2 Peter 3:9

I receive mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost sinner, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

So Jesus saved Paul to encourage us, to assure us that he is the Lord of perfect patience, who welcomes all who believe, no matter how great our sin is. Then last week, we looked at 1 Peter 3, verse 20. where we read that

God's patience waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared.

And we considered how in God's patience, he delays his judgment. both at the flood and at Sodom, and even today, so that each and every one of his people might be saved and spared. And we'll be continuing with a similar theme today as we come to the sixth and final passage where God's patience is mentioned in the New Testament, which is 2 Peter 3. And here, God's patience is actually mentioned twice, both in verse 9 and then again down in verse 15. We're going to be concentrating on verse 9, but we will briefly address verse 15 as well. So let's begin by reading 2 Peter 3, verses 8 through 10. Peter writes,

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. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient towards you. not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

" Now in this passage, Peter is talking about the return of Christ and the final judgment. And he's addressing the fact that it's taking longer for Jesus to return than many of the early Christians expected. If you're familiar with Old Testament prophecy, you know that the coming of the Messiah and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit indicated the arrival of the last days. So there was a very immediate imminent expectation for Jesus' return. And because of this delay, it seems that some Christians had begun doubting, and some false teachers had even begun mocking over this. Look at what Peter says there in verse 3. He says,

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.

So these are people who say, you know, every day the sun rises, every day the sun sets. Every year the rains fall, the seasons pass, the flowers bloom, and the crops grow. We see no sign of change, no sign that Jesus is going to come back, no sign that the world is about to end. In other words, they're saying history has been marked by uniformity. So that's what we should expect for time to come. And then Peter goes on to refute this kind of thinking with two main arguments. First, he says that the idea that history has been marked by uniformity is just patently false. He says, if you keep reading, these scoffers deliberately overlook the fact that this world had a beginning when the heavens and earth were formed and separated from the waters by the word of God. And then he says, by that same word, the earth that then existed was destroyed. It was de-created. The Genesis 1 separation between the earth and the seas was removed and the whole world was deluged by a flood. And now again, by that very same word of God, this present world has been stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and the destruction of the ungodly. So Peter's saying, look, it's not those who believe in the return of Christ and the end of the world who are being irrational by denying the uniformity of history. It's those who reject it. They are the ones who willfully overlook an historical fact and who fail to understand the true power and certainty of the word of God. And so he's saying to these believers, don't let the apparent uniformity and normalcy of the world deceive you. And Christ is returning like a thief in the night. It's not like God needs time to sort of work up to the end of the world. It will come suddenly and dramatically. And by God's word, it will be done. But of course, that still leaves the question of why the delay? What is God waiting for? Why hasn't Christ come back yet? And that brings us to Peter's second line of argument, the second way that he's refuting these scoffers. And you see, the scoffers would explain the reason why Jesus hasn't come back yet as because he's not coming, because God's not faithful, because Jesus isn't God. But Peter gives us a different explanation. He says it's because God is patient. Look again at verses eight and nine.

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.

Here, Peter's basically saying what may feel like a long delay to us is just the perfect timing of God because God's not like us. He doesn't experience time like we do. I said back in the very first week in Romans chapter 2 verse 4 that God's patience isn't like ours because we're often forced to be patient just because we can't do anything about it. We can't change our situation. But God's not like that because he's never in a situation where he just wishes he could change it but he can't. He's all powerful. He always could get what he wants right now. So God is just patient because he chooses to be. Well, here we see another reason why God's patience is purely voluntary. He's eternal. God is never forced to like count down the minutes, you know, to just wish the clock would go a little faster or wish it would slow down. With the Lord, Peter says, one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. It's not just that God experiences time faster than us, nor is it that God just experiences time slower than us. It's altogether different from us, because he is the Lord of time itself. And God created time. He rules over time, declaring the end from the beginning. He's the Lord who inhabits eternity, from which he looks down on all of history itself. And so God's never rushed. He's never pressured by impatience. Everything always happens perfectly on his schedule. So God's not too busy to bring the end of the world. He hasn't forgotten about his promises. He's not distracted. He's not slow or slack as some count slackness. No, Peter says the reason why God delays is because he's patient towards us.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promises, some count slackness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

" Now to understand what exactly Peter's saying here in verse 9, we need to define some key words. First, there's this word, wishing. What does it mean that God is not wishing or willing that any should perish? Some, for example, pointed this verse to try to refute unconditional election. They say, look, if God wants everybody to be saved, how could he possibly only choose some for salvation? So what does this mean? Well, we have to think about what willing means. Sometimes scripture speaks of God's will in the sense of what he infallibly ordains. So for example, in Ephesians chapter 1, it says that God is working all things together according to the counsel of his will. So in one sense, everything that happens is according to God's will. So when, for example, Joseph's brothers sell him as a slave, Well, that was according to God's will and he had a plan and a purpose through that. He ordained it. On the other hand, scripture often speaks of God's will in the sense of what he desires or perhaps what he commands, even in things where God may not have chosen to ordain that thing. So for example, Jesus tells us to pray,

our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And obviously, we're supposed to pray for God's will to be done, because sometimes it's not. It's always done in heaven by the angels who obey God, but it's often not done on earth by sinful humans like us. And so we want to pray for God's will to be done. And according to that sense, we could say Joseph's brothers selling him as a slave was not according to God's will, because God commands us to love our brother and not sell them as slaves. And the point of bringing this up is it's too simple to say that because this verse says that God wishes or wills for all to be saved, he couldn't simultaneously ordain to save only some. You see, this is a regular tension in scripture. God says in Ezekiel,

I take no delight in the death of the wicked. I want, I'm willing for the wicked to live.

And yet God simultaneously will punish and destroy the wicked who do not repent. Similarly, Jesus weeps over Jerusalem, saying,

I would have gathered you like a mother hen her chicks.

The Bible says that God holds out his hands all day long to an obstinate people. And yet it doesn't mean that God has ordained all of those people to repent, all of Jerusalem to be saved. God can desire something yet choose not to ordain it. And whether you explain it like an Arminian who would say, well, it's because God wants to respect or maintain our free will, or if you explain it like a Calvinist by saying it's because of God's secret purposes and for his glory. The unavoidable conclusion is that God can, in some sense, desire something, while in another sense, choose not to ordain it. And here, in light of that, I think what this particular use of the word willing or wishing is talking about is a desire of God. It's saying that God has a compassionate desire for people to be saved. He's not directly talking about God's ordination of who will be saved, but it's expressing his care, his love, his compassion. Now, that brings us to a second key word, which is all, and also the word any. Peter says,

God is not wishing or willing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

And we have to ask the question, any or all of whom? Angels? Human beings? The elect? What group does Peter have in mind here? Well, back in verse 3, notice that Peter had started talking about one group, the scoffers. Verse 4, he says, they will say. Verse 5, they deliberately overlook this fact. Verse 7, the world is reserved for the destruction of the ungodly. But then in verse 8, The group that he's addressing or talking about shifts. He says,

but do not overlook this one fact, beloved.

And he says,

the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promises. Some count slowness, but is patient towards you. Not wishing that any of us should perish, but that all of us should reach repentance.

See, in the context, I don't think Peter's actually, you know, he's not addressing the scoffers or false teachers or even just the world in general. He's specifically addressing the audience of his letter, the people he calls beloved. It's the churches, the Christians that would be hearing this, that's who he's directly talking to. Now, at first blush, you might hear that and think, okay, so Peter's clearly talking to believers, that must be the conclusion. But then there's a catch, because we have to look at two final words, repentance and perish. Now, I think there's little question that perish here refers to perishing in hell. And repentance here refers to the repentance that goes hand in hand with coming to saving faith. In other words, Peter's not talking here about God being patient with believers so they can gain greater heavenly reward or escape some sort of temporal or lesser punishment. I mean, he's talking here about heaven or hell. He's using perish the way it's usually used in the New Testament, such as John 3.16,

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life.

Now this may make it seem like, well, is he talking to unbelievers here? So how do we make sense of this? What exactly is Peter saying here? Well, I think in sort of a succinct way, using few words, Peter's really communicating two main ideas. Number one, I think Peter's urging believers to reflect on the fact that had Jesus not tarried, they wouldn't have been saved. He's urging believers to reflect on the fact that if Jesus didn't tarry, they would not have been saved. You know, remember, he's writing to Christians who are listening to scoffers, and some of whom are beginning to doubt Jesus because he hasn't come back yet. They're questioning, can I really trust God when Jesus still hasn't returned? And Peter's turning this around. saying, the reality is, if not for God's delay and his patience, none of you even would have been saved in the first place. I mean, if Jesus had just come back, you know, a few days after going to heaven, these people would not yet have even heard the gospel and come to faith. They would not have reached repentance themselves. They were lost and dead in sin. I mean, what a tragic irony that they would begin to doubt God for the very thing that should be making them praise God. It is God's patient delay that has resulted in their salvation. Peter's saying, look, Jesus is not slow as some count slowness, but is patient towards you. Not wishing that any of you should perish, but that all of you should reach repentance. That's why he has waited. It's as if Jesus is waiting for each and every one of his sheep to be on board the ark before the flood comes. Or as Revelation 6 tells us, there are those four angels holding back the winds at the four corners of the earth, which I think represents the coming storm of the wrath of God. And they're holding it back until each and every one of the servants of God is sealed on their foreheads. You see, this is the patience that God shows all of us. The patience we should all appreciate and rejoice in and be so thankful for that God has delayed so that we might be saved. So that we might come to repentance. You know, I told you we would get down to verse 15. Look down there just for a second. Peter says,

count the patience of our Lord as salvation.

What an interesting way to put it. But I think that makes a lot of sense in light of what I've just been explaining. God's patience is the reason for our salvation. It's because he wasn't willing that any of us should perish, but that we should all reach repentance. Christ has delayed. He has given time that we might hear the gospel, believe, and be saved. Count God's patience as salvation. How grateful we should be for the patience of the Lord. Now, number two. I said, I think Peter's trying to communicate a couple things here. We looked at the first, the second one. I think Peter's also urging everyone in the company of the church, everyone who is going to hear his words, to consider whether or not they have truly repented. He's urging everyone to consider whether or not they have truly repented. Because you see, Even as Peter's writing to a church, he's addressing them as beloved. Peter doesn't assume that every member of the church, everyone who's going to hear his letter, everyone who's going to be there as this is read is necessarily a true believer. Remember, he began this letter by saying,

you need to make your calling and election sure.

The letters occasioned by false teachers that have come in that are upsetting the faith, that's sort of, you know, revealing who's going to stay firm in Christ and who's drifting away. Where are people at? There's confusion, there's uncertainty. And Peter is trying to write this to help them see, rather than believing these false teachers, rather than thinking that this delay is a reason to doubt God and drift away, no, this is the patience of God that is giving you time to repent so that you can be saved. He's writing this so that if you're here today and you're not a true Christian, you haven't truly repented and believed, I mean, Peter's words mean repent now. And realize that God has given us time, that God in his kindness and his patience, like Romans 2, verse 4,

don't presume on the kindness and patience and forbearance of God, not knowing that his patience, his kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.

That's how we're supposed to respond. And he's encouraging you that God is a God who doesn't delight in the death of the wicked. He's a God who isn't just waiting for you, looking for you to perish. He's a God who in compassion, who in love invites you to come. Jesus tells us that anyone who comes to him, he will never cast out. He invites all. Peter says,

God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Be emboldened to come to him. And then further, I think for all of us, no matter how long we've been Christians, no matter how long we've professed faith, I do think Peter's words here challenge us to examine ourselves. To think about the reality that God has been patiently waiting for his people to come to repentance because there's a day of fiery judgment coming upon the world. When everything else will burn, everything else will be destroyed. And what kind of people will we be on that day? Listen to how he continues in verses 10, 11, and then 14. He says,

but the day of the Lord will come like a thief. And then the heavens will pass away with a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved. And the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, What sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness?

Then verse 14, therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, for this new heavens and new earth,

be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace.

See, Peter's reminding us what a life of repentance should look like. These are the fruits of repentance. It's a life of holiness, of godliness, a life without spot or blemish, a life of living at peace, not quarreling, fighting, but peace with one another, peace with all other people that we can be at peace with. That's the kind of fruit that should be in our lives. And you see that there is this great confidence and assurance of salvation that we find in Christ alone through faith alone. But that should never be in such a way that we become complacent or secure in sin. The kind of assurance we find in Christ is the assurance that comes with clinging to him. With realizing that we can't just live in sin. God has saved us to live for him. And so let this, let this reminder of the patience of God, the way that God is not wishing that any of us would perish, but that we would all come to repentance. Let it embolden us to refresh our repentance, to hold firmer to Christ, to realize that he is our savior when judgment falls on this world. And to be encouraged that even in our weakness, God is compassionate. God is there to encourage us, to help us, to strengthen us, that he genuinely loves us. He's not a harsh master. He's not a God who is slow or slack concerning his promises, who just sort of says it and then forgets about it. He's faithful and he's patient. And he will be faithful to us to the end. So may this spur us on to live the way Peter talks about right here. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this message, for these words from the Apostle Peter. Lord, we praise you that you are the God of patience. We praise you that you are an eternal God for whom one day is as 1,000 years and 1,000 years is as one day. Lord, we pray that instead of doubting you, instead of wondering why so long, instead we would praise you and thank you. Be so grateful for the patience you have shown us and that we would be striving for holiness so that we might be prepared for the day of Christ's coming. We pray all this in his name and for his glory. Amen.