2 Peter Series - What Kind of People Ought We To Be

                                 What Kind of People Ought We to Be?

 2 Peter 3: 8-14

Every wonder where time began? God is eternal, He is outside of time, so where does time begin. In the creation story, the Earth was void (empty, formless, dark), next God created light to seperate from darkness. We get a day, morning and evening. The first mention of time, a Day. Man in the earliest times used the sun and moon, morning and evening to mark off time. Also Moses in a prayer mentions time, “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. (Ps.90:3-4)”

Now Peter, drawing from God’s word on the use of time in creation, a day is marked out by morning and evening and by death. But to God himself, eternity has no day or night. He is not bound by time. Let’s look at the text, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” 

Peter writing by the Holy Spirit reminds the believers to this one thing, God is not bound by time, to God a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a day. Peter has been declaring the last days and the coming back of Jesus, and he remembers Jesus' words “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am...No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.…” (Jn.15:3, Matt. 24:36-37). As well as Paul’s letters to the church, “According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thes. 4:15-18)”

 Peter has described two events, the promised coming of Jesus for the church (rapture) and the coming of Jesus to the Earth with Judgment. These are the promised last days' events. Peter reminded them of the judgments of the flood and fire in the Old Testament, and the words of Jesus, as well as the words of the apostles. All of these events were foretold by God, he gave warning to all who would listen. Jesus will come without unnecessary delay, for the church and for judgment.

Application -  It is amazing how time conscious we are in the western world. We live and work by a clock! It is almost unacceptable to be late for any event. For Peter and all those living in the Roman Empire, time was marked by days (daylight and darkness), festivals and calendars. We today measure time by the seconds of a minute. 

God is not bound by either the day or the clock, he has set the time of the coming of Jesus according to His purpose. He decides the coming of events by His will. Man in his finite abilities, tries to maneuver God's purpose and will by signs in the sky or his presupposed intuitiveness of what is happening at the moment. This is why false teachers have set dates for Biblical events of the end times. It is meaningless and an offense to God. God has given us warnings of signs in the scripture to prepare us, to alert us to His plan and reprisals to our sinning against him. When it comes to the coming of Jesus Christ for the church or the second coming of Jesus Christ for judgment, only He (The Father) knows when it is going to happen. God always warns ahead of His planned event, and many times it may take days or millenniums in man’s calendars. This is where we place our faith in Jesus and trust in God for his perfect timing. 

Second, Peter declares the promise will take place and that God is not slow but patient. Let’s look at the text,  “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.”

For Peter, patience was something that took him a while to learn as well. He and John raced to the tomb, to get there as quickly as possible to see Jesus, only to find an empty tomb (Jn.20:3-6). Then he got tired of waiting around Jerusalem and went back to fishing, only to find Jesus was there as well (Jn.21:1-19). Peter’s patience came with the Holy Spirit’s fruit of long suffering (Gal. 5:22). He wanted Jesus to come soon, but knew that God’s will and purpose were the factors that decided time. He remembered Jesus talking about the reason he had come was to bring salvation to mankind, and that the Son of man came to seek and save the lost. God is not slow but patiently working out His purpose.

Then Peter turns to the simile Jesus used of His coming, like a thief in the night (Matt.24). He understood now that the parable was told to everyone to be ready for the return of the master. “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.v.42-44” Peter was warning all believers to be about the task of the master, to be ready for his return.

Application - I look at this parable as a literal command from God, be ready, be at the work I have called you to do, and be alert, not about my own purpose but His purpose. I guess I want to hear “Well done my faithful servant”, not “Wake up!”, “Can’t you even stay awake and do what I have asked of you?”

The one thing I know for certain, Jesus never said anything flippantly, He only spoke what the Father told him to say, period. If God the Father told him to tell this parable (Luke 12:35-48), I believe all that believe in Jesus Christ need to be about his purpose and the tasks he asks all of us to do. 

Now Peter speaks with illumination from the Holy Spirit about the coming judgment from God upon the Earth. Let’s look at the text, “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. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought  you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.” 

Peter expressed the end in vivid words, “The heavens will disappear with a roar…”, “The elements (creation) will be destroyed by fire… the destruction of the heavens by fire” and “The Earth and everything done in it will be laid bare… and the elements will melt in the heat.” 

First, Peter had a glimpse of what Jesus said in Matt. 24:29, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” All of creation disappears with a deafening roar. Everything is gone. In the midst of this cataclysmic event, fire has consumed everything, nothing is spared, fire has cleansed the heaven and earth of everything vile and all that the enemy of God (the powers of the heavens) and all that mankind has built and worships is gone. Heaven and Earth are ready to be renewed. 

Then Peter asked the rhetorical question, “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought  you to be?” It should be obvious to everyone in the world, We must be ready before all this happens. But Peter is looking for people who will respond, who have given themselves fully yielded to Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We need to be holy and righteous (living godly lives), and wanting to speed this along as fast as possible.

Peter must have wondered, what will speed the coming of Jesus, the answer is in the Word of God, Rom.11:25 - “until the full number of the Gentiles has come in… (Matt.24:14) And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

But most of all Peter is stating to speed the coming of the Lord, we are to live holy and godly lives, separated unto Jesus as his own, a child of God, one in whom Jesus has made blameless “as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless”, adorned in the fine linen of righteousness. Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Rev. 19:7-8

Application - I wouldn’t want to be here when God pours out His wrath upon this evil world. As Amos spoke by the Holy Spirit about the Day of the Lord, “Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him. Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light—pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?” And Peter as well said this world will end in refining fire. There will not be one thing left of this world, But that is not the end. For those who are his children , the elect, and the bride of Christ, God will make a new Heaven and a new Earth. “Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. Rev. (21: 1”) and “he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other...Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Matt.24: 32-35”

What a promise! And as Amos spoke, these last days, the Day of the Lord is filled with darkness, around every corner is a new calamity, a chaos of the darkest proportion, and yet God is not finished. He will have taken out his Son’s bride (the rapture), he will have rescued the elect from the four corners of the earth to live with him “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ He said to me: ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.’ To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.” Rev. 21:3-7

Now this should inspire everyone to faith in Jesus Christ, to live holy and godly lives. We who are in Christ Jesus, who are washed and prepared for His coming, we who are alert and at the task that He has given us will be honored and blessed to live with Jesus forever in a new heaven and new earth. 

So the question again, “What Kind of People Ought We to Be?” I believe this is a clear lesson from God. If you have not believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and forgiveness of sins, now is the time. Today is the day of salvation, For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation. 2 Cor.6:2

  I’m again including the ABC’s of salvation (JD Farag). Please the day is drawing near, won't you please be ready?

A - Admit that you are a sinner. This is where that godly sorrow leads to genuine repentance for sinning against a righteous God and there is a change of heart, we change our mind and God changes our hearts and regenerates us from the inside out. Romans 3:10 - As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one." Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (We are all born sinners which is why we must be born spiritually in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven). Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The bad news is that the wages of sin is death, in other words our sin means that we have been given a death sentence, we have the death penalty hanging over our heads, that's the bad news. But here's the good news: The good news is that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 2:8-9 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

 B - Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and that God raised Jesus from the dead. This is trusting with all of your heart that Jesus Christ is who he said he was. Romans 10:9-10 - That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 

C - Call upon the name of the Lord. Every single person who ever lived since Adam will bend their knee and confess with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Romans 14:11 - For it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God." Don't wait until later — do this now. Romans 10:13 - For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." "O God, I am a sinner. I'm sorry for my sin. I want to turn from my sin. I believe Jesus Christ is Your Son; I believe that He died on the cross for my sin and that He was buried and You raised Him to life. I have decided to place my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior, trusting only in His shed blood as sufficient to save my soul and to take me to heaven. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving me. Amen."

Please share this with someone this week, the Lord knows that we and they need it.

If you would like other lessons, please go to http://pmdinhisservice.blogspot.com 

Until next week, In His Service Mike Davis