Matthew 20:6 in 2026!

This is the Truth Network. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Welcome. To the Wednesday in the Word podcast, equipping our leaders of this great weekly Bible study held at Dario, our wonderful, gracious host. all across North Carolina.

This is to equip, encourage, and guide you as you prepare to teach the word and guide the discussion at each location each week. And we continue our journey now through the book of Daniel. Here we are with today's special guest, Dr. Sam Horn. The next great event in history?

is the return of King Jesus. Are you ready? The mockers, the false prophets. the false teachers. The Scoffers in Peter's Day.

We were attacking this event. Not only were they undermining the truth of God's word, the truth of prophecy, Not only were they beleaguering the believers from within the camps, in attacking God's Word. They were attacking And even Making fun of. The coming of the king. The the second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Dr. Sam Horn. Nine verses, the first nine verses of 2 Peter. Chapter three as we enter the third and final chapter of Peter. These verses are pretty intense, Dr.

Horne, and there is a lot of buzz about Christ. return but The false prophets, they're added again and Peter calls them on it, doesn't he? You know, it's interesting when you get to chapter three, it's like Peter has turned a corner in his mind. And he is now coming back to the believer. It's not like he was ignoring the believer in chapter two.

But now he's coming back to the believer and he is making three massive connections. that are intended Not just to kind of help us spot false teachers and know what to do with them. But actually, to go past the false teacher because if all we do is spot the error. and avoid it. And then we don't really go forward in our walk with the Lord or we don't engage.

Meaningfully with truth, so that we advance the gospel and we advance the point of grace. wherever we are. Then all we've done is play defense, you know, and you know from your athletic. Engagements over the years, Stu, as a basketball player, you never win a game by just playing defense. You're going to lose a game if you don't play defense, but you never win on defense.

You got to have offense. And so when we get to change. Three, Peter has turned the corner. He shored up the places. in the believer's defense or defense rather.

So that we aren't overtaken by air, but he's going to come back now and he's going to actually start going at us. For offense, and there's a lot in here. There's an opening with Peters love for them. And another reminder, there's This, he goes straight at them for their, you know, these, again, these false teachers and whatnot. He gets right after him.

But then there's this rich verse about: God is not willing that any should perish. A day with the Lord is like a thousand years.

So we're going to get into that a little bit, Dr. Horne. Before we do, Give us a little review before we jump into the preview part for next week. Give us a little review of what's happened in Peter. You know, we have some.

New folks that have joined us on this podcast, want to welcome them. We've got going through this whole epistle. Verse by verse, and this podcast is simply to get those who are, whether you're pastor in a church or whether you're leading our Wednesday in the Word, one of our men's or women's groups in In this devotion, this study at Dario, which is a great outreach, there's a new one opening up. Coming up this coming week in Harrisburg, North Carolina, which is just right in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. And so, this will be the first week, and their first week will be this passage, Dr.

Horne. So, tell us what's going on in the 5,000-foot view of Peter, how we got to chapter 3, verse 1, and do so we could review it, and then we'll do a preview of what's coming up here for this week. No, that's that's so. Welcome to all of our new listeners. I know there are folks at our church, Palmetto Baptist, here in Powdersville, South Carolina, that are also starting to listen in.

So I'm excited about how God seems to grow the outreach of what we're doing here when we're just. being faithful to talk about his word. If you remember, just as we start off our new year and kind of jump right back into 2 Peter, the whole point that Peter's doing both in his first and second epistle. Is to stir up the sincere mind of his readers. And you can see that right away in verse two of chapter three.

He says that you should, oh, I'm sorry, in verse one, in both of them, I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder.

So he's not going to say anything they haven't heard before. You know, I think sometimes we start a new year or we decide, you know what, I'm going to get back into my routines of being really faithful at church. I'm going to actually start. Amplifying my understanding of God's word. I'm going to jump into a small group.

I'm going to get into a Bible study like the one we're doing. And we anticipate showing up and hearing stuff we've never heard before. And it's almost off-putting, it's almost disillusioning when we get in there. And it's the same stuff we've heard before. And Peter is reminding us.

That is actually strategic, that's actually Holy Spirit driven. It's how we grow in the grace and knowledge. of the Lord Jesus Christ. We need reminders. And so 1 and 2 Peter are reminders to believers.

Who have to live in under all kinds of circumstances in First Peter under suffering. In 2 Peter, in danger of false teachers and doctrinal error. Or even our own carnality in chapter one. And so, what I would do as I would teach this material, whether I was a small group leader, a pastor preaching through this. A Bible study director is: I would make three connections at this point as we jump into chapter three, because that's what Peter does.

The first connection that Peter does is in verse two. And that connection is back to chapter two. with the word commandment. He says, I'm going to stir up your sincere mind by way of reminder, verse 2, that you should. Remember.

The predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles. If you go back to chapter two, that's the very thing the false teachers walked away from. In verse 21 of chapter 2, it would have been better for them, those false teachers. Never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment. Delivered to them.

So, same word. There's a holy commandment that was given, and the false teachers walk away from it. And Peter says, I want to connect that in chapter 3. Don't you do that. Don't you turn away from the holy commandment.

that was given to you by the lord jesus christ through The apostles that have been given to you. Second connection. Is cultivating a pure mind by holding fast to the word.

So, in chapter one, so first connection takes it back to chapter two. Second connection takes them all the way back to chapter one. And in verse 12, Peter says in chapter 1, I intend always to remind you of these qualities. Though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.

So here are people who know the truth, they're established in the truth. And Peter says, I'm going to come back. And I'm going to stir up your sincere mind by way of reminder.

So there's the connect all the way back. to chapter one. And then, in the third connection, is actually going to move forward. It's the connection of his coming. and and particularly of the promise of his coming.

So back in chapter one. Peter said, We have received great and precious promises. And we're going to be looking at a particular promise. In chapter three, the promise of his coming. And so there's the connection to the commandment.

There's the connection to the word, and then there's the connection to the promise. We're to obey the moral commandment of God. We're to hold fast to the word of God, and we are to anchor ourselves and strengthen ourselves. With the promise of God, and so those three connections sort of set us up for what's coming here in chapter three. I love it, and like we've discussed before, all of these.

Indicatives of what his divine power has given us, what he's done for us, how Christ has performed perfectly for us. The righteousness he's put on us. The indicatives are out of which come and flow the imperatives. Peter says, Now go do, go remember, go live out this, go obey these commandments because of what he has put in you. Live that out.

In this Christian life, and that is definitely inclusive of looking forward to. and being a part of the great Commission in light of the great coming of Christ who's coming. Dr. Horne, these verses, that's a great review. Thank you.

I love how you connected. those uh the rest of the book earlier on leading up to this the These nine verses, you know, some folks teach through this book, they teach, well, some folks teach, well, do these nine verses in five or six sermons, you know. I don't blame them. Listen, you take this, you chew the steak, you know, one bite at a time to savor it. There's so much in here.

We're not going that granular, but we are. We're going to do these nine verses.

Some do one through ten and break it up that way. But Dr. Horne, can you help us get our arms around? By way of preview of this week. How can we approach these verses structurally as we look to go through them, culminating in this great verse nine?

Oh my, this is just rich. You know, how long have we, how many times have we quoted this? You know, God, speaking of promises, God is not slack. Concerning his promise, you know, some count slightly.

So I wanna get into how we build up to that and how we break these down. And it it's it and my my favorite is the fact that Peter His heart for these people. Remember, he's the shepherd. He talked about that in chapter five of 1 Peter. He starts this whole chapter with the word beloved.

So take us through these nine verses. Give us a structure for them. And how can someone teach in through this that's looking, that's studying? really approach this and you know by way of outline and just by way of exegeting this to and working with their groups. Maybe the best thing to do is, I want to make a comment, and then I want to give a sort of a brief outline, and then we can come back and look at each of the parts of the outline.

But the brief comment is this: that Peter, when he uses the word remember, I want to make sure we don't miss what we talked about way back at the beginning of our study of 2 Peter. The word remember. Is not a mental word. It's not like I can't remember that phone number. Man, is it 262 or is it 242?

I can't remember. That's not the idea behind the word remember.

So when Paul uses the word remind, or Peter rather uses the word remind or remember. It's a moral term. it it's calling the believer to moral action.

So when God remembered his people at Exodus. In the opening chapters of Exodus, he heard their cry and he remembered. It's not like he's like, oh man, I forgot all about them. I forgot they were down in Egypt. How could I have done that?

That's not what that idea there is. The idea is that God arose and took action based on his word. And so when the Bible calls us to remember. Or reminds us in the language that Peter uses here, it's calling us to take action. On the basis of God's word, something God has said, something God has promised.

And so that's the first thing I want to say as we look into this. The second thing is that Peter himself is an illustration of what happens to a believer who forgets. Forgetting, like remembering isn't a mental thing. Forgetting isn't a mental thing. Forgetting is active, intentional.

turning away From the moral imperatives of God, right?

So when Peter denied the Lord. three times, he forgot the Lord and he was looking right at him.

So, it's not like the Lord was out of his mind. It's that he was turning away.

So, and he was just with him, he was just with him in the upper room, and he had just said, I'm going to go with you all the way to the death. And there he is around the fire just moments later, and everything right there. Yeah.

So, this is a perfect example written by the perfect voice, Peter. to tell us about the danger of forgetting and the importance of remembering. and the hope of restoration, right? Because even though Peter intentionally forgot. The Lord remembered him.

And you remember how he built that fire in John's gospel on the beach and prepared this breakfast for Peter and restored him. And that's exactly what Peter's doing here. He is strengthening believers, some of who may have. uh been tempted to turn some of them who may have actually turned And now Peter is calling them back to spiritual reminders and to spiritual health.

So in these nine verses, Peter is going to stress four things. He's going to stress in verses one and two the importance of spiritual preparation and protection. And we're going to come back and talk about that here in a minute. And then in verses 3 and 4, he's going to remind them of spiritual danger and deception. That is a very real thing.

It's not just this theological danger that I'm sort of hypothetically talking to you about. I want to show how these false teachers are actually in your midst and what exactly they're denying.

So there's this spiritual danger and deception, verses three and four, that has to be identified. And avoid it. And then in verses five through seven: so, what exactly am I supposed to do to protect myself from that kind of error? When it sneaks in and it sounds so reasonable. And so there is the power of the word for the rebuttal of error in verses five through seven.

And then all of this culminates, like you said, in this section in verses 8 through 10, with the finality and the beauty and the power of God's purposes and God's plan. And in that section, you see the immensity of God's character. You see the unstoppable nature of his purpose and the wisdom of his plan, but you see something more. You see his heart. He is not willing that any should perish.

And he is long-suffering to the point of allowing the entire world to come to a wrong conclusion about him because he's so long-suffering. And so, you know, if you wonder, you know, does God know how to judge sin? Peter says, Well, don't forget what I wrote in chapter two about Noah and the flood. Don't forget about that, right?

So God does know and He does judge. And don't forget about Lot and Sodom. If you want to know about the power and the fierceness of that anger, but there's something more, and that something more is the incredible love that God has, even for fallen image bearers. For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son. And he didn't send that son the first time to condemn the world, but to save the world.

And the second time that sun appears, he's going to judge the world. And the delay between the first and the second coming is not because God is tired or ignorant or in some way. Just You know, not interested or no longer cares about the wickedness of the world. It's, he loves this world. And he doesn't want anybody to die and go to hell without the gospel.

He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Oh.

So we see God's heart, God's not, this word slack, I think, is connected to the word impotent. And he is not impotent. He's not, he is all-powerful. This doesn't, but these scoffers. Just like this fascinating reference again back, just you said, chapter two, to the flood, just like these scoffers, Noah preached for how long, Dr.

Horne? He worked on that ark for how long? 120 years. His kids hated it. His kids all hated it.

They'd show up. Are you coming to football practice? No, I got to work on the ark with dad. Hey, what about the 25th high school reunion? No, I can't make that.

I got to work, got to work on the ark with dad. Yeah.

You know, you think we got it rough. We look back. I mean, we just celebrated the first coming of Christ. The whole world just did. The whole world.

The pagan world. Churches that deny the Lord. that deny the truth Celebrated and sang orthodox, solid, biblically sound Christian Christian hymns at Christmas. Maybe the only time they do, right? Maybe occasionally Easter.

And we have all of this to look back on. We have the whole canon of scripture. We have more than Peter's readers did, right? And think about poor Noah. It hadn't even rained yet.

No, no. I mean, for 120 years, you know, it had never rained. No, there wasn't the lake. There wasn't the speedboats. Hey, let's gear up the wave runners and let's hit the lake this weekend.

There wasn't any of that stuff, you know? There wasn't the ocean. There wasn't, hey, let's go to your beat. Let's go to the beach. I've often wondered at the 50-year mark, what was sitting in Noah's backyard?

What did it actually look like? Oh, my soul. You know, here are the three boys who are working on that stinking art. And, you know, they get invited to something. It's like.

So So so Noah was the The button. Yeah, we work on that every. Can you imagine the women in town talking about talking about Mrs. Noah? Like, I can't believe Noah, that man, what's he building in the backyard of that poor Mrs.

Noah? You know, he's the butt of all the jokes. He's probably the butt of, if they had redneck jokes back there, you know, you got this unfinished, you know, some kind of structure. In the back of your Your house, you know, they say you got your, if your house is on, if your house is on wheels and your car is on blocks, you know, you might be a redneck. All these jokes about this guy, what's he building, what's he doing?

And so the scoffers are like, what is this with this rain, this wet stuff coming down? You know, what is this with this? What are you doing? And so today. You know, you know, mom and dad have passed away.

Uh you know, grandma and grandpa are gone. You know, you're still talking about something that's coming. You're talking about the rapture. You're talking about the Christ's return. You're talking about, you know, come on, man.

The world's going to pot. We got cancer. We got world wars. We got geopolitical strife. And we got all kinds of evil out there.

And so there's really nothing new under the sun, Dr. Horne. But This this little phrase, and I want to be, I want to be. I want to be very... Careful with this phrase because people have taken this phrase and they've used it to create a gap theory in Genesis 1.

Well, the day of the Lord is like a thousand years.

Well, you know, the earth is, you know, billions of years old because of this verse right here. But really, he pulls this out of Psalm 95, where he's saying. Telling us to be circumspect with our days. And he's talking about God is not confined. to the time and space.

Phenomena that we are confined to, right? Dr. Horn, can you expand on the importance of that? And you don't want to go too far beyond scripture with this little phrase, but Peter's tying it directly to. Being patient, I guess, isn't he?

Yeah.

Um It's an interesting analogy in our own day Uh because You know, we have people who have become convinced. that it's okay to deny The historicity of the first part of Genesis. You know, that's tragic because. It's so odd when you think about I'm stumbling around, not because I am. I'm going somewhere and I'm trying to find a verse and I can't do both things at once.

Um You know, when you think about Genesis one and two. The idea there is, well, that's just not really talking about seven literal days. And so, and they come to this Peter passage and they say, see, the idea here is that the day of the Lord is like a day, a day in the Lord's eyes could be a thousand years and a thousand years could be a day.

Well You know, words matter and And a word can have more than one meaning. in a particular context. I mean think of the word run. R-U-N. That word can have so many different nuances.

I can run in a race. My car runs well. Right, there is a run of tomato plants in my garden. Yeah.

This company had a good run. And now, you know, now they're selling off. But man, when they were around, they had a good run. And so you look at the word run and you can see all the different ways in which that word is used. And you've got to go to the historical context to decide which of those ways.

It's being used. Does that make sense? It makes a lot of sense. And I'm looking at the verse right now from Psalm 90, verse 4. It says, Uh for a thousand years in your sight.

are like yesterday When it is passed. And like a watch. In the night. And so you gotta, you're saying you gotta look at what the scripture. When the scripture is speaking metaphorically, you need to understand that.

When it's speaking literally, You need to understand that when he says, you know, if your right eye offends you, pluck it out. There may not be people gouging their right eye out saying, Well, that's what the Bible said.

Well, the Bible is contradictory because it says to do that, and you're not doing that.

So Dr. Horn, is that kind of where you're going with making sure you don't impose upon scripture?

something literal when it's meant to be symbolic or Uh metaphoric.

So so Here's the thing. When you try to go to 2 Peter 3 and use that text to reinterpret Genesis 1 through 11, you've got a real problem. Because My 24 Our day belief and conviction in Genesis is not based on 2 Peter 3. It's actually based on Exodus 20. That's the verse I was looking at when I was kind of getting distracted a minute ago.

But in Exodus 20, 11, It's a legal context, right? Moses is establishing the Ten Commandments as the legal basis. For life in Israel. And he is going back and saying: the God who is giving you these commandments is the God who created the heavens and the earth. And he did it in six days.

So when you come. To trying to figure out whether Genesis 1 through 11 and the day, particularly in Genesis 1 and 2, are 24 literal hour days, you need to go to Exodus 2011. and not second peter three uh looking at the text we're looking at because in second peter three the word day there is being used in a in a very different sense it's it's talking about an era E-R-A. An era of a thousand years with the Lord is like a day. The day of the Lord is not a 24-hour day, it's a period of time.

So, like, for you could say every dog has its day. We have that little statement, right? Back in the day, we're talking about an ear. Back in the day, nobody flew on planes like they do now.

So that word day is a very, very interesting word. And Peter is using it in a very different sense than Moses was using it. In Genesis chapter one. That's a little bit of a sidetrail, but it's actually really important. Because just like we tend to deny the historicity of creation, we tend to deny the historicity of his coming.

And so that's exactly a good segue, Stu, if we can, to go back to that first. uh main idea in verses one and two the importance of spiritual preparation and protection and peter says now let me tell you how i'm going to do this i'm going to stir up right thinking. That the word stir there is the idea of provoking. or arousing. And the way the word mind, your pure mind, the word mind there isn't just your brain, it's the whole way that you think.

It's a mindset. You know, every once in a while, you've raised kids, I've raised kids. And your kids get a mindset about something. And it affects their whole perspective. That mindset about this theme that's in their head.

Until you undo that mindset, until you undo that way of thinking. It's gonna have ramifications in every other part of life. They get into a mindset. This is true, and I can't do this. And it affects how they drive, it affects their performance at school, it affects them on the basketball court, whatever it is, that mindset controls everything.

And Peter says, I am going to arouse and provoke a proper mindset. And you. And the proper mindset means it has to be unadulterated. That's the word for pure, unmixed. I don't want your mindset about life.

To be a mixed mindset where half of it is set by the holy commandment of God. And the other half is set. by people who are challenging that holy mindset. That holy commandment.

So here you are in Peter's day and You've got guys like Peter talking to you about adding to your faith and holding on to the word that God gave through inspiration. Holy men of old received it. And then in chapter two, you've got people going, Well, actually, that's really good. And I'm happy that you have that, but you also need this, and this is going to adjust that. Pretty soon, you've got this mixed mindset.

It's no longer unadulterated. It's now actually been completely compromised. And so Peter is coming along and he is saying. I am going to come. And I'm gonna stir up, I'm gonna provoke, I'm gonna arouse.

Unadulterated thinking in your mindset. And the way I'm going to do that is, I'm going to call you back to the truth. I'm going to call you back. to the word the predictions of the holy prophets And I'm going to call you back to the commandment of the Lord that he gave you through the prophet.

So, in that verse, you've got Old and New Testament, right? And he's saying. When it comes to the error that's about to be revealed, you need the predictions of the prophets and you need the commandment and the promise of Jesus. That he makes in the New Testament.

So you need the word of God. And that's the first thing I would say. Before we get into arguments about is the day 24 hours? Is it, you know, what does it mean for the Lord is not willing that any should perish?

So if he's got this will and you can't thwart the will of God, then how come people are perishing? Before we get into any of that, Peter says, I need to stir up. unadulterated thinking in your mind. And the unadulterated, unmixed thinking needs to be completely grounded in the predictions and in the promises that are in God's word. You got to go back to God's word.

So, the first thing I would say in 2026 for each of our Bible study leaders is: we got to go back to the word of God. That's excellent. That's excellent. And as we get to the end of this passage, not only is God not encumbered by our time and space. And construct But God, part of this Delay of his coming is a reflection of his great mercy.

That's right. In his long-suffering toward us, it says. Not willing that any should perish. There is really implicit and explicit in this text, Dr. Horne, as we wrap up in verse 9.

God's going to deliver. on time, in his time. Yeah.

when when he's ready, but in the meantime, We are, I love what one pastor said. He says, I'm not focused so much on the day of the Lord. He says, I'm focused on the Lord of the day. He said that. And yeah, that's right.

No, no, no, that's right. And I'm not so much consumed with the ends of times. I'm going to be consumed with the ends of the earth. There are still people. who've not heard the gospel.

And God gave 120 years. For the people on that day, only Noah and his family were saved, tragically, right? But they were saved, and we're here today because of that. We're his offspring. There are still others that God has stayed his hand to judgment because when he comes, he returns again, when the king returns, he's not coming.

as a cute cuddly baby. In a manger. In a manger. In that, yeah, he's coming on a war horse. Oh, my soul.

And it's judgment. And it is not, he's not. The message when Christ returns, friends, is not, God loves you, has a wonderful plan for your life. Oh, God loves you and wants to bless you. No, the message is: if you don't know the king at that moment, you will be thrust into a burning hell.

And that's why we are talking right now to you. That's why we have Bibles opened. That's why we are telling the good news. That's why I shared the gospel with a fine young man yesterday in a gym where I'm sweating. The last thing I wanted to do is share the gospel.

He had questions about the gospel. I'm sharing because the king is returning, and I want this guy to be with me in heaven one day, Dr. Horne. This is real, and the Lord's coming back, and he's calling us to repentance. But see the danger, right?

So, in verses three through four, we talked about this danger and deception. Peter says, First thing I want you to know of first importance is there are people who are going to get in the way of what you just said, Stu. There are people who are going to look at that young man in the gym and say, Listen, I know your friend over there is talking to you about Jesus and about. judgment and escaping judgment you you know He means well. But there's not going to be any judgment.

That's not God. The God who sent Jesus isn't going to judge the world. And the proof of it is: look at people like Stu and Sam. They've been talking about judgment their whole lives and it hasn't come. I mean You know, where is the promise of his coming?

For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. God just doesn't operate the way these two guys are telling you. And you multiply that out. I mean, how many people decided on January 1st, I'm going back to church? And they showed up at their church and they desperately needed to hear the gospel, the unvarnished.

Gospel of Jesus Christ. And they heard some guy say, Well, you know, God loves everybody. And it doesn't matter if you're transgender or if you're lesbian or if you're homosexual. God just doesn't really care about your sin, He just wants you to love people. And to love him.

And by the way, God does love sinners, right? He does love transgender people. He does love homosexual people. He does love lesbian people. He loves sinners like me.

And he loves sinners like you.

So it's not that God doesn't love us, but remember what he said to that woman who was caught in adultery when he forgave her. He said, go and what? Send no more. That should have been the message that people heard.

Well, how do I deal with my sin? The answer is through Jesus Christ. And the motive for that is: if you don't deal with it now, God is going to deal with it then. And here are these false teachers going, you know what? Actually, he's not.

Because there isn't going to be a coming. They're arrogant. They're scornful. And so in verses five through seven. Peter says, let me rebut that.

Let me put some weapons in your hands. They are willingly in ignorant of this fact that by the word of God. There's the weapon. Remember in Ephesians 6, you got this list of armor. There's one weapon in the whole thing, one offensive weapon, and it's the sword of the Spirit.

So that by the Word of God, the heavens of old. And the earth standing up out was standing out of the water and in the water. He's talking about creation.

So there is this direct intervention of God at creation by his word. In verse 6, there's direct intervention by his word in judgment at the flood, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. There's ongoing intervention in the world now. The heavens and the earth, which are now. by the same word.

In other words, the same word that created it, the same word that destroyed it in Noah's day is the word that is sustaining it now. He sustains and constrains, and he holds all things together by the power of his word. That's what Hebrews 1:3 talks about. But Peter's very clear. The word that created, the word that judged in Noah's day, the word that is holding it all together now is the word that is one day going to judge it.

And that's what we see in verse 7. Right, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and the perdition of ungodly men. And you're like, well, that's a really negative way to end our Bible study, you know, really the first one in 2026 or the second one in 2026. And the answer is no, it's actually really good news, and the really good news is found in verses 8 and 9. Beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing.

He's telling them up in verse one and two. I'm going to remind you. I'm going to stir up your minds. I'm going to connect you back to the commandment in chapter two. I'm going to connect you back to the promises in chapter one.

And now he's saying, I don't want you to be ignorant. And the thing I don't want you to be ignorant about is the delay. in the fulfillment of the promise. Because nobody can deny that. Nobody can say, if they read the Gospels and they hear Jesus talk about his coming, or they read Paul and they hear Paul talking about his coming, that Jesus is coming, and those men anticipated that he would be coming.

And it's been 2,000 years. We were joking a little bit earlier in the program. God said to Noah, build that ark because it's going to rain. And then there was 120 years of silence. Not a drop.

That's longer than you and I will be alive, Stu. I mean, Neither of us is going to live 120 years. And So for the entire lifetime of a human being. In our day, there was not one drop of rain, and here was this preacher. Who was standing up announcing the righteousness of God, calling people to task for their sins against the righteousness of God?

He was a preacher of righteousness, the text says, and he preached that righteousness for 120 years, and God is going to destroy the unrighteous, and nothing happened. And here we are in our own day and age. And we have been announcing the wrath of God on the sinful nature of men in the world. And that one day as God is going to judge, and he sent his son to redeem and save the world because he loves that world. And for 2,000 years, nothing has happened.

It's just the same. It's exactly like Noah. And that's why. Peter says, listen, don't be ignorant that time with the Lord. Is different than time with us.

A thousand years is nothing in the sight of God. It's 10 lifetimes for me. It's an instant in the mind of God. right that's why we we looked at that psalm 90 verse 4 that a day with the lord is a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day he's not bound by our timetables You know, I'm willing to give God a week. To get my life in order, you know, hey, I'm willing to God get maybe to give God six months.

And if I'm really desperate, maybe a year, but 25 years. Ah, no, no, that, that, okay. By year 25, this isn't, you know, this isn't happening. And God says, wait a minute, you are using your little tiny human. Calendar.

to confine my eternal calendar. I have got cosmic purposes. that go way beyond your little tiny lifespan of 900 years, Noah. And 70 years salmon stew, right?

So he's reminding us of our place, and then he's telling us why the delay.

So, why is God so tolerant of sin? Why does he put up with this? Why is there this long suffering in God that just seems to be so out of character?

Well, it's because you have a very wrong view of God. God does judge sin, and he will judge sin, but he loves sinners. And it breaks his heart when he has to condemn them to hell. And he has to send him to hell. You know, when a person goes to hell, they go to hell over God's dead body.

You know how sometimes we look at somebody and we get in the way and we say, you're not going to do that. You're not going there. If you do that, it's going to be over my dead body. That's how strong we are in our opposition to what you're about to do.

Well, here's a person who is willfully rejecting Jesus, willfully choosing to sin, on his way to hell, and God says, that's not my desire. That's not why I created you. That's not what I wanted for you. And if you go there, you're going to go over the dead body of my son. That's how strong this is.

This is not talking about. Election. If you want to find out about election, you got to go to Romans. This is not talking about God's sovereignty and salvation. If you want to find that, you've got to go to places like Galatians and you've got to go to the writings of Paul and other places in Peter.

It's not that these texts are denying those things. This text is actually a window into God's heart. It's not denying his sovereignty, his election, or any of those things. It's letting you into the very deep. Uh, chamber of God's heart where God says to you, You really want to know how I feel about those lost people who are on their way to hell?

I sent my son to redeem them, I sent my son to die for them. And if they end up in hell, it is not. I take no pleasure in that. My desire is that every man would repent and come to the knowledge. Of life through my son Jesus Christ.

He takes no pleasure in this. Um but Make no mistake. There will come a day where judgment will fall. And that's what verse 10 is talking about, right? That's 2 Peter 2:10.

But the day of the Lord will come. And it'll come suddenly, unexpectedly. That's the idea here. And when it comes, it will bring devastating judgment.

Now, we're not going to talk about it in this Bible study, but our next Bible study will answer the question: in light of that, how are we supposed to live now? What's our mission? And I'll just kind of lay it out there, just maybe like a little cheat sheet. Our mission is to allow that truth and allow the heart of God. To shape our thinking and our living, right?

The fact that God isn't willing for any to perish, and He sent His Son. ought to motivate me at my own gym to go and talk to somebody about that like you did. Right, so so we are to take the uh to take advantage of this delay that God is intentionally giving the world. to show them his heart. because they have no idea how much God loves them.

You know, if you lived in Ukraine and your city's being bombed, or you live in Russia, or you live in Iran right now, or whatever is going on around the world, and somebody comes along and says, Hey, God's in charge, you're going, Oh my goodness, wow, I'm not sure. Number either you got it wrong and he's not in charge, or if he's in charge, I got a bigger problem because this is a mess. And Satan is a master at getting, he would love for people to think God's in charge of everything because, and he is, by the way, but he wants people to focus on that because God, you know, the world is such a mess. And there's a reason God hasn't fixed it yet. And the answer is because He's waiting for people to get saved.

And that's why we're still here and Dr. Horn, that's a great word. A lot of other questions may pop into your minds and hearts from this for your discussions that aren't on the, we send out discussion questions. We send out all these leader notes, including this conversation to all of our folks that are teaching through. 2 Peter and our Wednesday in the Word ministry.

I'm Stu Everson, and with me, Dr. Sam Horn. Dr. Horn, maybe some other questions like: Am I ready? To meet the king?

Am I ready for his return? How am I. Preparing not only my heart, how am I preparing those around me? Who am I warning? This is a convicting question.

Who am I warning? Of the wrath of God to come, the fire. God's not going to judge the earth again. That's why we have the rainbow. The rainbow is God's covenant.

The rainbow is God's symbol. It's not the world, it's not some other perversion. The rainbow is God's sign that He will not judge the world again by water, but it will be. Per Peter here by fire. Who am I warning about the fire to come?

Who am I on fire for? in Christ to save from that fire. How about this? How prominent my thinking? Is the future in Christ's return?

How am I trusting him in that? And how am I actively? Evangelizing others, discipling others, and mobilizing others to go into the world to the many lost people in the world. How am I giving toward missions? How am I giving toward church planting?

Maybe in the 1040 window. If you don't know what that means, please go look it up and get involved. That's the concentration, it's a geographical concentration. area of the the most concentrated number of unbelievers and unreached people groups in the world who haven't heard about Jesus. That's why we are still here.

The King's coming back. Dr. Horn, close us out in prayer, man. Thank you for being a part of this, brother.

Well, I love it, Stata. Thanks for letting me in. Let me end with this one observation off of what you just said. Most of us spend our lives trying to convince God to come into our little worlds, our little lives, and fix everything we don't like. And God's very different plan.

God isn't. Primarily interested in fixing our little world, although he so graciously does that from time to time when we ask him. He's more interested in taking us and putting us right in the middle of the broken world so that through us, he can fix what's really going on in the heart of the broken people around us. And so, may 2026 be a year where we stop trying to use God to fix everything in our life and we commit ourselves to letting God use us to fix what is broken in our neighbor. or our friend or our family member or our wayward child or our lost relative or the person we work out with or the person we hang out with at the basketball court.

May God really help us to see that in 2026. Lord, thank you for Peter. 2000 years ago, you spoke to this man and you restored him. And now he is helping to restore us. You strengthened him and now he is strengthening us all of these many centuries later through the words that your spirit gave him to write down.

So we want to thank you. And we ask, Lord, and this is an odd thing, but Lord, would you thank Peter for us for the way that he has so impacted us through your word? And one day, Lord, by your grace, we'll be able to do that personally as we encounter him in your presence. But until then, may you stir us. to pure undiluted mindsets.

that are anchored in truth, that are encouraged and hope-filled because of your promises. and that are committed to using our lives However long it takes before you come, and whatever the cost is, to advance the glorious gospel of your Son that changes everything. And so, Lord, we love you and we thank you. We pray for our leaders. who will be leading this study.

I pray that, Lord, you would just inspire, use this podcast to inspire them. About the beauty and the importance of this. And we'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you, Dr.

Horne, and thank you for joining us for this Wednesday in the Word podcast. Learn more at wedintheword.com. Follow us on YouTube, Facebook, and all social media, including in Stu Graham. and be encouraged, stay in the Word, read it. Share it, study it, memorize it, and meditate on God's Word.

Every word of God is pure. He is a shield to those who put their trust in him. Proverbs 30, verse 5.