Grace Bible Church Gillette, Wyoming

1. Peter draws an object lesson that began from the previous verses. The application was that since the world will be “destroyed” (luō - loose or destroy - “destroyed with intense heat” - 2Pe 3:10, 11, 12) and sin judged, believers should be holy and godly.

2. The judgment included that the heavens and the earth:

a. “are being reserved for fire” (2Pe 3:7).

b. [are being] “kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men” (2Pe 3:7).

c. [are going to] “pass away with a roar” (2Pe 3:10).

d. [its] “elements will be destroyed with intense heat” (2Pe 3:10).

e. “its works will be burned up” (2Pe 3:10).

3. The future judgment and destruction of the heavens and the earth will have an effect of what sort of people believers should be.

a. The construction is not a question but rather and exclamation.

b. The Greek word for “what sort of people” is potapos, which refers to the person’s character, whether it be negative (Luk 7:39), or positive (1Jo 3:1).

c. Of course, here Peter has in mind the believer’s highest character qualities.

B. Compulsion of Necessity

1. God’s judgment ought (dei - necessary compulsion) to have an impact on the believer’s life. How is it that judgment ought to have a necessary compulsion for the believer’s behavior (to be - huparchō - not mere existence but subsistence of qualities or character - Schaff)?

a. Believers were under the same judgment of their sin until they came to Christ (Joh 3:36; Eph 2:1-5).

b. Now that believers have come out from under God’s judgment by His grace, they do not have freedom to sin (Gal 5:13; 1Pe 2:16).

c. Judgment reveals God’s holy hatred against sin. If the believer loves God, then he also will hate sin (Pro 6:16; Pro 8:13).

d. Since the believer loves God, he will want to please God by a holy life (1Jo 3:22; 1Jo 5:2).

e. The indwelling Holy Spirit leads the believer to walk a holy life (Gal 5:16-17;).

f. The believer’s holy life may convict some unbelievers of their unholy living (1Co 14:24; 1Th 1:5).

C. Conduct That is Outward (Holy)

1. It ought to cause the believer to have holy conduct. Peter has talked about conduct in both his epistles. In particular, he has used the word for “conduct,” anastrophê several times.

a. The inhabitants of Sodom oppressed righteous Lot with their sensual “conduct” (2Pe 2:7).

b. Before coming to Christ, the believer had a futile “way of life” (1Pe 1:18).

c. The believer’s good “behavior” ultimately puts slanderers to shame (1Pe 3:16).

d. The believing wife’s behavior has winning influence (1Pe 3:1-2).

e. The believer is to keep his “behavior excellent” among the Gentiles (1Pe 2:12).

f. The believer’s “behavior” is to be holy even as God is holy (1Pe 1:15).

D. Conduct That is Inward (Godliness)

1. God’s judgment ought to cause the believer to live a godly life. "Godliness" (eusebia - lit. "good worship," reverence and duty toward God).

a. Godliness would include the believer's attitude of worship toward God, especially as it plays out in godly behavior in every aspect of life.

b. Instead of viewing godliness as "god-likeness" the truer meaning of the word would be "god-wardness."

c. Holy conduct refers to that which rules my behavior, and godliness refers to that which rules my heart. And so he is saying what kind of person ought you to be in heart and in behavior, in motive and in action, in attitude and in duty. (MacArthur sermon)

II. LORD’S DAY LONGED FOR (2Pe 3:12)

A. Day Longed For

1. Alongside of having holy conduct and godliness behavior, God’s judgment ought to cause believers look for the Lord’s return.

a. “Looking for” is the Greek word prosdakaō (emphatic form of dokeuō - to watch) which is means to eagerly look and expect something or someone.

b. Its meaning was demonstrated in Act 27:33 when sailors were watching and waiting for the weather to break for fourteen days.

c. It was also illustrated when the natives were expecting, waiting, and watching for Paul to drop dead after being bitten by a poisonous snake (Act 28:6).

d. Peter uses it with reference to eagerly looking and expecting the Lord to come with His judgment (2Pe 3:12, 13, 14).

B. Day Hastened

1. In addition, they were to hasten (speudō - hasten or urge on) the day of His coming. This does not mean that believers can do something to usher in the Lord’s return. Instead, it refers to one’s desire of anticipation (1Co 16:22 (Maranatha is Aramaic or Lord, come!); 1Jo 2:28; Rev 22:20). As a result of such an attitude there is not only an urgency for desiring the Lord to come, but also an urgency for it in prayer (Mat 6:10), preaching (Mat 24:14), and “until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in” (Rom 11:25).

C. Day of God

1. The “day of God” is referred by some as the eternal state (BKC, MacArthur) when Christ hands over the kingdom to the Father (1Co 15:24-28).

2. However, some see the “day of God” as synonymous to the “day of the Lord” (SLJ; Constable).

a. It is not a specific day but a panoramic program just like the “day of the Lord.”

b. The coming of the day of God. Peter elsewhere describes the coming or parousia as the coming of Christ (cf. 2 Pet 1:16; 3:4). The almost casual exchange between "God" and "Christ" in this little book, and elsewhere in the NT, argues strongly for the deity of Christ. (NET)

c. Both are associated with the destruction of the heavens and the earth (cf. 2Pe 3:10).

d. The phrase because of which (or on account of which) suggests that the day of the Lord or the day of God is the reason for the heavens melting with fervent heat (SLJ).

e. Rev. 16:14 uses the “day of God” in connection with the battle of Armageddon at the Second Coming of Christ.

3. Though the destruction of heavens is Peter’s repetitive theme, but more detail is given as to how the heavens and the earth are destroyed. It literally reads, “the heavens, being on fire, will be destroyed, and the elements, while being burned will melt.”

III. OBSERVATIONS AND APPLICATIONS

A. Longing Believers

1. Looking for the Blessed Hope (Tit 2:13)

2. Awaiting eagerly for the revelation of our Lord (1Co 1:7)

3. Eagerly wait for our Savior (Php 3:20).

4. All those who love His appearing (2Ti 4:8).

B. Living Holy

1. Stephen Cole’s illustration of getting teens to clean their room.

2. Christ is coming back suddenly and unexpectedly. Make sure that your life is clean and ready for His coming! Live in holiness in light of that day.

C. Letting People Know

1. If we are expecting Christ any minute, and we should, then we should be urgent in our prayers and actions in evangelism.

2. Otherwise, they will be left behind, left to face the judgment without Christ, and left to the wrath of God for all eternity.

Grace Bible Church · 4000 E. Collins Rd · PO Box #3762 · Gillette, WY · (307) 686-1516