In Peter's second epistle in
the last chapter, he concludes his epistle with what is in many
ways a remarkable account in terms of its clarity of the last
days and the conclusion of all things, of the end of this world,
of the promise of Christ's return, the promise of a new heavens
and a new earth, and the promise that as in the days of old, in
the days of Noah, when God first sent judgment upon the wicked,
that there will come this day, the day of the Lord, when God
will judge this world and judge it in fire. No man should be
without excuse in terms of knowing what God has said, very plainly,
regarding this world and its end and what is to come. Peter
opens the chapter in this way, this second epistle beloved I
now write unto you in both which I 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 Saviour. 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.
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 under
fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 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? Well, Peter here
reminds us that Christ is coming. Reminds us that there is a day
in which when he comes he will first send judgment upon this
world and this world will be no more. Reminds us that the
wicked will be judged. Reminds us that this judgment
has been brought upon the world in times gone by in the day of
Noah. And reminds us that beyond the
judgment to come those who love God will be delivered from that
judgment and will be brought into a new heavens and a new
earth wherein dwelleth righteousness and yet there are those in the
last days in our days in many generations who scoff at these
things and despite the promises made, and despite the fact that
the promises build upon past events. Not only is there a promise
and a warning that this world will be drawn to a conclusion,
that Christ will return and he will return in judgment, But
that fact is based upon the fact that He has already come. Christ
already came into this world. We're not speaking now of some
promise of someone to come who's never come. The patriarchs looked
and lived in a day when they knew that Messiah would come
and they waited and He hadn't yet come. But eventually He did. Well we live in a day and an
age where Christ has already been. Those promises which men
waited for the fulfilment of were brought about. They were brought to their conclusion.
They waited and waited for the coming of Messiah and Christ
came as promised. And did all that he said he would
do. And he is promised that he will
come again. Likewise the judgment which is
promised upon this world, the warning of judgment, the warning
that is issued to man that there will be judgment to come, that
this world will be burnt up with fire, is not without precedent. God sent judgment upon the wicked
in the days of Noah. It happened. It is an historical
fact no matter what men may say in order to reject it and to
pretend it never happened. The marks of that judgment are
still found in this world. The effects of the flood the
global flood are still visible in the geology of this world. Now scientists today go around
this world and they examine the ground, they dig up fossils,
they dig up bones and they come up with their foolish schemes
and ideas of how those things came to be there. they say for
these things to be fossilized and buried in all these layers
of of rock and of silt they must have been been there millions
of years ago they must have died millions of years ago been buried
in the ground and then all of this silt has buried them and
over millions of years it's become rock under which these fossils
are found when the fools ignore the testimony of scripture which
said that there was a flood they were buried in the flood and
the layers of rock and sand above them appeared in moments and
such things have happened since there have been incidents of
flooding and various natural events which have caused similar
things to happen in but days The evidence of the flood is
found all around us. The fossils that you find are
proof not of evolution, but of the truth of God's word that
he did send a flood in this world at the time of Noah in which
God judged the wicked. That's a fact, that's a fact
that is born testimony to by the world around us. But in the
last days, Peter says, there shall come scoffers walking in
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. For this they willingly are ignorant
of that by the word of God the heavens were of old. They will
not believe. that this world was created,
they will look at the evidence of the flood and say that this
world came about by chance and all things evolved. Yet the evidence
shows them that God created the world and it shows them that
soon after creation when man fell into wickedness, he, as
he has said, sent a flood, a global flood. They choose not to believe
the heavens were of old, the earth standing out of the water
and in the water, whereby the world that then was, being overflowed
with water, perished. They will not believe what is
there before their own eyes. The evidence is there. And those
who are given understanding, those whose eyes God has opened,
can see the evidence and see that what God has said and done
in time is true. But those who are in darkness
and blind see the same evidence and come up with their foolish
schemes and ideas because they will not own the existence of
God, His judgment against their sin and the consequences of it. And the greatest problem they
have, the greatest reason they have for rejecting what the evidence
tells them is the fact that they don't want to own up to their
own sin, the consequences of their own sin and their responsibility
and accountability because of it. That is ultimately why they
must reject, that's ultimately why they reject God. Not because
God couldn't exist, but because they know that if God does exist,
then they are sinners before him. then the sin, the misery,
the consequence of sin in this world, the fact that men and
women die, all the evidence of sin proves that they are sinners
and proves that they are guilty before this God and demonstrates
that they are in great need. if they are still guilty of their
sin and have no answer for it. They don't want to face up to
that, they don't want to accept that, so they reject the very
existence of God. And in rejecting the very existence
of God, they have to come up with other reasons to explain
why the world is as it is. They shall come in the last days
scoffers walking after their own lusts. Are you one of them? Are you one of them? Do you choose
not to believe? Are you wittingly ignorant of
the truth? Do you choose not to believe
what's before you? You will not believe it, because
if you do, you'd have to own that you're a sinner, and wrath
is over your head. You stand guilty before a holy
God, and judgment will come. Do you choose not to believe?
One reason, they do not believe, one trap for mankind is the passing
of time. If the flood happened yesterday
or last week, you'd find it difficult to reject the fact of it because
there would be so many other people, if they hadn't perished,
who would know of it. or in the reality, if it happened
last week, then Noah and his family would be the other side
and they would know and they would tell their descendants
and there would be enough people in this world that could tell
you for certain it happened and you'd see the evidence. But with
the passing of time, generations come and generations go. And
the generation who was there at that time is no longer here.
And mankind ceases to believe that which is passed down to
him. Every new generation will find out the truth for themselves.
They reject what their parents and their grandparents and their
forefathers passed down. They reject that knowledge as
being from an antiquated age and they will find things out
for themselves. And if they can't prove it themselves, they dismiss
what they've been told. So likewise with the coming of
Christ, in the day of Christ it was known, people knew He
was there. He was talked about, whatever
people's thoughts or opinions of Christ, of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth was, they knew He existed. They knew He was delivered up
into the hands of the Romans, they knew that He was crucified,
it was a fact. People knew about it, people
spake about it. But that generation went, and
another generation followed, and that generation went, and
another generation followed. And a thousand years went by,
and two thousand years would go by. And here you are today. And what you have as a testimony
to that is the record passed down. You cannot speak anymore
to those who were there at that age. Time has gone by, and time
traps you. Because what you have as a record
are the effects of what happened that day and the scriptural accounts
of what happened in that day. And you can choose to reject
the truthfulness of scripture, pretend it doesn't exist, dismiss
it, and you can choose to dismiss the testimony and the count of
those who speak of its truthfulness. Those who can say that Christ
certainly did die, he certainly did rise again, and he certainly
did do all that he said he did, and is all that he said he was,
because he lives and reigns today, because he's preaching his gospel
today, because the effects of what he wrought upon the cross
are true today. He brought in everlasting life
and I know it and can testify to it because He brought me life. I heard His gospel. I heard the
power of His gospel. The Spirit of God made me who
once was blind to see and I can say that I know Christ. He lives
today. You can hear someone say that.
You can say, I don't believe you. And you can reject the testimony
of those living today who know God and know Christ and know
that He is who He was. Know He is who He is. Know He
is the Christ of the Scriptures. They can tell you and you reject
because time's gone by and times are trapped. You can't go and
see Him in person. You can't go and see Noah in
person. You weren't there when the flood
came. You weren't there when Christ died. Time's gone by. And in that time there's a promise
made that Christ who came into this world will return. And He
will return in judgment. He will come again to bring in
the end of all things. But generations have gone by
since that promise was made. 2,000 years have gone by since Christ
walked upon this earth. And scoffers, perhaps like you,
will say, where is the promise of his coming? All things continue
as they were. For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
Every day's the same. We wake up, we go to work. We
go to school. We go about our business. The
evening comes, we go to sleep, we wake up the next day. People
are born, people die. People are married, there are
children brought into this world. Everything carries on the same.
Where's the promise of Christ coming? You're just following
fables. and they choose not to believe
they don't believe the scriptures that have been left down to them
and have been preserved amazingly preserved throughout time unlike
other records God has preserved his word from the beginning of
time it's unique and he speaks unto men through it and he says
this is true but they will not believe And they will not believe
the record that they see in the world around them. They can see
the evidence of the flood. They will not believe. And they
can see the evidence of Christ's death and resurrection because
there are those in this world who've been brought to life by
his gospel who say he is true. His gospel's true. He died for
my sins. He delivered me. He set me free. And they willfully choose not
to believe. Is that you? Are you a scoffer in the last
day? Are you willingly burying your
head in the sand and rejecting what is? Do you reject the fact
that this world was created? That there was a judgment? That
Christ came? That he will return again? Do
you pretend it didn't happen? Do you reject the fact of judgment
past? that God certainly judged the
wicked, that He is righteous. He judged the wicked because
He's righteous. He will judge sin. He sent judgment
upon that generation as a warning throughout all time that sin
will be judged. Wickedness will not go unanswered. He gave that judgment in the
days of Noah as an example to all men throughout all time that
I will judge sin, I will judge your sin. There will be no escape
and no letting off. This world is as it is because
man fell into sin and death entered because of the sin that entered
into this world by man's rebellion. The misery, the warfare, the
hatred, the violence are all a result of man's sin and God
will judge it. He will be done with it. He will take it away. and one
day when he returns again he will judge this world in fire,
he will dissolve it so that he will replace it with a new heavens
and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. A world where
there is no sin. A world where there is no misery.
That is what this God is going to bring in. He's promised to
bring about a world in which there is no sin. But the scoffers
and the foolish reject this God because of the sin they see in
this world. They don't like this world as
it is. And rather than acknowledging
that they are the cause of the misery because of their sin and
the sins of their brethren, the sins of their neighbors, because
of the sin of mankind, because man is a sinner, rather than
owning that they are the cause of all the ill because of sin,
they blame God. And they say, why have you made
us like this? And why have you made the world
like this? If God is true, if he's a loving
God, why is this world like it is? And rather than blaming themselves
and owning their own sin, they find a cause of fault in God.
This is what so many have done throughout history and they always
raise the question as though they're the first person to raise
it. They answer, if there's a God,
why is there so much suffering in the world? They ask. Like
they're the first person to ask such a wise question. So they
think. When it's such an obvious question
to ask, it's such an obvious thing, they are not the first
person to wonder why the world is like it is, but rather than
receiving the answer that God has given them in his scripture,
that the world is like it is because man fell into sin, and
death entered, and all the miserable effects of sin, the consequences,
the warfare, the hatred, the evil that we see all around us,
all the miserable effects, rather than knowing that this is a consequence
of sin and that man is guilty as a result, and that the answer
is to be found in God's grace and mercy. that God has an answer
for sin. He's taken the sin of His people
and He's judged them in His own Son. He's a just God. He will judge sin. He sent an
answer at the time of Noah and said, this is sin in the world,
this is the wickedness and I will judge the sin. But rather than
just simply destroy it, the world entirely he said I love a people
and I will deliver a people and I will bring that people into
a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness
I'll bring about a new world where there is no sin and I'll
take a people out of this world and bring them into that world
and there'll be no more suffering no more tears no more poverty
no more illness no more sin no more death I'll bring them in
and I'll save them and I'll cleanse them and the way that he did
it was by suffering himself This is what He said, this is what
He's done, this is the God that made this world. He's chosen
to bring in a new heavens and a new earth and to bring a people
into that world by taking their sin and placing it upon His own
Son and judging that sin in His own Son. But rather than believe
in that, the scoffer simply blames God for how this world is now. and says I cannot worship a God
that made a world like this where there's so much suffering and
so much misery and the fool blames God for his own sin rather than
recognising that the sin and the misery is his fault and that
God is a loving and a gracious God who gave his son to take
away sin who gave his son to deliver sinners from the wrath
to come, rather than falling before that God in worship and
praise, that that God has himself suffered for the very sin of
sinful man. Rather than worshipping God as
a loving and a gracious and a merciful God, he says, I will not accept
that I'm a sinner, but I will blame God for all that there
is. We see this attitude expressed
in Romans and chapter 9 where Paul speaks of the creation and
how God is suffering over it and how there are those in creation
that he shows mercy to. And there are those who he doesn't.
A man rages against the sovereignty of God. Paul says, Therefore
have ye mercy on whom ye will have mercy, and whom ye will
ye hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why
doth he yet find fault? for who hath resisted his will?
Nay, but, O man, who art thou that replyest against God? Shall
the thing form, say the him that formed it, why hast thou made
me thus? Have not the potter power over the clay of the same
lump to make one vessel under honour and another under dishonour? What if God, willing to show
his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, that he might make
known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which
he had aforeprepared unto glory? even us whom ye have called,
not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. As he saith
also in Hosea, I will call them my people which were not my people,
and her beloved which was not beloved. Man rages against a
sovereign God. But God in his wisdom chose to
show his justice in judging the wicked in the days of Noah. And
he will judge them again in the last day. in order to demonstrate
his glory and his mercy and his grace in delivering a people
through the death of his son in their place. But man says,
why have you made me this way? If I'm a sinner, it's God's fault. He made me. He made me this way. They blame God for what they
are and what they do. Even though they willingly do
all that they do. Even though they willingly scoff. Even though they willingly mock.
Do you blame God for how you are? Do you blame God for your
own wickedness? Do you blame God for the results
of your wickedness, the consequences? Do you blame God for the misery
that you endure? Do you find fault with God rather
than owning up that it's all your doing? You bring it about
because of your own rebellion. Don't you know that this God
is bringing to pass a new heavens and a new earth and that He's
already offered up His Son as a sacrifice for sin? He's promised
to deliver all those that believe on Him. He's promised to wash
them clean. He's promised to deliver them
from death. The consequence of your sin is
death. You suffer because of sin. You
know that one day you will die. You may know the effects of illness,
of disease, all of which are a consequence of the fallen of
sin. And you may say, how might I
be delivered from it? And you might blame God for it.
You might blame God for the fact that you die and that loved ones
have died and you've lost loved ones. You might blame God for
it. And you might blame God for the disease that affects you,
and the misery that affects you, and the things that go against
you. You blame God. When God has made known to you
in his gospel that Christ came to take and bear the sin of sinners
and to be judged in their place that they might not be judged.
He came to bring in righteousness. He came to deliver a people from
sin, to deliver them from death. He came to conquer death and
He came to establish and bring in a new heavens and a new earth. He's answered the problem and
yet you just blame Him for the problem. You blame him for your
sin. You blame him for the consequences
of men's sin. You say he should be like this
and he should be like that when the reality is he's a loving
and a gracious God but you will not bow before him. You scoff
and you mock and you deride and you choose not to believe that
he exists. that sin's a reality, that the
judgment of sin is a reality, that judgment was sent in days
gone by to Noah, and that judgment will come. You will not believe
it. Time goes by. Generations come, generations
go. And you're fooled by the passing
of time. You're fooled by the passing
of time. As every generation before you
has been fooled. Do you think all things will
carry on just as they did from the beginning? Nothing's changing,
just because it hasn't changed yet in the days of your life
so far. Christ spoke of these things
in Matthew's gospel. He says that in chapter 24, he
says, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall
not pass away. Of that day and hour knoweth
no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But
as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the
Son of Man be. For as in the days that were
before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving
in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and
knew not until the flood came and took them all away. So shall
also the coming of the Son of Man be. Then shall two be in
the field, the one shall be taken and the other left. Two women
shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken and the
other left. Watch therefore, for ye know
not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if
the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief
would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his
house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready, for
in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. In the
days of Noah, the fools of men, the scoffers, the mockers, saw
this man Noah building his ark and laughed. They laughed, they
derided. And yet the day came, when the
storms came, and the storms and the rains washed them away. Today you may see the knowers
of your generation, building their ark. You may see those
that speak of Christ preaching His righteousness, speaking of
salvation to come. You may see them and hear them
speaking, as it were, of the ark which will deliver them from
the wrath to come. They, like Noah, in preaching
and walking before God and speaking His gospel, are, as it were,
building an ark before you. and they declare in that ark
in Christ in the message of Christ that there is a wrath and a judgment
to come and they will be delivered from it through Christ their
hope is in that ark their hope is in Christ they know that they
will be delivered from that judgment because they will be found safe
in an ark. And you hear, and you mock, and
you scoff, and you say these things won't be. They make known
that there's a day coming when Christ will return in judgment.
The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the
which the heaven 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 burnt up. They make that fact known. There is a judgment to come.
And you choose, as those in the days of Noah, to turn aside. You go about your business. You
mock and you scoff. 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. 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 say all this time's gone
by. Nothing changes. But in God's eyes it's just a
moment. A thousand years is but a day
with Him. There's been two thousand years
since Christ walked upon this earth, that's just two days ago
to God. It's a moment, it's a blink.
And at any moment He could return. Time's a trap, don't be fooled
by it. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering
to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance. You mock God and will not believe
because you say, oh, well, there's all this time gone by. There's
all this time gone by, nothing changes. The fact that so much
time has gone by is God's grace and mercy. He will not return
until all that he is going to save have heard the gospel. He will not return until the
gospel has been made known and sent forth throughout all the
world so that every child of God hears and believes. He will
not return until, as it were, the ark is completely built and
all that he's going to put into that ark are in it. Far from
this being something that should cause you not to believe, it's
in His mercy that He sends this time, that He gives you that
time, that He hasn't returned sooner. But He will return. And it will be sooner than you
think. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.
in the which the heavens shall pass away with great noise, and
the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also
and the works that are therein shall be burnt 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? The day is coming. Do you ignore
it? Do you pretend it isn't true?
Do you say as With the scoffer, where's the promise of his coming?
Everything goes on the same, it won't happen. When he's simply
preaching his gospel and preparing and building his church and gathering
in the people and calling all his people and all the creatures
to come and to get into the ark before he shuts the door. but
there was that day when God brought Noah and his family into the
ark and he shut the door and no one else entered will the
day come when the door is shut and there's no more gospel there's
no more message there's no more scriptures there's no more time
will you find yourself in the ark or outside of it? Nevertheless,
we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new
earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Those who have heard His message,
those whose ears have been opened and eyes have been opened, those
unto whom He has shown mercy and grace, those who have been
delivered from the foolishness and folly of this world, those
who come to see that these things are real, those who were given
faith like Noah. to prepare an ark for the saving
of their house. Those who've been brought to
Christ and seen what God has done in Christ to deliver His
people from their sins. Those who've fallen at His feet
and praised and worshipped Him and seen their sins washed away
in the rivers of His blood. Those who've seen the judgment
of God poured down upon Christ like the rains fell down upon
the ark in Noah's day. Those who come to see what the
Ark meant, what it was a symbol and a picture of. Those who seen
in Christ and His death the judgment and the fires of God's wrath
poured down on Him, just as they will pour down upon this earth
and upon the wicked outside. Those who seen the judgment pass
and the judgment to come, all met in Christ their Saviour. those who've been given faith
to see and understand that the sin and the misery and the wickedness
and the evil and the death and the tragedy are all man's doing. for which he is accountable for. And the salvation, the righteousness,
the glory, the long-suffering, the grace is all God's in Christ. Those who've come to see that
God is righteous and man is wicked. and that this God that they once
blamed for the misery they now come to see is the God that will
deliver them from the misery. This God that they once blamed
for sin is the God that delivers from sin. This God they once
blamed for death is the one that delivers from death. This God
they once mocked and scoffed and blamed. is the God that they
now love and worship. The God they bow down before,
the God they see is a gracious God, a good God, a righteous
God, a God who delivers from sin and who delivers by judging
his own son. He not only delivers his people,
but he delivered them by paying the price himself. Their sin,
their evil, their wickedness fell upon Him. When they come
to see how good this God is, how gracious this God is, how
loving this God is, they look under Him, they look under His
Ark, they're placed in His Ark, the door is shut and in that
Ark they know that they will be journeyed through the other
side of judgment into a new heavens and a new earth. Nevertheless
we according to his promise looked for new heavens and a new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness of which Noah was a picture. The day came when all men mocked
and scoffed and laughed and sneered and the Lord put Noah and his
family in the ark. And the people laughed and shouted
and jeered and the Lord shut the door. and the heavens turned
black and the rains began to fall and the rains began to fall
and the rivers began to rise and the sea level began to rise
and the land was covered and the sea level rose up above the
houses and the people ran and tried to hide and they climbed
up the trees and they climbed up the mountains and the waters
rose even up to the mountains and the people had nowhere to
go and they began to swim and then the waters overcame them
and they perished and as the seas were rising up around Noah's
ark they were banged on the walls and cried out to help but it
was too late the door was shut and the waters rose and all the
wicked fell and perished in the waters and the darkness continued
and the rains came for 40 days and 40 nights until the wicked
were no more but then the sun came out and the rain stopped
and the judgment was passed and the waters receded and there
came that day when the ark came upon dry ground and the dove
returned with a leaf in its mouth and Noah and his family looked
out and saw, they saw a new heavens and a new earth where the wicked
were no more. They had rested and believed
in God. He delivered them and he brought
them into a new heavens and a new earth. And if you're found in
Christ, If he's opened your eyes, if he's delivered your foolish
heart from scoffing and mocking at his gospel and shaking your
fist at God and blaming him for what your own sin has done, if
he's delivered you from yourself, from your sin, from your unbelief,
from your rebellion, from your iniquity. If he's delivered you
from yourself and put faith in your heart, then you will come
one day to see a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. This is not an evil God. This is not a capricious God
that's made a world full of misery. This is a righteous and a just
God, and a loving God, and a gracious God, and a merciful God who delivers
his people through his own Son, through the death of his own
Son. He's delivered a people to bring
them into a world Wherein dwelleth righteousness, a world where
there's no more misery, no sin, no death, no sorrow, no tears,
nothing, it's all gone. There's just life forevermore.
Because that people are found in Him. They're found in the
Ark. He's put them into Christ. He's
brought the ark safely through the judgment. The fires haven't
touched them. The waters haven't drowned them.
They're safe in Christ. They're found in Him. Wherefore,
beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent
that ye may be found of Him in peace without spot and blameless. an account that the long-suffering
of our Lord is salvation even as our beloved brother Paul also
according to the wisdom given unto him have written unto you
as also in all his epistles speaking in them of these things in which
are some things hard to be understood We read from Romans, we read
of the vessels of mercy and the vessels of wrath and the sovereignty
of God, in loving Jacob and hating Esau, in choosing to save a people,
in preparing some unto judgment as in the days of Noah, and in
delivering those for whom Christ suffered and died. We see these
things and they're hard to be understood. And there are those
who are unlearned and unstable who rest them, as they do also
the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. They take these
things and they shout out unto God and say, why has thou made
me thus? It's all God's fault. When it's
not God's fault, it's their fault. Yes, God's sovereign. But you're
guilty for your own sin. You're accountable of your own
sin. You can't go about sinning away and blaming God. You're accountable. This God
that you blame is a God who delivers. He delivers his people through
his own son that he offered up as a sacrifice in their place. in their place ye therefore beloved
seeing ye know these things before beware lest ye also being led
away with the error of the wicked fall from your own steadfastness
grow in grace and in the knowledge of our lord and savior jesus
christ be found in him what made noah differ He was found of God. He found grace in the eyes of
God. God gave him faith to see things
not seen as yet. God promised judgment to come. He said, build an ark to the
saving of thy house. There had never been rain upon
the earth in the days of Noah. He'd never seen rain, let alone
floods. God was telling him of things
that had never been seen. How could he believe? No one
else believed. They'd never seen such things.
And they came about. This world will be burnt with
fire. It will be dissolved. There will
be a day when there are no more days. When the new heavens and
the new earth are brought in. And the wicked are separated
from the righteous. These things will come about
and you say, how can they be? We're speaking of things that
have never been, yet they will come. And you will know, and
you will look for them, only by faith. By faith Noah, being
warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared
an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the
world and became heir of the righteousness, which is by faith. Oh, has God opened your eyes
to see things not seen as yet? You've never seen them, but they're
there. You've never seen Christ for
who he is. but he's there. You've never
seen him as the ark that delivers from wrath, but he is. You've
never seen the terribleness of your own sin, but it is terrible. You've never seen that it's your
sin that will bring about your death, but it will. You've never
seen the meaning of the death of Christ, You've never seen
it as it is. You've never seen Him as He is.
You've never seen Him as God's Son. You see Him as some historical
figure or someone you read about in the Bible. You know the facts
about Him. You know He said He's God's Son.
You know the Bible says He's God's Son. But you've never seen
Him as God's Son. He's never been God's Son to
you. By faith never being warned of
God of things not seen as yet. Oh may God give you faith to
see that which you've never seen. To see those things you've heard
of but never seen. That you with Noah, that you
with Peter, that you with God's people might be brought forth.
in an ark, in Christ, through the judgment, through the fires,
safely to the other side, to that inheritance prepared for
God's people, to the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness. And if God gives you the faith
to do that, If God puts you in His ark and shuts the door, if
God reveals His Son unto you as your Saviour, as your God,
then you with Peter, you with the children of God, you with
Noah, will grow in grace. And you will grow in the knowledge
of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. And you will bring all
praise and all glory unto Him. To him be glory, both now and
forever. Amen. Who do you glorify, God
or man? Is man guilty for his own sin? And is God righteous in delivering
his people? Or do you blame God with the
scoffers and the mockers? Do you blame God for your sin
and the misery you endure in this world as though God is guilty? When you know, when you know
that you're the sinner and you're guilty and you're the reason
why things are as they are. You can't blame God for your
own sin. Who will you praise? Will you
praise yourself and reject God or will you condemn your own
sin and own your own guilt before God and praise him for his grace
and his mercy that he's taken the sin of his people and laid
it upon Christ and made them in him to be the righteousness
of God and taken the fires of God's wrath which will rain down
upon this world in the end and poured the very same wrath upon
his own son that those found in him might not feel it, might
be spared it, might be saved, might be delivered from their
sin, delivered from death, delivered from judgment that wrath will
burn, those fires will burn and they either burnt upon Christ
for you that you should not feel them or they will burn upon this
world you included in the last day because you scoffed and you
mocked and you chose not to believe that which was made known unto
you through countless days A thousand years, two thousand years, God
preached, and he preached, and he preached, and he promised
salvation, and he said, there is a day coming when this world
will be no more. Have you chosen to reject? and to close your ears and to
close your eyes? Or have you, like Noah, found
grace in the eyes of God? Have you been given faith? Have
you been warned of God of things not seen as yet? Have you been
moved to prepare an ark to the saving of your house? Has God
led you by his gospel to Jesus Christ and placed you in him
that you might in him hope and look for a new heavens and a
new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness? Amen.