The Bible Breakdown

2 Peter 03: Praise God for Being Slow

• Brandon Cannon • Episode 707

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Speaker 1:

Hello everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today, 2 Peter, chapter 3, and today's title is Praise God for being Slow. Praise God for being slow. I don't know about you, I don't praise God for that. Very often, usually I'm saying God, could you not be so slow? I mean, come on, come on, come on, please, please, please. If you could hurry up, I'd really appreciate it. But in today's chapter, as Peter is finishing up his last letter, he gives us a really good reason to be thankful that God seems like he's just taking a break sometimes. We're going to get into all that in just a second. But if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast it really does help and make sure that you are going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook, because, man, the more we dig, the more we find, and it is an honor to be doing life together and just building this community of faith one step at a time. All right, if you have your Bibles and you want to open up with me to 2 Peter 3, remember the overall theme of 2 Peter is. Peter is telling the church to stand firm, be strong, stand firm. He says it over and over again to stand firm, be on guard, stand firm. And the reason why is because he's getting ready to go be with Jesus. He knows the end is on the way and we'll get into that in just a moment, but this is his last thing. It's like the last message I'm going to give you. Chapter 1 was grow, baby, grow. It's like keep growing, keep growing, man. There's so many more adventures to have. And once you conquer one thing in your life, go to the next and go to the next. It's like never stop growing. This is awesome. And then in chapter two, yesterday he said and the reason why you got to keep growing is so you can look out for the idiots. He calls them all kinds of names, right, you can go back to yesterday and hear how he's. He's caught a bunch of animals and false teachers, these wolves, and he's saying that they're going to try to wreck your life, so don't let them right. And then he's finishing off with saying and here's the best news ever, and that is, the day of the Lord is coming. So let's read this together and let's see how the last words of the apostle Peter end out. You ready 2, peter 3, verse one. Here we go.

Speaker 1:

This is my second letter to you, dear friends. In both of them I have tried to stimulate your wholesome thinking and to refresh your memory. I want you to remember that the Holy Prophet said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles. Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days, scoffers will come, mocking the truth and, following their own desires, they will say what happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again From before the times of our ancestors. Everything has remained the same since the world was first created. They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out of the water and surrounded it with water. Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood, and by that same word the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed. But you must not forget this one thing A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day Now pause. That's one of the things that's so interesting.

Speaker 1:

Now, I don't think that Peter is giving us an algorithm or a way to be able to determine how God uses time. Remember, god stands outside of time, and that's what Peter is trying to say. He's saying time doesn't really matter to God, he doesn't move according to our timetables. But if we were to use it just as an example, if a thousand years is like a day to God, that means that Jesus has been gone for two days. Jesus rose from the dead, went back to heaven two days ago, so where we would look and go, man, that was so long ago Not. According to God it's not, and so we think that God is taking forever. Well, and according to his time, he's only been gone for 48 hours. Right, but the overall idea here is, once again, I don't think Paul or, excuse me, peter, I don't think that he's giving us an equation to say how we do this. I think he's trying to help us understand God doesn't do time the way we do, but rather he says this in verse 9.

Speaker 1:

The Lord isn't really being slow about his promises, as some people think. No, he is actually being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to be repent. You ever thought about that? You ever thought about the reason why God is slow is to let us get our act together. When we think about it like that, we start saying well, god, actually, thank you, thank you for letting us have a little bit of that patience. Right, all right, verse 10,.

Speaker 1:

But the day of the Lord will come unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise and every, or the very elements themselves will disappear in fire. The earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment. Ever since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives and that are pure and blameless in His sight, and remember the Lord's patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved Paul also wrote to you, with great wisdom that God gave him. Speaking of these things and all of his letters, some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable, have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with the other parts of Scripture. This will result in their destruction.

Speaker 1:

Pause again. Isn't it awesome that Peter says hey, listen, I can't hardly understand half the stuff that Paul says, but I know God's in it, I know that the Lord has inspired it, so let's read it and learn. There's got nothing else to say other than Peter's. One of us, man, he gets us okay, verse 17,. You already know these things, dear friends. So be on guard. Then you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing. Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever. Amen, wow, wow, I mean like slow clap for Peter, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome.

Speaker 1:

He finishes with this great flourish of saying man, the best days are just around the corner, and he's quick to say I don't know what just around the corner means. Just around the corner for us could be 100 years, but for God it's coming up next. So our job is to prepare. To prepare by having joy, by having peace, by living peaceful lives with one another, majoring on the majors, nothing else, just making sure we keep our hearts in the right place and then wait for all the good things that God has for us. Wow, that's awesome. What would it look like if we lived our lives knowing that one day all of this is going to go away, but God is going to reign supreme man, that's powerful.

Speaker 1:

Well, listen to the rest of the story. It's possible at this point that Paul has already been executed and Paul, because he was a Roman citizen, would have been given a Roman death, which would have meant he was beheaded. And it's so sad to think about the fact that, since he would have been considered a political prisoner, he likely did not have a very visible execution. He was probably just taken out back and beheaded. Been done. Well, that luxury? Luxury was not afforded to Peter because he was not a Roman citizen, and so he most likely was going to be crucified. And, according to legend, as they were going to crucify him, he asked the soldiers will you give me one request? What is that? Will you crucify me upside down? Why? That's actually even more painful, because my Lord and Savior was crucified right side up and I am not worthy to experience the same punishment that he experienced. And so, according to legend, they gave him his request and he was crucified upside down because Nero had blamed the Christians for the burning of Rome.

Speaker 1:

And Peter knows this is coming, but instead of spending his final will and testament complaining whatever, he's excited. He's excited and he's saying man, whatever you do, if you don't hear anything else I've ever said over the years don't stop growing, keep growing. There's so many adventures left to be had. And then, in chapter 2, he says and beware of the wolves. They don't get it. They're not in love with Jesus, they're in love with themselves. Anything that takes away from your love for Jesus is not of Jesus, so don't go there. Instead, know God's word for yourself so you can see the wolves coming. And then, in chapter 3, he says and oh, by by the way, it gets better from here on out. I know, I know, I know. I know that bad things are happening, I know that death is on its way. You almost hear the the footsteps of the soldiers as they're coming near. But there's a twinkle in this old man's eye as he's saying but one day God's gonna come. I sure wish he would have come during my lifetime, but out of God's patience. He is gonna wait a little bit longer so that more people can be saved, and I'm fine with it. What an amazing thing.

Speaker 1:

So what can we take out of second Peter? First of all, peters awesome second of all is to be on guard, never stop growing, never stop knowing God's word for ourselves, so we can identify the wolves and stay away. And number three, never get discouraged. A better day is coming, even if between now and then there's difficulty and terrible things, it doesn't dim our vision but, just like Peter, have a twinkle in our eye because we know something, and that is in the end, god wins. Let's pray together right now.

Speaker 1:

God, thank you so much for your word. Thank you that you give us the opportunity to grow more every day. Thank you, god, that you show us your word so that we can see where the wolves are. And then also, god, you are with us so that we can have that confident hope that in the end you win. I pray you will with us, so that we can have that confident hope that in the end you win. I pray you will help us to know you more in all things. In Jesus name, we pray, amen, amen. Well, god's word says in 2 Peter, 3, verse 17, be on guard, then you will not be carried away or lose your own secure footing. That's my prayer for you, is that you will know God more every day, and so you can stand on his firm foundation. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow. For Lamentations, chapter one

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Brandon Cannon

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