesus comes again, it will be too late, for He will come with clouds of glory, and the wicked will call upon the mountains and hills to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb. Well, they will be cast into outer darkness in the lake of fire reserved for the devil and his angels, and that day is coming. But that day is not yet here. As long as there is life, there is hope. No matter what sins a man has committed, no matter how much or how long a man has been running from God, God now calls us to repentance and faith, for He does not delight in the death of the wicked. Why is it that God is so patient with so much wickedness that we see around us in the world? Because God is not willing that any should perish. He does not delight in raining fire and brimstone down upon our ungodly neighbors. He does not take joy in the destruction of the wicked. He is now calling all men to repentance and faith. As long as a man is alive, he is an object of God's patience, and God calls him to repent. And when a man repents and comes to Christ, we know that he is held in His hand forever, and ordained from before the foundation of the world to eternal life. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise. He is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, your patience and longsuffering is astounding. For you have opened your arms to receive sinners. You have called them to repent by the blood of Jesus Christ. You have called them to repentance and faith. What an astounding thing that there is no one that is beyond your call of the gospel. There is no one who is not an object of your patience and your long-suffering. For while there is life, there is hope. We pray, Father, that we might be clear with the call of the gospel, that we might genuinely offer repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. We pray also, Father, that you will open the doors for conversation and that you will bring all of those elect that you have here in this town, bring them by the call of the gospel to repentance and faith. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.