2 Peter 3:9 NIV
“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.”
In context, this is speaking of the prophecies of Scripture
regarding these last days and the return of Christ. And it is speaking of scoffers
who are following their own evil desires who mock the fact that Jesus has not
yet returned. And so the promise being spoken of here is the promise of our
Lord’s return for his bride when he will also destroy the present heavens and
earth with fire, and in judgment he will also destroy the ungodly.
Now, we have talked about this before, but the ungodly are
not just all who make no profession of faith in Jesus Christ. The ungodly are
all who are living ungodly lives in sexual immorality, idolatry, lying,
cheating, stealing, committing adultery, and being unfaithful, etc. For our
faith in Jesus Christ is not all talk, but it must be followed up with action.
We must live what we profess, in practice, and we must not walk in sin.
So, we have the promise and the hope that one day Jesus is
going to return for his bride and he is going to take us to be with him for
eternity. But who are “we”? Who has this promise? It is not everyone who merely
mouths a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. It is those who have been
crucified with Christ in death to sin, who have been raised with Christ to walk
in newness of life in him, who are walking according to the Spirit and not
according to the flesh, in practice (see Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14).
For many people professing Christ go through the motions of
religious practice, but they are still walking by the flesh. The Pharisees did
that. They were big on outward displays of righteousness while their hearts
were full of wickedness. Yet a person of God is a person whose life is
surrendered to Jesus Christ who is walking in holiness and righteousness and
not in sin and who loves his/her family and the family of God, and who sets the
example before them of godly living and integrity and holy living, on a daily
basis.
So, for those of us who are walking according to the Spirit,
and not according to the flesh, in practice, we have this hope of eternal life
with God. But for those who are still living in sin and for self, and not for
God, they don’t have that promise. They have the promise of being destroyed in
judgment by God. And so God/Jesus, in his mercy, has delayed his coming so that
more people will have the opportunity to repent of their sins and to follow our
Lord in obedience to his commands (New Covenant).
And to repent is to have a change of mind resulting in a
change of attitude, speech, and behaviors. It is like you were traveling west, but
then you make a U-turn, and now you are traveling east, in the opposite
direction. It involves us making room in our hearts and lives for Jesus to be
truly Lord (Owner-Master) of our lives and for us to forsake our lives of sin
and to now follow him in obedience and in holy living. This is the kind of
repentance that the Scriptures teach with regard to our salvation from sin.
And then notice how “repentance” is used in this verse. Our
Lord is patient with us, not wanting (or wishing, or willing, or desiring) for anyone
to perish but for all to come to repentance. So, obviously repentance is
critical to us having eternal life with God and to us not perishing in our
sins. Yet so many preachers and teachers today are not teaching biblical repentance
or they are teaching that we don’t have to repent of our sins and we don’t have
to obey our Lord, for they call that “works salvation.”
But then they have to be ignoring the bulk of the teachings
in the New Testament on the subject of “works,” especially Ephesians 2:10,
which follows right after Ephesians 2:8-9, and which says,
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” ESV
And Titus 2:14 ESV, speaking of Jesus: “who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
Anyway, Jesus made clear to us the message of his gospel
when he said,
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” Luke 9:23-25 ESV
And Paul and the other apostles made the message clear, as
well, that we must not hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self
or we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we lose our lives, i.e. if we
die with Christ to sin and we live to him and to his righteousness, in
obedience to our Lord, then we have eternal life in him. For if sin is what we
practice, it will end in death, not life. But if obedience to our Lord is our
practice, we have life in Him.
My Sheep
An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Based off John 10:1-18 NIV
My sheep hear me.
They know me.
They listen to my
voice and obey.
I call them and lead
them.
They know my voice,
so they follow me.
They will never
follow strangers.
They will run away
from them.
The voice of a
stranger they know not;
They do not follow
him.
So, I tell you the
truth that
I am the gate, so
you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find
forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever
enters
Not by the gate;
other way,
He is the thief and
a robber.
Listen not, the
sheep to him.
Oh, I am the Good
Shepherd,
Who laid his own
life down for the sheep.
I know them. They
know me.
They will live with
me eternally.
The thief only comes
to steal and
Kill and to destroy
the church.
I have come to give
you life that
You may have it to
the full…
They know my voice,
so they follow me.
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