We're reading from 2 Peter 3 verses 8 to 10.
Let's awaken our hearts and minds with the word of the Lord.
It says from verse 8.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.
The heavens will disappear with a roar.
The elements will be destroyed by fire.
And the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
I just thought I'd read to you from Psalm 90 just a little bit.
It says from verse 3.
You turn people back to dust saying, return to dust you mortals.
A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by or like a watch in the night.
Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death.
They are like the new grass of the morning.
In the morning it springs up new but by evening it's dry and withered.
And then I just want to read to you from the end of Malachi as well.
We're not going to do the whole Bible.
I'll just get to this bit here.
This is the penultimate and ultimate verse of the Old Testament.
Chapter 4 verse 5 and 6.
They're two really important bits of context.
What we're looking at here.
But why don't we pray?
Let's pray.
Gracious Lord and Heavenly Father, the powerful Creator and Judge, the Lord for whom a thousand years are like a day.
Father, we come before you as your creatures, as mortals who are like the grass of the field.
Entirely dependent upon you.
Father, we pray we'd understand our position as we look at your word now.
We pray, Lord, we listen well, that your spirit would indeed infuse your word in our hearts.
And we pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
It can be very difficult to tell someone they're fired.
I don't know if you've been in that position before in your life.
I want to say show of hands if you've had to sack somebody but I don't want to do that at the same time.
Oh, somebody's proud of it in the back row.
That's great.
No, I'm just kidding.
I say a lot of things I regret.
That'll be one of them.
Anyway, it can be difficult to tell someone they're fired.
I've had to do it, especially when you care about them.
Kath and I, we, I got like diagnosed with anxiety disorder when I was, just before I went to Bible college.
And one of the things that I worked out and helped me was watching mindless TV.
So it's medical.
That's why I do it.
Kath and I watched this show on Apple TV called Acapulco.
Show of hands if you've seen Acapulco.
All right.
That's good.
I don't know whether we watched it because we've watched every other thing on the internet.
But anyway, it's about a young bloke called Maximo who gets a dream job of managing the flashiest resort in Acapulco.
He's quite an endearing character.
One of the hardest things he has to do as this sweet, innocent young local guy is learn to fire his friends.
In particular, the resort bartender who's been giving free drinks to everybody just so he can get bigger tips from them.
It's a good strategy, right?
You give stuff away for free.
They tip you.
You make all the money.
Now, Maximo knew about this.
But the thing about this sweet guy is he just couldn't bring himself to sack him.
Even though he knew that his own job depended on it, he couldn't sack this guy who was slowly destroying the resort by his actions.
He loved him too much.
That's on Apple TV if you want to watch it.
Anyway, as we continue in this part of 2 Peter, we're going to see that God is incredibly patient with us.
He loves us.
He doesn't want anyone to perish.
He loves us more than Maximo loved his colleagues.
And that's great for us, right?
It's great for our neighbours.
It's great for our kids.
It's great for our friends.
It's great for the entirety of my extended family who haven't yet put their faith in Jesus.
But the difference between the Lord and Maximo, there are lots of differences.
The Lord won't let us rebel against him forever.
He is a God of perfect justice, which is bad for anyone who hasn't put their faith in him.
Now, there aren't many verses here, but they do tell us a lot.
So if you've got your Bibles open in any translation at 2 Peter 3, verse 8,
the first thing we're going to see here is God is patient.
He doesn't want anyone to perish.
This is such a beautiful part of the character of God.
All the parts are beautiful.
I love this.
It says,
Does that seem familiar to you at all?
In the first part of the passage, Peter explained that there will be a judgment day.
Remember, even though it was first talked about 800 years before 2 Peter was written,
God is going to do it.
Malachi spoke about it.
Even, you know, 400 years after it was first spoken about, Malachi spoke about it again.
God is going to do it.
The Lord is going to come and strike the land with total destruction.
They were Malachi's words.
And Peter said in the first part of this passage,
even though people will ridicule the idea of that ever happening, remember,
even though they'll mock it,
does God always do what he says?
Of course he does.
And here, Peter wants his readers to know
God's timescale is different to ours.
And he takes us to Psalm 90
to remind us that God's timescale is different to ours.
A thousand years in your sight are like a day, the psalmist sang.
The psalmist is saying,
the sheer majesty of God is incomprehensible for us.
We think 30, 40, 90 years is a long time.
It's nothing.
It's like the grass growing in the morning and withering in the evening
compared to the power and the majesty of God.
Time is, it's a different scale with him.
And Peter's referring to that here in order to say to his readers,
God's timing is different to our timing.
God's patience is different to our patience.
We don't get it.
We can't get our head around it.
I look around at the folly of the wisdom of the youth of my children
because I've lived so much longer than them.
What a fool, right?
Compared to our creator God
for whom a thousand years are like a day.
God's timing is not our timing.
But a key reason behind his timing in verse 9
is his patience.
He is patient.
He's not slow in keeping his promise to judge the wicked.
Instead, he's patient.
That instead, it's a contrastive conjunction, right?
It's strong.
It's a big but.
Don't be mistaken.
God is not slow in keeping his promises.
No, he's patient.
He's patient.
And this case, the reason he's being patient
is clearly stated in verse 9.
He doesn't desire that anyone should perish.
How good is that, right?
What sort of a God would create people just to destroy them?
Well, God doesn't desire.
What does God desire?
God doesn't desire that anyone should perish.
That is, he wants everyone to come to Jesus.
He wants everyone to come to repentance.
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise,
as some understand slowness.
Instead, but,
by contrast, he's patient with you.
Not wanting anyone to perish,
but everyone to come to repentance.
I love that about the character of God.
This is a refrain in the scriptures.
This is an important part of the character of God.
Did you know this about God?
It stands out like lights on a Christmas tree
in a dark night.
God's desire is for all to turn to him.
In 1 Timothy 2, verse 4,
Paul says,
God wants all people to be saved
and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
That's what God wants.
How good is that?
Twice in Ezekiel,
in a book that at times can be very angry,
in a book that reflects the justice of God,
God says,
I do not delight in the death of the wicked,
but I am pleased when they turn from their ways and live.
That's what God is like.
That's the God that we follow.
Now, to be clear,
and also a bit confusing,
and Kath said,
don't talk about this,
just go through,
it's a bit too distracting.
And I was like,
I'm going to talk about it.
The Bible is also clear
that it is only and entirely
by the decree of God
that anyone would turn and be saved.
Got it?
It's only and entirely
by the decree of God,
a D word,
decree of God,
that anyone would turn and be saved.
Yet, what's the other D word?
What's the desire of God
that everyone would be saved?
We believe that God is sovereign
over every part of salvation.
I watched an amazing 2 minute,
50 second video
by Pastor David Bott during the week,
and one of the distinctive characteristics
of Gracie Evangelical Church
is that we believe that God
is in charge of every part of salvation.
Absolutely.
God rules.
Okay?
God is sovereign over salvation.
The only reason anyone would turn to God
is if he decreed it.
And we take comfort in that great truth,
knowing that if we are a believer,
praise the Lord,
he's done it for us.
It's great.
Every aspect of it.
But while we hold that truth firmly,
like one track on a rail,
we hold the other truth firmly,
like the other rail.
That while God might decree
who is and isn't saved,
his desire,
as unquestionably expressed in the Scriptures,
is that all would turn to him.
Is that all would turn
and put their faith in Jesus.
That everyone would come to repentance.
We don't try and force those two rails together,
do we?
Because we don't want to crash the truth train,
right?
But God's decree
is what saves us.
Yet his desire
is expressed in his patience.
And that is that he doesn't want
any to perish,
but everyone to come to repentance
and to believe in Jesus.
Peter says,
this is why the day of the Lord hasn't come yet.
God is patient.
Are you patient?
And sometimes,
I had red hair at some stage in my life,
a bit like Robert used to have blonde curly hair.
I used to have red hair.
And I was not very patient as a child at all.
And I've gotten better as I've gotten older.
Sometimes I might make a loose threat to my kids.
I'll say to them,
look mate,
this is the third time
I've asked you to get off your phone
and go and clean up the kitchen.
You've made a massive mess in there.
And if you don't do it,
I'm taking your phone off you
for a month.
Because I'm losing my patience, right?
And so I just throw this big month out there
of my kids not having any screen time,
which I will suffer for.
For them,
that is akin to condemnation.
I may as well be damning them
to the corner of hell in their mind
by taking their phone off them.
You know what?
I don't actually want to do it.
The reason I'm saying that to them,
the reason I'm saying,
I'll take your phone off you,
isn't because I'm some sort of nasty overlord
who delights in seeing them without screens.
No,
I actually just want them to delight
in cleaning up after themselves.
I want them to learn to have servant hearts.
And so,
I just,
I'm patient.
Before I inflict the punishment,
I let a bit of time pass.
But,
my patience is not a thousand years.
I reckon I've got about 45 minutes up my sleeve.
God is not like that.
He is so patient.
And his patience is driven by his desire
that none should perish.
You think about God in the history of the Old Testament.
He's been patient with humanity from the beginning.
You may not remember this,
but what did he say to the first humans
would happen if they sin?
You'll die.
Yet they ate the fruit.
And did they die?
Well,
yes,
they did.
Because God always does what God says he will do,
right?
But was he patient with them?
Absolutely he was.
They lived for hundreds of years,
over which time he clothed them,
he fed them,
he gave them descendants.
God's patience,
it's been there from the beginning.
He waited thousands of years for humanity
to listen to his word through the prophets.
There's a beautiful part in Romans
where it says,
I held out my hand all day long to you.
God is so patient.
He demonstrated his patience
by withholding his judgment,
by sending his son to bear his judgment
on our sin.
Jesus is God's final act of patience towards us.
How great,
right?
You want to know if God is patient?
After thousands of years of rebellion,
he sends his son
to hold out an offer of salvation to us one more time.
God is patiently holding the offer of forgiveness out right now
to sinners.
Like me,
like you,
our neighbors,
our colleagues.
One last offer.
God's final word.
This is why we're here today.
This is why I'm in Bathurst
and you're in Newcastle
or the greater Newcastle region.
God's left us here
because he's patient.
He doesn't want
our families,
our neighbors,
our classmates,
our colleagues to perish.
There's this beautiful part in Matthew's gospel.
We're looking at Matthew next term in church
and there's this beautiful part
where Jesus looks around at the crowd
and it says that he sees that they're harassed and helpless
like sheep without a shepherd.
And how does he feel towards them?
He has compassion on them.
That's the character of God for our world.
God's left us here among these harassed and helpless people
and if we're part of his church,
he's left us here to help these people come to a knowledge of truth about Jesus.
Is that how you understand
why you are where you are?
Why you're in the number of the house that you're in?
Why you're in 22 White Street?
Why you're doing first year electrical engineering?
Do you understand that you are where you are
as a member of the people of God
because God is patient
and he doesn't want any to perish?
He's placed you there
that you might witness to his character,
that you might share the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ
and that your neighbours,
your colleagues,
your classmates,
your friends,
your children,
your parents,
they might somehow see your good deeds
or hear the gospel
and turn and glorify God
on the day that he comes to visit us.
That's God's plan.
You're a plant
in whatever context you're in.
You might have think that you moved to Newcastle
for family
and you might have think you moved there to study
or for friends
or for a relationship
or for a job
for the career.
Wrong.
You are there because God is patient
and he does not want the people of Newcastle to perish.
He's decreed that some people in that city
might come to know the Lord Jesus Christ
and you are part of his plan.
You're an expression of the patience of God.
God.
That's our purpose.
Do you talk to people about Jesus?
How do you live out your purpose?
Maybe
you might invite people to church.
Maybe you try to live a godly life around them.
Maybe God's blessed you with children
and you think to yourself,
well,
God's given me these kids
in order that I might reveal his character to them
so I'm going to try and read the word with them.
I'm going to try and point them towards Jesus
and when they get older and rebel,
I'm going to pray for them.
If we understand our purpose,
if we understand the character of God,
if we understand the heart of God,
it reshapes how we act in our circumstances.
If I'm at work to be a witness,
there are things I just don't do.
You know,
I was an accountant.
I became a Christian while I was an accountant.
I know that my clients were interested in earning
and saving as much money as they could.
Before I was a Christian,
the way that I acted in order to make that happen for them,
well,
it had to change when I became a Christian
because I'm trying to witness to them.
When I'm getting out of my car
after the commute,
I've got to drive about three and a half minutes
to get home from church.
It's very easy for me not to want to talk to my neighbour.
Jeff is the guy that I usually see.
He's on the top side
where the fence doesn't extend all the way to the front.
And I'll see him there
and sometimes I've had a bit of an intense day.
I'll just wait a few seconds in the car
hoping that Jeff goes inside
or then I'll get out
and I'll just turn.
That's not why I'm in 22 Rosemont Avenue.
I'm not there to avoid people.
God actually doesn't want Jeff to perish.
He's actually placed me in my house.
Forget about my job at church.
He's placed me in my house to witness to Jeff.
It's possible Jeff has some Christian family member somewhere
who's praying that God might put somebody in Jeff's life
who could bear witness to him
and here's this dog skiving off from his car after work
trying to avoid Jeff.
God doesn't want Jeff to perish.
Our purpose is to live out God's character
in the context of our ordinary lives.
Did you realise that?
That you are not put on earth to avoid people
and get on with life.
The reason you are still here
is because God is patient.
He doesn't want anyone to perish
but everyone to turn in repentance
to the Lord Jesus Christ.
We're still here because that is what God is like.
But God is also just.
And he will expose everything.
Read from verse 10.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.
The heavens will disappear with a roar.
The elements will be destroyed by fire
and the earth and everything done in it
will be laid bare.
While God cares deeply about the creatures
he breathed life into
he is just
and as the end of verse 10 says
the earth and its deeds
will be exposed
before the judge.
Or as Romans 14.12 says
each of us will give an account
of him or herself to God.
Or as Hebrews 9.27 says
it's destined for man to die once
and after that comes judgment.
Or as Hebrews 4.13 says
no creature is hidden from his sight
but all are naked and exposed
to the eyes of him
to whom we must give account.
What a terrifying prospect, right?
No one will escape
the justice of God.
It makes sense.
Like if there is a creator God
and it wasn't just a trivial flick of his
you know he doesn't have
like he's not just easily bored
and so he decided to create the world.
If there's a creator God
who actually cares about his creation
who created us for a purpose
of course he's going to hold us
to account for how we live.
It just
it doesn't make sense any other way.
No one will escape
the justice of God.
He can't let our rebellion
against him last forever.
On the great and terrible day
as Malachi calls it
that he comes
it seems like the old creation
will be done away with
and the new will come.
Whether it's a renovation
or a replacement
you guys can talk about that
over morning tea.
But the destruction
of the very fabric
of the old order
is a sure thing.
Its constituent parts
will be laid bare.
That's the thrust
of what this passage is saying.
This is what the Bible teaches
and this is what Christians believe
that each of us
will face the justice of God
and none can escape that day.
We won't even have our clothing
to hide behind.
We'll be exposed
and laid bare.
That grace
that God first showed
Adam and Eve
in the garden
we will be exposed
completely
before our God.
We don't know
when it's going to come.
It'll be like a thief
in the night.
Unexpectedly
we'll find ourselves
before our creator
on that great
and terrible day.
We sold
our family farm
recently.
It's been in our family
since European settlement.
I have so many memories
there.
It's basically
like my dad was in the bank
when I was growing up
so we moved around
a whole stack
but that farm
was my real home.
Recently
the new owners
bulldozed
the original farmhouse.
Yeah.
Well
actually it's not the original
but it's the one
that I grew up
in and around
because the original one
is still there
but it's not fit
for habitation.
But the one they bulldozed
is 130 years old.
There's literally
no sign of it anymore.
I was down visiting
my mum last week.
It's the first time
I've been there
since it's happened
and yeah
there's no sign
of it anymore.
And it's heartbreaking
to go and see
something that was
so huge
and so important
and filled with
so many memories
and it's gone.
how much more
the destruction
that awaits
the heavens
and the earth.
You think about
the beauty
and the love
the experiences
you've had
the marred image
of God
but the image
of God
nonetheless
in your neighbours
and friends
and colleagues.
One day
the Lord
will come
like a thief
and all of it
will be exposed.
The heavens
will disappear
the elements
will be destroyed
the earth
and everything
in it
everything done
in it
will be laid bare.
This is
our conviction
as followers
of Jesus.
Because we're
aware of the
unpredictability
and inescapability
of that great
and terrible day
it ought to
become urgent
for us
to engage
with our
friends and
family
our neighbours
and our
colleagues
our world
how much
more
important
is it
for us
than any
other thing
knowing that
it could
come at
any time.
people
know
in order
to apply
this
stuff
you
actually
have
to
believe
it
so
the
first
question
I have
to ask
is
do you
believe
this
do you
accept
this
as
true
do you
actually
believe
a day
like
this
is
coming
if you
do
it's
big
you
probably
heard
this
preacher's
illustration
before
if you
knew a
long-range
missile was
coming towards
your neighbour
and you
didn't warn
them or tell
them to
escape
what sort
of a
neighbour
would you
be
right
it makes
sense
that if we
know the
great and
terrible day
of the
Lord is
coming
like a
thief in
the
night
that we
would
prioritise
evangelism
God
hasn't
left us
here
to
perfect
the art
of the
Lord's
supper
God
hasn't
left us
here
to nail
AGMs
God
hasn't
left us
here
to
finally
sort
out
which
version
of
be
thou
my
vision
we're
going
to
sing
it's
the
Lord's
prayer
of
songs
isn't
it
we've
all
got
our
own
historical
version
of
it
God's
left us
here
because
he's
patient
and he
doesn't
want
any
to
perish
now
none
of the
things
we work
on at
church
like
songs
and the
Lord's
supper
and AGMs
are evil
but they're
not why
God's
left us
here
God
hasn't
left us
here
so we
can
cloister
ourselves
away
on
church
camps
or so
we can
send our
kids to
Christian
schools
so they
can
make
Christian
friends
and
become
Christian
school
teachers
one
day
and
play
soccer
on the
weekend
with
their
friends
from
church
it's
kind of
funny
but it's
often how
the Christian
life is
lived out
God
hasn't left us
here for that
purpose
I'm not
saying
Christian
schools
and Christian
soccer
teams
and
you know
Christian
community
is evil
please don't
hear me
saying that
but this
is not
heaven
is it
we're
not here
as an
expression
of heaven
on earth
we're
here
because
God's
patient
not
wanting
anyone
to
perish
God's
left us
here to
point the
people in
this world
the people
in our
ordinary
lives
to his
patient
and gracious
offer of
life in
Jesus
before the
heavens and
the earth
are laid
bare
how do
you go
at positioning
yourself for
evangelism
have you
positioned
yourself
and your
family
to have
the opportunity
to do it
in the way
you've set
up your
life
think about
it
if you're
at the
very early
stage of
having kids
or you
haven't had
them yet
ask yourself
how are we
going to set
this thing
up so our
family can
witness to
the Lord
Jesus
Christ
it might
be the
case
that you
decide to
send them
to a
Christian
school
or to
homeschool
them
to give
them a
solid
anchor
in the
faith
so that
when they
go out
into the
world
they can
live for
Jesus
but make
sure you're
very clear
with them
that that's
what you're
doing
you're not
hiding them
you're not
cloistering
them from
the evil
world
no you're
actually setting
them up to
reach this
world
it might be
that you
decide to
send them
to a
state
school
we did
that with
our
kids
you're
throwing
them to
the wolves
in a
sense
if you
do that
make sure
you read
the Bible
with them
and ask
them how
they're
going at
sharing the
gospel with
their friends
because we
are here for
that purpose
if you're
part of a
team a
sporting team
with all your
Christian mates
from church
invite somebody
who's not from
church into the
team or go
and join a
team with a
couple of your
Christian mates
that isn't
from church
God hasn't
left us here
just to
cloister
ourselves away
he's patient
this is so
offensive to
Christians when I
say this I
love that I
can do it
at your
church camp
and not
my own
but it's
really important
for us to
understand that
we're not
here to
perfect
ourselves and
ignore the
world around
us
we're here
for the
Paul says
to the
Thessalonians
I lived
among you
for your
sake
that's why
we're here
I think
about this
and I get a
little bit
emotional
because I'm
a bit
tired
but also
like
my whole
family is
non-Christian
like how
would I have
come to
Christ
if I didn't
have a
Christian
mate at
school
or if I
didn't have
some minister
who was
willing to
play in a
secular
AUSTAG team
and invite
me along
like if
we're not
doing that
in our
life
how will
people ever
know
you know
I've spoken
to a few
people who've
gone to
Zambia to
share the
gospel
that's great
right
there's so
many people
that have
gone to
Zambia in
this church
it's amazing
I'm not even
asking you to
go to
Zambia
like go to
I don't even
know the name
of a single
suburb in
Newcastle but
just go there
and point
people to
Christ
how do you
go with
talking to
people about
Jesus
I find it
hard
I've become
involved in
the local
athletics club
because all of
my life is
Christian
and our
kids are
now like
at the age
where they
don't want us
to be part of
their school
community anymore
they're all in
high school
so things have
changed
so the only
way I can
meet non-Christians
is through
sport for me
and I find it
really hard to
work out how
to shape my
conversation
towards Christ
and I've been
there for 12
months now in
Bathurst and
it's only really
this week I feel
like I've started
to make any
kind of progress
with that
but we've got
to be doing
it
I think sometimes
I'm so concerned
that people won't
like me if I
talk to them
about Jesus
but consider
glory right
they'll love
me
they'll be like
thanks so much
for saying that
to me
how do you go
at prioritising
evangelism
do you know
what God
is like
do you know
his desire
for the world
and does that
character reflect
in the way
you use
your life
why don't we
pray and ask
God for help
with that
because this is
actually really
hard for us
so let's pray
our heavenly
father we
thank you so
much for your
character
we know that
you're in charge
of everything
that you alone
are sovereign
and you rule
everything
but we delight
to read that
your desire
is that none
should perish
we delight
in hearing
about the
compassion
of the Lord
Jesus
on the
crowds
heavenly
father we
delight
in you
offering
your son
to forgive
us for
our sin
lord help
us to
understand
that the
reason
that you've
left us
here
and you
haven't
just
taken us
back
to glory
is because
you don't
want anyone
in this
world to
perish
father give
us your
heart for
this world
that you've
set us
in
give us
your heart
for our
neighbours
give us
your heart
for our
family
heavenly
father please
use us
to win
people for
your kingdom
that on that
great and
terrible day
they might
see your
glory
having turned
to you
we would
love it if
you used us
that way
and we pray
for your
strength in it
by your spirit
through your
word
amen