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Rock Solid on the Solid Rock
Finding What's Truly Reliable
The reality is that there are not too many things in this world that you can actually count on. Stock markets have their ups and downs. The economy could be doing better. The prospects for peace in the world are about as distant as they've ever been. Just this past week, Pakistan and India have just blown up. Preachers, churches, and ministries are continually straying away from the Lord and causing confusion and doubt. Many are being led astray. Jesus said in Luke 18:8, "Will I even find faith on earth when I return?"
In fact, if you live with your faith in people, ministries, and money, then you're going to live a very disappointing and discouraging life from time to time.
Yet, in the midst of all the doubts, the confusion that surrounds us in the world today, there are still some things you can believe in. And the biggest and the baddest thing around, a thing that is rock solid is the Bible. The inspired, infallible, and inerrant word of the living God. The book is pure and is worthy of our faith and acceptance. Every word in the Bible is inspired by the Lord and will endure forever.
Psalm 119:89 says this, "Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens." Matthew 24:35 says, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." Every word in this book will come to pass just as it is written. And this includes every promise of God. Every promise God gave in the word is worthy to be believed, for it will come to pass just as He said.
Hebrews 6:18 says, "So that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us."
Think about what that means. He promises to save you. And He's good at His word.
He promised to save you if you just simply call upon Him. Romans 10:13 says, "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." He meant that when He promised to be with you in Hebrews 13, the last half of verse 5, He said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." He meant that when He promised to take care of you as you pass through this world.
Philippians 4:19 says, "And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus." He doubles down in Matthew 6:33-34, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." He meant that.
And as Peter tells us in Second Peter chapter 3, when the Lord promised to come again and return, He meant that, too. Take for instance the last recorded promise in the Bible. Do you know what it is? The last recorded promise in the Bible is from the lips of the Lord Jesus. And it's in Revelation 22:20. And it says this, "He who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming soon.' Amen. Come, Lord Jesus."
See, in this verse, Jesus makes it crystal clear that He is going to return to this world. And many people refuse to accept this truth as fact. And please hear me, that doesn't change a thing. Jesus said that He was going to return and He will. Jesus is returning. And you can take that to the bank. That is a rock solid promise.
The Assurance of the Scriptures: God's Perfect, Prophetic Word
In Second Peter chapter 3, verses 1 and 2, it lays out that the Bible is a perfect book and a prophetic book. Peter speaks of the word of God in verse 2 and calls it a witness to this great truth. It is the absolute perfect revelation of God's will to mankind. You can count on the word of God. Therefore, when something is written in the Bible, you can consider it settled forever.
All throughout the Bible, there are prophecies presented and fulfilled over and over and over again. Do you know that there are over 300 prophecies given in connection with just the first advent of Jesus, just with Christmas, just with Jesus's birth? And we know that those were written long before Jesus was historically on the earth. They were literally fulfilled. His virgin birth from Isaiah 7:14, His birth in Bethlehem in Micah 5:2, His humiliation and death in Isaiah 53, His resurrection Psalm 16:18. The Bible is a book of prophetic content that has come true.
Let's take a look at the New Testament. The New Testament speaks of many different matters. Now, we all know the important notion of the new birth. That's a big deal, right? But did you know that it is only mentioned nine times in the New Testament? Many of us are big on baptism. It's only mentioned 20 times in the New Testament. How about the great doctrine of repentance? That's only spoken of 70 times in the New Testament.
However, in the 27 books of the New Testament, which is divided into four categories, historical, Paul's letters, general letters, and the prophetic, there are over 380 references to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Somehow, I get the impression this is kind of important to our Lord. I mean, He devotes one out of every 25 verses in the New Testament to the second coming.
The Bible has been a book that has been so amazingly preserved over time. You add the will of God, you add the prophecies, and then you see how God has preserved it. Every word in the book will literally come to pass. God will see that none of His words fall on the ground. And by the way, so far so good, right? He will see that it gets the job done and especially the parts about the second coming.
If you dare to declare that you believe that the Bible is inspired, inerrant, and infallible, you better be prepared to be ridiculed even in the space where people call themselves Christians. You see, people think that we old-fashioned, fundamental, Bible believing, authentic, historical Christians are crazy. They kind of smirk at us to say, "Nah, it's all right. One day you'll be enlightened just like the rest of us." Still, there are others who believe that we are a dangerous element. Some would like nothing better than for all Bible believers to be locked away from the rest of normal society.
The Ignorance of the Scoffers: Denying What God Has Promised
This is from our text today, 2 Peter 3:3-7 and verse 10. In verse 4, we see the doubt. They deny the reality of Christ coming. And what do they base their reasoning on? On the fact that nothing seems to change. Spring follows winter, summer follows spring, and fall follows summer. All things continue as they have for ages. Nothing has changed since the beginning. Therefore, the threat of the end of the world must not be true.
Now, their theory fails in two key areas:
- They forgot history - They failed to remember that God has already judged and destroyed the world once in Genesis 6 and 7.
- They misunderstand God's timeline - They failed to realize that God is not bound by time as humans are. In truth, Jesus has only been gone about two days in verses 8 and 9 just from our text today. Two days.
In verses 4 and 5, we watch these scoffers live in denial. They doubt God's revealed truth because they want to deny it. And it begins with something as basic as creation. People deny creation which is testified to by the scriptures and common sense.
And then from there, once you deny that, it's easy to deny everything else God says all the way to the point where you can stand in front of a microphone and say, "I trust the science." And then the next 10 seconds say, "Except for biology." If the first 11 chapters of Genesis are not true, then nothing in the Bible is worthy of our faith.
According to verse 6 of our text today, God has already judged the world one time. This was during the flood of Noah. The fact that He has done it once should make folks realize that He can and He will do it again. Regardless of what the scoffers say, the world did not come about as a result of billions of years. Humans in the animal kingdom did not evolve from some sort of primordial soup. We are not the offspring of some germ placed here by traveling space aliens.
God made this universe by His very words. In Genesis 1, 11 times the phrase, "And God said," appears in the biblical record. This world was created by the word of God, and it is sustained by the same word. That's what it says in verse 7 right there. The same word. This world has already been judged and destroyed by water once. Next time it's going to be by fire.
We need to ask God to help this foolish society which has been tricked into believing Satan's lies. Unless children learn the truth at home and at church, they will actually go through life with no hope. For if the evolutionists are right, then you might as well live it up and have a big time and just rock on, right? Because when you die, you're just going to be like the worms. You simply cease to exist.
A Heart Problem, Not a Head Problem
Why are human beings so quick to deny the plain teachings of scripture? Why do they seem so eager to invent fables to explain away truths that are so clearly taught in the pages of the word of God?
It's simple. The problem is not one of the head. The problem is of the heart. It isn't that they can't understand. It's that they do not wish to understand. Notice in verse 3, "following their own evil desires." In verse 5, they "deliberately overlooked."
If a person admits that there really is a God and that this God has given us this perfect revelation of Himself in the word of God in the Bible, then they're going to have to bow before God, repent of their sins, submit to God, or be eternally damned. It is to the sinner's advantage to undermine the authority of the word of God.
You see, if you can dispense with "thus sayeth the Lord," then there are no absolutes. There are no standards of right and wrong and nothing is off limits. Nothing. And we see that rampant in our society today.
Fact is the Bible in His perfect word lets us know we will face that judgment someday. Even those who deny His existence will be there with Him face to face. But those of us who know Jesus, we have this one thing that separates us from everything. And it gives us a joy that we can't even contain—Jesus Christ, because He's our perfect substitute, is literally going to present you and me before God as if we're holy and perfect and never sinned. How is that not dominate everything that we're about all day, every day?
You also go on to verse 7 of our text. "Stored up for fire" that equals reserve with fire. In the very building blocks of creation, God placed the elements essential to bring about a fiery end to this world. Do you realize if He changes a couple molecules here and there just in our air, He can just blow everything up? You don't think the God who made this world can also cause it to burn? He can and He certainly will.
Don't strive so hard for those things that Jesus is going to come and burn up anyway. Sure, strive hard. Be professional. Be good at what you do. Go forward with intentionality. But remember, what you have with Christ is what lasts. Everything else going to get burned up.
The world was created in the beginning and it will be cremated in the end. In that day, all that will matter is your personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And as bad as that thought is that the world will ultimately be destroyed, the reality of an eternity in hell is infinitely worse for each and every one of us. The scoffers may have their day today. It doesn't change the fact that Jesus will return. You can bank on it.
The Patience of Our Lord Jesus: His Perfect Timing
The patience of our Lord Jesus is in verses 8 and 9 of our text. As we bring it home, I want to look at God's sovereignty and the huge patience of our creator along with timing and order.
Our God is a God of order. Therefore, please know He's punctual. He isn't slack or tardy, as some would suggest. God is a God of order and punctuality. He will come when the time is exactly right for doing so. People look at the supposed delay and they wonder why Jesus hasn't come. The answer is easy. It simply isn't the time yet. When it's time, He'll be here. God never tries and He will come swiftly at the precise time and He will judge decisively. God always shows up exactly when He is supposed to. Remember, Jesus has only been gone for 2 days.
God is patient. The Bible says long-suffering or long-tempered. The reason God waits is to allow lost men and women ample time to repent and turn to Him. Many of us have our lives prolonged right now as we speak, so that we can proclaim and testify to the Lord Jesus Christ to the people in our world.
God wants everyone to come to salvation. He doesn't want to see anyone die lost and go to hell. But He can't be in the presence of sin. So there's a problem. Does He really desire all people to be saved? Do I really believe that? Well, of course. Let's look at it.
1 Timothy 2:3-4. It says, "This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God our savior who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."
And then add verse 9 from our text today. Let me show it to you one more time: "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but all should reach repentance."
Why does He say this? So that we, the people talked about in these verses, that's us, can spend eternity in heaven with Him. Therefore, He waits and He loves and He calls and He gives mankind opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to get right with Him.
But one day, God's patience will be exhausted and He will return to this earth. Then it'll be too late to repent, but there will be nothing more to look forward to but an eternity in hell. Hebrews 10:26-27 says this, "For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment in a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries."
Therefore, please do not presume upon the patience and grace of God. One day there will be no more time for you. People always talk about when will Jesus return. Well, you know what? I was driving to Council Bluffs this past week and the sign I think said there were 52 deaths so far this year on the highway. Basically, at the end of the year, when you drive up and down I-80 in late December, it usually says something like 360, 380. Basically, one a day. So, somebody on the I-80 is going to die today. Did they expect to die today? Is today not the day that Jesus raptures them, so to speak? Do not presume the patience and grace of God because one day there will be no more time.
Let me bottom line it for you. He will come again just as He said He would. Why? Because God has promised. I am of the conviction this coming will be soon and possibly even in my lifetime. I believe that Jesus will take His bride, His church, to Himself and will return in great glory and will defeat the armies of the antichrist and will establish His throne from which He will rule and reign for a thousand years.
Now, whatever the sequence of those events are, the primary response from all human beings needs to be that we are readying ourselves for that hour instead of trying to figure it all out. Keep your eyes on Jesus.
Are You Ready?
With all this in mind, are you ready to meet Him? If not, I'd sure get ready. When you hear a message like this, it ought to make lost people consider the terrible danger they are in and cause them to run. Not walk, run to Christ in repentance.
Verse 10 reminds us when He comes, it'll be a sudden event. These truths should stir the hearts of God's people to make us want to get as close to Jesus as we can get with the time remaining—which none of us know how much time we have left but we know we have today right now.
We might be used by God to touch this world any way we can. What I want to do is I want to be used by God to touch this world any way I can. I will turn over every rock I can to share the truth of God's word.
If I could share the truth of Jesus Christ with somebody and their life gets changed for eternity, I don't care what it costs me. There are multitudes all around us who have never received Jesus as their savior. You might be the one to reach them. It might be you.
Conclusion: Living Rock Solid
So, base your life on Jesus, the solid rock and you can live rock solid.