Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. This is the second part of the message, which was first preached on October 1, 2023, at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem.
It's part of a series on 2 Peter titled, Live as People Who Remember. But we do that too, and that's a way that we can fail to mature if we base our views on our limited understanding, not realizing that we don't have a full scope of knowledge. This is where the faithless get it wrong. This is where false teachers get it wrong. But secondly, look with me at verse 5, They, here it is, for they deliberately overlook this fact.
What is that? It is intellectual dishonesty. Remember what Romans says? Paul says in Romans chapter 1, they have to suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
In other words, what information is there, what data is there, if it doesn't agree with my view, I'm going to ignore it. That is intellectual dishonesty. And the world is full of it today. Sometimes we're guilty of it.
Right? So intellectual dishonesty, verse 5 says, they deliberately overlook this fact. Notice he uses that word. That the heavens existed long ago, and the earth that was formed out of the water and through the water by the word of God, and that they, by means of the world that then existed, was deluged with water and perished.
It was understood that God had judged the world through a global flood. And they overlook that. They're ignoring the information that does not fit their position.
That's intellectual dishonesty. I don't see God judging. I don't see God intervening. God doesn't care. And they deliberately overlook the fact that at one time he judged the whole earth because of the level of sin that existed at the time and wickedness.
Here's what we need to learn from this. Our understanding of God illuminates our understanding of the purpose and the direction of life. That's why I've taken this direction on this perspective on this text before us today, the character of God.
Our understanding of God illuminates our understanding of the purpose and the direction of life. In other words, if you have a small view of God, you will have a stunted view of life. If you have a small view of God, it will lead you to believe that God doesn't care about whatever is going on around you or in you or on you. A small view of God will lead to a stunted view of life, and that's what unbelief is. It's small thinking.
You can't get beyond yourself. What God has made known of himself doesn't fit into my agenda or my perspective or my belief system. It's what unbelief is. And so this is why in verse 8, Peter is challenging his readers, do not overlook this one fact. Do not overlook this one fact.
What is that? Now he's referring back to Psalm 90 in verse 4. Do not overlook this one fact that with the Lord, one day is as what? A thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. What does he mean?
What is the point that he's making by saying that? The transcendent infinitude of God. God is not bound by time. Listen, you and I can't comprehend that, okay? You and I cannot, so don't even try.
You'll blow your brains out trying to, okay? But God is not bound by time. Just as I've said before, the infinitude of God, the transcendence of God means that everything there is to know ever has been, ever will be, all of it, right here, right now, completely, absolutely, perfectly, entirely, whatever other lie there is. God knows it all. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows it. The good news is, as he has made known to us through the Scriptures how God sees me, Rich Powell, in my imperfection, how does he see me? He sees me glorified, seated next to Jesus Christ. That's good news, because I'm a mess.
I'm going to be watching the video later on to see who that was. But that's encouraging to know, isn't it? In all of my imperfection, though sanctified and reconciled to God by Jesus Christ, and yet with all of my mistakes, all of my foibles, and I am growing and becoming more like Christ, but in all of that, God sees me, Rich Powell, glorified. Know that promise, people, because that's who God is. That's how he operates. It's mind-blowing, yes, but that's who he is, and that's what we need to understand. So don't overlook this one fact with the Lord.
One day is 1,000 years, and 1,000 years is one day. So he is sovereign. He's timeless. He's omniscient, omnipotent, all of that. In other words, God is not like us. So let's be careful that we don't make God in our image, as if he's some greater version of you and me. He's not.
He's not like us. That's what makes him God. It's like the scriptures we read, who is like you among all the gods? And I remember standing in my church when I was pastoring up in Michigan, and we were singing a song and talking like that about the other gods. He says, I have a problem with that song. There are no other gods.
Here's the problem. The scripture makes it clear that there are other gods in people's imaginations. And they worship them.
They will even create stuff to represent those gods, the gods of their imagination. That's what Isaiah does. You take a plank of wood, you chop it in two. Half of it, you carve it, you paint it, you bow down and worship it.
The other half, you chop it up and burn it in a fire. That's how irrational we humans can be. We make up our own gods because we want a god that we don't have to listen to, but it listens to us. We want a god that we can control and manipulate. We want to trust something.
Might as well paint lips on a rock or something. But from his sovereign transcendent actions, this infinite transcendent god, from this we can know certain things of him. And Paul makes this very clear in Romans chapter 1 and verse 20. The invisible attributes, his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived.
What are those words? Clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made so they are without excuse. You don't see the person of God, but you can certainly see the handiwork of God.
That's what creation does. You want to see the image of God? Look in the mirror.
You ever tried that? If you want to see the image of God, look in the mirror. This is the god that we worship. So, who is God?
What is he like? Who is like the Lord our God? We're just saying that. Let's consider what Peter is telling us from these verses. First of all, God is, number one, God is creative. The heavens existed and the earth was formed. He's creative. He is an infinite, sovereign, transcendent designer. All that is, all that can be measured, God designed it and formed it. And where there is design, there is purpose. Because as the New Testament tells us, all things were created by him. That's design, that's origin, and what? For him.
What is that? That's purpose. It's all of reality summed up in that one verse right there.
Two prepositions. All things were created by him and for him. So God is creative and this text bears it out very clearly. Number two, God is communicative.
I bet you're thinking all of these are going to begin with C. They're not. But God is communicative. They were created what? By his word. It says in the text, by his word.
And then by that same word, he mentions it a couple of times, by his word. Consider what the psalmist says in Psalm 33 verses 8 and 9. I love this. Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spoke and it came to be. He commanded and it stood fast. He spoke and it came to be. That is God.
That's what he can do. An infinite, sovereign, transcendent, omnipotent God. He spoke and it came to be. When God speaks, something happens. That's why we take the teaching of the word of God very seriously because God is speaking through his word and when God speaks, something happens. Right now, God is among us.
He's in us and among us by his Holy Spirit. And his word is being communicated. God is at work this very moment.
Why? Because his word is being communicated. What's he doing? God is like what he has done. And that is one of the purposes of the creation around us that we have to observe. God is like what he has done. He communicates that way too. So he's creative.
He's communicative. Number four. Number three. I'm sorry.
He's caring. Rich, that's another C. I promise. It's the last.
No, it's not the last one. There's more. Never mind. He's caring.
Now, how do you get that from this text, Rich? 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.
