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The Patience of God
2 Peter 3:9,15
The Patience of God
Introduction
1. Life and salvation depend on God’s
patience.
– “The Lord is not slack concerning His
promise, as some count slackness, but is
longsuffering toward us, not willing that
any should perish but that all should come
to repentance…
and consider that the longsuffering of our
Lord is salvation…” (2 Peter 3:9,15)
The Patience of God
Introduction
1. Life and salvation depend on God’s
patience.
2. God’s patience reflects His strong
desire to save us, thus making
Calvinism false.
3. The more we understand God’s
patience, the more we want to love and
serve Him!
The Patience of God
1. 2 Peter 3—Chapter on God’s patience
• Remember God’s word (3:1,2)
• Know the certainty of God’s judgment (3:310)
• Be prepared for the Day of Judgment (3:1118)
The Patience of God
Remember God’s
Word
Old and New Testaments Inspired:
“Prophets and Apostles”
Remember Inspired Word:
Restoration Plea!
“Beloved, I now write
to you this second
epistle (in both of
which I stir up your
pure minds by way of
reminder), that you
may be mindful of the
words which were
spoken before by the
holy prophets, and of
the commandment of
us, the apostles of the
Lord and Savior.”
(3:1,2)
The Patience of God
Know the Certainty
of God’s Judgment
Scoff at the judgment:
Pursue Sinful lusts, Ease
Conscience:
“Knowing this first:
that scoffers will come
in the last days,
walking according to
their own lusts, and
saying, Where is the
promise of His
coming? For since the
fathers fell asleep, all
things continue as
they were from the
beginning of creation.”
(3:3,4)
The Patience of God
Know the Certainty
of God’s Judgment
Willful Ignorance:
God Created
God Judged:
The Flood:
“For this they willfully
forget: that by the
word of God the
heavens were of old,
and the earth
standing out of water
and in the water, by
which the world that
then existed perished,
being flooded with
water.” (3:5,6)
The Patience of God
Know the Certainty
of God’s Judgment
God Will Judge Again:
Perdition of ungodly men!
“But the heavens and
the earth which are
now preserved by the
same word, are
reserved for fire until
the day of judgment
and perdition of
ungodly men.” (3:7)
The Patience of God
Know the Certainty
of God’s Judgment
Time Not a Limit to God.
His Patience Delays
Judgment:
Why? He Seeks our Salvation.
“But, beloved, do not
forget this one thing, that
with the Lord one day is
as a thousand years, and
a thousand years as one
day. The Lord is not slack
concerning His promise,
as some count slackness,
but is longsuffering
toward us, not willing that
any should perish but
that all should come to
repentance.” (3:8,9)
The Patience of God
Know the Certainty
of God’s Judgment
Judgment Day:
Certain
Time Unknown
Total Destruction
“But the day of the
Lord will come as a
thief in the night, in
which the heavens will
pass away with a
great noise, and the
elements will melt with
fervent heat; both the
earth and the works
that are in it will be
burned up.” (3:10)
The Patience of God
• Why man recoils at the idea of
judgment
– We and our loved ones have sinned
– Hell is horrible and horrifying
– God is just too loving
The Patience of God
• Modern theories deny eternal hell.
– Jehovah Witness: Verse 10 means
wicked world gov’t. Earth to be purified.
– Max King—Spirit of Prophecy
(pg.131) Heaven and earth mean old
Jewish system to end in A.D. 70.
The Patience of God
Be Prepared for
Judgment Day
Live Holy and Godly
God’s Home Is Our Home!
“Therefore, since all these
things will be dissolved, what
manner of persons ought
you to be in holy conduct
and godliness, looking for
and hastening the coming of
the day of God, because of
which the heavens will be
dissolved, being on fire, and
the elements will melt with
fervent heat? Nevertheless
we, according to His
promise, look for new
heavens and a new earth in
which righteousness dwells.”
(3:11-13)
The Patience of God
Be Prepared for
Judgment Day
A Pure Life Means Peace
with God.
Trust God’s Patience
Paul Wrote Inspired
Scripture
“Therefore, beloved,
looking forward to these
things, be diligent to be
found by Him in peace,
without spot and
blameless; and consider
that the longsuffering of
our Lord is salvation--as
also our beloved brother
Paul, according to the
wisdom given to him,
has written to you.”
(3:14,15)
The Patience of God
Be Prepared for
Judgment Day
Peter and Paul Taught the
Same Doctrine;
False Teachers Twist and
Deceive
“As also in all his
epistles, speaking in
them of these things, in
which are some things
hard to understand,
which untaught and
unstable people twist to
their own destruction, as
they do also the rest of
the Scriptures.” (3:16)
The Patience of God
Be Prepared for
Judgment Day
Beware of Falling:
There’s Danger of Apostasy
Spiritual Growth Makes
Us Steadfast:
Real Security
“You therefore, beloved,
since you know this
beforehand, beware lest
you also fall from your
own steadfastness,
being led away with the
error of the wicked; but
grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be the glory both
now and forever.”
(3:17,18)
The Patience of God
God’s Patience and
the World in
Rebellion
• God sustains the world
until Judgment, while
scoffers trample His
patience! (3:3-7)
–
–
–
–
Mock sin
Mock the Bible
Christ and His church
The willingly ignorant
don’t want to know
– Deny God and His
place in the world
The Patience of God
God Sustains the
World Until
Judgment!
• Children endangered
by rampant immorality
– Physical and sexual
abuse
– Fetal alcohol syndrome
– Homosexuals adopt
children
– Newborns infected with
AIDS virus
– 1.5 million abortions
each year
“Crack babies frequently have trouble
keeping down their food. Given to spasms,
trembling, and muscular rigidity,
they resist cuddling by arching their backs….
In pediatric intensive units around the country, they
fill the night air with their inconsolable ‘cat cries,’ a
distinctive high-pitched whine that conveys who
knows what inexpressible misery.”
(“Nobody’s Children,” Time, 11-9-89:91-92
The Patience of God
God Sustains the
World Until
Judgment!
• Princeton University
Bioethics Professor
Peter Singer (1999– Atheist evolutionist
– Justify abortion,
infanticide, euthanasia
of disabled infants.
“Killing a defective
infant is not morally
equivalent to killing a
person. Sometimes it
is not wrong at all.”
(Practical Ethics,
pp.175-217)
The Patience of God
God Is Patient
While the Gospel Is
Preached!
• Wants repentance and
salvation for all men.
(3:9)
– God patiently opens
doors—we must go
preach!
– As in Noah’s day,
Patience will be
followed by judgment!
– He preached and built
the ark for 120 years.
(1 Peter 3:18-21;
2 Peter 2:5)
The Patience of God
God Is Patient While • Must grow stronger to
overcome Satan.
Christians Grow
(2 Peter 3:17,18)
– God’s people must
give all diligence to
grow in Him.
(2 Peter 1:5-11)
– Must remain
steadfast
(1 Corinthians 15:58)
The Patience of God
Christians Must
Grow!
“But also for this very
reason, giving all
diligence, add to your
faith virtue, to virtue
knowledge, to
knowledge self-control,
to self-control
perseverance, to
perseverance godliness,
to godliness brotherly
kindness, and to
brotherly kindness love.”
(2 Peter 1:5-7)
The Patience of God
Christians Must
Grow!
“For if these things are yours and
abound, you will be neither
barren nor unfruitful in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ. For he who lacks these
things is shortsighted, even to
blindness, and has forgotten that
he was cleansed from his old
sins. Therefore, brethren, be
even more diligent to make your
call and election sure, for if you
do these things you will never
stumble; for so an entrance will
be supplied to you abundantly
into the everlasting kingdom of
our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ.” (2 Peter 1:8-11)
The Patience of God
Great Security in
God’s Character
and Patience!
“The Lord is not slack
concerning His
promise, as some
count slackness, but is
longsuffering toward
us, not willing that any
should perish but that
all should come to
repentance.”
(2 Peter 3:9)
The Patience of God
Great Security in
God’s Character
and Patience!
“Then the Lord
knows how to deliver
the godly out of
temptations and to
reserve the unjust
under punishment
for the day of
judgment.”
(2 Peter 2:9)
The Patience of God
Great Security in
God’s Character
and Patience!
“But if we walk in the
light as He is in the
light, we have
fellowship with one
another, and the
blood of Jesus
Christ His Son
cleanses us from all
sin.” (1 John 1:7)
The Patience of God
Great Security in
God’s Character
and Patience!
“Now to Him who is
able to do
exceedingly
abundantly above
all that we ask or
think, according to
the power that works
in us.”
(Ephesians 3:20)
The Patience of God
God Is Patient With
Us; We Must Be
Patient With Others!
“I, therefore, the prisoner
of the Lord, beseech you
to walk worthy of the
calling with which you
were called, with all
lowliness and
gentleness, with
longsuffering, bearing
with one another in love,
endeavoring to keep
the unity of the Spirit in
the bond of peace.”
(Ephesians 4:1-3)
The Patience of God
Patience With Each
Other in All
Relationships!
“And do not grieve the Holy
Spirit of God, by whom you
were sealed for the day of
redemption. Let all
bitterness, wrath, anger,
clamor, and evil speaking
be put away from you, with
all malice. And be kind to
one another,
tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, just as God
in Christ forgave you.”
(Ephesians 4:30-32)
Concluding Thoughts
• Where would we be without God’s
patience?
– Are we using the time God’s patience
gives us wisely?
• Sadly, we can run out God’s patience!
– Rejection and rebellion will put our souls
in harm’s way.
– Do not take this risk…