A Place Where Righteousness Dwells - Part One - 2 Peter 3:1-13

This is a sermon titled "A Place Where Righteousness Dwells" based on 2 Peter 3. The pastor talks about scoffers who doubt God's plan and mock the idea of Jesus' return. He explains that people are upset because Jesus is coming back as a judge. He reassures believers that God is patient and not willing that any should perish. The pastor emphasizes that salvation is the work of God and our assurance comes from knowing that we are in His hands. He also clarifies that the new heaven and earth mentioned in the Bible means we will live on a recreated earth. The pastor encourages the church to trust in God's promise and be prepared for Jesus' return. Pardoning Grace is brought to you by your friends at Redeemer Church of Pikedon, Ohio. For more information, visit RedeemerPikedon.org. Second Peter, Chapter 3, and we'll consider the entire chapter. The message is titled, and the series is titled, A Place Where Righteousness Dwells, God's Promise to Make All Things New. And this will be part one of a three-part series, Lord willing, and let's read the Word of the Lord together. Now, this is now the second letter that I'm 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. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward us, 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. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn? But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells, and we trust the Lord will add his own blessing to his word. And before we start the message this morning, and of course today's topic will simply be the scoffer will doubt God's plan, part one, the scoffer will doubt God's plan. Before we begin, let us seek the Lord in a season of prayer, that he might bless our remaining time together, that he might quiet our hearts, and that he might prepare us to receive from his table today as we open his word together. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you and we praise you for this opportunity to gather together in your name. Lord God, feeble vessels all, unworthy vessels all in our own strength, but Lord you say the word and your servant will be made whole. Lord I pray that the Holy Spirit of God would fill both the speaker and the hearer and guide us into all truth as we proclaim your gospel today, as we Lord God hold up this wonderful hope and promise of a city whose maker is God, a city of peace, a city of hope, a city of perfection and godly righteousness. Lord, we trust that you will come on your own accord and by your own will, Lord God, even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. We praise you, we thank you, and we honor you now in the preaching of your gospel. Be with us, I pray, O God. Strengthen the word said, and I pray that your Holy Spirit, Lord, would glorify Jesus today. Amen, amen. Though scoffers will mock, and this is true, you'll see this in your day to day lives, scoffers will giggle, they'll smirk, sometimes they'll even be more malicious than that when you talk about the coming of the Lord. They'll say things that they think they just thought of, like I've been listening to that ever since I was a child. And yet the scripture tells us that's exactly what they would do. They'd ridicule the truth of the Lord's coming. And it's more than just that. Ask yourself this, are they really upset that he's coming back, or are they really, truly upset because he's coming back as judge? See, no one would have much to say about the coming of Christ if he were just coming again to make a regal tour of the land. You know, sort of ride in the back of a Cadillac convertible and wave at people as he drives by. No one would care. That would be just a mere royal visit. Oh, it would make the news, but I don't think anybody would be totally upset about it. Not like they are when it comes to mentioning things of judgment. But when you mention that the Lord isn't coming again as a babe in a manger, but he's coming again as a judge and as a king, the dread sovereign of the universe come to rain down righteous judgment upon this world, well, then the scoffing starts, the gnashing of the teeth, the backbiting, the cursing, all the other things that the scoffers will do. God's people trust in the promise that one day he will finally judge the wicked and dwell with his children. This is a promise for us, and this is why we say, even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. That's why the Bible tells us that we're to comfort one another with the reality that Jesus is coming again. So, beloved, you should be comforted in the knowledge that God is sending Christ one day to come and get his people, to come and be with his people. This place, a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells, will serve as the eternal home of God's redeemed children. You know, maybe even right now, before we get into any more of the message, I can put something to bed for you. This idea that we're going to fly, fly far, far away in some third or fourth, I'm sorry, fourth or fifth dimension and live in a heavenly realm that isn't physical, isn't scriptural. The Bible says that one day we're going to have a new body. The Bible also says that we're going to live on a recreated earth. So, the new heaven and a new earth, the Bible's very clear about this. We are going to be on a new earth. The city of God will dwell with man, and we're going to live in flesh and blood bodies for eternity right here on a new earth. So, I like to tell people, colloquially, that heaven, when I say heaven, when I talk about going to heaven, I'm using that term to mean wherever God is. But that will be heaven for me. That's heaven, the abode of God. Wherever he plants his presence, wherever he sets up shop, that's where I want to be. And that will be heaven. That will be heaven for me. And so, that's just an offshoot, something to keep in mind. Heaven is where God is. We're going to live forever right here on a new recreated earth. That's what the scripture teaches. So, Peter writes as a pastor who truly loves Christ's church. There's no denying that. And I love the fact that Jesus asked Peter, Peter, do you love me? What was one of the admonitions? He said, go and feed my sheep. And now Peter is acting in this office, even now, as he writes. And so, he loves the church. He warns us of the false professors, but he also warns of scoffers who will question the reliability of the word of God. Boy, don't we live in a day and age where people question, question all the time, the reliability of the word of God. And it was no different in their day. The very word they seek to disparage will one day sit in judgment on them as God pours out His unmitigated wrath, both on them and on the fallen creation around them. Isn't that an interesting thought? That for all of the rancor, for all of the divisiveness, for all of the hatred that spews out of the mouths of the mocker and the scoffer, they hate God's word. They would rather see it buried and never thought of again. And the very word they seek to destroy will one day destroy them. For the word made flesh will return. The incarnate word will sit in judgment. Peter prepares and equips the church for the coming onslaught of scoffers and skeptics. Things will get worse before they get better. We see that even in the text of Scripture. And it's happening that way in history as well, it seems. But he reassures God's people by reminding them that God's will unfolds on God's own schedule, in accordance with God's own will and God's own counsel. He will one day move to destroy and recreate the heavens and the earth, but he will do it when he is good and ready. The scoffers being silenced, Peter writes yet another blessed promise from God to his people. So after in this text he deals with the scoffers, he returns to the theme that, okay, now that we've shut them up, now that we've put them to open shame by the clear testimony of God's word, let's return to this blessed hope. Let's return to the comfort of God's people. And the comfort is that God is patient toward us and that he's not willing that any of his people should perish. That ought to excite our hearts. And even in the worst of times, God will lose none but raise him up on the last day. The precious promise is a major part of the bedrock for Christian assurance in the gospel. Salvation is the work of God in Christ on behalf of his people. And if we understand that simple fact, that salvation is God's work, then we can rest knowing that we are in the safest of hands. This is the centerpiece of Christian assurance, to know that my salvation isn't my work, it is the work of God. We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Hallelujah forevermore. So it is that the patience of God toward us works for our good. God is patient toward his people. God loves his people. And God will lose none of his people. But the tarrying of God as it pertains to the reprobate scoffer serves no other purpose but to store up wrath. I want you to understand that God isn't delaying his coming, hoping that someone will choose him and be saved. He's not in heaven wringing out his hands saying, Oh, if only somebody down there would hear the gospel today and become a Christian. I just need someone to become a Christian. Oh my, oh me, oh my. That's not God. That's some God of our vain imagination in religion, but that's not the God of Christianity. That's not the God of this Bible. God does not wait in the hopes or want or lack of anything. But instead, God is storing up wrath for that day of judgment, for that day of evil. And my, my, woe to those who do not know him in the full pardon of their sins, for they will know him in the full measure of his wrath. And that's a fearful thing. That is a fearful thing. Once our Lord judges the living and the dead, the Bible says that we're told of a place, a glorious place that rises from the ashes of God's fiery wrath. This new home is described by Peter as a place where righteousness dwells. Now, if this new place is a place where righteousness dwells, what is the writer saying about the current earth? This current place, is this a place where righteousness dwells? No. Do you know there've only been two righteous feet to ever touch this planet? Of all the billions of us, there've only been two righteous feet to ever touch the soil of this old ground. And that's, and it's been a few thousand years since he was here. Our Lord Jesus Christ walked this earth and at that moment in time, two righteous feet were plodding along. But ever since, I know that in me, that is in my flesh, no good thing dwells. And whether you like to believe it or not, I know that about you as well. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But there's coming a day, there's coming a time when the place of righteousness will be here, where God will recreate. There's coming a day, there's coming an hour when all this is going to look like no big deal at all. And we're not even going to remember all these little things, all these little trials that come in our lives. And what do I mean by little trials? I'm talking about the big stuff, like all the loved ones you've watched die in the light of his glorious appearing. That's not going to mean anything. It's going to be swallowed up in victory, death itself is going to be swallowed up in victory. I don't want to get ahead of myself. But once God judges the living and the dead, he's going to pour out his fiery wrath, the scoffer is going to be silenced, and then the Bible says this, I love this, this place where righteousness dwells. With the scoffer silenced, the wicked judged, and sin destroyed, the fellowship between God and his people will be a perfect union in a recreated home. Beloved, the Scripture tells us this, partly to our shame because of our sin, and partly to remind us of how glorious God is. But the Scripture says this, eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man the joys the Father has prepared for those who love him. There's coming a day when our minds, our new recreated glorified minds are going to be blown by the splendor and joy of the glories and the pleasures that God will pour into his people. Eyes haven't seen it, ears haven't heard it, it hasn't even entered into our thought process. Just how awesome heaven's going to be. We sing the old song in the Appalachians, how beautiful heaven must be, sweet home of the happy and free, fair haven of rest for the weary, how beautiful heaven must be. And every word of that song is true, and I guarantee you every word falls infinitely short of just how beautiful heaven's going to be, just how glorious it's going to be. I'm telling you to hold on, don't despair. This world might get a lot worse than it already is, it might get better. Just know that we're on God's time, his will and his way. He's coming again and nobody can stop him. When he comes, he'll make all things new. And in the meantime, he's a friend that sticks closer than a brother. He'll be there with you through thick and through thin. Know that he won't leave you, you're going to leave him. You're going to maybe shirk your Christian responsibility, you're going to do that from time to time, you're going to be the stubborn child that thinks they know better. But he's not going to leave you, he's going to come after you, he's going to seek you, he's going to grab a hold of you and drag you on home because a good shepherd doesn't lose his sheep. And so let's consider the first part of this three part message. The scoffer will doubt God's plan. So the Bible says in verse two that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandments of the Lord and Savior to your apostles. He says, knowing this, first of all, the scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. Verse four, 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. Wow. So he says, first of all, that this is the second letter he's writing. So we know that we're in second Peter. He says, I'm stirring your sincere mind by way of reminder. I love that line because what is a minister? John Gill called ministers remembrances and I've never forgotten that. It is so true that our job isn't necessarily to teach you a new little gospel ditty every week. Don't get me wrong. I hope that you learn something when you listen at church. That means somebody actually took the time to study and to dig something out of the text that maybe you'd never thought of before or maybe you never realized or seen it in that light before. And those are glorious moments. Don't get me wrong. I want you to learn at church. But the biggest part of a pastor's job or a Bible teacher's job is to simply remind you of the truth your heart already knows. That you are forgiven. That you do stand accepted in the beloved because of Jesus Christ and him alone. That the only condition for righteousness in the entire universe is perfect righteousness. And that flows only through Jesus Christ. He is our righteousness. He is our hope and our stay. He is our all in all. Christ is all. And my job as a remembrancer is to remind you of this. When I look at the text, I see the Apostle Peter doing the same thing. He says, I am stirring your sincere mind by way of reminder. Beloved, don't you know Jesus is coming back? Is this the first time you've heard this? If you're a Christian, this isn't the first time you've heard this. Not in this church. And yet here I am reminding you. Why? Because we're so stubborn. We get our minds off all the things that matter and we start to wander and then we start being silly. Stubborn, silly sheep. And we need to have the shepherd's crook wrapped around our necks sometimes. Put back in the fold. Oh, wait a minute. It's nicer over here. There's something to eat over here. There's safety over here. There's fellowship over here. Ah, and then what happens a couple, three days later? Here we go. Trying to jump the fence again. And someone grabs a hold. So we've got to remind one another. My job as a minister is to remind you. It's not necessarily to have the special revelation from God. We've all got his revelations right here. It's called the Bible. But I need to remind you of these basic principles. Notice the difference between the scoffer and the true believer. Christians have a sincere mind, signifying a teachable attitude, a genuine desire to learn from God. In Paul's first Timothy letter, he says this. He says that the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. So we see that there is a sincerity about God's people. But there is a hellish insincerity about the scoffer. Now, in John's first epistle, we see the important difference between the sincere Christian and the haughty scoffer. First John four and six, we are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this, we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. How do I know that someone believes the gospel that I believe? I share that gospel with them. And if they say no, then they don't walk with me. They don't walk in my gospel, the gospel that I believe. Now, I know we live in a day and age where it's not very popular to point that out. Everybody just wants to gloss over everything and say everybody pretty much believes the same thing. That's not true. That is not true. Whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this, we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. So if there is a spirit of truth, there is a spirit of error. And we see the scoffer falling into that category. The scoffer does not ask questions in the pursuit of knowledge. Just something else that's important. When you get into your little social media arguments, and I fall in prey to some of those. Be careful that you're not just throwing your beautiful, precious pearls before swine. Be careful that you're not dealing with just a scoffer, because if you are, you're going to provide these wonderfully well thought out answers. Sometimes you might even ask one of your brothers or sisters to help you with it. You put together this beautiful answer. Then they go, no, I hate that. And then you're like, wait a minute, you're not even after truth. You're just being a scoffer. You're not seeking the truth. You're seeking to malign the truth. And so the scoffer doesn't ask questions in the pursuit of knowledge. His game is to attack, to tear down, to malign. John said they do not, quote, they do not listen to us. Someone who is head deep in a false gospel, and they really bought into that lie of works righteousness, they will hear this gospel of grace and it will send a chill down their spine. It will make them nauseous. They'll look at you like you've done given them a dose of poison. And yet it is the only cure. Because in order to believe this gospel, much like the rich young ruler, they've got to go and sell everything they thought they possessed. They got to go get rid of all that junk. What do I mean? All the conditions they thought they were meeting, they've got to repent of every bit of that. They've got to put all that out. So they're not always looking for answers, sometimes they're just questioning you to tear down what you know. Their game is to attack, choosing rather to follow the spirit of error rather than the spirit of truth. The predictions, the Bible says, they tear down the predictions of the holy prophets. Acts records the apostle Peter preaching on this very topic in Acts 10 43. Listen to what Peter says. He says to him, all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him, Jesus, receives forgiveness of sins through his name. Again, the scoffer will deny Christ. Yet to the Christian, the truths of God's word will feed our souls and sustain us through good and bad times. The same truth can be said and to one person's ears, it could pierce them like hot iron, the needles. And they hate it. They hate the truth. They hate the God of the truth. And yet one of his children hear the same message and they smile ear to ear. Maybe a tear forms in the corner of their eye and they realize that this is bread for the hungry soul. The scoffer does not ask questions to seek truth. Neither does he read the word of God to be nourished. He might nitpick the word of God to try to find inconsistencies or error. But the scoffer does not read God's word with a sincere quest and search for truth. The commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles. Now, this is another phrase that we took from the scripture lesson. The word delivered by the prophets of old is reliable, detested by the arrival of the Son of God. The Old Testament prophesied about the arrival of Christ and guess what? He came. And in the fullness of time, Christ fleshed out the prophecies that they said he would. And you can look at the life of Christ, compare that to the Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming of Messiah, and you will see that Christ fulfilled minute details in very obscure prophecies. There's even a prophecy that he wouldn't have suffered a broken bone. And that actually came true. The Bible says in the Old Testament, curse is any man who hangs on a tree. And they didn't even use that method of crucifixion or that method of execution in the days when they wrote it. The scripture says he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed. His stripes? The Roman whip wasn't anywhere near the writer when he penned those words. And yet Jesus fulfilled all those prophecies. Why? Well, because it's truth, the spirit of truth. Surprise! The spirit of truth will speak truth, will do truth and will be righteous. Peter calls the church to stay close to the word of God. Stay close to the word. The minute you hear somebody say, well, now I know everyone in history said it this way, but I think it means that, well, you probably are listening to someone who's a loose cannon. Be careful about that. Listen to God's word. You know, when you go to the menu at the McDonald's and it says you can get a cheeseburger for three dollars and thirty nine cents, you don't sit there pondering saying, hmm, I wonder what the author really meant by cheeseburger. You say, well, that's the menu board. It's a three dollar cheeseburger. I'm going to buy one. Well, there are plenty of places in scripture that are just that clear concerning Jesus. So stay close to the word of God. It is not only our defense against the schemes of the enemy. It is our only defense against the schemes of those who would tear down the church, who would tear down our hope in Christ. Well, now I've got the spirit of God. Well, do you? Without the word of God, how do you know what your feelings are doing? You know, people say, well, I can feel God's presence. Well, maybe you can't. Experience is not a valid test of truth because, OK, you felt something that you believe is God. But with the word of God in front of me, I can know what God's will is. I can know what God says. I don't have to count on my one of my one of my elderly relatives having some sort of a spiritual experience in the back corner to come out and tell us all what they discovered. You know, we don't have witch doctors in the church. I don't need to count on your experience. We can go to the word of God. And in that sense, the word of God is that great equalizer. There are no super spiritual soothsayers in the church. You want to know God's will? Open the Bible. Read what it says. Now, he's not going to give you the prediction on the cattle futures. You know, you're not going to find out how much you're going to get out of your pig. You're not going to be able to determine what the weather is going to be next week. Contrary to what so many of those crackpots on TV try to do with the Bible. That's not what it is. It's not a farmer's almanac. Don't even get me started on farmer's almanacs. But what it does do is provide us broad principles for living. Like, don't tell lies. Why not? Because no one can trust a liar and you'll never have anything in this world if you lie to everybody. Tell the truth. So there's some good moral lessons in the Bible. There's also a lot of spiritual things like don't worship false gods. Worship the one and only God. Be perfect in all things and never say you're going to go straight to hell. Too late. You were born in sin. You're going straight to hell. Now what? The Bible has an answer for that. The good news of Jesus is that God sent Jesus into this world to save sinners. If you believe on his name as he gives you that strength to do so. Flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you. He revealed it. You can be saved. God will give you the perfection that he requires. God will give you the sanctification, the holiness that he requires. And so how do I get saved? Well, first of all, you don't do anything to get saved. The Lord will call you and then you'll catch yourself believing this gospel. What? I'm believing this now? What? Yes, you are, because the Holy Spirit convinced you of righteousness. All right. We're getting close here. Paul calls the church to stay close to the word of God. Scoffers, the Bible say, will come at the last days with scoffing. Scoffers, worshiping their own lusts, will attempt to put Christ to the test. They'll make all kinds of things and say all kinds of things. Robert Hawker, great commentator and preacher of old, said, Scoffers are the very awful characters. And nothing can be more pointedly manifest the bitterness of their hearts. The scoffing of men is inhuman nature and corresponds to the hissing of the serpents. So he says that men that scoff at God's word are like hissing snakes, just miserable. And the devil is the author of such scoffing. And that's no lie. So what's the big question everyone asks? Where is the promise of his coming? What exactly do you mean, Christian, that Jesus is coming again? I've heard that my whole life. Well, just as the serpent questioned God's word as he tempted Eve, so too does the scoffer go about questioning the truth of God's word Every time someone says, where's Jesus? I thought he was coming again. What a, what a, what a sham. What a lie. Well, God's timeline is inconvenient for the scoffer, but inconveniencing the scoffer is still no proof that it's not true. You know, I was talking with someone recently about the gospel and they were getting a little, a little upset with my answers. And I looked right at him and I said, you're entitled to your questions. You're entitled to ask any question you want of me, but you're not entitled to expect a particular answer from me. If my answer inconvenience is what you think and causes you to change, then great. Likewise, if you choose not to receive what I've said, that's okay too. But you don't have the right to demand of me that. You don't have the right to demand of me that. You don't have the right to demand of me that. You don't have the right to demand of me that. You don't have the right to demand of me the answer you want to hear. People do that in churches though. They'll heap unto themselves teachers to titillate their ears instead of preach them the truth. And we've got to be careful about such things. All right. The scoffer contends that Christ's coming should have already occurred. And yet Peter immediately says, wait a minute. Who are you to put God to the test? Who are you to put God on this timetable? A day with the Lord is a thousand years. The scoffer denies Scripture's witness, both Old and New Testaments, while accusing the God of heaven and earth of having lied. And so God gives us this entire revelation, Old and New Testament, the only religious book that tells the truth about man and the truth about God. God gives us all of this and the scoffer will look at this and say, Nuh-uh. Behold the retort, the reply against your holy God. Nuh-uh. Oh, but why is it that the scoffer always seems big and bad? Well, I think back to David and Goliath, Philistines. They marched in and they thought they had it all, didn't they? They were puffed up. They had that big old behemoth, Goliath. They thought they were just, you know, they were the stuff, right? And there's David looking all maybe a little scrawny. Anybody looks scrawny setting up against somebody as big as Goliath. And what happened? All the big highfalutin talk of the Philistines ended in a headless giant and a fleeing army. God saved his people. The truth always wins. This is the truth of God's word. You can deny it. You can say, ah, Jesus isn't coming again. But the Bible says he is. And if you find yourself in that scoffer's camp, you're going to be finding yourself on the sand and not on the rock.