Spiritual Survival: Looking Forward

So thank you very much for having me.

I'm going to just lower this a small bit.

If you want to turn your way to the 2 Peter, where you've been walking through this summer.

I'm going to start my timer here as well.

2 Peter chapter 3.

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

And we'll be looking at verses 11 to 16 in particular.

So 2 Peter, before we read, 2 Peter is a letter.

And so I think instead of just jumping into a text and reading it in isolation to the rest of the letter.

I think it's better for us to just remember that it is a letter.

And that we should take a running jump at it.

Don't just fly into the text and try to have a bit of context.

So what I did is I read and listened to 2 Peter and 1 Peter over and over again.

To try and get just a feeling and to just really have in my mind exactly what Peter is trying to say to his people.

Peter is at the end of his life and he is writing to them and he is exhorting them.

And so I'd like to just read out kind of a sketch of 1 and 2 Peter.

Just to give us a bit more context so that as we get into the verses we have that running jump to it.

So the Apostle Peter is calling believers to remain faithful to the end.

He says you've been born again to a living hope, a salvation into which angels long to look.

So don't be surprised at trials.

Be holy.

You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession.

That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

For the Lord's sake submit to every institution.

Endure sorrow of unjust suffering and trust the Lord.

Husbands and wives live as God has called you to.

All the time that is passed is sufficient for doing what the Gentiles want to do.

The end of all things is at hand.

Therefore be self-controlled and sober minded for the sake of your prayers.

Again, don't be surprised when persecution comes.

This is to be accepted.

And remember Jesus.

Entrust yourself to a faithful creator just like he did.

Elders, shepherd God's flock well with a right heart.

Everyone, be humble.

You have an enemy.

He is a vicious lion, but resist him and he will flee from you.

Hold fast.

God will restore you.

He will confirm you.

He will strengthen you and establish you.

And in second Peter, brothers and sisters, his divine power is granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

In other words, you have all that you need for the Christian life.

Therefore, make every effort to grow in Christlikeness.

If you're not growing, you've lost sight of the fact that you've been cleansed from your sins.

And as long as I, Peter, am alive, I'll keep reminding you about these things.

This isn't a man-made myth.

I've seen Christ transfigured on the mount.

So believe me, this is God's word, not an invention of man.

False teachers will come among you as they always have.

They are condemned, but God knows how to rescue his own people and keep the unrighteous under punishment.

These false teachers promise you freedom, but they themselves are slaves to corruption.

They'd be better off if they had never known the truth than that they knew it and turned from it.

They'll laugh at the idea of a promised judgment day.

But God's word is true, just as he called creation into being by his word, so he will call creation to an end by his word.

The day of the Lord is coming.

The day of the Lord is coming.

Like a thief in the night, as Jesus said, the day of the Lord is coming.

And so as we come to verse 11 to 16 of chapter 3, have that in your mind that Peter has been calling, exhorting, reminding us of who we are, what is coming.

The false teachers will come among us, that we have all that we need.

And so let's begin reading in verses 11 with this in mind.

Let's start first in verse 10, I think.

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

He's borrowing Jesus' language from Matthew 24.

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 you ought to be in lies 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 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.

Now, I'd like to start off with, as I was thinking through this, I'd like to start off with just saying that I was convicted when I read 2 Peter and 1 Peter.

And maybe you will be too, maybe you have been as you've gone through this summer.

I was convicted of the fact that I rarely give thought to the second coming of Christ.

I don't know, maybe I'm alone in that.

I do read the Word of God, and I love the Lord, but I've noticed that for the last, for months, I could go months, I'd say, without having thought of the fact that Jesus could come back tomorrow.

And it's something that when you think of it, you go, how could I have forgotten something so clear, something that Jesus promised he would do?

And it should be something that I think about often.

I mean, we talk a lot about how Jesus intervened the first time when he became a man.

And Jesus, who in the form of God did not account equality with God, something to be grasped, but he emptied himself by taking the form of being born in the likeness of man and being found in human form.

He humbled himself by becoming obedient, even to the point of death on a cross.

And we should speak about this.

We speak about how Jesus became a man and how he rose again.

But I have noticed, at least in my own life, that I've failed to consider and to hasten the second coming of Christ.

I just realized I've just not been doing it.

Maybe I don't want to be coming across as some sort of apocalyptic nutter, someone who has a sign in their garage, you know, the end is nigh.

And although that is not the gospel, it's not the gospel to go out and show a sign that says the end is nigh.

Because that's not necessarily, specifically Christian.

That is part of the Christian message.

And so I don't want to be a weirdo who only talks about the end times.

But then I don't want to be someone who ignores that part of scripture that calls us.

And so I had to repent of it.

But I want to ask you this morning, try something for me.

Just picture Main Street down in Carragalline.

I was thinking of Balancholic where I live, but I also know Carragalline as well.

I want you to think of Main Street down in Carragalline.

You can see the Carragalline Court Hotel, there's the Catholic Church, there's the Super Valley, there's a little bridge, there's the hill.

And I want you to ask yourself this question.

Do you believe that one day all this will be gone?

Do you believe that?

Do you believe that one day Carragalline will not exist?

That it will be broken down and that there will no longer be that place?

That the house I live in right now won't be there.

There will be a new heavens and new earth.

Now think about that.

Do you really believe that?

That's a big thing to believe.

But I want you to let the weight of that just rest on you.

Jesus has promised he will return to judge the living and the dead.

The universe as we know will pass away.

The towns we live in, the jobs that we work, the houses we live in, there will be no more.

Yet all men will be brought before the judgment seat of Christ.

There will be a new heavens and a new earth.

Some believe that the present universe will be destroyed ultimately.

In other words, that God will destroy the universe and that he'll make a new one from scratch.

While others still hold that it'll be melted down and sort of reduced to its original elements and then built back up.

And I think that that second interpretation is more in line if you look at Romans 8 where Paul says,

And so you see in verse 12,

And you know, I was trying to picture that.

I was like, what?

You know, if I was a director in a film, how would I direct the heavens being set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies melt as they burn?

And what can we point towards?

I'm sure we could hire some really skilled CGI guy to do it.

But the whole idea is that it's humbling and it's scary.

And that only God can do that.

Men can burn down buildings, but we can't burn creation.

And so moving on, I suppose the main thrust of what I want to look at this morning is that in light of this,

in light of the surety of Christ's return,

we should be godly.

It's simply the message.

There's no need to make it somewhat complicated than it is.

But while we wait for Christ, we should try and be more and more like Christ by the power of his spirit.

And so what I'd like us to do is look,

I suppose you could look at, if you want to call it, the verbs that are in these verses.

What does this look like?

Godliness is something that we all as Christians hope to attain to and hope to grow in.

It's not a place you arrive at and go, I'm no godly.

But rather it's a matter of degrees where we come from one measure of glory to the other, more like Christ.

But have a look in verse 12.

So I'm going to look at waiting, how we can wait in godliness, how we can hasten in holiness,

being diligent and counting God's patience as salvation.

So four things.

So the first one being waiting.

Look at verse 12.

So in verse 12 it says,

Waiting for and hasten the coming of the day of God.

We should be waiting for Christ's return.

Waiting is always forward looking.

So if you see someone sitting on the side of the street and you ask them, you know, what are you doing?

And he goes, I'm waiting.

You wouldn't go, okay.

You'd say, well, what are you waiting for?

Waiting always has, it might sound obvious to stay,

but waiting always is something that's in the future that you're waiting for.

It has an object.

And so our waiting is for the return of Christ.

And how do we do that?

It's not a passive waiting.

So if you'd move on just two words later in the verse,

it says that we're hastening the return of Christ.

We don't passively wait.

It's not just to sit there and, you know, like you're waiting for a bus.

You can sit and wait for a bus.

You don't have to do anything.

You don't have to hope the bus arrives alone.

In Ireland you're going to have to do.

But hastening, we don't passively wait.

We actively wait.

And to hasten means to earnestly desire it,

to hurry it along, so to speak.

So how do we do that?

How do we hasten the day of the Lord?

Again, I think it's a pretty straightforward answer,

but when we do all that we can to help accomplish the Great Commission,

we are hastening the Lord's return.

And we should pray to that end.

Look at the end of Revelation.

He who testifies to these things says,

Surely I am coming soon.

Amen.

Come, Lord Jesus.

We should pray that Christ would return.

And we should pray knowing that he will not return

until the gospel has gone forth to all nations.

He will not return to the gospel,

which came through the whole world as a testimony to all nations,

as Jesus said in Matthew 24.

Therefore, we should pray.

On a practical level, look in the news today.

You should pray for Egypt.

There is a power struggle.

And we know from the word of God

that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,

but against the powers of darkness.

And we know that what's going on there

in that country right now

has implications for the rest of the Middle East.

And someone's going to land up with more power than somebody else.

The dust will settle,

and someone will have power.

And we should be praying,

Lord, whoever it is,

we know that the heart of the king

is like a stream in your hands.

Whoever it is who has power in Egypt

in two years' time or three years' time

when there's stability,

would you please, Lord,

make sure that that person

allows for greater freedom for Christians.

That's how we should be praying.

Look at the news.

Take that as your prayer points.

Think globally and pray

that the Great Commission would be carried out.

And think locally as well.

Am I sharing the gospel with my friends?

Am I using every opportunity

and making the best use of the time?

Because the days are evil.

Verse 14.

We go to verse 14.

Therefore, beloved,

since you are waiting for these,

be diligent to be found in him

without spot or blemish,

and at peace.

I think that peace they're referring to,

you know, think of Romans,

therefore having been justified by faith.

We have peace with God.

Peace.

You don't have to be worrying

is God going to destroy you as a Christian

because his wrath is gone.

There's not any wrath left for any Christian.

God didn't get rid of 90% of it on the cross

for his people.

He got rid of 100% of his wrath.

There is no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ.

We have peace.

And we should seek to live in peace with all people.

But I want us to focus here

on the words being diligent

and without spot or blemish.

And the word diligence here

is the same word that Peter used back

at the start of chapter 1

when Simon was speaking a few weeks ago

on this passage.

He said when he entreats us

to make every effort

to make our calling and election sure.

So he's at the end of his letter now

he's just reminding you

keep going,

make every effort,

be diligent to grow.

It's also the same one he uses in 115

where he says,

you know,

I'll make every effort

to remind you of these things.

I'm going to be diligent

to remind you

to be diligent.

So,

it's a striving,

it's a daily effort

and to be found in him

without spot or blemishes.

Now I was thinking about that,

I was like,

why did he use that kind of language?

I mean,

it's kind of in stark contrast

to what he used in chapter 2.

He says we shouldn't have spots or blemishes

and he actually describes false teachers

as blemishes and stains.

Not that they have stains or blemishes,

they are blemishes.

But I was wondering,

Peter doesn't point out

big inconsistencies

but rather small things,

spots and blemishes.

You know,

if I took you outside,

we drive a silver polo,

it's about 14 years old.

If I took you outside

and I showed you

the bodywork of our car,

it's got dents and scratches.

It's not spring chicken

and it's got a few dents

and a few bumps in it.

Thankfully,

there are no missing doors

or windows.

And that's really handy.

So it's roadworthy.

Now when it comes to cars,

that's fine.

You don't even need a car

to be absolutely perfect

and without blemish or spot.

But as Christians,

I think we can be too easily

fooled into thinking

that godliness is just about

dealing with the missing cars

and windows.

And we just glaze over so easily

the little dents

and the small spots of blemishes.

You know,

I suppose in my thinking,

I kind of think,

as long as I don't crash

with big sins,

then that'll be fine.

But really godliness,

something very helpful

which I'd like to read

to you in a minute,

godliness is really

the sum of a thousand

small things.

If you ever think about

how Jesus lived his life,

I mean,

you think of Jesus

in his ministry,

but I like thinking of,

imagine what Jesus was like

when he was a teenager,

when he was asked

to do something

that no teenager likes

being asked to do

to do the washing

or clean up.

Or what was Jesus like

when he was really hungry

and was struggling

with being cranky?

Or what was Jesus like

when someone,

you know,

when he stubbed his toe?

Or when someone

was just really rude to him

for no reason

and he was trying

to buy something off him?

I mean,

kind of,

that really is godliness

being lived out.

I'd like to read from you

from Kevin DeYoung.

He's an author.

He wrote a book

about holiness,

a hole in our holiness,

we call it.

And he puts it well.

He said,

Holiness is the sum

of a million little things,

the avoidance

of little evils

and little foibles,

the setting aside

of little bits

of worldliness

and little acts

of compromise,

the putting to death

of little inconsistencies

and little indiscretions,

the attention

to little duties

and little dealings,

the hard work

of little,

small self-denials

and small self-restraints,

the cultivation

of little benevolences

and little forbearances.

Are you trustworthy?

Are you kind?

Are you patient?

Are you joyful?

Do you love?

These qualities

worked out

in all the little things

in life

determine whether

you are a blight

or a blessing

to everyone around you,

whether you are

an ugly spiritual eyesore

or growing

into a good-looking Christian.

And although Christ

is speaking

in a different context,

I think it's helpful

to remember his words.

He said,

you know,

one who is faithful

in a very little

is also faithful

in much.

And one who is dishonest

in a very little

is also dishonest

in much.

I suppose if I give

an example

from my own life,

if I'm praying

for Egypt

and praying,

as I described already,

that God,

the kingdom of God

would be further

through that conflict

and that he would

bring peace.

And then I go out

and my wife asks me

to empty the dishwasher

and I'm like,

then I can't separate

the two.

I can't be cranky

with my wife

and then think

that that's fine

because I'm praying

for big things.

That's how we work

out our salvation.

So,

something that's been

very helpful for me

that I would pass on

and that I think

Peter is drawing

attention to here

is spots and blemishes.

Look for those things

that you think,

it's not that small.

It's not any small thing.

It's part of my personality

or I've always been

that way.

But if it's not

in line with the word

of God,

just get rid of it.

Ask him for his help.

Unless you think,

I know what it's like

to be hearing

preaching about holiness

and sometimes

you can just feel

like you're being

whacked over the head

and you can just

find it,

yeah,

I know I should be

better and I'll try

and do better.

But look back

to chapter 1.

We have all

that we need.

We have everything

that we need.

Holiness,

being Christ-like

is not a pipe dream.

It's not something

that the Lord gave us

just so he could

watch us,

you know,

fumble.

He gave us a goal,

Christ-likeness,

and he's given us

everything that we need.

Now we see that

God sovereignly

changes us,

but we have to

pick up and go

and make every effort.

You're not going to

wake up one day

as some,

you know,

holy saint

with a ring around

the back of your head.

We have to

make every effort

and grow.

Be more godly today

than you were yesterday.

Even if they're

small steps,

they're steps nonetheless.

In verse 15,

I want to just

look at a

phrase here

where he says,

count the patience

of the Lord

as salvation.

I've read this

loads of times

and I never really

understood what he

meant by that.

It's not terribly

complicated when I

actually thought about it.

So,

the word count here

can mean to consider

or to deem

or to account,

to think of.

So,

we could put it like this.

We could say,

consider the patience

of the Lord

as salvation

or deem the patience

of the Lord

or think of the patience

of the Lord

as salvation.

So,

to put it simply,

when we consider

why God hasn't

come back yet,

we should understand

this to be an account,

on account,

of his patience.

A patience

with the aim

of salvation

which Paul,

he spoke of

in Romans chapter 2

Romans 2 · chapter mention

and he said,

you know,

do you presume

on the riches

of his kindness

and forbearance

and patience

not knowing

that God's kindness

is meant to lead

you to repentance?

God's patience

as an expression

of his kindness

is there

so that sinners

will repent.

So,

if someone comes up

to you and goes like,

oh well,

Jesus is taking

his time

coming back

and they're snacky

but I think you can

just kind of

quickly retort

and say,

that's because

he's giving you

time to repent.

You've got time.

I can't guarantee

you much longer

than this minute

but you have time.

People will laugh

at the fact

that Jesus

is coming back

and they'll caricature it

and think they were

like,

you know,

they'll think

they were kind of

like,

you know,

Armageddon

kind of people

but it is a note

and it is a part

of the gospel

and we should warn

people of the wrath

to come.

So,

when someone says,

you know,

I don't see

any signs

that he's coming

back,

then we can

clearly say to them

that's because

he's giving you

time to repent.

He's calling

his people

to himself

and once that's

done,

there will be

no more time

to repent.

That's it.

Verses 15 and 16,

let's have a quick

look at those again.

Count the patience

of the 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 the unstable

twist to their

own destruction

as they do

with the other

scriptures.

Now,

I want to address

this because

this is part

of the text

I've been given

and it might seem

just a little bit

separate to what

I've spoken of

already about being

holy and how we

should hasten and

wait for the Lord

but it's really

important.

Peter refers to

Paul's letter

saying that

Paul also wrote

about these

things and in

doing so he's

emphasizing the

fact that they're

in agreement

about these

things.

So he didn't

have one

apostle going

I think this

is how it's

going to play

out and this

is what you

should do and

another apostle

going well no

I think you

know they're

all in agreement

and Paul is

we understand

he's passed

away at this

time his

letters are in

circulation

probably for

quite a while

and so he's

going on to

point out that

there are some

things in Paul's

letters that are

hard to understand.

I am relieved

that's in the

Bible.

Because I think

we're fooling

ourselves if we

say that the

Bible is simple

to understand

and I kind of

feel sorry for

people who do

kids Bibles and

they come to

passages that are

really hard to

do which is like

you can't really

get around how

complicated that

is.

Paul was a

gigantic intellect

and he spoke in

ways that are

just that are

really rigorous

rigorous and

strong and

watertight but in

order to be

watertight and

rigorous and

strong they're

quite complicated

sometimes.

But Peter says

that there are

ignorant and

unstable people

out there and

what they do is

they twist the

word of God and

that word can

actually even mean

to torture.

I always like to

think of, you

know, remember

Stretch Armstrong

remember those

toys, anything

like that, any

kind of squishy

toys, you pull

them and you can

twist them but if

you let go of

them they just go

back to the way

they were.

And one of the

great things about

the Reformation I

suppose and was

there before the

Reformation was just

being reminded that

the best way to

interpret scripture

is with scripture

and that we

shouldn't twist the

word of God.

And notice why he

says they twist it

to their own

destruction.

I'm sure every

single one of us

in this room, if

we're being honest,

there have been

times you've read

the Bible and

gone, I wish that

wasn't there.

I'll be honest

about it, I just

wish that wasn't

there.

Whether it's

something that

convicts me or

something that I

think is not fair

and oftentimes I've

gone on to

understand it better

and go, okay,

that's not actually

saying what I

think it's saying

but there have

been times when

I've gone, if

that wasn't there

I wouldn't miss it

in some ways.

But whenever we

change the Bible

it's always a

loss, it's never

again.

Never.

No one ever

wins by changing

the Bible.

And when you

have teachers,

false teachers,

who will, by

ignoring passages

of scripture,

they're actually,

their people are

losing out and

they're only doing

damage because the

word of God in

its entirety is

profitable.

It's good for us.

Some of it is

better swallowed than

chewed, as

Spurgeon said,

but it is all

good for us and

we need it all.

And so when they

twist the scriptures

they do it to

their own

destruction.

And so look at

verse 16 and

this is very

important.

He says about

Paul's writings,

he says, as they

do the other

scriptures.

So they twist

Paul's writings as

they do the other

scriptures.

And so Peter here

I think is clearly

affirming the

writings of Paul

whose letters were

known in circulation

for a while as

scripture.

Some have said

that these verses

are not saying

this, but I

think even aside

from the clear

sentence structure

there, if you

look at the fact

that if we found

Paul's letter,

another letter of

Paul today in

Caracol, if we

managed to find

another letter of

Romans part 2,

we wouldn't hold

that as scripture.

We would say

that's a fantastic

find and we can

get a mind even

more into the

mind of Paul,

a view, but we

wouldn't hold that

as scripture.

And so, what

he's saying is

that if they

twist Paul's

letters, if Paul's

letters and he's

referring to them

as not scripture

and they twist

them, then they're

just twisting

Paul's letters.

They're not

twisting scripture.

If I write a

letter to someone

here about the

Christian faith and

they twist it and

misinterpret it,

they're not going

to get destroyed

for that.

But if it's

scripture they're

twisting, you see

the link?

If it's not

scripture then it

can't be eternally

fately.

And so, that's

just a run

through of those

verses, but I

want us just to

recap.

Ask yourself

again, think about

it this morning,

later today, when

you go to work

tomorrow, whatever

you're doing.

That Christ's

second coming is

coming and that

he is coming

back.

He will come

back to judge the

living and the

dead.

In the meantime,

let us be holy and

about our

master's business,

the great

commission, until

he comes or we

die.

We can also die.

So, one of

those will come.

I used to think

in terms of

motivation, the

fact that one

day I know I'm

going to die, but

I just forgot the

fact that you

might actually die,

Christ might just

come back, and he

might meet you

before you get to

meet him, as it

were.

He might show up

by surprise.

You know, one of

my first passages of

scripture that I ever

memorized, and I hope I

can do it justice this

time.

It was Mark 8.

And he said, you

know, Jesus was

speaking to his

disciples, and he

said, if anyone

will come after me,

let him take up his

cross and follow me.

For whoever would

save his life will

lose it.

Whoever loses his

life for my sake and

the gospel will save

it.

He said, you

know, whoever is

ashamed of me and

of my words, and of

my words in this

wicked and adulterous

generation, of him

will the Son of Man

also be ashamed when

he comes in the glory

of his Father with the

holy angels.

I'm sure I've missed

out a small bit, but

the point being that

Christ will come back,

and as he said

himself, will I find

faith on her?

So let's lay aside

every weight and

every sin which

clings so closely and

run with endurance the

race that is set before

us.

And in closing, I'd

like to just read from

Isaiah 40, which I

think really speaks to

how temporal this life

is and how small we

are really.

Isaiah 40, verses 6

Isaiah 40:6–8

to 8.

All flesh is like

grass, and all its

beauty is like the

flower of the field.

The grass withers, the

flower fades, when the

breath of the Lord

blows upon it.

Surely the people are

grass.

The grass withers, the

flower fades, but the

word of our God will

stand forever.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.