God is In Control

Click here for the audio message of 2 Peter 3:1-10

We finish up our study of the book of 2 Peter this morning. Last time we looked at Peter’s warning to the people about false teachers. He said that we need to pay close attention to what the preacher/teacher says and evaluate their statements and lifestyles based upon Scripture.

False teachers may look and sound good on the outside for a while, but they cannot hide their true feelings on the inside. They are really only interested in themselves. They are greedy, they want the power, the prestige, and money.

Sure they may start off with the word of God, but eventually they soften their message to tell the people what they want to hear, and of course the people need to send them money. This type of thing was happening in Peter’s day and it continues today.

Peter tells us that God has judged the wickedness of the world in the past and gave the example of Sodom and Gomorrah. He also gave the example of the flood in Noah’s day. This leads right into the conclusion of Peter’s letter today. And that conclusion is don’t lose hope. God is in control.

When you think about your own life, maybe there was a time when you were feeling a little down or little let down or disappointed in God. Maybe you felt as though He didn’t come through for you. He didn’t answer your prayer the way you expected.

This can happen to us, especially when we start listening to what the world says. But at some point you had to realize that God’s answer was best for you at that particular time. It may not have been what you wanted to happen, but God knows best and gave you what you needed.

The people of Peter’s day were expecting Christ to return and take them all to Heaven any day. In fact, the people of Thessalonica were actually quitting their jobs and just hanging out waiting for the return of Christ. Paul wrote them a letter and said you can’t do that. You have to continue living your life today, but prepare for Christ’s return tomorrow!

The world was mocking the followers of Christ, saying “Where is this Jesus. He said He was coming back for you, but where is He?” So, Peter encourages his listeners to stay strong in the faith.

He also tells them what to expect in the last days, the days that we are still living in today. The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. Christ will return when the world does not expect Him.

He is not slow. He did not forget about us. Rather He is patient with us and the world, waiting for all to come to repentance. He is giving the world the chance to change their ways and He uses us and wants us to go out and tell the world about Him so they will indeed change.

Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. We as believers need to be out their telling the world about the One true God and how to come to salvation through Jesus Christ. And we tell people about Jesus Christ not jus through our words, but our actions as well.

Peter is telling his readers these things so they do not become disappointed with God. It still applies to us today as well. God has not abandoned us as some people think. We cannot believe these false teachers or the deceptions of Satan. We must continue believing and serving God.

God is in control. It may not seem like it at times, but He is. When we doubt this we must just accept it on faith. As we mature and our eyes are opened we will see God’s hand at work, not only in our life, but in the lives of others around us. We can see God answering our prayers.

God is in control. He will keep His promises. He says He will return for us and He will. Until then, we need to continue to serve Him. We must separate ourselves from sin and let God’s love rule in our hearts. We need to live a Christ-like life and serve Him while waiting for His return.

We must guard our faith. The world, the false teachers, and Satan all want us to turn from God. They want us out of fellowship with Him. So we need to be strong in our faith as we follow Christ. We need to continue to grow and mature as Christians and truly know Christ.

Peter talks a lot about the knowledge of Christ. This isn’t just an intellectual knowledge of Christ. Rather this is an intimate knowledge of who He is, what He’s done, and what He will do. And not just knowing it in a factual way, but believing it and living out your life accordingly.

It is challenging, no doubt about it and the temptations of this world do not make it any easier. The world seems to know when you are down and out, feeling stressed, upset, sad, angry or whatever. And he world is ready to help you out with its solutions, not God’s.

We all experience times like this. I think partly because of our unrealistic expectations that we place on ourselves and others and honestly even on God. This is when you need to be on your guard and truly come to Christ for your strength.

We need to remind ourselves that God is in control and He has a plan for your life and He has a plan for others as well. And all of those plans fit together somehow even though we don’t know it or can’t understand it.

Sometimes though there are lessons we need to learn and God allows certain “bad” things in our lives to happen so we learn those lessons and we can be strengthened through those trials for the future.

God is not slack in His promises. He will return again for us, we must live our lives accordingly.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the many blessings in our lives. We thank you for being there and answering our prayers. We ask for your forgiveness when we feel that you have not answered our prayers the way we wanted.

Open our eyes so that we may see the plan and purpose You have for each and every one of us. Help us to be patient and remember that you are in control. Thank you for taking care of us and doing what is best for us.

AMEN