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You're listening to audio from Faith Church Indy. This spring we're studying the book of 2 Peter, learning about how we can find our anchor in God during unsteady times. Now here's the teaching.

Today's scripture reading comes from the second letter of the apostle Peter, chapter 3, verses 1 through 7. Would you stand with me for the reading of God's word? 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 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 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.

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, and that by means of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 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. This is the word of the Lord.

Well, good morning and happy Mother's Day. I am Tom Macy, former lead pastor, then semi-retired, then fully retired pastor emeritus, then rehired interim semi-retired pastor emeritus. That's the longest title I've ever had.

And I'm occasionally asked to preach. And today that's my privilege. But before I start, Samson and Judy, it is so good to see you.

It is so good to see you. It's been eight years. And when we were together in Tanzania with Mark and Alyssa, Alyssa, so good to see you as well.

And we're looking forward to these few weeks that we'll have you with us. And I hope that all of you will get to know them personally in some at least limited way as we welcome them to Indianapolis. Well, in God's providence, I taught not last Sunday, but the three previous Sundays in a grow class on the theology of eschatology.

What we believe about the return of Jesus Christ and what the Bible says about the end of all things. That's what eschatology is, the last things. And then headed into those sessions, I was assigned to preach today at our 2 Peter series a passage about, guess what? The return of Jesus Christ and the end of all things.

But with the question of the skeptic in the middle of our text, where is the promise of his coming? So I'm going to repeat, I've kind of limited my resources, so I'll just quote myself today. I shared with the class, eschatology is the knowledge and celebration of the completion of God's saving work accomplished in Christ. The essential mission of Christ in his first coming is finished.

It's done. He died for us on the cross to pay the penalty of our sin. He's raised from the dead.

But there's more to come. God's saving work is both already and not yet. It tells us that history is going somewhere.

It's not circular as many religions are. It is linear. There is an end, a telos, a direction, a purpose to what is going on in the world that leads to the end of the Bible story.

But guess what? The end of the Bible story is a new beginning in which there is no end. Isn't that good news? Jesus Christ, God incarnate, crucified and buried, resurrected and ascended, is returning to complete his saving work. And my friends, there's no better Mother's Day message than that, to know Jesus and what he's done and what he's doing and what he will do.

Well, when you think about end times prophecy, 2 Peter might not come to mind at first. You think of Old Testament prophecies of Ezekiel, Isaiah, Daniel, Malachi, and some others. What Jesus said in numerous places about his return, the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24, Mark 13.

Things that Paul says about the future resurrection in 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 Corinthians 15. But even if you don't think of Peter first, Peter does not sit this one out. He makes a major contribution in this passage.

Now last Sunday, Pastor Nathan took us through chapter 2 of this letter with warnings and descriptions about false teachers. He referenced the destructive heresies, even denying the master who brought them, rejecting Jesus Christ. And in this next chapter, Peter narrows his focus on one particular heresy, that of denying the return of Jesus.

Jesus said it over and over again, I'm going away, but I'm coming back. When Jesus ascended into heaven and he disappeared through the clouds and the disciples were still staring up into the clouds as that hole where he went through is suddenly covered over. It's just clouds up there and nothing else to be seen.

And two angels, two men in white, that's how we know they're angels. They said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This Jesus who has taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. He's coming back.

Paul wrote to Titus, Phil paraphrased that earlier today, for the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled upright and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ. In John's introduction to Revelation, he says, behold, he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so, amen, Revelation 1-7.

He's coming in both salvation and in judgment. And one of the great errors of the day, a serious heresy, is to deny the return of Christ. So let's dig into the text and see how Peter addresses this problem.

First, he calls us to remember the promises and judgments of God. Verses 1 and 2, this is now the second letter I'm writing to you, beloved. In both of them, I'm stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions, the prophecies of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and savior through your apostles.

Peter loves the word reminder or remind or remember. He repeats what he said in 2 Peter 1-13. I think it's right, as long as I'm in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder.

As the days progress, whatever happens in this world on that journey as we wait, whatever fears you have about it, the answer, my friends, is not to spend more time watching the news or doom scrolling. You can do that with your television or your iPhone or whatever you have, getting your dopamine hits going from one short video to another on your handheld slave masters to try to avoid reality, feeding your addiction to social media to avoid facing that reality or to add to your collection of conspiracy theories, or even spending too much time with some really good podcasts. I love a number of podcasts, and I don't get to watch them all because I've got more than I can possibly fit in, but I try to limit them to when I'm in my car by myself or when I'm on my bicycle by myself.

Even the good things that may add to your understanding, don't let them control you. Because you have more important things to think about, to be reminded of things you've already heard about, remember the promises and judgments of God, and how are you going to do that? By going back to the Scripture, not what somebody says about the Scripture, but going back to the Scripture, and not a daily devotional, usually a waste of time. Another little dopamine hit to make you feel better, maybe a little one before you go to sleep at night would be okay, I don't know, but read the Bible, the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, we so easily forget, so read it again and again and again, and be reminded and grow in understanding of what you missed the last time you read it.

I've read through it entirely, I don't know, 40 or 45 times, usually each year, but sometimes I take it in a two-year pattern, and I don't do that because I'm paid to do that as a pastor, it's not part of my job as a pastor, it helps with that certainly, just as it will help you with your job, but it's not part of sermon prep, it's to help me to understand better what God says, and how to respond to Him in love and obedience. And yet after all that, I still feel like a beginner, I know my way around it better because the more I read, the more I see the connections and the amazing consistency that this is not your average book, it's God's Word. You have to be reminded of those points along the way, the basics of God's promises given to Abraham in Genesis 12, through you I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I will curse, and all peoples of the earth will be blessed through you.

That's being fulfilled in Jesus Christ right now as the gospel is being proclaimed. Or the prophet Nathan to David in 2 Samuel 7, 16, your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me, your throne will be established forever. That is being and will be completely fulfilled by Jesus Christ.

The Psalms and the writing prophets, massive prophecies already fulfilled in the first advent, the incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, the coming of the Holy Spirit, the proclamation of the gospel. But then there's much that we read that is not yet fulfilled with a major event being the return of Jesus that Peter touches on here. Read the New Testament, the gospels, the Acts, the book of Acts, the letters of Peter, Paul, John, don't forget Jude in there.

Remember these prophecy promises that Jesus is coming again to make all things right. But also, in both Old and New Testaments, see and remember the warnings of judgment for those who reject God's call to salvation and restoration. So, let's take Peter's counsel here and remember the promises and judgments of God.

Secondly, it's my second and last point, it'll be a little longer than the first one. Don't be intimidated by the scoffers who deny the promises and judgments of God. Verses three and four, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires, they will say, where is the promise of his coming? Now what's the problem here? What are they talking about? Jesus said he would return, but it's been a long time.

He's not doing it. I mean, General Douglas MacArthur did better than that. President Roosevelt told him he better leave the Philippines, so he went to Australia for a little while, but he said as he left the Philippines, I'm coming back, and he did in two years, but Jesus hasn't come back like he promised.

It's been more than two years. As Peter wrote this, it had already been 30 years or more, a full generation, that's a long time. And so some of his even serious followers, some believers were beginning to struggle and doubt and say, what's with this? He said he's coming back, he hasn't come.

Well Paul dealt with this question in 1 Thessalonians 4, as the church there was concerned about it because people were dying and they somehow got the idea that if you die before Jesus comes back, you're not included, and he assured them, oh yes you are. When he comes, there'll be two categories. Those who are on earth are those who've already died, and the dead are going to be raised.

The living are going to be transformed. So that's not a problem. But now it's been nearly 2,000 years, and we're still asking the same questions, when is he coming? Why the delay? And we've had plenty of people out there continuing to this day who will say, well these are the signs, I see it in the news, these are the signs that it's just about to happen probably within the next five years or the next 10 years or maybe tomorrow or whatever.

And then that passes, people are discouraged again. Why the delay? Well, the answer of this lengthy delay in the fulfillment of this promise is given in verses 8 and 9. But guess what, I've only been assigned verses 1 through 7, so no answer today. Well you know where verses 8 and 9 are, you can go ahead and take a look at it, but Nick will address that in a couple of weeks.

But ultimately for these false teachers, I've concluded that raising the question of time was really a smokescreen. What was the real issue? There's a supposed intellectual issue that we'll come to, but perhaps more relevant was a moral issue, which Peter raises first. And the moral issue behind their scoffing is exposed in verse 3, first of all that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.

You know what drives our conclusions much of the time is not thoughtful reflection on Scripture but desire. What do I want to be true? What do I want to be the outcome? So I draw my conclusion based on what I want the answer to be instead of carefully considering the facts and then I try to fit that data to support the conclusion that I want. And I said, I, but you're not immune to that.

We're all vulnerable to that. We do it with theology, we do it with politics, we do it in relationships, we do it with all kinds of life choices and thus the need to continually, repeatedly submit and subjugate our desires to God's truth as revealed in Scripture and beware of the constant danger of slipping back into letting our desires control the narrative. Be on guard against that.

Jesus explained this in Mark chapter 7, for from within, out of the heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. These false teachers are mocking the idea of Christ's return not because of the evidence but because they don't want Him to return. They don't want anything to do with that.

They don't want to be held accountable for their sinful desires and behaviors. They don't want to face the judge of the universe. And so they deny that judgment and they define God in terms that are more suitable to themselves.

We often say making God in our image instead of accepting ourselves as His image bearers. The answer is not to silence the heart and desires. Your desires will always speak loudly and probably carry the day.

You can't turn them off. But you can ask God to realign them and transform them and change them. John Ashley Null appointed last year as Bishop of the Anglican province of Alexandria, Egypt.

By the way, he grew up in Salina, Kansas. I thought you needed to know that. But no, he's a specialist in the 16th century English reformer, Thomas Cranmer, 16th century.

So that overlaps with the German Martin Luther and the French John Calvin. Three guys, same period of time, all very influential in church history. Now some have compared these three guys in this way.

Luther focused on polemics or arguments. Luther was bombastic. He appealed to the will and very aggressively.

Calvin focused on systematics, on the core of theology, dogmatics it's called. He appealed to the mind. But Cranmer focused on poetics or prayers.

He appealed to the heart. Now, all of these aspects are very important, will, mind, heart, but Bishop Null summarizes his view of man and how we come to our conclusions with this statement, what the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies. You hear that? What the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies.

And that's why the Proverbs say, above all, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. So it's always a heart issue, the motivation that puts us at risk for making decisions and drawing conclusions before we carefully consider the evidence that that's why we need to be born again. That's why we need to be transformed from the inside out.

Before we carefully consider the evidence, we have to realize how much our heart is involved. But the cover for their real motivation from their desires is the supposed intellectual objection. And you can have an honest intellectual objection to certain things, I'm not saying you can't, but it can also be just a cover for it.

Verse 4, for since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. Now you can read into that what we've already mentioned that, well, it's just been a long time. You said he's coming, he's not coming.

There's a lot more to this statement than that. What are they saying? What was their point? They aren't making just this argument about too much time has passed. But remember, when Peter wrote this, it's only been 30 years.

They really weren't arguing primarily that it had been too long. No, instead, look at the verse, they're arguing for a uniformity in the natural world that denies the possibility of God's intervention, or as one commentary says, and I quote, a closed universe governed by natural laws where miracles do not and cannot happen. Now behind this is probably another serious theological error that denies the literal resurrection of Jesus.

A lot of modern theologians have tried to spiritualize it and say, well, no, Jesus didn't really rise from the dead physically, it's just that he's kind of alive in our hearts. The idea of Jesus has been raised up for us. No, no, no, that's not what it says.

And that's the argument of much of modern science. There are natural laws that can't be and won't be thwarted, therefore the resurrection is impossible and therefore the return of Christ is impossible. Now it's not wrong to see natural law, though that's a strange term for it in my view, these laws that keep our tiny ball on which we live in this massive universe spinning and in relation to the sun and the moon and everything else so that we can live here.

It's fine to recognize and wise to recognize the cause and effect processes that are necessary for life. But my friends, this natural law, as we call it, who put it in place? God did. Who designed the planet in this location with this atmosphere and environment perfectly suited for life amid the chaotic and lifeless void of space? God did.

And we're telling the architect and creator of the universe and the world in which we live that he can't, who did all this, can't intervene and do something different? Peter addresses this directly as relevant today as when he wrote it giving two examples of God's intervention into the natural order for a specific purpose. Both examples from Genesis, verse five, look at it. For they deliberately overlooked this fact that the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God.

What? What does that mean? Well, we see, first of all, the motive for their conclusion, they deliberately overlook what the heart loves, the will chooses, the mind justifies. But what did they overlook? What did they fail to consider? It's really basic. How did this whole thing get started? And here's a part of creation that I would say is generally overlooked and ignored by all of us.

Example number one is the creation account in Genesis one. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep.

We just kind of skip right on because we want to get to where other things develop and plants and animals and people. No, we better take a look at this. Without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep.

It is watery, water everywhere and it's dark. Water and darkness represent chaos. By the way, in the book of Revelation, when it says the sea is no more, it doesn't mean there won't be any oceans or lakes in the new heaven and new earth.

It means the chaos will be gone, praise God. But here it is, this early stage, it's unstructured, it's certainly not fit for life. But then we read, and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters, the chaos.

And in verses three to five, God begins to bring order to the chaos with the creation of light. And then verses six to 10, and God said, let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters. Let it separate the waters from the waters.

Let's just kind of skip over that. Look at what it's saying here. Separate the waters from the waters and God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse and it was so and God called the expanse heaven.

Verses nine and 10, this is Genesis one. And God said, let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear and it was so. God called the dry land earth and the waters that were gathered together, he called seas and God saw that it was good.

God intervened into the chaos, the natural law that was in place at that time. He intervened in the chaos to establish the laws of a life giving earth, a place for his image bearers, man and woman to live and thrive. And if we believe that's merely natural law and not God's intervening grace that sustains it, we're going to be in serious error.

Example number two, the judgment of the flood. Move ahead about five, six chapters. Verse six, Peter says, and that by means of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.

I'm guessing that of all the favorite kids Bible stories from the Old Testament, my son would have said David and Goliath, that's number one for sure. A lot of boys would say that, Daniel and the lion's den. But I would think at least in the top five would be Noah's Ark.

And we focus, and rightly so, in the children's books on the safety of the Ark, the salvation that the Ark provided for Noah and his family, the gathering of the animals into the Ark. That's beautiful, but that's not the whole story. What's going on here? What happened to the world? God for a moment withdrew his hand, it seems.

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