Sermon: Sunday, 3rd May, 2026
Speaker: John Johnstone
Scripture: 2 Peter 3:8-13
Why is what we believe so important? It is because our beliefs are what lead to our behaviours. Our Biblical convictions are the foundations of our character. Let’s keep this connection between our beliefs and our behaviours right at the front of our minds this morning.
In 2 Peter chapter 3, there’s a helpful contrast made between the false teachers and the true disciples of Jesus. The belief of the false teachers is that Jesus is not coming back again. There is no Second Coming. And this leads them to evil behaviours – to sexual immorality and following their own evil desires. They live as if they have no accountability. In contrast, true Christians believe in Jesus’ promise that he shall return to judge the world and save his people. This belief leads to the behaviour in verse 11; we want to live ‘holy and godly lives’. What a difference in behaviours! And it is our beliefs which make all the difference. This contrast makes it clear that we must make sure we believe that which is true and good.
Let’s briefly recap what we looked at last week. Peter explains to us that the false teachers mock and deny the reality of Jesus’ future return so that they can continue living in their sins. They prefer to live in the darkness and do not want to come into the light as then their deeds will be exposed. Peter proves from Scripture that God has intervened in judgment throughout history and has the power to do so again. He has the right to judge us all because the is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. God, then, has both the right and the power to judge. No one else does. The false teachers had been claiming that life on earth is cyclical and will just continue as it always has done. But they are wrong. Jesus’ delay in coming back as Saviour and Judge does not mean that he is not coming at all. He will come at exactly the right time. We just don’t know when that is.
This leads to the question: why has Jesus not yet returned? Perhaps you have thought about this question too. After all, the earth is full of human beings who are killing and exploiting one another. There has been 100 million people killed in war in the 20th century alone. If God cares and is all-powerful why would he not come back and stop all the evil immediately? Why is he taking so long? Is he too weak to act? Is he disinterested? Has he forgotten us? In this important section of 2 Peter, Peter outlines 2 reasons Jesus has not yet returned.
1. God does not look at time in the same way that we do
‘But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.’ (2 Peter 3″8) In other words, it might seem from a human perspective that God is taking far too long to usher in his justice, or it might seem like he will never get around to answering the cries of injustice from his people and righting all wrongs. But we must try and see this from God’s perspective; from God’s perspective it is not so very long.
My view of time has changed over the years. I cannot believe I will be 50 in a few weeks. When I was younger, I remember people saying that time seems to go faster the older you get and I think this is true. I cannot believe I will soon just have one of my children at home. Where does all the time go? With God, he exists outside of time, and for him, 1000 years is like a blink of an eye. From God’s perspective, there is no slowness or tardiness or indifference.
In the Lord of the Rings, the wizard Gandalf says to Frodo: ‘A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.’ How much more can this be said of God. Adam and Eve (and all humanity) received a promise from God in Genesis 3:15 that one day someone would come to crush the head of Satan. It took thousands of years to happen. But it happened. Abraham and Sarah are promised a child in their old age. It took 25 years and they grew impatient, but it happened. We need to learn an important practical lesson here: we need to trust that God’s timing is different from ours. And we need to trust that even when it seems like our prayers are not being answered, they are. Will you trust that God’s timing is better than yours?
Why has Jesus has not yet returned? There is an even more fundamental reason.
2. God is patient, and longs for the guilty to turn to him in repentance
This is a most wonderful truth. This means that Jesus has not yet retuned in order to give those on the earth the space and the opportunity to turn from their rebellion and turn towards God in repentance and faith, in order to be saved. This speaks to us of the very heart of God; in God’s heart there is a longing for the guilty to come to repentance. We should think about the patience of God more than we do.
Let’s pause here to listen to some other Bible passages which speak of God’s patience.
‘And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished…’ (Exodus 34:6-7) What is the context of this verse? God had set his people free from slavery in Egypt and provided them with food and water, but they had responded with rebellion, complaints and even worshipping a golden calf. In spite of such a wicked response, we hear of the Lord’s compassion and patience. He is slow to anger.
Even at the very beginning, God promised Adam and Eve that if they ate from the tree they would surely die. And they did. But God delayed his judgment to give them space to repent. And before sending the flood in Genesis 6, the Lord waited 120 years, and during those many decades, Noah preached to his neighbours.
Stephen Charnock: ‘God sends heralds before he sends armies.’
God always warns before he judges, so that he will not need to judge, if people repent and believe. Such patience! In Isaiah we vread how judgement is not God’s preferred action: ‘The Lord will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim, he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon — to do his work, his strange work, and perform his task, his alien task.’ (Isaiah 28:21)
‘For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.’ (Lamentations 3:33)
‘This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.’ (Timothy 2:3-6)
‘Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?’ (Ezekiel 18:23)
Let’s go back to the false teachers. They want us to think that God is not really concerned with what is happening here on earth. We might as well live us we please, they say. But nothing could be further from the truth. God’s delay is because he is so deeply concerned with human beings. With wonderful and undeserved patience, he is waiting for people to repent before it is too late.
Imagine a tour guide in Edinburgh with a bus full of Japanese tourists. The tourist are meant to be back at the bus by 4:30 pm. Half of them do not return in time. What does she do? Does she drive off? No, she sends a few people out to look for those lagging behind. She delays the departure by over an hour so that as many people as possible can make it back to the hotel. She is determined to help as many people as possible. In a sense, that is what God’s delay is like. Eventually, time will run out and judgment will come. But the Lord delays, giving us every opportunity to make it to Heaven.
Thomas Adams: ‘The patience of God is greater than the wickedness of man.’
3. Getting right with God is an urgent matter
If you are not yet a Christian, understand that now is your opportunity to turn away from your rebellion against God. Now is your chance. Take it. Get on your knees and pray for forgiveness and God will forgive. Whatever you do, do not take God’s patience for granted. For one day, it will come to an end. Listen to Paul’s words in his letter to the Romans; ‘Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realising that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?’ (Romans 2:4) Let’s be clear about this marvellous truth: in God’s heart there is a longing for the guilty to come to repentance. Friends, if that’s what God’s heart is like, then our hearts ought to be like that too. Are you slow to anger? Are you quick to forgive? Or are you prone to holding a grudge? Let’s mirror our God.
Why is there so much urgency to get right with God now? As we’ve said, God’s patience with us will not last forever. He does give us space to repent, but if we stubbornly refuse it might be too late to do so. Getting right with God is also urgent because we do not know when Jesus will return. It could be very soon. We do not know. But what we do know is that he will come unexpectedly. ‘But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.’ (2 peter 3:10) Thieves never announce the time they are coming to our homes. They don’t give advanced warning: ‘lock your windows and doors as I am coming on Friday at 11 pm’. You could die any day. Jesus might return at any time. All this means one thing: you need to get right with God now.
4. What will happen on the Day of the Lord?
‘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.’ (2 peter 3:10) This is highly cataclysmic and apocalyptic language describing the end of the world. It is as if the very sky will be rolled up like a blanket. And the sun, moon and stars will be burned up.
It reminds me of the words in Isaiah; ‘All the stars in the sky will be dissolved and the heavens rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shrivelled figs from the fig tree.’ (Isaiah 34:4) What does it mean that the earth will be laid bare? I think it might be referring to the purging of the whole earth with fire. It is a reminder of how temporary everything on the surface of the earth actually is. Remember the words of Jesus to Peter in : ‘Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.’ (Matthew 19:28) This purging is positive Yes, the earth will be destroyed by fire but then it will be renewed. It will exceed our best imaginings and will be free from evil and sin and suffering and Satan and cancer and fear and coffins and tears. It will be wonderful.
Let’s conclude thinking through some of the implications of the Day of the Lord. There are many. It means history is not going round and round in endless circles. It is moving towards Christ’s appointed end- the renewal of all things- a perfect people in a perfect world with our perfect God.
God’s judgment of the earth is not merely destructive, but rather restorative. The fire of God is not presented as cosmic vandalism, but as the holy cleansing that prepares for the ‘new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells’.
Believers need not fear the final Day. For those united to Christ, the Judge is also the Saviour who bore our judgment already. The Day of the Lord is therefore both solemn and hopeful.
This future hope ought to fuel our perseverance. Peter is writing to suffering and pressured believers. The promise of a righteous new creation strengthens endurance amidst injustice and decay.
God’s final purpose is a world where righteousness dwells. Not merely where righteousness ‘visits occasionally’, but dwells. Our longing for holiness, justice, peace, and communion with God will finally be satisfied.