Present a Heart of Wisdom • 2 Peter 3:1-9

48:02 Teaching begins

Notes

Why does this world exist? What’s the purpose? People have become more or less accustomed to the idea that it just happened by accident. We are here by accident, so there is no special purpose. You make the purpose. You can do good, you can do evil. You can make your mark on the world, you can live your little life and not be bothered about anybody. You can have your family, you can provide for your retirement. Do the best you can.

I was surprised when I found out that the world has a purpose.

I know that after man sinned God subjected the world to futility. There would never be satisfaction in the world. But the world still has its purpose even though there is futility in the world. It hasn’t changed the purpose for which God made it.

He created the heavens and the earth to judge and destroy ungodly men.

The Bible warns us to not forget that God will judge all people.

I’m reading 2 Peter 3:1-9.

1. Peter returns to his main reason for writing: to remind his readers of the word of God.

A. This is the word spoken by God through the prophets, that’s the Old Testament.

B. And the word of God is the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. That’s the New Testament. In chapter one Peter said we are eyewitnesses. We saw Jesus, we heard Him. And we have the prophetic word made more sure. God has fulfilled part of what He promised, that’s the guarantee that He will fulfill all of what He has promised.

2. There are two main themes to the promises of God, all fulfilled through His anointed servant, the Son of Man, the Messiah. One is salvation, the other part is judgment.

A. The Messiah would suffer death for the sins of the world. He would redeem man from the penalty of sin against God, which is death forever.

B. The Messiah would execute judgment on the nations and all the ungodly, rule forever on the throne of David, and make the nation of Israel the first nation of the world because they are God’s people.

C. Suffering and victory are two very different themes. How do they harmonise? Before Jesus came the rabbis decided that there must be two servants, two messiahs of God.

1. The victorious servant they called the Son of David. In 2 Samuel 7 God promised David that one of his descendants would sit on his throne and rule forever.

2. The suffering servant they called the Son of Joseph. God used what Joseph personally suffered to save the whole world from famine.

D. Naturally people were more interested in the Son of David than the Son of Joseph because who wouldn’t want the Messiah to triumph over all Israel’s enemies and make Israel the highest nation in the world? That’s why when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey the people said Hosanna to the Son of David. They thought, this is it! Redemption, victory, triumph. That’s why the disciples were fighting for who gets to sit on His right hand and His left. This is it! The glory and power are just about here. Jesus is the Son of David.

E. But Jesus did none of these things, and in fact, He was arrested, tried, and crucified. That devastated all His followers. That’s what the disciples said on the road to Emmaus, we thought He was going to redeem all Israel, that is, exalt and elevate Israel. But He’s dead.

F. Jesus rose from the dead and revealed to the disciples what the Scripture means: there is only one Messiah and two comings of that Messiah. At His first coming He is the suffering servant who saves the people from their sins by dying in their place. At His second coming He is the glorious victorious servant who will fulfill all the prophets by judging men and angels and ruling forever.

G. Peter is reminding his readers that the prophets and the apostles spoke the same word of God in agreement. That the Messiah would suffer for the sin of the people and rise again and return for the judgment that establishes the kingdom of God on the earth and then ends the world. The Old and the New Testaments are the same word of God. Remember that.

3. Peter wants to stir up our sincere minds to remember.

A. That’s an interesting way to put it, isn’t it? Because we have repented, and come to Jesus and received Him and are born again, we have pure, honest, true minds. Sincere.

B. He knows we’re not perfected yet. We’re weak in the head sometimes and we forget. We lose our way.

C. If we remember, and work on remembering, we won’t get lost. We will be useful and fruitful in knowing Jesus. That’s what Peter says in chapter 1:8.

4. Now that Jesus has come and established salvation, Peter wants us to remember that Jesus will come again, judge the world, and destroy the ungodly.

A. The word of God says that scoffers will come. One characteristic of the last days is that people will deny that Jesus will return to judge. They’ll make fun of anyone who believes it’s going to happen. That’s a cleverly devised fable, they’ll say.

B. The big proof for denying judgment is, no judgment happened in the past, therefore no judgment will happen in the future. Everything keeps going just like it always has. God didn’t create this world, therefore He is not going to judge this world. This world just happened.

5. That’s wishful thinking. Judgment must happen because God made the heavens and the earth for judgment.

A. This escapes those who wish it to be so, that God has already judged the world and destroyed it. It doesn’t register on their minds, doesn’t make an impression, that God made the world of water so He could destroy the world with water.

1. The world was different before the Flood. Water was much more prevalent on the earth. On the first day of creation, Genesis 1:2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. It was on the second day that God made land appear and separated the land from the waters. It was all water in the beginning.

2. Genesis 1:6-7 Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. Waters above the expanse, in the heavens. How it worked, we don’t know.

3. Genesis 2:5-6 Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. There was an underground system of water.

4. God used both the water in the heavens and the water under the earth to destroy the ungodly. Genesis 7:11-12 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.

5. Genesis 7:17-21 Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered. The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered. All flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark. The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days. That’s five months with all the mountains covered with water.

6. God made the world with abundant water because He knew in advance that man would sin, would become completely wicked, that He would destroy that world, and He chose to do it with water.

C. The heavens and the earth which now exist are reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

1. Peter says in verse 10 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, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

2. God knows what He is going to do in advance. He has decided that the final destruction of this creation will be with fire. After this He will make a new heavens and a new earth, a new creation.

6. Understand that until God’s judgment, we live every day in God’s mercy.

A. The ungodly assume that God’s delay in judgment is evidence that He will never judge.

B. Peter says that is wilful ignorance because God is eternal.

1. Time doesn’t limit God or constrain Him. He is not under pressure of a deadline, where He has to let some detail go or not finish some part of His plan because He ran out of time.

2. Because He is not limited He takes into account every detail. He is aware of every action, every thought, every sin. The memory is fresh whether the sin was committed thousands of years ago or this morning. He is going to thoroughly judge all men and all angels, the great and the small.

C. God delays because He is patient and merciful.

1. He would rather not condemn sinners. He would rather that we consider our lives, change our mind, humble ourselves, come to Him, receive Jesus, and submit to Him as Savior and Lord. He will transform them and redeem them and save them completely forever. He delights in unchanging love.

2. So every day of delay is God’s patience. He’s misunderstood as being non-existent or weak or forgetful or incapable of judgment. Men despise God and blaspheme Him. He sees every sin and is angry at the wicked every day. He endures it all because He is saving people from eternity in hell. He’s working and calling people to Himself.

6. So what?

A. It’s awesome to realise the world we live was created by God for judgment. It’s not a place to goof off and pursue our own thing and waste time living in rebellion against God. God is going to burn up everything.

B. Judgment should affect us deeply. It doesn’t because we don’t think about it, and God’s eternity, and His wrath. Because we don’t think about it, neither does anyone else. We expect that things will go on just as they always have. In reality we are getting closer and closer to the return of Jesus, in power and glory, for judgment.

C. Psalm 90:11-12 Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath. So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

1. Who knows the power of Your anger? Not those killed by the Flood, not the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. He only killed them. They’re just dead and waiting to experience the full wrath of God forever in hell. Moses saw God destroy Egypt with ten plagues, but that wasn’t the wrath of God.

2. Only one person has ever experienced the full power of God’s wrath, the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to establish everlasting salvation. He died for your sins so you could know the mercy of God. Have you received Jesus as your Savior? Is He your Lord? If He is not your Lord, He is not your Savior.

3. You need God to teach you to number your days. You need Jesus in your life. If you think about the power of God’s anger then you will number your days, you will gain a heart of wisdom. You haven’t got long, and then you must leave this life and stand before God in judgment. If you reject His mercy then you must face his wrath.

4. A heart of foolishness is going to say, “I never thought You were real. I never thought You were going to judge.”

D. Trust in Jesus to make you right with God. Present to God a heart of wisdom.

Let’s pray.