1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:29,980 Let's pray. 2 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:59,980 Let's pray. 3 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:29,980 Let's pray. 4 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:54,000 Good morning. We are glad to be here this morning. We're going to begin with a word of prayer. Father in heaven, I just thank you for your grace. I thank you for your providence and your care in our lives. 5 00:02:54,000 --> 00:03:16,000 I ask that as we sing and as we read Scripture together, as we gather around the table, as we open your word together, as we fellowship together, may your spirit be at work through your people and through your word and through the songs that we sing, that you would encourage weary hearts, 6 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:37,000 that you would strengthen those who are shaky, that you would call us to righteousness, to turn our back on sin and to run after you with all of our strength. We thank you for the gospel. We thank you that we have good news to tell this world. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 7 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:52,000 We're going to begin and end our service from the 40th Psalm. So if you would stand with me as we read Psalm 40. We're going to read verses 1 through 3. 8 00:03:52,000 --> 00:04:11,000 "Patiently, the Lord, he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. 9 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:25,000 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord." This is the word of the Lord. 10 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:33,000 So we're going to begin by singing "This is our God," followed immediately by "Blessed be your name." 11 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:44,000 And as we read Scripture and we hear about those moments where we are sometimes in the pit, sometimes feeling as if we are stuck in the mud, 12 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:51,000 and then in other times we're seeing and looking back on and rejoicing in the salvation of our Lord. 13 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:59,000 We want to read those songs, read those Scriptures, and we also want to sing them. So we're going to begin with "This is our God." 14 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:29,000 Remember those walls that we called sin and shame? They were like prisons that we couldn't escape. But He came, and He died, and He rose. Those walls are rubble now. 15 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:53,000 Remember those giants we called death and grave? They were like mountains that stood in our way. But He came, and He died, and He rose. Those giants are dead now. 16 00:05:53,000 --> 00:06:19,000 This is our God. This is who He is. He loves us. This is our God. This is what He does. He saves us. He bore the cross, beat the grave. Let heaven and earth proclaim. This is our God, King Jesus. 17 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:45,000 Remember that fear that took our breath away. Faith so weak that we could barely pray. But He heard every word, every whisper. Now those altars in the wilderness tell the story of His faithfulness. 18 00:06:45,000 --> 00:07:07,000 Never once did He fail and He never will. This is our God, this is who He is. He loves us. This is our God, this is what He does. He saves us. 19 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:30,000 Pour the cross, beat the grave. Let heaven and earth proclaim, this is our God, King Jesus. This is our God, this is who He is. He loves us. This is our God, this is what He does. He saves us. 20 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:53,000 He bore the cross, beat the grave. Let heaven and earth proclaim, this is our God, King Jesus. He bore the cross, beat the grave. Let heaven and earth proclaim, this is our God, King Jesus. 21 00:07:53,000 --> 00:08:20,000 Blessed be your name, in the land that is plentiful, where the streams of above, live in the land that is plentiful. 22 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:47,000 Where the streams of abundance flow, blessed be your name. Blessed be your name, when I'm found in the desert place. Though I walk through the wilderness, blessed be your name. 23 00:08:47,000 --> 00:09:14,000 Everything you pour out, I'll turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say: Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your glorious name. 24 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:41,000 Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name. When the sun's shining down on me. When the world's all as it should be. Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name. On the road, marked with suffering. 25 00:09:41,000 --> 00:10:08,000 Though there's pain in the offering. Blessed be your name. Every blessing you pour out, I'll turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in door, still I will say, "Blessed be the name of the Lord." 26 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:37,980 Thank you. 27 00:10:38,000 --> 00:11:07,980 One day when heaven was filled with His praises, one day when sin was as black as could, 28 00:11:07,980 --> 00:11:37,960 Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin, dwelt among men. My example is He. The Word became flesh and the light shined among us. His glory revealed. Living He loved me. Dying He saved me. 29 00:11:37,960 --> 00:12:07,940 He healed my sins far away. Rising He justified freely forever. One day He's coming, O glorious day, O glorious day. 30 00:12:07,940 --> 00:12:27,960 Calvary's mountain. One day they nail Him to die on a tree. Suffering anguish, despised and rejected. Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He. 31 00:12:27,960 --> 00:12:37,920 Hands that healed nations, stretched out on a tree. And took the nails for me. 32 00:12:37,920 --> 00:13:07,900 Living He loved me. Dying He saved me. Buried He carried. My sins far away. Rising He justified. Freely forever. One day He's coming. Oh, glorious day. Oh, glorious day. 33 00:13:07,900 --> 00:13:37,880 One day the grave could conceal Him no longer. One day the stone rolled away from the door. Then He arose over death He had conquered. Now He's ascended, my Lord, evermore. 34 00:13:37,880 --> 00:14:07,860 The grave could not keep Him from rising again. Living He loved me. Dying He saved me. Buried He carried my sins far away. Rising He justified freely forever. One day He's coming. 35 00:14:07,860 --> 00:14:37,840 Oh, glorious day. Glorious day. One day the trumpet will sound for His coming. One day the skies with His glories will shine. 36 00:14:37,840 --> 00:15:07,820 One day the Lord won't bring me. My Savior Jesus is mine. Living He loved me. Dying He saved me. Buried He carried my sins far away. Rising He justified freely forever. One day He's coming. 37 00:15:07,820 --> 00:15:37,800 O glorious day. O glorious day. O glorious day. O glorious day. 38 00:15:37,800 --> 00:16:07,780 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes the judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of the many, will appear a second time. Not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. 39 00:16:07,780 --> 00:16:20,780 That we, in our sins, broken and hopeless and hurting and fearful and filled with shame, are brought near to God through the sacrifice of his Son. 40 00:16:20,780 --> 00:16:37,760 That he dies on the cross, in our place for our sins, that he rises again in triumph over death, giving us victory and hope, and all of the good that we have is both all of grace and it is all 41 00:16:37,760 --> 00:17:07,740 from Christ. And so we look back to that moment, and to that salvation, and to that hope, and to that restoration and renewal. But in this meal, there is also a looking forward. A looking forward to the fact that Jesus is coming back. For example, in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, as Paul speaks of the Lord's suffering 42 00:17:07,740 --> 00:17:37,720 and we end on this almost every Sunday. For as often, as you eat this bread and you drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. And you have both directions, both backwards to the cross and forward to the second coming. And I think we need this. Because in the moments, it's so easy to only see 43 00:17:37,720 --> 00:18:07,700 what is in front of us. To see our struggles, to see our hurts, to see our difficulties, to see the fight for sin, the tiredness so many times we feel as we seek to stand for righteousness. And in our tired, hurting, grieving, maybe discouraged souls, we look back to our salvation and forward to the 44 00:18:07,700 --> 00:18:37,680 return of Jesus. But it's not just good for our hearts when they're struggling. It's good for our hearts when they're so proud. When we look at ourselves and say, "Man, I've really got things together. I've got a plan. I've got it figured out. I'm doing good. I've accomplished so much." This table calls us to look to the cross and to see that our hope is not in ourselves, but in Jesus, but also to look forward to the return of Jesus. 45 00:18:37,680 --> 00:19:07,660 And see that our hope, once again, is not found in our goodness and in our accomplishments, but it is found in him alone. One of the passages in the Psalms that is so helpful to me is the psalmist says, "I lift my eyes to the hills." Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. And Spurgeon says of this Psalm, he says, "It's so easy in the valleys to stack up everything in front of our eyes." 46 00:19:07,660 --> 00:19:37,640 And the psalmist says, "Stop looking ahead at the valley and lift your eyes to the salvation that comes from the one who made heavens and earth." And so as we come to partake of this bread and to drink this cup together, one of the things that we're doing is we're lifting our eyes. We're lifting our eyes to God who is bigger and greater, who is glorious and who is just, but who is also filled with grace and love. 47 00:19:37,640 --> 00:20:07,620 And he has sent his Son who went to the cross in our place, was raised from death, conquering all of those things that we truly fear, death and sin and hell, and is one day returning, as it says in Hebrews, not to deal with sin, but to save those who eagerly are waiting for him. So we're going to lift our eyes to the goodness of God and to the sacrifice and 48 00:20:07,620 --> 00:20:37,600 return of Jesus. Let's pray. Father in heaven, as we come to this moment and to this bread and to this cup, may you encourage our weary hearts. May you humble our proud self-sufficiency. May we be directed to the cross, to the 49 00:20:37,600 --> 00:21:07,580 broken body of our Savior, to the blood that was shed for our forgiveness. May we be directed to the hope of his return. I ask that you bless this spread and you bless this cup. May we be a people who proclaim your son until he comes again. It's in his name we pray. Amen. You would take the bread with me as Jesus shares with his disciples. 50 00:21:07,580 --> 00:21:23,580 He also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread. When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 51 00:21:23,580 --> 00:21:37,560 In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me." 52 00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:46,560 For as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Join me for prayer. 53 00:21:46,560 --> 00:22:00,560 Father, we thank you for Jesus and for grace and for hope. May you strengthen us, may you humble us, may you turn our eyes to our salvation. It's in your son's name we pray. Amen. 54 00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:12,560 At this point, the kids can be dismissed to Children's Church. If you want to, I think they have better snacks. 55 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:32,560 Amen. 56 00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:02,560 Amen. 57 00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:32,560 Amen. 58 00:47:30,560 --> 00:47:32,560 Let's pray. 59 00:47:32,560 --> 00:47:59,560 Oh, who are thirsty? Oh, who are weak? Come to the fountain. Dip your heart in the stream of life. Let the pain and the sorrow be washed away. 60 00:48:00,560 --> 00:48:28,560 In the waves of His mercy, deep cries out too deep. Come, Lord Jesus, come. Come, Lord Jesus, come. 61 00:48:28,560 --> 00:48:56,560 All who are thirsty, all who are weak, come to the fountain. Dip your heart in the stream of life. Let the pain and the sorrow be washed away in the waves of His mercy. 62 00:48:56,560 --> 00:49:24,560 The waves of His mercy as deep cries out too deep. Come, Lord Jesus, come. Come, Lord Jesus, come. 63 00:49:24,560 --> 00:49:46,560 I'm going to read from 2 Peter chapter 3. There we go. 2 Peter chapter 3, beginning of verse 1, we're going to read down through verse 9. 64 00:49:46,560 --> 00:49:52,560 Now this is the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring you up, 65 00:49:52,560 --> 00:50:04,560 stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles. 66 00:50:04,560 --> 00:50:14,560 Knowing this, first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires, and they will say, "Where is the promise of his coming?" 67 00:50:14,560 --> 00:50:24,560 "For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation." 68 00:50:24,560 --> 00:50:29,560 "For deliberately..." Let's see if we can catch up with the slides. There we go. 69 00:50:29,560 --> 00:50:43,560 "For they deliberately overlooked this fact: the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water, and through water by the word of God, and by means of these, the world that then existed was deluged in water and perished." 70 00:50:44,560 --> 00:50:53,560 "By the same word, the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, and being kept until the day of judgment and the destruction of the ungodly." 71 00:50:53,560 --> 00:51:07,560 "But do not overlook this fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness." 72 00:51:07,560 --> 00:51:15,560 "But is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but all should reach repentance." 73 00:51:15,560 --> 00:51:21,560 This is God's word. Let's go ahead and pray. 74 00:51:21,560 --> 00:51:34,560 Father in heaven, I ask this morning that you would feed our thirsty souls, that you would encourage our struggling hearts, that you would help us to see your goodness and your grace. 75 00:51:34,560 --> 00:51:51,560 May you anchor us in the truth, and may we be moved and transformed by your Spirit. Help us to know that you do speak, that you are at work, and that you are both great, and that you are good. Be with us this morning. 76 00:51:51,560 --> 00:51:54,560 It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 77 00:51:54,560 --> 00:52:16,560 And as we dive into our text this morning, one of the best moments, I think, of my entire childhood was this moment I go to the mailbox, and I open the mailbox, and I didn't get a lot of mail addressed to me, and my cousins and I sometimes wrote letters back and forth to each other, but most of the mail was for mom or dad or grandma. 78 00:52:16,560 --> 00:52:42,560 I open the mailbox, and there's this big, heavily decorated envelope, and it has my name on it, and it says, "You have won a million dollars!" And for the next, like, three minutes, as I walk back from the mailbox, right, I'm like, "I'm going to get a jet ski." Like, this is the greatest moment of my life until my mom introduced me to fine print, right? And really, he's got to buy, like, a million magazines, and you're not going to win anything at all, right? 79 00:52:42,560 --> 00:53:07,560 It's easy to get called into and away from the truth by something that looks flashy and wonderful and exciting. In fact, this week, in the midst of all of the things we normally do, I had to make a couple of doctor's appointments, and one of those was in Fairfax, and so I left with plenty of time and lots of extra time built in. 80 00:53:07,560 --> 00:53:23,560 I get around Manassas, and it's just lanes and lanes of traffic completely stopped, and I was like, "You know what? I think I have my easy pass in the glove box," and so I stick it on my dash, and I zip over into the express lanes because I'm like the $19 for these five miles. 81 00:53:23,560 --> 00:53:34,560 Normally, not worth it, but being on time to my appointments, probably worth it, and so I'm zooming down the road. I get to the doctor's appointments on time, get done with one. 82 00:53:34,560 --> 00:53:44,560 I have to drive to another hospital campus, have another one, finally get out of the car, open my phone, and there's a text message that's like, "You have overdrawn your easy pass. 83 00:53:44,560 --> 00:53:54,560 Put money in now, or we're sending the cops to arrest you." You read that message, and the first time you're like, "Did I really overdraw my easy pass?" 84 00:53:54,560 --> 00:54:03,560 Because I've paid tolls with text messages before. That's not unusual. I'd just come off of a toll road. I wasn't sure of the balance of my easy pass. 85 00:54:03,560 --> 00:54:10,560 Now the red flag was like the website that's like, "WeWillStealYourIdentity.China" at the end of it. 86 00:54:10,560 --> 00:54:21,560 So that was a red flag. But we have to be careful, and so careful in our world, that we find ourselves in the truth. 87 00:54:21,560 --> 00:54:32,560 And what happens is, in life, through experience and common sense, and we learn to recognize the signs, and we're taught by others, we get better at seeing in our physical world 88 00:54:32,560 --> 00:54:43,560 acting on the truth and not being taken advantage of. And the truth protects us from danger, and it protects us from being taken advantage of. 89 00:54:43,560 --> 00:54:52,560 And Peter's purpose, in fact, in this entire letter, is to remind us of the truth, and not just intellectually, "Don't you remember the truth?" 90 00:54:52,560 --> 00:55:01,560 But it's a command to be anchored in the truth and to live in the truth, specifically the truth that Jesus will return. 91 00:55:01,560 --> 00:55:10,560 And so, Peter, what he has done in this chapter 3 is so wonderfully woven together, because in chapter 1, he's outlined this beautiful, wonderful truth of the gospel. 92 00:55:10,560 --> 00:55:22,560 That you have this precious faith brought to you by Jesus, strengthened in his power for growth in righteousness, that the word of God is true, it's been witnessed, it's been verified. 93 00:55:22,560 --> 00:55:30,560 All of these wonderful things, and in chapter 2, he brings us to the dangers. And the reality that God does judge, and that his 94 00:55:30,560 --> 00:55:41,560 judgment is true, and it is right. And now he's going to take both those blessings and those warnings, and he's going to weave them together in this chapter. 95 00:55:41,560 --> 00:55:50,560 And so, it is filled with contrast. The contrast between truth and error, between the life that's lived in truth and the life that's lived in error. 96 00:55:50,560 --> 00:55:59,560 In fact, he just goes back and forth. And so, as we dive into our text, we want to start with that contrast, where Peter directs us 97 00:55:59,560 --> 00:56:05,560 to the fact that there are two ways to live. Let's pick it up in verse 1. 98 00:56:05,560 --> 00:56:12,560 This is now the second letter that I am writing to you. Likely, he's talking about 1 Peter. There's a lot of other opinions, 99 00:56:12,560 --> 00:56:16,560 but I think he's talking about 1 Peter. This is the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. 100 00:56:16,560 --> 00:56:26,560 "In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the 101 00:56:26,560 --> 00:56:33,560 holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles." And so the first way that 102 00:56:33,560 --> 00:56:42,560 Peter brings for us to live is with a sincere mind remembering God's Word and obeying God's commands. 103 00:56:42,560 --> 00:56:51,560 And this word sincere is interesting because in the Greek it's composed of two words. One is a word for discernment, 104 00:56:51,560 --> 00:56:58,560 to see and understand error. And the other word that is part of this is the word for sunlight. And 105 00:56:58,560 --> 00:57:05,560 Peter is saying this picture, and maybe it's only me, but as my eyes have gotten older I begin to realize that I need 106 00:57:05,560 --> 00:57:12,560 more light to see detail. And there's some times where that best light is dragging it outside and looking 107 00:57:12,560 --> 00:57:20,560 in the brightness of the sun. And Peter says the sincere mind is the one that can be pulled out into the sunlight 108 00:57:20,560 --> 00:57:27,560 and you can see, right, that it's not going one direction and the other direction, that it's not 109 00:57:27,560 --> 00:57:35,560 focused on the wrong thing. And he's saying the sincere mind is one that stands out clearly in the sunlight. 110 00:57:35,560 --> 00:57:41,560 But he's not just saying that it's sincere, not going in different directions, but when he talks about 111 00:57:41,560 --> 00:57:47,560 thinking and of our mind, it's not just knowing truth, but it's the ability to see that truth and apply it to the 112 00:57:47,560 --> 00:57:53,560 actions, right? More than just knowing, right? The hundreds of miles we've driven this week, I've driven by a 113 00:57:53,560 --> 00:57:58,560 whole lot of speed limit signs, right? Some of them I have paid very close attention to because sitting 114 00:57:58,560 --> 00:58:03,560 behind them was a white car with lights on it. And then there's others that you're like, "Well, it's more of a 115 00:58:03,560 --> 00:58:09,560 suggestion." And that's not necessarily good, but it is a great illustration of knowing the truth and 116 00:58:09,560 --> 00:58:14,560 completely ignoring it, right? And Peter says the sincere mind is one that's not over here and over 117 00:58:14,560 --> 00:58:20,560 there. It can be dragged out into the sunlight and examined, but it also knows and acts upon the truth. Not just 118 00:58:20,560 --> 00:58:29,560 knows and ignores, but knows and obeys the truth of God. Now, Peter is going to direct us to another mind 119 00:58:29,560 --> 00:58:37,560 here, here in beginning in verse 3. "Knowing this, first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days 120 00:58:37,560 --> 00:58:43,560 with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, 'Where is the promise of his coming?' 121 00:58:43,560 --> 00:58:49,560 For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of 122 00:58:49,560 --> 00:58:56,560 creation. For they deliberately overlook this fact that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was 123 00:58:56,560 --> 00:59:02,560 formed out of water and through water by the word of God." And what you find in this second kind of mind 124 00:59:02,560 --> 00:59:11,560 is there is a way to live with ridicule for the truth, ignoring it and its implications for our lives. And so 125 00:59:11,560 --> 00:59:18,560 Peter starts like this. He says, "Scoffers come with scoffing." Now, this is not questioning the truth, 126 00:59:18,560 --> 00:59:24,560 wanting evidence for the truth, wanting to understand the truth, saying, "I don't know if I understand that. 127 00:59:24,560 --> 00:59:29,560 I don't know if I agree with it. I would like some more information." That's not what scoffers 128 00:59:29,560 --> 00:59:37,560 are doing. Scoffing specifically is about mocking and ridicule and scorning with an attitude of contempt. 129 00:59:37,560 --> 00:59:44,560 This is not, "I need to know more about," or, "I need to study more deeply," or, "I would like some evidence for the truth." 130 00:59:44,560 --> 00:59:49,560 This is like, "What you're saying is stupid, and I think you're dumb for believing it." 131 00:59:49,560 --> 00:59:57,560 That's what the scoffers in this attitude of scoffing is doing. And this life is an intentional denial of the truth. 132 00:59:57,560 --> 01:00:03,560 In fact, Peter will say they are intentionally overlooking. They see the truth, they know the truth, and say, 133 01:00:03,560 --> 01:00:08,560 "I don't care. I'm going to do what I want to do anyway." 134 01:00:08,560 --> 01:00:16,560 And ultimately, this life is chasing our own desires rather than being founded upon the truth revealed in God's Word. 135 01:00:16,560 --> 01:00:22,560 And we might say for a moment, "What's wrong with following my desires?" 136 01:00:22,560 --> 01:00:28,560 "Why shouldn't I get what I want?" Well, here's the reality in my life. My desires change pretty quickly. 137 01:00:28,560 --> 01:00:35,560 When I went to the mailbox at eight years old, I wanted a jet ski. As soon as it was winter, I wanted a snowmobile. 138 01:00:35,560 --> 01:00:39,560 Middle of the winter, I was like, "Why can't I put them together and have both?" Right? 139 01:00:39,560 --> 01:00:44,560 And it's like, "Well, I want a motorcycle." And these are silly examples, right? 140 01:00:44,560 --> 01:00:50,560 That our desires change, our tastes change. You can see it if you go back and look at old pictures of yourself. 141 01:00:50,560 --> 01:00:55,560 You say, "Man, I can't believe I had that hairstyle. I can't believe I dressed like that." 142 01:00:55,560 --> 01:01:01,560 And these are things that aren't bad, but there are desires that change. 143 01:01:01,560 --> 01:01:08,560 And we find ourselves never going forward, just leaping from one thing, seeking to gratify the hunger of our soul to another. 144 01:01:08,560 --> 01:01:17,560 And so our desires change quickly, but our desires, when they rule over our lives, they lead us into destruction. 145 01:01:17,560 --> 01:01:23,560 So our dog, Kaiser, loves the ball, loves to chase the ball, but only when it's thrown by like two people. 146 01:01:23,560 --> 01:01:29,560 I'm not one of those people, but if Rachel throws the ball, Kaiser's going to chase that ball, he's going to get it and bring it back. 147 01:01:29,560 --> 01:01:34,560 And so we sometimes, when we're throwing the ball for Kaiser, we've got to be careful where we throw it. 148 01:01:34,560 --> 01:01:41,560 Because he'll chase that ball right into danger. Ball rolls into the road, Kaiser's going to go into the road to get the ball. 149 01:01:41,560 --> 01:01:51,560 And our desires, if they rule over our life, and if that's what they're chasing, they will run us right into the depth of danger. 150 01:01:51,560 --> 01:01:57,560 If your desires rule your life, you will run into the depths of danger to chase them. 151 01:01:57,560 --> 01:02:06,560 And so the difference in lives and the truth is not just a general truth. The sincere mind and the one that is a scoffer filled with scoffing, 152 01:02:06,560 --> 01:02:12,560 it's not just a general picture, although it does fit. This is specifically about the return of Jesus. 153 01:02:12,560 --> 01:02:17,560 And we see it in verse 4, where it says, "Where is the promise of his coming?" 154 01:02:17,560 --> 01:02:26,560 The center of this is about the return of Jesus. And we won't walk through all the Scriptures in both the Old Testament and the New Testament that point to this. 155 01:02:26,560 --> 01:02:41,560 I will just say this: out of the 27 books of the Bible, 23 specifically reference the return of Jesus, 2 allude to it, 156 01:02:41,560 --> 01:02:52,560 and only 3 John and Philemon don't mention the return of Jesus at all. Those are essentially one's half a page and one's a whole page in your Bible. 157 01:02:52,560 --> 01:03:05,560 Out of the 260 chapters in the New Testament, all the chapters in the New Testament, more than 300 times the return of Jesus is mentioned. 158 01:03:05,560 --> 01:03:18,560 And so this is not sort of a truth that we can agree to disagree on. It's not one of those that we can be different in. This is a truth that's foundational, and it matters. 159 01:03:18,560 --> 01:03:26,560 And I want you to see as well as we move into this text, there's a lot of difficulty when it comes to talking about the judgment of God. 160 01:03:26,560 --> 01:03:34,560 And maybe it's because we've seen verses like this used as a bat to poke and hit people to tell them where they are to go. 161 01:03:34,560 --> 01:03:47,560 But notice how Peter begins these verses. As he begins in the very beginning, he will say, "Beloved," verse 1, "writing to people who are loved." 162 01:03:47,560 --> 01:03:59,560 And our text this morning is not to bludgeon us into obedience, but to encourage us and lead us into obedience, and direct us clearly to God. 163 01:03:59,560 --> 01:04:08,560 And so if you're following Christ, this text is an encouragement. And if you are not following Christ, this is designed to direct you to Him. 164 01:04:08,560 --> 01:04:21,560 And so here we have three glorious truths. As Peter says, let's remember the predictions of the holy apostles and the commandments of our Lord and Savior through those apostles. 165 01:04:21,560 --> 01:04:29,560 He's directing us to hope and to goodness and to the grace of God. And the first of these glorious truths is that God has spoken. 166 01:04:29,560 --> 01:04:40,560 This is what Peter means when he says that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandments of our Lord and Savior through these apostles. 167 01:04:40,560 --> 01:04:48,560 And if you remember what Peter has said about prophecy just a little bit ago, saying that it doesn't come from our own ideas or our own plans, 168 01:04:48,560 --> 01:05:00,560 or our own plans, but rather it comes from the Holy Spirit. And what Peter is doing is clearly directing us to the reality that God has spoken. 169 01:05:00,560 --> 01:05:12,560 And Peter is going to tell us two things about the goodness of God. First of all, he talks about the predictions of the prophets. 170 01:05:12,560 --> 01:05:24,560 And we might say, "Well, what's the point?" Prophecy is something that God shows us frequently about the future. Even when that future contains difficulty and opposition. 171 01:05:24,560 --> 01:05:36,560 As I mentioned, this has been a super busy week, and we have driven everywhere, it seems, so much. And last week, in that moment when we went from the spring of deception, 172 01:05:36,560 --> 01:05:45,560 back to 19 degrees, a low tire light came on in our van in the back. And I said, "Oh, well, it went from being really warm to being really cold." 173 01:05:45,560 --> 01:05:57,560 Sometimes you lose a couple pounds of pressure when everything gets cold. And so I went to the air place across the street because I didn't want to dig out my air compressor and an extension cord. 174 01:05:57,560 --> 01:06:04,560 So I was like, "Well, I'll go over there, put some quarters in the machine." And I'm down there filling up the tire, and I look, and the tire valve is at the bottom. 175 01:06:04,560 --> 01:06:10,560 And on the top of the tire, right, there's just like a nail sticking out of the tire. And it's like, "Well, there goes our plans." 176 01:06:10,560 --> 01:06:21,560 And so with all the busyness and all the appointments and all the running, it was this Friday when I finally had the ability to go and take it and get it fixed. 177 01:06:21,560 --> 01:06:32,560 Like, this is a surprise that I do not need, I do not have time for, and everything throughout the whole week, and even the day I'm trying to get it fixed, is all thrown off. 178 01:06:32,560 --> 01:06:37,560 And I'm surprised that it adds to the chaos, and we have to scramble to figure things out. 179 01:06:37,560 --> 01:06:44,560 And what Peter is saying is, "God is not like that." God does not look at your circumstances and your situations and go, 180 01:06:44,560 --> 01:06:50,560 "Oh no, I don't have time for this. I don't have the resources to deal with. I'm surprised." 181 01:06:50,560 --> 01:06:56,560 Right, the purpose of prophecy is to show us, in fact, that God is not surprised. 182 01:06:56,560 --> 01:07:03,560 And God, as He looks at this church, is not like, "Oh no, there's false teachers. What are we going to do?" 183 01:07:03,560 --> 01:07:07,560 He's saying, "This is something that is going to happen." 184 01:07:07,560 --> 01:07:14,560 And here's the truth of this: because God is not surprised, we are not uncertain. 185 01:07:14,560 --> 01:07:17,560 Right, we may not know, but we know who does. 186 01:07:17,560 --> 01:07:21,560 And because God is not surprised by the events that befall us, 187 01:07:21,560 --> 01:07:27,560 even in the midst of the difficulty, we are not uncertain about His promises. 188 01:07:27,560 --> 01:07:31,560 We may not know, but we know the One who does. 189 01:07:31,560 --> 01:07:34,560 Peter then speaks of the commands of the Lord. 190 01:07:34,560 --> 01:07:40,560 And God's commands show, not just that He's not surprised by the events, 191 01:07:40,560 --> 01:07:46,560 but He knows what is good and right, and He calls us to walk in it. 192 01:07:46,560 --> 01:07:54,560 And so the first glorious truth is that God has spoken, and we are not in uncertain or without direction. 193 01:07:54,560 --> 01:08:00,560 The second picture of this text is that God is at work. 194 01:08:00,560 --> 01:08:06,560 And I love how Peter, in this, dealing with the scoffers and the mockers, 195 01:08:06,560 --> 01:08:11,560 somehow turns this, I think through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, 196 01:08:11,560 --> 01:08:17,560 takes their objection and turns it into evidence that God is at work in our world. 197 01:08:17,560 --> 01:08:20,560 So let's walk through the argument from the scoffers, 198 01:08:20,560 --> 01:08:22,560 and then we'll see how Peter turns this to something wonderful. 199 01:08:22,560 --> 01:08:28,560 He says, "Knowing this first of all, scoffers will come in the last day with scoffering, 200 01:08:28,560 --> 01:08:32,560 scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 201 01:08:32,560 --> 01:08:37,560 And the objection that they have is not because it's not true or not right, 202 01:08:37,560 --> 01:08:42,560 but they will jump through any hoop to get what they want. 203 01:08:42,560 --> 01:08:46,560 They will say, "Where is the promise of His coming?" 204 01:08:46,560 --> 01:08:49,560 "For ever since the fathers fell asleep, 205 01:08:49,560 --> 01:08:53,560 all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation." 206 01:08:53,560 --> 01:08:56,560 So here's where Peter begins to unpack this glorious truth. 207 01:08:56,560 --> 01:09:03,560 Not as a declaration, but through the objection of selfish people seeking selfish things. 208 01:09:03,560 --> 01:09:13,560 And I love this. That here is this selfish scoffing argument. 209 01:09:13,560 --> 01:09:18,560 And God turns it into a testimony of His work in the world. 210 01:09:18,560 --> 01:09:22,560 And so He says this, they deliberately overlook the fact, 211 01:09:22,560 --> 01:09:26,560 "The heavens existed long ago when the earth was formed out of water." 212 01:09:26,560 --> 01:09:30,560 And so here's the objection. Everything's been the same since creation. 213 01:09:30,560 --> 01:09:34,560 And if you read verse 4, that's exactly what they say. 214 01:09:34,560 --> 01:09:38,560 "Everything has been continuing the same since creation." 215 01:09:38,560 --> 01:09:41,560 Well, who brought about creation? 216 01:09:41,560 --> 01:09:43,560 That's Peter's point. 217 01:09:43,560 --> 01:09:50,560 They're saying things aren't going to change because everything's been the same since creation. 218 01:09:50,560 --> 01:09:54,560 Since God changed nothing into everything. 219 01:09:54,560 --> 01:09:59,560 Right? Peter's pointing out the fact they're not thinking through their argument. 220 01:09:59,560 --> 01:10:08,560 Right? They're deliberately overlooking the fact of Genesis 1. 221 01:10:08,560 --> 01:10:14,560 Where God says, "Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let's separate the waters from the waters." 222 01:10:14,560 --> 01:10:21,560 And God made the expanse and separated the waters, and they were under expanse from the waters, and they were above the expanse, and it was so. 223 01:10:21,560 --> 01:10:26,560 And God called the expanse heaven, and there was evening, and there was morning, and the second day. 224 01:10:26,560 --> 01:10:29,560 And so they go, "Everything's been the same since creation." 225 01:10:29,560 --> 01:10:33,560 You mean the creation where God changed everything? 226 01:10:33,560 --> 01:10:41,560 And Peter goes back to Genesis 1, pulling out the water, saying, "Don't you see how God was at work even in the creation of the world?" 227 01:10:41,560 --> 01:10:46,560 And not just that He's created it, but He's judged it as well. 228 01:10:46,560 --> 01:10:55,560 Right? Jesus will say, and Peter, I think, quotes, "For as in the day of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man." 229 01:10:56,560 --> 01:11:07,560 "For those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware of the flood, and came and swept them all away, so will the coming of the Son of Man." 230 01:11:07,560 --> 01:11:19,560 And so Peter goes back to this idea and says that through water, the earth was formed through water by the Word of God, and then that same earth was deluged by water in the judgment of God. 231 01:11:19,560 --> 01:11:30,560 So you go, "Oh, nothing's changed." Oh, you mean when God took nothing and made it everything, and then seeing judgment and sin in the world, He brings water into it? 232 01:11:30,560 --> 01:11:46,560 And this is not an honest argument, because they're intentionally overlooking the truth. And you may go, "How is the judgment of God something that is glorious, and how is it something that is wonderful, and how is it helpful?" 233 01:11:46,560 --> 01:11:59,560 And in the next verses, He says, "It's not just going to be water, but God's saving up fire." Like, we're escalating the situation. It is a wake-up call for God's people. 234 01:11:59,560 --> 01:12:13,560 Now, for the tired, the discouraged, the embattled Christian, for saying that God is at work and that evil will not triumph, that God creates all things good, that God judges evil, and He will again, 235 01:12:13,560 --> 01:12:28,560 and that for the Christians who are struggling and who are hurting, that God triumphs over evil. He knows the future, He directs you how to walk, and He will bring all things to a close, and He will save the saints. 236 01:12:28,560 --> 01:12:41,560 But it's also a wake-up call for those who are not Christians. That God creates, He sustains, but He also judges. And the question here is the delay. 237 01:12:41,560 --> 01:12:53,560 John chapter 11, a friend of Jesus is sick. And Jesus delays, and the friends die, and the disciples are confused, and this dead man's sisters, Mary and Martha, are confused. 238 01:12:53,560 --> 01:13:04,560 In fact, they will say, "If you had been here, my brother would not have died." The disciples, when Jesus goes to Lazarus, say, "Why are we even going? It's dangerous." 239 01:13:04,560 --> 01:13:09,560 One of the disciples said, "Might as well go and die with him." He gets there, and Martha says, 240 01:13:09,560 --> 01:13:15,560 "If you would only have been here, and you have the sorrowful, fearful, struggling friends with Jesus." 241 01:13:15,560 --> 01:13:21,560 And then you get to the end of the story, and Jesus calls Lazarus out of the grave, 242 01:13:21,560 --> 01:13:30,560 and the purpose in these moments of what seemed like delay and heartbreak for his disciples are not just a restoration, 243 01:13:30,560 --> 01:13:38,560 but it's a picture of the power of God to restore and rebelled and to make things new, and it brings hope to their hearts. 244 01:13:38,560 --> 01:13:48,560 And he declares to the heartbroken that Jesus is the resurrection and the life, not just that he can, but that he is. 245 01:13:48,560 --> 01:13:55,560 And understand that sometimes as we wait in sorrow, God is at work. 246 01:13:55,560 --> 01:13:58,560 He doesn't just say that, but he gives the reasoning. 247 01:13:58,560 --> 01:14:05,560 That brings us to our third glorious truth: the greatness and goodness of God. 248 01:14:05,560 --> 01:14:08,560 Do not overlook this. 249 01:14:08,560 --> 01:14:12,560 "With the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day. 250 01:14:12,560 --> 01:14:18,560 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some would view slowness, 251 01:14:18,560 --> 01:14:23,560 but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." 252 01:14:23,560 --> 01:14:25,560 This is, first of all, not a code, right? 253 01:14:25,560 --> 01:14:30,560 So maybe we'll take this verse and go, "One day equals a thousand years." 254 01:14:30,560 --> 01:14:34,560 So everywhere in the Bible that God says one day, we just make it a thousand years. 255 01:14:34,560 --> 01:14:42,560 And that's not Peter's purpose to give us a sort of a key to a graphic cipher that's found in the Bible. 256 01:14:42,560 --> 01:14:47,560 What he's doing is he's showing and explaining to us the perspective of God. 257 01:14:47,560 --> 01:14:50,560 Where I lived growing up, everything seemed far away. 258 01:14:50,560 --> 01:14:57,560 Our nearest McDonald's was 15 miles away, 30-ish miles to get to school one way and then back. 259 01:14:57,560 --> 01:15:03,560 In college, I preached at a church that was 90 miles one way from where I went to school. 260 01:15:03,560 --> 01:15:12,560 And now, like after all these times of growing up, driving everywhere for hours, going to college, 24-hour drive away from home, 261 01:15:12,560 --> 01:15:20,560 driving an hour and a half to get to church, now there's some days I take my glasses off at the office. 262 01:15:20,560 --> 01:15:25,560 You go home, "Man, where's my glasses? Oh, they're at the church. It's too far away. I'll just get them tomorrow." 263 01:15:25,560 --> 01:15:32,560 And then there's times where it's like, "Well, everything I need is out of stock at the Target in town." 264 01:15:32,560 --> 01:15:39,560 But North Target, that's like five miles, that's just too far. Like, exit 313 to 318, like, I'm just not doing it. 265 01:15:39,560 --> 01:15:49,560 It's too far away, right? Perspective changes, right? So when I was younger, right, a 10-minute drive was like the best thing in the world. 266 01:15:49,560 --> 01:16:01,560 And now it's like, "10 minutes? That's forever." Our perspective changes. The same is true for time. As we get older, I think our perspective of time 267 01:16:01,560 --> 01:16:10,560 gets shorter. My kids waiting something for two weeks is like the end of the world. Now me, for two weeks, I don't know if I can be ready in two weeks. 268 01:16:10,560 --> 01:16:27,560 And so you have here God who is eternal, no beginning, no end, and He sees everything. And then you have us that can barely see past the end of our no's. 269 01:16:27,560 --> 01:16:37,560 His perspective on time is understandably different. And the eternal nature of God is seen in this fact that God views time differently. 270 01:16:37,560 --> 01:16:47,560 Peter is saying God is bigger, and He sees time differently. And what to you seems like an interminable weight to God is the snap of a finger. 271 01:16:47,560 --> 01:16:57,560 Not only does He show us the size and scale of God, but He shows us this. The reason why it seems so long to us, 272 01:16:57,560 --> 01:17:08,560 it's not because God's slow to fulfill His promises. Some think slowness is, but He is patient. Not wishing that any should perish, but all should reach. 273 01:17:08,560 --> 01:17:18,560 Repentance. He's not slow. He's not procrastinating. He's not busy. He's patient. The desire is not for judgment, but for repentance. 274 01:17:18,560 --> 01:17:24,560 Run to the Father who is standing and waiting for you. 275 01:17:24,560 --> 01:17:34,560 Peter is saying that God speaks, and even though from our perspective there is uncertainty, there is not from His, and so we trust in Him. 276 01:17:34,560 --> 01:17:41,560 That God is at work, and that He is calling us to Himself, and what this means is that if you are in Christ, 277 01:17:41,560 --> 01:17:51,560 you can hear and listen and be encouraged by His Word to understand that He is at work, even in those moments where we might not see it as clearly as we would like, 278 01:17:51,560 --> 01:17:58,560 and that He is patient, and He is great, and He is good. And if you are not in Christ, this is a serious warning. 279 01:17:58,560 --> 01:18:04,560 It's called to be honest with yourself. Why am I doing what I'm doing? Why am I thinking what I'm thinking? 280 01:18:04,560 --> 01:18:11,560 And to see God's goodness, and to be called to repentance. Let's pray. 281 01:18:11,560 --> 01:18:22,560 Father, we thank You that because You are certain, and because You know we can be certain as well. 282 01:18:22,560 --> 01:18:29,560 We thank You that You have led us for us a way to walk, that You've empowered us in this moment with Your Spirit. 283 01:18:29,560 --> 01:18:37,560 Help us to seek to be faithful to You. Encourage our hearts. Help us to know that You are at work. 284 01:18:38,560 --> 01:18:45,560 Strengthen us, and call us to repentance. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 285 01:18:45,560 --> 01:18:55,560 We are going to just sing a couple verses of "By the Grace of God." So if you would be standing with me. 286 01:19:08,560 --> 01:19:35,560 I rest my soul on Jesus When the mountains shake. I put my trust in Jesus The moment I awake. 287 01:19:35,560 --> 01:20:02,560 And when my soul is lost at sea, He will be my rock. My vision be in Christ alone. This grace is always God. 288 01:20:02,560 --> 01:20:29,560 His love is like the mighty ocean. His love for me will never stop. Oh, His arms are strong enough to carry me through it all by the grace of God. 289 01:20:29,560 --> 01:20:56,560 So I, upon His shoulders, safely brought this far. Helper of my helpless soul, the King of broken hearts. 290 01:20:56,560 --> 01:21:23,560 His love is like the mighty ocean. His love for me will never stop. Oh, His arms are strong enough to carry me through it all by the grace of God. 291 01:21:23,560 --> 01:21:50,560 When breath grows still and night draws near, I will not be afraid. I know the plans He has for me don't finish at my grave. 292 01:21:50,560 --> 01:22:17,560 His love is like the mighty ocean. His love for me will never stop. Oh, His arms are strong enough to carry me through it all by the grace of God. 293 01:22:17,560 --> 01:22:44,560 We are so thankful that you are here this morning. We will be here Wednesday evening. Continuing on, we're spending some time in between now and Easter, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, going through a little bit of His life and learning from them. That's Wednesday night at 6pm. Also, next Sunday, we're going to have a fellowship meal. 294 01:22:44,560 --> 01:23:09,560 We're going to provide the meat on the paper plates and those kind of things. So if you would like to bring a salad or a side, I would love for you to be able to do that. If you need some more guidance and direction, just see me afterwards. I can give you a little bit better of an idea of what we're doing. We're thankful that you are here this morning. We're going to pray. We're going to read from the 40th Psalm, and then we'll sing the doxology. 295 01:23:09,560 --> 01:23:22,560 Father in heaven, I thank you for your grace. May we walk in your truth, equipped by your Spirit and for your purposes. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 296 01:23:22,560 --> 01:23:32,560 But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. May those who love your salvation continually say, "Great is the Lord." 297 01:23:39,560 --> 01:24:02,560 Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him, above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.