Now, as I announced this morning,
I'm speaking from the book of 2 Peter, the third chapter of 2 Peter,
the third chapter of 2 Peter. Now, this epistle was written
by Peter in his old age. Over in 2 Peter 1, verse 14,
he says, knowing that shortly, very soon, I must put off this
tabernacle. Often the body is referred to
the tabernacle. In the book of Corinthians it
says we dwell in a tabernacle that shortly must be put off.
Also it says our Lord tabernacled among us. He dwelt in human flesh.
And Peter says very shortly, I must put off this tabernacle
even as our Lord Jesus Christ has showed me. Now if you would
like to turn back to the first chapter of 2 Peter, and I want
to show you just one or two things that he says in beginning this
epistle. Remember this is his last one. It was written in his old age.
He was written just prior to his martyrdom. And in verse 1
of 2 Peter, he calls himself two things. He says, Simon Peter,
a servant, and that word is a bondslave, a bondservant, and an apostle
of Jesus Christ. What a combination. Here's a
man who is a trusted leader of men. This man was chosen to be
one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. What an honor.
And yet he says, I am, though I'm an apostle, and though I've
been given gifts, I've seen the Lord. I had a revelation of his
glory. He was on the mountain when Christ
was transfigured. One of the three disciples that
went to the place of prayer with our Lord before the cross. A
man honored indeed. chosen of God, had his gospel
directly from Christ. But he agrees with Paul, I'm
nothing. I'm really nothing. I'm really
nothing but a bondservant of Jesus Christ, that's what I am.
And then notice in this same verse, he designates the people
to whom he's writing. He addresses this epistle, he
says, to them to them that have obtained like precious faith
with us. Now the average person, unfortunately,
the average person picks up a Bible and has the idea that God has
addressed the Bible to everybody. It's called the good book. It's
called a book of poetry and a book of proverbs. It's called a book
of history and a book of this, that, and the other. Actually,
if you read the Word of God carefully, the Bible is addressed to believers.
Did you know that? It's addressed to believers.
He said, I'm Simon Peter, I'm an apostle, I'm a chosen apostle
of Jesus Christ, I'm a bondservant of the Son of God, and I'm writing
this epistle, I'm writing it to people who have obtained like
precious faith. Back here in 1 Peter, turn back
to 1 Peter, listen to his first epistle. You'll find this true
in every one of these epistles. Now that which is addressed to
the unbeliever and to the rebel is judgment. The promises of
God are not for people who do not know him. The promises of
God are conditioned upon a knowledge of Christ. That's right. Look
at 1 Peter 1, verse 1 and 2. an apostle of Jesus Christ, to
the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God through
sanctification of the Spirit." He says, I'm writing to the people
of God, the elect of God. That's pretty straight, isn't
it? You don't pick up other people's mail and apply it to yourself.
The letter says, dear Mike, or dear Mike there, dear Bob. You don't pick it up and say,
well, look what he wrote to us. He didn't write to us. He wrote
to him. And the Bible is addressed to believers, to the beloved.
All right, then he says something else about him, 2 Peter 1. Now
look at it. Simon Peter, a bondservant, an
apostle of Jesus Christ. To them that have obtained, and
we obtained it. We didn't earn it. We didn't
merit it, we obtained. Paul said, I obtained mercy.
Like Sonia was singing, he loved me before I loved him. He knew
me before I knew him. That's right, and I was reading
a while ago, in the study, one of our men read, and don't you
turn to him, let me just show you something here. When Samuel,
when the boy Samuel was living with Eli, now his mother, Hannah
had prayed for him. That's what you read. And she'd
given him to God. And she even went up there to
the capital, the religious capital, and took that boy, when he was
a little boy, Luke, like you were younger, and gave him to
that old prophet of God. She gave that boy to him. She
said, here's my boy. I never had a child before. And God gave me a son. And I
told the Lord, if he gave him to me, I'd give him back to him.
And she took that little boy with her hand. and took him up
there to the prophet of God, didn't she, John? Said, here
he is. He's God's. You can make him a servant around
the temple, or make him what you want, but he belongs to God.
And here he is, and she went home, and left him. And that
boy Samuel stayed with Eli, the prophet of God, and ministered
about the temple, and waited on Eli, and followed him around,
carried his Bible, or whatever. And one night, God called that
boy, One night God said, Samuel, and he thought it was Eli. And
he went in there where the old man was sleeping and said, you
called me? He said, I didn't call you, son. Go back to bed.
And he went on back to bed. And he heard that voice again.
Samuel! He got up and went back in there and said, you called
me? And Eli said, I didn't call you, but I'll tell you who is
calling you. It's the Lord. Now let me read you something.
Now don't you turn to it. And the Lord called Samuel again,
said, Samuel. And Samuel rose and went to Eli
and said, here I am, you called me. And he answered and said,
I didn't call you, my son. Go lie down. Now listen to this
verse. Now Samuel did not yet know the
Lord. Samuel didn't know the Lord.
His mother did, but he didn't. His friend Eli did, but he didn't.
For the word of the Lord was not yet revealed to him. God
knew him. God knew Samuel. Samuel belonged
to God, but Samuel didn't know God. God knew him, but he didn't
know God. And he didn't know the word of
God. And I'll tell you this, that's so, Sonia. He knew us
before we knew him. He loved us before we loved him.
And I'll tell you this, if he sets his love on you, You're
coming, and He'll call you. And you'll hear Him, and you
may not know His voice at first. You may think it's just the voice
of a man. I'm not talking about an audible voice now. I'm not
looking for visions and signs. Here's our vision. Christ manifested. Here's our sign. I need no sign
but the Word of God. I need no proof that God lives.
But this Word is addressed to those who have obtained like
precious faith. We've obtained it. Now watch
this. And that faith is through the righteousness of God and
our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. This precious faith is the faith
of God in the righteousness of God through Christ. And I tell
you this, I promise you, where the righteousness of God is imputed,
precious faith will be given. where the righteousness of God
in Christ, where a man is accepted in the beloved and robed in the
righteousness of Christ and belongs to the Savior by divine grace,
faith will follow. Faith will follow. Precious faith
is given to receive it and believe it. All right. Chapter 3. Chapter
3. Let's move right into chapter
3. And let me show you a few delightful things here that were
such a blessing to me as I looked at it. Verse 1 of chapter 3,
this second epistle, Beloved, I write unto you. See, again
he says that. Beloved, I write this unto you.
I thank God for you, Paul said, Beloved of the Lord. You know,
I believe I can say I love Christ. I don't love Him like I want
to. I don't love Him like I ought to. I don't love Him like I'm
going to. But I do love Him. But here's
my consolation. He loves me. Now that's the consolation. He loves me. We love him because
he first... Herein is love. It's not my love
for him. Here is the definition of love.
Here is the illustration of love. Not my love for Christ, but he
loved me and gave himself, his son, to be the propitiation for
my sin. And we're called beloved of the
Lord. I'm now writing to you. Now here's his reason for writing.
I write unto you in both, which I stir up your pure minds by
way of remembrance." I think a better word for pure is sincere
minds. None of us would like to take
unto ourselves this application of purity of mind, sincere mind. You're sincere in your worship
of God. You're sincere in your belief
in the Word, aren't you? you're sincere in your faith
in Christ Jesus. So I write to stir up, to stir
up your pure minds, your sincere minds. We need constantly, this
is the thing, we come to church services and Bible classes and
midweek services constantly, we listen to tapes, we read books
and sermons, But we need constantly to be stirred up in remembrance
of the truth of Christ. Did you know that? And we need
to be constantly stirred up. And here's the reason. There's
three reasons. Number one, we're human. We're living in a tabernacle
of flesh. And I'll tell you, secondly,
the cares of this world are many. You can get bogged down. You
can get bogged down in family duties. in business duties, in
home duties, you can get bogged down with the cares of this world.
And I tell you this, the cares and burdens of this world will
choke the Word of God. It'll choke the seed plant. It
will. And that's the reason we need constantly to be stirred
up. That's what I write to you, to stir up your sincere mind. And I tell you the third reason
we need this stirring up is because we're always in need of spiritual
growth. It doesn't matter how old a man
or woman is or how long they've been reading the Bible, how long
they've been going to church and listening to preachers. We
have not arrived by any measure. Even the Apostle Paul said that,
I count not myself to have apprehended. I count not myself to have arrived. I'm not already perfect. We need
to be stirred up about what? Well, look at the next verse.
That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before
by the holy prophets, and of the words of commandment of us,
the apostles of the Lord and Savior." In other words, all
the importance of the whole Word of God. The Old Testament scriptures
written by the prophets, and the New Testament scriptures
written by the apostles. Let's make much of the Word of
God. I write these things to you, he said, that you may be
always mindful of the words spoken by the prophets." What were their
words all about? About Christ. Our Lord said,
listen to this, he said, these are the words which I have spoken
to you while I was yet with you that all things must be fulfilled
which are written in the law of Moses and the prophets and
the Psalms concerning me, of whom spake the apostles of the
Lord Jesus Christ. All right, let's look at verse
3. Now here, here he says, scoffers are going to rise. Mockers and
scoffers. Agnostics. He said, verse 3,
you know this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers
walking after their own lust. This mockery is characterized
by two things. These men walk after their own
thoughts, their own lusts, their own evil minds. And the second
thing is found in verse 4. They say, where is the promise
of His coming? The object of their scorn is
Christ. The object of their scorn. Let
me ask you to turn to two scriptures. First one in 1 Timothy 4. 1 Timothy
chapter 4. Now Peter said in the last days,
scoffers are going to arise, mockers. Me, I'll make a mockery
of sin, a mockery of the gospel of grace. They'll mock true ministers
of Christ. Ridicule them, mock them. But
Paul said that in 1 Timothy 4.1, listen, the Spirit speaketh expressly
that in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. speaking
lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot
iron." Now turn to 2 Timothy 3, and he says something very
similar over here. 2 Timothy 3.1, listen, "...this
know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come, for
men shall be lovers of their own selves, their covetous men,
boasters, crowds, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful,
unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers,
incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors,
heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of
God, having a form of godliness, a form of religion, but denying
the power, denying the glory thereof from such turn away.
This is what Peter's saying here. Beloved, in the last days, scoffers
are going to come. And these men will be men walking
after their own thoughts. Now, they'll be religious. They'll
have a form of godliness, as Paul said, but denying the power. And here is the object of their
scorn. And they say, verse 4, where
is he? Where is your Christ? You're
preaching Christ, Christ, Christ. Where is your Christ? Where is
the promise of his coming? Read on. For since the fathers
fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning
of creation. I've contended this for a long time, that it's not
covenant mercies that men hate, it's the covenant mercies in
Christ. It's not the doctrines of grace
that men despise, it's grace enthroned in the hands of Christ.
It is not particular redemption that men hate. It's that effectual
atonement. You read it. He shall see of
the travail of his soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall
my righteous servant justify many. The pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in his hand. It's not particular redemption
that men hate. It's the atonement effectually
accomplished by Christ. It's Christ's atonement. It's
not election that men hate, it's the crown rights of Christ. The
Son quickeneth whom he will. And these scoffers, he said,
the object of their scorn is Christ. Where is he? Where is
his coming? Where is his glory? Where is
his arm? Where is his strength? You preach,
now we're preaching, Things that people can see and touch and
feel, and we're preaching health and wealth and financial success,
and you're preaching Christ, well, where is He? Well, they're
ignorant of three things. All right, let's watch this now,
see if it'll unfold for you. You preach Christ the King, where
is your King? You preach Christ the Sovereign,
where is your Sovereign? You preach Christ the Covenant
surety and head of a kingdom, where is He? They're ignorant
of three things. Now watch this. Verse 5, here's
the first thing. For this they willingly are ignorant
of. They willingly. It's not that
they haven't read it, they've read it. I was talking to a man
in Cincinnati a few days ago, and I asked him about a preacher
in Cincinnati. The preacher doesn't pastor.
He pastors in Kentucky across the river from Cincinnati. This
man is a businessman in Cincinnati. And this preacher that pastors
here, this large church, I'd known his dad way back yonder. And I'd heard that this boy had
gotten hold of the gospel of grace. I'd heard that he had
differed from his dad. His dad wasn't a grace preacher.
But I heard this boy was. And I asked the businessman,
I said, what about so-and-so? Oh, he said, he's a restaurant
Calvinist. I said, what do you mean, John? He'll talk about grace in the
restaurant, but he won't preach it from his pulpit. If you go
and have dinner with him or a cup of coffee, he'll sit and agree
with everything you say about the gospel of grace and the sovereignty
of God. But when he gets in that pulpit
with that crowd of people, he won't preach it. So a lot of
them are willingly ignorant. The scoffers, the object of their
scorn and of their scoffing is Christ. That's the object of
their scoffing. It's Christ. It's not religion,
it's not law, it's not rules, it's not intellectualism, it's
not the theories, it's Christ. Where is his coming? Where is
he? Where's your king? And this they're
willingly ignorant of three things. Now watch it. Number one, they're
ignorant that by the word of God, the heavens were above.
Who is this word of God? It's Christ. In the beginning
was the word, and the word was with God. He's not talking about
this book. This book didn't create the heavens
and the earth. You say, that book's the word
of God. I know it's the word of God, but it didn't create
the heavens and the earth. By whom were the heavens and
earth created? Listen. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and by Him
were all things created. Isn't that what it says? So this Christ, this Christ you're
mocking, this Christ that you're ridiculing, this Christ you say,
oh, you preach this Christ, well, where is He? You preach His coming,
His reign, His crown rights, well, where is the King? Well,
they're ignorant of this. that by Christ all things were
created. The heavens, by the word of God,
the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of water and
in water. God said let the dry land appear and let the sun,
and he did it through his son. Now I can show you that, turn
to Colossians chapter 1. I'll show you that, Colossians
chapter 1. You just hold that scripture right there. Colossians
chapter 1. It says here in Colossians 1,
13. Colossians 1, 13. Now look at
it. God hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath
translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, his dear
Son. Whose kingdom? His Son's kingdom. God hath given all things into
the hands of the Son. Watch it. Who is? or that verse
14, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature, for by him were all things created that
are in heaven, in earth, visible, invisible, whether they be thrones
or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created
by him and for him. Now you hold your hand right
there. Hold your hand right there, Colossians. Let's go back to
2 Peter. Now these mockers and scoffers of Christ, all you preach
is Christ. That's all there is to preach.
Everything's revealed in Him and fulfilled in Him and complete
in Him. Isn't that right? And besides
that, if you preach Christ, you've got 400 lifetimes of preaching
material. You never will exhaust your subject
because everything that has anything to do with God has something
to do with Christ. And everything that has anything to do with
your eternal happiness has something to do with Jesus Christ. And
that's what these fellows are willingly ignorant of, that Christ,
He didn't appear in Bethlehem and go to a cross. By that word
was the heavens and earth created by Christ. You say, where is
He? There He is. And we sang that
this morning, Isaac watched Him in every flower I see Christ,
in every tree I see Christ. Oh, here's the second thing they're
egging it up. The second thing, verse 6, whereby the world that
then was being overflowed with water perished. Well, all things
don't continue as they were from creation. Look back there at
verse 4, it said, Where's the promise of his coming since the
fathers fell asleep? All things continue as they were
from the beginning of creation. Oh no, no, there was an abrupt
change. God destroyed this world by flood. But when he destroyed this world
by a flood, wait a minute now, Christ was the preeminent one
in that. Because there sits an ark on top of that water, and
that ark is Christ. The judgment, the flood of God
looked down upon the earth, he said, every imagination of man's
heart is evil continually. I'll destroy man whom I made
from the earth, yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty
years. And God's overflowing wrath absolutely covered this
earth and destroyed every living creature. But there, floating
on the water, is Christ, our ark of refuge and safety. Where is he? There he is. You
can't look at anything God has done or is doing or will do and
not see Christ if you've got anointed eyes. But these fellas
are willing and ignorant. All right, here's the third thing
they're ignorant of. In verse 7, but the heavens and the earth
which are now by the same word are kept in store. By whom? By
the same word, by Christ. Now go back here, I told you
to hold your hand, Colossians 1, Colossians 1 verse 16. By him were all things created
that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
all things were created by him. And for him, he's before all
things, and by him all things what? Consist, are held together,
right now. These fellas are, these fellas
say the scoffers and mockers will arise. They'll have 10,000
objectives, they'll have 10,000 causes, they'll have 10,000 religious
efforts, but their one object of scorn is Christ. They say,
well, where is he? Well, they're willingly ignorant
of the fact that God Almighty, by that word, Christ, created
all things. And when he destroyed that world,
completely destroyed every living thing, the only The only person
to whom those who survive can trace their survival is to that
Christ. Trace their survival to that
Christ. And even now, God put a rainbow in the sky. When Noah's
ark came down, God put a rainbow up there and he said, Noah, that
bow there is my covenant. And I'll never, never, never
destroy the world by water again. Never, never. But I will destroy
it by fire. But you know what's holding back
the fire right now? Jesus Christ. That's right. You see, he said, all that my
father giveth me shall come to me. They're coming. And he said,
other sheep I have which are not of this foal, them also I
must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and they shall be one
foal, one shepherd. And when the last one of his
covenant people The last one of his sheep, the last one of
his brethren are brought in. I don't know who it'll be. Maybe
some little black infant. A woman will give birth in Africa,
and that'll wind up the church. That's right. It may be some
little Indian boy. It may be somebody somewhere. It may be somebody, wouldn't
it be something, somebody in his congregation. When the bride
is made up, when the elect are called in, I'm telling you the
truth. When his mediatorial kingdom is complete, And he delivers
it up to the Father and said, here it is, 1 Corinthians 15. That's when he's going to turn
her loose. And they're ignorant of three things. They're ignorant
that by him all things were made, by him life to a tiny thread
was preserved, and by him right now this thing's held together.
And when his work, when the fulfillment of his person and work is complete
to the last Verse seven, the heavens and the earth right now
are kept in store by that same word, reserved under fire against
the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. She's coming.
Now look at the next verse. Watch it. Don't you be ignorant. Don't you be ignorant. I would
not have you to be ignorant of this one thing. Sometimes, you
know, all of us think, well, the Lord's, the wheels of God
turn so slowly. Yeah, but they turn, don't they
see? They turn slowly. But they do turn. And Pope Peter
says, you, beloved, who are elected, You who are begotten of God unto
a living hope, you who are kept by his power unto an inheritance
undefiled, you whose faith will be tried and tried and tried
by fire, you who have obtained like precious faith, let men
scoff as they will. Time means nothing to God. He's
an eternal spirit. One day is with the Lord as a
thousand years. That's how meticulous God is
in his divine purposes. Every 24-hour period to us, God
is so meticulous about every event and every fraction of a
second and everything that takes place and everything is so well
planned and purposed and decreed that to god that one twenty four
appeared is as it were one thousand that's how precise paul prayed while ago in his
prayer let us redeem the time this is important you know this
this hour we spent together is like to god one hundred years
one hundred how precise, particular, meticulous
he is. He pays attention to every detail.
And yet, wait a minute, when you start talking about time
and, well, why doesn't God do this? Well, when will God do
that? Read the next line, and a thousand years is a day. What's a thousand years to a
billion years? Billions and billions of years.
Somebody said, how old is the earth? I don't have any idea.
I know about how old man is on this earth, because Adam was
the first one. And we have the genealogy from
Adam. But I don't know how long Lucifer was here. He was the
prince of the power of the air and the king of this earth at
one time. I don't know how long he was here. This old world,
as the world exists, may be a billion years old. I don't know. It could
be. You see, God, He said to Adam
and Eve, multiplying what? Replenish the earth. You can't
replenish something that hasn't been replenished. I like that
little country boy sitting at the table, he said, pass the
laces. His mother said, what? He said, pass the laces. She
said, you mean the molasses? He said, you can't have molasses
and you ain't had no laces. You can't replenish the earth
unless it's been plenty. Is that right, John? Our Lord
said he saw Satan fall from heaven as lightning. And his dominion,
very possibly, was this earth. And when that happened, something
happened in Genesis 1, between Genesis 1 and Genesis 1-2. Something
happened. Because the earth became without
form and void. Darkness was upon the deep. And
the Spirit of God moved upon the water, and God said, let
there be light. Was there no light before? Good
possibility there was. But sin did away with it. And God recreated, recreated
the earth and put men on this earth. And he said to that man,
multiply and replenish this earth. But the thing we lose sight of,
and that's these scoffers and mockers, they lose sight of the
fact that by Christ these things were created. And by Christ This
thing, this one thin line was preserved, picturing redemption. And by Christ, it's all held
together now. And when His kingdom is complete,
that's it. He'll burn her up. And it's going
to be a new heaven and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
That's right. Beloved, don't be ignorant of
that. And don't be ignorant of this. Now watch here, verse 9.
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise. What's His promise? Well, he took Abraham out one
day, and Abraham's the father of the faithful, and Abraham
is a pattern of believers, and Abraham, through him came the
seed, Christ. And he took Abraham out, and
he said, look at the stars. And Abraham did. He said, that's
your seed, as the stars of the sky. And that seed is not his
natural seed. We're not talking about Jews
over there in that little war-infested place. We're talking about everyone
who knows Christ is the seed of Abraham. He said, look at
the sands of the seashore, that's your seed. And that's his promise
to Abraham. And his promise to Christ. Christ
said, all my Father giveth me will come to me. Now, God is
not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness.
But he's longsuffering to usward. To whom? Well, to whom is he
speaking? Beloved. Beloved, but beloved,
he's just got through talking about the mockers and scoffers,
he said those birds are willingly ignorant, but now don't you be
ignorant. One day is where the Lord is a thousand years and
a thousand years a day, he's going to do what he purposed
to do. He's going to carry out his will, he's going to complete
his kingdom and his church, and don't you doubt it. Because he's
not slack concerning his promise, but he's long-suffering and patient
to us And he's not willing that any should perish, any of whom,
any of us, any of the beloved, any of the elect, any of the
covenant people, and they're not going to perish. He's not
willing, so he's going to keep the door open until they all
get in. That's just being honest, and that's the way it is. He's
not going to wind this thing up until he's not slack concerning
his promise he has given his son of people. And they're going
to come. I'm looking for the elect. I'm
not looking for goats. I'm looking for the elect. And
they'll all come to repentance. They're not going to be taken
to heaven without repentance and faith. He said, why doesn't
this God just take them all to heaven? They're not going to
go to heaven without knowing Christ. They're not going to go to heaven
until they can say unto Him who loved us and washed us from our
sin, in his own precious blood to him be the glory. They're
not going to heaven until they know something about repentance
unto life. That's right. They're going to
be brought to repentance. I tell you this. Our Lord said
you do err. He said this to the religious
folks and he said you err for two reasons why you make mistakes.
You don't know the scriptures and you don't know the power
of God. And you've heard that verse quoted a thousand times.
Well, God's not willing and he should The Bible doesn't say
God is not willing that any should perish. The Bible says, Beloved,
don't you be ignorant of this, that one day is where the Lord
is a thousand years, and a thousand years is as a day, and the Lord
is not slack concerning his promise and his purpose. As some men
count slackness, but he's long-suffering to usward, and he's not willing
that any of us should perish, but that we should all come to
repentance. Now there it is. That's what
the word says. Don't set the scripture against
one another. Don't make enemies of God's apostles
and prophets. That's what he said at the first
part of this. He said, I want to stir up your minds to remember
what those prophets preached and what these apostles preached.
And they preached the same thing. Not too different. God's the
God of the old Bible and the God of the new Bible. One man
said one time, well, I don't have anything to do with that
God of the old Bible. I want to love Jesus. He's the same
yesterday, today, and forever. His purposes are the same. All
right, watch this now. He will come, but the day of
the Lord. He will come. It's going to come
as a thief in the night. When does a thief come? When
you don't expect him. If you're looking for him, he's
not coming. Whether he's coming to you or not looking, when you
don't expect him, when you just don't expect, well surely nothing
will happen tonight, that's when it's going to happen. He'll come
as a thief in the night. in which the heavens are going
to pass away. Now, and preachers are becoming
wealthy, capitalizing on people's curiosity about the future. You can drive down the highway
and here's a sign, Madam May. Sees all, knows all, and tells
all, you know. Reads you if you find out your
future. Folks love that stuff. They love fortune tellers. They
love tea-leave readers. They love palm readers. They
want to find out something, you know. And a preacher can get
up in the pulpit and talk about what part Russia's going to play
in the future, and America, and Gog, and Magog, and North, and
South, and 666, and 3 1⁄2, and 3 1⁄2, and all these things.
And folks just sit on the edge of their seat. Well, he isn't
any different from Adam May. That's exactly right. He's capitalizing
on your curiosity. He doesn't know what's going
to happen. I won't tell you what's going to happen. Christ is coming. When? I don't know. I don't know. I'll show you what he said about
it. Turn to Matthew 24. Matthew 24. Listen to there. I'll tell you what he said about
it and you can bank on it. I'm going to tell you nothing
but the truth here now. Matthew 24, 36. Listen. Matthew
24, 36. It says, But of that day And our knoweth no man. No, not
even the angels, but my Father. But I tell you this, as it was
in the days of Noah, so shall also the coming of the Son of
Man be, and so forth. But no man knows. And I'll tell
you the events. Let me tell you this. I'm more
concerned about who is coming than what's going to happen when
he comes. We must be concerned if we love Him and believe Him
and are in Him, it doesn't matter about the events, Ronnie. It
doesn't matter about the particular events. It'll all be fine, won't
it? But I tell you, if you're not
careful, you'll get concerned about and busy about the events,
and you might miss Him. It's possible. You become too
much taken up with nations and judgments and judges and rewards
and crowns, and you'll miss the king. But if you know the king
and have the king and wait for the king, and when he comes,
it'll be all right. It'll be all right. You say,
what are you, premillennial or postmillennial? I'm millennial.
You know what Barnard said about that? He said, I've been right
once. I held all of them. You don't know. Really, I'm telling
you, you don't know. You really don't. But I know
He's coming. And when He comes, He's gonna
wind this thing up. Listen. And the heavens will
pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with
perfect heat, and the earth also, and the works of the earth shall
be burned up. Our works too. His works are the only thing
that'll stand. Somebody said, only one life will soon be passed,
only what's done for Christ will last. You word that differently. Only what's done by Christ will
last. Hall said, I labored more abundantly than you all, yet
not I, but Christ in me. I hadn't done anything. He did
it, if it's done. Seeing then, all right, let's wind her up.
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, that little
house you got on the hill, the acreage you got in Florida, all
these different places, all these accomplishments, that church
you rebuilt with your name on it, somebody call this Mahan
Memorial one time. Seeing these things are going
to be dissolved. What manner of persons ought
ye to be? Now come on, what kind of people
ought we to be? In all holy conversation and godliness. Seeing that we're
on the edge and on the fringe of God wiping it all out, taking
it all away. How should we live? With what
should we be concerned? What should we be taken up with?
Now come on. Him. Verse 12, looking far and hastening,
Lord, even so come, Lord Jesus, hasten 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, there it is again, he's not slack concerning
his promise, you can rest on it, look for a new heaven and
a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. And you know how
Abraham was saved? by believing the promises of
God. He believed that God was able
to do all that He promised. You know how you're going to
be saved? Believing the promises of God. That's right. Promises
of God concerning Christ. We look according to His promise.
Now verse 14. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
you look for such things, be diligent, that you be found,
I like this, like this, in Him. Or that I may win Christ and
be found, Paul, in Him." Of Him is found, but it's in Him, in
peace. There's therefore no condemnation,
and being justified by faith, we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. In peace, without spot, and blameless. In Him. If you're in Him, you
have peace, you're without spot, you're blameless. Oh boy, isn't
that rich? And we account that the long-suffering
of our Lord is salvation. It is unto salvation. What that's
saying is this, the long-suffering of our Lord is far the salvation
of his elect, even as Paul wrote in his writings in Romans 8.
You men can look it up later, but Romans 8 is what Peter's
referring to here, the writings of Paul. As also in all his epistles,
Paul wrote, speaking of them, of these things, in which are
some things hard to be understood, And Paul's writings are hard
to understand. They can only be understood as the Holy Spirit
reveals them. His sovereignty, his justification
by grace and through faith. And watch this, which they that
are unlearned and unstable twist and rest as they do also the
other scriptures and they do it to their own destruction.
He's talking about the writings of Paul, how they twist them
and turn them You therefore, beloved, here it is again, seeing
that you know these things before, beware lest you also, being led
away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow, grow. How are you going to grow? Desire
the sincere milk of the word that you may grow. Grow what? Grow in grace. Grow in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, because to him be glory. Both now and forever. Good place
to save me, isn't it?