Delivered From the Day of the Lord

[0:00] We, beloved, are in 2 Peter. It is a great joy to be comforted in the Scripture and to be bolstered in our souls in the truth of the Lord.

[0:25] So the title of my message for this morning, Delivered from the Day of the Lord.

[0:36] This will be a part one. Delivered from the Day of the Lord. And before we read the passage together, let me offer a few comments for us, especially given the unique circumstance that we find ourselves in.

[0:55] One of the many negative results of sin in this world is how random and unstable situations in life can seem to us.

[1:10] While nothing is surprising, nothing is sudden, nothing is random with the Lord as He sovereignly designs the details of our lives, it's from our perspective that sin can make our lives appear like things happen by chance.

[1:33] Often we are made to feel the frailty and the uncertainty of life on this side of heaven, aren't we?

[1:46] And I think Pedro's passing is a good example of that for us. As several of you commented on, one way or the other, as you shared your testimony about Pedro earlier, things are surprising and sudden for us.

[2:03] I just want us to be reminded as I move into the body of my message for this morning, that's not the case with the Lord. We, on our end of things, suffer a sense of loss at Pedro's passing to glory.

[2:19] And I think the suddenness shocks our senses and it leaves our hearts heavy. And this is where Pedro, oddly enough, helped me write this introduction to my sermon.

[2:36] I don't mean that in any kind of a weird or mystical way. Pedro didn't talk to me recently. None of that happened. He's with Jesus, you know. He's squared away. No, what happened was I finished writing the main body of my message Thursday evening, late into the evening.

[2:57] But I didn't have an introduction ready. So I went to bed that night and I was asking the Lord's help about what I would say. And that's unusual for me to be in a situation like that because typically my introduction will flow out of my study.

[3:18] And by the time I've gotten pretty deep into the text and my manuscripts flowing fairly well and I'm tracking well with the theme and that kind of thing, the introduction almost writes itself because now I know what I need to introduce.

[3:35] But that didn't happen this time. And it kind of was weird. So I was praying about that and speaking the Lord. I planned to get up Friday morning and write it out.

[3:47] And Friday morning, I got a phone call to quickly rush over to the Canole's house. And when we got there, Mona was in the bedroom where Pedro had passed away.

[4:00] And you can imagine. Well, I can say this. God knew. God knew that he would take Pedro home on Friday morning.

[4:13] And by Friday afternoon, I knew that Pedro was going to help me finish my introduction. I already had this sermon all in me ready to get out.

[4:25] And now this happens. And so all of that kind of came together in my heart and in my mind as I thought about my friend's life and how much I would miss him. What our text deals with this morning is why we can grieve in Pedro's absence from us and why we can rejoice at his presence with Jesus Christ.

[4:50] That was already written before this happened. And that shouldn't shock us, right? The Lord's doing things like that all the time because he's a big and a good God.

[5:02] Our confidence of heaven and not of judgment, of being spared judgment, is our hope and our blessing this morning, isn't it?

[5:16] Pedro believed that Jesus is coming again. This was his confidence for an eternity without sin in the presence of the Lord Jesus. But he also knew that Jesus coming again meant judgment.

[5:34] He knew that. And he knew that it meant judgment for some of the people that he loved and that were very, very dear to him. And he asked me to pray for those that he loved.

[5:47] We had a number of conversations about that and it weighed very heavy on his heart. Jesus is coming again.

[5:58] And for all those like Pedro who are trusting in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins, Jesus' return will be a glorious event.

[6:12] But for those who are unbelieving, for people who are living their lives without Jesus, his return will be a terrifying event.

[6:27] Since Jesus is coming again, the questions that I want to ask for this morning and answer from the text, if Jesus is coming again, since he is, what is he waiting for?

[6:38] Why doesn't Jesus come again now and rescue us from all the sin and the pain and the grief and the loss, the suffering that this world brings to us and the suddenness of these events on our lives?

[7:00] Why doesn't Jesus just come and get us and take us away from all this? Well, let's turn in the scripture to this particular passage now and look intently into God's wonderful word for these answers because Peter offers them to us.

[7:24] He offered them to his readers and it carries on to us today and it's glorious. I'll begin in 2 Peter 3 verse 1 so that we can move into the context of the passage.

[7:37] This is now, beloved, the second letter I'm writing to you in which I'm stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.

[7:54] Know this first of all that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking following after their own lusts saying, Oh, where is the promise of his coming?

[8:09] For ever since the fathers fell asleep all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation. For when they maintain this it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water through which the world at that time was destroyed being flooded with water.

[8:33] But by his word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

[8:45] But do not let this one fact escape your notice beloved that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day.

[9:00] The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness but is patient toward you not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

[9:13] But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat and the earth and its works will be burned up.

[9:30] Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way what sort of people 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 destroyed by burning and the elements will melt with intense heat.

[9:51] But according to his promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Amen.

[10:04] Well this morning we'll just deal with part one and I'm going to zero in on verses eight and nine as we've already worked our way through verses one through seven of chapter three.

[10:16] So we'll look into what Peter is talking about here in the way of this thousand years like a day and a day like a thousand years.

[10:28] What does all of this mean? Well Peter provides us with what I'm going to call four clarifications of God's activity in future judgment.

[10:40] Specifically he's speaking about the day of the Lord. That is going to be a day of judgment. And the first of these clarifications then concerns God's patience.

[10:54] That's where we'll be today. Just dealing with these two verses and this first of what I'll have is four points. Hopefully next week I'll be able to bring the other three to you. God's patience in verse eight.

[11:08] Do not let this one fact this one reality this one truth escape your notice beloved. That with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day.

[11:25] Peter doesn't want his readers to fall victim then to the same demonic confusion and deception that the mockers are under. Specifically they willfully choose to ignore and be blind to these realities.

[11:44] This is remember from last time it's not that these people are deceived in a way where bless their hearts they just can't help it. No. He's saying in this text and context these men are willfully choosing to remain ignorant about the truth and deny it.

[12:00] and they want to lead others astray behind them. Here's what they do. They willfully choose to ignore or be blind to God's divine intervention in creation.

[12:13] We saw that in verse five. God's divine intervention in the flood in verse six and God's divine intervention in the future verse seven.

[12:27] That was all from last week. So the text tells us that it escapes the deceivers notice that God acted in judgment in his world in the past.

[12:40] They maintain that this is evidence there will be no future coming of Jesus or judgment. Oh that's none of that's true none of that's ever happened don't worry about all of that.

[12:52] And they're using that as their platform to deceive other believers. believers. And so Peter is very concerned don't let this reality and this truth escape you.

[13:04] Don't you be willfully ignorant about it. In fact in verse eight he warns his readers not to fall into the same sinful mindset. Don't let your minds get weak about this and be pulled out of the truth.

[13:20] Do not let this one fact escape your notice beloved. Do not be willfully ignorant. One way to avoid being willfully ignorant is to have a biblical view of God's patience.

[13:34] The doctrine of God's patience. He says this with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day.

[13:50] One thousand years is like one day to God. So this is an analogy relating God time with human time. It's putting a biblical perspective on time for us and helping us understand one more attribute of the Lord in the way of the greatness of our God.

[14:10] We cannot put him in our little box in our little time capsule and constrain him. God then is beyond time and God is not bound to time.

[14:24] That's one of the main points that this text is bringing forward to us. The coming judgment seems too distant to even matter in the minds of these mockers and that's what they are trying to put out to the people.

[14:39] But with God it's like only days have gone by. Now you think back to the beginning of time we think that the earth is probably somewhere around 6,000 maybe on the outset to 10,000 years old and for the Lord it's just a few days have gone by since then.

[14:58] Can you imagine? That's what Peter is trying to tell us. God has not destroyed the world in judgment as the day of the Lord will bring because he's patient.

[15:15] His patience is restraining him from bringing judgment on the earth. Verse 9 if you look at that with me the Lord is then not slow about his promise to bring judgment as some count slowness but is patient toward you not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance zero in on the Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness some would be a reference to the scoffers to these deceivers these mockers who are wanting to spread this confusion among the believers Peter's writing to slowness has the idea of tardy or delay or even being slack about and what Peter's doing is exposing the mockers calling into question the credibility of Jesus as they take a derogatory view about his delay so they're putting their derogatory spin on the fact that

[16:27] Jesus hasn't come back yeah yeah how long have we been hearing this how long have we been listening to even the prophets say that a day of judgment is coming how long well have we seen any evidence that's coming this is how these people are thinking and it's a ridiculous argument it's not a hard argument to counter from scripture nevertheless this is what they're maintaining so Peter's defining the deceivers use of slowness as and I'm quoting from one commentator here exceeding the due time as though that time were already come and gone this is how they're wanting to deceive the people given God's delay over eras of human time the mockers see it as quote if Jesus was going to come he would have already come so don't worry about it relax well by the willful blindness and hardness of their hearts these men will not allow themselves to see the truth of God's delaying his judgment what's the truth about why God is delaying judgment is it because

[17:43] God is apathetic is it because God's indifferent is it because God's just used this as a tactic to keep everybody scared so that they'll do what he wants them to do there's no judgment what is this God's timetable moves along by his design to save and to redeem beloved that's what I want you to hold on to this morning that you and I will learn to measure time on this earth by our redeeming God that he is a God of salvation and that time on God's end of things is being measured by redemption he is holding off judgment because he's saving God that's the emphasis he is a saving God and I want us to think about time that way even the time that we live on this earth because I think it can have a tremendous impact on the way that you prioritize your life spiritually as you think about

[18:55] Jesus is coming again and God is ticking the clock based on his saving grace now what does that mean for my life as I get in on that paradigm as I get in on the economy of God as he measures time on this planet because the clock is ticking now what does that mean for me well the text tells us the Lord is not slow about his promises some the scoffers count slowness but God is patient toward you not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance God is basing his timetable on the truth about salvation about people coming to repentance that's the tone and the flow of the passage now here's the thing the questions that this verse begs are who is the you that

[20:03] God is being patient toward that makes a difference how we define that who are the any he doesn't want to perish and who are the all he wants to come to repentance now being faithful stewards of the truth and our study of this passage means that you and I are going to carefully consider the context of Peter's teaching we're going to do solid sound hermeneutics to try and understand we're going to apply the science of interpretation to try and help us understand the contextual flow of the argument that Peter's making this is an argument is an argument against the lie that Jesus is not coming again there will be no day of judgment and Peter's needing to correct that Paul did a similar thing when Thessalonians thought that the day of Jesus return had already come and gone and they'd been left behind now that had to get all corrected

[21:05] Peter's dealing with a slightly nuanced version of that same kind of lie about the coming of the Lord so let's carefully consider the context and let me give you about five ways to think about the flow and context of the passage before I move on and try to help us understand a little more about what these specific questions that I've put up here are all about first of all dealing with the context Peter is exposing the errors the lies of the false teachers about Jesus coming again notice beloved in judgment number two regarding the context Peter's theme is God's judgment and destruction of ungodly men that is all unbelievers in the future that there is a future appointed day for this judgment to take place I understand that people are not encouraged to hear things like this

[22:05] I realize people don't flock into churches and sit down so that they can hear judgment all the time but from page one to page last in scripture God is talking about that day coming he's also talking about the way he has made provision for us to escape it and it's in Jesus isn't it throughout scripture this is what we're dealing with Peter is addressing God's beloved or beloved his addressees are believers saved by grace at that time of Peter's writing he's addressing us now believers that he knew would come in other times and he's thinking about future beyond even us so this deals with the people he's writing to with us and the people who are yet to be saved born again in Christ he's speaking about God's truth for believers what does the day of the

[23:07] Lord have to do with people who believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins how does the day of the Lord affect you what's in store for you what should that mean for the way you live now in your life alongside the last one down here at the bottom future judgment against unbelievers Peter contrasts God's patience with believers so we've got a contrast going on there's something that's going to take place in regards to unbelievers on the day of the Lord there's something very different that's going to take place for believers that are part of that entire enterprise being couched as the day of the Lord there are a number of moving parts in that day of the Lord theme that affect unbelievers and believers so what's that all about well part of it is the contrast that he's making between those two groups of people we saw a little bit of that last time when we talked about the sheep and the goats right and then finally you any and all refer to believers believers the context helps draw that out for us when you look at the passage syntactically when you look at the passage from a hermeneutical perspective and you deal with the theology of the passage all of these things come together to help us realize the you the any and the all refer to believers then now and in the future so it could read like this the

[24:51] Lord and now you might ask well why didn't Peter write it like that if that's the way it should read because it's too cumbersome listen to this the Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness but is patient toward you beloved not wishing for any of you beloved to perish for all of you beloved to come to repentance do you see what he's doing now if you push the context out to verse 15 look at verse 15 real quickly here's what we read he tells us to regard the patience of our Lord as salvation this should be a believer's attitude toward the patience of God in not coming now regard God's patience as salvation salvation who is Peter referring to in this verse when he uses the pronoun you at the end of verse 15 look at that and regard the patience of our

[25:55] Lord as salvation just as also our beloved brother Paul according to the wisdom given to him wrote to you well who does you refer to well we get the answer by looking back up into verse 14 look at verse 14 how does he begin this little section therefore ah beloved since you look for these things you be diligent to be found by him in peace spotless and blameless and you regard the patience of our Lord as salvation just as also our brother Paul according to the wisdom given to him wrote to you beloved the entire flow of the context friends is that of the beloved writing to those who are beloved by God in the Lord you need to understand these things you need to have regard for these things make these things of chief priority and importance and how you think about

[27:03] God terroring don't think of God delaying judgment as playtime for us folks don't let the world suck you into that we I'm going to say in a little while we want to enjoy life but there's a lot more to us being left here in the way of spiritual priority than thinking Jesus isn't coming so that I can go out and do my thing Jesus is not delaying coming so that you and I can do our thing so that we can do his now there's a big difference in the way that we go about doing his thing as people who are living our lives you remember what Paul said it's no longer I who live but that's right we draw spiritual life from Jesus we draw priority from life from Jesus and I'll tell you friends it's a sobering thing to think of our brother Pedro he was one year older than me being taken to heaven you and

[28:05] I tend to think of our lives we'll all grow old together and one day we'll die well that's that's just simply not true is it maybe for some of us but not all of us and we don't know who will be the next person it could be me these are ways that we are sobered by the truths of scripture to help us understand the priority of heaven for how we live our lives and so look God's people are to view and value his delay not as apathy not as indifference like the false teachers view it but as God's merciful patience to spare his chosen ones from perishing or in the words of Peter judgment and God willing if I have breath for life for next Sunday we'll move into this definition of the day of the Lord in verse 10 and we'll have to talk about the terrifying reality of what that's going to be this world has never seen anything like it and it'll never see anything like it again because once it happens the earth will be

[29:21] I read this and I get into it and think about it and I'm like man Lord this is this day is going to make the flood look tame that's astounding to my little brain the flood covered the entire globe and changed the face of the planet forever this thing that's coming the point is this the point is that God's timetable is based on his promise of salvation for all of his future beloved children now who are they how many are there when when will they be saved during their lifetime all of that's only known to the Lord this is a reference then to God's elect to God's elect again

[30:22] I remind you syntactically thematically contextually theologically we are faced with one correct interpretation of verse nine's meaning about who God is wanting to save from his future judgment and the answer comes back in a very straightforward way the beloved of God who are the beloved of God Jeff well the Bible says the beloved of God are those who were chosen by God from the foundation of the world for salvation in Jesus Christ say who are they I have no idea I'll tell you I can tell you who the elect are after they come to Christ see that's that's as far as the prophet goes in me get saved and then I'll tell you if you're elect or not that's the way it works folks we don't know but God does this is the emphasis that Peter is making in this text now you and I must deal with this reality first of all because it's in the word and we happen to have come to this place in scripture but also because verse nine has been wrongly used to counter

[31:35] God's electing grace the doctrine of election in a nutshell the argument against is that since God wants everyone to be saved he would never ever choose some and not choose others for salvation and I get that you know just about everything inside of me as a man and a human and as a pastor with people that I know who aren't saved wants to reach out and think yes absolutely everybody can get saved is that true it does I've got to do something with the reality that the Bible is telling me that there's coming a day when unbelieving people are going to be judged well if God wants everybody to be saved and it's God's designed for everybody to be saved and if we bring those two things together then why is there going to be a day of judgment against the unsaved we have to think through the context as difficult as it is the issue is not whether or not you like the doctrine of election the issue is does the scripture teach it the issue isn't whether or not you agree with it or whether you see it as a good thing or a bad thing or does the scripture teach it it's not even a matter of well

[33:04] I don't understand it okay beloved do you understand everything about the bible but do you receive do you believe that Moses one day since the scripture says that he did stood before a wide open sea and raised a staff and commanded it to part and God parted that water and those people went across on dry land and then God closed the sea over Pharaoh now can you explain to me how that happened no but do you believe it there are many things like this in scripture so let's talk about it for a few minutes the time that I have remaining again because verse nine has been used to malign and counter the truth of the beauty of God's electing grace my prayer Greg's prayer is that you will see this doctrine of God's electing grace in the beauty that you see so many of the other doctrines of God because it is a beautiful doctrine the fact that

[34:10] God is is bringing I say again future judgment and destruction on all the ungodly means that not all will be saved God doesn't want any of his chosen beloved ones to perish under his judgment so he is patiently timing his judgment to coincide with the salvation of each of his chosen ones this is the text all right now let me put this up so you can see it in clear language here the key then to understanding the biblical doctrine of the Lord's promise and patience in coming again is his heart to save every person he predestined to salvation before he ever made the world that is God's timetable and that is God's design he is withholding judgment on the world until all that he has chosen before the foundation of the world come to

[35:12] Christ because it was made a promise in the Godhead I will give these to you God the Father I will give these to you Christ is saying and I will not lose one of them that's all happening in God's timetable of that thousand days a thousand years like a day a day like a thousand years that's all happening within God's timetable behind the scenes now let me just give you there are so many places that we could go this isn't a message primarily aimed at electing grace we can do a series on those doctrines and I'd be fine to do that I've done it before this message let me just give you enough to show you what I believe will help keep us within the confines of the context of Peter's message to us in 2nd Peter here let's go to Ephesians chapter 1 I don't want to press outside the context too much here but I think

[36:13] Ephesians 1 is going to help us a little bit this is something that I think Peter had already assumed his readers would know and understand because he does mention the apostle Paul and the teachings of Paul and he said you know some of Paul's teachings admittedly are difficult to understand nevertheless they're the truth and we need to work at them well here's one of them Ephesians 1 beginning in verse 3 blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ that's so profound just as he chose us in Jesus before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before him in love he predestined us that's predetermined he predestined us to adoption as sons through

[37:21] Jesus Christ to himself according to the kind intention of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace which he freely bestowed on us and the beloved the question comes back Jeff this is a clear testimony that God did choose people for salvation before he ever made the world he did predestined to adopt people into his spiritual family before he ever even made the world why would he do that what does it say according to the kind intention of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace which he freely bestowed on us in Jesus Christ that's why why is election a true and real doctrine in the scripture because it was God's kind intention to do it and because it brings great glory and grace to God grace to our lives and glory to him that's why that's it you can search the scriptures and search the scriptures and you're not going to find a better answer to those questions than right there

[38:25] Paul echoed this same truth to the Thessalonian Christians remember I told you earlier Paul was dealing with a similar issue because of the deceivers the false teachers and the mockers some of them were saying that Christ had already come that day had already come and gone don't worry it's all done it's all over and the believers were worried about well if it's all come and gone we'll just live like we want some of them were quitting their jobs they weren't working they were mooching and Paul said whoa whoa what are you doing and so now he brings this look at this with me I won't have you turn there but here's the reference right here but we but we should always give thanks to God for you brethren beloved by the Lord because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Holy Spirit and faith in the truth second Thessalonians 2 13 same idea same concept same thing in fact in chapter 1 of Peter's first letter 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 1

[39:41] Peter mentions or refers to his readers as those quote who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father those who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father your translation may have a little slightly different rendering but that's the idea the word that Peter uses in first Peter chapter 1 verse 1 for chosen is the word eclectoist what word do you hear in eclectoist election absolutely when every person every chosen or elect person every predetermined predestined person comes to faith in Christ the time of merciful patience on their account will end on the day of the Lord Jesus Christ will come again to judge those who have remained in unbelief that's the terrifying reality as we'll see

[40:56] God willing next week the day of the Lord is indeed a terrifying time of judgment God is going to pour out his wrath on unbelievers believers but God's chosen ones believers are delivered from the day of the Lord hence my title you and I escape the judgment that the day of the Lord is going to bring on humanity the chosen who have trusted in Jesus to forgive them for their sins will not perish in that time they'll be rescued from the judgment they'll be rescued from the destruction of what Peter says will be ungodly or unbelieving people men and women boys and girls the doctrine of God's electing grace I realize friends it's much maligned and much misunderstood and much misrepresented in many circles of evangelicalism church life across really the world we've seen it everywhere we've gone and I understand that it is true now hear me carefully please brothers and sisters it is true in scripture that God has chosen certain ones for salvation who are known as his beloved his elect it is also true in scripture that alongside the doctrine of God's electing grace we can say the following things and not compromise that doctrine in any way and here they are and Greg and I are going on record pastorally with this you will find this in some fashion or form in our doctrinal statement so that people who come to our church if they'll read that document carefully and interact with it if they'll read the material that we hand to them about membership there will be no question in their mind where we stand on this issue here's some things that we can say about the doctrine of election as we bring scripture to bear alongside that doctrine we can also say these things look at this

[43:11] God takes no pleasure in the death of unbelievers please don't look at the doctrine of election and think what a horrible God what a judgmental punishing awful angry God don't think that that needs to be checked with the reality of what his wrath is about do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked declares the Lord God rather than that he should turn from his ways and live that's God's heart Ezekiel 18 23 for I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies declares the Lord God therefore repent and live you see what's the emphasis here repent and live salvation come escape the wrath escape the judgment escape that terrible day this is a call to everyone hear me please this is a call to everyone to be saved from sin by turning to God saving grace in

[44:17] Jesus everyone now folks you know for those of you who've been here a while whenever Greg or I preach the gospel and we are specifically making a gospel appeal to people to come to Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins we do not offer any qualifications at all we don't say things like this now for all of you who are elect because we all understand that only the elect can be saved for all of you who are elect we're making an appeal now for you to come to Christ we don't do that why don't we do that we don't believe that that's a biblical gospel appeal we believe the scripture teaches that we're to make that gospel appeal to everyone why well we don't know who the elect are do I I don't know I don't even know if my own children are elect so what do I do I raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord that's what I do I give the gospel to them that's what I do I don't know you don't know nobody knows but the

[45:20] Lord the scripture tells us to preach and teach the gospel so we are faithful to the command of scripture and the mandate of God whether we understand these doctrines or not to do what the scripture says share the gospel go into all the world and bring the message and hope of Jesus to everyone that's how we appeal we believe the Bible teaches that all all who hear the gospel need to hear the gospel and all of them are given the opportunity then to respond to the gospel in grace we understand that only the people whom God chooses and draws to himself will respond to that gospel in favor there's one side of this that belongs wholly to the Lord there's another side that belongs to us right the side that belongs to us is we make the appeal to everyone the side that belongs to God is he sorts out who's elect and who's not another thing that we can put alongside the doctrine of election is this

[46:31] God desires all unbelievers to be saved from their sins now I want you to note a very important word in that statement God desires this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth you see we're not making this up this is right in scripture and it's stated clearly 1st Timothy 2 3 and 4 God desires and then number 3 God offers salvation to all who will repent and live therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent you hear that and so that's our appeal folks that's what we put out to anyone and everyone who will come and sit under the word of

[47:37] God our appeal is come to know Christ come and put your trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins know the hope of knowing Christ friends when we carefully study the Bible and we see that God desires all people everywhere to repent and that God has chosen elected some of those people to salvation the question then comes how do we reconcile those two truths we see that the Bible teaches both both and not to the exclusion of each other God desires for all people everywhere to repent and live he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked and God has chosen some for salvation before the foundation of the world and only those people will be saved how do we reconcile those truths what's the answer we don't we don't you're trying to step into a realm at that point that belongs to the mind of

[48:46] God his ways are higher than our ways I want to share this last quote with you I think it was well stated and very helpful and hopefully it will help bring a little more perspective to what we've been saying from this text before we God willing get into more of the depth of the day of the Lord next week but look at this quote such complexity like we're talking about now is not all that surprising since God being one who exceeds our understanding in other words such exegesis is not a rationalistic expedient but an acknowledgement of the mystery and depth of God's revelation in other words let me just stop right there and pause it you'll read ahead if I don't go back let me go through that such exegesis such careful study of the verses that we're dealing with as we draw out of the scripture not read into

[49:54] I have a bias absolutely I have a bias well that's what I have to work to allow scripture to factor out as I preach the truth because you you've heard us say you don't need to hear from Jeff and Greg in terms of our opinion you need to hear thus say the Lord one of the hardest things Greg and I was like holy cow what does that mean well I found out what it means listen such exegesis such careful study of the scripture is not a rationalistic expedient but an acknowledgement of the mystery and depth of God's revelation we are not talking about the doctrine of election as some rational way of getting around the fact that the scripture says that any and all can be saved this isn't our little spin on that reality because we have this bias about what we think the

[50:56] Bible means that's not what this is we are allowing for the mystery that is in part of this doctrine alright he goes on to say this neither dimension of the biblical text should be denied God really and truly desires that every person repent and turn to him yes we should not retreat to God's decreed will election to nullify and negate what the text says nor should we use this verse to cancel out God's ordained will election better to live with the tension and mystery of the text than to swallow it up in a philosophical system that pretends to understand all of God's ways I don't God's patience and his love are not illusions but neither do they remove his sovereignty that's good we accept and believe and we live the beautiful truth that

[52:12] God saves knowing that he that had he not elected some to salvation all would perish in judgment you understand that the question is not why doesn't God save everybody the question is why did God save anyone knowing that no one is deserving if God did not elect some to come to him and predetermine those people would be saved nobody would get saved nobody would come to Jesus on their own nobody the scripture is very clear sin is so powerful in us that if God doesn't predestine us to salvation and draw us by his own will we will not come we'll stiff arm God right into the grave and into hell such is the power of the electing grace of God that's why John MacArthur has said and many other conservative theologians have said election is the most beautiful doctrine in the scriptures because it displays the beautiful love of

[53:19] God's grace on the cross that Jesus went to the cross to save and to spare God's elect he died for those people he died with a purpose and the purpose was to bring those predetermined people to salvation in him he went to the cross for that specific purpose he didn't die in a general way he died in a specific way or not just a general way he died for a specific people and we believe that he died to save the elect from the destruction and the judgment that is coming in the day of the Lord it is all about salvation and so here at Grace Church we preach Jesus crucified buried and raised again and we appeal to everyone to come to Christ for the forgiveness of their sins everyone all who will listen all who will hear come and know

[54:20] Jesus and rest in him let's pray together father god these are very deep waters that we wade into at times we know that all of scripture is your truth and all of scripture bears on how we're to think about living our lives to your glory we come across places like this in the bible and we truly are stepped back in astonishment that these truths that seem so paradoxical can be truths together it just helps us see that your mind and your heart are so much bigger than we could really ever know on this side of heaven but help us father help us in our faith to believe you and to take you at your word so that we live our lives witnessing sharing verbally testifying to the hope that you offer to all men and women who will come and believe on you and look to you for salvation help us lord to be willing to share with anyone and everyone regardless of who they are where they are how they live the hope that we all have in

[55:42] Jesus father we thank you so much for our brother Pedro's life we thank you that these are the kinds of things that led Pedro to live the way he lived and gave him the kind of love and concern for his family that he had him and to him so his father remembered him his team his family and his and he done so how he did him and we in his soul mate an all the firsts that she's experiencing the first Sunday without Pedro in over 37 years.

[56:34] The first time that she wakes up and her husband isn't there. The first time she celebrates the day of his birth and he isn't there. Please help her to remember, even in her sadness, that the joy of Pedro's heart right now is that he is in the loving arms of Jesus and he is knowing the blessings of all the treasures of heaven as he's kept in Jesus's wonderful care.

[57:04] For those of us who are left behind, help us to be faithful and sobered, but help us also to experience the great joy that you have given us life to live in your name.

[57:16] We do pray all of this for your glory and in your name. Amen.