Sermon Tone Analysis

“*THE DAY OF THE LORD*”

(A Godly People – Series in II Peter)

 

Westgate Chapel 7~/15~/01                                    2 Peter 3:10-13

 

PROPOSITION:  The Day of the Lord will come with judgment that will be sudden, that has already begun, and with only one way of escape.

!

I.    INTRODUCTION

!! -     RIGHT now, the Church of Jesus Christ in India is experiencing unprecedented persecution at the hands of Hindu extremists….and

the Hindu nationalist government is closing its eyes to the violence.

!! -     SOME of our own pastors in Malabar have been attacked and beaten.

Some of our own churches have been vandalized.

!! -     BUT reports are coming back to us that in spite of persecution, maybe even as a result of persecution, the church is flourishing and new believers are being added daily.

!! -     AT least four of our own churches in Malabar, planted just less than two years ago, are already running over 70 in attendance and all of those converted Hindus.

!! -     IN a city called Ponpara, one of the men who was a bootlegger and communist party leader in the town was persecuting our church and pastor...has just received Christ in one of the services where he had come to mock the pastor…and joined the church.

!! -     NOW that man’s family and whole village has come to Christ…and is now unemployed because they were all making illegal liquor.

!! -     HISTORICALLY, Christianity has always done well in times of persecution.

!! -     THE first epistle of Peter was written by the apostle to churches in Asia Minor suffering persecution…and he writes to encourage them to not retaliate, but hold on to God, be faithful in the work of the kingdom, and put their hope in their eternal home.

!! -     THE second epistle of Peter was written because there was an attack from inside the churches of Asia Minor.

!! -     AND this attack was far more insidious and far more dangerous than persecution.

!! -     WHEN the enemy is loosed from inside the church, by the people of the church…the result is almost always disastrous.

!! -     THE specific focus of this second epistle is the growing belief that loose living is OK… that there was going to be no judgment, no final accountability before God….so

live to please yourself.

!! -     THE kinds of things that Peter identifies inside the churches are…

!!! ~*     …distortion and twisting of Scriptures (1:20; 3:16).

!!! ~*     …shamefully extravagant lifestyles (2:2).

!!! ~*     …greed (2:3).

!!! ~*     …eyes full of adultery (2:14).

!!! ~*     …treating holy things flippantly (2:12).

!!! ~*     …arrogance and willfulness (2:10).

!!! ~*     …boastful words (2:18).

!!! ~*     …rejection of all authority (2:10).

!! -     SO 2nd Peter is more in your face than Peter’s 1st epistle…and for good reason.

The very survival of the church is at stake.

!! -     WHICH is what makes 2nd Peter so appropriate for our day…and the erosion of Biblical standards of holiness and the invasion of materialism, selfishness, adultery, willfulness, and the rejection of all authority inside the Church of Jesus.

!! -     AND the focus of the last chapter of 2nd Peter is coming judgment.

!! -     JUDGMENT is never intended to be the motivator to bring people to God.

!! -     IT is God’s mercy and grace that are intended to draw us to Himself (Romans 2:4).

!! -     BUT without the backdrop of the judgments of God, the subjects of mercy and grace are totally without meaning.

!! -     SO in 2nd Peter 3:10-13 (page 1206), Peter directs the attention of the Christians in these churches in Asia Minor to the subject of God’s final judgment.

!! -     AND twice in these four verses Peter calls it “The Day of the Lord.”

!! -     THE Day of the Lord is…

!!! ~*     The day that God establishes His kingdom of righteousness in all the earth as the only game in town….with

Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords.

!!! ~*     The day that Satan’s influence, his power, and all of his emissaries, human and demonic, will be cast into the lake of fire...the eternal judgment of God on sin forever.

!!! ~*     The day that all sin, all evil, all attacks on God’s kingdom will forever be destroyed.

!!! ~*     That day that all true Christians will enter into an eternity of unrestricted victory and unequalled joy.

!!!!       “*No longer will there be any curse.

The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him*.

(4) *They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.*

(5) *There will be no more night.

They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.

And they will reign for ever and ever*.”

(Revelation 22:3-5)

!! -     THE Day of the Lord is mentioned 22 times in the Bible, from Isaiah to 2 Peter 3:10.

!! -     THE Old Testament describes it primarily in terms of God’s coming and final day of wrath.

For example Isaiah 13:9 says.

!!!       “*See, the day of the LORD is coming-- a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger-- to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it*.”

!! -     IN the New Testament that Day still has a backdrop of God’s wrath, but it is also describes the Christian’s position in those events.

!!! ~*     In John 6:40, Jesus says,

!!!!       “*For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day*.”

!!! ~*     In Philippians 1:6 Paul writes that he is,

!!!!       “…*confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus*.”

!!! ~*     In Acts 2:20 Peter describes it as the,

!!!!       “…*great and glorious day of the Lord*.”

!!! ~*     And he goes on to say that in that day,

!!!       “…*everyone who* (had called) *on the name of the Lord will be saved*.”

(Acts 2:21)

!! -     THE apostle Peter teaches us three things about the Day of the Lord this morning…and its ramifications for us, this 15th day of July, 2001.

!!!  

! II.   it will be sudden

!! -     HERE is the first lesson.

!! -     IT is in 2 Peter 3:10.

!!!       “*But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.*”

!! -     THE Day of the Lord will come (emphatic in the Greek) suddenly!

!! -     PETER is most certainly here remembering Jesus’ words that he had heard with his own ears, recorded in Matthew 24:43-44,

!!!       “*But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.*

(44) *So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him*.”

!! -     THE apostle Paul uses the same metaphor of the Day of the Lord coming like a thief in I Thessalonians 5:1-4,

!!!       “*Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you*, (2) *for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.*

(3) *While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape*.”

!! -     AND in all of the contexts where this metaphor of the thief is used to describe how suddenly and unexpectedly the Day of the Lord will come…the call of the Holy Spirit to us is for watchfulness and readiness at all times.

!!! ~*     Don’t lose your first love for Jesus Christ or that Day will catch you without Light in your lampstand (Revelation 2:5).

!!! ~*     Don’t be without the oil of the Spirit, or that Day will catch you outside the kingdom of God (Matthew 25).

!!! ~*     Don’t neglect the priorities of God’s kingdom, or on that Day you will find yourself consigned to a place of torment (Matthew 24).

!!! ~*     Don’t be caught sleeping spiritually

!!! ~*     Don’t neglect to live a lifestyle of repentance for sin, because in Jesus’ own words in Revelation 3:3,

!!!!       “*Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent.

But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you*.”

!! -     THE false teachers inside the churches of Asia Minor had created an environment of spiritual laxity and ease….where

compromise with the world was encouraged because they said there would be no final judgment.

!! -     AND Peter responds with the urgency of Jesus’ own words on the subject….the

Day of the Lord will come suddenly, like a thief in the night.

!! -     THEN Peter describes that Day in the rest of verse 10,

!!!       “*The heavens will disappear with a roar*…”

!!!! •     The “heavens” here is the sky disappearing.

!!!! •     The Greek word translated “roar” includes the sound of…

!!!!! -     arrows flying by.

!!!!! -     rush of many wings.

!!!!! -     mighty wind.

!!!!! -     roaring waters.

!! -     LET’S read on in verse 10,

!!! *      *“…*the elements will be destroyed by fire*…”

!!!! •     The “elements” here are the heavenly bodies of the universe.