God always keeps his promises

2 Peter 3, starting at verse 1.

This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved.

In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder

where is the promise of this coming?

For ever since the fathers fell asleep,

all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.

They deliberately overlook this fact,

that the heavens existed long ago,

and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God,

and that by means of these the world that then existed

was deluged with water and perished.

But by the same word, the heavens and earth,

that now exist are stored up for fire,

being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

Good morning, everyone.

I hope you sleep well.

Or if not, you might get some sleep in the next few minutes.

I've been up in Townsville for the last 12 years,

and if you don't know the place, it's quite humid up there.

And then I've been in Bathurst for the last 12 months,

and there's actually no humidity.

They took it.

They took it all and took it to North Queensland.

But there's humidity here,

and so I feel myself sweating for the first time in like a year.

This is not anything related to the passage or the talk.

I'm just noticing it.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you that you speak to us in the Scriptures.

It's just so great to have your Word.

Lord, we pray that your Spirit might apply it to our hearts now as we read it.

Father, help us to understand just the reliability of everything you say to us

and what it means for our life to come and our life today.

And we pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, North Queensland, it is great.

It's weird.

It's got a kind of pirate town vibe to it,

everywhere from Rockhampton North.

Wouldn't be surprised to see Captain Jack Black there.

But the thing that I didn't like about North Queensland

was the constant threat of cyclones.

If you were here last night, Matt spilled the beans a little bit.

We have cyclones in North Queensland.

In the year before we got there,

I was speaking to the Lucases about this last night,

there was a big cyclone called Cyclone Yasi,

and it was devastating.

It was very destructive,

and the locals were stinging from it.

Everybody had gone out and bought a generator

and got it wired to their house

because the worst thing about cyclones in North Queensland

is you have no air conditioning

for like a couple of weeks, maybe three weeks afterwards,

and that matters.

If you haven't been there, that really matters.

In a sense, you can get away with your health.

They're pretty good at building houses and stuff now

to protect people,

but the lack of power

and the humidity in the air

after monsoonal rain is phenomenal.

We've had people sleeping at our church

just to get air conditioning

because their area is out.

Anyway, because that happened just before we got there,

people in the community were stinging.

They were really cyclone aware,

and we moved up there,

and we were freaking out

because as you come into North Queensland,

once you get into the cyclone area,

they have these signs saying,

you know, be cyclone aware

when you're in North Queensland.

So we were.

We were vigilant.

We made sure we had no rubbish or debris in our yard.

We'd pull our trampoline, which was giant

because we had five kids down

every time there was any kind of warning of a cyclone.

You're meant to have a cyclone pack.

Our mayor, Mayor Jenny Hill,

used to warn us every year on radio and TV

that you have to have your cyclone pack ready.

What goes in a cyclone pack?

Tinned food,

enough water for four days,

and a torch,

and a transistor radio

so you can hear the communication.

So we got all that together.

But the thing was,

year after year,

there'd be cyclones out in the Coral Sea,

and they'd track close to Townsville,

but year after year,

they would never hit.

Only so many times you can pull

an eight-metre trampoline down

and then put it back together again.

We got a bit apathetic.

We started eating some of the food

in the cyclone pack.

We gave the torch to one of the kids for a camp.

Despite all the talk,

year after year,

a cyclone just never came.

And so, to be totally honest,

we stopped caring.

It seemed like the talk

would just never become reality.

Now, I don't know if you can tell

where I'm going with this.

As Peter writes his second letter

to the church here,

and we come in at chapter three,

he's not writing to get us prepared

for a cyclone,

but he's writing to make sure

we're prepared for the day of the Lord.

Now, the people that Peter's writing to,

they've come to faith in Jesus,

and they've become Christians,

and he just wants them to stay that way

until the day of the Lord's return.

A bit like what I asked you to pray

for my kids yesterday.

That's what Peter wants for these guys.

It's been a long time

since they came to Christ.

He knows apathy is a big risk.

He knows some people are saying

the day of the Lord will never come,

but it's a joke.

So he's writing this

to say,

I assure you that it's not.

God has always done what he says,

and he will continue to.

And I think the question for us

as we read this section is,

do you believe that to be the case?

Do you believe there'll be a day of judgment?

Does it seem real to you?

Or does it seem distant?

A joke?

Let's turn to verse 1 now

and remind ourselves that God always does

what he says he will do.

So I said last night,

look for the theme of the word in this passage.

I think as much as this passage

is about the day of the Lord,

it's about God doing what he says he will do.

So Peter wants to wake his readers up

with God's word.

I'm reading from the NIV 2011 version.

We have all kinds of versions at our church,

and for somebody who's a bit OCD like me,

it really kills me.

I've only been there for 12 months,

but I'm like,

come on guys,

let's get on the same.

Anyway, I'm going NIV.

Sorry about that.

I'm now that person.

Chapter,

Amen.

I'm speaking on,

at another camp later in the year,

on the doctrine of the word of God.

And I just want to assure you,

there is no perfect version.

So just calm down over there, right?

Anyway,

Matt's the one who asked me to speak,

in case you're wondering what I'm doing here.

Peter wants to wake his readers up with God's word.

Have a look from verse 1.

Dear friends,

this is now my second letter to you.

I've written both of them,

as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.

So we're coming in partway through a letter.

You guys have been looking at this in church.

It's chapter 3 of 3.

And Peter's just spent a bit of time warning his readers

about false teachers in the previous chapter.

But we're also,

we're coming in partway through a relationship,

just by starting this letter.

He calls them dear friends in my translation,

and he'll do that three times in this chapter.

But the version that we heard read,

it used the term beloved,

which I think is actually more accurate,

if I can give you that.

Because the people Peter's writing to,

they're beloved of him,

but they're also beloved of God.

They're believers.

He's writing to Christian brothers and sisters

that he's written to before,

and he cares about.

He has a relationship with these guys.

He's got money in the game, right?

He actually cares about them.

He wants their relationship with God to last.

And we find out his purpose in writing

is to stimulate them to wholesome thinking.

Or rather than stimulate,

the word means to wake fully or arouse.

You know, like,

I had my wisdom teeth out a few years ago,

all four at once,

and I had the twilight option.

Go the general option,

that's my advice to you.

But in order for me to come out of that daze,

I needed to be stimulated.

I needed to be awakened.

I needed to be fully aroused.

And that's what Peter's saying

that he's writing to them for.

They might become fully aroused.

He wants them to wake fully to wholesome thinking.

And by that, we find out in verse two,

he means he wants them to lock in

to the things God said,

to God's word,

to the scriptures.

So like a punch drunk boxer

is aroused with sniffing salts

when they've copped too many blows to the head.

Paul wants these guys in their malaise,

in their potential apathy,

to wave the sniffing salts of God's word

under their nose

so they might be aroused.

You get what he's wanting for them?

In this context,

the words that he's talking about

are the words spoken in the past

by the holy prophets.

In the context of this letter,

the words he's specifically talking about,

though, that the holy prophets have spoken,

are the words to do with the day of the Lord.

You guys would have heard the term

the day of the Lord before.

The day of the Lord terminology

has its origins in Amos,

who's a prophet in the Old Testament.

In chapter two, verse six or 16,

one of those two,

in the Old Testament,

Amos speaks about the day of the Lord.

800 years before this letter's written.

And then since Amos chapter two,

the prophets have spoken about it many times,

Malachi being the last,

who spoke about the great and terrible day of the Lord.

So this notion of the day of the Lord,

a day of final judgment,

it's big in the prophets.

Peter wants them to be aroused

from their spiritual apathy

by recalling that God's actually spoken

about the day of the Lord,

about returning to judge

for quite some time.

But he's not just waving

the prophets under their nose,

he's waving the words given

by the Lord Jesus

through the apostles

under their nose as well.

That's the command to live for him

in light of the coming

of the day of the Lord.

What I love about this,

as somebody who was quite cynical

of the Bible

when I first started

checking out Christianity,

is that,

notice in this verse,

the apostle Peter,

he's putting the words

of his peers,

the words of the other apostles,

on the same level of authority

as the prophets.

Did you notice that?

For him,

it's all God's word.

He's trying to be

fully awakening these people

with all of God's word.

He wants them to be stimulated

to understand the truth

that judgment is coming.

How do you wake yourself up

when you're feeling

a bit sleepy?

I'm working at home

quite often these days.

We don't have an office

where I work now.

So I find it easy

to get there.

There are a lot of sleep options

in my house.

We set it up that way.

But I can't afford to do that.

I have to actually be

at my desk concentrating writing.

So to wake myself up,

I'll get up

and I'll go for a walk.

I'll have coffee.

Probably eight out of ten times,

I'll go to the fridge

and eat something,

which is reflected

in my stature at the moment.

All those things,

I'm just trying to do

so that I kind of

snap out of it,

you know,

come and sit back

at my desk,

feel refreshed.

Peter's doing that

with the word of God.

He wants to stimulate them,

wake them from their sleep.

Now I want to ask you,

are you spiritually sleepy?

Or are you stimulated

like somebody

who's had sniffing salts

waved under their nose?

I mean,

let's be honest.

It's very hard

not to be spiritually sleepy

in our culture,

in our society.

Ninety percent

of our country

just gets on with life.

You know,

we work as though

this world

is all we'll ever experience.

There's no tangible

mention of God

in the experience

of most Australians

everyday life.

We focus a lot

on work,

on sport,

on the kids.

I mean,

family's such an

important thing,

isn't it?

It's very easy

to sleep

and to slumber.

It's very easy

to find yourself

thinking,

I'd be interested

in that

if I could be bothered,

but I couldn't

really be bothered

because I've got

so many other

more important things

going on in my life.

There's about,

I reckon,

two or three years

when you first come

to Christ

if you go through

that process,

if you haven't been

raised in a Christian family

where you might be

passionate,

where you might be

filled with zeal

like the psalmist

going to the temple

and then the malaise

sets in

and, you know,

sometimes you have kids,

sometimes you have sickness

and it's all like

little shots of anesthetic

and before you know it,

you can barely open

your eyes

to the reality

that the day

of the Lord

is coming.

Peter says here

the key

to that not happening,

the key to being

fully stimulated,

the key to being

fully awakened

is to recall

the things God said

in the scriptures,

especially

about

the day of judgment

and how to live

for him.

If we wave that

before our eyes,

it'll be like

a cold bath.

it'll be like a,

I guess if the world's

like a slow drip

anesthetic,

the word of God

will be like a slow drip

adrenaline,

just keeping our eyes

open to the truth

that the Lord

is coming back.

How do you go

at recalling things

God said

in his word

to keep yourself awake?

Do you engage

with it each day?

If I said to you,

what are you reading

in your Bible

at the moment

over morning tea?

I won't,

don't worry.

I know there's a lot

of pressure

associated with that,

but I'm giving you

time to think of something

just in case I do.

I've got five kids,

I ask them that question,

I can tell when they're lying.

They just say

what I'm not reading

just in case I ask them

about it.

Do you engage

with God's word?

Do you remind yourself

of the coming judgment?

Do you remind yourself

daily of how you ought

to live in light

of the reality

that the Lord

is in fact returning?

I can say

in my life

there are lots of things

I don't do

that I should do

as a Christian.

Matt mentioned last night

that I'm not

some mythical creature.

I don't know

if people were thinking that,

but I just want

to let you know

that there are lots

of ways in my life

that I fall short

in my faith

and there are lots

of frustrations

and there are lots

of things that I've

been battling with

since I became a Christian

that I feel like

I've made zero progress on.

But there is one thing

that I do do,

I'm not trying

to flex here,

but I try and read

the Bible each day.

Now I don't hit

100%, right?

Yesterday morning

I only read it

with the kids,

I didn't read my own,

that's my day off,

sometimes I get lax

on that day, right?

But I do generally

try and read

the Bible every day.

And I'll tell you what,

if I didn't,

I would be

passed out.

I would have

fallen away.

Because the world

is shooting me

with anaesthetic

every single day.

And without

the word of God

I would be asleep

to the reality

that the Lord

is in fact

going to return.

Every day

I wake up twice,

once with coffee,

with Kath.

So we've got this thing,

when we were

at Bible College,

Peter Jensen's wife

gave a talk

to the Women's Chapel

about how

Peter made a coffee

for her

so that they could

sit up and read

the Bible each morning.

And then Kath came

and said,

oh, Peter makes a coffee

for his wife every morning,

you should do that for me.

So we started doing that

and it was really helpful

until I realised

if I pretended

I was asleep,

Kath would get up

and make the coffee.

So that happens

more often than not now.

But we have the coffee

to wake up

and then we read

the Bible

and we wake up again

to the spiritual reality.

of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So I guess

if there's application

for the first point,

it's are you

waving the sniffing salts

of God's word

under your nose each day

to arouse you

from spiritual apathy?

If you are not,

wrestle yourself

back into that habit.

Pray to God

that he'd help you

to get back into it.

Peter wants his readers

to awaken

by recalling God's word.

But it's more than

just spiritual apathy

he's concerned about.

There's spiritual attack

as well

from verse 3.

There are people

who ridicule

what God says.

Have a look

from verse 3.

It says,

Above all,

you must understand

that in the last days

scoffers will come

scoffing

and following

their own evil desires.

To scoff at something

is to mock it,

to ridicule it.

Like last night

when Matt said

Jason's a Dragons fan,

I could hear the scoffing

permeate through the room.

In the last days,

that is the time

between Jesus'

first coming

and the day of judgment,

people will ridicule

God's word.

They'll ridicule

the idea

that there will ever

be a day of judgment.

They won't even

look into it.

They won't see

its history.

They'll just ridicule it.

Like none of you guys

here probably know,

the Dragons have won

11 premierships in a row

and they're quite a noble

team to support.

It's not a joke.

There's actually

a very reliable

and anchored history

to the scriptures.

The most robust document

that we have

from ancient history.

Yet people will mock it

without regard

for any truth

and their lives

won't be altered by it.

In fact,

they'll just follow

the end of verse 3 says

their own evil desires

and why wouldn't they?

Because they don't believe

there'll be a judgment

from God.

So why wouldn't they?

Look what they'll say

in verse 4.

Where is this coming

he promised?

So the question

isn't about the coming

the question is about

the reliability

of his promise,

isn't it?

Where is it?

He's not coming

is what they're saying.

There'll be no great

and dreadful day

of the Lord.

The Lord's not intervening.

He spoke about it

800 years ago

through Amos

and nothing has changed

since he first spoke

about it.

In fact,

they say in verse 4,

ever since our ancestors

died,

everything goes on

as it has since

the beginning of creation.

Have you seen any signs

of the Lord coming back?

Like how long

have you been

on this earth for?

Like 10 years?

20?

30?

100?

Has anything changed

they say?

God's not intervening.

He hasn't since

he made the world.

Which is interesting language

because it suggests

that people doing

this mocking,

they're not atheists,

they believe in

some kind of creator,

not an interventionist one,

but they're saying

since the creator

created the world,

nothing's changed.

According to them,

the idea of a great

and terrible day

of the Lord

is preposterous

and their reason is

because he's never

intervened before.

Why would we think

he would in the future?

Peter says to his readers,

this is what you're up against.

Not just your own apathy

but this external attack

as well.

People saying

God won't do

what he says he'll do.

A bit like the weatherman

in North Queensland

telling people in Townsville

a cyclone's coming.

What a joke, right?

Do you know what

the standard response

to people in Townsville

when a cyclone

is tracking in

in the Coral Sea is?

The standard response is

it'll probably drift south.

That's what we say.

Because it just never comes.

It's a joke, right?

So,

I've just been through

a basic course

in Christianity

back in Bathurst.

It's called

Christianity Explored.

If you haven't heard of it,

it's really good.

I've been doing it

for a long time now

and they're just about

to release an updated version

on March the 12th.

So,

this current course

that I'm doing

is the last time

I'll ever see Rico

in his kind of

early 2000s

dress attire anyway.

It's a great course.

I love it.

People have become

Christian through it.

Lots of people haven't

but it's actually really,

I found it really helpful

to explain the gospel.

Anyway,

one of the questions

we got to

last Tuesday night

was,

do you believe in hell?

Do you believe

in eternal consequences

for rejecting God?

This is non-Christian

people in the room.

Do you believe

there's a thing

called hell?

And,

a lot of people

don't.

They actually

genuinely

don't believe

that such a thing

could exist.

They've seen

nothing in their

day-to-day life

to suggest

there'll be judgement.

Some of them

will talk about

Little Nicky,

the Adam Sandler movie

which makes a mockery

of the whole thing.

For those of us

that are older,

we'd have the

Looney Tunes,

right?

That make a mockery

of it.

Do you think

hell's real?

Do you think

there are eternal

consequences

for rejecting God?

Even for Christians.

Have you,

and I've been up

in Queensland

for more than a decade

so I'm a bit warped

with my thinking.

No offence.

Your people

are really strange.

But there's a

guy in Townsville

who stands

opposite

Stockland

and he waves

a sign

Stockland's

the Myers

and it says

repent

and believe

for judgement

is coming.

And we talk

about it at church

and it's a bit

of a joke,

right?

And we kind

of feel sorry

for the guy.

You ever seen

that sort of thing?

Is it a joke though?

It's not,

is it?

According to

the word of God

the Lord

is coming back

to judge

the living

and the dead.

Peter says

to his readers

don't be,

don't get caught

up in the mockery

because he

ends this section

by saying

they haven't

remembered

that God

always does

what God

says he'll do.

Have a look

from verse 5.

But they

deliberately

forget

that long

ago

by God's

word

the heavens

came into

being

and the

earth

was formed

out of

water

and by

water.

You know

in this section

Peter's,

he's drawing

our attention

to the power

of God's

word.

The faithfulness

of God

to follow

through

on what

he says

is evident

everywhere

since the

history of

creation.

These mockers

who talk

about things

not changing

since the

beginning

of the

world

deliberately

forget

the very

thing that

they affirm

in mocking

it.

That God

created the

world.

He made

it by

speaking.

He spoke

and it

happened.

He separated

the waters

above from

the waters

below.

Peter's

reminding

his readers

that from

the very

beginning

God

speaks

and it

actually

happens.

In

verse 6

he reminds

them of

the great

flood

that we

associate

with

Noah.

God

spoke

back in

Genesis

6.

He

intervened

in

creation.

So this

is God

speaking

again.

But he

spoke

this time

to judge

and guess

what?

It

happened.

God

spoke

about coming

judgment

and it

happened.

What Peter's

saying is

not only

when God

speaks

does it

happen

but when

God

speaks

about

judgment

it

happens.

And he

will do

it again.

He says

in verse 7

by the

same

word

that

reliable

faithful

powerful

word

of God

the

present

heavens

and

earth

by which

he

means

all of

creation

are

reserved

for

fire

the

refiner's

fire

where the

ungodly

will be

destroyed.

Don't

listen to

the

mockers

Peter

says.

They

forget

the

power

of

God's

word.

They

forget

that

God

always

does

what

he

says.

That's

why

Peter

says

you

need

to

wake

up.

You

know

the

12

years

we

lived

in

Townsville

no

cyclones.

Such

a waste

of

time

pulling

the

trampoline

down.

Halfway

through

our

time

there

my

wife

put

a

chicken

coop

under

the

trampoline.

She

put

chicken

wire

around

the

edge

because

it's

8

meters

wide.

It's

quite a

clever

use

of

time.

Traumatic

for the

chickens

when the

kids

are

on

the

trampoline.

Pulling

the

trampoline

down

just

became

a

whole

lot

more

chaotic

so I

stopped

bothering.

12th

year

we

got

one.

fences

blew

down

trees

blew

down

trampolines

everywhere

loads

of

towns

will

have

no

power

for

days

in

the

humid

heat

of

summer

who

would

have

thought

weather

warnings

would

ever

come

true?

Well the

answer is

we all

should have

shouldn't

we?

Because

they have

before.

And if

we heed

the word

of the

weatherman

who we

all

acknowledge

is

fallible

how much

more ought

we heed

the word

of God

that is

infallible?

the

God

who

always

does

what

he

says

even

with

judgment.

How

foolish

not

to.

You

know

there's

a time

in the

book

of Acts

where

the

apostle

Paul

is

speaking

to

a

bunch

of

non

Christians

in

the

public

square

it's

in

Acts

17

and

he

says

this

bear

with

me

here

because

you'll

be

thinking

what's

this

all

about

I

thought

we're

just

about

finished

we are

don't

worry

this

is

Acts

Paul

says

this

now

God

commands

all

people

everywhere

to

repent

for

he

has

set

a

day

when

he

will

judge

the

world

with

justice

by

the

man

he

has

appointed

he's

given

proof

of

this

to

everyone

by

raising

him

from

the

dead

let's

just

unpack

what

that's

talking

about

that's

Acts

Acts 17:30

17

verse

30

and

31

you

know

Jesus

said

he'd

be

crucified

and

rise

from

the

dead

at

least

three

times

you

can

read

it

in

Mark's

gospel

and

you

know

what

he

was

crucified

he

died

Mark

tells us

he died

as a

ransom

for

many

he

died

to

make

it

possible

for

sinners

like

me

to

be

reconciled

to

God

he

took

the

penalty

of

sin

he

took

God's

wrath

on

himself

on

the

cross

wiping

me

completely

clean

paying

in

full

and

finally

for

sin

on the

cross

we see

God

following

through

on his

promise

to judge

sin

I don't

know if

you've

ever thought

about it

like that

before

but on the

cross we

see God

following

through on

his promise

to judge

sin

because

on the

cross

God's

judgment

fell

fully

and

finally

on the

sin

of his

people

for the

sin

of his

people

on his

son

God

intervened

in human

history

despite what

the mockers

say

to deal

with human

sin

God

said he

would do

it

and he

did it

but

Jesus

also

said

three

times

he

would

rise

and he

did

and according

to the

apostle

Paul

that is

proof

that people

can be

raised

it's

proof

that we'll

all be

raised

and it's

proof

that the

whole world

will be

judged

with justice

by the

Lord

Jesus

the

resurrection

of Jesus

is proof

that God

will do

and has

done

what he

said

he will

do

one day

the risen

Lord

Jesus

we will

all stand

before him

as judge

so

Paul

says here

in Acts

it's time

to repent

it's time

to wake

up

it's time

to stop

ignoring

God

it's time

to turn

back to

him

it's time

to accept

his offer

of forgiveness

to fall

on your

knees

and to

live

with him

as Lord

now having

proven

judgment

is coming

into the

world

the apostle

Paul says

it's time

to repent

and Peter's

readers

back in

2 Peter

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3

you know

what's

great

they seem

to have

done

that

they are

his beloved

brothers and

sisters in

Christ

like many of you

here in this

room

but even

though they're

already saved

he says

I'm writing

to wake

you up

I want

you to

wake up

recall

God's

words

judgment

is coming

God

always

does

what

God

says

he

will

do

let's

pray

heavenly

father

we thank

you so

much

for

revealing

your

plan

for

salvation

through

the

Lord

Jesus

Christ

to

us

in

your

word

father

thank you

that you've

brought

many of us

here in

this room

to faith

in the

Lord

Jesus

thank you

for the

freedom

of knowing

our sin

has been

paid for

that we've

been

washed

father

thank you

for the

Lord

Jesus

Christ

but father

help us

to

to open

our eyes

to wake

up to

the

reality

that one

day

the

Lord

Jesus

will

return

and

will

stand

before

him

as

judge

father

help us

to

live

in

light

of

that

day

in

the

face

of

the

scoffing

in

the

face

of

our

own

slumber

father

help us

to

cling

to

your

word

that

always

comes

true

father

entrenching

us a

habit

to

drip

feed

ourselves

with

it

every

day

that

we

might

remember

the

truth

of

the

great

and

terrible

day

of

the

Lord

from

which

we've

been

spared

through

the

Lord

Jesus

Christ

we pray

this in

his name

Amen

Thank you.