He is not slow in keeping his promises

We're reading from 2 Peter 3 verses 8 to 10.

2 Peter 3:8–10

Let's awaken our hearts and minds with the word of the Lord.

It says from verse 8.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.

The heavens will disappear with a roar.

The elements will be destroyed by fire.

And the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

I just thought I'd read to you from Psalm 90 just a little bit.

It says from verse 3.

You turn people back to dust saying, return to dust you mortals.

A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by or like a watch in the night.

Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death.

They are like the new grass of the morning.

In the morning it springs up new but by evening it's dry and withered.

And then I just want to read to you from the end of Malachi as well.

We're not going to do the whole Bible.

I'll just get to this bit here.

This is the penultimate and ultimate verse of the Old Testament.

Chapter 4 verse 5 and 6.

They're two really important bits of context.

What we're looking at here.

But why don't we pray?

Let's pray.

Gracious Lord and Heavenly Father, the powerful Creator and Judge, the Lord for whom a thousand years are like a day.

Father, we come before you as your creatures, as mortals who are like the grass of the field.

Entirely dependent upon you.

Father, we pray we'd understand our position as we look at your word now.

We pray, Lord, we listen well, that your spirit would indeed infuse your word in our hearts.

And we pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

It can be very difficult to tell someone they're fired.

I don't know if you've been in that position before in your life.

I want to say show of hands if you've had to sack somebody but I don't want to do that at the same time.

Oh, somebody's proud of it in the back row.

That's great.

No, I'm just kidding.

I say a lot of things I regret.

That'll be one of them.

Anyway, it can be difficult to tell someone they're fired.

I've had to do it, especially when you care about them.

Kath and I, we, I got like diagnosed with anxiety disorder when I was, just before I went to Bible college.

And one of the things that I worked out and helped me was watching mindless TV.

So it's medical.

That's why I do it.

Kath and I watched this show on Apple TV called Acapulco.

Show of hands if you've seen Acapulco.

All right.

That's good.

I don't know whether we watched it because we've watched every other thing on the internet.

But anyway, it's about a young bloke called Maximo who gets a dream job of managing the flashiest resort in Acapulco.

He's quite an endearing character.

One of the hardest things he has to do as this sweet, innocent young local guy is learn to fire his friends.

In particular, the resort bartender who's been giving free drinks to everybody just so he can get bigger tips from them.

It's a good strategy, right?

You give stuff away for free.

They tip you.

You make all the money.

Now, Maximo knew about this.

But the thing about this sweet guy is he just couldn't bring himself to sack him.

Even though he knew that his own job depended on it, he couldn't sack this guy who was slowly destroying the resort by his actions.

He loved him too much.

That's on Apple TV if you want to watch it.

Anyway, as we continue in this part of 2 Peter, we're going to see that God is incredibly patient with us.

He loves us.

He doesn't want anyone to perish.

He loves us more than Maximo loved his colleagues.

And that's great for us, right?

It's great for our neighbours.

It's great for our kids.

It's great for our friends.

It's great for the entirety of my extended family who haven't yet put their faith in Jesus.

But the difference between the Lord and Maximo, there are lots of differences.

The Lord won't let us rebel against him forever.

He is a God of perfect justice, which is bad for anyone who hasn't put their faith in him.

Now, there aren't many verses here, but they do tell us a lot.

So if you've got your Bibles open in any translation at 2 Peter 3, verse 8,

2 Peter 3:8

the first thing we're going to see here is God is patient.

He doesn't want anyone to perish.

This is such a beautiful part of the character of God.

All the parts are beautiful.

I love this.

It says,

Does that seem familiar to you at all?

In the first part of the passage, Peter explained that there will be a judgment day.

Remember, even though it was first talked about 800 years before 2 Peter was written,

God is going to do it.

Malachi spoke about it.

Even, you know, 400 years after it was first spoken about, Malachi spoke about it again.

God is going to do it.

The Lord is going to come and strike the land with total destruction.

They were Malachi's words.

And Peter said in the first part of this passage,

even though people will ridicule the idea of that ever happening, remember,

even though they'll mock it,

does God always do what he says?

Of course he does.

And here, Peter wants his readers to know

God's timescale is different to ours.

And he takes us to Psalm 90

to remind us that God's timescale is different to ours.

A thousand years in your sight are like a day, the psalmist sang.

The psalmist is saying,

the sheer majesty of God is incomprehensible for us.

We think 30, 40, 90 years is a long time.

It's nothing.

It's like the grass growing in the morning and withering in the evening

compared to the power and the majesty of God.

Time is, it's a different scale with him.

And Peter's referring to that here in order to say to his readers,

God's timing is different to our timing.

God's patience is different to our patience.

We don't get it.

We can't get our head around it.

I look around at the folly of the wisdom of the youth of my children

because I've lived so much longer than them.

What a fool, right?

Compared to our creator God

for whom a thousand years are like a day.

God's timing is not our timing.

But a key reason behind his timing in verse 9

is his patience.

He is patient.

He's not slow in keeping his promise to judge the wicked.

Instead, he's patient.

That instead, it's a contrastive conjunction, right?

It's strong.

It's a big but.

Don't be mistaken.

God is not slow in keeping his promises.

No, he's patient.

He's patient.

And this case, the reason he's being patient

is clearly stated in verse 9.

He doesn't desire that anyone should perish.

How good is that, right?

What sort of a God would create people just to destroy them?

Well, God doesn't desire.

What does God desire?

God doesn't desire that anyone should perish.

That is, he wants everyone to come to Jesus.

He wants everyone to come to repentance.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise,

as some understand slowness.

Instead, but,

by contrast, he's patient with you.

Not wanting anyone to perish,

but everyone to come to repentance.

I love that about the character of God.

This is a refrain in the scriptures.

This is an important part of the character of God.

Did you know this about God?

It stands out like lights on a Christmas tree

in a dark night.

God's desire is for all to turn to him.

In 1 Timothy 2, verse 4,

1 Timothy 2:4

Paul says,

God wants all people to be saved

and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

That's what God wants.

How good is that?

Twice in Ezekiel,

in a book that at times can be very angry,

in a book that reflects the justice of God,

God says,

I do not delight in the death of the wicked,

but I am pleased when they turn from their ways and live.

That's what God is like.

That's the God that we follow.

Now, to be clear,

and also a bit confusing,

and Kath said,

don't talk about this,

just go through,

it's a bit too distracting.

And I was like,

I'm going to talk about it.

The Bible is also clear

that it is only and entirely

by the decree of God

that anyone would turn and be saved.

Got it?

It's only and entirely

by the decree of God,

a D word,

decree of God,

that anyone would turn and be saved.

Yet, what's the other D word?

What's the desire of God

that everyone would be saved?

We believe that God is sovereign

over every part of salvation.

I watched an amazing 2 minute,

50 second video

by Pastor David Bott during the week,

and one of the distinctive characteristics

of Gracie Evangelical Church

is that we believe that God

is in charge of every part of salvation.

Absolutely.

God rules.

Okay?

God is sovereign over salvation.

The only reason anyone would turn to God

is if he decreed it.

And we take comfort in that great truth,

knowing that if we are a believer,

praise the Lord,

he's done it for us.

It's great.

Every aspect of it.

But while we hold that truth firmly,

like one track on a rail,

we hold the other truth firmly,

like the other rail.

That while God might decree

who is and isn't saved,

his desire,

as unquestionably expressed in the Scriptures,

is that all would turn to him.

Is that all would turn

and put their faith in Jesus.

That everyone would come to repentance.

We don't try and force those two rails together,

do we?

Because we don't want to crash the truth train,

right?

But God's decree

is what saves us.

Yet his desire

is expressed in his patience.

And that is that he doesn't want

any to perish,

but everyone to come to repentance

and to believe in Jesus.

Peter says,

this is why the day of the Lord hasn't come yet.

God is patient.

Are you patient?

And sometimes,

I had red hair at some stage in my life,

a bit like Robert used to have blonde curly hair.

I used to have red hair.

And I was not very patient as a child at all.

And I've gotten better as I've gotten older.

Sometimes I might make a loose threat to my kids.

I'll say to them,

look mate,

this is the third time

I've asked you to get off your phone

and go and clean up the kitchen.

You've made a massive mess in there.

And if you don't do it,

I'm taking your phone off you

for a month.

Because I'm losing my patience, right?

And so I just throw this big month out there

of my kids not having any screen time,

which I will suffer for.

For them,

that is akin to condemnation.

I may as well be damning them

to the corner of hell in their mind

by taking their phone off them.

You know what?

I don't actually want to do it.

The reason I'm saying that to them,

the reason I'm saying,

I'll take your phone off you,

isn't because I'm some sort of nasty overlord

who delights in seeing them without screens.

No,

I actually just want them to delight

in cleaning up after themselves.

I want them to learn to have servant hearts.

And so,

I just,

I'm patient.

Before I inflict the punishment,

I let a bit of time pass.

But,

my patience is not a thousand years.

I reckon I've got about 45 minutes up my sleeve.

God is not like that.

He is so patient.

And his patience is driven by his desire

that none should perish.

You think about God in the history of the Old Testament.

He's been patient with humanity from the beginning.

You may not remember this,

but what did he say to the first humans

would happen if they sin?

You'll die.

Yet they ate the fruit.

And did they die?

Well,

yes,

they did.

Because God always does what God says he will do,

right?

But was he patient with them?

Absolutely he was.

They lived for hundreds of years,

over which time he clothed them,

he fed them,

he gave them descendants.

God's patience,

it's been there from the beginning.

He waited thousands of years for humanity

to listen to his word through the prophets.

There's a beautiful part in Romans

where it says,

I held out my hand all day long to you.

God is so patient.

He demonstrated his patience

by withholding his judgment,

by sending his son to bear his judgment

on our sin.

Jesus is God's final act of patience towards us.

How great,

right?

You want to know if God is patient?

After thousands of years of rebellion,

he sends his son

to hold out an offer of salvation to us one more time.

God is patiently holding the offer of forgiveness out right now

to sinners.

Like me,

like you,

our neighbors,

our colleagues.

One last offer.

God's final word.

This is why we're here today.

This is why I'm in Bathurst

and you're in Newcastle

or the greater Newcastle region.

God's left us here

because he's patient.

He doesn't want

our families,

our neighbors,

our classmates,

our colleagues to perish.

There's this beautiful part in Matthew's gospel.

We're looking at Matthew next term in church

and there's this beautiful part

where Jesus looks around at the crowd

and it says that he sees that they're harassed and helpless

like sheep without a shepherd.

And how does he feel towards them?

He has compassion on them.

That's the character of God for our world.

God's left us here among these harassed and helpless people

and if we're part of his church,

he's left us here to help these people come to a knowledge of truth about Jesus.

Is that how you understand

why you are where you are?

Why you're in the number of the house that you're in?

Why you're in 22 White Street?

Why you're doing first year electrical engineering?

Do you understand that you are where you are

as a member of the people of God

because God is patient

and he doesn't want any to perish?

He's placed you there

that you might witness to his character,

that you might share the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ

and that your neighbours,

your colleagues,

your classmates,

your friends,

your children,

your parents,

they might somehow see your good deeds

or hear the gospel

and turn and glorify God

on the day that he comes to visit us.

That's God's plan.

You're a plant

in whatever context you're in.

You might have think that you moved to Newcastle

for family

and you might have think you moved there to study

or for friends

or for a relationship

or for a job

for the career.

Wrong.

You are there because God is patient

and he does not want the people of Newcastle to perish.

He's decreed that some people in that city

might come to know the Lord Jesus Christ

and you are part of his plan.

You're an expression of the patience of God.

God.

That's our purpose.

Do you talk to people about Jesus?

How do you live out your purpose?

Maybe

you might invite people to church.

Maybe you try to live a godly life around them.

Maybe God's blessed you with children

and you think to yourself,

well,

God's given me these kids

in order that I might reveal his character to them

so I'm going to try and read the word with them.

I'm going to try and point them towards Jesus

and when they get older and rebel,

I'm going to pray for them.

If we understand our purpose,

if we understand the character of God,

if we understand the heart of God,

it reshapes how we act in our circumstances.

If I'm at work to be a witness,

there are things I just don't do.

You know,

I was an accountant.

I became a Christian while I was an accountant.

I know that my clients were interested in earning

and saving as much money as they could.

Before I was a Christian,

the way that I acted in order to make that happen for them,

well,

it had to change when I became a Christian

because I'm trying to witness to them.

When I'm getting out of my car

after the commute,

I've got to drive about three and a half minutes

to get home from church.

It's very easy for me not to want to talk to my neighbour.

Jeff is the guy that I usually see.

He's on the top side

where the fence doesn't extend all the way to the front.

And I'll see him there

and sometimes I've had a bit of an intense day.

I'll just wait a few seconds in the car

hoping that Jeff goes inside

or then I'll get out

and I'll just turn.

That's not why I'm in 22 Rosemont Avenue.

I'm not there to avoid people.

God actually doesn't want Jeff to perish.

He's actually placed me in my house.

Forget about my job at church.

He's placed me in my house to witness to Jeff.

It's possible Jeff has some Christian family member somewhere

who's praying that God might put somebody in Jeff's life

who could bear witness to him

and here's this dog skiving off from his car after work

trying to avoid Jeff.

God doesn't want Jeff to perish.

Our purpose is to live out God's character

in the context of our ordinary lives.

Did you realise that?

That you are not put on earth to avoid people

and get on with life.

The reason you are still here

is because God is patient.

He doesn't want anyone to perish

but everyone to turn in repentance

to the Lord Jesus Christ.

We're still here because that is what God is like.

But God is also just.

And he will expose everything.

Read from verse 10.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.

The heavens will disappear with a roar.

The elements will be destroyed by fire

and the earth and everything done in it

will be laid bare.

While God cares deeply about the creatures

he breathed life into

he is just

and as the end of verse 10 says

the earth and its deeds

will be exposed

before the judge.

Or as Romans 14.12 says

each of us will give an account

of him or herself to God.

Or as Hebrews 9.27 says

it's destined for man to die once

and after that comes judgment.

Or as Hebrews 4.13 says

no creature is hidden from his sight

but all are naked and exposed

to the eyes of him

to whom we must give account.

What a terrifying prospect, right?

No one will escape

the justice of God.

It makes sense.

Like if there is a creator God

and it wasn't just a trivial flick of his

you know he doesn't have

like he's not just easily bored

and so he decided to create the world.

If there's a creator God

who actually cares about his creation

who created us for a purpose

of course he's going to hold us

to account for how we live.

It just

it doesn't make sense any other way.

No one will escape

the justice of God.

He can't let our rebellion

against him last forever.

On the great and terrible day

as Malachi calls it

that he comes

it seems like the old creation

will be done away with

and the new will come.

Whether it's a renovation

or a replacement

you guys can talk about that

over morning tea.

But the destruction

of the very fabric

of the old order

is a sure thing.

Its constituent parts

will be laid bare.

That's the thrust

of what this passage is saying.

This is what the Bible teaches

and this is what Christians believe

that each of us

will face the justice of God

and none can escape that day.

We won't even have our clothing

to hide behind.

We'll be exposed

and laid bare.

That grace

that God first showed

Adam and Eve

in the garden

we will be exposed

completely

before our God.

We don't know

when it's going to come.

It'll be like a thief

in the night.

Unexpectedly

we'll find ourselves

before our creator

on that great

and terrible day.

We sold

our family farm

recently.

It's been in our family

since European settlement.

I have so many memories

there.

It's basically

like my dad was in the bank

when I was growing up

so we moved around

a whole stack

but that farm

was my real home.

Recently

the new owners

bulldozed

the original farmhouse.

Yeah.

Well

actually it's not the original

but it's the one

that I grew up

in and around

because the original one

is still there

but it's not fit

for habitation.

But the one they bulldozed

is 130 years old.

There's literally

no sign of it anymore.

I was down visiting

my mum last week.

It's the first time

I've been there

since it's happened

and yeah

there's no sign

of it anymore.

And it's heartbreaking

to go and see

something that was

so huge

and so important

and filled with

so many memories

and it's gone.

how much more

the destruction

that awaits

the heavens

and the earth.

You think about

the beauty

and the love

the experiences

you've had

the marred image

of God

but the image

of God

nonetheless

in your neighbours

and friends

and colleagues.

One day

the Lord

will come

like a thief

and all of it

will be exposed.

The heavens

will disappear

the elements

will be destroyed

the earth

and everything

in it

everything done

in it

will be laid bare.

This is

our conviction

as followers

of Jesus.

Because we're

aware of the

unpredictability

and inescapability

of that great

and terrible day

it ought to

become urgent

for us

to engage

with our

friends and

family

our neighbours

and our

colleagues

our world

how much

more

important

is it

for us

than any

other thing

knowing that

it could

come at

any time.

people

know

in order

to apply

this

stuff

you

actually

have

to

believe

it

so

the

first

question

I have

to ask

is

do you

believe

this

do you

accept

this

as

true

do you

actually

believe

a day

like

this

is

coming

if you

do

it's

big

you

probably

heard

this

preacher's

illustration

before

if you

knew a

long-range

missile was

coming towards

your neighbour

and you

didn't warn

them or tell

them to

escape

what sort

of a

neighbour

would you

be

right

it makes

sense

that if we

know the

great and

terrible day

of the

Lord is

coming

like a

thief in

the

night

that we

would

prioritise

evangelism

God

hasn't

left us

here

to

perfect

the art

of the

Lord's

supper

God

hasn't

left us

here

to nail

AGMs

God

hasn't

left us

here

to

finally

sort

out

which

version

of

be

thou

my

vision

we're

going

to

sing

it's

the

Lord's

prayer

of

songs

isn't

it

we've

all

got

our

own

historical

version

of

it

God's

left us

here

because

he's

patient

and he

doesn't

want

any

to

perish

now

none

of the

things

we work

on at

church

like

songs

and the

Lord's

supper

and AGMs

are evil

but they're

not why

God's

left us

here

God

hasn't

left us

here

so we

can

cloister

ourselves

away

on

church

camps

or so

we can

send our

kids to

Christian

schools

so they

can

make

Christian

friends

and

become

Christian

school

teachers

one

day

and

play

soccer

on the

weekend

with

their

friends

from

church

it's

kind of

funny

but it's

often how

the Christian

life is

lived out

God

hasn't left us

here for that

purpose

I'm not

saying

Christian

schools

and Christian

soccer

teams

and

you know

Christian

community

is evil

please don't

hear me

saying that

but this

is not

heaven

is it

we're

not here

as an

expression

of heaven

on earth

we're

here

because

God's

patient

not

wanting

anyone

to

perish

God's

left us

here to

point the

people in

this world

the people

in our

ordinary

lives

to his

patient

and gracious

offer of

life in

Jesus

before the

heavens and

the earth

are laid

bare

how do

you go

at positioning

yourself for

evangelism

have you

positioned

yourself

and your

family

to have

the opportunity

to do it

in the way

you've set

up your

life

think about

it

if you're

at the

very early

stage of

having kids

or you

haven't had

them yet

ask yourself

how are we

going to set

this thing

up so our

family can

witness to

the Lord

Jesus

Christ

it might

be the

case

that you

decide to

send them

to a

Christian

school

or to

homeschool

them

to give

them a

solid

anchor

in the

faith

so that

when they

go out

into the

world

they can

live for

Jesus

but make

sure you're

very clear

with them

that that's

what you're

doing

you're not

hiding them

you're not

cloistering

them from

the evil

world

no you're

actually setting

them up to

reach this

world

it might be

that you

decide to

send them

to a

state

school

we did

that with

our

kids

you're

throwing

them to

the wolves

in a

sense

if you

do that

make sure

you read

the Bible

with them

and ask

them how

they're

going at

sharing the

gospel with

their friends

because we

are here for

that purpose

if you're

part of a

team a

sporting team

with all your

Christian mates

from church

invite somebody

who's not from

church into the

team or go

and join a

team with a

couple of your

Christian mates

that isn't

from church

God hasn't

left us here

just to

cloister

ourselves away

he's patient

this is so

offensive to

Christians when I

say this I

love that I

can do it

at your

church camp

and not

my own

but it's

really important

for us to

understand that

we're not

here to

perfect

ourselves and

ignore the

world around

us

we're here

for the

Paul says

to the

Thessalonians

I lived

among you

for your

sake

that's why

we're here

I think

about this

and I get a

little bit

emotional

because I'm

a bit

tired

but also

like

my whole

family is

non-Christian

like how

would I have

come to

Christ

if I didn't

have a

Christian

mate at

school

or if I

didn't have

some minister

who was

willing to

play in a

secular

AUSTAG team

and invite

me along

like if

we're not

doing that

in our

life

how will

people ever

know

you know

I've spoken

to a few

people who've

gone to

Zambia to

share the

gospel

that's great

right

there's so

many people

that have

gone to

Zambia in

this church

it's amazing

I'm not even

asking you to

go to

Zambia

like go to

I don't even

know the name

of a single

suburb in

Newcastle but

just go there

and point

people to

Christ

how do you

go with

talking to

people about

Jesus

I find it

hard

I've become

involved in

the local

athletics club

because all of

my life is

Christian

and our

kids are

now like

at the age

where they

don't want us

to be part of

their school

community anymore

they're all in

high school

so things have

changed

so the only

way I can

meet non-Christians

is through

sport for me

and I find it

really hard to

work out how

to shape my

conversation

towards Christ

and I've been

there for 12

months now in

Bathurst and

it's only really

this week I feel

like I've started

to make any

kind of progress

with that

but we've got

to be doing

it

I think sometimes

I'm so concerned

that people won't

like me if I

talk to them

about Jesus

but consider

glory right

they'll love

me

they'll be like

thanks so much

for saying that

to me

how do you go

at prioritising

evangelism

do you know

what God

is like

do you know

his desire

for the world

and does that

character reflect

in the way

you use

your life

why don't we

pray and ask

God for help

with that

because this is

actually really

hard for us

so let's pray

our heavenly

father we

thank you so

much for your

character

we know that

you're in charge

of everything

that you alone

are sovereign

and you rule

everything

but we delight

to read that

your desire

is that none

should perish

we delight

in hearing

about the

compassion

of the Lord

Jesus

on the

crowds

heavenly

father we

delight

in you

offering

your son

to forgive

us for

our sin

lord help

us to

understand

that the

reason

that you've

left us

here

and you

haven't

just

taken us

back

to glory

is because

you don't

want anyone

in this

world to

perish

father give

us your

heart for

this world

that you've

set us

in

give us

your heart

for our

neighbours

give us

your heart

for our

family

heavenly

father please

use us

to win

people for

your kingdom

that on that

great and

terrible day

they might

see your

glory

having turned

to you

we would

love it if

you used us

that way

and we pray

for your

strength in it

by your spirit

through your

word

amen