June 8, 2008
Sun Oak Baptist Church
Introduction
There was the little girl who, after the pastor had preached a message on the Second Coming of Christ was quizzing her mother.
“Mommy, do you believe Jesus will come back?” “Yes dear.”
“Could He come this week?” “Yes.”
“Today?” “Yes.”
“Could He come in the next hour?” “Yes.”
“Even in a few minutes?” “Yes.”
“Mommy – would you please comb my hair?”
The prophetic calendar shows us we are living in the last days and Jesus Christ could return at any moment. The Second Coming was an anchor of hope for the early church; something constantly on their minds; something taught regularly; and many of them felt it would happen in their lifetime. And in the church, scoffers were mocking and calling into question this great hope.
2 questions:
1. Question #1: is it possible the scoffers that were successful and that some 2,000 years later people in the church today either question Christ’s return, give it very little thought, or have dismissed entirely?
2. Question #2: is it then possible that the return of Christ has somehow lost its importance, relevance, or preciousness to us?
I. Why was the doctrine of the Second Coming so important to Peter?
Website visitors: please see previous Sermon Notes for June 1 for background to this message through point “B” under Roman Numeral II.
II. How did the scoffers mock the Second Coming? See 3:3-4.
3 specific ways:
A. Through ridiculing it. See 3:4.
B. Through their immorality. See 3:3.
1. The phrase “walking according to their own lusts” was used in Peter’s day to refer to someone engaged in an on-going course of conduct, or long-term behavior. See Luke 1:5; 2nd Peter 2:10, 13-14, & 18.
2. A life characterized by sin, with no thought of accountability, mocks Christ’s return because there is no thought of divine retribution. The Gospel contains good news and bad news. See Rom. 6:23 and Heb. 9:27.
3. In contrast: true believers that love the Lord embrace the fact that the Lord will return – it’s an incentive for holy living. As Rom. 14:12 tells us: “Each one of us will give an account of himself to God.”
C. Through the argument of uniformitarianism. See 3:4.
This term not original to me; commentators use it; and it’s actually a scientific theory that is a pillar of the theory of evolution. So how does this play out?
1. The term “fathers” here is a collective term used by Jewish people to refer to OT patriarchs like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and others. The term “fell asleep” is a NT euphemism for death.
2. The Bible doesn’t suggest that there isn’t general uniformity in the universe – obviously there is: when we drop things they always fall; the tides go in and out; the sun rises and sets; people are born and they die. There is uniformity in the sense that if natural laws and universal processes that are part of God’s creation did not function in a consistent manner, chaos would ensue.
III. How does Peter refute and demolish the heresy being propagated by the scoffers? See 3:1-2 & 5-9.
A. Through the argument of Scripture – God’s Word. Notice how many times Peter refers to the Word of God in this passage: see 3:2, 5, 6, 7, and 9.
B. Through the argument of history. See 3:5-7.
The phrase “willfully forget” tells us that the scoffers’ mocking wasn’t based on ignorance of the doctrine, but rather a purposeful ignorance, shutting of the eyes, or finger in the ear response to the truth of God’s Word. They went so far as to willfully ignore two (2) monumental historical events: creation and the flood.
C. Through the argument of eternity. See 3:8.
1. Here is a loving reminder from a man about to die for his faith and the reminder goes all the way back to Psalm 90:4 where Moses says: “For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it passes by, or as a watch in the night.”
2. The numbers and hands on our clocks don’t exist when viewed from God’s timeless perspective.
D. Through God’s character. See 3:9.
1. The word “slack” here means “slow, delayed or late” and suggests “loitering” – even though none of these qualities apply to God.
2. God is “longsuffering” or patient and this word points us to God’s vast capacity for storing up anger and wrath before it spills over into judgment. See Ex. 34:6-8.
3. While God’s judgment is inescapable and deadly, His merciful patience gives every man, including mockers, the likes of false teachers, and unbelivers today the opportunity for reconciliation and salvation: See 2nd Peter 3:15; Luke 15:10; John 3:16-17; etc.
Conclusion
Beloved why hasn’t Christ returned? Why do we find such rampant heresy in the church that we think God should deal with but He doesn’t? Because of God’s character: He is longsuffering – He is patient with sinners. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness.
Peter has a fifth argument – one last appeal that absolutely decimates the mocking which is the absolute assurance that divine judgment is coming. See 3:10-11. This last point, the “Day of the Lord,” is a sermon unto itself and we’ll look at these verses by themselves next Lord’s Day.
Take the doctrine of the Second Coming of Christ out of the Bible and you rip out the very fabric of Christian hope. The devil will do all he can to undermine, question, reduce, water down, and destroy this hope; he did the same thing with the first coming; and he did the same thing with the first doctrine of God: don’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Did God really say? Where is the promise of His coming? Is our hair combed? Are we truly ready?