LIVING WITH ASSURANCE

NOVEMBER, 25, 2012

1.     RESIST AND REST (2 PETER 3:1-7)

1 This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder,

·         The recipients of this epistle were dear friends of Peter, not apostates.

·         This is not something NEW he is going to talk to them about; he just wants to stir up their memories.

2 that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.

·         The qualification "holy" indicates that their prophecies had a Divine origin.

 3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts,

·         These scoffers do not have an intellectual problem; their problem is in the heart.

·         They will demonstrate that they themselves are apostates in word and deed.

·         Scoffers, having rejected God's revelations of Himself and of His plan of salvation will take pleasure in following their natural lusts.

4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation."

·         In their arrogance, the scoffers deny that the Judgment Day will come.

·         The second coming of Christ will be denied, not only by atheists - but by many who profess to be Christian and stand in the pulpit, teach classes, and sit in the pews: but who are not true born-again believers.

·         The scoffers intimate that the Person and work of Christ have no bearing on the natural order of events.

·         That Jesus will return is both the expectation and hope of all of God's elect.

Genesis 4:13-16

13 And Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is too great to bear! 14 "Behold, Thou hast driven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Thy face I shall be hidden, and I shall be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and it will come about that whoever finds me will kill me." 15 So the LORD said to him, "Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold." And the LORD appointed a sign for Cain, lest anyone finding him should slay him.

16 Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden

NASB

·         This is the picture from the Bible that God has given us of those who reject God and walk away from Him.

·         They are angry at God because they consider Him too harsh and in their pride they accuse Him and walk away instead of humbling themselves and asking for His mercy.

·         They nurse resentment toward those of God as Cain resented Able and seek to strike out against them.

5 For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, 6 through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. 7 But the present heavens and earth by His word are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

NASB

·         The suggestion is that there are resident forces present in the world which could destroy it; that the earth carries its own judgment.

·         This day of judgment will cleanse the earth of the wicked people who inhabit this planet.

2.     BE AWARE AND BEHAVE (2 PETER 3:8-13)

8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

·         To some people, if you don't do something immediately, they think that you are never going to do it - that you are procrastinating and being perhaps hypocritical.

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,

·         This verse is challenging us to examine carefully what the purpose of life is.

 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!

·         "melt" employs one of the simplest Greek words, the verb "luo," which means "to untie or to unloose."

 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

NASB

·         Christians need not fear the fact that fire will destroy God's old creation.

·         We have the promise that God will bring about a "new" creation, and the difference will be that there will be no sin in the new.

3.     WORK AND WATCH OUT (2 PETER 3:14-18)

14 Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless,

·         Since the new heavens and the new earth will become the home of righteousness, we, as Christians, should make every effort to practice righteousness now.

·         That is, since we know that the earth and all its works will be burned up, we realize how important a life of godliness is here and now.

·         This stresses the responsibility of the individual Christian to make every effort to develop Christian conduct.

 15 and regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you,

·         His patience in delaying His return in judgment is providing an opportunity for people to be saved - a period of extended grace.

·         Yet the period of grace will eventually come to an end, and, at that time, the door that leads to salvation will be shut.

·         Since Paul wrote letters to the churches in Asia Minor, one of these epistles (Galatians, Ephesians, or Colossians) must be the letter Peter has in mind.

·         We cannot be sure which the one that Peter is referring to is.

·         Peter says that what Paul wrote was Scripture, truth in depth.

 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.

17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard lest, being carried away by the error of unprincipled men, you fall from your own steadfastness, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

NASB

·         There is something that we are to KNOW.

·         If you have a comprehensive understand of Scripture and apply it to your own life, you will be a steadfast Christian.

·         Shun false teachers and trust the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the truth of God's Word and of its application to your life.

·         Let no one say that only recent converts fall into the clutches of lawless men.

·         It is to know Jesus Christ as He is revealed to mankind in the Word of God.

·         This is the secret of life and of Christian living.

John 17:3

3 "And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.”

NASB

·         The marks of false teachers:

1.      They reject Jesus Christ and His gospel (2:1).

2.      They repudiate Christian conduct (2:2).

3.      They despise authority (2:10a).

4.      Arrogantly they slander celestial beings (2:10b).

5.      Their lives were characterized by immorality (2:13-14).

6.      Although they teach freedom, they are slaves of depravity (2:19).

7.      The ridicule the doctrine of Christ's return (3:4).

8.      The refuse to acknowledge the coming judgment (3:5-7).

9.      They distort the teachings in Paul's epistles and lived in sin (3:16).