Turn with me now to 2 Peter chapter
3. We left off last week talking about the second coming
of Christ, how His coming would be discovered
by this world, the false prophets that He talked about in chapter
2, and especially the scoffers who deny Him and His coming in
chapter 3. but also how it shall be discovered
by His elect. He told us back in verse 9 that
the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, that is, His promise
of His coming. As some men count slackness,
but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. And then Paul Paul described
the attitude of men in these last days that are taking place
over in 2 Thessalonians 2. I'll just kind of go through
the chapter and tell you what it's saying. Paul said the mystery
of iniquity is working in the world and shall in the last days
until its end to deceive the multitudes by power and signs
and lying wonders. That's what's taking place in
these last days in the attitudes of natural men. That's what they're
doing. That's what's going on. You say, what in the world is
going on in the world today? That's what's going on. Men are
being deceived on a whole scale basis by this power and signs
and lying wonders, deceiving the nations with the preaching
of self-righteousness. That's what it tells us in the
book of Revelations. In these last days, that antichrist
religion shall deceive the nations. Nations as a whole be swallowed
up with their lies. What are these lies? Well, the
biggest of the lies is this, salvation by works. by works,
that somehow, I'm not going to, it would weary me to go through
all their doctrines, but all their, there's only two religions
in the world, works and grace. But there's a vast difference
in the religions that preach works. They preach works in all
kinds of ways. But they preach salvation by
works, by men and women who are told they can gain God's favor
and be rewarded with eternal life by their obedience to the
law. You have to keep the law. And
then in 2 Thessalonians 2.10, it tells us, with all deceivableness,
in verse 10, of unrighteousness in them that perish because they
receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. No man who believes he can save
himself will look to another for salvation. He won't do it.
He'll look to himself. If you believe you can save yourself,
you're not going to cry out. You don't cry out. You're just
going to save yourself if you believe you can. No man who believes he can keep
the law and honor God by his own obedience to the law will
look to another for a righteousness. He's not going to do it. He believes
he can produce one of his own. And that's why men aren't looking
to Christ today. They believe they can produce
their own. They believe they can obey that law. They believe
that they can honor that law and exalt that law. No man who believes he's totally
depraved, which is the witness of God concerning man, no man who believes he's totally
depraved and is right now alienated from the life of God through
the ignorance that's in him will ever submit himself to God and
God's preacher because he thinks He's able. He still has the ability
to figure things out. He can figure them out on his
own. But that's not according to Scripture. The Scripture said
there's none that seeketh after God. None. It didn't say there
was none that read the Bible. It said there was none that seeketh
after God. It says there's none that understandeth.
It didn't say he didn't read. It said he didn't understand.
It didn't say there was none religious.
It said there's none righteous. and none that seeketh after God.
And even though he's plainly told in the Word of God to lean
not on his own understanding, where does he go to his own understanding? You tell him something, what's
the first words out of his mouth? Well, that don't seem right to
me. This world going to hell in a
handbasket, being deceived by antichrist religion. That's the
message of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. And because of their incessant
desire to glorify themselves, listen to their preaching, all
they ever talk about is themselves. Because of their incessant desire
to glorify themselves and look and live contrary to the Word
of God and the means of God, because of their natural love
of darkness, they will not receive the love of the truth. They hear
it. Preached. We've had hundreds come to vision,
heard the truth, walked out that door, and never come back. Because of their natural love
of darkness, they will not receive the love of the truth that they
might be saved. And because they would not, because
they would not for this cause, God Himself shall send them strong
delusion." What in the world is he talking about? He'll take
away his restraining hand and let them hear what they want
to hear. Men with itching ears, that's
what Paul told Timothy, will heap to themselves in those last
days, heap to themselves teachers. and that they all believe a lie
and be damned for believing that lie and not the truth. But that's
not the end of Paul's witness in 2 Thessalonians 2. He tells
us in verses 10 through 12 that he thanks God for them. He said, I thank God for you,
beloved, beloved of the Lord. Because God has from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you by our gospel.
It's what set you apart from your neighbor. God called you.
He didn't call your neighbor. God brought you to here. He didn't
bring your neighbor. And so Paul says, I'm bound to
give thanks always to God for you. This world will go on in
its darkness and ignorance and enmity toward God, worshiping
themselves and the idols of their sinful imaginations until the
Lord returns. But none of God's elect will
remain among them. Why? Because he's long suffering
to usher, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repent. He chose us to salvation by sanctification
of the Spirit and belief in the truth, and therefore, He calls
us by His gospel to His beloved Son. But let me tell you something,
when the last one of God's elect is brought to repentance and
faith in Christ, that's the end of it. That's the end of it. That's what will mark the end
of time. The day of the Lord will come. That which the scoffers
say will not come, will come. It'll come. How will it come? Suddenly. Suddenly. Oh, my. I was talking to Veronica about
the winter of 1977 up in Kentucky. It was 75 degrees out. I was
finishing up a roof just down the road from my house, a little
job I'd gotten, and I was putting on the last of the caps on the
roof. Got my ladder, and I come home, and it had rained just
a little bit, probably for about an hour, and the creek was up
a little bit, and I had this big old four-wheel drive truck,
and I just went through the creek and parked in the yard. It went
from 75, this was about 2 in the afternoon, to 20 below zero
in six hours. I was living in a trailer, and
my trailer sat probably about three feet up off the ground.
It was pretty high up off the ground. The snow was up to the
bottom of the windows in the trailer. I don't know how deep
it was. But that winter came on, and
it blew the picture window out of that trailer, blew it out
in the floor, and I had to go get a big piece of metal and
put it on, just screw it on. That's all I had to cover that
big hole up. The electric went down from all
the snow. There was nothing you could do
about it. It just came. It came all at
once. It came with force. It was sudden.
Boom. In your face. That was nothing
compared to the coming of the Son of Man. It will be sudden
in an instant, He said. In the twinkling of an eye. No
time to prepare. They whistle that tune through
the cemetery, so to speak. It's kind of like this idea somebody
had, this comedian said, well, if you're on the elevator and
it breaks, he said, just before it hits the bottom, jump up.
Well, that's what men and women are thinking about the judgment.
They're going to wait until it comes, and just before it comes,
they're going to jump. Not going to do you any good. How will it come? Sudden. Mark
13, verse 36, it says, to watch lest, coming suddenly, he find
you sleeping. Matthew records our Lord's own
words on the matter. He says, as the lightning cometh
out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also
the coming of the Son of Man. Every eye is going to see. How
is it going to come? Unexpectedly. 2 Peter 3.10, but
the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. Sleeping
souls, lulled to sleep by religious lullabies, they sleep the sleep
of religion. This day is going to come to
them as a thief in the night. The thief comes and takes everything
you have. You're asleep. You don't know
nothing about it. Listen to I Thessalonians chapter
5, beginning in verse 2. For yourselves know perfectly
that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. Paul
is preaching the same thing Peter did. For when they shall say,
peace and safety, then suddenly destruction cometh upon you as
travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But
you, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake
you as a thief. We're not asleep. We're awake. You're all children of light
and the children of the day. We're not of the night nor of
the darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep.
Now listen to this, as do others. What's wrong with them, Russell?
They're asleep. They've been lulled to sleep.
by religion. Lulled to sleep. Sung that lullaby. Rocked them in their arms. And
now they're sound asleep, peaceful in their minds and hearts. Everything's
all fixed up. We made a covenant with death.
With hell, we're at agreement. That's how the scriptures describe
what they believe. Oh, my soul. How shall he come? He's going to come suddenly.
He's going to come visually. Every eye is going to see him.
You know, when he came the first time, there wasn't a handful
that knew about his coming. Wasn't a handful. Every angel
in glory celebrated it and sang about his coming, but this world
didn't know it. There wasn't a handful that knew
it. You know, you get around Christmas
time and you watch these movies. about the coming of Christ and
the whole world celebrating His coming. The whole world didn't
know He came. It wasn't but a handful, a few shepherds. He's going to come this time
busily, unexpectedly as a thief in the night. And fourthly, He's
going to come audibly. Audibly. A great voice. That's how it's described in
Revelation. A great voice was heard. Come with a great sound of a
trumpet. Peter said, the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise. And in fifty, his coming will
be to show mercy. Not to show mercy, but exacting
justice. There'll be no mercy this time. The earth and all the works therein
shall be burned up. We're not going to see them in
the glory of God's mercy and grace. I'm talking about this
unbelieving world. But the very righteousness and
justice of God, whose mercy they trampled on, whose grace they
scoffed at, they disrespected. They said, we don't need it.
We don't need it. Had no effect on me. They're not going to see Him
in the glory of God's mercy and grace, but in the exacting justice
of God. All right, back to our text.
2 Peter 3, verse 11. Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, taken away, destroyed, consumed, what manner
of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and Godliness? Huh? God has not sent us strong delusion
to believe a lie, but faith to believe the truth of the gospel.
God has not left us to be led by the blind leaders of blind
and fall in the ditch, but he sent us faithful men to tell
us the truth. God has not left us to to lean
on our own understanding, but the Lord Jesus Christ came and
gave us an understanding. We have an understanding. We
have the Spirit of God, the unction of the Holy Ghost to enable us
to hear. We're not children of the night,
nor do we sleep the sleep of unbelieving men and women. We
know judgment's coming. We know that. And we know that
the only escape from it is to repent and believe. That's it.
There's no other way. How shall you escape if you neglect
so great salvation? How do you neglect it? You just
don't come to hear it. Huh? If my child cries and I don't
go see about it, I'm neglecting my child, am I not? If supper
time comes and I don't put food on the table for him and he has
nothing to eat, I'm neglecting it. How do we neglect this great
salvation? We just don't come to hear it.
Or we may come to hear it and just set it aside. It's kind of like that food that
you can eat, but you really don't like it. I can eat it, but I
just don't have an appetite for it. If I get invited to my aunt's
house and she puts sauerkraut on the table, I don't like sauerkraut,
but I'll eat it because she's my aunt. They might just come and hear
and just set it aside. How shall you escape if you neglect
so great salvation? You're not. What manner of persons ought
we to be in our holy conversation in godliness looking for, and
listen to this word, hasting, hasting unto the coming of the
day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved,
and the elements shall melt with a fervent heat. What manner of
persons ought we to be? Ought to be grateful. Ought to be grateful. We don't
sleep as do others. Huh? I come. Because He woke
you up. Huh? He gave you light. We ought to be grateful. We ought
to open our eyes in the morning and thank God. Thank God. Grateful person. Paul give thanks
for every believer and especially for himself. I hear professing
believers talk sometimes without even a hint of thanksgiving in
their conversation. Salvation is by grace. It's the
free gift of God. My soul, if somebody come up
to you And you're struggling to make a living and struggling
to pay bills. And he said, he said, you don't
really know me, but I've known you. I've known you since you
were just a little boy. He said, I got a check here for
you for a million dollars. And he writes you out a check.
You reckon you'd be thankful? Or just grab the check and run.
No, you'd be thankful. You'd be thankful. And you'd
want to know more about him. You didn't know him before, but
you sure want to know him now. We ought to be grateful. Not
by works of righteousness which we've done, but according to
His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the
renewing of the Holy Ghost. Saved men and women are grateful
men and women. What manner of persons ought
we to be? We ought to be grateful persons.
We ought to be humble persons. It wasn't your wisdom that revealed
it to you. God's grace. God's grace. God has opened our eyes to see,
and without Him, we can do nothing, Paul said. That sin has reduced
us to worthless rebels. Grace has made us sons. Huh? Oh, we ought to be humble people.
We ought to be able to say, well, Paul, I am what I am by the grace
of God. And I'm going to tell you something.
God hates a proud look. Whether you're looking at Him
or looking at one of His children, God hates a proud look. And what have we got that promotes
this pride except this sinful flesh? We ought to be grateful. We ought to be humble. We ought
to be faithful. Oh, we ought to be faithful.
We ought to be able to say, well, Paul, I know whom I have believed,
and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I committed
unto him against that day. God has never did anything, said
anything, or decreed anything to cause us to doubt not one
thing, but everything that we ought to believe. We ought to
be faithful. We ought to be hopeful. Somebody
said, well, I just don't have anything to hope in. Boy, you
need to hear the gospel. We have a good hope through grace.
I don't have any hope in myself. And somebody said, just keep
on keeping on. I can't keep on keeping on. I
can't keep on the first time. I've got to be preserved. That salvation, he said, is preserved
for you. You're preserved, he said, in
Jesus Christ. We've got a good hope through
grace. Christ in you, the hope of glory. We're redeemed with
the precious blood of Christ, Peter said, who barely was foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but manifest in these
last times for you who by Him do believe in God. that raised
Him from the dead and gave Him glory. Now listen to this, that
your faith and your hope might be in God. My soul, if your hope's
in God, what more hope could you ask for than that? You know anybody can outdo God?
Surely you don't think you can. If your hope's in Him, you've
got good hope. But you can't have a hope in
Him unless your hope is in His Son. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. That's what Christ said. But
in Christ, in Christ, who by him do believe in God that raised
him from the dead and gave him glory, that our faith and hope
might be in God. We ought to be hopeful persons,
and we ought to be dedicated persons. You know, I kind of
believe no one being warned of God of this great calamity that
was about to come upon this world, being warned of God, enlightened
as to his finding grace in the eyes of the Lord, I kind of believe
he ignored everything else that took preeminence in his life
to do what God called him to do. Don't you? I think he ignored it all. He
ignored it all. And he set his hand to do what
God called him to do. Look around you. Nothing you
see except the souls of God's elect is going to survive this
day. Nothing. Nothing. Your education, is it important?
Sure, it's important. But it's only temporary. Your
jobs are just temporary, but you have to have them. But they're
just temporary. Your relationships are just temporary. Your businesses are just temporary.
Your houses and lands are just temporary. Paul said, if you
then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above
where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. You want to hope
in something, you want to lay up a treasure, lay it up there. What's up there is not going
to be dissolved. Everything down here is. But
you see how easily we are distracted. Any little thing, any little
thing. Nothing of this flesh and this
earth shall remain when the Lord returns. All right, 2 Peter 3,
verse 12. 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 a fervent
heat, nevertheless, Now, this is how God's elect view this
second coming. Nevertheless, we, according to
His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. Now, this is still dealing with
those scalpers' accusation that God's promise of His coming is
a joke. All things are continuing the
same, and you've already heard me tell you they're not. continuing
the same. And they shall not continue the
same. This world as we know it right now shall be destroyed
along with Satan and the false prophets and scoffers and all
who will listen to their lie. And whosoever was not found written
in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. That's
what the Bible says. And oh, how dreadful and awful and how
terrible would be the judgment of this world. Nevertheless,
we, God's elect, God's sheep, ever what you want to call them,
God's people, those who are predestinated unto the adoption, those who
are predestinated, justified, and glorified, nevertheless,
we who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we look past that judgment,
past that horror, past that That judgment, that terrible day,
we look past that to a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. How come the believer can look
past that? Because it was purchased for
him through the Lord Jesus Christ and revealed to him by the Holy
Spirit of God. And he sees those things and
cherishes those things. And that's why he looks expectantly
for the coming of the Lord. He don't dread it. Oh, I dread
His coming. I don't. I don't. I don't dread His coming. We
ought to look forward to that coming with expectation. Everything
that that coming is about to a believer is positive. It's
positive. Long before this place ever melts,
explodes, or whatever it's going to do, burns up, whatever God's
going to do with this place, and those are all words He uses
to describe it. Before that happens, and I'm
not going to give away my message because we're going to keep on
talking about this, but He's going to call us up out of this
world, and everything that's left will be judged. in perfect righteousness according
to their works. That's what they hoped in, that's
what they wanted, that's what they chose over grace.