The reason today exists is that God wants more people to be saved than are currently saved. He’s willing to prolong human history to get them into his kingdom. Every morning as you rub the sleep out of your eyes, you should be aware of the fact that today is a time for evangelism.
It says the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness. But is patient towards you not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. Now, what’s Peter doing? He’s reminding us that there’s two kinds of slowness in the world. We’ll use a landlord to illustrate them. You have got one landlord who doesn’t come to pick up the rent, and the reason he doesn’t come to pick up the rent is the same reason he doesn’t come to fix the roof or the faucet. It’s because the guy’s lazy. It’s because he’s just negligent. It’s because he’s not motivated to do what he said he would do. So he’s slow to pick up the rent. For the same reason, he’s slow to do everything else. Then you got another guy who’s on top of picking up on the rent, but he knows you don’t have the money. And he’s like, I’ll wait another week. But his waiting is not because of his negligence, but because of your need. He is waiting for your good. Not because of his negligence. And in the case of God. The reason he allows evil to go on so long. The reason he allows the day of God not to happen so fast is for this. So that more and more and more people can repent. He’s patient. Peter will say later in the chapter, “Count the patience of God as salvation.” Beloved, what this meant to me as I was thinking about this week was this.
The reason today exists is so that the people I know can be saved. The reason there is another day is so that the people of Tunisia or Egypt or Morocco can hear the gospel. The main reason today exists is not primarily, I’m saying primarily, so that you can fit in all the things you need to do in your 80 years. The reason today exists is that God wants more people to be saved than are currently saved, and he’s willing to prolong human history to get them into his kingdom, which means that every time you rub the sleep out of your eyes, there ought to be this awareness today exists for evangelistic purposes. Because of God’s patience, the heavens have not been destroyed, the final judgment has not yet come. And as one preacher put it. Alistair Begg actually, if that word is to grip us for a minute, maybe we would even just all leave the service right now and start calling friends and family who we know are under the imminent judgment of God, but unbelievably have been given another day to repent and maybe the phone call would look something like this.
“I know you know I’m a Christian, but I’ve been want to talk to you about this, having a chance to talk to you about this. Can I talk to you about it right now? Can we have coffee this week? I just don’t want to presume on the patience of God. For him time is long, but for me, it’s very short. And he’s extended this day so that you can be saved.”
From the full sermon, “Looking Forward to the Second Coming Amidst the Scorn of Scoffers“.
