Pastor Rick Horst was born in Illinois to a Roman Catholic family, and it appears that Rick's parents got tired of the cold. I'm sure Rick enjoyed throwing all those snowballs at his friends. Apparently he was a devout Catholic until the age of about 26. and he met Karen, married Karen, and it appears that at some point he was converted graciously, mercifully by Christ. They attended a Baptist church in Lake Forest for a few years and then went to Trinity in La Mirada where he first served as a deacon and then is serving now as an elder. You have only two older sons, correct? Two adult sons? Two sons. One of them, Kyle, both professing faith in Christ, and one of them, Kyle, who is a deacon there at the church as well. Rick likes to bike to the beach. It's kind of fun. Please wear a helmet. Be careful. A lot of crazy people out there. He likes to lift weights. and stretching, which I need to do for my back as well. So with that said, Pastor Rick will bring to us the Word of God. Please pay attention to him. And our sons got married and We found out the joys, my wife and I, the joys of being grandparents now. We have four grandkids, and we're having a great time with them, and we just love it. And I send you greetings from La Mirada, and we spent the night at Karen's parents' place. It's in Escondido, which is about a 20-minute drive from here. So we came down the 15, got on Gopher Canyon Road, and came, and it's a beautiful drive. It's nothing like La Mirada, where you have nothing but concrete, steel and that sort of thing. I had no idea that there's actually trees that are still existing, but it's a beautiful drive. I had a great, great drive here and love being here and enjoying the latter part of our lives. I was converted as a Roman Catholic away from Romanism. My brother started talking about heaven and hell and got my attention real fast. I knew that if I were to die after speaking with him, I'm on my way to hell. I've got to figure out a way to make peace with God because my life, I was a product of the 60s and the 70s and just, you would not recognize me from from that time, especially in the 70s. So unrecognizable I was is that when I did become a Christian, all the guys I hung out with, they couldn't believe that I became a Christian. It's like, the apocalypse must be near just because of how wicked I was. It's to my own shame. I'm grieved at that, but I'm glad that God saves really bad people because that's where I was. I was really bad. And the Lord had mercy and brought me Karen, and we've been married now 39 years, and we've been at the church for 34 years. And I've been an elder there for 29, and we have five other elders there at the church, as you probably know. So if you could, today, I'd like us to consider the three reasons why Jesus Christ has not returned yet. So you'll find that in 2 Peter 3. And before I read the text, let's ask God for help as we consider His Word. Our Heavenly Father, we thank You for another Lord's Day, the day that You raised Your Son from the dead. We give You thanks and praise You that He has been preached in His pulpit for so many years, as well as throughout our land. We thank You for how You've established His church here, how You've established Your churches throughout our land. And so we pray now for your spirit to be upon preacher and hearers, that you would take a crooked stick and draw a straight line for the benefit of your people, that you would be glorified. So hear our prayers, do good to our souls, we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. What I plan on doing is read the text, the context and the text. Our text is going to be verse 9. We'll read verses 1 through 9. And because of the fact we're at the end of an epistle, in order for it to make sense to be somewhat edifying to you, I'm going to briefly give a bio on Peter. a bio, if you will, on the book, and then we'll briefly look at the context and the text. Now, that doesn't mean it's going to be an hour and a half sermon, so don't, I'm not going to try to wear you out, this is not a marathon. And that's my intention, so hopefully this will be of benefit to you. If 2 Peter 3, verse 1 says, Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder that you 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 scoffers will come in the last days walking according to their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of his coming? And they continue on with this assumption. For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation." For this they willfully forget that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in water," so that's the creation, by this word God created all things, "...by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water," that's the flood, Noah and his family were spared, "...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 or destruction of ungodly men. But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." Then our text, the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Amen. So we trust that God will add His blessing to the reading of His Word. Just a little bit about the author, Peter. Obviously, if you've been a Christian for any amount of time, you probably can identify with Peter just because of how extreme this man can be. But he was a fisherman, and fishermen back then, they were tough guys. They, you know, profanity, their lifestyle, They were not really what you would consider to be, these guys are prime candidates to be pastors or preachers. They were the opposite end of that. They were rough men and that's the way Peter was. You can see that by the way that he hacked off a servant's ear when he came to take our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane. But Christ was preached to him, Christ called him, and as a result, he was one of the twelve apostles. Also, he had the distinction of being the only man we know of outside of our Lord to walk on water. Remember, he walked on water when he saw our Lord coming towards him. Lord, if that is you, bid me to come on the water. He did, and then he began to sink. He was also the distinction, as far as I know, the only one that our Lord called Satan. Get behind me, Satan, when Peter tried to overthrow our Lord's ministry of death. And of course, after Peter had hacked off a servant's ear in the Garden of Gethsemane, he also denied our Lord three times. And yet, he was restored. You see later on after he denied our Lord, he thought about it, he wept, and then the Lord restored him in John chapter 21. In Acts chapter 2, he preaches that monumental sermon. We have the day of Pentecost. And then, it's not very long before that, he preaches to all of those Gentiles. The first time Gentiles were preached to, Cornelius, Peter was the one that was preaching. And then, He falls into hypocrisy and Paul has to rebuke him for his hypocrisy and tradition has it that he died the death of a martyr upside down. It's tradition. I don't know how much stock I put into it. Chances are he probably died the death of a martyr. But this is a prime example. Peter's a prime example of faith and doubt. He's a prime example of pride, and yet humility, and a lot of zeal, and his zeal was all over the place sometimes, one end to the other. Remember when our Lord was going to wash the feet of the disciples, comes to Peter, Peter says, no, no, not me, you're not going to wash my feet, you know, because I'm way too humbled, and you're too great, and the Lord said, well, if I don't wash your if I don't wash your feet, then you have no part with me." He said, okay, everything, wash me all the way, you know, head to toe. He doesn't know anything about balance, and I identify a lot with that. But that's the way he was. He was just, he was all over the place. And I think he's a favorite for Christians because We are a mess. The Lord takes us and He saves us, and whether we want to admit it or not, we fall into sin, and we go from one extreme to another sometimes. We lack that balance, and it just goes to show that God saves the worst of sinners. And that's why, you know, we can identify with Peter. At least I can. Maybe I'm the only one here that's identifying with Peter. All of you are much better than I am. But Peter's something else. He really is. And I love I preached a sermon years ago at our church on John 21 about the restoration of Peter. Again, you can go from extremes with him. Just a wonderful man. But let me say this about Peter. Because of the fact that I'm an ex-Roman Catholic, I'm an ex-Master, that's why I say Mary Xmas, I'm an ex-Master, I don't go to Mass anymore, thankfully. Peter was not the first Pope. He's not the head of the church. He was not even a priest. Okay? He was married. Because one of our Lord's miracles is that he healed his mother-in-law. So Peter was married. He wasn't offering up masses. He wasn't a priest, had a backwards collar on. He spoke from experience about being a good husband and a good pastor. He elevated the Word of God above tradition. which the Roman Catholics elevate tradition above the Word of God. He preached about faith in Jesus Christ alone for the saving of our souls. That's what he preached. And he preached that all believers are in that priesthood. It's a unique priesthood. It's not like an Old Testament, Old Covenant, where we're offering up sacrifices. But now our offerings are one of thanksgivings. That's how we, as believers in Jesus Christ, have this priesthood. That's what Peter preached. That's just a quick biographical look at Peter. A quick look at this book, too, as well, is important because, again, we find ourselves in chapter 3. When you begin 2 Peter, remember this is at the end of his life. He wants to leave something behind that the people might remember. And he begins right off the bat in his very first verse of chapter 1, verse 1, about the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and that alone is our right standing, is the righteousness of Christ. That's how he begins it. But he's also urgent. He wants to leave something behind because he knows his time is short. So he wants to make sure he leaves something behind for the people to hold on to because there's warnings that he's going to give. There's false teachers. And to help guard against those false teachers, found in chapter 2, he elevates the Word of God. So you know that the Word of God is indeed inspired. Holy men of God were moved by the Holy Spirit, and that's why we have the Word of God. Also, he brings out his experience of seeing the transformation or the transfiguration of our Lord. He was a witness to that. And when our Lord was transformed, that was the approval of God the Father. Remember, the Lord splits the heavens and said, this is my Son in whom I will please hear Him. hear him." So Peter saw that, and he's able to bring those truths to his hearers. And so we come to this particular letter, and it's written to believers in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So we've just gone 65, 70 miles an hour to go through his biographical display, as well as the book in general. Let's briefly look at the context. And I'll probably have one or two words that you might remember for each verse, because it's going to lead up to verse 9. And we see the first one in verse 1 of chapter 3. It's a reminder, is what he's doing. He's, I'm writing to you this second epistle. He's doing something to remind them, something that they've already heard before. which leads us then to the words of the prophets. Peter's not coming up with his own words. He's using the words from the Old Testament prophets as well as the words of the apostles to bring about God's truth. And he's gonna be particular in this truth. He's gonna deal with the second coming of our Lord. He says in verse three, he says that there's scoffers that will come in these last days, and these are scoffers against the truth. That's what they are. They're making fun. And how are they making fun of it? Well, it's found basically in verse 4. They say, where is the promise of His coming? The fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they have been. It's just going to continue on and on and on. Scoffers today can do that as well. You've been talking about the return of Christ for 2,100 years. He hasn't come back yet. So there's scoffers that Peter deals with here. But he says in verse 5 that they profess something, and yet they forget something. And that is, God made all things by merely speaking the worlds into existence. God did not need any pre-existing matter to make the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. By that word, the heavens and the earth and everything was made. By that word, they know this, even these scoffers know this, which indicates it may have been believers or those who profess faith in Christ and fell away and scoffed. It could be, it's somewhat implied there. Because now he talks to them about the flood. That same word that made all things brought about the flood and destroyed everything except eight people. He even brings that out earlier in his first letter, about how eight were saved. So, just by God's Word, not according to man's timing, but by God's Word, the earth was flooded and destroyed the earth. He says, now keep this in mind, because in verse 7, the heavens and the earth, which are now preserved by that same Word, they're reserved for fire this time. of judgment against ungodly men." Now, men there is used generic. It means men, women, boys, girls. Remember when the flood destroyed men, women, boys, and girls? And the same thing is going to happen when the Lord comes back in flaming fire. So, they may have scoffed, but there is a time where that same word, where God just says, that's enough, then the end will indeed come. And we see in verse 8, it's almost as if Peter's anticipating their question of, well, when's this going to happen? And he says, basically, now with men, with us, men, women, boys, and girls, one day is a bit different than a year, even though as we get older it doesn't seem like it. And then a year, a thousand years, he says, just remember this, before God, that day, A thousand years because of the fact that God inhabits eternity, past, present, and future. It's not a big deal with God. One day is not a big deal with God compared to a thousand years or a thousand years compared to one day. It's just basically to give us this idea of patience. Be patient. God's in control, not you. And then we come to our text in verse 9, and really verse 9 answers verse 4's scoffing. Where is the promise of His coming? Verse 9 says this, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, as some, some, as your scoffers count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us. So, my answer, I guess I should say my question first of all, is why has not, why has Christ not returned yet? Because we see in Old Testament and we'll see even in New Testament that the preachers preach the destruction of the earth, of fire. And so there's two groups of people then that we need to look at when we look at verse 9, and that's the scoffers and the us. The scoffers and the us. And Peter immediately takes care of a wrong assumption. wrong assumption, which is what the scoffers bring out, why Christ has not returned yet. And he also has three reasons why Christ has not returned yet. So in one sense, if it just helps you to outline this, here's the reason why Christ has not returned, here's three reasons. But before we deal with that, we have to look at the reason that's not a right reason. Christ just has not returned, not because of this false reason, but because of these three reasons. So, first of all, we take a look at the ungodly assumption. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, some count slackness. So that's the assumption by the ungodly. God's slack. God is dull. He's slow. He's lazy. He's disinterested in his creation. He's tardy. He's a procrastinator. He's forgetful. God is distant. That is basically what the scoffers are saying. Almost like a deist saying God just kind of winds that watch of time and steps back and He really is not interested at all in the affairs of men. At all. That's what they're saying. And they make that judgment based upon their feeble and unbelieving senses. They haven't seen Christ come back and that's their conclusion. It's because God is slack. God is lazy. God is disinterested. in His promise. Now we have to remember, if we know anything at all about our Bibles, is that there's a widespread truth about Christ's return even in the New Testament. In Matthew chapter 24, Verse 30, Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear. This is our Lord's words. He says, Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and 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. 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." So that is something that our Lord preached. This is before Peter gives this letter to his followers. You have in Acts chapter 1, after our Lord had ascended into heaven, the angel tells his followers this, this same Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven. There's this promise he's going to return. In Acts chapter 17, when Paul is preaching to those philosophers on Mars Hill, says, "...because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained. He has given assurance of this by raising him from the dead." And then, of course, in the 2 Thessalonians 1, it talks about our Lord coming back in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey His Gospel. God is going to keep His promise of His Son's return. There is no slackness on God's part, and in one sense I say, how dare those mockers lay a charge at God for being slack or being lazy, being tardy, as if the appointed time had already come and gone, which was being said during this time, and some even say that to this day, that the time of the Lord has already come and gone. God does not have an oops in His plan, or a whoops, or He's not sure what's going on. Mockers may judge God tardy by their senses, but remember, it's the end that matters. It's the end that matters. And yes, for the Christian in our life, our lives do indeed matter, but we're looking for something else. And it's not to try to grab everything we can out of this world. We have a sight towards something else. How does Peter answer the question of why the Lord has not returned yet? Since the mockers thought that God was tardy, and they only thought of themselves. So there's another group of people we have to consider. We have the scoffers, and we have the us. And there's three reasons why the Lord has not returned yet. Here's the first one. He's long-suffering toward us. us. Patient with us. Now I find it interesting that Peter throws himself in the us. Because you would say us, I mean wait a minute, you're Peter, you're an apostle, surely you're far greater than us. Well no, all you do is read your Bibles and see that he has a nature just like the us. And so, if Peter could ever say, the Lord has been patient with me, we agree. We can see the many instances where our Lord was very patient with Peter. Denied the Lord, played the hypocrite, some of the things he said to our Lord to the point where our Lord had to call him Satan. Peter could write this from experience with no problem. He's long-suffering towards us. That's why he puts the us in there. I'm sure the minister that's going through this particular passage back then who is reading this or preaching this saw the us in there and saw himself. He's long-suffering towards me as well as a minister. I would think he would have to say that. And then of course the congregation. He's been long-suffering with you. with the congregation that's being preached to here in 2 Peter. So that brings up an interesting question. Well, wait a minute, wait a minute. You're saying that Christ has not come back yet because He's long-suffering towards us? But we're already converted. What do you mean He's long-suffering toward us? For those of you that are in Christ, remember this. When you were converted, This is my thought. When I was converted, I said, okay, I want to die and go to heaven. Little did I know I had 39 years of sanctification to go through. and hopefully continue on in the most holy faith. There's a reason why the Lord hasn't come back yet for these brethren here. He's long-suffering towards us that are living, though towards us that are believing, it is for our sanctification, our progressive holiness. That's why the Lord hasn't come back yet. Remember, when God saves a man or a woman or a boy or a girl, God has a plan for their life. Now people throw that around all the time and they use it in a general sense, but for the Christian he can say, God has a plan for my life. He's working in me both the will and to do of His good pleasure. He's working holiness within me to where I'm dying more and more into sin and living more and more into righteousness. There's this, you know, We want to escape. We want to pull the ripcord and get out as quickly as we can. But God's not done. He has a plan for His people, and that is that we are to be conformed to the image of His Son, as well His own image. We're made in the image and likeness of God. And so, the first reason why the Lord does not come back is because He's long-suffering towards us. We must abound in holiness. We must grow in love and faith and good works. and to be fit for heaven and God is at work within us and that is one of the reasons why the Lord has not come back yet for us. The process of holiness is still going on and I guess the quicker we come to that conclusion We know that we will be looking at ourselves a lot more in terms of dying to sin and looking more of growing in grace, which Peter's going to bring out later. So here's a second reason why the Lord has not come back yet. He's not willing that any should perish. I would say He's not willing that any of the us should perish. Remember, He's long-suffering towards us. You can continue on saying, not willing of any of the us should perish. Okay, again, we step back and go, any of the us should perish? We're already Christians, we're not going to perish. It's unthinkable for the Christian to perish in his sins. So, who is He talking about here, this us? Well, God gives time for the elect to be converted. Currently, if we're reading this in this particular time, He's long-suffering towards us, towards us that believe, not willing of any of the us, the elect who have not repented, who have not believed. That's why Christ has not come back yet. Because of the us, those that are elect, need to be converted. We use the word elect. Election is where God chose a certain group of people to be converted, to be safe from the wrath to come. And there is election and then there is believing. There is justification. Those are different. Election is something that God did before time began. Believing is something that the elect must do. They must believe. In Ephesians 1-4, Paul says, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, shows that that predestination that God has done is not something that is inept or powerless. Because he says, having predestined us, And in Romans 9, 11, the purpose of God according to election might stand not of works, but of him who calls. There is that elect, the ene should be the elect that we're looking at. God chose some for eternal life before time began, and God is not willing that any of those that He gave to His Son should perish. That's, I think, the intention here of what Peter's saying. In John chapter 6, Our Lord says this in verse 37, He says, All that the Father gives Me, all, any, all that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life. I will raise Him up on the last day." In verse 65, Our Lord says, therefore I have said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by my Father. So I would submit to you that the any here in this particular passage is not every single solitary person. It is for the elect. Our Lord brings that out. He's long-suffering with regards to salvation. The elect at this time who had not been converted, Christ had not come back yet. He can't come back yet, not until those at that time that were elect were converted. God's not willing that any of the elect should perish in their sins. God regulates and controls time for the elect's salvation. God's willingness is for the chosen to be converted. In Mark chapter 13, Our Lord brings this out in very direct language. He doesn't do this behind a closed door at all. In verse 20, He says, "...and unless the Lord had shortened those days..." What days is He talking about? He's talking about those days of tribulation. "...unless the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh would be saved but for the elect's sake." elect's sake, whom he chose, he shortened the days. Then if anyone says, gee, look, here's the Christ, or look, he is there, it's basically deceivers, getting people's minds off of the Christ and putting them onto another Christ. And he says this, false Christ, false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. And he says, take heed, see, I've told you all these things beforehand. Election is nothing to run away from. Something that was preached by our Lord, and something that's here in the text as well. Now, we need some balance here. Because you don't want to go to the extreme and make election a reason for laziness or a reason for not believing. Say, if I'm elect, I'll believe. That's laziness and that's taking the Word of God and using it as an occasion of sin as opposed to What must I do in order to be saved? I mean, when someone comes to that conclusion, they don't dare. I mean, if someone is convicted under the preaching of the Word of God, and they come to the minister and say, okay, what must I do in order to be saved? The minister doesn't say, wait a minute, are you elect? That's the wrong thing to ask. The question is, do you see your need for Christ? Yes, I do. Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. You would say that's the fruit of election, is belief. And as parents, when you're raising children, you do not get lazy and say, If they're elect, God's gonna save them. That's the truth, but you're using it to be lazy. Instead of exhorting your children to believe upon Christ, having them come to church, sit in church, read their Bibles, have your family devotions, and lead them in a right way, that keeps us from being hyper-Calvinistic. And I've seen too much of it in churches to where the kids are just left alone and the parents' excuse for not using diligence in training their children up, especially the man, the man who's supposed to lead, is, well, if they're elect, God's going to save them. That's wicked. That's using your election as an excuse. So we should have balance here. Remember, God takes no delight in the death of the wicked. God commands all men everywhere to repent. He causes the rain to fall on the just and on the unjust. God's goodness leads us to repentance. Paul says in Romans chapter 2, only the Lord knows who the elect are. It's not our job to run around and tear off the shirt of every man and look on the back, see if he's got that blue dot on his back. There's no blue dot on the back. But it's not our job to figure out who the elect are. It's our responsibility to obey when the Word of God is preached, and to believe that Word when it's preached, and to be ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within us with meekness and fear. And we do not run away, though, from election. We give God all the glory in our salvation. That's the best place to leave it. When we get saved, it's God's fault. When we perish in our sins, it's our fault. God does as He pleases. Those whom God is going to save, He will save. But they must be saved. They must be compelled to be saved. And we cannot take God and make Him like a man. That was Luther's indictment against Erasmus. It says, your God is too much like man. God's going to do as He pleases. But we dare not get into God's seat and start thinking, well, because of election, choosing this guy, that guy, and the other, they'll just be saved by, you know, God's supernatural power, which He will, but He uses means. So, that's the second reason why the Lord Jesus has not come back yet, is because of those at that time who had not yet been converted need to be converted. Because all that the Father has given to the Son, He's not going to lose any of them at all. Okay? So we have long-suffering towards us, those of us that are living, we need to grow in holiness, grow in sanctification, not willing that any, any of the elect should perish that are living at that time. Now we have a third group of people, third group of people. that all should come to repentance. All, it would be any and all throughout all ages should come to repentance. The elect will repent. They must repent. The fruit of election is repentance. Repentance is absolutely necessary to be a Christian. Repentance It's a saving grace. A man comes to see his sin. He has a hatred of it, a sorrow of it, and he turns from it to God and he receives mercy through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has got to be the center, must be the center of repentance. Mrs. Spurgeon says a repentance without Christ must be repented of. It's the apprehension of the mercy of God which is found in Christ, because when that man turns, when we turn from our sins and we receive the mercy of God which is found only in Christ, we have a new principle of obedience as part of repentance. Hatred of sin, a love for God. I used to hate to go to church. I love going to church. I used to hate sitting through sermons. I love sitting through sermons, as long as they're good ones. That's on me. But those things that I used to love, the sin that I trafficked in, I hate that now. And so there's that turning of the heart. Does that mean you're going to be perfect? No. But there's that internal turn, and it's absolutely necessary for salvation because that's part of being born again. We have a new life. And because of the things that you used to do, you now turn. Children that used to be disobedient to their parents, used to hate their brothers and sisters, used to fight with them all the time, when God does the work of regeneration in their life, they're perfect. No, it doesn't happen that way. They do indeed love their parents, and they love their brother and sister, and they continue to die to sin and live unto righteousness. That happens with children. It happens with us as we grow in grace. But all, all must come, and it says that God is not willing that any that He has given to Him throughout all ages, that's given to Christ throughout all ages, that they should perish, they will not perish, but they will come to repentance. The test of election is indeed faith and repentance. And I want you to notice that the mockers normally are busy mocking, the Christian is busy believing and repenting. That's the difference. They are not to perish. They are not to perish. So, we come to some conclusions here as we finish this up. And I have some conclusions and applications, and it doesn't take a Master's in Theology or have a PhD to figure out where I'm going. Figure this out. If God was long-suffering towards us, patient with us, Should we not be patient with one another? You know, just put the best construction on what people do instead of the worst construction on what people do. That's operating by love. Why? Look at how patient God was with you. And a good question to ask yourself if someone sins against you, let's say they don't exactly repent the way you want them to repent before you, is, are my sins against God far greater than this person's infraction against me? It's one thing to mentally know that, it's quite another thing now to believe it. That's a tough one. Because, in one sense, we're born self-righteous. We're always right. That's why the proverb says, fool says he's always right. Who can find a faithful man? All I'm saying is that it'd be good for us, as brethren, since God has been long suffering with us to be patient with others, with your children, husbands with wives, wives with the husbands, siblings with siblings, members with members. It promotes peace and unity. Secondly, while mockers put the day of judgment far off and it's forgotten, and they are the ones that are slack, not God, let us not put that day far off. Let us not put that day far off. In verse 10, Peter says that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night. It will come on a day that we just do not expect. That's why I think it's good for us when we close out our prayers, our private prayers, and it's good for you to, you should be in prayer daily. Get in your prayer closets, bed, whatever it may be, and pray. A good way to end your prayers is, Lord Jesus, please come back this day. So if He comes back that day, you're not surprised. Well, you're going to be surprised. The mere event is shocking already. Our Lord comes and splits the heavens. But in the back of your mind, you've already prayed that day, saying, Lord Jesus, please come back. He comes back that day. You know, glory be to God. Yes, we're going to be surprised, but we're anticipating it. We're not putting that day far off. We're remembering that we're living for the future. We have new heavens and a new earth to pursue. So that's what we do, we look for new heavens and a new earth. If you continue reading the rest of this chapter, I mildly encourage you to do that after some time today or tomorrow, you'll see the application that Peter uses in light of this. And he says we look for new heavens and a new earth according to his promise where righteousness dwells. It's helpful for these brethren here, helpful for us to have that in mind. It will help us on our day-to-day walk. It will help us put things into perspective. During the week, I don't know about you, but during the week I have a full-time job and it's crazy, it's nuts. All there is around me is unbelief and mockers. And you know what? It affects me. It affects me. And everything gets brought back into perspective when I come into God's house on the Lord's Day, worshiping God, hearing the Word of God preached, fellowship afterwards, everything just kind of comes back into focus again. Because then we can go back out in the world and it's nuts out there. There is so much unbelief that it's tough to find those that really do indeed believe upon our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If you work in a company Maybe a Christian company got lots of believers, thank the Lord for that. Because not all companies have that. And it's very difficult for the mom who takes care of the kids, and got two syllable words maybe coming out of the child's mouth, and you're just doing what you can to raise your kids. It's good for you when you come back into the house of God, everything gets put in perspective. It's kind of crazy. That's just the way it is. You have children that are unconverted, You expect it to be perfect? Not gonna happen. Praying for God to do a wonderful work. So let's not put that day far off, as some do, and they make light of it. But according to His promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth. And there's difficulties that come about. Remember, that's been ordered by God. Part of the reason for Christ not to come back, He's long-suffering towards us, is our sanctification. And sometimes that sanctification involves pain, and sickness, and trials, and you know, sometimes you don't know, why am I going through this particular sickness, or whatever it may be. We've got to keep this in mind, God ordered it for our good. It wasn't pleasant at the time, you hang in there, but you keep your eye on the Lord, looking for new heavens and a new earth. And so I've got to ask you the question, how are things with your soul? How are things going for you? How's your walk with the Lord? Do you have a walk with the Lord? That's important to have that. Remember, scoffers will affect you, or else Peter would not have given this warning. He says that in verse 17, You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the air of the wicked. I would be unfaithful to your souls if I said you need to take heed to these things that are brought about, because what type of people should we be in light of all this?" Peter says this, that we should be a holy people. Are we holy? Are we ready? Are we ready for the Lord to come back? The Lord Jesus, in the book of Matthew, about His return, He says, You also be ready for the Son of Man is coming in an hour you do not expect. Who then is faithful and wise servant whom his master made ruler over his household to give him food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly I say to you that he will make him ruler over his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, My master is delaying his coming, The Second Coming, taking a long time. Maybe this stuff really isn't worth believing in. "...and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards." He's hanging out with the wrong people. "...the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him." Wouldn't it be interesting if the Lord came back on the Lord's Day? Don't go out here and say, now, Pastor Rick said the Lord's coming back on the Lord's Day. I didn't say that. I'm just... Can you imagine what would happen if the Lord came back on the Lord's Day? And so many of those who profess to know the Lord, and yet they're busy at some game or some action that's sinful? I mean, that doesn't judge us whether we're going to make it to heaven or hell. But I just thought it'd be interesting what would happen if the Lord were to come back on the Lord's Day. But he says here, in all seriousness, he will cut him into the hypocrite. and a point of misportion with the hypocrite, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Chapter 25 of Matthew then talks about the ten virgins, the five foolish ones and the five wise ones. Those who are lazy, those who are diligent. And our Lord says, watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor hour in which the Son of Man is coming. Because we see the five virgins that were lazy were cast out into outer darkness, but not so with those who were waiting. What type of people should we be? We should be a holy people. I also want to bring out that God's promises sometimes are always positive. He has a promise of destruction upon the earth. It's important to make peace with this God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, because this world as we know it will be destroyed in flaming fire. Here's a question. I don't want you to raise your hands or anything. Why do you think God has to come back and destroy this earth with fire? Three-letter word. Sin. Sin has put a, well God has put a curse on all of creation because of man's rebellion and it affects every fiber and molecule of our bodies, our creation. I was riding on the trail yesterday, I love riding down to the beach or up to a park, and I saw a dead rabbit on the road. Why is that rabbit dead? Now, only weird people ask those type of questions. I'm weird. The reason he's dead is because of Adam's sin. I was diagnosed with cancer three years ago. Why did I get cancer? Adam's sin. And granted, that's part of the curse that's on me. As we get older, I mean, my back bothers me. Some of you, those of you that played sports and stuff like that, it all comes back to haunt you. Why? The curse that's upon us all. We all have to die. We have to lay down in our beds of death. We all have to. And it looks like it's going to be painful. That's the bottom line. There's a dreadful day coming. It will be a day of great terror and the elements will be burned up because of sin. Because of sin. those that are in Christ, those who have been rescued by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, though our bodies are breaking down, though we have a difficult time getting up, though we have sickness, maybe that sickness will be the end of us, and it will eventually take our lives, because death will indeed kill us, if you will. But thankful, the Lord Jesus has conquered hell and death. For the Christian, from passing this life into the next life, though it would be painful, it may be, may not be, for the Christian, he has an everlasting hope. Our hope is not to suck everything out of this world that we can. You know, we gotta make the most of today, make the most of tomorrow, make the most of our progress in holiness. But we need to remember, we need to remember that this world will be destroyed because of sin. And the blessing of heaven, granted, no more sorrow, No more sickness. No more crying. No more death. No more sin. No more sin in me. That's what I rejoice in, that finally that sin that is within me, though I'm a Christian, though you are Christians and sin is within you and it grieves you and it should, will be done away with. There will be no more sin nature. There will be no more sin that's coursing through our bodies or our minds, guys, the stuff that goes through our minds, we wouldn't even want plastered on the wall, we'd be embarrassed. Done away with. Done away with. Because of the blood and righteousness of Christ. Not by fire, but by what Christ has done to secure our salvation. So while we wait, wait for the Lord to return, God's intention is for us to grow in grace and knowledge." That's what he says in verse 18, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ being the beginning, being the end, and granted in this day and age, there's no shortage of mockers of our Lord. They've been around since the fall of man. But be encouraged, God did not send the rain to destroy Noah. And He didn't send fire to destroy Lot. He waited till they were delivered. That's meant to be of encouragement to us. The Day of Judgment depends not on the flow of time, but the hidden purpose of God. Natural man leads towards impatience. happens to us. But we as Christians have a different view of Christ's return. It's a blessed hope. And the many years that we wait for the performance of that promise is a short time compared to eternity. And the bliss that awaits us to behold our Savior, we shall see His face. And we will say, when it's all said and done, it was worth the wait. It was worth it. Let's close in prayer. Father, we do pray that you would be glorified by the feeble words spoken, that your people would be encouraged, that those that do not have faith, you would use this as a means to bring them to a saving knowledge of Christ. Thank you for the patience of your people. Thank you for how patient you've been to us, long-suffering towards us, not willing that any of us should perish, but all should come to repentance. We thank and praise you for this day. We worship you and praise you. Thank you again for the resurrection of Christ, our Lord and Savior, our only hope of eternal redemption. So take these words again, seal them to our souls, grant unto us much grace to walk in godly fear as we progress through this week that's upon us. We thank you that you've ordered all things after the counsel of your will for our good as well as for your glory. So answer our prayers. Hear us as we do cry out to you in Jesus' name. Amen.