Living for that Day

My name is Paul Buckley. I pastor a church in Haverhill Mass.

And I know a number of you. Some years ago, we helped you guys get started in 2015.

And I also serve as a provisional elder with Sean.

So I just help him out with some other elders as well as he seeks to lead you guys.

It's wonderful to be here. It's wonderful to watch God at work in and through your church.

And I haven't been here in a little while. I haven't been here since you came back to the school here.

So it's wonderful that you're here back in East Cambridge.

And it's my privilege to proclaim God's Word this morning.

I had asked Sean. I gave him some options.

And he asked me to speak from 2 Peter 3.

So in a little bit, we're going to stand and read that together.

Before you do that, though, let me ask you a question to kind of get you thinking about this passage.

What would you do if you knew you had, for the best of reasons, one year left in your life?

Now, the best of reasons, I think, are the story of Elijah, right?

Where the Lord took him up bodily to heaven.

So think of something like that.

Some positive thing that's going to happen, not a negative thing.

And so you know at the end of the year, you know, maybe like Elijah, you're going to be taken up into heaven.

But the thought experiment is about having a year, knowing that you have a year.

What would you do?

How would you live?

What choices would you make?

Now let's say you know you have one day.

Tomorrow would be your final full day.

How would you think about what to do tomorrow?

Wouldn't it bring that idea?

Wouldn't it bring great focus and clarity to what your priorities are, what you would want to do?

And I know many of you are thinking, well, I would want to make sure I said goodbye to those I love.

Or maybe for some of you, I'd like to knock that one thing off the bucket list I never got to, the skydiving thing or something like that.

Or maybe it's a little more down to earth, that local ice cream place I didn't get to go to.

Or maybe you can combine it all together, go skydiving with your friends on that last day.

Whatever it might be.

There are a lot of different things you might choose to do.

But that knowledge brings great focus.

Well, the reality is, the Bible teaches us that we all have one day awaiting us.

It's unlikely to be tomorrow, but it's the final day.

The final day.

There is a final day coming for all of us.

The ultimate day for all of humanity.

We sang about it a little bit.

And the knowledge of having this final day awaiting us should bring the same sort of focus to our lives.

And really that's what this chapter in 2 Peter is about.

So let's stand.

Let me pray for the reading of God's Word.

Then we will read together.

If you're able, you can sit if you're not able to stand.

That's fine.

But we'll read God's Word together.

So if you have a Bible, open that up.

We're not going to project it so that you can focus here.

I think there are some Bibles on the table there.

So if you need a Bible, maybe raise your hand.

Someone can run you one.

Or you can just listen with us as we read along.

Let me pray for God's Word in this time.

And then we'll read.

Lord, we thank you for your Word.

We thank you that you bring to us truth that brings great focus in our lives.

And you not only want to inform us of this truth, but you want to empower us.

You want this truth to be a living truth in our lives.

And so we ask now as we read your Word and as I proclaim your Word,

would you breathe life into us through this truth.

We thank you so much.

Bless the reading and the hearing of your Word.

Be glorified in it, we pray.

Amen.

Let's read chapter 3.

Listen as I read chapter 3, 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

that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets

and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles.

Knowing this, first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing,

following their own sinful desires.

They will say,

Where is the promise of His coming?

For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were

from the beginning of creation.

For 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.

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved,

that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years,

and a thousand years as one day.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise, as some count slowness,

but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish,

but that all should reach repentance.

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

and then the heavens will pass away with a roar,

and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved,

and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved,

what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,

waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God,

because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved,

and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn.

But according to His promise,

we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth

in which righteousness dwells.

Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these,

be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish and at peace,

and count the patience of our Lord as salvation.

Just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you,

according to the wisdom given him,

as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters,

there are some things in them that are hard to understand,

which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction.

As they do the other scriptures.

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand,

take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people,

and lose your own stability,

but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity.

Amen.

God's word from 2 Peter 3.

You may be seated.

Well, as you can tell, listening to God's word,

that Peter is eager to help his readers think in terms of the ultimate day,

the day of the Lord.

They are facing some challenges to that mindset,

and Peter wants to bring them back,

bring them back to Christ-centered wisdom.

He's teaching, really,

that we must live every day in light of the ultimate day.

We must live every day in light of the ultimate day.

He's doing three things in this chapter.

First, he's calling us to be aware.

Secondly, to be ready.

And thirdly, to be strengthened.

So that's what we're going to do.

We're just going to go through the chapter,

learn about this idea of living every day in light of the ultimate day

under these three different sub-points.

So he starts out writing to his friends and telling them

that he wants to remind them of these things.

He's saying he wants to stir up their sincere minds or sincere hearts.

He knows that there's good things already there in his ears.

People are hearing this read.

He knows that there's good things in their hearts already,

but he wants to stir them up by way of reminder.

It's an important point, really,

this idea of reminding.

Sometimes we can feel insulted when people remind us of things, right?

We can be like, I already know that.

I already knew that.

I knew that before you knew it.

We can take offense.

But if we're honest, we forget a lot of things, don't we?

I forget many things,

and it brings me some comfort to know, actually, when I was young,

I'm almost 60 now,

when I was in my teens even,

I forgot things like my wallet.

I would forget my homework assignments.

I would forget to take out the trash.

I even think I forgot Mother's Day once or twice.

Not good when you're a kid.

I still have those dreams, by the way.

So sorry if this is bad news for you if you're a student now.

I still have those dreams that it's the end of the semester,

and I forgot to go to class all semester long,

and I have to take the final.

I still have those.

So I know that you're thinking,

probably having those if you're young and thinking they'll stop.

Well, they haven't stopped for me.

I have these nightmares about forgetting things.

We forget lots of things,

but then we remember all sorts of things that are obscure, don't we?

Words to songs, the stats of your favorite athlete, things like that.

And yet we forget the most important thing,

the good news of Jesus.

And that's what Peter wants to do here.

He wants to remind his people of the good news of Jesus

because there's something in us, in our human nature,

our fallen human nature,

that can remember all these other things, perhaps,

but we forget the most important thing,

that Christ has died.

Christ has risen.

He'll come again.

Christ has overcome sin and death.

God loves us and has sent God the Son for us

that we might live in him.

And this important news is something we need to be reminded of.

And really, every time that we live outside of faith, hope, and love,

outside of believing God and hoping and loving others in his name,

we are forgetting the good news.

And I do that all the time, every day.

There's moments throughout my days where I don't live in faith, hope, and love.

And therefore, I know I've forgotten this good news.

I need to be reminded, and all of us do,

and it's really the most loving thing we can do for one another

is to remind each other of the good news of Jesus.

And so that's what Peter's doing here for his friends.

He loves them.

He calls them beloved, actually.

He calls them, I think, four times beloved in this passage.

We don't call each other beloved these days.

That's a little bit of a different word, right?

If someone came up to you and you had a friend and said,

Oh, beloved, good to see you today.

You'd be like, What is going on?

Have you had too much coffee?

What's happening?

We don't use this word.

But it was a word back in this day that was very common,

especially for your family members.

And so it's this term of endearment.

I'm not sure.

I can't think off the cuff of an equivalent.

It's dangerous to think off the cuff when you're in the pulpit,

so I won't try to think of one.

But it's that sort of word.

It's the word for someone who you especially love,

who is very close to you.

I call my wife Lovey, so that's maybe the equivalent for us.

Sorry, honey.

I didn't get permission to share that, but I hope it's okay.

So beloved.

Beloved is what Peter's calling.

He loves these people.

Because he loves them, he wants to remind them of the good news.

And like I said, that's one of the most important things we can do

for those whom we love.

That's what's going on here.

He wants to remind them of this truth about Christ.

Really, all the Bible is about Jesus.

Ultimately, it all is pointing to him or from him.

Jesus says in John 5,

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life.

And it is they that bear witness about me.

Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

All the Bible is about Jesus.

And so reminding each other about Jesus is really important.

Now, Peter has a specific aspect of how he wants to remind them

related to the core truth about Christ.

He wants to remind them about this sad reality, actually,

that comes alongside the truth, alongside the good news.

It's somewhat of bad news.

And it's that there will always be scoffers.

There has been and will be until this final day scoffers.

And so he's reminding them about this idea of scoffers,

that they might be aware of this reality,

that they may be aware of Christ most of all, of course,

but aware of scoffers that will be there.

He says,

Knowing this, first of all,

that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing.

They will follow their own sinful desires.

These are scoffers who are following their sinful desires,

these desires that are actually in all humans,

this desire to do things on our own,

to not live in dependence on God,

to live in opposition to his ways,

in either subtle ways or bold ways.

It's a problem with all of humanity.

That's what Jesus came to rescue us from.

But scoffers are making the choice to live by those desires,

to define their motivations and what they do and say

by their sinful desires.

So that's how they're characterized.

They've denied God and they've pursued this.

They oppose the truth.

And they openly do that.

They scoff at the truth.

They ask questions in this passage

to legitimize their cynicism in opposition to the truth.

So Peter says in chapter 3, verse 4,

they will say,

Where is this promise of his coming?

For ever since the fathers fell asleep,

all things are continuing as they were

from the beginning of creation.

Where is this supposed day that's supposed to be looming?

Where is this Jesus who is supposed to be coming back?

It's just the same today as it's been always.

Look around you.

Stop believing in fairy tales.

That's kind of what the scoffers are saying.

But Peter says they willfully overlook that there's more to the story.

Certainly we can look around us at creation

and assume, presume,

that it's always been this way

and always will be this way.

There was a belief in this day

in the necessity and eternality of creation

that everything we see

has been since the very beginning

and will have to endure as it is always.

This is the ultimate reality,

what you can see with your senses,

what you maybe can discern with your mind,

and then that's it.

And so they're scoffing,

basically saying there's no other reality.

Stop living that way

and make choices that are reasonable

according to what we say.

They're scoffing.

But Peter says they're deliberately,

willfully overlooking

that there's more to the story.

There's more to the story

than what they're claiming.

There is a creator

who has made all these things.

And if we acknowledge that there is a creator,

we must acknowledge

that the creator has a prerogative

over his creation.

This is his creation, not ours.

And he is the one who has made all things

and he is the one who can unmake all things

if he so chooses.

And so Peter references the original creation.

He says that God,

that the earth was formed out of water

and through water,

as it explains in Genesis chapter one.

And it was formed by the word of God.

So God spoke

and creation was formed

out of water and through water.

The earth came forward

and what we know

came into being by God.

God made it.

God created all things

through water and by his word.

And Peter says just as he did that,

he used water and his word

to bring judgment

in the ancient world.

He's speaking of the days of Noah.

And if we read about that

back in Genesis chapter six

and following,

we learn that what was going on

in the earth among mankind

is mankind had grown very wicked.

Mankind had followed the trajectory

of scoffing and denying the Lord

and defying themselves

independently from God

and following their worst instincts.

And it had gotten worse

and worse and worse

so bad that in Genesis chapter six,

verse five,

it says this,

the Lord saw that the wickedness of man

was great in the earth

and that every intention

of the thoughts of his heart

was only evil continually.

It's a horrible, horrible thought

that mankind,

pretty much everybody,

their thoughts of their hearts

were only evil continually.

That's how bad it had become.

And so God in his goodness

and in his justice

and in his divine prerogative

as creator

who has made all things

and created all things

that mankind might live in creation

and image him,

reflect his goodness and glory,

it is his prerogative

to bring judgment.

And that's what he did.

People on that day

were presuming on things

just as in Peter's day

and our day as well.

And yet God brought judgment.

He has made all things.

He can unmake all things.

He is God.

He is good and just.

And this is what the scoffers

are ignoring.

He did it before,

Peter's saying,

and he's going to do it again.

There'll be a day

that is coming.

This is the sad reality

that there are scoffers

in our world

and mankind has fallen.

It's what we call the fall.

We understand it

from Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

What happened?

Mankind has fallen away

from his relationship with God,

proper dependence on God,

proper living in fellowship with God,

and imaging God

and who we are.

We've fallen from that

and we live in this broken state.

And Romans 1 teaches us

that what has happened really

is the wheels have come off

among mankind.

It's gotten worse and worse

among cultures over time.

Mankind ultimately in this

has exchanged the glory of God

for the image of created things.

We've exchanged worshiping God,

depending on God

and enjoying God

and through him

and dependence on him

enjoying all that he's made.

We've swapped that out

and we've chosen to worship

and deify his creation,

including ourselves,

instead of him.

This is what Romans 1 teaches us.

It's a terrible cosmic rebellion.

Imagine that you were a wealthy

and benevolent duke or duchess.

You had a grand estate,

beautiful estate,

with manicured gardens

and a big castle house thing.

And you just,

you loved your neighbors,

and so you decided to have a party.

And you invited everyone from the county

to come to your estate

and just enjoy a weekend

of feasting and celebrating

and being together.

And so you had the party

and as things progressed,

you were just making the rounds,

just seeing how things are.

And you went out in the backyard

among your gardens

and you noticed that there was,

like, trash.

People were, like,

throwing discarded cups

and plates everywhere.

There were, like,

empty beer bottles here and there.

And there was, you know,

you went out in there in your pool.

Someone had, like,

dumped the lounge and so forth,

the seats in the pool.

And, like,

what's going on?

And then you go into the house

and you're inside the house

and, like,

there's, like,

there's discarded food on the couch,

like, kind of squished

into the corner of the couch.

And there's, like,

trash and stuff.

And you're like,

what's going on?

You know,

I had this party.

I don't understand.

Then you go out in the front lawn

just to see what's happening there.

And you notice that your car

is in the middle of the front lawn

and there's a donut.

Someone was doing donuts

with your car on your lawn.

You're like,

what's going on?

What, what's,

this is my house.

I, my grounds,

I invited everyone to be here

and it's getting trashed.

And now let's make it

a little more ridiculous even.

You're there

and you're trying to interact

with people as well.

You're trying to be hospitable.

And every time you go up to somebody,

you're like,

hi, I'm Duke Paul.

I'm glad you're here.

And they just look at you

and they roll their eyes

and they walk away.

And you notice this happens

over and over again.

Like people don't want to acknowledge

your presence there.

What's going on?

This is my house.

You're here.

How can you do this?

And, and now let's get even more ridiculous

with my illustration.

There's people who,

after the weekend's over,

are still in your house.

And they're,

they're like sleeping in the rooms

and they're like using the kitchen

and you don't know who they are.

You're like,

what's going on?

And they're,

and you find out actually

that they've hired a lawyer

to take possession of the house from you.

And like,

what?

What happened?

I had a party.

I wasn't inviting everybody to my house

and this,

and this is turning out this way.

And it gets even worse actually.

They,

this group of squatters

deny your existence.

They say that there's no such thing

really as the Duke.

It's only a,

it's a myth

to represent the spirit of the estate.

And then they take your cat

and they say,

this cat is,

represents the spirit of the estate.

And they start,

they put it on a special pillow

and they have ceremonies.

They walk around with the cat

and they think about

the wonderful spirit of the estate.

Now it's really ridiculous,

isn't it?

But if you are familiar

with Romans chapter one,

it actually describes

what's going on in Romans one.

And this is the reality

about God's creation.

It is very much a real story

because we live on God's estate.

He is the benevolent one

who has invited us

to a party of,

to know him,

to walk with him.

And we have desecrated his place.

We have denied him

and we have replaced him.

And we roll our eyes

with the idea

that somehow this is his estate.

It's that audacious.

That's why I use

such a ridiculous illustration

to help us understand reality.

This is,

this is the reality of mankind.

This is the reality

of the scoffers.

And that's what Peter's

trying to get at

is that he's made all this.

It's his house.

And he gets to make the call

on what to do with his house.

And when things get out of hand,

he has the right,

the prerogative

and the goodness

to bring judgment.

And he did it before

and he's going to do it again.

That's what he's saying here.

And the scoffers

are in a dangerous place

because they are presuming on God.

And yet God is bringing

a day of judgment

when he will judge the scoffers.

He will judge those

who have denied him.

He will judge those

who have not run to him

for his strength

and his life for forgiveness,

who have not run

to Christ ultimately,

but have decided

to go their own way.

He will bring judgment.

It'll be a just judgment.

It won't be cruel.

It won't be tyrannical.

It will be perfectly just.

And any human being

who tries to stand

on their own two feet

on a day of judgment

is in for trouble

because all of us

have exchanged

the glory of God

for his creation.

We've all fallen short

of the glory of God.

We've all chosen

to one degree or another,

maybe subtly or boldly,

to rebel against him.

He is God.

He is good.

And he will bring

his judgment ultimately.

I love how C.S. Lewis

describes Aslan,

the Christ figure

in The Lion,

the Witch,

and the Wardrobe

when they ask,

is he safe?

Is this lion,

Aslan,

safe who represents Christ?

The reply is,

who said anything

about safe?

Of course he isn't safe,

but he's good.

And this is God.

He isn't safe,

but he's good.

And Peter tells us

that the day of the Lord

will come.

It is coming,

it will come,

and he says it will come

like a thief.

What does that mean?

How does a thief come?

Well, a thief comes

when you don't expect him,

right?

You don't make a schedule

for when the thief comes.

Like, okay,

come up to my house

at this date and this time.

He comes unexpectedly,

and that's the idea.

He comes when the doors

and windows are unlocked

and you're not prepared,

and that's what Peter is saying.

This day is going to come.

It's going to come

when you least expect it,

but it will come,

and you should know about this.

It's going to come,

and the reality is

that the heavenly bodies

will be burned up

and dissolved.

All of creation

as we know it

will be dissolved.

There will be no more

of what we've expected

and experienced,

and everything will be exposed.

Every human's life,

deeds, choices, thoughts,

every aspect

will be totally exposed

before God.

He's saying that explicitly.

He's saying that

God will justly judge all,

and those who have decided

to follow the scoffers

and to live their own life

and to walk in rebellion

and not run to Him

for mercy and grace

will suffer judgment.

It's not a happy topic.

It's not a topic

that you want to hear,

and among the wrong crowd,

it can get you in trouble,

but it wouldn't be good

for me to not tell you about this.

Peter loves his listeners

enough to tell them,

and I love you,

in Christ's name,

enough to tell you

so that you can be aware

there is a final day

of judgment coming,

and all the things

that we've grown so used to

will be gone

and exposed.

Now, there's more coming.

We're going to talk about

the new heavens

and the new earth,

but what we've known

will no longer be,

and God will judge,

and those who choose

to go their own way

will be judged eternally.

They will live apart from God

in what we call hell,

a place of regret

and darkness,

utter darkness.

There will be justice there.

There will be nothing cruel

or unusual in that.

It will be a just judgment,

but it will be a real one,

and you don't want to be there.

There's warning here

in this chapter for us

to be aware

that this day is coming,

so the question I would ask is,

are you a scoffer?

Are you someone who's presumed

on what you see around you

and are living,

feeling secure in that?

Or are you someone

who's impressed by scoffers,

thinking they have interesting

and intelligent things to say?

They might,

but beware.

Because behind the scoffer

is somebody who's choosing

to follow their sinful desires

rather than depend on God

and learn to grow more like Christ.

Peter is calling us

to be aware of this,

to know that the scoffers

are in danger,

and he's warning his people,

don't follow them.

Don't be them.

Don't follow them.

I was reading the story,

actually just this morning,

and I had read other stories

about the Mayanus River Bridge

in Coscob, Connecticut.

Back in 1983,

at 1.30 in the morning,

the bridge collapsed.

So this is Route 95,

similar to what we saw recently

in Philadelphia,

but this was a large section

of the bridge over the river,

collapsed in the middle of the night.

A couple tractor-trailers

actually skidded and went over,

fell in.

One car went over.

Then other cars were able

to skid and stop

and immediately got out

of their car

and started frantically waving

at people to stop,

and one car stopped,

but one car accelerated,

and the driver made a gesture,

an obscene gesture,

to those frantically waving

for him to stop

and accelerated over the cliff

into the gap.

That's a picture of the scoffers.

Peter is warning the scoffers

and warning us,

don't follow the scoffers

because they are accelerating,

making an obscene gesture

at God, so to speak,

and driving quickly over the edge.

There's a day coming,

and so be aware.

Be wise.

Now, understand, too,

that God takes no pleasure

in the death of the wicked.

That's what Peter's talking about

here in this passage.

He's talking about this reality

of a day being like a thousand years,

and a thousand years are like a day.

He's patient, it says,

because one of the things

the scoffers are doing,

they're saying,

when is this going to happen?

What about this delay?

Wasn't it supposed to happen

way long ago?

Why?

It's been 2,000 years

since Christ came,

so what's going on?

And so Peter explains that.

He wants them to understand

what's going on,

and it's important for us

to understand this

and understand the heart of God

and what he calls us to as well.

Let me just look at it here

so I can follow it.

He says in verse 8,

but do not overlook this one fact,

beloved,

that with the Lord,

one day is as a thousand years,

and a thousand years are as one day.

Now, you've maybe heard

that expression before,

and what it's basically saying

is that in God's mind,

there's not necessarily

any difference

between a thousand years

and a day

or a day and a thousand years,

so God's sense of time

is not our sense of time.

That's what it's teaching,

but there's a particular aspect

to it here

where he's getting at something.

He's not just saying,

you know,

time is different with God.

Yes, it is.

God has different priorities

than the clock

that we might have

as our priority.

What is his priority here?

What is the other thing?

What's he more interested in

than time in this passage?

It's not so much

when the schedule is,

it's something else, right?

The Lord is not slow

to fulfill his promise,

Peter says,

as some count slowness,

but is patient toward you,

not wishing that any should perish,

but that all should reach repentance.

That's why there's a delay.

That's why it's been thousands of years.

Because God has a higher priority

than the schedule.

People.

And he desires that none should perish.

He doesn't want anybody

going over the edge,

scoffer or not.

He wants everyone

to come to repentance,

to run to him

for the forgiveness he's provided

richly in Christ.

He took on flesh.

God came down,

born as a baby,

lived humbly,

walked among us,

fulfilled all righteousness,

loved his father,

loved others,

taught truth,

lived this amazing life,

God himself,

in the flesh,

as a full human.

Because he desired

that none should perish,

he desired

that you should not perish.

He didn't want you

going over the cliff.

He knew that day is coming,

and he's made provision for you.

That beautiful,

righteous life of his,

he willingly offered up

on the cross

in your place.

Bearing your sin,

my sin.

Bearing my scoffing,

and I could tell lots of stories

about my scoffing

in my life.

Bearing that in himself

on the cross.

Dying in my place,

your place.

So that justice

for true evil,

true wrong against God

and one another,

could be satisfied.

And then he rose again

on the third day,

victorious over your sin

and over death.

He rose again,

he's ascended,

he's reigning now,

and he's waiting

patiently

to return for that final day.

This is God's desire

that none should perish,

that you shouldn't perish,

that your neighbors

shouldn't perish,

that your family members

shouldn't perish,

that your coworkers

shouldn't perish,

but find life in Christ,

find forgiveness

in him.

He's patient

and waiting.

And so we need to understand

that the day is looming,

it could happen tomorrow,

but there's something

delaying it,

and that's God is waiting

patiently

that none should perish.

I'm going to talk a little bit

more about that

in a bit.

I think the thing we need

to hear,

I think the thing we need to hear,

though,

is the day looms,

and yet provision has been made,

so let's not procrastinate.

If you have not put your faith

in Christ,

do that now,

because you don't know

when the day will come.

But the day will come.

Peter makes it clear.

The day of judgment

is coming

when the universe,

as we know it,

will be dissolved

and transformed,

and all mankind

will answer for their lives.

What should we do?

That's the next question.

What should we do?

He will say in verse 11,

and following,

since all these things

are thus to be dissolved,

what sort of people

ought you to be?

You see,

the knowledge of that final day

changes our lives.

We know the future.

We know the future.

We know what's coming.

Can you imagine

what you would do

if somehow

you were able

to go back in time,

and somehow,

let's just say

bear with me

in these thought experiments.

I think they'll illustrate things.

So say you were able

to go back in time

to 1930 Germany.

What's going on

in 1930 in Germany?

The Nazis are starting to rise.

And you go there

knowing what you know now, right?

What would you do?

Hitler is not yet in power,

but his power is growing.

He's not been elected yet,

but the Nazi party is growing.

You are hearing,

say you're fluent in German,

of course.

You're hearing the rhetoric,

and you're seeing through it, right?

You know.

And you know that actually

within eight, nine years,

most of the German citizens

will be persuaded

by that rhetoric

and will be faithful

to the Nazi party.

You know that's coming,

and you know,

more importantly,

that what will come

with this reign of terror

will be the death

of six million Jews, right?

Seventy million war dead.

And you're there in 1930.

You know the future.

You're going to do something, right?

Now, I know we're limited,

but you would find something to do.

At least your Jewish friends,

you would tell them what's coming

and try to get them

out of the country, right?

You might get involved in politics

and try to expose things

and campaign.

Whatever it might be,

you're going to do something

with that knowledge

because you know the future.

You know it's coming.

You can't help

but be motivated by it.

Similarly, for the final day,

you do know the future.

You know that judgment day

is coming.

And therefore,

we do something about it.

We live our lives differently

in light of the final day.

And there are all sorts of things

that we can do.

And Peter's getting that here,

getting at that here

in this passage.

And he says,

what sort of people ought you to be

in lives of holiness

and godliness

waiting for and hastening

the coming of the day of God.

So what should you do?

What sort of people ought you to be

in lives of holiness

and godliness?

He says first,

a life of holiness.

What does holiness mean?

That can become a religious word

sometimes that we miss.

It just simply means

being set apart for God.

So it's a life of holiness.

In other words,

I don't mess around

with distractions

that are going to get me off track

from this ultimate reality.

I'm going to live my life

in knowledge

that judgment day is coming.

I'm going to depend on God

because I need his strength

and I'm going to live

to help others

in light of that final day.

I'm going to live a life

of holiness

set apart for him

and his truth

and his ways.

And what does godliness mean?

Godliness really is the lifestyle

that comes with that.

It's who we are personally

and our practices

in light of that.

I'm going to make sure

that every morning

I get time in the word of God

and I pray

because I know

I can't do the day without him

and I know the day,

the ultimate day is coming

so I want to live a life

of godliness

and dependence on him.

So that's what

Peter is getting at.

He wants us to live that life

of godliness and holiness.

And then he says

something really amazing actually.

Waiting for and hastening

the coming of the day of God.

Waiting for and hastening.

We get the waiting part, right?

We know it's coming,

we're waiting for it,

we're expecting it,

but hastening?

How can you hasten the day?

Well actually he tells us how

earlier, right?

Because why is the day delaying?

The day is delaying

because God is waiting

that none should perish.

God wants all to come to know him.

He wants to work.

He wants the good news of Christ,

the reality of Christ

to go out to the whole world.

He's told us that, right?

When Jesus rose

and gave his final instructions,

what did he say?

Go therefore,

all authority in heaven and earth

has been given to me.

I have overcome sin and death

and I now preside over all things

as the ultimate human,

as God in the flesh.

Go therefore,

and make disciples

of all peoples,

all nations.

Of course that means

those in your neighborhood,

but it means

to the ends of the earth.

And he says elsewhere in Matthew,

then the end will come.

That's what Peter's talking about.

That's how you hasten the day.

You hasten the day

by depending on him,

drawing on his strength.

We're going to talk about that

in the close,

but drawing on his strength,

living an exemplary life

by grace,

loving your neighbors

and telling them the good news

and helping them to understand

there's a bridge that's down

and it's looming ahead.

And yet there's a solution.

And you pray,

as you guys do,

I'm sure,

that God will work in their lives.

And you go

to the nations

who don't yet know.

Because God's heart

is for them.

That's who he's waiting for.

Your neighbors

and those among the nations.

He's desiring

that none should perish.

That all should come to know him

and certainly all peoples,

all people groups.

there are

about 8 billion people

in the world

and just a little over

3 billion of those

have no opportunity

whatsoever

to hear the good news of Jesus.

None at all.

They don't know any Christians

and many of them

have no idea

who Jesus is at all.

God is waiting

for those 3 billion

and their villages

and their ethnic groups

to hear the good news

because he desires

that they wouldn't perish

but be saved.

recently I

got to read a letter

written to

a man I know

who served

on the mission field

by somebody

in a neighboring tribe

to his friend.

his friend

had gone to

the Eteri people

in Papua New Guinea

so you can look

this story up.

He had labored

for 20 years

to translate the Bible

and to live

a life of dependence

on Jesus

before these people

to love them

truly.

This tribe

was in deep

darkness.

Great darkness.

Demonization.

Demonic activity.

Murder.

Regular murder.

Regular rape.

Actually

from what I understand

every woman in the tribe

had been raped.

Deceit.

Warfare.

And disease

marked this tribe.

This is how they lived

as this man came to them

and he labored

for 20 years.

Translated the Bible

for them.

Loved them.

Explained the good news

as best he could.

And around 20 years

of labor

resulted by God's grace

and a breakthrough

in this tribe.

They believed

the good news.

They believed it

for themselves.

They understood

it was for them

and the whole tribe

put their faith in Christ.

There's videos

you can see of them

celebrating when they

received the Bible

and it transformed

this tribe.

Radical transformation.

Forgiveness.

Love.

Godliness.

It just totally

changed the tribe

and the other tribes

around the area

who spoke different languages

that's how it works

in Papua New Guinea

because of the ruggedness.

They spoke different languages.

They started hearing

about what happened

in this tribe

and they realized

even though

they were not followers

of Christ

they understood

their own darkness

and they wrote letters

to my friend

asking him to help.

This is one letter.

It's a real letter

from a man named

Wapia.

And he writes,

What's going on?

Where is our help?

Have you forgot about us?

We have sinned now

and haven't forgot

about wanting a missionary.

We carry a huge heavy

constantly about this.

We carry this heavy

because we fear

for our lives.

We know the Bible

says you should come

and tell us.

Us dark ones need it.

How will we go

to God's place

if not?

Only those who know

will go.

How will we know

if no one teaches us?

That's the bottom line

of my worry.

We want a missionary now

to give us God's talk.

We're Piusanaki,

Sinal Village.

My friend couldn't go.

He had other things

he had to do.

God is waiting

for Wapia

and his tribe.

That's why

Judgment Day

hasn't come.

Wapia needs somebody

to go there

and there's many

like him.

I don't know

what God's call

is on your life

but it might be

that you would be

the one

to go

there

or somewhere else.

That's how we

hasten the day.

That's what Peter

is talking about.

We hasten the day

by being diligent

about the work

he's called us to do

and Peter further

tells us in verse 14

to be diligent

to be found by him

without spot

or blemish

and at peace.

This day is coming

and so you want

to be ready.

You want to be there

without spot

or blemish

and at peace.

What does that mean?

Does that mean

we have to be perfect?

I'm sure that's

a scary thought

as I even

I said that

without spot

or blemish

I'm in a lot

of trouble.

Well biblically

when it talks

about this

it doesn't mean

perfection.

You're not going

to be perfect

without sin

until you go

to be with Jesus.

But being without

spot or blemish

means being someone

who doesn't

allow sin

to rule

and run your life.

You don't stay

dirty

when you're dirty

you get clean

quickly.

That's

that's how

a believer actually

is distinguished

from somebody

who's not following

Jesus

but claiming to.

The one who's

following Jesus

will get dirty

along with the other

but they'll run

to the light.

So John

says it this way

if we say

we have fellowship

with him

while we walk

in darkness

we lie

and do not

practice the truth.

But if we walk

in the light

as he is in the light

we have fellowship

with one another

and the blood

of Jesus' son

cleanses us

from all sin.

The difference

is that you run

to the light.

That's how you

get yourself ready.

And so if you're

in the darkness

right now

as a believer

you don't want

to be found

in the darkness

if the day

were to come

today.

You want

to be one

who keeps

on running

to the light.

And you do that

by being here

that's a wonderful

step.

You do that

by talking

to others

who you can

trust

and tell them

your struggle

so you can

pray for each

other.

We all struggle

but we want

to run

to the light.

We want

to live

in this

lifestyle

of dependence

on him

getting clean

and receiving

his power.

We want

to be ready.

We want

to be aware.

We want

to be ready.

And finally

and more quickly

we want

to be strengthened

but probably

most importantly.

Peter continues

in verse 15

through 18

speaking about

this idea

that really

the idea

of being

strengthened.

He mentions

the apostle

Paul.

He says

to count

the patience

of our Lord

as salvation.

And so

the patience

of God.

We live

in this time

he's waiting.

It's for the

sake of salvation.

It's for the

sake of our

own salvation.

He wants

us to be

saved

and to

grow in

our salvation.

He wants

us to

grow in

Christ.

He wants

us to

extend

that

salvation

to others.

So count

our lives

this way.

And then

he mentions

he talks

about Paul

in there.

And then

returns to

the scoffers

again because

he says

that there

are certain

people that

take the

hard things

about Paul

that are

hard to

understand.

And there

are some

deep theological

truths in

Paul's

writings.

Wonderful

ones.

But can

be hard

to understand.

And he

says that

those who

are ignorant

and unstable

twist those

things.

They take

those teachings

and they

twist them

really to

the wrong

purpose.

Instead of

the purpose

being learning

more about

the wonder

of grace

and the

goodness of

God and

depending on

Jesus and

producing a

life like

Jesus, they

twist it for

other reasons.

Probably there

are libertines

who take the

idea of grace

to mean you

can do

whatever you

want.

Don't worry

about it.

You're

forgiven.

Do whatever

you want.

They twist

it.

And Peter

says don't

fall for

that.

That's

another

type of

scoffing

that scoffs

and misunderstands

the intent

of all

theology.

The intent

of all

theology is

to know

God and

to live

in his

grace and

walk in

his ways.

So don't

get

destabilized

is what

Peter is

saying.

Instead

do what?

Grow

in the

grace and

knowledge of

our Lord

and Savior

Jesus

Christ.

That's

what it's

about.

Grow

in the

grace.

The grace

that we

have in

Christ is

amazing.

You'll

never finish

understanding

all the

wonders that

God would

die in

your place.

That he

loves you.

He's loved

you from

eternity.

That he

keeps you.

That he

empowers you.

That he

uses you.

That he

forgives you

freely all

the time.

That he's

with you.

He'll see you

to the end.

All these

wonders of

grace are

things to

explore.

We're to

grow in

the grace

and knowledge

of our

Lord Jesus

Christ.

To know

God in

the flesh

and who

he is.

More and

more.

There are some

wonderful books

on this.

I'm reading

a book called

Deeper.

Is it

Gavin Ortlund?

Or Dane

Ortlund?

By Dane

Ortlund.

Helping me to

grow in the

grace and

knowledge of

the Lord.

That's what

Peter wants

them to do.

He wants

them to,

he's finishing

the letter

really with

this emphasis.

To grow in

the grace and

knowledge of

the Lord.

Let your

life be

nourished by

the grace and

knowledge of

Christ.

He said

later, I'm

sorry, earlier in

the letter, he's

talked about all

that we have.

He says in

verse 3 of

chapter 1,

his divine

power has

granted to

us all things

that pertain to

life and

godliness through

the knowledge of

him who called

us to his own

glory and

excellence.

So he's saying

earlier that you

have all these

things you need

in Christ, so

grow in the

grace and

knowledge of

the Lord.

We need

nourishment.

It's not

enough simply

to know that

the final day

is coming.

Yes, it's

really important,

but you need

strength.

You need

grace to

live each

day.

And so

Peter wants

to finish

with this.

He's

emphasizing

growing in

the grace

and knowledge,

being nourished

by Christ.

I'm sure

many of you

know what

lembas bread

is, right?

Anyone know

what lembas bread

is?

Because I'll

skip the

illustration if

you don't.

Lembas bread

is in the

Lord of the

Rings, this

kind of

magical bread

that the

elves make.

Originally

it comes from

the Valar,

which is kind

of like these

archangels, and

we won't get

into that.

But anyhow,

this amazing

bread, one

little wafer

of it is

all that a

full-grown man

needs for a

whole day for

energy.

It's like this

power bread in

the storyline.

And it's a

picture, I

think, of the

power bread we

have, the

manna we've

been giving.

And John 6

says it this

way, Jesus

says to them,

I am the

bread of life.

Whoever

comes to me

shall not

hunger, and

whoever believes

in me shall

never thirst.

Christ, my

brothers and

sisters, you

have probably

many days ahead

of you until

that final day,

and you need

each day to

nourish yourself

in Christ, to

eat of this

bread that is

Christ himself

given for you,

to find your

life in him, to

walk with him,

and therefore to

continue to be

aware, to be

ready, to hasten

his coming, and

to be strengthened

by him.

Peter finishes

with this verse

that's so

important, which

I'll finish

with.

He says,

but grow in

the grace and

knowledge of our

Lord and Savior

Jesus Christ, to

him be the

glory both now

and today of

eternity.

Amen.

Amen.

Let me pray.

Lord, we thank

you for this

wonderful chapter

and how it

changes our

lives, and I

pray, Lord, that

you would help

us to remember

these truths, and

Lord, you would

lead us in your

ways.

I pray for each

one here, Lord,

to buy your

spirit, to

hear your call

to apply your

word in some

specific way to

our lives.

Guide us in

that.

Glorify your

name, we pray.

Amen.

Amen.