Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. In 2 Peter 3, 1-2, the apostle says he's writing the letter to them in order to stir up their sincere minds, by way of reminder, that they should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior. Peter's plea to God's people is that they will remember.
Why? Because God transforms human hearts through the continual encounter with the truth of his word. See, setting our hearts on what God has done through his son Jesus and what he will do in the days to come will transform the way we view every challenge, every victory, and all the moments in between. Let's listen to this message titled, The Revelation of God. This is the second part of the message, which was first preached on September 24, 2023 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem.
It's part of a series on 2 Peter titled, Live as People Who Remember. Stirring it up to action. There's no casual drifting through a meaningful Christian life, but stir it up to action. What is it that Peter wants us to remember?
Two things here. First of all, look with me in chapter 3, by the way of verse 2, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandments of our Lord and Savior through your apostles. The predictions, that's the words or the statements of the prophets, the holy prophets. He's referring to Old Testament scripture, okay.
Like for example, the word predictions, you should remember the predictions, it's just the word that means words, okay, or the statements. But they were words of predictive prophecy of the Old Testament. Luke chapter 24 verse 8, it says, you know, the women were at the tomb on the morning of the resurrection. Luke mentions three of them specifically. Mary Magdalene was one of them. And they were at the tomb. And they encountered these two angels robed in white. And the angels asked them a question, why do you seek the living among the dead?
He's not here. Remember the words that he told you. And then it says in Luke 4, 24, 8, it says, and they remembered his words.
That's the same word that's used here. They remembered his words. That Jesus said that I will rise again.
So they run and tell the other apostles, right. So this is what Peter is calling us to remember, the predictive prophecy of scripture. Two things, number one, the first advent and the second advent.
The first coming of Messiah. And in the scriptures there are over 300 specific prophecies fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ in history. 300, over 300 specific prophecies of the Old Testament that were fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. And many of them that were well beyond, way beyond his ability to have any influence over like where he was born and who his mother would be and who his ancestors were, right. He didn't have any control over that other than the fact that he is God.
You were waiting for me to say that, weren't you? So the first advent and the prophecies foretold that the Messiah came according to God's purpose, his plan and his promise. Messiah came to redeem. And Christ fulfilled all the prophecies of Messiah. As it says so clearly in so many times in Matthew's gospel, for example, this happened according to the scriptures. And that's the gospel, isn't it, that we find in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, that Jesus died according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again.
What? According to the scriptures. Very, very important. So we remember that. But that being true, we also remember the words of the prophets about Messiah coming again. The second advent, that's in the Old Testament as well. Psalm 2 is a great example of that.
Isaiah chapter 35 is another great example of that. That Messiah will come and he will reign in a kingdom of righteousness. How we look forward to that, huh? He will come, he will judge, he will come again, he will judge and he will rule and he will restore. That's what Messiah will do. It will be an accountability of all humanity. That's the key point here.
Because the false teachers were saying, nah, don't worry about it. God's not going to intervene. Why will he be the one who will hold all humanity accountable? Because all things were created by him and for him.
He's the point. So all humanity will be held accountable. This is what Paul was saying when he was in Athens on Mars Hill speaking to a huge crowd of philosophers, thinking people. And he says, the times of ignorance God overlooked us from Acts chapter 17 verses 30 and 31. The times of ignorance God overlooked. But now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
That's a sweeping command, isn't it? Because he, listen to this, he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. So we know who the judge is, don't we?
He's the one that walked out of the grave. All humanity will be held accountable. Now listen, that is a terrifying thought because we will be standing before infinite, sovereign, omnipotent God. Unless you're under his grace.
Then it doesn't need to terrify you. That's why he's given us his grace. So here we have this guarantee, the resurrection, this historic reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The God-man walking out of the grave is the guarantee that he's coming again. He ascended to the Father and as he was ascending, the apostles were looking on and the disciples, they were just like, you know.
And then the angel appears and says, why are you gaping into the sky? The same Jesus will come in the same manner that he went. You'll see him coming back. And Jesus predicted this as well. What is this event? Peter's going to get to it. We're not going to talk much about it today. But I'm going to give you a little preview of what we're getting into in 2 Peter chapter 3. But the day that's coming, the day of accountability, is called the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord. What is the day of the Lord is when God manifests his sovereign authority in retribution and restoration.
That word retribution sounds rough, doesn't it? I thought God was a good God. He is. And that's why he opposes evil.
Know that. He manifests his sovereign authority in retribution and restoration. Peter's going to be describing that as we go along. But this is something that Peter is reminding the people, remember that this day is coming. Yes, I know all the stuff, all the stuff that you're going through under this awful emperor in Rome who hates the Christians, right? I get that.
I get, I know what you're going through. But remember, the day is coming. The day of accountability is coming. When God will in Christ manifest his sovereign authority in retribution and restoration. By the one who said, I make all things new.
Listen, that's not just an escape for us. That's a call to action. That's a commission to be on mission. So he calls us, he says, I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles. Jesus commands through the, that's the second thing we are called to remember. First of all, the words, the statements, the predictive words of the Old Testament prophets. And secondly, the commands of Jesus through the apostles. It's like Jesus was saying, here's what's coming, so live expectantly.
Live meaningfully engaged. Look again with me at verses 11 and 12. We're not there yet, but we will be someday. Chapter 3, verse 11 to us. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness? Waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. Sounds pretty devastating, doesn't it?
The day is coming. Jesus predicted it. One of the best predictions of that is in Matthew's gospel. So the commands of Jesus through the apostles, the first point under that is the commands of, is Matthew 24 and 25.
And what do we have depicting that day in Matthew 24 and 25? Two main things, first of all, is a bridal party, a bridal party. And to understand this, you have to understand ancient, mid-eastern bridal tradition, wedding tradition. They waited for the groom to come. Today, everybody's sitting there waiting for the bride to walk down the aisle.
Not so in those days. In those days, the bride got ready, she had all her attendants around her and they were waiting for the groom to come and he was going to take the bride. And they waited with anticipation. They knew he was coming, they didn't know exactly when. So the bridal party patiently, diligently anticipating the arrival of the bridegroom. That's what we are.
The groom is coming. He's coming to take us. Are we anticipating that? Are we living in preparation of that? Or are we messing around? Are we flirting? Are we ignoring that? You get the picture. The second one is the parable of the talents, where the master hands out talents to different servants of his in different denominations. And the talents that are entrusted to the servants by the master to do what?
To invest. And one of them failed. What did he do?
He buried it. Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in him. The one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.
