Day 2449 – Denunciation of False Teachers – A Warning to Skeptics and Sinners – 2 Peter 3:1-7

Welcome to Day 2449 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom Day 2449 – A Warning for Skeptics and Sinners – Daily Wisdom Putnam Church Message – 08/18/2024 Anticipation of Christ’s Return – A Warning to Skeptics and Sinners- 2 Peter 3:1-7 Last week, we learned to keep your discernment high by Going to your Knees, Going to the Word, and Going to the Wise because Discernment is better caught than taught. We must stay close to those seasoned saints, the proven men and women overflowing with wisdom. Today’s passage is 2 Peter 3:1-7, on page 1896 of your Pew Bibles. Because of the complexities of the subject matter, I will read it from the NLT for clarity of flow.  1 This is my second letter to you, dear friends, and in both of them I have tried to stimulate your wholesome thinking and refresh your memory. 2 I want you to remember what the holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles. 3 Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. 4 They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.” 5 They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. 6 Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. 7 And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed. As the menacing clouds begin to break and Peter’s stormy condemnation of false teachers subsides, a beam of light pierces the gloominess. This great apostle decides it’s now time to inject a ray of hope into his otherwise frightening portrayal of the future. Though the threat of false teachers is real and imminent, he wants us to lift our eyes beyond the immediate landscape and see the bright horizon that is yet to come. It’s important to remember that between the rough period of false prophets and the coming restoration of creation, two unforgettable events intervene. Much of the evangelical teaching during the late 20th century focused on a period of Great Tribulation, by which the present world and all its wickedness will be destroyed,| and then the return of Christ, by which a new era of righteousness will begin. We must be careful not to be too dogmatic about the events preceding Christ’s return to earth. The study of the ‘end times’ is called escatology, and views can vary widely on what will take place. We know Christ will return to earth at some point, judge those who have rejected Him, and remake the earth into a global Eden as he finalizes the Kingdom of God. Heaven and earth will be joined at that point, our dwelling place for all eternity. This leads to Peter’s finale in chapter 3. He further develops the issue of the end times,>which he mentioned several times in the first two chapters. In his final written words to the churches before...