We turn again in the preaching of the word to this familiar epistle to us, 2 Peter, now chapter 3, and we'll be looking particularly at this matter of the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is risen, we often say. He is risen indeed. You know that phrase, perhaps? It's a phrase that the church has delighted to confess over the years. particularly two times, sometimes simply on the beginning of a new Lord's Day when we remember the resurrection, each week, the first day of the week when Christ is risen, when someone says Jesus is risen from ancient days, the church's response has been, He is risen indeed. But there is also another related truth that perhaps we don't think about and we don't confess as often, and that is that Jesus is coming he's coming back he is coming indeed throughout the history of this church this great doctrine of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ has been a comfort and encouragement and a motivator to the service of the church both actively and the pursuit of holiness by God's people. In the scriptures, this is an exalted doctrine. It's called, Paul, in writing to Titus, he calls it the blessed hope. In Romans chapter 8, verse 23, we read of the whole creation groaning and travailing for the day of its redemption, the day when Christ returns on the clouds from glory. It's the day when Jesus comes again, which is the climax of all of history. It's a very important day. It was an important hope for the Apostle Peter to place before the church of the Lord Jesus Christ in their day. I've said a number of times over the past weeks they had persecution from the outside, particularly the days of Nero. They had the false teachers on the inside and they had the difficulties of living the Christian life in a hostile culture. And the question might be at times is where is the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords? I need his help. Is he coming? When is he coming? He said he was going to return. The devil knows also how critical this doctrine is for the church. He knows that there are two things that happen. If the church has this doctrine in her mind and heart and prayers, when we meditate on it, It motivates us to serve Christ, to love him more, to long for him, and to live for him, to live holy. As a matter of fact, next week we're going to see that one of the results of this doctrine in verse 11 is, therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, since Christ will return, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? There's a connection between the doctrine of the second coming, our meditation on it, and our holiness. But the flip side is that when we don't meditate on this, and when we forget about it, and it recedes from our active consciousness as Christians, often we become worldly and cold. Now, whether or not, regardless of whatever your eschatology is, eschatology being a fancy word for the doctrine of the last things, and when you think that Christ will return, still the matter of a visible bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings, in all of his glory, leading the angels of heaven, coming with the sound of a trumpet, ought to be something that we think about, pray over, and meditate on. I think I've said before, it's both the catechisms, the Westminster catechism, and our confession of faith, and with the prayer, even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. It was on the hearts of the reformers as well. Satan always seeks to diminish this doctrine. In the history of the church, particularly I would say over the last 100 years with the furious onslaught of liberalism, in the early 1900s the church Concerned theologians, including reformed theologians like B.B. Warfield, thought that this was one of the five fundamental doctrines that needed to be defended against the attacks of those, of liberals who were attacking the church. And here it seems to be that there's nothing different. In 2 Peter chapter 3, Peter warns that there are going to be scoffers who are going to undermine this very, seek to undermine this same doctrine. And so he seeks to defend the church, to warn the church, to equip the church, to defend the doctrine of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. What we're going to do from our text is a number of things. We're going to define the doctrine first. We're going to see the challenge to the doctrine, second, and then third, we're going to see the defense that Peter gives. So very quickly, the definition. We're going to look and study again the doctrine, the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, we're going to see how it was challenged by the scoffers. And then the third place, we're going to see how then Peter turns and defends this doctrine. Well, first, the doctrine of the second coming from the text. Notice that Peter has changed his tone from chapter 2, where he has been giving this condemnation, rousing, penetrating condemnation of false teachers. He's now changed his tone. He's speaking to the church again, and he opens with the word, beloved. He's drawing near to them as an apostle. He's reminding them of his love for them and the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's trying to tenderly warn them against one more challenge the church is facing. And the challenge is, I said it's the second coming, but it's good before we get there. that we know that that's at the heart of the text. And you see this in verse 3, knowing this first, this is the problem, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts and saying, verse 4, where is the promise of his coming? It's one more sign of these false teachers that he's been talking about. They know the claims of the apostles. They know the claims of Christ apparently. They know that the apostles have preached and that Christ taught that one day he's going to come again bodily return to this world. And they're asking the question, when is he coming? And if you're in all the trouble you're in, where's the promise of his coming? Why is he taking so long? The accusation raised here is against the doctrine of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Peter seeks to defend it, and he begins defending it by reminding the church of a number of things. Look at verse 1. 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 are spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior. And he's saying, I want to remind you what the scriptures say already about this doctrine. And he said, I'm going to go, I want you to look in three places, three places. First, my letters. Second, the prophets. And third, what the rest of the apostles have said together with me. And he reminds them then that this is his second letter. He's reminded them of this once before. He's going to remind them again by, he's going to remind them that the prophets spoke about this. and that the rest of the apostles of our Lord and Savior spoke the same thing. And if you look at Peter's letters, if you take a page, turn the page back, and we do a quick scan through his letters to 1 Peter chapter 1, you'll see that there are all sorts of allusions in Peter's writing to this matter of the second coming of Christ. Some allusions first. In chapter 1 verse 5, he's talking to the church and he says, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. And that salvation which will be revealed in the last time that he is talking about there, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, in verse 7, he speaks that the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. again in verse 13. Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, rest your hope fully on the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. In chapter 2, verse 12, he speaks of glorifying God, the last phrase there in verse 12, in the day of visitation. In chapter 4, verse 7, he says, the end of all things is at hand. Be serious and watchful in your prayers. In chapter 5, verse 1, He calls himself a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glories that will be revealed. In chapter 5, verse 4, he explicitly speaks there, when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. And then if we keep going into 2 Peter, you see this again and again. In 1 chapter 1, verse 11, for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In chapter 3 verses 1 through 13, virtually the whole chapter is consumed with this matter of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this is important because 2 Peter chapter 3 marks the apostle's last words to the church, the last words of the apostle. As a matter of fact, he's already said, spoken of the importance of this letter. In verse 15 of chapter one, moreover, I will be careful to ensure that you will always have a reminder of these things after my decease. He expects this to be the last thing he writes before he dies. And in the last letter that he writes, in the last chapter, he wants to warn us to guard the doctrine of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, not only in Peter's epistles, but he also mentions that this was spoken, he wanted them to be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets. And what he's referring to there is that not only is the idea of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ a matter in the New Testament, but that it is prophesied throughout the Old Testament. And again, we're just going to look at a few texts to show some examples of this. We're going to turn to Daniel chapter 7. verses 13 and 14. There we have a prophecy which Christ links to his own second coming in the Gospel of Matthew. I was watching in the night visions and behold one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. Then to him was given dominion, and a glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, and nations, and languages shall serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away. And his kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed." Zechariah, chapter 14, speaks of the day of the Lord. Malachi chapter 3 verse 16 to chapter 4 verse 2 we read earlier there in your hearing that also speaks of the great coming day of the Lord and judgment for the wicked and redemption and vindication for God's people. Now it's important to side note here when we read the phrase day of the Lord in the Old Testament we have to think of a few things. The first is that it does often refer to a temporal judgment that God will execute in the Old Testament. The second thing it often refers to is not simply the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, but the whole coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, when you read of prophecies of Christ and his kingdom and his glory in the Old Testament, often a prophet will speak of the day of the Lord and the coming of Christ in a way that encompasses the whole of his ministry as the mediator of the covenant of grace, not just one aspect. But there are, those two things being said, there are prophecies in the Old Testament which speak of a day of final coming judgment for all the earth by the one who in Malachi is called the Son of Righteousness. If we would have kept reading in Malachi chapter 4, whose forerunner was John the Baptist, the prophet who would come before him. The concept of a sudden, sudden final day of judgment. for all men is found throughout Old Testament prophecy. Then if we were to keep going in our text, Peter says it's not only the holy prophets, but it's also the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior. We saw already Peter's letters. We could read in the kingdom parables, think for example of the parable of the weeds where Jesus speaks of Jesus there speaks of the angels of heaven that would come with the Son of Man to bring judgment in the earth. Think of Jesus' Olivet Discourse in Luke chapter 21, and I am increasingly convinced the Olivet Discourse, it does not simply refer to, or strictly refer to, the events that Christ does prophesy in this same passage concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, but it also has something to say to us concerning the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, Luke 21, then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift your heads because your redemption draws near. The book of Acts chapter 1, you remember when the apostles were witnessing Christ ascending into heaven, they were gazing into heaven, the angels said, why are you standing there gazing into heaven? This same Jesus whom you saw go into heaven will return again in the same way. He'll come again on the clouds from glory. The epistles, as a matter of fact, every author of the New Testament refers to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and overall it is referred to up to 60 times in the New Testament. It's a very important and key doctrine for the church. What would be helpful for us, I think, before we get to the objections, is to review that doctrine for a few moments. I've got six characteristics for you of this doctrine of the Second Coming. The first is that this will be sudden. The scriptures say again and again, speak of the suddenness of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. That it is not something that will be gradual, but it is something that will appear in a manner that will be surprising and glorious. Surprising and glorious. Matthew chapter 24, verse 44. that day no one again verse 36 a day an hour no one knows not even the angels of heaven but my father only and then in verse 44 therefore you also be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect here in 2nd Peter chapter 3 verse 10 we read but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night now children well maybe I shouldn't ask you this question so you don't think about it too much but if you were a thief in the night how would you come Would you send a letter first? Would you make an announcement of the day and time? If you were a thief in the night, how would you come? It's a very simple illustration that Peter is giving. Like a thief in the night, unannounced, sudden, in a surprising manner. It's an extremely simple illustration which tells us about the urgency of this matter. Now again, even in this text, some try and explain the urgency away by saying that these references are all destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, but I think from this text we cannot say that. If we go ahead to the next verse, we read of the heavens passing away with a great noise, the elements melt with a fervent heat, the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, and then verse 12, looking for and hastening the coming day of the Lord. and then looking at the end of verse 13 for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. It's clearly here the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Global judgment, suddenly an appearance of the living Christ. There's an urgency in the New Testament to watch, to be ready, To know that suddenly Christ will appear and we ought to listen to it and not explain it away in some other way. We ought to consider that the scriptures clearly teach from the New Testament that Christ's appearance will be sudden. The second thing that we have in the New Testament is the teaching that it will be personal. He will return bodily. He will be the God-man. As a matter of fact, in verse 4 we have already an indication of this. The scoffers are saying, where is the promise of His coming? Who is He? It's Jesus Christ, the one who ascended into heaven. They understood the message of the apostles very well. The apostles, they understood they were claiming that your Jesus, your Savior, your King, you're saying He's coming back again on the clouds from glory. That Jesus Christ, both God and man, in the flesh is coming again and returning bodily. And why would the apostles be teaching such a thing? Well, again, we can show you the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. You remember, he said, I go to prepare a place for you, John 14, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be also. He's coming again. Again, we already said Acts chapter one, where the angel said Jesus is coming again in the same way that you saw him. Again, 1 John chapter three, verse two, just one page over in your Bibles. Beloved, now we are children of God. It has not been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Christ will be seen, not only by us, but a third characteristic, the whole world. This will be visible to the whole world in 1 Thessalonians 4, 16. Paul, for the Lord himself, will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. Revelation 1, 7. Behold, he is coming in the clouds, and every eye shall see him, even those who pierced him. And all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. He will be seen. He will be visible to the whole world. A fourth characteristic of this second coming. It will bring what we confessed a moment ago from the larger catechism. It will bring the general resurrection. A moment ago, Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica that the Lord will descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice, with an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. As he writes to the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 15, behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. A few weeks ago. When I was in Canada, I had not been to Canada since the February before, and my mother asked me if I wanted to visit my father's grave. And we went to visit it, and it was a good time to reflect on the Lord's goodness. I don't often visit graves, neither does my mother, but it was a new headstone, and she wanted to show it to me. And as we started walking around the cemetery, it really struck me, I don't know if you've walked around cemeteries much, Well, a few things struck me. First of all, for our own children, there was my father's grave, and then my mother's name was already on the headstone. I was thinking that my parents would be laid to rest here. And then we walked a little farther, and there was Loralee's grandfather's grave, and her great-grandmother's grave, and then Loralee's grandmother's name there on the headstone. And already within a few steps, it was five of the children's ancestors. And it reminded me very much of the general resurrection and what a wonder it would be to be there on that day. As a matter of fact, there was another grave of a little boy, one of my friends, who died in the first grade. All of these who died, I believe, trusting in the Lord. The second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ will bring the powerful work of the general resurrection from the dead. You have to understand this. This is a mind-blowing doctrine. Begin to comprehend the power, the majesty, the glory of what this will mean and what this will bring to the world. That was just one place. Now multiply hundreds and hundreds upon thousands and thousands across the face of the earth as the mighty power of God is displayed as Christ himself raises the dead, some to glory imperishable and some to everlasting judgment. So the fourth characteristic, it will bring the general resurrection. Fifth characteristic is that it will bring the last judgment. Again, the parable of the weeds. Jesus explains it. He says, the harvest is the close of the age, the end of the age, the end of the world. The reapers are the angels. The son of man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all lawbreakers and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. And here Christ and his angels will execute the justice in that final judgment. It's sobering. The judge of all the earth will appear. It's liberating. No injustice and glory forever for his people. And then finally, the last characteristic, he will come to reign forever and ever. Revelation 11, 16. He shall reign forever and ever. Philippians chapter 2, the coming of Christ, allusion there to his glorious nature and the instinctive reaction of every created man, woman, boy, and girl. Therefore God is highly exalted and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth. under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." This is a glorious doctrine. Let me ask you, do you meditate? Are you thinking about this? Is it part of your Christian experience to think on this return, which is all through the pages of the New Testament? Whether you see it in your own lifetime, or whether you see it at the general resurrection, do you think about that glorious day, this great truth that our Savior, he's risen indeed and he is coming indeed. It's a deeply biblical doctrine and very helpful for the Christian life. But even as it is biblical, it's not popular. Now we get back to this matter of the scoffers. The scoffers that are listed here in verse 3 and 4, walking according to their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of his coming? There's nothing new under the sun. This probably is one of the doctrines that is the most offensive and hard for the world to grab hold of. You see, the resurrection, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, someone could understand that a man would die. The resurrection, Well, if that happened in history long ago, then we could argue about it, if you understand what I mean. I mean, it's absolutely true according to the word of God. But if you're rejecting the gospel and you're pushing Christianity away, you could say, well, the resurrection, whether or not that happened and what happened 2,000 years ago. But the second coming, the visible bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven in glory with the sound of a trumpet and all of his holy angels as the God-man in the flesh to judge all the world. is a doctrine which it has by nature in it confrontation. For it declares that every man, woman, boy and girl will stand before the living Christ. Not just have to think about a historical Christ, but stand in the presence of a living Christ. And therefore, it is deeply challenging to the heart and the soul and the conscience and the mind. Most people say it's just not going to happen. There's no chance. You're telling me that there was a man who died and rose and ascended into heaven on the clouds and is coming again from glory and he's going to reign forever and ever. He's going to open the graves. He's going to bring this resurrection. I cannot believe that. And where is he if he said he was going to do this anyways? Are you out of your mind? And that's what these scoffers are saying here. You believe this promise? Where is the promise of his coming? The scholars raise really two challenges here. Look at the text carefully. Two challenges to this doctrine. The first one is that Jesus appears to be taking a long time. He appears to be taking a long time. Not a very sophisticated objection, but it is an objection nonetheless that they raise implicit in the question. When is he coming? Where is the promise of his coming? There seems to be an unreasonable delay. Why are you thinking about it so much? Calm down. And if this was, think about this, if this was a significant challenge in AD 60 or 70, some 30 years after Jesus finished his ministry, consider now some 2000 years later. I mean, this question is growing with intensity every year. Where's the promise of his coming? Where is it? How would you answer the challenge? Jesus seems to be taking a long time. Second challenge is the following. really simply, that things never change. Things have always been the same as they were. They're going to be the same tomorrow. Why are you so worried about this? Why are you so tied up with this idea that this Jesus is going to come back? And you see that in the text here. Where's the promise of his coming? So why is he taking so long? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. The way things were yesterday are going to be the way things are tomorrow. Take your life, for example. Compare your life. You were born. You probably went to school. You're going to work for a while, maybe you're going to retire, and then you're going to die. And you compare that to your father's life, or your grandfather's life, or your great-grandfather's life, or your great-great-grandfather's life, and you might say, well, everyone's life looks exactly the same. Things just keep going. Since the fathers fell asleep, since our fathers died, all things remain the same. Nothing ever changes. God isn't intervening in history. Do you see his hand anywhere? Do you see him doing anything? So why do you believe that he's all of a sudden going to come with this grand entrance into history? And the supposition here is that what you see, sunrise and sunset and all the things you do every day again, they're always just going to keep happening. They're always just going to keep happening. And if anything will change, change always happens slowly. And that's what the scoffers are saying. That's what the world always says. It hates this doctrine. Conscience and rebellion rises up. It's denied by scholars, and drunkards, and adulterers, scientists, religious leaders, politicians. Men of this world will deny this doctrine. It's a fearful doctrine, it's a holy doctrine. For God's people, it's a glorious doctrine. But when it's challenged this way, how should we respond? And how does the apostle respond to these two challenges? One, Jesus seems to be taking a long time, and two, things remain the way they are anyways. Well, he does that by he answers very simply the two challenges in reverse order directly. He begins with this matter that things have always been the same, things never change, and he says, wrong, absolutely wrong. And here's two very simple evidences, very simple evidences. He says, wrong. 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 the water." And what is he saying there? He's referring to creation and God's division of the dry land and the seas, God's mighty work in beginning all things. Evolutionary theory is based on the idea that things will be the same yesterday as they are today and they are tomorrow. The world just keeps going the way it is. It's based on the idea of uniformitarianism, that there are just slow processes working in the cosmos making everything happen. And that's what these people apparently believe. But the Bible says, no. There was a beginning where God dramatically intervened with His unstoppable power. When He said, let there be light, and there was light. And He made the greater light to rule the night, the lesser light to rule the day. And then we have that wonderful phrase, and He made the stars also, casting the billions of galaxies into the heavens. He made the plants and the birds and the fish and the animals. He crowned His creation with man made in the image of God. for communion and fellowship. Things have not always been the way they were. There was a beginning and it was by the word of the living God. So the idea that things never change and they've always been the same is not true. History had a supernatural beginning. What Peter's getting to is that history will have a supernatural end. It's very important here that Peter appeals to the doctrine of creation to safeguard the doctrine of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The wrong doctrine of creation will lead to problems in all of your theology. This they willfully forget. In other words, there is a willful ignoring of the plain doctrine of creation. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. It's a willful ignoring that this is true. Instead it's replaced with a sort of naturalism that all things just happen and that denies the fact that God will supernaturally intervene again in history. But then there's a second allusion here in the text and perhaps that is, it's just a few words. This world, verse 6, by which the world, talking about water, by which the world that then existed perished being flooded with water. The second argument against the accusation that things will always be the same and have always been the same is no. God not only supernaturally began the history with the creation, but he divinely intervened with holy judgment at the flood. Things will not always remain the same. The same supernatural God who created the world, he sent the prophets, he entered history in the person of his son, he worked wonders, He rose again from the dead and he ascended into heaven and he's coming again on the clouds of glory. In other words, Peter is saying from these two instances that the God of the Bible has always been actively involved in his creation. And to deny it is to willfully ignore the plain teaching of scripture. Then Peter deals with the first challenge. First challenge was that Jesus seems to be taking a long time. If someone was going to challenge you today, they'd say 2,000 years. You're telling me that there's a man who's been living at the right hand of his father for 2,000 years and he's coming again. And the answer is yes. I don't know when he's coming, but he's coming again. But how do we answer this from the scriptures? Well, Peter gives two answers again to this challenge. This is the first one he gave two answers, this one he also gives two answers. And the first one is, the answer to the question, is God really taking a long time to end history? And the first answer is from God's perspective, no. Absolutely not. And Peter there quotes Psalm 90 verse 4. Psalm 90 verse 4, where the psalmist speaks about the eternal God and his relationship to time. For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past and like a watch in the night." That God's relationship to the passage of time is not the same as ours. Matter of fact, he created it, he's eternal, he's outside of it, he's not bound by it. You see, we think that God is like we are. We have a watch, we have a calendar, when we have to make a plan for something, we have to sit and wait for all of this to unfold. But God, in his divine purposes, in his eternal nature, is not related to time in the way that we are. And so Peter describes it this way. Beloved, beloved again, do not forget this one thing that with the Lord one day is as 1,000 years and 1,000 years as one day. So 2,000 years, he says, if you're going to think, he's not making this, he's making it as a general illustration, not as a one-to-one correspondence. But he's saying 2,000 years for God is like two days. He isn't taking a long time. He's executing all his holy purposes. And he has a plan for history. And he has elect to be saved. And there's a gospel to go out to the nations. And there's a Christ who's ruling and reigning. And he's not behind schedule. He's not waiting. Again, notice that word, beloved. Don't be anxious, Peter's saying. When the scoffers come and say, is he really coming? He says, beloved, no. Don't fall for that question. For God is working out his holy purposes. He is not waiting, but he's executing his plan of redemption in history. Nothing can frustrate that. But then, there's the other point of view. The other point of view he deals with in verse 9. From God's perspective, no. He's not taking a long time, he's executing all his holy will and his plan of redemption. But from our point of view, still 2,000 years is a long time. A very long time. Why 2,000 years? Why 2,000 years? Peter says in verse 9, it's not because he's slow. It's not because he's slack or slow concerning his promises. Some count slackness or slowness. He's not slow. It's not because he's slack with his promises that he's forgotten what he has said he will do. He has not forgotten. He's executing all his holy will. Peter said it's none of those things. Instead, it is because he is patient. It's because he's patient. Look what he says, he is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Now don't you see the foolishness of these scoffers? They're accusing God of taking too long, where is the promise of his coming? While God with divine, gracious, glorious patience is waiting that all of his own might come to repentance. Now, some people have tried to use this text to teach. You notice it says, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, to teach a sort of universal atonement. You can't get that from the text. If you look carefully at the grammar, he is long suffering toward us, that is his people. Peter is talking about the church. He's talking about the elect. He's talking about God's covenant people, and that God is being patient Not generally towards the world, not that he's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But rather he is being patient and working out his purposes for his elect in history, bringing all of his people to himself, though that none will be left behind. And that patience itself stands as a testimony to the free grace of the living God before all men. He's ensuring the salvation of his people. He's working out his plan. Again the irony, the scoffers are mocking God as if he was slow, but in fact God is displaying more and more with each passing year of his own grace and glory. Paul speaks of this same principle in Romans chapter 2 verse 4, Do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads to repentance? And so God is not forgotten. Peter then gives that summary warning in verse 10. He returns now to the very heart of the matter and he confirms what has been questioned. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise. The elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Verse 7. The world is reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. God will execute all his holy will. Christ will return as judge, victor, conqueror, and redeemer. And here we don't have a prophecy of the annihilation of the earth, the purification of the earth. We'll look more at that next week. But we do have a promise that God will vindicate his own name. He'll save his own people. None will perish. All will come to repentance, but also And if those scoffers persist in doubting this truth, one day the sudden, glorious, visible bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ will be upon them. And they will be called to give an answer for their perdition, the perdition of ungodly men. Let me ask you a simple question at the conclusion of this sermon. Have you ever been tempted to doubt this simple, straightforward truth of the word of God? There's a very simple heads up here in the scripture. Scoffers will come and you're not going to be popular if you declare this truth. If you believe it, if you tell others about it, it is not going to receive a happy reception in this world. Again, I said earlier, it inevitably brings a confrontation between a sinner and the living Holy God. It always will. And when even at that we ought not to be discouraged, we ought to pray that those thoughts even might lead many to repentance and embrace Christ instead of rebel against Him. But it is the truth and it will be opposed. Follow the arguments that Peter has used to defend it, that God has intervened in history. When you're tempted to doubt, God has intervened in history. He made the heavens and the earth. He brought the flood. He sent His Son into the world. He brought the manna and the quail. He came on Mount Sinai and the mountain shook. with an earthquake, and the cloud covered in the fire, and the fire came down from heaven on Elijah's altar, and Christ did miracles and wonders, and there was the Mount of Transfiguration. God is a God who is engaged supernaturally in history, and He will at the end, in all of His glory. Believe what the Scriptures say about God is true. Believe that He's not slow, but He's patient. and rejoice in it even as he works out his purposes in your life and calls sinners to himself, that he has a purpose for all these things, he's going to redeem his people, he's going to bring all of his own to glory, not one will be lost. Very simply Peter is saying to the church, beloved, what he said he will do, he will do, he is coming, he's coming indeed. Next week we're gonna see more about the holiness that this calls us to in verses 11 through 13. This week I want to just give you one simple application as you go home this week. Think about these things. Meditate on them, consider them. Be ready to defend this truth against Satan, against the world. Live in the reality of a living Christ. coming again from the clouds from glory for all of his own and long for the day that we shall see him and be like him even as he is. Amen. Gracious God, we ask now for a new spiritual awakening and awareness of this truth. We ask for a deepening in our understanding. We ask for the renewing of our minds and the softening of our hearts. We pray that you would cause this word to find fruitful soil, that even now as we go from this place meditating on this simple, glorious, weighty truth, that we would be both encouraged, that we'd be filled with more zeal to speak of those to those around us of the truth of your word, that we would be ready to reorder our life in all the ways that you call us to as our King and Savior, that you would give us comfort knowing that there is nothing in this world, though the return of Christ may take many years, perhaps many lifetimes yet, that yet your promise is not slow, you have not forgotten it, but you will accomplish all your holy will, you will call all your people to repentance, you will gather your church, and you will come one day to vindicate your holy name. Help us to love these truths and to cling to them, we pray. Forgive us when we have not, in Jesus' name, amen.