The Silence of the Lord

I'd like to read, please, in 2 Peter, if you have a Bible, 2 Peter and chapter 3. And we will read verse 9, 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, slowness, but is long suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And over to the gospel of Matthew and chapter 27. Matthew 27, and we'll read here from verse 11.

And Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the king of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest. And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? And he answered him to never a word, insomuch that the governor marveled greatly.

We've heard at the beginning of this gospel meeting about the Lord speaking, the Lord speaking. Depart from me, come unto me, reason with me, look unto me, the Lord's speaking. I would like to just close this gospel meeting with looking at the Lord's silence, the silence of the Lord.

Found both in these two parts, 2 Peter, they marvel that he's not intervening. They marvel that he is silent. So much so that they say it's just not going to happen, this coming that we've talked about here today at the conference.

That's just not going to happen. They marvel that one who, if he would come, everything would become perfect. And if he were to come, he would have the glory that he deserves, but he's not coming.

He's silent. It is a question when the Lord is silent. It's a question even for Christians when they look at their lives and they imagine that God would speak and intervene.

He's not. He's silent. And then in the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord Jesus is silent, and it says the governor marveled greatly.

And this is how I want you to think about it, these two scenes, very simply. In the Gospel of Matthew, the reason Jesus was silent is because through his silence he was saying, I'm willing. I'm willing.

And in 2 Peter, the reason the Lord is silent is because he is saying, I'm not willing. I'm not willing. And these two things will just help us to close this Gospel meeting.

We'll start with the one in Matthew. Silence, you know, is a very powerful thing. I'm not sure if you've ever thought about it.

Even in public speaking, sometimes you get nervous in public speaking like this, and because you're nervous, you think you have to fill every moment with a word. But when somebody asks a question, like our brother asked at the beginning of this meeting, what would happen when the Lord comes and just leaves it in silence for people to think? So people have termed different things about silence, haven't they, an awkward silence, a deafening silence. Silence speaks, and it spoke very powerfully here to this governor.

He was amazed because, you see, somebody who stood before the governor, Pilate, and it wasn't as if the stakes were trivial. This was crucifixion. This was public shame.

This was the death penalty. And the governor knew, we learned this in the story, the governor knew that it was because of jealousy that the Lord Jesus had been delivered. He knew that the other people didn't have a case.

He knew that. In fact, the governor, his wife actually got a dream. The governor is being spoken to a lot about this man.

And now the man is standing right in front of him, and the accusations are being brought against him. And he's silent. And it says the governor marveled greatly, greatly.

Silent in the face of false accusation. I'm not sure if you've ever faced a false accusation or a slander. It's very difficult if somebody misrepresents you to keep quiet.

It's very difficult to say, I didn't do that. That's wrong. I disagree.

But the Lord is staying silent. We learn, actually, in the book of Isaiah, where our brother Brandon read, that this silence was predicted. It was predicted.

It says, like a sheep before her shears is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. You see, the book that we're holding here today is the word of God. It's the word of God.

And the silence that the Lord Jesus had here before Pilate was predicted, it was predicted that there would be one like a sheep just before the slaughter, and he would be silent. The silence was powerful. You know, sometimes people are quiet.

You know, if you're... I've learned the power of silence because I have three children all under the age of five. And although it can get kind of irritating to constantly hear the fighting, and that's mine, and this is mine, what's the worrisome thing is when they're all quiet, right? Because then something's happening, right? Once we were putting some plants together in our yard, and it was my wife and I, and it was just...we wondered what the neighbors thought at the racket they were making. But, I mean, we were knee-deep into dirt and had no time to go deal with that, so, you know, we did the thing every good parent does, they deal with it themselves, you know, and they took care of it.

And then all of a sudden, they got absolutely quiet. Oh, well. Well, we looked at each other and said, something's going on, but we had a few more things to do, so we did them.

And then we went into the house, and my wife's mom had sent this package of chocolates, these fancy chocolates. And one by one, they were gone. And there stood the silent little people.

What happened to the chocolates? Silent. Right. So, silence carries a message.

We know that even with children. This silence is very powerful here, as the Lord is standing before Pilate. He's not silent like little children are because they don't have an excuse, they have nothing to say.

Actually, the one who is standing silent here is the one who with one word put the sun in space. The one who is standing silent here is the one who with one word, we read in the Bible, could bring 12 legions of angels. This is a powerful silence.

This is someone who he just has to speak one word, and the whole thing is going to change instantly, immediately, and he's silent. And it's powerful. It reminds me of something that happened actually in the state where I'm from, the state of Michigan.

There was a man on a bus driving in the state of Michigan near the city of Detroit, and there was a group of kids that got on the bus, not kids, older teenagers, and they passed by this middle-aged man, and they started making fun of him. It was late at night in the city of Detroit, and they started surrounding him and kind of nudging into him a little bit, and just poking at him verbally, and also just, and he just stayed absolutely quiet, head down, carried on. Anyway, the boys went and found their seat.

His stop came up. This man, he got up off the bus, and he was going to walk off the bus and get off at his stop, and he just passed the boys his business card. Here you go, boys.

Do you know what it said? Joe Lewis, world-class boxer. Literally, there is a fist in the city of Detroit, a monument to the fist of this man, who silenced many people, and I want to tell you, a few teenage boys would have been no problem. That's a powerful silence, when someone, if they speak, when someone, if they act, can change everything, and they stay quiet, and you see, that's the Lord Jesus here.

He could have spoken. He could have, but he stays silent, and that's what I want to just bring you to. Why? Why is he silent, when he has the authority to speak and change everything? I mean, just think of what they're doing to him.

They're mocking everything he claimed to be. They're saying, you said you were a king. Well, let's give you a robe.

Let's bow our knees. A king has a reed, has a scepter, a scepter, a royal scepter. Let's give you a reed, flimsy, fragile, blows in the wind.

That's what we think of you. You say you're a prophet. Let's blindfold you and ask you, who's hitting you? I want to tell you, this silence was powerful.

Imagine, he answered not a word, absolutely quiet, and the reason for it is very simple, as I said at the beginning. Why is he silent? Because he's willing. The Lord Jesus, it's a thing to look through the Bible and see all the different things that he became.

That's that idea of being willing. The Bible says he became man. The Word became flesh.

It says he became obedient, willing. He became obedient even unto death. It says in Revelation, he's the one who became dead.

You see, the reason he's silent is because he's willing, willing to go to the cross, willing to go to the cross to die for sins. I hope that there's nobody here who thinks, you know what happened to the Lord Jesus that day is really what happened was there was a big plot, and he just got swept up into the storm. And the Romans were after him, a big world power, and then the big religion, the Jewish religion was after him, and there he was.

And he's one day with Pilate and one day with Herod, and the storm is sweeping, and he has no control, and ends up on the cross. Such a sad story. No, no.

You see, there were times in the life of this man, the Lord Jesus, when they tried to kill him, right? They tried to push him over a hill one day. They tried to pick up stones and stone him one day. And both days nothing happened.

You know why? He wasn't willing. But this day, this day he's gonna go to the cross because he's willing. Why is he willing? We have that idea all through the Bible.

Jesus, bearing his cross, went forth. Knowing the things that lay ahead of him, he went forth. They used to tell us, some of the older preachers used to tell us, that he never had to have his hands pried open to receive the nails on the cross.

They never found a person as they were about to crucify him resisting, or swearing, or cursing. He laid his life down, says the Bible. Why? For you, friend.

For you. And for me. That's why he did it.

He came to save us. He came to give his life a ransom for all. He did it for us.

You know, just this past week, I had my 20th birthday, spiritually. March the 22nd, 2003. All my life I had listened to the gospel, just like you're hearing tonight.

I had heard enough that I thought I could tell it to whoever I wanted to tell it to. But there was a night I understood this, that he was wounded for me. For me.

That he went to the cross for me, for my sins. That my sins, as you have heard, come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins be a scarlet, my sins deserve death.

That's what the Bible says. The Bible says the soul that sins must die, and that the wages of sin is death. But he's going to the cross, the one who never sinned, to willingly, willingly take the death penalty on himself.

Right? That's what the Bible says. Christ died for our sins. I don't want to bore you with technical things, but you know, there in 1 Corinthians 15, all the other things that happened there in that passage are all things that happened from somebody else.

He was buried. He was raised. He was seen.

But there's one thing he did. He died. He died.

He died for our sins. He did it willingly, and he did it for you. And so his silence here, before Pilate, is a message, and the message echoes, the silence echoes down to us today.

He's going to the cross because he's willing. But what about his silence here in 2 Peter? Why doesn't God intervene? I'm not sure if you've ever asked that question, but I've talked to people from time to time and they ask that. They say, you mean that when Jesus comes again to this earth, you mean that this earth is going to be totally different? You mean that people aren't going to die of cancer? Or some of these announcements that we have to read today? You mean all of this is going to change, and he has the power to do that? Well, does he not care? Does he not care? Why doesn't he come if he can do that? Why is he silent? Anybody who has any heart, anybody who knows something of the stories you've heard today of walking through a hospital room with a loved one, maybe would long for such a day.

Why doesn't he come? And actually, the answer Peter is giving us in 2 Peter chapter 3 is not that he doesn't care, it's that he does care. It says, the Lord is not slow concerning his promise. It's not that he's slow, it's that he is long suffering.

He is long suffering. He is patient. Why is he patient? It's been over 2,000 years.

Here's the answer. I love this answer. Listen, if there's a Christian parent here and you wonder about that person who's not at this gospel meeting today, listen to this.

Not willing that any should perish. Any. Not willing that any should perish.

The reason he hasn't come is because you know what happens when he comes? As you've heard at the beginning of this meeting, opportunity's over. Let's depart from it. But right now, as we have called it the day of grace, it's that he's not willing that any should perish.

A little over a year ago, my father-in-law went into the ICU, and really, with his vital signs, he should have probably died in the ambulance. But they put him on a vent, and they plugged some of the machines into him, and we got a Zoom link, and they put a phone right next to his ear, and the nurse told us the last thing that goes is the hearing. And for a week, we could call and talk to him.

There wasn't too much conversation about life. I don't know if I've ever quite experienced what it's like to listen to people pour the gospel into somebody's ears with a love for their soul, like I heard that week. And this verse just kept coming before me, not willing that any, not willing that any should perish.

He had many opportunities. He heard the gospel many times, but he had a week. And we look forward to surprises in heaven.

We do. Not willing that any should perish. There is opportunity here tonight for anyone who will turn from their sins, what the Bible speaks of as repentance, turn from their sin and trust the Lord Jesus Christ while there is time.

And the reason there is a gospel meeting tonight is because the Lord is not willing that you would perish. That's why he's silent. It's for you, and for the many who aren't even in this school room tonight.

I think of that as I go through the life of the Lord Jesus, as I think of him hanging on the cross. Every breath is pain, and yet there's a criminal right beside him. You know the story, often preached in the gospel, the dying thief.

And that man has mocked the Lord Jesus for at least some of the time with his buddy. Had to change a tune now. Not willing that any perish.

The Lord says to him, today you will be with me in paradise. And I'll just close this gospel meeting by something that we might talk about if the Lord wills, and I don't know tomorrow, but I was thinking about it in Revelation chapter 20. The great white throne.

The one seated on that throne, the Lord Jesus. It is such a austere scene. Earth and heaven flee away.

Found no place for them. You know the last thing a person will see before being cast into the lake of fire is the one on the great white throne. And what is he doing? The Bible says he's searching through a book.

Why is he searching? This is the one who knows everything. Why is he searching? Because the last reminder people will get, the last reminder, not willing. Not willing that any perish.

That will be the last reminder a person will get before being cast into the lake of fire. And so tonight I would just ask you to consider what you have heard tonight. The voice of Christ, look unto me, come unto me.

He is ready to save. Learn from his silence. The silence that said, I am willing to go to the cross to be wounded for the transgressions that I did not commit.

For sinners here in Wisconsin and Iowa and everywhere else you've come from. And the reason he delays, or the reason his coming has not happened yet, is as we have read there in 2nd Peter chapter 3, not willing that any should perish. Shall we pray? Our Father, we are thankful for the gospel.

We're thankful for how clear it is in thy word, Lord, and the love of God that even to this day would compel those without Christ to come and find a refuge in him. Sometimes, Lord, we have to confess from our own souls how cold we feel and how little we feel the urgency of this message, but we think of one who still looks upon the multitudes as sheep without a shepherd. He is still the one who is not willing any should perish and desires that all be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

And we pray that if there is any here who has been stirred by the consideration today of these eternal realities and coming events, we pray that there will be some who would flee to Christ, who would come to him even tonight. We pray to take us all home now in safety and bring us back again with, in thy will, with a renewed strength and renewed heart to remember thy son. Asking this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.