Good evening again. If you will,
turn with me to 2 Peter chapter 3. And I can't begin to tell you what
a great privilege and honor it is for me to be here with you
again. I enjoyed my time with you three
years ago. I'm just thankful that our Lord
has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light and
given us a love of Christ, the truth. Nothing greater that could
possibly happen to us and for us. I'm so thankful that the
Lord's been pleased to send you, Kevin, and his dear family. And
I pray the Lord will continue to richly bless you with the
ministry here. And I must say, your brethren, Brother Gabe and
the brethren there in Kingsport, send their love and greetings.
I know Luke came out here fairly recently. We think about y'all
even though you're quite a ways from us. Alright, 2 Peter chapter
3. And look with me starting at
verse 9. 2 Peter 3 verse 9. says, The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. The earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these
things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to
be, in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and
hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens
being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat? Nevertheless, we, according to
His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness." The title of my message tonight is taken from
verse 13, according to His promise. We just read that the day of
the Lord shall come. And when it does, here's what's
going to happen. You and I are going to stand before the judgment
seat of God, and we must give an account. Alright? We're going
to stand before God Almighty who is holy, who said it must
be perfect to be accepted, who said the soul that sinneth it
shall die, who will not at all acquit the wicked, who will by
no means clear the guilty. That's who we're going to stand
before. Okay? That day is coming. We just read about it. And when
it comes, as I am in my flesh, I have no hope. Anything that pertains to me,
anything that I am, anything that I've done or am capable
of doing to stand accepted in the sight of God Almighty, if
that's what I'm counting on, I'm hopeless. Absolutely hopeless. The reason is because I am a
sinner. Isaiah told us that our iniquities
have separated between us and our God. Psalm 5 verse 5, this
is the inspired word of God, says the foolish, and that's
all of us by nature, shall not stand in thy sight, for thou
hatest all workers of iniquity. You say, well God's love, He
wouldn't hate anybody. Read the scriptures. It's His
word. Read what He says. I'm here to tell you that the
only hope I have of standing before God in that day, that
great day, and being accepted into the Kingdom of Heaven is
according to His promise. That's the only hope I have,
and that's the only hope there is. Allow me a few minutes to tell
you about God's promise. I truly pray God might bless
this to us. Look at verse 9 again, it says, "...the Lord is not
slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness."
Now, unlike us, and know that, God is nothing like us. Unlike
us, God will make good on His promises. Every single one of
them. God who cannot lie. Let God be true. God is true. And every man a liar, starting
with me, God is true. And God will make good on His
promises. It says all His promises are yea and amen. When God makes
a promise, we can take it to the bank. We can absolutely hang
our soul on it, okay? Now, what is His promise? I'll go ahead and tell you. There
are many of them, but I'm summing it all up in saying His promise,
alright? Verse 9, The Lord is not slack
concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance. God has promised longsuffering. You know, long-suffering, it
means patience. God has promised long-suffering.
Long-suffering is a wonderful thing. I advise us to be that
way. I'm married now. Well, I was
married when I was here before. I have a baby now. It takes patience. Us living with ourselves and
with one another, it just takes patience. But what amazes me
more than anything regarding patience and long-suffering is
that God promised to be that. Isn't that something? That God
who is holy would promise to be long-suffering with anybody? Any of us wicked sinners? That's
amazing. Amazing. God promised to be long-suffering,
and down in verse 15, Peter said, "...account that the long-suffering
of our Lord is salvation." The very fact that God would have
anything to do with any of us. that He'd be patient with any
of us. His long-suffering is our salvation. I love that. So
that's the first part of the promise. He goes on to say He's
long-suffering to us, we're not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. What a promise. Honestly, what
a promise. Mmm, my soul. Now, this matter
of repentance, It means change of mind. By nature, our carnal
mind, scriptures say, is enmity against God. That means this
mind, as it is, as we walk this earth from the moment we're born,
hates God. That's what it means. Enmity
is hatred. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. That mind must be changed. If we're going to be saved, if
we don't love God, We're not going to be accepting with Him,
and by nature we hate Him. Well, what's got to happen in
order for us to have a changed mind towards God, a changed mind
about me, who I am, what I am in God's sight, who God is, what
God's done? Repentance is not something you
and I can produce. I realize people are very capable
of stopping A bad habit? Many people do. I encourage us
all to. Whatever bad habits we have,
and I'm sure we all have plenty of them, we'd be wise to stop
them. But that's not going to save
us. That's not going to save us. True repentance is spiritual. It's not physical. And it's something
that God must grant us. God grants repentance. He grants
it. Now, I'll remind you of something
our Lord said in Luke chapter 13. He said, except you repent,
you shall perish. You shall all likewise perish.
And that's a true statement. If we don't repent, we are going
to perish. Every last one of us. But here's
the glorious fact concerning repentance. Repentance is not
the cause of our salvation. Well, I repented, now God will
have something to do with me. That's completely backwards.
You see, repentance is the result of God's promise to save us. God said, I will be their God
and they shall be my people. Well, I think repentance has
something to do with God not being willing that we should perish.
Because if we don't repent, we're going to perish. God promised
not to let us perish. And so, when God saves us, He
produces repentance in us. I hope that makes sense to you.
I pray that as we go through this, whatever notions we have
in our mind, throw it out. Let's see what God has to say
about the matter, okay? It doesn't matter what I or any
man says. It only matters what God said. He's given us His Word,
and I pray He'll give us grace and faith to believe it. Now,
I say that because I know this verse in particular, verse 9
here, is very, very misunderstood, very much abused by religion. The common notion with this verse
is God's not willing that any body should perish. God is willing that everyone
should come to repentance. But that's not what it says.
That's not what it says. You notice what it says here,
look with me. It says, but is longsuffering to usward. I rejoice in that. That word
is a distinguishment. That word is distinguishing somebody
from somebody else. He's long-suffering to usward. He's not willing that the uswards
should perish, but he's willing that all of the uswards should
come. to repentance. Now, it goes without
saying, many preachers corrupt this verse. They lie on God,
they lie to the souls of men and women, and they deceive them.
If you don't believe me, look down at verse 15 right here.
It says, "...account that the longsuffering of our Lord is
salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul, also according
to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you, as also
in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things." Now
look at this. in which are some things hard to be understood,
which they that are unlearned and unstable rest, or pervert,
as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." God said that. God said there
are men and women who are unlearned, and I'll tell you what that means.
Our Lord made this very clear in His teachings. He said, there
are people who are ever learning, yet unable to come to a knowledge
of the truth. You know why? Because God hasn't revealed it
to them. He hid these things from the wise and prudent and
revealed them unto babes. Christ said, even so, Father,
for so it seemed good in your sight. It takes a revelation
of God to believe the truth. It's not something we just decide
to believe. God must give us faith to believe. There's a verse that says they've
not so learned Christ. There's only one thing we need
to learn. It's not a what, it's not well we need to learn a bunch
of doctrine. We need to learn a person. We need to learn Christ. Christ is salvation. Look at
this here, look at verse 17. Peter's warning us of not understanding
the Scriptures, of corrupting them, to take... Now listen here.
People take a part of a verse here and a part of a verse here.
God is love. God so loved the world, not willing
that any should perish. He should taste death for every
man. And they say, God loves you, Christ died for you, He
wants you to be saved. Here's a fact. There's a place
called hell and there's people in it. If God's willing that
no one should perish, there wouldn't be a hell. Either God has His way or He
doesn't. And God said He has His way in
the whirlwind and in the storm and the clouds are the very dust
of His feet. That's what God said. Alright? Peter's warning
us through his whole 2nd epistle. He's warning us against false
religion. I urge you on your own time,
read the other chapters, especially chapter 2. Whole chapters about
warning against false prophets. He said there's people of whom
the mist of darkness is reserved forever. Oh, I don't want that
to be us, brethren. I don't want that to be us. Now
look what He said here in verse 17. He said, Ye therefore, beloved,
seeing you know these things before, beware, lest ye 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. This promise of salvation is
not for everyone. It's not for everyone. It's for those in Christ. Where
He said, growing grace, it's for those who experience God's
grace. God freely bestows His grace on whom He will. I will
be gracious, what does He say? To whom I will be gracious. Be
merciful, to whom I will be merciful. It's not of Him that willeth,
nor of Him that runneth. I work in trying to please God.
It's of God that showeth mercy. Of His own will, He begets us
by the word of truth. Salvation is knowing Christ.
Christ said in John 17 in His prayer, He said, This is life
eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. The Apostle Paul, oh my,
he was a religious man before God saved him. Doesn't that sound
backwards? He was a religious man before
God saved him. But he was, and he told us all
about it. But after experiencing God's grace, first of all, he
said, By the grace of God I am what I am. He said, Who makes
us to differ from another? What do we have that we haven't
received? It's all of God. It's all of His grace. After he was saved, this is what
he said, he said, Oh, that I might know Him. That was the desire
of his heart. That's the one thing needful,
brethren, that we know Christ, believe on Him, that we truly
have Him. And that's why Peter ended his
message here by pointing us to Christ, because He's our salvation. Now, I want us to go through
2 Peter chapter 3. I want to look at the first 13
verses. I want us to see this in the
full context in which it's given. Like I said, people take part
of a verse here, part of a verse here, and they conjure up a belief.
That's a very dangerous thing to do. We'd be wise to never
do that. Especially when we come to a
verse that is debated, or perhaps often misunderstood, like the
one right here in verse 9, we need to see the Scripture in
the context. We need to. Alright, look here
in verse 1. 2 Peter 3 verse 1. Peter said,
This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you, in both
which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance. Who's he writing to? Well, he
calls them beloved. He says they have pure minds.
Turn back a couple pages. He said this is the second epistle
I've written to you, so he's writing to the same people he
wrote to in 1 Peter. Look at 1 Peter chapter 1, verse
1. Tells us who he's writing to.
It says, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers
scattered throughout. Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia elect. according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you,
and peace be multiplied." He's writing to the elect. That's
who he's writing to. Can't put it more simple than
that. And we read in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4, who the elect
are, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Read
that God predestinated us. That's what God said, okay? That's
who Peter's writing to. Now down in verse 18 and 19 here
in 1 Peter chapter 1, he tells us he's writing to those who've
been redeemed, not with corruptible things as silver and gold, but
with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot. He's writing to those who've
been purchased on purpose by the blood of Christ. That's who
He's writing to. And there's really a lot here
that distinguishes who He's writing to. But turn over to 2 Peter
1. He tells us again who He's writing
to. It says, "...Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus
Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through
the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ." He's
writing to those who have obtained. by God's free sovereign grace
like precious faith. And I'll tell you about that
faith. It's faith that looks to Christ alone. Faith that doesn't
look to self and think, you know, I did pretty good today. Faith
that acknowledges I am nothing. I deserve God's wrath right now. God would have been right to
send me to hell the day I was born. So that's cruel. God wouldn't do that. I'm telling
you, That's exactly what I deserve. It's been revealed to me something
about who God is, how holy He is, and how sinful I am. That's what we all deserve. But
by God's grace, He's given some people precious faith. Precious,
saving faith that looks to Christ. He's redeemed some people, His
elect, those whom He promised to save. And I'm so thankful
for that blessed promise. I look back in our text, 2 Peter
3, verse 1 again. He says, I'm writing to stir
up your pure minds by way of remembrance that ye 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. Peter knew God's people are sinners. You know, I can't help but think
of Peter, all that he went through. You know, we know of accounts
where Peter did something kind of foolish. He didn't want the
Lord to wash his feet. Rebuked the Lord, said, no Lord, this
isn't going to happen to you. You're not going to die. Told
Him, Lord, I'm not going to forsake you. Our Lord told Peter, He said,
Peter, Satan's desired to have you. He wants you. He said, but
I prayed for you. Peter's hope wasn't in himself.
It was in Christ. And He's writing to us from experience
to warn us of these things and to remind us, look to Christ. telling us, remember the words
spoken by the prophets. We don't have time, but go back
and look at 2 Peter chapter 1. He reminds us of this more sure
word of prophecy that God has given us, in which holy men of
God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. He's saying
this is the word of God. He said, you do well to take
heed unto the words of this book, like unto a light that shines
in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star rise in
your hearts. saying, there's only one interpretation of this
book, and that's God's interpretation of it. He meant what He said,
He says what He means. And He said here in verse 2,
to be mindful of the commandment. What's the commandment? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. And I already
told you, belief, faith is the evidence that God has saved us.
And yet, that's the command. Believe on Christ. And I'm here
to tell you, God's people will. God's people will. John 3.36,
he that believeth on the Son of God hath right now, past tense,
it's done, we have everlasting life. But it also says, he that
believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God
abideth on him. 1 John 5.12, he that hath the
Son hath life. But not everybody has a son.
He that hath not the Son of God, God says he hath not life. Peter
is urging us to remember these things, to look to Christ alone.
Verse 3, knowing this first, that there shall come in the
last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 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 the creation. He says, scoffers are going to
come. They're already here. A scoffer is a mocker, someone
who makes a mockery of God, someone who takes the Word of God, does
what we already read about, twists it, perverts it, makes it say
what they want it to say, and that's their message. So beware, they're coming. They're
coming. You know, this matter of scoffing
and mocking, I couldn't help but think of our Lord on the
cross when those men, they mockingly, they hailed Him. And by that,
here's what they said. They said, He saved others. Himself, He
cannot save. They didn't see any ability in
Him. They didn't see Him to be the Son of God. They said, If
He be the King of Israel, let Him come down from the cross
and we'll believe Him. If He's the Son of God, come
on, come down. Let's see if God will have Him.
He said, I'm the Son of God. That's what it is to mock Him. And I acknowledge, that was me. You know, when we read of people
in the Scriptures who who mocked Him and who just wanted nothing
to do with Him. Brethren, that's all of us. That
is all of us, the carnal mind, the heart. When God looked down
and He saw the heart of man, that it was nothing but abomination. Iniquity and sin, nothing but
evil continually. When God lay down from heaven,
and that's when He saw no one that understood, no one that
does good, no one that seeks God. That's all of us. God must put a difference, and
the difference is Christ. He chose sinners in Christ that
we should be to the praise of His glory. Trophies of His grace,
if you will. These scoffers, Peter tells us,
they're going to come saying, where's the promise of His coming?
You say He's coming back. He said He's coming back. Where
is He? Everything's continuing now like it always has. Nothing's
changed. He said the fathers of old, Abraham,
Isaac, they're all still asleep. Where is He? He ain't coming
back. That's what they say. Now look at Peter's answer here.
Verse 5, 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." Verse 7. 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 said anyone that would do
such a thing, that would mock God, is ignorant. Paul told us of this about people
being ignorant of God's righteousness going about to establish their
own righteousness. The problem was they didn't know
Christ. We must know Christ. That's salvation, brethren. Knowing
Him. We must know Him. And I'm just
going to be honest with you here. I'm just trying to pour my heart
out to you, honestly. I don't want to be ignorant of
God. I don't want to have a false hope. The fact of the matter
is I can't afford to have a false hope. Right here, we just read
it. He said in verse 7, The heavens
and 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. Christ died for the young godly,
but the young godly is talking about here is the reprobate,
the lost, the damned. I don't want to be among them.
I need to know that I believe the truth. I don't want us to
believe a lie, to perish under the wrath of God. I don't want
that for us. I have a baby girl. She doesn't
know anything. A baby is ignorant. Until God
saves us, we're ignorant. Totally ignorant. I pray God
might reveal Himself and the truth of Christ to us. In verse 4 of 2 Peter chapter
1, Peter said, "...whereby are given unto us..." God's elect,
God's people. He said, "...are given unto us
exceeding great and precious promises." You know, people,
I've seen this a lot since the Lord has revealed Himself to
me. People will take these verses of Scripture. One, for example,
Peter wrote, "...cast all your care upon Him, for He careth
for you." Well, He's talking about His people. He's talking
to the elect, those chosen in Christ, redeemed by the blood
of Christ. He does care for us. He gave
Himself for us. There's nothing He wouldn't do
for His people. He became like unto us, that we might be made
one with Him. Righteous in Him. These promises
people take and they make them their own, but I'm here to tell
you these promises, these precious promises are for God's people.
They're only for God's people. And I pray that we are among
His people. You know, the disciples, they
asked the Lord one time, they said, Lord, why is it that you
speak to these men, the religious lost people, the Pharisees? They
said, why do you speak to them in parables? Why do you do this? He said, it's given unto you
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. But he said,
but to them it is not given. Does that mean we're better than
they? Oh no. No, the opposite is true. God's
people are the worst of the worst. Paul said, I'm the chief of sinners.
If I'm honest with you, I will acknowledge that I am nothing,
less than nothing, vanity. But by the grace of God, I'm
in Christ. And that's my only hope according
to His blessed promise. Back in our text, verse 8, He
said, But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day
is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as
one day. You know, anyone that mocks Christ's
return because He hasn't come yet, well, too much time has
gone by. He must not be coming. We need to understand time is
nothing to God. Time is nothing to Him. God is
eternal. Christ said, I'm Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Time is nothing
to Him. He made time for us. We live in time. But there is
such thing as eternity. A thousand years. You know, in the Scriptures,
Methuselah, I think, lived 969 years. Almost a thousand years.
God says to me, that's just a day. Just a day. God does everything
in His time. Christ is coming back. He said,
Lo, I come quickly. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. That's
our prayer, isn't it? Lord, come. Lord, come. Whether
we drop this body of flesh and go to be with our Lord or whether
we're one of the ones that are caught up with the Lord in the
air from right where we stand, He's coming back and He's going
to receive His people unto Himself that where He is, there we may
be also. You can mark your word on it. God said it, and that
settles it. Absolutely. I was going to have
us turn, but for time's sake, Christ said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. He said, I'm not going to lose
a single one of them. He ain't gonna lose a single
one. And know this, brethren. This is what I normally think
of with verse 8 there. One day is a thousand years.
A thousand years is a day. You think of the fathers of old.
You think of our brother Jacob, our brother Isaac, our brother
Moses. David, how long ago it was that
they lived and that they died. What's God say about that? Was
that a long time ago? Well, according to God, no. And you know, eternity,
we read about this in Revelation, about how eternity with Christ
in glory is just one, never-ending, eternal day. You know, I think
Kevin talked about this. I listen to him a lot. He said,
we're in the evening now. You know, the evening and the
morning were the first day. We're in the evening while we're
here. But daytime's coming. Very soon, it's going to be daytime.
We're not going to need the light of the sun because the Lamb is
the light thereof. There's not going to be any night
there. There's not going to be any sin there. Doesn't that give
you something to look forward to? That's what Peter's telling
us about here. Praise God. Verse 9, the Lord is not slack
concerning His promise. As some men count slackness,
but as longsuffering to us, we're not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. I pray we can see that in the
context. I pray no one's going to leave here thinking that means
God loves everyone, wants everyone to be saved, Christ died for
everyone, He died for His people. I think our brother just read
it. I've redeemed thee, I've called
thee by thy name, thou art mine. It's His people. He called them
my peculiar treasure. Royal priesthood, holy generation. I'm sure I'm misquoting him.
You know what I'm saying. He said, you're mine. The apple
of his eye. And we are in Christ. And it's
only in Christ. You know, I don't want to mock
God. There are times when I will think,
Lord, when are you coming? Please come. I'm waiting for
you, Lord. Please come back. He's going to do it in His time.
If we start to wonder, well, what's God doing now? I'll tell
you what He's doing. It's kind of like when those
men said, David, where's your God at? He said, Our God's in the
heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. The psalmist
said He's working salvation in the midst of the earth. Every
single day that goes by, God's saving His people. He's daily
adding to the church such as should be saved. And how's He
doing it? Through the preaching of Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Praise God. Praise God. Can you rest in the promises
of our God? Can you see that our salvation is according to
His promise? It has nothing to do with us. It's in spite of
us. Alright, verse 10. But 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 fervent
heat. The earth also and the works that are therein shall
be burned up. We need to acknowledge this, that perhaps we're just
a breath away from meeting God in judgment. Honestly, we don't know. It's
going to come as a thief in the night. We're not going to see
it coming. I know people love to make predictions of when the
Lord's coming back. I can tell you this, if a man
makes a prediction of when the Lord's coming back, He ain't
coming back then. Not a chance. We don't know.
We don't know when it's coming, but we need to acknowledge He's
coming. He's coming. He's coming. And when He does, He said everything
here is going to be burned up. Going to be burned up. But you
know what's going to remain? God, His people, His Word, Christ
the Word. Glory, eternity and glory. We're
going to read what's going to remain here in just a second.
Look at verse 11. It says, "...Seeing then that
all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought
you to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and
hasting unto the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens
being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat?" I want this to be an encouragement to us, honestly. I hope this is something we can
look forward to the day of God, the coming of Christ. This is
going to be the most glorious occasion we could ever possibly
try to imagine. You know, when I think of what
it's going to be, constantly The Lord's people, one by one,
are passing from this life to life everlasting. And when they
do, every time I hear of a believer going to be with the Lord, I
can't help but think, what's it like? Oh, if I could just
put myself in their shoes. I'll tell you this, it's not
entered into the heart of man the things God's prepared for
them to love Him. It's not. We can't begin to imagine. It's that glorious, brethren.
It's that glorious. What a thought. You know, when
we're reminded of things that we just read about, about how
everything here is going to be dissolved, you know, we love to get and
get and get and hold on to it, cling to it. It's all going to
perish. It all perishes with the using.
Whatever we have stockpiled up when we die, Someone else is
going to take it and waste it. That's the cycle. I rejoice to
know everything here is passing away. Look at verse 13. He said,
Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens
and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. All these old
things are going to pass away. Christ said, Behold, I make all
things new. He also said He's given unto us all things. Have
all things in Him. And I'll tell you this, brethren,
if we have Him, we have all things. Christ is all. Praise God. I thought about this. All the time people tell me,
I'll make a comment like, oh, I'm getting old. Twenty-eight, by
the way. So you laugh at it. But honestly, my life is flying
before my eyes. I mean that. Seriously. I mean,
it's almost over. You think I'm crazy. Here's what
I thought. Someone may tell me, Cody, you have got your whole
life ahead of you. I hear it, okay? I've been hearing
that for my whole life. And that's true. You know why
that's true? You know what life I have ahead of me? Christ. Christ is our life. When Christ who is our life shall
appear, Christ is our life. What did
Paul say? He told us he's in a strait betwixt
two, having a desire to depart and go be with Christ, which
is far better. He said, it's more needful for you that I stay
here. He knew he'd go in his time. What did he also say? He
said, for me to live, It's Christ. He said, to die is gain. Oh,
I pray God would give us faith to really believe that. To look
forward to depart from this body and to be with Him. I pray that
He's put that desire in us. And I'll tell you this, He's
only put that desire in us if He's revealed Himself to us.
And in us. Christ in us. That's the hope
of glory. This new heaven and new earth,
people like to talk about what it's going to look like. the
pearly gates, the gold streets. You know what heaven's going
to look like? It's going to look like Christ, because He is heaven. One thing have I desired of the
Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord forever, that I may behold Him, that I may inquire in His
temple, behold the beauty of the Lord. Isn't that what we're
looking for? Don't we want to see Him? Behold His face in righteousness? Isn't that going to be our satisfaction? I'll close with this. Look back
a couple pages at Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9, verse 27. Brethren, take this home with
you, okay? Remember God's promise that He's
made to His people. If you're a sinner in need of
Christ, remember God's promise to you, okay? He said, You shall
never perish. I give unto you eternal life.
You shall never perish. No man is going to pluck you out of
My hand, My Father's hand. We're one. Alright? Remember that. According to God's promise, rest
in that. Look to Christ, who is our hope.
Okay? Look here. Hebrews 9.27, And as it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. So Christ
was once offered to bear the sins, not of everyone, but of
many. And I'm glad it doesn't say few.
Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them
that look for Him. And I'll go ahead and tell you,
that's not a condition. God's people are looking for Him. Unto
them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without
sin. Christ was made sin, wasn't He?
He's coming back without sin. He's going to come back. He's
going to appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. That's according to His promise.
I didn't say it. God did. Praise God for His promise. May He enable us to truly look
for Him. Amen.