Talk to us. Good morning. I feel very honored to stand
here, and I feel very insufficient to stand here. Brother Scott, if I have ever
heard the gospel, that was the gospel. And I'm so thankful for
him. My dad did want me to express
his thanks to everyone. My dad loves to joke. Everybody
knows that. I've known him my whole life.
And every time he's about to tell a joke, he has a certain
look in his face. And I know this is not real. This is a joke. And I saw that
look in his face today of sincerity and truth. He loves this church. He thanks you for the cards and
the prayers and. And I have conversations with
him, and if there's ever been a man that loves an assembly,
he loves this assembly. He loves Brother Scott or does
he love Brother Scott? And so do we. He did have his procedure on
Thursday. It did go very well. They feel like it was cancer. That official report will come
back in a couple of weeks, but the doctor feels very certain
that it was cancer. He does feel that he got it all. Again, that official report will
come back. It looks like, as of now, it
was contained in his bladder. That's very good news. And he did experience some pain,
but that's under control now. He's doing very well. He's just
relaxing. And he wanted to be here this
morning so bad and knew the best thing would be stay home and
relax. And hopefully he'll be back on Wednesday, I guess, knowing
him as soon as possible. But he's doing very well. I want
to look at 2 Peter chapter 3 this morning. Verse 1, 2 Peter 3, verse 1 says,
This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you in both
the first and the second epistle of Peter, which I stir up your
pure minds by way of remembrance. I felt impressed to look at this
this morning because of what Dad is going through and how
it affects all of us. It has affected all of us. Not
just him, it affects all of us. Anytime we hear what the world
would call bad news, it causes us to cry out and look for and
long for the good news. It causes the world to be thrown
into distress. It causes believers to look for
the good news. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
good news. So when a trial like this comes,
it's the trial that causes us to look for and long for the
Lord Jesus Christ. We were going about our business
in the world, focused on the things of the world, and then
all of a sudden something comes And we think, I need to turn
to the Lord. And for one small moment in time,
the Lord uses something like a trial to stir up our pure mind. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
pure mind. And we pray, may the mind of
Christ be in us. Cause us to think on things above.
Get out of the world and allow us to think on things above. Second Peter three, as we just
heard, it talks about many different things, talks about all kinds
of things. And I want to focus on something
very specific for a few minutes. Very specific. What I would like
and I pray and I hope that the Lord will send his spirit and
bless to us today. Is number one, I hope we see
our personal relationship with him. Our Lord said, if you've seen
Me, you've seen the Father. I and the Father are one. And
I want to see our personal relationship with the Father, with the Son,
right now in this world, before He takes us over. Secondly, I
hope to see more of His purpose concerning our being right now
in this world. In the span of eternity, our
time here is such a millisecond. The world asks, why are we here?
We know why we're here. We're here for the glory of God.
We're here because he put us here. He purposed for us to be
here. But I hope to see more of why
we're here in this world this morning. This life is tough,
and if we can come to a knowledge of our relationship with Him.
This life won't get any easier, but as we go through it, it'll
put a smile on our face and it'll put peace in our heart. Verse
1 says, This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you,
in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance. This second epistle, beloved. Beloved. He's saying, that's
who I'm writing to. The Beloved. Everything that
we're about to look at is to the Beloved. It's to all the
people that Brother Scott just told us whom the Lord Jesus Christ
did all this for. That's who we're talking to.
The Beloved. Those whom God has chosen to be loved. I'm writing this to stir up your
pure minds. Isn't that truly, if we can stop
for just a minute, isn't that truly what we all want? We're
so bombarded by this old man. We're so bombarded by this old
nature, this sinful flesh, this selfish and hateful heart, this
filthy mind. I pray that the Lord would allow
us to just take a break from that guy for just a minute. And I pray that he'd stir up
our pure minds. This second epistle, beloved,
I now write unto you in both which I stir up your pure minds
by way of remembrance, that you may be mindful of the words which
were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment
of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior. The gospel is a heart
thing. When the Lord deals with a person,
he deals with their heart. But with that being said, the
gospel is the only thing that makes sense. It's a work of the heart and
the mind. It causes us to believe and understand. We understand. And if we'd like
to have this pure mind stirred up so that we may think on more
of our Lord's purpose, where He is now, where our beloved
brethren are who have gone before us, where they are now. Then he's saying in verse two,
be very mindful of the words that were spoken by the prophets. By the apostles. And even by
our Lord himself, if you'll be very if we will be very mindful
that the Lord will allow us to bring into remembrance the words
which were spoken. by the prophets, the apostles,
and our Lord Himself, it might stir up our pure minds. We might
see something of our relationship with Him. Scripture said He's
made it very plain to him that understands it. That means He's
made it very plain to him who He's given the ability to understand
it. Verse 3 says, knowing this first, that there shall come
in the last days scoffers walking after their own lust and saying,
where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.
For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the
heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water
and in the water, whereby the world that then was, being overflowed
with water, perished. But the heavens and the earth,
which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto
fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
He says, you need to know this first. If you go around telling
people that this is the only true and living Word of God,
this is the only source of wisdom and knowledge and understanding,
this is the only place where you can glean hope and peace
and rest, they're going to say, do you mean to tell me that you
believe that the whole secret of life and the origin of this
planet and the fate of your eternal soul is all found in this one
book. Yes. They're going to say, I
don't believe in this book any more than I believe in any other
book. This might as well be Huckleberry Finn. Our Lord says they are willingly
ignorant of the fact that for this reason, for this attitude,
for unbelief, I flooded the earth the first time. And for this
very same reason, for unbelief, I'm going to destroy it with
fire. He's saying that's my relationship to the world. But beloved, that's what verse
8 says, but beloved, let's get back to what he's saying to us. Beloved, be not ignorant of this
one thing. One day is with the Lord as 1,000
years, and 1,000 years is as one day. Here is the heart of this lesson
this morning. Verse 8 is really the focus of
this lesson. Be not ignorant of this one thing.
That sounds like an urgent preface, doesn't it? For your comfort,
for our comfort, let's be not ignorant of this one thing. Scripture
says, one thing have I desired. There is one thing needful. I need a personal relationship
with Him. That's what I need. For our comfort here in this
life, be not ignorant of this one thing. One day is with the
Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day.
This chapter goes on to talk about things to come. It goes
on to talk about the last day. And when that day comes and the
Lord takes his people home and we're there with him, we'll begin
that physical relationship, that touching relationship. We'll
see him as he is. And we won't need to be comforted
there. We'll only have a pure mind there. So this is saying,
for here and now in this world, He's saying, let me comfort you
by stirring up your pure mind in saying, one day is with the
Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day. This world is never referred
to as being ours. The world has been given to the
world. We're strangers in it, sojourners
in it, wandering tent dwellers. This is not our continuing city. This is just a temporary place
for us. Isn't that what the Scripture
says? These are the kind of things that the prophets, the apostles,
and our Lord Himself have told us over and over again, didn't
He? In this world, we will suffer persecution, affliction, Trials. Tribulation. That's the kind
of warning and advice that the prophets and the apostles and
our Lord Himself gave us, isn't it? Turn back to 1 Peter chapter
5. It's a couple of pages back.
1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter 5 verse 10 says, But the God of
all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ
Jesus, after that you have suffered a while." He'll make you perfect, establish
you, strengthen you, and settle you after you've suffered a while. Why must this be? Why must this
be? The Lord's people will suffer
trials, won't they? Why must this be? We know this. Our Lord does nothing unnecessarily. The Lord has a purpose for everything. Let's see if he'll reveal a little
bit of it to us in 2 Corinthians. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, when our persecution, our trials,
our tribulation, our affliction, when they're spoken of, they're
referring to our life in this world. You know those things
won't be in the world to come. That's referring to our life
in this world. In 2 Corinthians 4 verse 15,
The Apostle Paul says, for all things are for your sake. Everything that happens is for
your sake. It's for you. It's not just to
you, it's for you. There's a reason for it. There's
a reason for everything for you. My mother did not get cancer
on accident and neither did my dad. All things are for your sake. I hesitated on whether or not
to tell you all this, but I'm going to tell it. I think maybe
this is how I understood this about a month ago. As first Peter
5 just said, the God of all grace. It was on a Saturday night, about
four Saturday nights ago. The God of all grace. sent a
man, purposed a man to come and try to break in our home. Mine
and Hannah's home. He didn't get in. We got a phone call. I'd been
asleep for about an hour. And we got a phone call from
911 dispatch and they said, would you go answer your front door?
There's three police officers at your front door. So we went
down and opened the door and he asked us, did we know this
man's name? And I wouldn't, you know, I was
trying to wake up and said no. And he said, well, he just tried
to break into your house and your neighbor called. And he
said, we found that the guy was not in his right mind. It was
Saturday night. He wasn't in his right mind.
He left his shoes and socks on our back door. And he left his
coat at our front door. We have three exterior doors.
He tried to get in all three doors. He did get into my Jeep. My Jeep was unlocked and the
neighbor saw him getting out of my Jeep and thought, he said,
that's not me. So we called the police officers,
asked, did you let him in? Oh, man, when he said that, I
mean, fear came over me. My child is upstairs asleep.
When he said that, I thought, oh, no. Did he get in? Fear came over me. Hannah and
I tried to go back to sleep, and it just was not happening.
I mean, after something like that happens, you just can't go back
to sleep. We laid there for hours, both of us, trying to be quiet.
And yeah, I kept getting up. Finally, I told Hannah, I said,
it's Saturday night. I am going to sit up in this
chair and I'm going to stay awake so you can go to sleep. You know
in your mind I'm looking at the door so you can go to sleep. In every creak and pop in our
hardwood floor, our whole house is hardwood floors, every pop
I ran downstairs looking out the windows to see what it was
and the hours were just creeping along. I mean you know how the
hours, they're just creeping along. I wanted it to be morning
so bad, I started hating night time. I felt like a four year
old. And I finally went to sleep at
six o'clock in the morning. But during that time of waiting,
I didn't question the Lord, but I was just curious. I wonder
why the Lord allowed this to happen to us, first of all. And
second of all, I'm just curious Why did he allow it to happen
on a Saturday night? We have worship in a few hours.
Four o'clock. Five o'clock. We have worship
in just a few hours. Why would this happen tonight?
I finally went to sleep at six o'clock in the morning and I
slept for an hour and ten minutes. Seven ten. I got up at seven
ten. And I'm going to tell you what. I don't ever remember being
more anxious to get to worship in my life. I was still scared. I got dressed and I couldn't
get my family to our church fast enough where safety is. You know what I mean? And on
the drive over there, I was still scared, and I was thinking, I'm
glad it's day. I'm glad it's daylight. But what
about tonight? Tonight's going to come back.
Darkness is coming again. And in the Bible study, My Rocky Mount pastor, I have
two pastors, just like y'all have two pastors. My Rocky Mount
pastor said, I think it was a passing comment to him, I don't even
think it was in his notes, but he said, there is no night with
God. There is no night. There's no
difference in day and night. And that was like water to a
thirsty soul. I did not understand at 4 o'clock,
why is this happening to me? But I was so blessed at 9.30. I rejoiced so greatly in the
Lord and the Lord's people and the Lord's purpose and the Lord's
safety. I thought, I know why this happened now. I was blessed
that Sunday like never before. This is why trials come. This
is why trials come. The Apostle here in 2 Corinthians
4, 15, it says, all things are for your sake that the abundant
grace might through thanksgiving. I was given thanks. There my
family sat safe and sound. Through thanksgiving of many. It might redound unto the glory
of God. That's the reason for trials, the glory of God. Thank
you, Lord. That's the reason. For which
cause we think not, but though our outward man perish, yet the
inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction."
Dad was talking about this Wednesday night in the fellowship hall.
Our light affliction. That's this time in this world.
We're not going to be afflicted there. Our light affliction is
our time in this world. Which is but for one moment.
A moment. One moment. Worketh for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things
which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal." Now I'm going to try to hurry along here because
this is where I wanted to get to. Let's look at, for just a second,
the bigger picture, or if I might say the smaller picture. of the
Lord's purpose for our light affliction here in this world.
Back in our text in 2 Peter 3, the Apostle Peter comforts us by
saying, Beloved, one day is with the Lord or as the Lord has purposed
it concerning you. One day is as a thousand years. And we just read the Apostle
Paul comforted us by saying this light affliction. Over the time
appointed for you to be in this world, it's only for one minute.
Just one minute. One moment compared to eternity,
it's just a fraction of a second. But he says it's for one minute.
OK, one day is a thousand years. And our time in this world is
one minute. Some of you might have heard these numbers before.
I don't want to get hung up on them. I don't like clever sounding
things. I don't want to get hung up on
these. But I believe this is the heart of this study. One day is as a thousand years.
We've heard it said that the Lord made the heaven and earth
in six days. And on the seventh day, he rested. The earth has
been in existence for six thousand years. We're in our seventh thousand
year. Judgment is coming. Verse nine
says the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, he's coming back,
he's talking about the elements are going to burn this earth,
right? For all of those scoffers. Willingly ignorant. The unbelieving
world judgment is coming. But if we use a calculator, just
a simple calculator, And break this down, one day is 1,000 years.
That means 24 hours is 1,000 years. 12 hours is 500 years. Six hours is 250
years. Three hours is 125 years. An hour and a half is 62 and a half
years. The Lord has given the human race 70 years. Seventy years. So for anybody
seven and a half or older, what if the announcement was made,
the Lord is coming back in an hour and a half. All who have heard, but have
not repented, have not believed, the Lord is coming back in an
hour and a half. That puts a whole new meaning to today is the day
of salvation, doesn't it? There is no tomorrow. Today is
the day of salvation. Call on Him while He's near.
Seek Him while He may be found. Because the Lord is not slack
concerning His promise. All who call, He'll hear you.
All who seek shall find. All who come, He'll in no wise
cast out. Today is the day. And if we break
it down a little farther, an hour and a half is sixty-two
and a half years. Forty-five minutes is thirty-one and a quarter
years. 22 and a half minutes is 15.6 years. 11 and a quarter
minutes is 7.8 years. 5.6 minutes, 3.9 years. 2.8 minutes, 1.9 years. 1.4 minutes is a shade under
a year. And I know this is long and confusing,
but here we go. 1.4 minutes is the shade under
a year. And one minute, this light affliction,
which is one minute, As concerning the Lord for us is nine months. You can run it on a calculator.
It's nine months. There's no closer relationship than that. What's the most important thing
we know of that happens in nine months? A child is born. All through the Scriptures, this
is how our Father affectionately refers to us. Mine is across
the page. 1 John 2 says, My little children. My little children. What endearing
personal words those are. What love is in those three words. That's a kind and tender greeting.
1 John 3 says, Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed
upon us that we should be called sons of God. Now, through my
experience of having a child, Hannah and I have one child,
and my relationship with her every step of the way, I can
more clearly understand and hopefully illustrate the believer's relationship
to the Father. When the time came for Hannah
and I to announce that we were going to have a child, we went
to Hannah's parents' house, Paul and Mindy. We were standing in
their kitchen. And I gave Paul a gift to symbolize
we were going to have a baby. And I put a pink and a blue ribbon
around it. And he didn't get it. Finally, Mindy got it. She said,
Paul, look at the ribbons. And as soon as he got it, we're
going to have a baby. Unspeakable joy erupted in that
kitchen. Words could not come out. It
was hugging and laughing and crying. Luke 15, 10 says, Likewise, I
say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of
God over one sinner that repenteth. When the Lord converts one sinner,
heaven erupts with joy. Tears of joy erupted over the
conception of one child. The amazing goodness and grace
and gift of God that He'd create life. As soon as conception took
place, our little girl was alive. As alive as she'll ever be. And as soon as conversion takes
place, we're alive. If we're in Christ, we're as
alive as we'll ever be. Now, I could be wrong about this. I don't know a lot about this
particular subject, but as soon as conception took place, my
guess is she was about the size of a grain of mustard seed. But at that moment, our family
became three complete members. In our mind, we were three. Being
a mustard seed was good enough. It's all you've got to be to
be in our family. Even though she was inside Hannah's
stomach, she was just as much a member of the family as she
is today. Our Lord has said, if I've given you a gift of just
a grain of mustard seed, If we're in Christ, we're just
as much a part of the family as we're ever going to be if
we're in Christ. 1 John 3, 2 says, Beloved, now
are we sons of God. Right now. Obviously, at first,
we didn't even know if she was a boy or a girl, but even after
we found out she was a girl, we wondered, what will she look
like? We kept thinking about her and
buying clothes for her and we were thinking, what would she
look like? We didn't know exactly, but we knew she was going to
look like Hannah and I. She's going to look like us. She's not going to look like
anybody else. She's going to have characteristics that cause
her to resemble us. And beloved, it doth not yet
appear what we shall be, but we know we're going to look like
him. Our time here in this world,
as being with the Lord nine months, is the time appointed for us
to grow in grace and be conformed into His image. And when the final day comes,
as 2 Peter 3 is talking about, the due date, when that great
day comes, 1 Thessalonians 5 says, "...as travail upon a woman with
child." God's people will be brought
forth fully, complete, mature, whole children of the Father.
And at that moment, we'll begin to live. Truly begin to live. Isabella was alive from conception. She was alive. I saw the heartbeat
on the ultrasound. She was alive. Now she lives. Now she runs and she laughs.
She talks. She was always alive, but now
she lives. And at that moment, we'll begin
to live. And after we're brought forth, verse 8 says, a thousand
years with the Lord in glory will be as one day. As a matter
of fact, when we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining
as the sun, we don't have one less day. to sing His praise
than the very first day we got there. Our Lord has graciously told
us these things over and over. He told Nicodemus in John 3,
except a man be born again, he can't sing the kingdom of heaven.
He told His disciples in Matthew 18, except you be converted and
become as little children, you can't enter the kingdom. So here
we are. Here we sit in Christ. Here we sit in Christ, having
been given everything we need to be complete in His family.
He just hasn't fully matured yet. Just hasn't fully developed yet.
Just a few more minutes and I'll be done. From this point of view,
I have not seen nor ear heard what the Father has waiting prepared
for us. When Hannah was pregnant, Isabella
was very active. At 9.30 every night, Hannah's
stomach did things you can't imagine. It was like entertainment. We waited for 9.30 to roll around. Here we go. We loved seeing it
because it was a sure sign of life. Everybody's always asking,
how's the baby? How are your kids? They still there? They're still
there? That's good. That's good. Has the baby still
doing okay? That's good. And when she would be still and
we did not see that sign of life, I would put my mouth on his stomach
and I'd go, Isabella. And there she'd go again. She'd
start moving again. Our father has said, you can't
see me. No man has seen the father. But
he said, my sheep hear my voice. And when we hear his voice, it
stirs up the pure mind, and we start moving again. We're not
lifeless and dead, are we? Where she was in that state for
nine months, there's no way she could have known what things
we had prepared for her. If you could, some of you have,
but if you could see her nursery, Mindy and Lynn Nyberg, you can't
imagine it. I mean, I'm a boy, and I would
want sleep in that nursery. For all nine of those months,
she lived in a tiny little room. And the day she entered this
world and we brought her home, we put her in a room that had
a big, soft crib. You should see the walls. They're
beautiful. Two windows. She'd never seen sunlight. Sunlight's
coming in. And I'm sure she laid there in
that crib and for the first time she could stretch and open her
eyes and look around, yawn. And I bet she thought, this must
be a mansion compared to where I've been for nine months. This
is a mansion. Then we took her into our room
and we showed her this is mommy and daddy's room. And here's
the other guest bedroom. We went downstairs and said,
here's the living room, and here's the dining room. And I'm sure
she thought, in my father's house are many mansions. You mean that
one's all mine? Yeah. We devoted that one just
to you. We painted your name on the wall. She had a closet full of clothes.
I mean, you can't hardly get another dress in that closet.
We devoted a whole cabinet in our kitchen just just to her
food. She had everything complete. There's no way she could have
known about any of that. But it's no more ridiculous to
think of her being in her tiny little world thinking everything
here is mine. I'm hoarding everything up till
the end. I'm not leaving this place. This is as good as it
gets. No more ridiculous to think of
her saying that as it is for us to say, everything here is
mine. And I'm going to hoard it all
up to the very end. I'm not leaving this place. This
is as good as it gets. Here in our text, verse 8 says,
Beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing. One day is with the
Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day.
Verse 9 says, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise.
as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to usward,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
He's long-suffering to usward. Brother Glenn, you're about to
be 86. 86? Had the Lord come 87 years ago, everybody your age and lower
would have no chance at entering into this. No chance. Look over
at verse 15, account that the long suffering of the Lord is
salvation. I've thought I wonder why he
hasn't come back yet now, I realize. If my daughter grows up a little
older, I want my daughter to be saved. The long suffering
of the Lord is salvation. And I got to quit one day. Verse
10 says the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night
in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the
elements shall melt with a fervent heat. The earth also and the
works that are therein shall be burned up a great noise. First
Corinthians 15 talks about trumpets. Talks about trumpets. First Thessalonians
4 says he's bringing everybody with him. Caught up in the clouds
is what it says. One day, this is going to happen.
It's going to happen. It might not happen to us, but
it's going to happen to somebody. And there's our brethren you've
probably never met. There's a couple of guys. I thought
about it in Rocky Mount. One guy works at the railroad
and he lays on his side. He's a mechanic working on trains.
And I think about him. I have an indoor job and it's
cold outside. I think about my brother laying
out there in the gravel. One of these days, if the Lord
comes while we're here, he's going to hear a crack in the
sky and caught up in the air. And that train is going to get
smaller and smaller. I got another brother who's a horse trainer.
Kelly Pendry is his name. He breaks horses. I thought about
him fighting that horse. All of a sudden, trumpets roll
through the air. That horse gets smaller and smaller.
He looks up, and there's Brother Steve. There's the Lord. Caught up in the air. After that, it's always going
to be one day. Just one day. I'm done. Turn to Revelation chapter 21,
and I'm done. Revelation 21. Verse one says, I saw a new heaven
and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were
passed away and there was no more sea. Verse 25 says, And
the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there
shall be no night there. That's been my favorite verse
for the last month. No night there. Chapter 22, verse
5 says, there shall be no night there. It's always going to be
today. It's always going to be today. So the conclusion is. Let's be
not ignorant of the emptiness of this world. The emptiness
of this world, let's be not ignorant of the fact that it's temporary.
Let's be not ignorant of the true life to come. If we're born
of God, if we're found in Christ. Let's be not ignorant of the
purpose of our time in this world to grow in grace, be conformed
to his image. Let's be not ignorant of the
fact that the Lord is not slack concerning his promise. All of
his promises are yay and amen. One day he's coming. Oh, glorious
day, we sing. So for our comfort, let's be
not ignorant of our wonderful personal relationship with him.
Back in in 2 Peter 3, verses 17 and 18, say you, therefore,
beloved, seeing, you know, these things. Beware, lest you also
being led away with the air of the wicked fall from your own
steadfastness, but grow in grace. And in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ, to him be glory both now and forever.
Amen. Amen. OK, you're dismissed. Are you singing a song? OK. No,
you sing a song. Thank you.