“Longsuffering” 9-4-22

Overview

The Longsuffering of God

Waiting is woven into human life, and few of us bear it well. The Christian life is itself a posture of waiting—waiting for the return of the Lord Jesus in glory. Scripture does not soften that reality: when the Son of Man comes, He will gather the nations and separate the sheep from the goats Matthew 25:31-46, and "the day of the Lord will come like a thief" 2 Peter 3:10. Yet as the years pass, scoffers mock the promise, and even believers can slide toward doubt or despair—wondering if their baptism "took," whether their continuing struggle with sin disqualifies them, or whether the promise will ever be kept.

Peter answers these anxieties by lifting our eyes to God Himself. "Do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 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 that all should reach repentance" 2 Peter 3:8-9. This is not a math problem inviting us to calculate the date of Christ's return; it is a reminder that the finite creature cannot impose his timetable on the infinite Creator. God's apparent delay is not negligence or cruelty—it is mercy. He is longsuffering, patient to a degree we will never match.

This patience is the steady character of God across all of Scripture. He bore with Israel's grumbling in the wilderness and raised up judges to save a people who kept turning to idols. He listened to Abraham's pleading over Sodom Genesis 18. He sent Jonah to Nineveh precisely because He would forgive the wicked who repented. Through Ezekiel He declares, "Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked… and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?" Ezekiel 18:23. The supreme proof of His longsuffering is the cross: He gave His own Son's blood so that sinners might be washed, forgiven, and made righteous. Baptism is not a fragile thing we must repeat each time we stumble—Scripture knows "one baptism for the forgiveness of sins"—but a sealing in which we are secured as Christ's own.

So how should we live in the meantime? Peter is direct: "What sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness… count the patience of our Lord as salvation" 2 Peter 3:11-15. Regard this waiting not as condemnation withheld, but as salvation extended. Use the time to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, to lean into the security of your baptism rather than turning inward in fear, and—crucially—to look outward. God's patience with us is also His patience with our neighbors, coworkers, and family members who have not yet heard, repented, and believed. The same mercy that delays judgment for their sake calls us to carry the good news to them. We are not meant to freeze in place hoping not to sin; we are freed in Christ to live and to go, that others too may turn and live.

Transcript

If you would please open your Bibles to second Peter, the third chapter, second Peter, 2s

the third chapter. 11s

Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting. 17s

It's such a big, long part of life. 22s

We wait and we wait and we wait. 28s

We go to an amusement park and we can wait hours for a two minute ride. 31s

And yet, we'll wait. 39s

We can go to airports at least two hours before our flight. 43s

And oftentimes, our flight is not on time. 49s

And so we wait. 52s

We wait and we wait. 55s

And then we get to wait some more. 58s

In the grocery store, we get into line and we're waiting. 61s

Yet, once again, and so we start scouting to see if there are any 66s

other shorter lines, so we don't have to wait quite so long. 71s

We just don't like waiting. 77s

And yet, we wait. 82s

But we don't like waiting. 86s

We don't like waiting. 87s

As a Christian people, we are waiting for the Lord. 90s

And we don't like waiting. 95s

Let me read to you out of Matthew. 98s

When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, 101s

then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 106s

All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate people. 109s

One from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 115s

And he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 119s

Then the king will say to those at his right hand, come. 124s

You that are blessed by my father inherit the kingdom, 128s

prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 132s

Then he will say to those at his left hand, 136s

you that are a cursed, 140s

depart from me into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 142s

The day of the Lord will come like a thief. 150s

And then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise and the elements will be dissolved with fire. 153s

And the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed. 159s

Waiting doesn't seem so bad. 166s

Waiting doesn't seem so terrible. 170s

We hear of the return of Jesus in his glory. 175s

And though we are a Christian people, 179s

it still makes us tremble. 184s

It still makes us nervous. 187s

Jesus is going to come in all his glory for judgment. 191s

And in all honest confession, we say, 202s

we can wait a little longer. 208s

We can wait a little longer. 210s

Just a little longer, Lord. 212s

I need to get some things in order. 214s

And so one turns to the Lord. 217s

And once we turn to the Lord, 221s

we expect his return. 223s

We hope for his return immediately because all is well. 225s

And yet, and yet, he carries. 231s

And we wait. 238s

And we begin to wonder, 240s

is all of this real. 244s

I have been so good. 246s

I have worked so hard waiting for the Lord's return. 249s

And yet, he has not come back. 254s

The world around me is so gross and depraved. 257s

Jesus surely should be coming back now. 262s

And yet, he's not. 266s

Is it all for not? 270s

Why this delay? 274s

And one can start to become drawn into disbelief, 277s

or doubt. 283s

Wondering, is he really coming back? 285s

Wait, just a little longer, Lord. 294s

I need to get things in order. 297s

And so we turn to the Lord, 302s

and we are baptized. 304s

Our sin is washed clean. 308s

We are righteous through the waters of baptism. 311s

But the Lord has not returned. 317s

And what happens if I sin again? 320s

Did I not get baptized right? 325s

If I'm still sinning? 328s

Do I need to go and be baptized once again, 329s

over and over so that I'm always at the ready? 334s

Scripture is clear, one baptism for the forgiveness of sin. 340s

And one can start slipping into despair, 349s

because we fall to temptation. 354s

We fall into sin. 358s

And we start getting concerned about ourselves. 364s

And we start worrying about our righteousness, 369s

about our salvation. 374s

And all of a sudden, I am so turned in and focused on myself. 377s

That I forget there are others, others, 382s

who have not heard, who have not repented, 391s

who have not turned to the Lord. 395s

This sermon series on the attributes of God 401s

has been a rich delight to know God better, 405s

to know how great how other he is. 412s

He is so other than who we are and what we are. 418s

We can't help but to glorify him for his goodness. 424s

The final attribute we are studying today 431s

is that God is long suffering. 434s

That means he is patient and not just patient, 438s

but patient to the tenth degree. 445s

Patient unlike any of us have ever been 449s

or will ever be patient. 454s

This is the context with which Peter is writing. 457s

He is writing to warn of scoffers 462s

and to warn of not falling into that despair 467s

or disbelief because the Lord has not returned yet. 472s

People were beginning to mock. 480s

Mark the gospel that Jesus would come again 483s

because he had not shown himself again. 487s

And so they started to disbelieve 491s

and they started to share that word of disbelief 493s

with the church so that others would start 497s

to tumble into despair and disbelief. 501s

But Peter writes, he writes to those 506s

that are in the church, to those 510s

that are at risk of not wanting to wait any longer. 513s

In verse 8 of our reading today, 520s

he writes, 522s

Do not ignore this one fact beloved 522s

that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years 525s

and a thousand years are like one day. 530s

The Lord as we know him 535s

or the Lord as we know is outside of time. 538s

He does not need the linear timeline as we do. 543s

And this one day compared to a thousand years 548s

is not a moment for Peter or that Peter is saying, 552s

okay, you're going to do some math. 556s

We're going to calculate how many days 558s

have been happening and then we're going to 560s

time that by the thousand and that's how many days 563s

until Jesus returns. 565s

He's not giving us an invitation to do math. 567s

Thank God. 572s

It's a pictorial. 576s

Peter is drawing attention to the fact that created man 577s

the finite cannot compare himself to the creator, 582s

God, the infinite. 590s

God is not on our timetable. 594s

God does not bend to our need 599s

or or want of a timetable and knowing. 605s

With the Lord one day is like a thousand years 612s

and a thousand years are like one day. 615s

We continue in verse nine. 618s

The Lord is not slow about his promise 620s

as some think of slowness but is patient with you. 623s

Not wanting any to perish but all to come 628s

to repentance. 633s

When we read of the coming of Jesus in glory for judgment, 637s

gathering the nations before him, 643s

when we read that the day of the Lord will come like a thief 646s

in the night that is not for us to fear 649s

that the Lord is just waiting, 656s

to catch us in the act of sinning, 661s

hoping, hoping that he will get to gather us to himself 665s

in order to dam us that is not what he is saying here. 670s

God is long-suffering. 681s

He is patient out of his mercy 684s

for us and this is his entire being always 689s

since before the foundation of the world. 697s

Think of the Israelites who he brought out of Egypt 702s

and over and over and over again we read what 707s

and the Israelites grumbled. 710s

And they go a little bit further and guess what? 714s

The Israelites grumbled and he brought judges 717s

that would save the Israelites and yet they would continue 721s

to turn to other gods and yet God would save them again. 725s

He was patient. 733s

He was long-suffering. 736s

He was patient with them because he wanted them 739s

to repent. 744s

Abraham pleaded with the Lord. 748s

He pleaded when the Lord was going to destroy 751s

Sodom. 754s

He said, if there are a hundred men that are righteous, 755s

please don't destroy this city. 759s

If there are fifty men righteous and he worked his way 763s

down, pleading with the Lord, 768s

even if there are ten righteous men in this city, 770s

please do not destroy it. 775s

And the Lord said, if there are ten righteous, 781s

I will save it. 788s

But there weren't. 793s

There weren't the righteous. 795s

Lot and his family. 797s

They were allowed to leave, but Sodom and Gomorrah 801s

were destroyed because they would not repent. 803s

They would not turn to the Lord. 807s

But God was not first seeking their destruction. 811s

If you remember the story of Jonah, 817s

we remember how he was called to go to Nineveh 821s

to proclaim that the people of Nineveh 824s

should repent of their wickedness and turn to the Lord. 829s

And Jonah didn't want to do that. 833s

Why did he not want to go because he knew? 836s

He knew. 840s

If the Ninevehs, those wicked evil people 842s

repented and turned, 846s

God would forgive. 851s

Are we ever finding ourselves in the position of Jonah? 856s

Where we know, we know God is merciful. 863s

We know His will is that all would turn to Him. 869s

And yet in our own sinfulness, 875s

we know people who we would just prefer, 878s

not hear the good news. 883s

And so we try, like Jonah, 890s

to run from the call. 894s

God, in his absolute being, 901s

is merciful and wants all 907s

to turn to Him, wants all to repent, 912s

wants all not to perish but have eternal life. 918s

In his equal, the prophet writes, 924s

if the wicked turn away from all their sins that they have committed, 926s

and keep all my statutes and do what is lawful and right, 930s

they shall surely live. 934s

They shall not die. 936s

None of the transgressions that they have committed 938s

and shall be remembered against them, 940s

for the righteousness that they have done, they shall live. 942s

Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, 946s

says the Lord God, 949s

and not rather that they should turn from their ways and live? 951s

God's delay in his return. 957s

God's delay is not anything other than his goodness, 963s

and mercy. 969s

His goodness and mercy for you, 973s

his goodness and mercy for me, 976s

his goodness and mercy for every person in creation. 978s

He wants all to repent and live. 985s

And we know that this is true, 990s

because he sacrificed his own son 994s

to make it possible. 998s

He gave of his own blood to make it a possibility, 1000s

God knew that when we are baptized, 1012s

our sins would be forgiven, 1017s

and he knew that even though we have been baptized, 1019s

even though we are called as his own, 1023s

we still wrestle with sin. 1026s

And so he says, 1033s

repent. 1038s

Remember I sent my son to die for that sin. 1041s

Remember I sent my son who blood on the cross 1048s

for those thoughts, 1052s

for those deeds. 1055s

Remember that you have been made righteous through me. 1058s

Jesus gave of himself, 1068s

not so that he can wait trying to catch us 1073s

in the act of sin, 1077s

judging us, looking forward to condemning us. 1080s

Jesus died upon the cross, 1086s

taking our sin suffering the wrath of the Father, 1089s

experiencing death itself to rise triumphant 1094s

in order to have you live in His glory. 1100s

In order to have you live freely with His spirit, 1109s

we absolutely know that time will end. 1116s

There is no question about it. 1119s

We don't know when. 1122s

And we aren't called to know when. 1124s

When I used to teach exercise classes, 1126s

we were trained to count down. 1130s

If we're doing an exercise to count down eight, 1134s

seven, six, all the way down to one, 1137s

because then people know there is an end in sight. 1140s

If we start at one and keep going, 1144s

we never know when we're going to stop. 1146s

God does not give us a count down for His return. 1150s

But He does give us His spirit. 1156s

And He does give us His word. 1159s

And He does give us every opportunity to repent 1162s

and turn to Him once again and live. 1166s

Just as we know all will end, 1174s

we know that we have been saved by the blood of Jesus. 1178s

We know that we have been washed through the waters of baptism. 1182s

And yet we wait. 1192s

What are we supposed to do in this time of waiting? 1197s

Well Peter asks an answer is that very question. 1204s

In second Peter verse 11, 1208s

He says, since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, 1209s

what sort of persons ought to you to be in leading lives of holiness and God, 1213s

politeness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God. 1217s

Jumping down to 14, beloved while you are waiting for these things, 1222s

strive to be found by Him at peace without spot or blemish. 1227s

And regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. 1234s

Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and save your Jesus Christ. 1238s

Strive to be found at peace without spot or blemish. 1247s

But we can regard this time of waiting. 1254s

This time of long suffering from the Lord. 1258s

This time of patience. 1261s

We can regard this as a time in which we are 1263s

we can grow closer and closer to God. 1268s

No one knows when the Son will return in glory. 1273s

What God has revealed to us through His word is that He will return. 1277s

And the patience of our Lord is to be thought of in the terms of salvation, 1285s

not in condemnation. 1295s

God has given us space to repent. 1296s

God has given us space to get to know Him better, 1305s

to know His word better, 1311s

and to lean into the salvation that He, Himself, has secured for us. 1314s

We have been given grace upon grace upon grace. 1321s

He has brought this to us, secured it for us through the waters of baptism. 1330s

When we are baptized, it is not so that we can sit still and freeze in place, 1337s

so we don't sin ever again. 1344s

It is so that we are secure of our salvation. 1347s

We have no need to turn in and question if we are loved by the Lord. 1352s

We have no need to despair or to doubt. 1358s

Knowing that we have been called and sealed as Christ's own child through our baptism, 1364s

we can lift our heads. 1372s

We can look at those around us, and we are aware of those who have yet to hear, 1375s

to hear, turn to the Lord, repent and be saved. 1386s

God washed us, drowning us to our sin, raising us in new life, 1393s

to new life so that we can live. 1400s

We can live in the freedom of being a saved people. 1403s

And we can live and go forth with that mission that He gave to each and every one of us as His disciples. 1409s

God has been very, very patient with us. 1421s

God continues to be very, very patient with us. 1428s

But in His mercy, while He is patient with us, He is also patient with those outside these walls. 1437s

He is giving us that space, not only to know Him better, 1448s

but He gives us that space to share His good news with those around us that they too may hear, 1456s

turn, believe and be saved. 1469s