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Pastor Vic's Message
“This is Important”
November 23, 2008
2 Peter 3:1-10
This is my approximate
literal translation of these verses from the Greek.
3:1 This now my beloved
brethren is a second formal letter I am writing to you all in both of which I
am waking up in the sphere of remembrance your pure (free from falsehood)
intentions.
3:2 That you should remember
the words that have been previously spoken by the holy prophets and the
commandment of the Lord and Savior through the apostles.
3:3 This
one thing firstly be learning to know that there will come during the last
of the days in the sphere of mockery mockers according to their own irregular
desires they are ordering their lives.
3:4 And saying, "Where is
the promise of His coming? For from the edge of which the fathers fell asleep
all things so are remaining from the edge of the beginning of creation."
3:5 For this
fact escapes them intentionally that heavens were from of old and earth by
water and through water have been and are remaining set together by the word
of God.
3:6 Through which the then
world by water being overflowed destroyed itself.
3:7 But the now heavens and
earth by the same word having been kept in store are for fire being kept unto
a day of judgment and destruction of the impious men.
3:8 But stop letting
this one thing escape from you dearly beloved that one day in
the presence of the Lord is as one thousand years and one thousand years as
day one.
3:9 The Lord is not late
with the promise as some lateness consider, but is lovingly patient unto you
all not wanting that some should cause themselves to perish, but all mankind
unto repentance to proceed.
3:10 But the day of the Lord
will arrive as a thief in the sphere of which the heavens with a rushing sound
will come to a change and basic materials being burned with fever it will be
dissolved and earth and the in her works will be burned up.
Notice in 3:3 Peter said,
THIS know for sure that mockers will come. In 3:5 he said these mockers
forget THIS that changes have occurred in history. In 3:10 Peter is saying
THIS you are forgetting that God is not like you.
In today's Scripture we read
how important it is to remember. Stop and remember life is about God not
you. Stop and remember we are part of God’s story. The pure in heart see
God.
Mockers do not see God in
this world because they choose not to see God in this world. Let’s begin by
looking at 2 words that describe mockers in verse 5.
The word 'escape' (KJV=ignorant;
NIV=forget) is not the passive idea of being set free, but the active idea of
losing. No one forced you to forget. In English we might be trying to think
of a particular word to say and we will say, "The word I want escapes me."
That is what we mean here. The word has escaped from my consciousness.
The second word is
'intentionally' (KJV=willingly; NIV=deliberately). They were willing or
wishing this fact to escape them. This fact is being forgotten by them
intentionally. They did not want to remember God’s word. It made them
uncomfortable. They did not practice remembering.
This is why you cannot
convince someone to become a Christian by using evidence that demands a
verdict. The Spirit will draw them through your love more than your
argument. They can choose to forget.
Men whose lives are centered
on this world often choose to ignore the lessons of history. They choose to
believe the world will last forever and they ignore any evidence of God. They
forget because they do not take the time to remember.
Let's go back to 3:1 and
notice the difference between the Christian and the mocker.
Peter first identifies
himself with his readers. The word for 'my beloved brethren' (agapeetoi) is
used more in this chapter than any other in the N.T. Chapter 2 is a negative
chapter. It warned of destruction. In contrast here Peter uses this special
word for friends. In contrast to the false teachers in chapter 2 that he
compared to donkeys, dogs, and pigs, Peter now thinks of his readers and says
'my beloved brethren.'
In the sphere of remembrance,
or by drawing upon their memory, Peter says he is waking up from sleep their
pure minds. This is an unusual word for pure and scholars are unsure
of the exact meaning. It may mean pure like pure wheat that has been cleaned
of all the chaff and dirt. Or it may mean pure like a gem that is held up to
the light and is revealed to be flawless. Maybe Peter had both ideas in
mind. Your mind can be awake and clean.
The false teachers who had
become entangled again by the pollutions of this world had impure minds.
Peter uses the word for
'mind' or 'intention' only here and in 1 Peter 1:13. The root idea of this
word is thought or reflection. Peter uses the regular word for mind and
prefixes it with 'dia' which means through. It suggests that the very source
of our thoughts can be made holy through and through by faith in Jesus and
still go to sleep.
Peter does not try to wake up
the minds of the false teachers. They had closed their minds by choice. But
Christians with open minds and pure motives will benefit from remembering.
Sometimes we may go to sleep, spiritually, but God sends friends to wake us
up. We go to sleep, but not willingly like the mockers.
We should remember the
sayings that have been previously spoken by the holy prophets and remember the
commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken through our apostles.
Peter believed in the unity
of Scripture. God had promised through the prophets that Christ would come.
He came. Jesus promised that His Spirit would come and teach us. He came.
It may be helpful to stop and
consider what command of Jesus Peter may have been referring to. Jesus said
the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God and the second is like
unto it, to love your neighbor as yourself. Then Jesus said a new commandment
I give to you, love one another as I have loved you. But maybe Peter was
thinking of one of Jesus’ last commands to simply "Watch". Watch and pray,
you know not the hour.
It is interesting that in 3:2
Peter told us to wake up and remember what we already know. Then in 3:3 we
need to learn this one thing. In 3:2 we were to remember the
importance of Scripture and in 3:3 we are to realize there will be
opposition. We are aliens. Satan is using people to keep you busy so you
forget God. You may be busy doing good. You don’t take much time to
meditate. Peter says you must take time to remember God. Take time to be
holy.
3 words in verse 3 will help
you understand what Peter said will be inevitable. The root word for mockery
(KJV & NIV=scoffers) and mockers means to play, to party, to jest. Then to
make sport of someone, to play with someone maliciously, to deceive, to
defraud. This word suggests that these people will not scoff at any specific
Church views or doctrines, but simply make fun. The attitude of mockers is
hostility to Truth and God Himself. In 3:7 these mockers are called ungodly
and irreverent. They have no awe or respect of God.
(Read letter from ABC
technician.)
So Peter is warning us that
in a party-like atmosphere, in the sphere of mockery, scoffers will try to
play with us. They are living like selfish children, making fun of everyone
who is different from themselves. They do not want to understand anyone
else. They want everyone else to be like them. "Try it you'll like it."
They value tolerance and fear people with definite moral standards. The
Christian is patient, loving, kind, longsuffering but intolerant of sin. “You
have made the house of prayer a den of thieves.”
The second word here is
'irregular desires'. It is the normal word for desire with the prefix 'epi'
which intensifies the word. So it is not just desire, but earnest desire,
lust, anxious self-seeking. This is the lust or desire that bursts upon the
person with immediacy and urgency. "I need it now!" "I want it and I'm going
to get it now!" This is the desire in the person who has forgotten. He has
forgotten his responsibilities and has cast aside his moral restraint and
self-denial.
Many people are forgetting.
Christians must remember. They should keep their head on straight.
The third word I have
translated "ordering their lives" (KJV=walking; NIV=following) because it is
more than just walking or going as some have translated it. And one of
Peter's repeated themes is regarding our daily way of life and behavior.
Notice the standard by which
they order their lives. These mockers order their lives according to their
own impulses and desires. They plan their lives and set their life goals by
the standard of their own lusts. They are slaves of their desires and a law
unto themselves. They neither remember God in their past nor see God in their
future. They deny the Second Coming and mock the Christians who believe God
is active in their lives today.
Peter has told us 2 things.
Remember the Scripture and know that there will be mockers. Jesus predicted
in Matthew that "As were the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son
of Man... eating, drinking, parties... until the day that Noah entered the
ark."
Peter says in their mockery
they reveal the foolishness of their thinking. How can anyone forget the
flood of Noah? Every civilization has some historical reference to the
flood. And even creation itself was a time of change. These mockers are
fools if they say there has been no flood. The fool also says in his heart
there is no God.
3:5 says "heavens were from
of old". When the Bible talks about heavens (plural), it is referring to part
of the created world. Heaven (singular) usually refers to the presence of
God. If you read this verse closely you will see that Peter is saying that
before our history began at creation, the heavens were there. The heavens
were already old and worn out. Genesis says at the point of creation the
earth was without form and void. Isaiah suggests that a previous world was
destroyed when Lucifer sinned.
"Earth was made by water and
through water" when God spoke. Mockers forget that creation itself testifies
to the changes that occur when God speaks. Mockers forget that creation was a
major change of time.
3:6 But the point that Peter
is trying to make is that these very waters that were used to create and
sustain our world were also the source of its judgment at the flood.
The word for destruction in
verses 6 and 7 are from the same root. In verse 6 it is a verb; in 7 a noun.
In 3:6 it is a verb in the middle voice which means the subject acts upon
itself. So Peter is saying that God did not destroy the world with the flood,
but the world destroyed itself.
If you remember the story of
Noah, you will recall that God told Noah to keep preaching while he was
building. God had spoken a law into existence and he wanted everyone to
know. So Noah warned the people that if they did not repent and obey God,
they would perish. That is God's moral law! God still warns today.
God's moral laws are like his
physical laws. You suffer consequences if you break them. To say that God
destroyed the world with the flood would be like saying God broke your leg
when you jumped off the roof of the church. Peter says the world destroyed
itself with the very thing that God had intended to sustain it.
The idea of this word
destruction is not extinction or annihilation, but to ruin or squander so
badly that it can never be quite the same again. Like little children
wrecking their toys. The world needs fixing.
The mockers were saying there
had been no changes. Peter says there have been some great changes. The
world is completely different now than it was before the flood. This world
cannot function in the same way it was originally designed to do.
Peter is saying that God
warned the people; they ignored His warning to their own destruction. God has
also warned us. God has said there will be a judgment. God has spoken and we
can choose to listen or destroy ourselves. Just as in Romans 1:24, man
self-destructs.
3:7 Through all the prophets
of the O.T. and by His own Son, God has spoken and "by the same word" He is
maintaining the 'now' world and is laying up in store fire. God is putting
fire on deposit and keeping it in a safe place for the 'day of the
Lord'(3:10).
In 1 Peter 1, Peter had said
that God is protecting the inheritance of the saints in heaven or in His
presence. But fire is treasured up for the judgment and destruction of
impious men. If you believe in heaven, you have to believe in hell. God said
it.
The judgment is a time of
distinction and discrimination. The destruction is a parallel idea with
judgment which suggests that the punishment of the sinners will reflect their
sins. Hell will be a place where you will be punished in the way that you
have misused God's gifts to you. This destruction is an everlasting state of
torment and death in which nothing can be repaired or fixed. Nothing will
heal itself. You will exist with your mistakes. Hell will be full of broken
toys that cannot be fixed. You are responsible for the Truth you can know.
The Greek word ‘sebon’ is the
word for reverent and Peter adds the prefix 'a' or not. These mockers were
irreverent men. They were unworshippers and completely without awe of God.
3:8 And you Christians have
let yourselves get sucked into the thinking of this world. "So stop letting
this one thing escape from you..." God thinks differently than you think.
This is the same word used for the mockers in verse 5.
This is a command here to
stop doing what they are doing. Stop forgetting!
This verse is usually
translated "that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand
years as one day." The word that is translated "with" is para, from which we
get parallel and paragraph. It means beside, before, with, along side, but
can also mean 'in the presence of'. I like the idea that that suggests. One
day in the presence of the Lord... Not just with the Lord, but in His
presence. (AV “of” 51; “with” 42; “from” 24; “by the side of” 15)
Can you imagine what it would
be like to be in the presence of the Lord so closely that the things of the
earth would be strangely dim? What time would it be in His presence? What is
His time? Try practicing the presence of God. What does the economy look
like in His presence?
We measure our lives by the
passing of time, but time does not pass by God. For us the last second must
disappear before this second appears and this second must leave before the
next can come.
For God, the first moment of
time and the last moment of time are still present with Him. The beginning
and the end and the now are all the same. God has no history because He has
never lost any time. He has no past because every moment is still present.
He never changes. He cannot change. He cannot say, I was or I will be. He
can only say, “I AM!”
God is in tomorrow and He can
see you there as well as today and yesterday. He does not remember you doing
things, He sees you doing things. "One day in the presence of the Lord..."
The mockers assume that God
thinks like they think. Don't make their mistake. They are betting that the
judgment is not coming. They do not keep their promises so they assume God
does not keep His. They do not understand God. There is no delay with God
because there is no time. There is no need for God to hurry. God cannot
hurry up or slow down. God simply IS!
Those who complain of delay
think life is about them. In God's eyes, a long period of time is not long
and a short period of time is not short. God gives ample time for repentance
but to the unrepentant, the End may come quickly.
3:9 We try to measure God by
our standards. Think about it. When are you late? What do you consider
late? God is never late. He only seems late to scoffers.
All our reasons for being
late we read into God's motives.
Why are some people late in
getting things done? Because they have made a rash promise and can't do it.
Because they have forgotten. Because it is not important to them anymore.
These mockers were inferring that this was why God did not keep His promise.
You try to explain God's
lateness by your standards. You are trying to judge God by what causes you to
be late. But do you know why God is late as some men call lateness?
God is long-suffering,
lovingly patient, and long on temper. We don't think about patience causing
lateness. However, lateness can be caused by love.
Nancy and I have been invited
to homes for dinner at 5:00 and we struggled to be patient and not arrive at
the home until 6:00. We were late because we loved the people and did not
want to embarrass them. God is late because He understands you and loves you.
Forbearance, longsuffering,
patience, slow to anger all describe the nature of God. God's forbearance
creates an opportunity for repentance. God is not like us. But the Bible
says we are to be like Him. We are to be motivated by His love.
"God is not wanting that some
should cause themselves to perish." There are 2 words in the NT for 'wanting
or willing' and this is the least common. The other word emphasizes the
emotional aspect of wishing for something and this word emphasizes the
rational aspect. By a strong exercise of His will, God does not want any to
perish. God's plan is that you be saved.
By choosing this word and the
middle voice for 'perish', Peter has preserved the free will of man with the
sovereign will of God. God is always willing to save, but man is not always
receptive to salvation. The middle voice suggests the subject is acting upon
himself, so as the world destroyed itself in the flood so man can destroy
himself in his sinful ways.
The mockers said there was a
delay on God's part because He was not able or He had lost interest in man,
but “it is not His considered will that some should destroy themselves, but
proceed unto repentance."
God wants all mankind to
proceed unto the point of repentance. He is not happy when one destroys
himself. He wants all to turn from sin. Man has the opportunity to proceed
toward God or proceed toward his own desires. One way leads to life and the
other death. And whether you ignore the Truth or not, one thing is certain...
3:10 The day of the Lord
will arrive. It is not just continually coming, but it will arrive. God said
things will be changed and things will be changed. Not by our time. Creation
changed the world; the flood changed the world. God said the world will be
changed again. His day will arrive. The verb is the first word in this
sentence. It is placed first for emphasis. Normally the subject comes first,
but Peter emphasizes that "Will come the day of the Lord as a thief."
For the Jew the day of the
Lord was that time between the present age and the age to come when God
directly intervenes in Creation. The Jews said the present age is totally bad
and sinful while the age to come will be the golden age of God. The change of
the ages cannot come about by the action of man. God will change things.
Peter is describing here the end of that day.
That day arrives like the
arrival of a thief. If we cannot understand the timing of a thief, how can we
expect to comprehend the timing of God?
We can learn several facts
about the Second Coming by Peter's choice of words. When the day arrives, the
heavens will come to a change with a rushing sound. This is the only place in
the NT this word is used. In other Greek literature it is used to describe
the sound of an arrow, wings, water, sharpening metal, violent flames,
thunder, lash, and the hiss of a snake. It is a scary or sudden sound that
rushes by.
One of the most devastating
things to the devout Jew was to have a scroll ripped and then clatter up into
a roll. Like some of our old window shades when you turn them loose and they
go up and clatter around a couple times. This word was used of that ripping
noise.
Isaiah 34:4 says when the day
of the Lord comes, the heavens will be changed like the rolling up of a
scroll. Can you picture God just rolling up these heavens and unrolling a new
backdrop? I picture it like the shaking of a rug. God is going to shake the
heavens and get rid of all the trash man has put in it and change it into
something new.
The word for 'change' is
again in the middle voice. God won't have to act directly. He has created in
the heavens a self-cleaning mechanism by which it can clean itself up. It
will be like lightening striking a tree. By the time you hear the rushing
sound, the event will already have occurred. The heavens will flow through
this time into the next.
The word 'basic materials' is
the word for 'elements'. The Greeks thought the basic building blocks of this
world were earth, air, fire and water. So everything that the world is made
of will get a fever.
The word 'fever' is a medical
word that again suggests that the basic elements are getting sick with sin and
when the day of the Lord arrives, their temperature will consume them.
The works of this world are
the things that man has made and done. They will be burned or tested by fire
to be seen for what they really are. The works of man will be changed and
seen from God's point of view.
When the heavens are burned
away, the earth and its works, from the divine point of view, becomes
visible. The wicked cannot hide. While the destruction of the heavens will
be terrible, even more terrible is that the wicked will stand naked and
unprotected on the earth. The manifestation of the earth is a consequence of
the destruction of the heavens. Everything else will be destroyed, but the
world and mankind will remain to face judgment.
In 3:3 Peter said, THIS
know for sure that mockers will come. In 3:5 he said these mockers forget
THIS that changes have occurred in history. Here Peter is saying THIS you are
forgetting that God is not like you. God is God of all Creation. It would be
smart to honor Him and obey Him.
Sunday
Morning Family Worship -- 9:00 a.m.
Vic Dunton,
Chaplain
Phone: (503) 829-8591
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