Be Diligent - Part 3

2 Peter 3:14: Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

The Apostle Peter is writing his last words to these friends. He had written a first letter to them and now he wrote a second letter to warn them about the apostasy that would take place. I'm sure you've noticed as you've read 2 Peter 3 that four times in this chapter he uses the word beloved. That's an interesting word for a fisherman to be using, isn't it? Beloved. Isn't it beautiful the way the Lord puts love in your heart for God's people? The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit of God given unto us. 

He says in 2 Peter 3:1: Beloved, be mindful. This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior. Then he begins to talk about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. I suppose in 2 Peter 3:1-7 you can say he's telling us to be mindful. Be mindful of the Scriptures and be mindful of the scoffers. He talks about the scoffers in the last days. Scoffers are going to come saying, "Where is the promise of his coming?" 

Now, for centuries people have been saying, "Oh yes, Jesus is coming again. Oh, is that right? Our Lord is going to come back? Where is he?" Everything's going on just the way it always went on. Well, actually that's not true because many things are changing and many things are pointing to the end times. Beloved, be mindful. 

Then in 2 Peter 3:8 he says: Beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing. And he emphasizes that God's clock is different from our clock and God's calendar from our calendar. God does not measure time the way we do because God is eternal. He lives beyond and above time. God is not locked in by watches and calendars. The Lord counts time differently. A thousand years to him are just like one day, and one day could be like a thousand years. God knows his own schedule and he knows what he's doing. But one thing is sure, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise. Now, what promise is this? Well, 2 Peter 3:4 tells us, "Where is the promise of his coming?" 

Beloved, be mindful. Be mindful of the Scriptures and be mindful of the scoffers. Beloved, be not ignorant. And then in 2 Peter 3:11-14 he says: Beloved, be diligent. Be diligent. Notice now, 2 Peter 3:11: Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved. When? Well, when the Day of the Lord comes.

Now, good Christians can disagree on the scheduling of these events. Many years ago I moved off of the program committee onto the welcoming committee. Oh, I have my convictions about the order of events. I think that the next thing on God's schedule is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't know when that is going to be. And then there's going to be a time of tribulation, and then there's going to be the coming of the Lord, and he's going to usher in his kingdom, and then he's going to usher in the new heavens and the new earth. 

Now, you may not agree with that, perfectly all right. We do agree on this one thing: that Jesus is coming again and that one day the Day of the Lord is going to come as a thief in the night. The heavens are going to pass away with a great noise. The elements shall melt, they'll be dissolved with a fervent heat. Almost sounds like an atomic explosion, doesn't it? And the earth also and the works that are in it shall be burned up. Everything people have been living for, just be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved. Notice the sequence here: the elements melt, the fervent heat, the works burned up, these things dissolved. 

Are you living for things that are not going to last? What a tragedy to put all of your time and energy and talent and money and opportunity into things that are going to burn up, when you could be doing the will of God and the Bible says he that does the will of God abides forever. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness? If you study prophecy and prophecy doesn't make you live a godly life, your studying is wrong. I have attended some prophecy meetings and prophecy conferences where everybody was concerned about the future and nobody was looking around at the present. Peter is saying don’t be somebody who’s reading a chart; read the newspaper and find out what your opportunities are today. Live a godly life today. 

Yes, we're looking for the Lord Jesus to come back. We're looking for him to establish justice in this world. That should make us want to live holy lives today. The Apostle John said the same thing: "Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure." Now, if you're looking for these things to happen, then you ought to be living, and I ought to be living, a life of holiness and godliness. Prophecy must always be connected with holy, godly living. Looking for and hasting unto, or waiting eagerly, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the Day of God in which the heavens being on fire—there it is again—shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. 

Now, the emphasis here is on holy living in the light of a holocaust. Holy living in the light of the fact that everything is going to be dissolved. Which raises the question once again: for what are we living? Nevertheless we, we Christians, according to his promise—there's that word again. 2 Peter 3:4, "Where is the promise of his coming?" 2 Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise." 2 Peter 3:13, "Nevertheless we according to his promise look for..." You see, the promises of God will focus your eyes on what God is going to do. When you believe the promise, you know that God is going to accomplish what he says he will do. Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth in which dwelleth righteousness. 

Wherefore, now here's the application. Wherefore, Peter's not just drawing prophetic charts. Peter's not just satisfying prophetic curiosity. Forgive me, I hope no one's offended by my saying this, but in my ministry I have met people in various churches, their only concern is prophecy. They're not concerned about godly living, they aren't concerned about missions, they aren't concerned about soul-winning, they aren't concerned about supporting their pastor and the work of the church. All they want to do is study prophecy, and Peter says this is wrong. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent. 

Beloved, be mindful. Beloved, be not ignorant. Beloved, be diligent. Be diligent about what? That ye may be found of him, by him, in peace, without spot and blameless. He's talking about when the Lord Jesus comes back. Beloved, seeing that you look for these things and you know he's coming, and you know that all of the things in this world will be dissolved, then what you should be doing is exercising diligence that you'll be found in him, without spot, in peace, and blameless. 

Let's talk about that. Found of him in peace. Now, wait a minute. I thought when the Lord Jesus came back that would take care of everything. Why should I worry about peace when I'm going to see the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, the issue here has to do with the judgment seat of Christ. Did you know that sometimes the Lord has to declare war on his own church? I'm reading from Revelation 2:16. Now here he's writing to people who are professed Christians. Revelation 2:16: Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. 

Can you imagine the Lord Jesus Christ declaring war on his own people? Now, when you read the Old Testament about Israel, you'll find that God had to declare war on his people. In the book of Judges seven times he brought in heathen armies into the land of Palestine and he declared war on his own people. Why? Because they declared war on him. "Oh," you say, "how do you declare war on God?" Well, by friendship with the world, by living in idolatry and sin. Listen to James 4:4: Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. 

Now, the Jews in the Old Testament were friendly with the nations in Canaan. They gave their sons and daughters in marriage to heathen, they went to the heathen altars, they borrowed the heathen gods. God says, "You're declaring war on me, and if you declare war on me, I'll declare war on you." Now just get the context here. Peter is saying to these believers: Jesus is coming again. And when he comes, everything in this world is going to be dissolved, burned up, it's going to melt. There's going to be a new heavens and a new earth. 

"You are living for the world," he said. You're being worldly Christians. You're not living for the next world, you're living for this world. You're living for that which will be burned up. You have declared war on God. And when you see the Lord Jesus Christ at the judgment seat, when the fire falls, everything you've lived for is going to turn into ashes. Now that's a very solemn thought. He says that we should have our eyes upon the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3:11: Seeing then that all these things will be dissolved. He says in 2 Peter 3:14: Seeing that ye look for such things. 

Ah, there's the difference. Not every Christian is looking for these things. Their eyes are not upon the Lord. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. The finisher of our faith—He's going to bring all of this to completion. Peter is telling me: get your eyes on the Lord. Be diligent so that you are walking with him now in harmony and peace, without spot. Without spot. That's interesting. James tells us to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. That's one of the responsibilities we have. James 1:27: To keep ourselves unspotted from the world. The Lord Jesus was the Lamb without spot and blemish. He says be like the Lord Jesus Christ. Be diligent to live holy lives without spot and blameless. 

Now, this is the message of prophecy throughout the Scripture. When you read the Old Testament prophets, they weren't just talking about some future event. In fact, the word translated "prophet" doesn't just mean to foretell, it means to tell forth. A prophet is a person who, knowing the future, applies the message to the present. When you read Isaiah and Jeremiah and all the other prophets, they have a message for today. If prophecy makes you complacent, then you are misinterpreting prophecy. If prophecy gives you a false security—"Oh, the Lord is coming back, makes no difference how I live"—you are not understanding prophecy. 

When you read the Word of God, you find out that the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is a great motivation for holy living. You see, one of the problems today is that we look upon prophecy as escape. We are not going to have to worry about all of these things; we're going to escape, we're God's pampered people. Peter says wait just a minute. If you really believe that Jesus is coming again, you will be diligent to live a holy life. Not just a holy life, but a life of witness. 

2 Peter 3:15: And account, or consider, that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. Why is Jesus waiting to come again? Because he wants to give your friends and neighbors and relatives, and mine, opportunity to be saved. The longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you. Where? In his epistles. In the epistles of Paul, he talks about the coming of the Lord and the fact that we must get the message of the Gospel out to a lost world. 

Now, if understanding prophecy does not make me holier, there's something wrong. If understanding prophecy does not make me busier, there's something wrong. You say, "Oh, I believe Jesus is coming again." I'm happy you do. Are you busy witnessing to others? Now this leads to the conclusion of Peter's letter and that fourth beloved statement. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware. 

Notice the sequence: beloved, be mindful; beloved, be not ignorant; beloved, be diligent; beloved, beware. Beware of what? Beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. Who are the people who stumble and fall in their Christian life? The people who are not diligent. Peter has said to us: be diligent to be sure that you're saved. Be diligent to grow in your Christian life. Be diligent to be ready when Jesus comes. Now if you'll do this, you will not stumble and fall. Instead, you'll be growing and going and glowing for the Lord. 

Now you may say, "Well, that won't happen to me." Peter said that. Peter said, "Though everybody else forsake you, Lord, Peter's going to stand true. I'll go to prison and death with you if I have to." Peter knew what he was talking about here. He was led astray. He fell. Now he didn't lose his salvation, he lost his close fellowship with the Lord, lost his discipleship, and then it was restored again. That's recorded in John 21. Peter knew what he was talking about when he said to you, and he says it to me as well: Beware. Beware. You can be led astray. Beware. You can stumble and fall. But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Now, how do you grow in grace? By being diligent. By being mindful. Be not ignorant. You see, when we spend time in the Word of God, when we realize all that Jesus Christ has done for us, then we begin to grow in the Christian life. Be diligent to be ready when Jesus comes. Some saints will not be ready when Jesus comes. They've been carnal, they've been living for the world. And like Lot in the Old Testament, everything they lived for is burned up and they are left with nothing. Oh, they have their salvation, but they've lost their reward. They've wasted their opportunity. 

Be diligent to be sure that you are saved. 2 Peter 1:10. Be diligent to grow in your Christian life. 2 Peter 1:5. Be diligent to be ready when Jesus comes. 2 Peter 3:14. He wants us to be diligent Christians.