Sermon for Easter Seven – Sunday May 29, 2022
Calvary/Marquette ● Soli Deo Gloria

Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

2 Peter 3:1–9 (ESV)
This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles,

3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”

5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

8 But do not overlook this one fact, 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 to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

In the Name of Jesus, the Christ,
Who died for our sins and rose again,
To deliver us from the judgment to come,
Dear Fellow Redeemed in His Precious Blood –

It’s one of those things that has happened so many times that it’s become a cliché. The family piles in the family car and heads out on the highway for vacation or some other special occasion. Everyone is excitedly looking forward to reaching the destination. It happens for the first time...20 minutes into the day long drive. A little voice asks expectantly from the back seat:
“Are we there yet?”

Then with a happy smile and a wink, a parental unit looks back through the rear-view mirror and says:

“Not Yet!”

The radio is turned on or up and the bumpety-bump of the car down the road continues. After 10 more minutes of driving, another little voice pipes up expectantly from the back seat:

“How much longer till we get there?”

Then with a little less joy, the parental unit looks back through the rear-view mirror and declares:

“Not Yet! It’s going to be a while. Be patient!”

After passing around snacks to occupy little hands and minds, the car’s engine drones on for another 10 minutes. Then with a bit more impatient urgency, a voice dejectedly asks from the back seat:

“Are we EVER going to get there?”

Patience is a virtue...but it’s like rare jewels...hard to find and next to no one has it. So here we are just about 2,000 years after Jesus’ Ascension into heaven and both little and big voices have asked countless times:

“Where are you, LORD? We are still waiting!”

We are barely 20 minutes into the drive – we celebrated Jesus’ Ascension to heaven three days ago – and yet we are already wondering how much longer? What’s worse is that the world around us points at us and laughs because we actually expect Jesus to return as He promised. Stupid Gullible Christians!

This morning we tune out the voices of the scoffers and listen carefully to the Word of our God. He disarms the claims of the mockers and grants us needed insight into the gracious reason why He has not yet returned. If we are to silence the noise of the mockers and disarm our own doubts and fears it is necessary that we listen carefully to these words.

We therefore seek the blessing of God the Holy Spirit that we may grow in faith and in our understanding. We pray, “Sanctify us by your truth, O Lord, Your Word is Truth.” Amen.

+++++++

It’s been Satan’s Goal to confuse and mislead God’s People for a long time. It began in Eden, when the old evil foe misled the first human beings by suggesting that God was withholding something good from them. He led them to doubt God’s Love, when he asked (Genesis 3:1):

“Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

Ever since his first success, he has misled human beings to minimize sin, to despair of God’s Promises, to grow careless and worldly, to love trash and ignore treasure, to neglect the most important relationships, to be embarrassed and quiet when given opportunity to speak of Christ.

Let’s face it too, Satan has had success with us. He’s gotten under our skin and into our hearts and minds. He’s gotten us to minimize sin, to become worldly, to love trash and ignore treasure. The Savior wants to restore us to right-thinking, to Godly thinking.

Instead of urging us to ‘change our ways’ the Spirit of God always directs us to the Scriptures...like the Apostle Peter once did...

This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles,

If we are ever going to be ready for Christ’s Glorious Return it won’t be by living happy-go-lucky lives blissfully unaware of the danger we face in this world. We need to listen to and take seriously the warnings that our God gives us in advance and learn to recognize those who fulfill these prophecies.

If this was urgent in the first century...how much more urgent is it today? Let us learn to recognize the scoffers when they appear and their empty and purposefully deceptive words.

3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”

We begin each day with a plan; but we really don’t know exactly how things will turn out. We organize our days and plan to do this or that...but sometimes more important things...come up. Sometimes we have a sudden, unexpected emergency. Things don’t always work out.

While we don’t know exactly when it will happen, we are warned here that during the last days...people will come mocking Jesus’ promise to return. The Last Days aren’t merely the 48 hours leading up to Jesus’ glorious return...but the entire period from Jesus’ ascension to His 2nd Coming. Peter isn’t talking about a long time from now, he’s talking about the time we are living in NOW.

We are warned that certain ‘scoffers’ or ‘mockers’ will appear. We aren’t just told about them, but told how we may recognize them: ‘they will live according to their own sinful desires.’ They will live in a way that openly makes fun of God’s Commandments.

Well, that doesn’t really narrow down the pool much, does it? Well, it does because we are given their words, their arguments beforehand so that we recognize them.

They will say:

“Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”

They will make fun of Jesus’ promise to return to judge the living and the dead. Where is Jesus? They will assert that nothing has changed since the fathers fell asleep and everything keeps on keeping on as it has since the beginning of creation.

The obvious implication is this – since Christ hasn’t returned YET, he never will and His Promise is unreliable! “You stupid gullible Christians!”

We understand their argument...and it sounds bad. It’s been a long time since Jesus ascended...and He hasn’t returned yet. We’ve probably wondered ourselves, “Is He really going to return?” “Don’t things just keep on keeping on?” Well, just because someone suggests that something is true...doesn’t mean that it is true. Consider the source!

Where are you, Lord?
We are still waiting!

People who make fun sometimes do so because of guilt and insecurity. Sometimes it’s an effort to mislead and deceive. This is surely the approach in this case.

Are the ‘scoffers’ right? Well, no. Actually, they deliberately overlook the established truths that disprove their own argument. They assert (tongue in cheek) that God created the world but then deny the past:

5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.

“Worldwide Flood? What flood? Move along, nothing to see here.”
It’s easy to deny the future when you reject the past.

The Spirit of God crushes the argument of every ‘scoffer’ by pointing out what they deliberately overlook – things have not continued unchanged since the beginning of Creation.

 After God created the heavens and the earth long ago – separating it from the waters (Genesis 1:2, 6-7) by His Word – the same Lord laid waste to that world by means of water. The waters above the face of the earth fell and the waters of the deep burst forth to cover the earth.

God did not create this world like a wind-up clock and then take a nap. God has intervened in history before...in particular when He judged the world by a worldwide flood. Things have not continued on as they were since the beginning of creation. Neither will sin go on unpunished forever. God will intervene once more and then time will cease to exist.

Time will not ‘keep on keeping on’ with no end in sight...a date has been set (even if the exact date hasn’t been revealed to us; cf. Matthew 24:36):

7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

The same God who once spoke and this world was created later spoke and it was laid waste by water. The same God will once again give command and the Day of Judgment will come again. This world, the heavens and the earth that now exist will be destroyed not by water...but by fire.

Be assured...the Day of Judgment will come. God will intervene in human history a 2nd and final time.

But...where are you, Lord?
We are still waiting!

There is something that we dare not overlook....and so it is pointed out to us...to those loved by God:

8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved,
that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Please read that again carefully...I’ll give you a few seconds. The passage of time may be significant to mortal beings like us...but not to the Eternal God. Notice that it doesn’t say, “with the Lord one day is a thousand years.” It says that ‘with the Lord, one day is as (or like) a thousand years and vice versa.

The Apostle Peter (as directed by the Spirit of God) points to God’s Word for proof. In the 90th Psalm it says of the Lord God (Psalm 90:4, ESV):

For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.

Time is not the same to God...as it is to man. What we count as terribly long... He counts as nothing. It’s been 2,000 years to us...but with God it is as if it were a couple of days.

Why hasn’t the Day of Judgment arrived...YET? The answer is not as our skeptical and unbelieving world suggests:

9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

We have lived through 2,000 years of the ‘nothing will happen’ attitude. It’s important that we understand why the days seem to drag on for us. It’s not because God is forgetful, uncaring or senile. It’s not because God is powerless or has fallen asleep on the job. God’s promises don’t have an expiration date.

Why hasn’t the LORD returned yet? It’s because He is patient. He wants to give people like us a chance to repent of our sins and trust in Him. It’s God’s mercy and love that have kept the Day from coming thus far...but that patience won’t last forever.

The people of Noah’s day lived as if life would go on forever...until the flood came and their lungs were filled with water.

Now don’t put off talking with that person about Jesus. We don’t know when the LORD will return...but when He does it will be too late. God doesn’t want anyone to perish, but would have everyone sorrow over sins and trust in Jesus Christ.

Jesus sinners doeth receive;
Oh, may all this saying ponder who in sins delusions live
And from God and heaven wander!
There is hope for all who grieve – Jesus sinners doth receive!
(TLH 324:1)
Amen.