Clark, Robert: Studies In 2 Peter-09 ~ 2 Peter 3:8-18

I'd like you to turn in your Bibles, if you would, to second Peter in chapter three. Second Peter chapter three. I'd like to talk a little bit about the subject of the new heaven and the new earth. But this is not just a factual statement that God is going to do this. This particular portion of scripture really suggests to us the implications of the new heaven and the new earth, and what it should mean to those of us who are his people. We'll be reading in second Peter chapter three and from verse eight. This is the first Sunday of the new month. Mike mentioned in prayer retired missionaries, and I just am very thankful. I thank the Lord for your generosity and care, and I thought that you would like to know that because of your kindness, I know that this is a holiday. Some of you have even absorbed expense in taking on for yourself one of the Angel Tree children and seeking to give a little bit of Christmas encouragement and joy and a holiday track to some of the children of prisoners. Others of you have gone beyond that and sought to share economically and help with those that are down in the missions, and there's going to be a large number of men that receive some practical gifts because of your care and your practical help. But above and beyond that, and what you have given to cover the running expenses of the testimony here, there's going to be seventeen widows that will receive one hundred dollars because of your kindness and your generosity. And I know it shall mean much to them. It was my pleasure just a week ago to be able to see and visit and talk with three or four of those persons and see them in their very modest circumstances in a retirement home in Carolina, and yet each of them thankful for God's care and provision, although each of them were living under extremely modest circumstance. In one little room, and yet the fellowship of other Christians and the joy that they will have from your kindness and sharing, and I know it'll mean much to them. That's why at the holiday we have separated our missionary offerings for those that have served the Lord and have suffered bereavement and are alone now, and for this month, whatever you put into the missionary box voluntarily with no further talk or no pressure at all, really, but just however the Lord leads you, those monies will be sent to retired missionaries, of whom we know individuals, and their names will be posted for you, and I know that your kindness, supported with our prayer and interest, will be a real encouragement to those that have not been able now to physically go on and serve the Lord with the same vigor as before. Instead of retiring, there's a Scottish missionary in Puerto Rico of whom I heard, and he has totally lost his sight, and his wife has totally lost her hearing, and she goes with him through the streets in Puerto Rico, giving out tracts, and he speaks, and she sees, and they're both in their eighties. Now that's serving faithfully until the Lord comes. And there's many such persons in this world, and it certainly embarrasses maybe some of us, who we have gotten to take it for granted that other people should do the work of the Lord. And as long as the Lord leaves us here, and particularly in view of the fact that there's going to be a new heavens and a new earth. Let's read together. Verse eight: but beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for the new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless, and account that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in men of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable rest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen. Our life is headed somewhere. That's one thing that we have to have established in our minds, and it's something that Christianity has brought the answer to the whole enigma and all the problems. Our life does have a direction, and there is a goal for your life and mine. The heathen have even found it intolerable to live in this world without imagining or conjuring something for the future. But there are souls that go through life without any hope, without any future, without any anticipation, and they really feel that what is done here is all that there is. You've heard the expression, let us eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. That form of hedonism, self-pleasure, self-seeking is saying, in effect, whatever I exist is right here, and when I close my eyes, I'm all finished up, and I'm just resting, and that's the finish. I'm just dust, and that's the end of it. But not according to our God or his word. There was written on the tomb these words: I once had an existence, now I have no existence, and it really doesn't concern me. Isn't that something to put upon a gravestone? The apathy, the despair, the emptiness of people's imagination of what life is. But we have recorded here in our verse that we have read together in verse thirteen, Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth. And if that isn't sufficient, then the little phrase, wherein dwelleth righteousness. In the world in which you and I live, there is a sprinkling of righteous acts. There is an occasional sense of doing the right thing, even on the part of you and me who are believers, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and really have every opportunity to fulfill the law if we walk in the spirit and practice righteousness. But we acknowledge that there are sins in our lives and those things to be confessed and repented of and seek to go on with God. But at very best, we see occasional righteous acts. We see a few things that are done right, and we respond to them, and we appreciate them, and we value the person that is some way going on and living and doing and being and acting in the right way. But the word that is used here is wherein dwelleth righteousness, a permanent, continuing, abiding place of right acts. Paradise was lost, but paradise is going to be regained, and heaven and earth alike will do the will of God. Now, it doesn't mean much to us. Usually us, we who are believers, we have a kind of an idea that we look forward at very best to the fact that the Lord is going to take us home to be with him, and we'll be out of this wretched sin-cursed world, and he will deliver us before the judgment fall, for he is our deliverer from the present coming wrath. And we're thankful for the salvation of our soul and our body and those loved ones who have accepted Christ, and we're glad that we're going home to be with him in heaven. Some of us have been spiritually exercised enough to extend our perimeters and our thinking and think to ourselves, but it will be nice when Christ returns and reigns. At least he will get some kind of glory. At least there will be some kind of a claim and authority, and we revel in those passages where every knee shall bow to him and glorify God and honor the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it'll be out of coercion, absolute sovereign authority. It will have to be done, for he shall reign and rule. And the Holy Scriptures promise that when our Lord Jesus returns to this earth, it shall be after the purging and the cleansing and such a horrendous experience that this world goes through, it is called a tribulation. And in our text, it's called the day of the Lord. It falls upon humanity as a thief comes in the night. Very few of us are prepared to be robbed or plundered. Very few of us go into the store and think, well, maybe this is the day that somebody will steal my hubcaps. We don't just do that. In fact, I, you know, I did that one time. I went into a store. I didn't even go into the store to shop. I only went into the store to find out if there was room for me to sit down and eat, and there wasn't, so I turned around and come back, and my beautiful hubcaps were gone. Can you imagine that? In less than thirty seconds, somebody was managed to do that unrighteous act. Well, this is a wretched world in which we live, and we're glad to be looking forward to the time the Lord will take us out, but we kind of think somehow, oh well, that's the way it is, life is just like that, it'll go on that way, but we have some curious idea that somehow things are going to get better, and there's going to be a gradual improvement, and man is getting better. After all, we know so much more, and science has made so many strides. And of course, with every stride that science makes, pride, self-veneration, self-esteem, ego, rejection of Christ, and encumbered with that is an interesting idea that throughout our city we have increasing Bible studies, increasing congregations, more people in churches, and increasing crime and violence. There just doesn't seem to be any remedy, but the day of the Lord is coming. The day of the Lord is coming. The day when he exercises his lordship, it is coming. And he shall bring judgment. Now, the Lord is not slack concerning his promises. We forget that time began in Genesis one, and with the creation of this world was the commencement of the ticking of the clock. Or maybe at that time they didn't have quartz movement, maybe then it was the dropping of the sand, and that's how they alluded to it. But at least time began, and we measured things in periods of days and months and hours and years. But that only began at creation, and Revelation ten six tells us, and time shall be no more. There is a period when time shall cease, and the great reign of our Lord Jesus Christ shall come to an end. Then is everything finished? No. Then there is a new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. And in view of that, in view of the fact that when God creates the new heavens and the new earth, and therein will dwell a permanent abiding place of those who do the acts and purposes of God, and he becomes venerated, and paradise, in a sense, is restored, and God is made all in all, and there is things in order the way it should be, in view of that, there are moral, ethical implications. And that's the thought for today's lesson. But you know, up to this point in the book, Peter has encouraged God's people in chapter one to fight against the corruption that's in the world. And in chapter two, he lays bare the evil heart and intent of insidious, deceitful, beguiled, and beguiling teachers who are leading souls into darkness. But in chapter four, uh or chapter three rather, there are four references. One little word appears. It appears in verse one, it appears in verse eight, it's seen again in verse fourteen, and for the last time in verse seventeen. And it's a word that's not just like Peter. It is beloved. He starts in verse one and says, this second epistle, beloved, I write unto you to stir up your minds by way of remembrance. He's saying, in effect, verse one, beloved, remember. Remember. Bring to mind the things that you know. This is a message for God's people. Now, it's quite possible that you're here today and you've never accepted Christ as your Savior, or it might be that you're a religious man or woman, and you have been attending churches, and you've maybe moved into the area, or you're visiting with us, you're looking for a fellowship or a congregation of Christians, and we're glad to receive you. We have assembled here for the sole purpose that believers can come together and study the word of God. We have no denominational tie. We're not bound to ritual or performance. It's rather a congregation of believers who truly believe this is God's word and desire, as God enables us, to have the word of God affect our lives and ultimately effect us, that we can be more like our Lord Jesus Christ. But it's quite possible that you're not yet really a born again Christian. You've never honestly surrendered your life and put your trust in the Lord Jesus who died for you at Calvary's cross. There's no greater expression of love than one lay down his life. And Christ died for us while we were ungodly, enemies of his. And God has commended his love toward us, in that while Christ died for us, he took the terrible punishment of God for your sins, and he bore your sins in his own body on the tree. And Peter says, remember these things. Remember what God has done for you. Bring back to your recollection even the things that are said in chapter one, the first few verses, that he's given us everything that pertains to life and godliness. He's implanted within us a divine nature. He has communicated to us himself, and now he is drawing us out from this world. This is a wicked, sinful world, and it has many needs, desperate needs. I sat in the living room, and I was deeply impressed by the words of a young man who has opened up his home on the east coast of Florida, and people come in off of the beaches, various forms of dishevelment and dress, social lives, and he doesn't understand why they come. But the Lord has given him a great deal of income, and he has turned his income into a commodious place to be used for the service of God. And sea bathers and tranchants and variety of people have come into his home literally by the scores, and he feeds them and talks to them and preaches with them and ponders problems with them. And now this work that he has carried on for God has gradually evolved almost into a, a clinic for those that are utterly dependent upon drugs and alcohol. And he spends hours trying to direct their attention to the only way out of the dilemmas of this life. Now, if you're a person that you feel you have been abused by parents or a spouse, and if you feel that you have been abused by the difficulties of life, and you feel your heart burdened and grieved, I can warn you that the day of the Lord is coming. But we should count a day like this today, a day of sunshine and blessedness and peace and some quietness of mind. We should count this the salvation of the Lord, and that God wants to speak to your soul. And you and I have no idea how long we have. Like a thief in the night, the Lord will come, and when he does come, he will bring judgment on this world. He began time, and he is going to terminate time. And oh, we don't want for you to be eternally lost and burdened with griefs and problems. We want to turn your hearts to our Lord Jesus Christ. And so he says in verse eight, Beloved, don't be ignorant of these things. Don't allow this kind of a thing to get away from you. Don't allow it to be hidden from you, Mr. Darby's translation. I believe the thought in the New American Standard, if I recall right, is don't let this escape from you. Now you see the ignorant and the blind and then the benighted souls in this world have let the fact escape from them that God is not bound by time. He is not limited to so many days and hours. With him, a thousand years are but a day. Or a day can be as a thousand years. But I want you to notice the scripture is careful. It's a quotation from something that was written by Moses of old in Psalm ninety in verse four. But notice in verse eight says, be not ignorant, don't be beclouded, don't let this escape from you, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years. It does not say that a thousand years is a day. Some people will try to tell you when God talks about a day, he's talking about creating the world in seven thousand years, and they quote a verse like this, and it does not say that God says that day is a thousand years. It is as a thousand years. And neither does it say that a thousand years is one day. That does not mean that Christ is going to come one day and reign for one day in this world. Those are perversions of truth that are built upon imaginations, the ignorance of human beings, and the lack of reading carefully. What this portion is saying is God is not confined within time. You and I are. He is outside of time, and whether it's a thousand years or a day, it means little to him. But you can be sure of this, the day of the Lord is coming. But God is long suffering, not willing that any of you should perish, but that we should all come to repentance and acknowledge the truth. And very delightful, it's an opportunity for me as a child of God, that he is also long suffering, and he gives me the pleasure of adjusting my life now before I get home to see him, and confessing those things that are improprieties, and repent of my coldness of heart and my worldliness and my preoccupation with things of time, because the day of the Lord is coming. And if that day is coming, what kind of a life should I live? Well, that's a good question, and Peter has that. Notice in verse ten, the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, not supposition, it's a fact. Seeing that the tangible world in which we are dwelling in shall be drastically altered under the judgment of God, seeing that these things are so, what manner of person ought you to be in the holy manner of life and godliness, looking for and hastening the day or the coming day of God. He says that there are four moral ethical implications here. That in view of these facts, how should I live? That there are people around me that are going to face the judgment. How should I live? What kind of life should I have? What kind of a person should you think that I should be? If you were writing it out, how would you describe that I should be? Would you think I should be a little bit more kinder, a little bit more patient, a little bit more thoughtful of others? Do you think I should be a little bit more willing to reach out and touch others, even if it might mean a little bit of embarrassment for me or self-consciousness that I should make an effort to talk to other people? What do you think I should be? And now you know what God wants both of us to be. He's looking for us to say, I believe that of the Lord is coming, and that this day of the Lord is going to suddenly come. Now, what kind of a life should I live? We all have stories of individuals from whom we have been parted, and we wished we had done differently. I had an awful lot of friends that were important to me when I was a teenager. And now I don't even know where most of them are. And when I do see them, they're like absolute strangers. And on rare occasion, when I've had a chance to talk to some of them, I have no consciousness of where they are or what they think about. And yet there was a time when they were tremendously important to me and influenced how I lived. There are people now that influenced me greatly as a young married man and a businessman, and their opinion and their thoughts wielded a great deal of influence in my behavior, and now most of them are passed on. That massive building and the giant corporation for which I work, it still stands. The people are still going on. The principles that I thought they were so important, and the things I tried to inculcate, and the little office I tried to give direction to, that's all gone and finished, and now whatever I did or said or thought is relatively unimportant. But the thing that lasts is your life and what you think and what you say. The things that are not seen are eternal, and your testimony and the impact that you make for God. What manner of people ought we to be? In view of all that's happening around us, to whom will people go? I am quite sure that the reason why they come off of that surf and tuck their boards into the sand and walk up and visit this man, because of his warmth, his genialness, his acceptance. The irregularity of their lives and appearance, their condition, mental and social, means absolutely nothing to him. He just accepts them as they are and talks with them. And those poor young men and women from all over the nation gradually emigrate into his living room and find a man and a woman that welcome them and talk to them, treat them as human beings, and immediately dress their problems and have answers and make them accountable to God. And they're a tremendous blessing. Now, outside of that immediate area, maybe few people know, but God knows what he's doing, and God knows what you're doing, or he knows what you are not doing. But what manner of life ought I to live? An all holy manner of life, godliness. What did we say earlier godliness was? It's a mind preoccupied with God, a love for God, an obedience to God, a desire for his fellowship, a communion with the Lord, a sense of the Lord enjoying me and my enjoying him, so much so that it will be merging out of my thinking and controlling my attitude and behavior, no matter what comes into my life. Looking for, anticipating, and curiously enough, hastening the day of the coming of God. Is it possible that my behavior can quicken the coming of the Lord Jesus? Is it possible that is what John means at the end of Revelation, when he says the church raises up its voice and says, even so, come, Lord Jesus? Is it the fact that we have such clear conscience and vigorous lives and enjoy his fellowship that we have forgotten time and sense and look forward to his coming and are really saying, just as he has urged us, thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, right here, as it is in heaven. Is that the kind of spirit that would make the church a pervading influence? Is that the kind of spirit that would make an impact on a variety of homes and neighborhoods and businesses if we were per- so persuaded, if my life was so occupied, if I had not really given myself up to the things of time and sense and been so preoccupied? Why, it's remarkable what I can talk to my neighbors about. Now, I'm not as wise as many of them, so I ask a lot of questions, but I'm really quite an interesting thing about what they're doing in their businesses and how they're doing in their home and their families. Oh, but that's not the whole answer, is it? How much do they find out from me? How much of Christ do they see in me? And Peter says, beloved. Verse fourteen, Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you be found in him in peace, without spot, and blameless. In chapter two and verse thirteen, I believe it is, we're told that these wicked teachers count it a pleasure to riot in the daytime, spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves of their own deceivings while they feast with you. You see, they are spots and blemishes. But I'm to be more like the one that's described in first Peter one nineteen, Christ, who's without spot and without blemish. Beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent, be committed, be resolved, and make it your life that you will exist in these troubled, difficult times in peace, serenity of soul, composure of mind and spirit, seeing the difficulties and the tests and the trials untainted, unblemished, that my life might evidence I really believe the day of the Lord is coming, and I'm looking forward to the day of God. What is the difference? The day of the Lord is a day of judgment. It's described in abundant portions. The day of God is a new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, and by the kindness and grace of God, I know that I shall be in the new heavens and the new earth. And I know that there is great blessing afforded for me. John says, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth, and the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. An interesting aside, just a little insight, figurative language, the words of today and this world to kind of give us an anticipation about the world of the future. The words of this present world to open up my mind toward that world of the future, a new heaven and a new earth, and the sea is gone, but more than that, and I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. The gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honor into the nations into it, and there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. What kind of a life should I be? What kind of conversation? What kind of disposition? You see, there are implications for the new heavens and the new earth, and God is looking for us just in our own easy, comfortable little way to influence those around us. Maybe it's someone in your home needs comfort or encouragement. Maybe it's someone in your place of business or in your neighborhood or in your campus, a close friend, maybe an enemy. You know who it is that God brings to your mind. And we challenge ourselves, beloved. Beloved, remember. Beloved, take notice of what's happening around you. Don't let it blind you. Beloved, be diligent. And the last one is in verse seventeen. Beloved, seeing you know these things, beware. Beware of what? Lest the religious teaching of the day cloud your mind and make you neutralized, cool of heart. Don't be satisfied with just the knowledge that your soul is saved. So much more than that. Beloved, remember, take note, be diligent, and beware, and grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus. Let others see Christ's likeness in us, because we really believe that before the great, glorious new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwells righteousness and where I know I shall be, and I know many of you shall be there. Before that day is the day of the Lord, and to be spared from that means you must put your trust in Jesus Christ. And today is the day of salvation. We'll sing a closing hymn. Some of us will go home, forget what we have heard. Others of us will remember and reflect. But before you leave, I trust if you sense God is speaking to you, that you'll know that I'd be so pleased to sit with you and show you from the written word of God how you'll be spared the day of the Lord and be included in the day of God and be assured that your name is written in God's book of life. Shall we pray? Our loving Heavenly Father, our hearts are warmed and thankful that in thy profound grace and love, you have made it possible for us, simple human beings, so limited within time and sense, and yet our minds can be indeed expanded or stretched in some way to realize the greatness of the program of Christianity, the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the valueableness and effectiveness of his mighty redemptive work, the awesomeness of his coming judgment, and the joy and bliss that shall be ours to be with thee for the endless ages of eternity in a new heaven and a new earth. Father, touch our hearts. Speak to us, we pray. Bring conviction of sin and faith where it is needed, confession or repentance. We pray thee to do thy good work, that we might be amongst those beloved of thyself, who really take notice, who are alerted and diligent, and seek to walk in a way that evidences we have a relationship with thee, our loving God. These things we pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.