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Attributes of God (Part 7) God is Patient
2 Peter 3:3-3:15
My wife often tells me that she don’t life to pray for patience because she is afraid of what the Lord will send her way to teach her a lesson on how to be patient. I have nto met very many patient people lately.
A man’s car stalled in the heavy traffic as the light turned green. All his efforts to start the engine failed, and a chorus of honking behind him made matters worse. He finally got out of his car and walked back to the first driver and said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t seem to get my car started. If you’ll go up there and give it a try, I’ll stay here and blow your horn for you.”
Did you hear about the teacher who was helping one of her kindergarten students put his boots on? He asked for help and she could see why. With her pulling and him pushing, the boots still didn’t want to go on. When the second boot was on, she had worked up a sweat. She almost whimpered when the little boy said, “Teacher, they’re on the wrong feet.” She looked and sure enough, they were. It wasn’t any easier pulling the boots off then it was putting them on. She managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on – this time on the right feet. He then announced, “These aren’t my boots.” She bit her tongue rather than get right in his face and scream, “Why didn’t you say so?” like she wanted to. Once again she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off. He then said, “They’re my brother’s boots. My Mom made me wear them.” She didn’t know if she should laugh or cry. She mustered up the grace to wrestle the boots on his feet again. She said, “Now, where are your mittens?” He said, “I stuffed them in the toes of my boots…”
How many of you like to wait on others? How many times have we wanted something to happen, but got impatient because it did not happen, like right away? Patience can sometimes be hard to muster.
Do you consider yourself a patient person?
As we continue to look at some of the attribute of our awesome God, we are going to look at an attribute that we would do well to pick up on in our own life. This attribute is PATIENCE. Today we are going to see that God is patient, not indifferent. We will look at the motivation for God’s patience and we will see the blessing of God being patience for us.
A French proverb says, “Laziness is often mistaken for patience.” Perhaps the opposite is also true; patience is often mistaken for laziness. In frustration a mother once told her doctor, when her daughter was ill and she was worried. “Why don’t you do something?” she asked. “I am doing something,” replied the doctor. “I am waiting.” Many of us have trouble determining when someone is being patient or are being lazy.
Today we will be looking at 2 Peter 3. This letter was written about 30 years after the resurrection when some people began to doubt whether or not Jesus was coming back. If that’s what some thought 30 years after Jesus ascended can just you understand why people doubt today, over 2000 years later? The prospect of Jesus returning seems more like a fairytale to some rather than a fact.
Peter tells us that in the last days (in which we have been living since the resurrection of Jesus) people would say that God is not going to do anything. Listen to what Peter writes: “Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.
3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”
Even some who call themselves Christians don’t expect Jesus to return anytime soon. We tend to think that if something doesn’t happen right away, it will not happen at all. The sad thing is that those who mock God in this manner probably do not want Him to come back too soon because they personally are not ready for Jesus to return.
The Second Coming of Jesus was preached often by the Christian preachers of the early church, Matthew and the other gospel writers wrote about it when Jesus told them He was going to return. Paul and Peter also wrote about the Second Coming. In 2 Peter 3:5-7 we read in the past people doubted God word and judgment to come to them but then suffered the consequences… “5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
Peter wanted them and us to know that the same One and the same Word that created all and then destroyed the world by the flood will do it again not with water, but with fire.
As far as God’s delay, in vss 8-9 Peter reminds us that God is not operating on our time table. Peter wanted to point out to the critics that just because it has not happened according their timetable, that doesn’t mean it will not happen. He writes in 8-9: “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
Peter bases verse 8 on Psalm 90:4 which says, ”For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it passes by, Or as a watch in the night.” God lives outside the dimension of time, something we call eternity. So He is not limited by the same time-space concepts that we are.
Because God works differently with time than we do, it does not mean that He is indifferent or has made a mistake about the return of Jesus. We should not look at look at the time that has gone by as an indication that God is slow about the promises that He makes, but that it is just not time yet.
Peter is letting us know that the Lord is simply patient; He is not eager to punish us. In 1 TIMOTHY 2:3-4 Paul wrote that God, “ desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
In reality, God’s time frame is affected by His patience. This attribute of God is spoken of over and over throughout the Bible. He is long suffering when it comes to us.
Peter in Verse 9 says “…He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
God was especially patient in the Old Testament times. 1 Peter 3:20 speak of the patience of the Lord during the days of Noah. It took Noah 120 years to build that ark and during that time He wanted to give those people a chance to repent, proclaimed by the spirit of Christ through the mouth of Noah. But no one did and only Naoh’s family entered the ark and were save. The flood water came and then it was too late.
Once Jesus returns or when we die, it will also be too late for us to change, it’s is game over at that point, there are no second chances.
God’s love for us motivates Him to be patient with us, but it is not endless. In v10-11 we see that the Day of the Lord is coming “10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. 11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.
Verse 10 tells us that it will come like a thief in the night. This means that the time is unknown and it also means that we must always be ready. The question for you and me is, Are we ready to stand before God today at the final judgment?
Peter tells us that, all we know will be destroyed when the Lord returns. We must be ready for that day by giving our life to Jesus and then living for Him. Jesus is not your insurance policy, He is our life if we belong to Him.
It has been said that there are two things in life you can count on. CAN YOU NAME THEM? Death and taxes. You could refuse to pay or cheat on your taxes, but you will not cheat death, you need to be ready. C. In vss 13-18, I believe we see that God wants us to have time to anticipate what is coming and our new home and then adjust out behavior. (Read v 13-18) “13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him………. 17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen”
Simply put, God is patient, and thank goodness He is. His love for us, and His desire for us to live with Him in Heaven motivated Him to be patient with is even those we keep making one mistake after another. And I believe we should thank Him for His mercy and grace, and patience everyday! (You should Pray now!)
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