Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

Today’s devotion comes from 2 Peter 3:8-9.

 

“ But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.  The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”  2 Peter 3:8-9.

 

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This is a promise of salvation, not a “well-meant” offer.  Just a few verses later, we read:  “and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation …”.  2 Peter 3:15. 

 

If this were a “well-meant” offer, then there would be an exhortation to action:  “Repent!  Come to Christ!!”.  But instead, we read:  “The Lord is not slow about His promise”, meaning, the Lord will fulfill His promise to both come again and to save you even though it may seem to you like a long time.

 

This is also consistent with the preceding context.  Some will mock Christians by saying:  “Where is the promise of His coming?”.  See 2 Peter 3:4.  “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.”  Verse 8.

 

And, this Book of 2 Peter was written:  “To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ”.  2 Peter 1:1.  Today’s Scripture is not an altar call.  Rather, it is reminder to those elect of “Preservation of the Saints” a/k/a “Perseverance of the Saints”, namely that not one of God’s elect will be lost:  “not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance”.  Verse 9. 

 

God’s promises and wishes toward His elect will certainly be fulfilled.  

 

Today’s devotion comes from 2 Peter 2:20-22.

 

“²⁰ For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.  ²¹ For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.  ²² It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.””  2 Peter 2:20-22.

 

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Disgusting.

 

More than “A dog returns to its own vomit”.  Verse 21.

 

More than ““A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”  Verse 21.

 

What is more disgusting is those who “escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, (but later) they are again entangled in them and are overcome”.  Verse 20.  

 

“For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.  For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?  …”  Hebrews 2:1-3.

 

“For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.”  Hebrews 6:4-6. 

 

 

 

Here is part of what the Canons of Dordt FIFTH HEAD OF DOCTRINE Of the Perseverance of the Saints states:

                                      

Article 3.  By reason of these remains of indwelling sin, and the temptations of sin and of the world, those who are converted could not persevere in a state of grace, if left to their own strength.  But God is faithful, who having conferred grace, mercifully confirms, and powerfully preserves them herein, even to the end.

Article 4.  Although the weakness of the flesh cannot prevail against the power of God, who confirms and preserves true believers in a state of grace, yet converts are not always so influenced and actuated by the Spirit of God, as not in some particular instances sinfully to deviate from the guidance of divine grace, so as to be seduced by, and to comply with the lusts of the flesh;  they must, therefore, be constant in watching and in prayer, that they be not led into temptation.  When these are neglected, they are not only liable to be drawn into great and heinous sins, by Satan, the world and the flesh, but sometimes by the righteous permission of God actually fall into these evils.  This, the lamentable fall of David, Peter, and other saints described in Holy Scripture, demonstrates.

Article 5.  By such enormous sins, however, they very highly offend God, incur a deadly guilt, grieve the Holy Spirit, interrupt the exercise of faith, very grievously wound their consciences, and sometimes lose the sense of God’s favor, for a time, until on their returning into the right way of serious repentance, the light of God’s fatherly countenance again shines upon them.

Article 6.  But God, who is rich in mercy, according to his unchangeable purpose of election, does not wholly withdraw the Holy Spirit from his own people, even in their melancholy falls;  nor suffers them to proceed so far as to lose the grace of adoption, and forfeit the state of justification, or to commit sins unto death;  nor does he permit them to be totally deserted, and to plunge themselves into everlasting destruction.

Article 7.  For in the first place, in these falls he preserves them in the incorruptible seed of regeneration from perishing, or being totally lost;  and again, by his Word and Spirit, certainly and effectually renews them to repentance, to a sincere and godly sorrow for their sins, that they may seek and obtain remission in the blood of the Mediator, may again experience the favor of a reconciled God, through faith adore his mercies, and henceforward more diligently work out their own salvation with fear and trembling.

Article 8.  Thus, it is not in consequence of their own merits, or strength, but of God’s free mercy, that they do not totally fall from faith and grace, nor continue and perish finally in their backslidings;  which, with respect to themselves, is not only possible, but would undoubtedly happen;  but with respect to God, it is utterly impossible, since his counsel cannot be changed, nor his promise fail, neither can the call according to his purpose be revoked, nor the merit, intercession and preservation of Christ be rendered ineffectual, nor the sealing of the Holy Spirit be frustrated or obliterated.

Article 9.  Of this preservation of the elect to salvation, and of their perseverance in the faith, true believers for themselves may and ought to obtain assurance according to the measure of their faith, whereby they arrive at the certain persuasion, that they ever will continue true and living members of the church;  and that they experience forgiveness of sins, and will at last inherit eternal life.

Today’s devotion comes from 2 Peter 2:9-19.  (Although verse 9 was part of yesterday’s devotion, we include it again today to help explain the rest of today’s Scripture.)

 

“then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.

 

Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.  But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong.  They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime.  They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you, having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children;  forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;  but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.

 

These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.  For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption;  for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.”  2 Peter 2:9-19. 

 

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In addition, the following Jude 1:7-16 also provides a glimpse of the wicked and a better understanding of why God is so righteous and just in punishing them. 

                            

“… in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, (they) are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

                                 

Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties.  But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”  But these men revile the things which they do not understand;  and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.  Woe to them!  For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.  These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves;  clouds without water, carried along by winds;  autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted;  wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.

                                  

It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”  These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts;  they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.”  Jude 1:7-16.

                             

                             

“¹ The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice;
Let the many islands be glad.
² Clouds and thick darkness surround Him;
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.
³ Fire goes before Him
And burns up His adversaries round about.
⁴ His lightnings lit up the world;
The earth saw and trembled.
⁵ The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
⁶ The heavens declare His righteousness,
And all the peoples have seen His glory.”  Psalm 97:1-6. 

Today’s devotion comes from 2 Peter 2:4-10.

 

“For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;   and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;  and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter;  and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.”  2 Peter 2:4-10.

 

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Today’s Scripture is one long sentence which presents a dual theme of Scripture that God both rescues the righteous and punishes the wicked.  We need this reminder, especially God’s punishment of the wicked, because many of us tend to forget, ignore, or minimize God’s punishment of the wicked, despite the many examples in Scripture. 

 

“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;  Lovingkindness and truth go before You.”  Psalm 89:14

 

“Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.  And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.”  Jude 1:5-7.

 

“Yet You are holy,
O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.
In You our fathers trusted;
They trusted and You delivered them.
To You they cried out and were delivered;
In You they trusted and were not disappointed.”  Psalm 22:3-4.

Today’s devotion comes from 2 Peter 1:16-18.

 

“For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.  For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”— and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.”  2 Peter 1:16-18.

 

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We are eyewitnesses of His majesty.

 

 

“Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.”  1 Chronicles 16:24 and Psalm 96:3.