May 19, 2024
2 Peter 3:14-18
“Carry On”
Here are the final verses of 2 Peter:
“Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
2 Peter 3:14-18
We’re going to start with verse eighteen. Especially the last sentence, “To him be glory now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” Understanding day of eternity pushes the direction of these final verses.
We saw back in 3:10 where Peter talks about the day of the Lord. Then, in verse twelve he talks of the day of God.
These are different from verse eighteen’s day of eternity.
First, the day of the Lord. This is the moment when God will pour out His wrath on the unrepentant because of their sin. A fun homework assignment would be to discover all the passages of Scripture that speak about the day of the Lord. Amos 5:18-20 is an excellent sample:
“Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord?It is darkness, and not light, as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him,or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him.Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?”
That just about sums it up perfectly.
Next, the day of God. Also not a good thing for unbelievers. This day of judgment brings cosmic destruction. But it also carries the promise of the coming of a new heaven and new earth. It marks the inauguration of a truly just society.
For unbelievers, the day of the Lord and the day of God are bad things. For anyone whose name has been written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life, those two things are irrelevant matters. They’ve nothing to do with us. Not a scintilla of concern ought to cross our minds when we think of them.
The first and last and only thing we ought to conclude with is the day of eternity. That is a beautiful final thought. We need to occupy our minds with the day of eternity. No matter what we face, experience, or go through, we carry on with full and absolute confidence because of the day of eternity.
Here's the beautiful affirmation. The day of eternity is the day of the new heavens and the new earth. There is nothing to be feared. Remember, God has chosen to save us. Because of that, we are joyously anticipating entering into God’s glorious eternal creation. So we carry on through hardship. We carry on through loss. We carry on through difficulty. We ignore false teachers and their false teachings. We carry on despite our adversaries. We are moving forward in faith, not fear. Listen to the promise in Acts 14:19-22:
“They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”
No whining…no complaining…no feeling sorry for oneself…no anxiety…no giving up or giving in…because God has the last word. And because God has the last word, we carry on. God’s last word is the gift of entering into His glorious creation. Carry on, indeed.
We get a reinforcement of the day of eternity from Paul, in Philippians 3:17-21:
“Join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”
Who would worry? Who would be afraid? Look to Christ and carry on. We are those who seek a city whose Builder and Maker is God.
Here’s something you might want to write down:
WE ANTICIPATE THE ETERNAL DAY OF GOD.
Knowing that, a glance back to verse eleven tells us how we are to carry on:
“Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness?”
To quote {completely out of context} an old song:
“…Ain't got no distractionsCan't hear no buzzers and bellsDon't see no lights a-flashin’.”
Holy conduct is all about what we do, right here, right now. Pagans gonna pagan. Wicked people are going to follow after wicked people, and they’re going to do wicked things. That has nothing to do with us. We ain’t got no distractions. Can’t hear no buzzers and bells. And we definitely don’t see no lights a-flashin’.
In attitude, action, and peace of mind, we are separated from sin. We pursue godliness. Let the heathen rage – returning to chapter one, we:
“Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
We know we have been saved. We know our home is in heaven. We know God has given us this wonderful life. We know that Jesus calls us to follow in his Way of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Our job is to stay focused on these things. False teachers and unbelievers are going to build their lives on garbage. That doesn’t mean we have to slog around in it with them. We diligently pursue the things of Christ.
Again, let the heathen rage. We are at peace in Jesus Christ. We are free
from fear. We are free from worry about the future. Our sinfulness and shame are swallowed up in the victory of the cross. Here’s something else you might want to write down:
IN CHRIST, I AM IN TOTAL PEACE, LIVING WITHOUT FEAR.
Can you say that? Do you believe it?
Marcus Aurelius was a Roman emperor and philosopher. In a related, though not Biblical, observation, he said:
If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.
Not too shabby, for a pagan.
You have no fear of getting caught up or swept away in the judgment of the day of the Lord because you know all is well between you and God. The thought of the end of the world doesn’t trouble you. Even if you knew it was coming in the next twenty-four hours, you would fear not. You could lay your head on your pillow and rest peacefully. You’d have no fear…you’d have no anxiety. Every night I pray, “Now I lay me down to sleep/I pray the Lord my soul to keep/If I should die before I wake/I pray the Lord my soul to take.” Amen. Amen?
Make no mistake. We don’t have to live a perfect life. We don’t have to have a perfect life in order to be happy. Life is messy. God isn’t. Sometimes it seems like we strive after the wrong things. Or the unimportant things. Someone shared with me a very wise list:
AWARDS THAT DO NOT EXIST
{But You’re Still Trying to Win}:
Most Perfect
Never Said No
Rested the Least
Didn’t Need Help
Worked the Longest
Didn’t Make Any Mistakes
Lived Up to Everyone’s Expectations
We are sinful people living in a fallen world surrounded by fallen people. We can’t be perfect. But we can have the peace of security. We can have the security of peace. We can carry on. We will carry on.
I love 1 John 4:15-18:
“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”
Let’s close with this affirmation, from the heart of 2 Peter 3:
IF I AM DESTINED FOR ETERNAL PURITY…IF I AM DESTINED FOR ETERNAL GLORY, I OUGHT TO SEEK TO LIVE THAT WAY NOW.
And together, the people of God said:
SOLI DEO GLORIA…
To the Glory of God Alone
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