Will you look with me tonight
to 2nd Peter chapter 3. 2nd Peter chapter 3 and verse
number 13. Nevertheless, we According to his promise, look
for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. I've had the last few words of
this text on my mind for several weeks. The words, wherein dwelleth
righteousness. Can you imagine a place where
righteousness dwells, and only righteousness, wherein dwelleth
righteousness. And I pray that God the Holy
Spirit tonight will bless these few thoughts that I have for
us from this text. And I have three truths about
the new heavens and earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. The new heavens and a new earth
are promised. We sang that hymn just now, standing
on the promises of Christ, standing on the promises of God. This
is one of his promises. The apostle Peter said, nevertheless,
we according to his promise, the promise of a new heaven and
a new earth. All of us here tonight know that
the Bible begins with these words, in the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. And then the next words tell
us, and the earth was without form and void and darkness was
upon the face of the deep. But at the end of the six days,
that week of creation, at the end of the sixth day, God, the
scripture says, God saw everything. God saw everything that he had
made, and he made it all. God saw everything that he had
made, and it was very good. God says something's good and
then says very good, we just know it's very good. But then why, after God saw everything
that he had created was very good, why then now would we need
him to give a promise of a new heaven and a new earth? That
first heaven, that first earth he created was very good, why
need A new heaven and a new earth. The answer, of course, to that
question is that three-letter word, sin. Sin. It appeared first in heaven.
That is, sin did. It appeared first in heaven among
the angels. Now when God pronounced on that
sixth day, everything that he had made was very good, that
would have included the angels that he had created. He created
them holy, holy, each and every one of them. Many people believe
that in the first verse, in the beginning, God created the heaven,
that in those words, we have the creation of the third heaven
and the host of heaven, the angels in heaven. Because we know this,
that when God laid the foundations of the earth, the sons of God,
that is the holy angels of God, they all shouted with joy. But we also read in the New Testament
that there are elect angels. The word elect, of course, means
chosen. There are elect angels, chosen
angels, and that tells us that if there are elect angels, then
there are some that were not chosen, some which were not elect. Those he created holy, all of
them, Like man, we're mutable. Immutability, the fact that God
cannot, and this is what the word says, when you say God cannot
do something, you better have scripture to back that up. And
I do. God cannot change. That's one of those attributes
of God that is not communicated, it's incommunicable. It's not
communicated to his creatures. And the angels, though created
holy, were mutable, mutable creatures. And those who were elect angels,
the writers tell us that Christ was set up as their head. and they were chosen in him and
constituted holy. In other words, the angels that
did not fall when the others did will never fall. There's
no possibility that another angel will ever fall, will ever sin. Why? Because Christ is their
head. Christ is their head. In the
New Testament, not only do we read that these angels Some were
elect, but we also read in that very small letter of Jude that
they kept not their first estate. They kept not their first estate. Their first estate was holiness,
as God had created them, created holy. They kept not their first
estate. And in John chapter 8, the Lord
Jesus Christ said that the devil abode, to abide is to continue,
right? To live, to abide. He abode not
in the truth. He was created in holiness, created
in truth, yes, but he abode not in the truth. Sin then soon appeared
on earth, where Adam listened to the devil's lie. And we know
that sin brought with it death. The wages of sin is death. We know that from the word of
God, not only death, but corrosion into God's beautiful, beautiful
creation. I'm sure you're like me when
I see various scenes and visit various places, and I'm amazed
at the beauty of God's creation, and yet this creation is under
a curse. What must His creation have been
before it was brought under the curse because of man's sin? What beauty we can't imagine. We see a sunset or sunrise, or
we see on my computer, they change the, I guess you call that the
wallpaper. I think that's the word, I'm
not sure. But anyway, it's changed every once in a while. And some
of those scenes are so beautiful. I mean, just amazing to look
at that. That's God's creation, isn't
it? Even under the curse. Why is there a promise of a new
heaven and a new earth? Because sin entered into God's
creation. And the promise here, the Apostle
Peter says, nevertheless we according to his promise, and we believe
this refers to Isaiah 65 in verse 17, which promises, for behold,
I create new heavens and a new earth And the farmer shall not
be remembered nor come into mind. Now there's a wealth of instruction
even in that promise, isn't there? The farmer shall not be remembered
nor come into mind. But that was not God's first
promise. That was not God's first promise.
Peter says, nevertheless, we, according to to his promise,
but that promise of a new heaven and a new earth wasn't his first
promise. His first promise, if we can
call it that, is that promise in Genesis chapter 3 and verse
15. And the reason I say if we can call it that, it was spoken
to the devil. God spoke to the devil, the serpent,
who the devil had taken and was using, and God told him, that
the seed of the woman would bruise his head. That was the first
promise, the gospel promise, the promise of a savior. Don't you love those words of
the angels to those shepherds that night, the Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world as a man unto you. unto you is born this
night in the city of David, a savior, a savior, a savior. That's the greatest need that
we have, isn't it? A savior, a savior. And he sent his son to be the
savior. That was the first promise in
the fullness of the time. He came, and He came to fulfill
all righteousness. All righteousness. And as the
seed of the woman, He was born of a virgin. The Holy Spirit
came upon her. And that holy thing which came
from the womb of the Virgin Mary, was to be called the Son of God,
the seed of the woman. And we know that it was at the
cross that the Lord Jesus Christ bruised his head. His heel was
bruised. Yes, it was at the cross he crushed
the serpent's head. We're also told that God provided
no remedy. No remedy for the sin of the
angels who fail. No remedy whatsoever. You know, sometimes people who
profess to be Christians, they say, I don't like that teaching
called election. You've got a problem if you're
like that. But I've never heard anyone say
that they find fault that God did not elect any of the fallen
angels. Never heard anyone say that.
For some reason, they just do not believe that God has a right
to choose his bride. And every man in this building,
we're thankful we had that privilege to choose our bride. And that
is the church, right? The bride of Christ. He chose
his bride. Again, the apostle Jude in that
small letter tells us that these angels that fell, that they are
reserved. There's no hope of salvation
for any of them. They are reserved in everlasting
chains under darkness, under the judgment of the great day.
And the writer of Hebrews in chapter 2, he says it all in
these words. Now listen, he, that is the son
of God, he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took
on him the seed of Abraham. He became a man that he might
honor God. It was man who had dishonored
God, the first Adam. He became a man. He took on him
the seed of Abraham. Did not take the nature of an
angel. No savior provided for them.
But for us, for men, yes. So that's my first point. The new heavens and a new earth,
the promise of God, are promised. My second point is this. The
new heavens and a new earth will only exist after the present
heavens and earth are melted or burned. As we read here, if
you look back again here in 2 Peter 3, the new heavens and the new
earth will only exist after the present heavens and earth are
melted and burned up. This is what we read in verse
10. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night,
in the witch, The day the Lord comes, that's when, when the
Lord comes as a thief, as a thief in the night. You know, how many
times in the scriptures are we told His coming is going to be
as a thief, as a thief in the night? And always emphasizing,
be ready, be ready. What if He were to come tonight?
We're not expecting it. We're not expecting any thief
to come into our house tonight, but one may be there right now,
while you're sitting here. Not expecting it. They don't
announce their coming beforehand. The Lord Jesus Christ is going
to come, because He's promised that He would. And He's going
to come as a thief in the night, in the which, notice this, in
the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise." Every
time I read that I think of those people who believe in that Big
Bang Theory. They've just got the Big Bang
at the wrong place. It's not at the beginning, it's
going to be at the end. The heavens and the earth are
going to pass away with a great noise and the elements shall
melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works,
not just the earth, but the works that are therein shall be burned
up. Shall be burned up. Now look
at these two things that Peter has declared to us in this chapter. Number one, the present heavens
and earth are kept in store. Notice in verse seven. Who keeps them in store? He does. He upholds all things by the
word of His power. But the heavens and the earth,
which are now by the same word, are kept in store. Now notice,
they're kept in store reserved. Reserved to what? To fire, to judgment, to destruction. See if that's not what he says.
The same word are kept in store reserved under fire against the
day of judgment and perdition or destruction of ungodly men. Now, if Peter believed that the
Lord Jesus Christ is going to come back to this earth and set
up a reign, in Jerusalem for a thousand years, he sure missed
a good opportunity to tell us that. Because what I read here
is when the Lord comes again, he's coming in fire. Look in
2 Thessalonians chapter 1. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse
7. And to you who are troubled,
rest with us. Are you ever troubled? Do you
see things that trouble you? I didn't think God's people were
ever to have any trouble. Well, you thought wrong. We live
in a world of trouble. As sparks fly upward, so man
that is born of woman is born to trouble. To you who are troubled,
rest with us. You know, in one place in one
of the letters to Corinth, Paul said, I'm perplexed. I'm perplexed. One thing I believe that perplexes
God's children is God's providence. We see the wicked prosper and
the righteous suffer. That perplexes us, doesn't it? It seems like it ought to be
just the opposite. To you who are troubled, rest
with us. When the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, now notice, in
flaming fire. What did Peter say? The heavens
and the earth are reserved unto fire. First of all, fire. In flaming fire, taking vengeance
on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ. How do you obey the gospel of
Christ? You believe. You believe the
gospel. You believe God's word. Obey
the gospel. This is his commandment, that
we believe on him whom he has sent and love one another. That's how we obey. Who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction, that is, be cast into eternal hell, eternal damnation. That's the fire, the judgment,
perdition, or destruction into the lake of fire. Now notice
the second thing back here in our text. I said that two things
that Peter declared before our text. First of all, the present
heavens and earth are kept in store reserved under fire against
the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. And the second
thing I've already hinted at, the day of the Lord will come
suddenly and unexpected. Verse 10, but the day of the
Lord will come as a thief in the night. Then the new heavens and earth
will exist, wherein dwelleth righteousness. My third point
is simply this. The new heavens and earth will
only will only have the righteous dwelling therein. The scripture
in Revelation says, there shall in no wise, no wise, enter into
it anything that defileth. Wherein dwelleth righteousness. The word righteousness carries
the meaning of right, right. but not right according to man's
standard, not right according to man's measurement. You know
what might be right according to men, not necessarily is right,
and certainly not righteousness, but righteousness right according
to God's standard. And God's standard, of course,
is himself. Perfect, perfect, perfect holiness. God is light, the Apostle John
wrote. He's light. And just in case
you might not understand that, in him is no darkness at all. Absolute perfect holiness. Not a speck, not a speck. In him is no darkness at all. I thought of three scriptures
I would read to us, we won't turn, I'll give you the text,
but about how any son of Adam, that's what we need to be concerned
about tonight. If in that new heaven and new
earth only righteousness is going to dwell, how is it then that
we are going to dwell there? How is it possible for us to
dwell there? How is that possible? Well, we
need a righteousness. And it's not a righteousness
of our own making. In fact, the scripture says our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags. One scripture I wanted to bring
to us, and this is very important, Isaiah 54 and verse 17 says,
this is God speaking, their righteousness is of me. Their righteousness is of me. One of the prophecies of Christ
in Daniel's book was that the Messiah would bring in an everlasting
righteousness. Those who dwell in the new heavens
and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, they will be righteous,
but their righteousness will be not of themselves, but of
God. The second scripture is Romans
10 in verse 4. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Remember the
apostle Paul said, my heart's desire and prayer for Israel
is that they might be safe. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. They have a zeal
of God. They're very religious and they're
doing everything they can think of and everything that they are
told to make themselves righteous. But they'll never do it. Christ,
He is the end of the law, the goal of the law. That word end,
the goal of the law. Christ is the goal of the law. He brought in that perfect righteousness,
that everlasting righteousness. And then the first time the word
righteousness is used in the Bible, you know, there's a law
first mentioned. We know that in studying the
scriptures, the first time. A word is used in the scripture,
you find out how it's used there, and usually that's the way it
will be understood all the way through the scripture. The first
time that the word righteousness is found in our Bibles, Genesis
15 and verse 6, and he, that is Abraham, he believed in the
Lord, and he, that is the Lord, counted it unto him for righteousness. That's how a man is made righteous,
isn't it? The imputed righteousness of
Christ is counted to be ours, those who believe in him. Who
then will dwell in the new heavens and earth? First, the Lord, our
righteousness. He's going to be there. He said
that where I am, there you may be also. That's his name, Jehovah
Tiskanu, the Lord, our righteousness. He's going to dwell in the new
heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. The holy
angels, those who never fail, they will be dwelling in the
new heavens and the new earth. And third, a great multitude
which no man can number of all nations and kindreds and people
and tongues clothed with white robes. And what are those white
robes? They are the righteousness of
the saints, that imputed righteousness of Christ, of Him who loved us
and washed us from our sins in His own blood. Won't that be wonderful? To be
there, to dwell there where righteousness dwells in that new heaven and
that new earth. To be with Him. And nothing that defileth, no
sin, can enter there.