Jesus is Coming Back – Part 2

Knowing God Personally

2 Peter 3:8-10

Colossians 3:2-4

To “let heaven fill your thoughts” means to look at life from God’s perspective and to seek .

Why the delay in Christ’s return?
With all the pain, why doesn’t He come back now?
What can a good God possibly be waiting for?

“Look, if someone wrote a play just to glorify what is stronger than hate
Would they not arrange the stage to look as if the hero came too late.
He’s almost in defeat, it’s looking like the evil side will win
So on the edge of every seat from the moment that the whole thing begins.
It is love who mixed the mortar. It is love that stacked these stones,
It is love who made the stage here—though it looks like we’re alone.
In this scene set in the shadows like the night is here to stay,
there’s evil cast around us . . . but it’s love who wrote the play.
And in this darkness love will show the way.” -David Wilcox

Peter’s words to us as Christ followers in 3:1-7 were to hold on to the message of God’s Word about the coming judgment and live godly lives in anticipation of Christ’s return. In explaining why Jesus has not yet returned, Peter gives us two reasons in verses 8 and 9 and then an urgent warning in verse 10.

1.    The Lord is (v. 8)

Psalm 90:1-4

“Your years neither come nor go; whereas ours both come and go . . . Your years are one day; and Your day is not daily, but Today . . . for You have made all things; and before all times You are.”                            Augustine, “Confessions”

2.   The Lord is toward us (v. 9)

     -Patient

Without God’s patience, we’d have .

Galatians 4:4

 –

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.”                                                                                                                          John 6:44

To repent means to change your .

“Confession is an admission; it is saying, ‘I have sinned.’ Repentance takes that confession and puts it into action. It is declaring, ‘I am changing my mind and my behavior so that I will not sin again.’ Repentance involves the actual doing of what we say we are going to do.
The prodigal son said, ‘I will arise and go to my father,’ and two verses later we read, ‘He arose and came to his father’ (Luke 15:18, 20). The prodigal son changed his mind, he made a decision about a change in his behavior (which included a change in his circumstances and location), and then he acted on that decision. That’s repentance.
Repentance doesn’t bring you into a forgiven, free–of–guilt relationship with the Father. (Confession and asking God to forgive you do that.) Repentance keeps you there.”                            -Charles Stanley, “Experiencing Forgiveness”

3.  The Lord’s Coming will (v. 10)

·      It Will Be

·      It Is

 “He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he [Jesus] is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.”                                                                    Acts 10:42

“Do you believe in divine judgment? By which I mean, do you believe in a God who acts as our Judge? Many, it seems, do not. Speak to them of God as Father, a friend, a helper, one who loves us despite all our weaknesses and folly and sin, and their faces light up; you are on their wavelength at once. But speak to them of God as Judge, and they frown and shake their heads.”                                                                                                               -J. I. Packer

Our response:

·      While some things are revealed about the future and we can be sure of the big picture, there is a lot that is still a mystery.

·      Be tolerant of those who see things differently than you do.

·      on what Scripture is clear about.

“Mr. Beaver told the children this old poem:
Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight.
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death.
And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.” – C.S. Lewis

Daily Meditations

Memory verse: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”                2 Peter 3:9

Monday

Read 2 Peter 3:1-10.  According to verse 8, what did Peter tell his readers not to forget?

How does the fact that the earth will one day be destroyed affect your daily life?

Tuesday

Read 2 Peter 3:1-10.  How is the Lord not like us?

How should the reality that the earth will one day be destroyed affect the way we live our lives from day to day?

Wednesday

Read 2 Peter 3:1-10.  Why is the Lord patient?  See verse 9.   

How have you personally benefited from God’s patience?

Thursday

Read 2 Peter 3:1-10.  When have you thought that God was either not patient enough or too patient with you or someone else?

Read Isaiah 30:18 and write down all that you learn about God from this verse. 

Friday

Read 2 Peter 3:1-10.  In verse 10, how will the day of the Lord appear?

Why is it easy to spend little time looking forward to the new heaven and new earth?

Saturday

Read 2 Peter 3.  Spend some time today reading through as we prepare for tomorrow’s corporate worship service.  Also, go back over any question you didn’t get to and work on it.  Finally, 2 Peter 3:9 is a great verse to memorize and to pray for your non-Christian friends.