Let's go back here and look in
this first verse. Start here. In this chapter,
we're going to try, I believe we'll get through all of it.
In this chapter, the apostle deals with four specific things. He mentions the reason for writing
this epistle. He gives us the reason that he
writes it. Then he foretells and tells us that there will
be scoffers in the last days who doubt the coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Thirdly, he describes the coming
of our Lord and the destruction of this earth. And then he takes
and exhorts us and closes us with what we should react to
these things and how we should conduct ourselves in light of
these things that he mentioned. And the first thing he says here
in verse 1 and 2 is what I'm talking about. He says he mentions
the reason for writing this epistle. This is the reason. This second
epistle, beloved, I now write unto you, in which I stir up
your pure minds by way of remembrance. I want to stir up your minds
by way of remembrance, that you may be mindful of the words which
were spoken before by the holy prophets and the apostles and
the commandment of us, the apostles of our Lord and Savior. He said,
I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance. And I think
if you look at this word in other places, it's used as sincere.
And sincere. 1 Corinthians 5.8, he uses the
word sincere instead of pure. And so I want to use that word
instead of pure. I want to use the word sincere.
I believe it would be a little better for us to understand.
Because when we talk about having a pure mind to worship God, we
know that's not so. Talking about having a pure mind
when we read the scriptures, we know that's not so. So it's
a word that I believe we'd better use to use the word sincere.
And when he said, I stir you up by way of remembrance, the
sincerity of your minds, your sincere minds by way of remembrance.
All of us, God's people, we're sincere in the worship of God.
We love and sincere in our worship of God. We're not here to play
games. We're not here to To let our flesh get control
of us. We are sincere in our worship
of God. We're sincere in our faith of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We're sincere. We believe Christ.
We love Christ. We need Christ. And we're sincere
in our love one for another. It's not put on. It's not unfeigned.
It's real. It's true. It's honest. It's
sincere. And I tell you, and yet in spite
of this, because we constantly need to be stirred up to remember
these things, to remember the doctrine of Christ. We need to
remember what believers, as their responsibilities as believers
are. We remember the promises of our
Lord Jesus Christ, our living God. Because we're still in this
flesh, we're still in this old body, and we are prone to forget
And that's why we need the constant preaching of the gospel, the
word of God, to grow up and be spiritually mature. That's why
Peter said in his first epistle, you as newborn babe desire the
sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. Now, I
know I'm just talking about myself. What I preached two weeks ago,
I do not remember. And how many times that you'll
say, I'm going to remember that. I'll never forget that. And I
enjoyed that immensely. And then by the time you get
to your car and you visited a while, you say, oh my, what was that
he said? What was that he said? And that's
why we constantly need to be stirred up. That's why we constantly
need the gospel and the word. Constantly need it. Constantly
need it. And then the second thing he
says about them here, is he says this, I want you to be mindful
of two things. In verse 3. Verse 2. I want you
to be mindful of two things. And here's the first thing I
want you to be mindful of and remember. He says the words were
spoken before by the holy prophets. He said, I want you to remember
the words. I will stir you up to the words
spoken before by the holy prophets. And when he's talking about the
prophets, he's talking about the Old Testament prophets. He's
talking about the prophets of old, Isaiah, Samuel, David. Jeremiah all the prophets and
he said I want you to remember that these prophets of the Old
Testament they were men of God used of God taught of God and
they would say thus saith the Lord when they faced men and
women and Then prophets those prophets they spoke of the Lord
Jesus Christ They spoke of him in promise you find the first
promise in the scriptures it concerns our Lord Jesus Christ
very first promise and The very first type you find in the scriptures
concerns our Lord Jesus Christ. The first slam slam typified
our Lord Jesus Christ. The first promise made concerned
our Lord Jesus Christ. And all the prophecies that went
before him, when he would come, what seed he would come through,
what family he would come through. what his life would be like,
how he would suffer, how he would be rejected, how he would be
despised, all the things that would happen to him in his life
and all his time on the cross. Oh, listen, to him all the prophets
give witness. Our Lord told his disciples,
he said, I've told you before that everything that's written
in the Psalms and in Moses and in the prophets concerning me,
that's what they're about. And he opened their understanding
to that. And I tell you what, and that's what we remember. And I said, you know, this gospel
was promised before by the prophets. And I tell you, God spoke by
the prophets. And that's why He said, I want
you to remember what the prophets said. The prophets talked about
Christ. And then He says, now I want
you also to remember The commandment of us the apostles of our Lord
and Savior. The second thing he wanted to
be mindful of and to remember. The commandment of the Lord Jesus
Christ given through his apostles. And I believe he's talking about
two things here. First one is, I believe he says,
go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. These men's
life was given over to nothing but preaching the gospel. Peter
preached the gospel. Paul preached the gospel. That's
all they did. They would wait outside the temple
and preach. I believe they probably preached no telling how many
times a day in their lives that they preached. And they would
travel miles and miles and miles by foot to go somewhere to preach
the gospel. They didn't have buildings like
this. They had homes. They had to meet in the open
air. And I believe that he is talking about preach the gospel
to every gold priest the gospel be witnesses of these things
and Second I believe that he's talking about the commandment
to love one another our Lord Jesus is this Is the commandment
that I give unto you. I don't ask you to do this This
commandment I give unto you that you love one another even as
I have loved you. I And by this, all men are going
to know you, my disciples, because you love one another. We know
we pass from death unto life because we know we love one another. And he said, I believe that's
the things that he's talking about. And then look what else
he says here in verse 3 and 4. So he wanted to stir them up.
That's the mention for reason for in writing. Now look what
else he says. Knowing this first is the first thing I want you
to know. 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 the creation and you know our Lord he mentioned
this he mentioned this himself we know from the writings of
the apostles From what this scripture tells us, that in the last days,
men, they'll make a mock. He says they're scoffers. And
scoffers is people who makes mock at things. They ridicule
things. And in the last days, men will
make a mock of sin. Absolutely mock sin. Ridicule
sin. Make a mock of sin. They jeer
and mock all religion. All religion. They'll mock ministers
of the true gospel of the grace of God. And I'll tell you something,
we are so, now if you stand against anything, I heard a lady say
this today. She said there's probably over
100 million people in America that they are classed and put
in the same class as the KKK because if you're against homosexuality,
If you are against gay marriages, you're against any kind of sin
that they call sin, then you are a bigot and you are a racist
and your religion ain't worth even spitting on. And that's
where we're at today. Fussing and fighting over laws
is trying to protect people from being discriminated against.
And the most discriminated people in America today is people of
faith and people who believe in something and will not back
down from it. And it's costing people their
businesses, costing people piles of money, and it's causing people
to be run out of the towns that they live in. And then making
a mockery out of everything that's just right and true. And I tell you, they just mock
all religion. I heard a fella say the other
day, wouldn't it be wonderful if there was never no religion? There was nothing but the brotherhood
of man. Well, if he had any idea how
close we all was related, he sure would forget about that,
wouldn't he? And he knows now, that fella's dead. He knows now. He knows now. And I tell you,
they mock ministers of the gospel. You preach about the grace of
God, the love of God, and the power of God. Why does God let
this happen, that happen, everything happen? God does what he will
and I'm not going to apologize for him. I ain't going to explain
him. And I tell you, they reject the gospel of the grace of God
and they especially mock the second coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Our Lord Jesus said, don't you
be, you know, you occupied while I come. Don't be like them fellows
that say, well, the Lord's Delayed He's Coming, so let's just have
us a big party and let's drink until He comes, and then we'll
get straightened up. That's before He gets here. But oh, they mock
the second coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead,
the torment of hell, and the joys of heaven. I mean, they
make a mock of all these things. Look with me over here in 2 Timothy.
Just go back just a... Go back to Hebrews and then just
back just to Titus and then you're in 2 Timothy. And I tell you,
beloved, and these people walk after their own lust, their own
desires. They don't care about what anybody
thinks or says or anything. You know, you got to be seeing
things my way or no way. Well, I'm going to be a bigot.
I'm going to be a racist. I'm going to be whatever they
make me to be. I don't care. I don't care what I owe them
when it comes to the gospel. I care about how I act when I'm
in public. I care about how I act with you.
I care about how I act when I go in the store to buy something.
I care how I act when I go somewhere to sit down to eat. I care how
I treat people. But when it comes to this gospel
right here, I do not care about what men think, say, or do. Do
you? We're not going to back up. Let
them go ahead. And look what he said here in
2 Timothy 3, verse 1. This is what they're going to
do. This know also, this is what he says, what the apostles say.
This is what we're talking about. Scoffers in the last days. In
the last days perilous times would come. And oh my, perilous
Perilous religious times, perilous economic times, perilous political
times, perilous war times, all of this. For men, and here's
the whole reason why it's perilous, because men love their own selves. Covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful or unholy, without natural affection. It's not natural for a man to
want a man or a woman to want a woman. You can't get more unnatural
than that. Animals don't even. And listen,
without natural affection, truth breakers. I mean, they cannot
keep a promise to save their lives. They'll tell you something
and break that word and absolutely get mad at you if you call them
on it. And look what it says. false accusers, have no incontinent,
have no strength of character, despisers of those that are good,
traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than
lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying their
power, turn away from them, don't have nothing to do with them.
And that's where we're at. That's what he said. And back
over in our epistle here. And they said the object of their
scorn is the Lord Jesus Christ and His return. Look what they
say in verse 4 and say, where's the promise of His coming? My
dad said that to me one time. He was a car salesman. Working in a big car lot. out in East Dayton. East side
of Dayton. When I went out there one time,
was seeing him, and went by some cars, and got talking to him
about that, and he said, Oh, I said, I've heard that all my
life that he's coming. I've heard that all my life.
And that's what they said, the promise of his coming. Oh, they
mock it. I said, well, I think everybody
keeps saying the Lord's coming. The Lord's coming. Well, I'll
tell you one thing, when he went up, ascended in Acts 1, it tells
us there that as he ascended up, them apostles stood there
watching him. They stood watching him until
he went through the clouds and two angels stood by him and said,
you men of Galilee, why in the world are you standing here looking
up? said he's going to come back just the way he came. He went
through the clouds, he's going to come back. Somebody said the
other day, we was talking about this. He said, Gage was talking
about it. He said, can you imagine what
that trumpet's going to sound like when that trumpet blows
and the Lord Jesus Christ comes? I said, can you imagine that
trumpet? Everybody will know it's a trumpet.
And they'll know that it's Christ. And just immediately that trumpet
will sound. The dead in Christ is what it
says. The dead in Christ shall rise
first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them. And we'll meet them in
the air. Oh, so shall we ever be with
the Lord. And they make a mock of that.
But they mock as our blessed hope. And they said, where's
the promise of His coming? All things go on just like they
always did. Oh, they reasoned because years
have come and years have gone. Everything's the same. They say
nothing's changed since the beginning. That's what they said. Nothing's
changed since the beginning of the creation. Well, that's the
first thing that they're ignorant about. And that's what He says
in verse 5 and 6 here. Look what He says. But this they
willingly ignored of. He said, everything begins from
the creation. He says, no, no. He said, for
this they willingly are ignorant. They willingly say, I will not
believe that. They willingly are ignorant that
by the word of God, God speaking, God using his word, the heavens
were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water.
So God, he said, yes, he created the world by his word. Then he
says, they're ignorant of this, whereby the world that then was
being overflowed with water perished. There's three things they're
ignorant of, and that's the heavens and the earth. He says they're
willingly ignorant of three things. They overlooked the fact that
it was by the Word of God that all things were created. The
heavens came into existence by the Word of God. The earth was
formed up out of the waters by the Word of God. God created
it all, and it remains right to this very day. All things
were made by Him and by Him all things continued to consist.
And then look what it said in verse 6. They overlooked the
fact that God did destroy the world by water that then existed.
I mean, He sent a flood and destroyed the earth. The earth was covered
by water. By what? By God's commandment. God done that. then by his commandment
the water was removed so you see all things haven't continued
as they was Solomon Gomorrah was destroyed and then in verse
7 but the heavens and the earth which are now by the same Word. And see, He keeps saying the
word, Word, over and over and over and over again. Everything
God does, He does by His Word. But the heavens and earth, which
are now by the same Word, are kept in store, kept reserved. Put that in store there. Put
this in storage here. God said, I've got the world
in store. I'm keeping it in store for one
reason. Reserved under fire against the
judgment day of judgment perdition of ungodly men They forget the
third thing they forget by the same word which God created the
world It's sustained and kept intact by that blurry word and
by that very word is reserved for fire and destruction And
he will not destroy the world by water, but by fire the next
time I won't show you something over here in second Thessalonians
and You were in Titus, you were in Timothy, well you just go
back just another little book and you'll be right in the Thessalonians. Look in 2 Thessalonians with
me, just a minute. Chapter 1. This is what's going
to happen. Everything's by the Word. God
by His Word created the world. God by His Word destroyed the
world with the flood that then was. And now he's got by the
same word, he's just holding things, sustaining things and
keeping things until that day of judgment of ungodly and awful
man. Look what he said in verse 7,
2 Thessalonians 1 and verse 7. And he says to you who are troubled,
and it's troublesome times rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall
be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels and listen
to this in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not
God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ what's
it going to do with them who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory
of His power. And when that happens something
else is going to happen at the same time. When He shall come
to be glorified in His saints and to be admired in all them
that believe because our testimony among you was believed in that
day. Some destroyed, some going to glory. But when God comes... And now let's go on here and
look in verse 8 and 9. Just a minute. Verse 8 and 9. And He says, 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. The Lord is
not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness.
You see, they kept saying, where's the promise of His coming? He
promised and He promised, but He ain't never fulfilled His
promise. But the Lord is not slack concerning His promises.
Some men count slackness, but His long-suffering to us were
not that willing that any should perish. He turns around and He
addresses these believers now. And the first thing He calls
them is, Beloved. Beloved. Beloved of God. Beloved of one another, beloved
of me, beloved. And what he's saying is let these
men scoff, let them mock and do all that they will. You know
God don't measure time the way men measure time. And ever how
long it's been since God, since the promise of Christ coming,
That don't get no significance that he won't fulfill that promise.
Since the longest amount of time, he uses, you know, he's just
using the length of time to tell us that time absolutely means
nothing to God. Time means, you know, a thousand,
one day. Do you know somebody that's been
in glory? That just got there, they've
always been in glory. But I mean, as far as time goes,
you can't measure. And he says, you fellas worried
about him keeping his promise? He's got a lot of slack like
us. A day to him is just a thousand years. And so, you know, a thousand
years can go by. And another thousand years can
go by. And that don't mean that he ain't
keeping his promise. That don't mean that his promise
is not going to be fulfilled someday. That don't mean that
at all. That means that when he is promising
something, he's not slack like everybody else is. He'll keep
his promise. And you don't be in no hurry
about it. Because he will keep his promise.
He kept his promise to Abraham. He kept his promise to his son.
And his son came here. He's kept how many promises to
us. He said, I'll never leave you, never forsake you. As your
days be, so shall your strength be. And my grace will be sufficient
for you. When you're weak, then you're
strong all the times. And how many promises he kept
when he said, I'll come and get you where you are. And take you
unto myself that where I am, that you may be where I am. Oh my, the promises he's kept,
and here's what else he says about it. And you ought to read
Psalm 90, and there it talks about, David said it this way,
he said, Lord, a thousand years to you is just like yesterday. A thousand years go by and that
was just yesterday. And look what he says now, he
says, you know the reason that God is not, Christ has not come
back, slack concerning his promise as men does, but here's what
it is, the Lord is so longsuffering to his elect, to his blessed
people, that he's not willing that any one of them should perish.
There's some sheep out there that ain't been called yet. There's
some sheep out there that hasn't repentance. There's a sheep out
there, and our Lord, He says, He's not willing that one of
them perish. And He's going to see to it that
they're brought to Himself. And that's what it is. Paul says,
and that's why he goes to count the longsuffering of the Lord
to be salvation. And I tell you what, He is unwilling,
and they shall be brought to repentance and faith. Oh, let
the Father give me. What does he say? They're going
to all come to me. If they ever won, they're going
to come to me. And then in verse 10 he says quickly, But the day
of the Lord, when that day comes, and our Lord said this, He said
it will be like lightning from the east. He said it will be
as a thief in the night. That means that it will come
so unexpected. 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 fell with
fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein
shall be burned." That means that he's gonna come so suddenly,
so unexpectedly, it'll be just like somebody coming in your
house, and you're not aware that they're there, and they're just
there. And that's what he's gonna come. And then when that happens,
the elements, this world, and it'll come with a great noise.
That's that trumpet. I mean, when our Lord comes back,
everybody's gonna know it. And the earth, and every, all
the works, all these great works that people admire so much, and
spend so much money on, and spend millions on, and all that, God
said all of them's gonna be just burned up. That fella that paid
50 or 60 million dollars for a painting, gonna be burned up. All that gold that they got sitting
in them jars is going to be burned up. Only thing that ain't going to
be burned up is God's people will already be in glory. And
oh, look what it says then in verse 11 and 12. But seeing then
that all these things shall be dissolved, Seeing that all this
stuff is going to happen. The Lord is going to destroy
the earth and the elements are going to just be burned away and dissolved. Seeing that all these things
shall be dissolved. What manner of persons ought
ye to be? since this is what's going to
happen, this is what's coming, since all these scoffers are
around, and you have, God has promised you something, and you
know, you're not ignorant, beloved, you know the day of the Lord's
coming. What persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation,
holy manner of life and godliness, looking for and hasting warning,
desiring the coming of the day of God, when the heavens being
on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. Now I tell you, we believe that
the earth and all everything in it is going to be destroyed,
going to be burned up. And since we know this, and we
know this is coming, what manner of person should we be? What manner of person should
we be? Certainly we don't want to be
a scoffer who ridicule the gospel. Oh, we don't want to do that. We don't want to ridicule and
mock the day of our Lord Jesus Christ or the day of God's wrath.
We certainly don't want to be like an indifferent professor
of religion. We don't want to be materialistic
worldlings. Oh God, make us sincere, dedicated
men and women waiting for our Lord's return, hasting for His
return. Praying, listening, reading,
living soberly and righteously in this world, waiting for the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my, if we really believe that
these things are going to happen, What manner of persons we ought
to be. And then he says in verse 13, 14, look what he says. Nevertheless,
we, according to his promise, you know what we're looking for?
A new heaven. But for new heavens,
and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved,
seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may
be found in him with peace, and without spot, and without blame.
And I tell you what, just as sure as God's on His throne,
there's going to be a new heavens and new earth, and everything
there is going to be just nothing but righteousness. Every person's
going to be righteous. Righteousness dwells in it. The
throne of everything is righteous. Perfectly righteous. Gloriously
righteous. No sin! No sin! And I tell you, and He said,
And for all those in Christ, and the only thing we ought to
be concerned about while we're in this world is whether we'll
be found in Christ in the day of that coming. The day that
that happens. Will I be found in Christ? When God comes to get me, will
I be found in Christ? If this world falls apart tomorrow,
will I be found in Christ? And that's the only thing that
should concern us. And then look what he says in
verse 15 onward. And be without spot and blameless,
and 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 things which are some things
hard to be understood which they that are unlearned in unstable
rest as they do also the other scriptures to their own destruction
and what he's talking about here is he says you consider this
why the Lord has not already come is that we account the long-suffering
of our Lord as salvation And that's why Paul says, you know,
if God is long-suffering, endures with much long-suffering the
vessels of wrath, how much more the vessels of honor and vessels
of mercy. And he says, we count that. I
was talking to Lindy today, my daughter today. I said, you need
to come hear the gospel, you and the boys. I said, you know,
you keep saying that, you know, you know, you keep saying it.
She said, but I'm so ashamed to go. She said, they know everything
there is to know about me. I said, I'll tell you what they
know about you. They know you're lost, and they know you're a
sinner. And that's all they know about
you when you come into service, that you're lost, and you're
a sinner, and you need Christ. That's all we know when somebody
comes in here without Christ. Ain't that right? Now, if you're ashamed of being
a sinner, don't come. If you're ashamed of being lost,
don't come. Ain't that right? Man, you know, that's why Christ
died to save people. He's got this miserable, wretched
life. To save it! Change it! New heart, new will! Oh, and he says, consider, and
I tell you what, you consider that long-suffering of the Lord
to be salvation. You know somebody you've been
praying for for a long time, your children, your grandchildren,
your husbands and your wives. You just keep on the long-suffering
of the Lord, that's salvation. That's salvation. And oh, and
he goes on to say, Paul wrote his epistles of all these things.
He wrote about the covenant of grace, of election, and the redemption
of God's elect. He wrote about how everything
to work together for good. That's a hard thing to understand. All things work together for
good. Oh, and your body's falling apart,
and you got the awfulest news from the doctor. Death is at
your door. Old age is at your door, and
your heart's weak. Your body's got creaks and pops,
and all this thing's going in you. How? What do you mean all
things working? It don't look like it's working
for my good. But it is. Not for everybody. But them that are called according
to his purpose, to them that love God. How come we loved him? For him he foreknew, them he
also did predestinate. And them he did predestinate,
them he also called. Them he called, he also justified.
And them he justified. And this is something, fellow,
they also glorified. So as far as God's concerned,
we're already in glory. People scratched their heads
and said, boy, that don't even make sense. You're still here
and you're still rotten as hell itself. I know it, but I'm telling
you what God said, not what I feel or the way I am. I'm telling
you what God said. So that's what he's talking about. Oh, my. And then he says, last
of all, therefore, in verse 17, ye therefore beloved again, three
times he calls them beloved. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing
you know these things, you know these things, you beware, you
be very aware, be very cautious, watch, lest you also be led away
with the air of the wicked. Wicked come along and lead you
away, and you fall from your steadfastness. But he says, but
grow, here's what you need to do. He said, you grow in grace
and you grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So
he gets all the glory both now and forever. Amen. Tell you something I found out
the other day. Oh my goodness, I took way too long. But a preacher
that has preached here before and I've known him for years,
he got out of the ministry. Went off and done some other
things and found out just a little while ago, you know, a few days
ago, he walked off and left his wife. Fell from his own steadfastness,
led away with the air of the wicked. Pastored a church for
a long time. Got off, went to doing something
else. Wife of many, many years. Just walked off and left her. That's what it means. Beware!
You beware. If you say, it can't happen to
me, that's what the last fellow said it happened to. Oh, what
are we going to do? We're going to grow. God help
us to grow. Grow, God, grow us, grow, grow
us. Our blessed Savior, our gracious,
eternal God, In the name of the Lord Jesus, we thank you and
bless you, for your great, great mercy. Lord, we know these things,
and we just talk tonight, and we rejoice in them. Oh, to be
found in you. To be found in you. To grow,
grow, grow. God, grow us. Preserve us and
keep us. We ask these things in Christ's
name. Amen. Amen.