2 Peter 3:14-18 Don’t Miss Your Number At In-N-Out: Stay Ready For God

Amen.

Yeah, so uh, you know, we we we're like fixing our sound system constantly, and then there's a new problem.

So uh hopefully you heard some of that.

Um but yeah, this is our last week uh in uh the books of Peter, and so I'm excited for what's coming up.

Today we're gonna talk about waiting, but first let me just say we're in 2 Peter 3, 14 through 18.

Uh 2 Peter 3, 14 through 18.

We have Bibles on both sides of the room.

Our bilingual Bibles are actually um uh on order, but we do have Bibles, uh Tenemos Biblias in Espanol, um Bonjour Sim Cantada, Nueva Vecila, Nuegan Bib Creo ICE Puno Gratis, Nasam Son o Creo.

So today we're gonna be talking about waiting.

Waiting.

And um last week I took a day off, which was awesome.

Uh it was a Monday.

Uh I think it was a Monday, I don't know.

I took a day off on like a Wednesday, I think that's what it was.

Uh I took a day off uh two weeks ago, is what it was.

Um and when I when I take a day off, I try to do a couple things.

Um when I take a day off, I try to be in God's Word, I try to be with God, I try to rest and relax and recuperate.

And uh I also try to eat.

Good.

Um and so uh I went to In N Out on my day off, just by myself, sitting there, like, you know, looking for a table by myself, feeling bad.

There's always like a table of four, and I'm like, I don't want to take that.

So sitting by myself, reading a book.

But as I sat there, I noticed something at this In N Out, the one on National City, um, in National City.

Uh everyone around me at that in and out at lunchtime was on their phones.

Like everyone.

And I'm not better, I had a book, so I'm not here to judge anybody, you know.

But what was happening was I was hearing the same thing over and over again.

Number 52?

Number 52, your order is ready.

53, 54, number 52, 55, 56, number 52.

Just this poor lady is just saying, I'm not doing her impression.

This poor lady was walking around trying to find who number 52 was.

She was walking around with the tray, looking at everybody's receipts, looking at everybody's receipts, trying to see who the heck was number 52.

And the funny thing is, is the longer I was there, the more I noticed this kept happening.

Endlessly happening.

People looking around for the number that was called already over and over again.

Um, like I wanted my food.

So I was listening, I was hungry, and but there were plenty of people in this in and out not listening, and apparently they're not hungry, or they didn't care about getting their food hot.

Because if you know in and out like I know in and out, that French fries are amazing for like 90 seconds, and then they taste like trash, right?

Like they taste like something nasty.

I don't know what they taste like, but you that's why you can like you cannot grub hub in and out.

It tastes bad.

Don't do it.

And so my thing is like I wanted to know exactly when my number was called because I would rather burn my mouth than eat old French fries from In N Out.

Here's the thing: it's imperative when you're at In N Out, you wait, but you wait with expectation to be served.

It's the same way when you're at the bus stop.

Like if you're face down with headphones in, not everyone is gonna, there's not always gonna be that sweet lady who taps you and says, Hey, bus is here.

No, sometimes you'll just miss the bus.

It's the same way with anything, anywhere.

If you expect to see God work, you have to be looking around, preparing, and you have to be asking him, God, what are you doing right now here?

We have to be waiting on God with expectation in our joy, in our boredom, in our suffering.

Guys, Christians don't passively wait for the coming day of the Lord.

No, we wait with expectation.

We share truth, we chase holiness, we fight destructive theology, and we grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And so it is with that that I bring us to 2 Peter 3, 14 through 18.

Does anybody have a bound Bible with them?

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Beautiful, beautiful Bibles.

Let me read to you from our text.

Therefore, dear friends, while you wait for these things.

Okay, once again, we stop.

Whenever we see therefore, we want to know what it's therefore, right?

So if you remember in the past, he was saying the day of the Lord is coming and it will come like a thief in the night.

Peter is is echoing the words of Jesus.

The heavens will be dissolved, and the earth and the earth and all who are the heavens will be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed.

There it is.

I want to quote correctly.

So while you are waiting for the end, therefore, you with me, therefore, make every effort to be found without spot or blemish in his sight at peace.

Also regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our dear brother Paul has written to you, according to the wisdom given to him.

He speaks about things, these things in all his letters.

People don't like Paul sometimes.

And back then there were people who didn't like Paul, and I just gotta give you the quick aside.

There were hard things to understand that Paul says.

I don't know if you notice this, but most of Paul's sentences are like run-ons that go on for like ten minutes.

Um and so that the thing is, is he's saying that like there are people who listen to Paul but they get confused and they try to do the wrong thing.

And it says, he continues, There are some things hard to understand in them, yes.

The untaught and unstable will twist them to their own destruction, as they also do with the rest of the scriptures.

Verse 17.

Therefore, dear friends, since you know this in advance, be on your guard, so that you are not led away by the air of lawless people and fall from your own stable position.

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity.

This is God's word.

Would you pray with me?

Uh Father, it seems we come before you every week with urgent, pressing needs, with struggles, with pain, with suffering.

Once again, we've descended into war in Iran and Sudan and Venezuela and Ukraine and Haiti.

They're all suffering.

God, if we if if we didn't have you, we would lose hope.

And yet we wait expectantly for you.

We wait with hope and trust.

We ask that you would make your people the type who chase after justice and mercy.

Would you give us a relentless drive for love that can only be fueled by your spirit?

We thank you for loving us through our complaining and our bitterness.

And we got a lot of plain complaining and bitterness.

Through our sin and through our selfishness.

God, we thank you for our brother Rick's successful surgery and ask that you would continue to be healing him after that triple bypass.

Father, as we watch hard things around us, please let us not forget that you stand with us.

And everyone may not be able to see you stand with us, but we see that you stand with us.

And we are confident the victory will always be yours.

Teach us this morning.

May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of our hearts be pleasing to you.

We pray this all in Jesus' name.

And all God's people said, Amen.

Alright, today I'm going to give you three things Christians do while we wait for Jesus to bring us home.

Three things Christians do while we wait for Jesus to bring us home.

And the first thing is this we put in work.

If anybody knew Kumodi, I'm too old now, he says, I go to work.

Like there's like seven people in the room that are like, Yes, I remember that.

It's so good.

The horns on that, I mean, just make that.

Okay.

We put in work.

We go to work.

Verse uh 14 said, Therefore, dear friends, while you wait for these things, make every effort to be found without spot or blemish in his sight at peace.

Have you guys ever noticed Peter repeats stuff?

Like Peter repeats stuff ad nauseum.

He just does over and over again.

Why do you think he did that?

It's rhetorical, don't gotta answer.

Because they're important things, right?

He repeats things that are important.

It's like when my family is getting out of the car.

A, make sure that you get all your stuff, especially that gluten.

Make sure you get all that stuff out of the car, and then you shut the door behind you, okay?

Okay, get all your trash and make sure the door is shut.

Don't forget your jacket and your library books from last week that you left there last week, and make sure the door is shut.

Now, if you had to infer what was important to me in that exchange with my kids, I think you would know what it is.

Like get your stuff out my car and make sure that the door is shut.

Of course, it's a little bit later that Auntie Vicky is knocking on the door saying, Hey, you know your door is open.

Now that's on me.

I should press the clicker or something, I should know.

But the thing is, is I'm repeating these things over and over again because it is important.

Peter repeats things over and over again because they are important in the same way.

He says, number one, be holy.

Stop trifling with sins that want to destroy you.

And also he says, be careful who you listen to.

Watch out for scoffers and haters.

So be holy, he says, be spotless.

Peter's not coming up with a new idea, is he?

He's repeating God's words when God said to Israel, Be holy, for I am holy.

Peter echoes this idea of being spotless or without blemish that we find all over the New Testament of our Bible.

Um but it's also all over the Old Testament of our Bible.

In Leviticus 9, it uh God says to Aaron, Take a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for birth offering, both without blemish, and present them before the Lord.

Ezekiel 45, 23.

During the seven days of the festival, he will provide seven bulls and seven rams without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord on each of the seven days, along with a male goat each day for a sin offering.

These are blameless, spotless, pure.

See, because Christians, we don't passively wait for the coming day of the Lord, we actively chase holiness.

Now, as Christians, we understand it is God who cleanses us, right?

Like nobody here is the one that makes themselves clean.

It is Jesus who cleanses you.

But it still begs a question.

Why would he be talking to Christians and tell them to make every effort?

Do we actually make every effort to follow Jesus to be pure?

Because Jesus makes us pure in the Father's eyes, but those who belong to Jesus are supposed to become more and more and more like the Son, Jesus.

But how do we do this?

How do you do this?

Like, how do I try harder, Lord?

I'm trying, I swear.

Well, the great thing is Peter told us in the first chapter.

If you remember, he says, by his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.

We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.

Then he says, remember, supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence and moral excellence with knowledge and knowledge with self-control and self-control with patience, endurance, and patient endurance with godliness and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.

Which is weird because I thought it was supposed to say love for the people that are in the church only, love for the people that we like in the church, love for the people that don't wrong us in the church, but it just says everyone, which is annoying.

But the thing is, is this purity matters to God.

Purity matters.

People who are struggling ask me all the time, why is this so difficult for me though?

Now, first off, I just want to say this defeating sin is difficult for everyone.

There is no pastor who stands on a stage and says, defeating sin is easy.

Defeating sin is something I've already done.

I've already finished it, I'm done with every sin.

No, no, no, no.

But friends, there's another part that we need to talk about for some of us.

If I were to listen to some of the music you listen to, or let me just put it this way, if I were to listen to some of the music you put on your Instagram stories, if I put myself in compromising situations with people I'm attracted to, if I read the books that you read, if I spend all the time on shady social media, guess what?

I would struggle more.

I would struggle more.

See, other people aren't growing in holiness because they're better than you.

I'm growing in my holiness when I'm growing in my holiness when I'm aware of how spiritually bankrupt I can be.

I understand how easily I can fall into sin.

I understand I need God's word every morning to thrive.

And don't think that this time change like didn't beat me up in that personal Bible study this morning.

Man, getting up at what feels like 4 a.m.

now to read God's Word that is totally separate from me preparing to preach God's word to you.

Like, it's not easy.

It's not something I want to do some days.

And this morning, I didn't want to do it.

But I did.

Because I know that I am broken, I know that I'm sinful.

I know that I need Jesus.

I I didn't do it because I'm a pastor.

I prayed and read God's word this morning because I am very aware of how weak I am.

Jesus says, Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Those are people who understand their sinful proclivity.

People understand their desire to sin, that they're gifted at sin.

Friends, um, when we understand how easily we are tempted to abandon holiness, we understand why we have to practice this discipline that Peter talks about.

Even if God is doing the heavy lifting, why do we struggle?

We have to look at the things we're absorbing, don't we?

Are all these things a sign of an effort to be pure?

I mean, it's a sign that if we don't seek the good things, we're saying to God, I'm gonna do me.

It's a sign of, yeah, yeah, yeah, God, but I like I call that big butt faith.

You know, like it's a big butt.

Like we say all this stuff is important, but I'm gonna do me.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I know what the Bible says about crude joking, but but but I know what the Bible says about sleeping around, but but but yeah, yeah, yeah.

I know what the Bible says about greed and drunkenness, overworking, uh everything else, but I'ma do me.

But God is not trying to control you with these things, guys.

That's not his goal.

He's not mad at you.

He's not mad at you.

He wants to help you.

He loves you, he cares about you.

The reason why he puts these things in front of you is because he wants you to thrive.

He wants you to glorify him, and you're happier when you glorify him.

Now, I'm sure many of you in the room today recognize how hard it is to watch uh Christian shows and movies.

Oh my gosh, man.

I'll just tell you, when I became a Christian, um, when I was 16, that was like, I don't know, 90, 97, 98, I don't know when that was.

That was a long time ago.

So I don't remember anymore.

I just remember them saying, hey, you should listen to this Christian music and you should watch these Christian movies.

And I was like, this looks like somebody made it in their basement, you know, like it was bad.

But I'm telling you, some of these things are getting better.

Some of them are getting better.

And I also think certain companies are starting to realize that um even non-believers like prefer to like not have garbage in their life.

And so let me just say this to you.

Like, friends, um, there's enough content out there that you can be watching, reading, and listening to God-honoring content all the time if you really want to.

And um, let me just say, as a musician, like the worst thing about these Christian movies has always been the music.

It's so bad.

I'm the acting tube.

Okay.

But but the thing is, is it's getting better.

It's there's real Christians who are good at their get at music and and at acting that are getting involved.

I'm gonna tell you this honestly.

I bought stock in a company that makes Christian movies.

Did I think I was gonna make any money?

Heck no.

But let me tell you, um, I just wanted more movies that I could watch and watch with my family and that honored God.

And so, yes, I bought stock in a company that's probably gonna lose all my money.

Not all, just this set aside.

But guys, being pure means you are at times going to miss certain fads at times.

You're gonna.

Like, I'm not gonna tell you which ones, you have to decide for yourself.

And the fact is, you need to be an expert in your own sin.

Uh, some of you like shouldn't watch Game of Thrones, some of you really shouldn't watch Game of Thrones.

But I don't know what the Game of Thrones is right now.

I don't know what the new one is, but what I know is you probably know what it is already.

And friends, here's the other thing.

It's okay to tell another believer that being around certain things makes you nervous.

So if you're struggling with alcohol and somebody's drinking with you, like you're okay to say, this is my struggle, could we not?

That's okay.

If you're struggling with certain types of talk, it's okay to say, This is hard for me to be around.

It doesn't mean you gotta come at them.

You talk about yourself.

You don't have to sound judgy to say, I have my own boundaries, I can't watch anything with sexual material in it.

And and just because it's okay with them doesn't mean you have to listen to crude uh language or cursing.

If you can't be around smoking and drinking because it tempts you, it's okay to let your friends, it's not okay for you.

Is it an awkward conversation?

Always.

Okay?

Like don't don't have no, it's always awkward.

But if you have good friends, they're willing to listen.

Now, I don't know if you know this, but I spend time with surfers.

That almost sounded like you clapped for that.

You just dropped your phone.

Um, I hang out with surfers, and after surfing, you know what surfers do is we sit in front of the beach and we watch the waves to see if it's better now or worse than when we surfed.

It's always worse.

Uh we say that at least.

You know who else hangs out at beaches besides surfers?

Um, basically, ladies that want to be naked.

I'm just serious, I'm just being real with you.

It's just, I swear, it's like happening all the time.

I'm sitting there, sun comes out, buns come out.

And so I'm that was not in my notes.

And so um we're we sit there and we watch the waves, and I hang out with people who are not believers that surf with me.

And you know what they understand?

They understand that I want to honor God with my life and with my eyes.

And and every once in a while I'll get a little teasing, but you know what I do?

I watch the waves, I pet the dogs, and I look at my feet.

That's all I do.

And you know what?

It's only because I was able to be honest with my friends who didn't understand that now they're able to respect my boundaries because they know about it.

I don't judge them.

I'm just I'm focused on my own feet.

See, Christians don't passively wait for the coming day of the Lord.

We chase holiness.

We have to be willing to do the work of holiness while we wait for Jesus' return, though.

2 Corinthians 9 26 says, I run with purpose in every step.

I'm not just shadow boxing, I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should.

Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others, I myself might be disqualified.

Friends, we have to have discipline.

We have to pursue holiness.

It doesn't happen on accident.

We have to make the things of God a priority because otherwise we will be more influenced and informed by the world than by the word of God.

Friends, Jesus has held off his return for a while.

He's held off his return for a while, but it's because he wants to see people saved.

In the meantime, we have two options.

We can hide in our homes and we can live lives of purpose for our God, or we can pursue God with reckless abandon.

And when we pursue God, we see his heart, we feel his heart, and it causes us to feel his heart for the oppressed, for the poor, for the lost, and the hurting.

And this is what takes us to our second point.

Um that we introduce our friends to Jesus.

That as we wait for Jesus, three things Christians do while we wait for Jesus to take us home, we introduce our friends to Jesus.

Because, you know, we always joke around, we smoke what we sell here, right?

Like we believe it.

Verse 15, also regard the patience of the Lord as salvation, just as our dear brother Paul has written to you according to the wisdom given to him.

See, don't forget that both Peter and Paul say this about the salvation of the Lord because he's patient with us.

See, we we don't passively wait for the coming day of the Lord, we chase holiness and we share truth.

Now, if you recall, Jonas was preaching for us last week in the text where Peter said that God was long-suffering.

We talk about that term long-suffering here a lot, right?

The idea, this Jewish idiom that God has a big nose, because it takes a long time for it to get red.

That's why I have a big nose.

God bless me.

Um, but don't you appreciate God's patience with you, friends?

The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.

There was a time when I felt like nobody but nobody had patience for me.

I was a punk.

I can tell you, like it wasn't until a year ago that I finally called this one teacher that I like, put egg his house so dang much that I finally got to call him and apologize to him.

And he's a believer, so he forgave me.

Praise the Lord.

But I was a terrible punk.

And and in God's compassion, he had patience on me, on me, and I'm so glad he had that patience because nobody had patience for me.

Now there's this old bluegrass song uh I once heard, and I'm not like a huge bluegrass fan.

Um I like it better than country music actually.

But this is the s this is the lyrics to this song.

I'm not gonna sing it to you.

But it says, here the labor is hard, and the workers are so tired, and our weary hearts are longing for rest, and we find we're getting anxious to be in that happy land where we'll enjoy some peace and happiness.

But wait a little longer, please, Jesus.

There's so many still are wandering out in sin.

Just a little longer, please, Jesus.

Just a few more days to get our loved ones in.

Now I will tell you, I heard this song, and it was the most and I cried.

It was not my style, it was nothing that I would have loved, and I just bawled.

And it says, We may look into the skies and tears will fill our eyes, for our weary hearts grow heavy with each day.

First we cry, Oh Lord, please come.

Come and take our children home.

And then we look around us and we say, but wait a little longer, please, Jesus.

There's so many still wandering out in sin.

Just a little longer, please, Jesus.

Just a few more days to get our loved ones in.

Man, that hit me.

Doesn't matter if it was played by a jug band, it hit me right here that God is so patient with us.

So patient, and he wants so much more with you and me.

But so many of us are living for later.

But that moment will end one day in an instant.

There will be no more chances.

No matter how many friends you had, no matter how many good things you did, no matter how much money you had or power or influence, it's done.

One day, probably sooner than we would like to imagine.

We will be food for worms.

And none of us will have an excuse.

None of us will have an excuse that we were just waiting for the right time.

That's not an excuse.

Physically, I think everyone should take CPR training.

Physically, yes, I think everyone should take it.

I'm so glad I had that training.

I still had to have a 911 operator talk me through it.

But I'm so glad I had the training.

I think everyone should get CPR training.

We'll probably do it here.

But spiritually, I think everyone should be thinking and preparing in the same way to share the good news of Jesus with everyone we know.

Don't wait until it's too late.

For those of you who have yet fully to dive into faith with Jesus, what if God's been patient with you?

What are you gonna do about that?

How are you gonna explain that to him?

I'm not I'm not here to like talk uh hell and brimstone, fire and brimstone and all that stuff, but it's real.

And I'm not here to to manipulate you, I'm here to tell you this is what the word of God says.

If we believe this, why don't we believe this?

For those of you who know Jesus, God is calling you to care for people around you.

Is who's that name in your head right now that you need to go deeper in relationship with them so you can share more important things with them?

What if God is holding up everything for that one person?

Just a little bit longer.

But does that matter to us that God is being patient with our friends and family members?

Does that matter to us?

Are they a priority to us?

Do we care?

Now I recognize some people see religion as an off-limits conversation.

That would be my entire family.

But your faith is not mere religion, is it?

It's your life.

It is the story of how God saved your life.

Are we able to seek holiness and live a life that causes people to want to know Jesus?

Loving people who don't love us?

Are we important are we able to speak up for the important things in the room?

For some of you in the room, God has been very patient with you.

And I want to tell you now, today is the right time.

Now is the right time.

He's waited and he's waited and he's waited, and so many times you've sat on the sidelines and he's like, now is the right time.

Your chance is shorter today than it was yesterday.

God is patient with you because he loves you.

He's waited and waited.

Dr.

Tony Evans once said, The Lord's delay in coming is designed to give men and women time to repent of their sin and come to salvation.

Therefore, we must take advantage of his patience by repenting rather than presuming upon his patience and living for unrighteous purposes.

Now, I I know that we have some parents in the room.

And um uh I have been taught um early on that counting with your kids was not gonna work.

You gotta let your yes be your yes, your no be or no.

But but how many of us as parents have counted?

I'm gonna give you the count of three.

How many of us have done that?

It doesn't work, by the way.

You just gotta say yes or no.

Um, but we count.

Why do we count when we want our kids to do the dishes?

Three, two, one and a half.

You know, like how often do we do that?

All the time.

It's something we do.

It's like, kids, why do you think we count?

Do you think we count because it's fun for us?

No, it's because we have no desire to punish you.

Punish you also sucks for us, too.

Did you know that?

Like, we don't like punishing you, it's not fun for us.

We like your parents like rewarding you.

Did you know that?

We like celebrating with you.

We have responsibility over you too.

But we know, like, do you know what we get to do um when we take our kids out to get ice cream when they did something good?

We get ice cream, yes.

Thank you.

Do you know what happens when we don't let them watch the baseball game?

We don't get to watch the baseball game a lot of times because they'll keep coming out, I need some water.

No, you're just trying to watch the game.

So we end up turning it off and we're in a bad mood and we miss it.

Dads are patient with our kids because we love our kids.

No matter how stupid they can be, I'm I praise God that He was patient with me.

We are patient with our kids because we love our kids.

We punish our kids because we have hope it will help them.

Because we love our kids.

Meanwhile, there is a God pursuing us right now, a good, kind, loving Father, and he is lovingly pursuing your heart, but also your friends and family.

And he often wants to use us to bring them to the feet of Jesus.

See, because Christians don't passively wait for the coming day of the Lord, do we?

We wait with expectation and we share truth.

So why is God patient with us?

Because he wants to save us from our sin, he wants to save us from hell.

God doesn't want to send anyone to hell, did you know that?

He desires that all might repent.

But if we are sure of Christ's return, why don't our lives reflect that more often?

It's a good question, huh?

And that brings us to our third point.

We grow in grace and knowledge.

Three things Christians do while we wait for Jesus to take us home, we grow in grace and knowledge.

I'm just not making that up.

This is in our text.

In verse 16, Peter once again said to watch out for false teachers.

And then in 17 he said, Therefore, dear friends, since you know this in advance, so you know attacks are coming, be on your guard so that you are not led away by the error of lawless people, lawless, and fall away from your own stable position, but grow, and this actually translates better as keep growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To him be the glory, both now and the day of eternity.

See, Peter was using his last words to speak out against false teachers that stalk, stalk believers.

They're like ambulance chasers.

You know what I'm saying?

Those lawyers who chase after ambulances.

These people chase after Christians.

Peter was using his words to remind them to prioritize growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus.

Because the more we understand Jesus, the more we understand his grace for us, the more we get it right.

Which means we should show more grace the longer we walk with Jesus.

Those of you who have belonged to Jesus longer should show more grace to the new believer.

Once you understand how much you've been forgiven, you understand there's no real difference between you and a total screw up.

I know this about myself.

It's easy.

That total screw up who can't seem to get it right, there's no difference.

There's no difference.

You have just had Jesus longer.

But grace can be confusing at times.

And Peter mentioned the writings of Paul because Paul emphasized grace.

Probably because Paul was a murderer and he had been forgiven much.

But many were taking it as an excuse to be lazy in their faith.

Well, God's just gonna forgive me.

That's the weakest argument I've ever heard.

And it's the same argument that was happening here.

Especially the Thessalonians, the Ephesians, the Corinthians, the Romans.

But Paul said specifically this to the Romans Should I keep on sinning so that grace can be even bigger?

By no means.

Guys, the proper response to grace is not sinning more, it's repentance and it's grace for others.

The people Peter called out are often referred to as theologians in our day, pastors in our day, reverends in our day.

They put on all the vestments and they tell you that they have something.

Sometimes the vestments is tattoos, sometimes it's something else more uh formal.

But guys, they're all around us and they want to make you food, telling us certain sins no longer have consequence, but they're lying.

They are lawless people.

The theological term for this is anti-nomianism.

This is a term used by Martin Luther.

It basically means anti-law.

During Luther's time, there was a large group alongside him who were pushing back against the abuses of Pope Leo X.

Now the Pope was using his power to go to war with the Turks.

He was taking money from the poor to absolve them of their sins.

So in 1519 the Protestant Reformation began, but you had people tossing out the entirety of the church.

They were against anything that was affiliated with Jesus.

You might say they were deconstructing their faith.

But like today, they just threw out everything instead of just the bad things.

Instead of pushing back on the abuses of certain church leaders, they decided all church leaders must be bad.

Instead of worrying about made-up laws not in the Bible, they took out all the laws in the Bible.

You had pastors and priests actively sinning.

I believe Luther was right when he said we should be allowed to marry people, okay?

Like it's good for priests to be married.

And I think we got enough evidence about that, not gonna go into that.

But you had priests marrying nuns.

The problem is then they tossed out the whole Bible, and you had priests not only marrying, but sleeping around and saying God was good with it.

That's a problem.

The same problems of Peter's day.

And you have the same problems with people deconstructing today, don't we?

People who want to deconstruct everything.

Not the bad things, not separating the bad things from the good.

No, no, no, no, no.

You have the same problems today.

Like Jesus never said America is the light.

Like it, I'm out of this church if it worships the country.

If if you say that, I'm good.

Like if you go to a church that's like we worship America, like I get it.

I get leaving.

But what I don't get is when we just throw out Jesus with that.

Okay, there was a pastor in North Park.

Um, you may know that that's a nearby North Park.

And he was real big a couple years ago pushing acceptance of search certain sexual sins.

Like he was real big on it, and he was very accepted by a lot of people from different groups.

And so I use this term pastor loosely, um, but it was just a matter of time before things got worse.

And this is a quote I have from him now.

For those who are in an open or polyamorous relationship here this morning who might be squirming because this is an uncomfortable question to hear in church sometimes, I want you to hear out loud and clear, as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, your relationships are holy.

They are beautiful and they are welcomed and celebrated in this space.

That's a dude who like had just like took out a couple parts of the Bible.

Now he's like tearing it all out.

He's tearing it all out.

He threw out just some parts about sexuality in the Bible, so long as it was consensual and committed, and suddenly he's like, open relationships.

See, it's because he he no longer has something solid to deal with.

Now he believes the Bible is broken and fallible.

I could have told you that.

Um he's basically like a bad life coach now.

Like he's lost Jesus' voice, he couldn't hear it anymore, he threw out the bad parts of the church, and then he threw out the good parts.

Or how about this?

I looked up one more pastor this morning because I remember two years ago him advertising being an inclusive church.

I'm gonna quote you from his website.

Brand new inclusive Christian church in downtown San Diego.

Come be a part of an amazing community that's non-judgmental, open-minded, fun, and loves Jesus.

Why does it sound like the movie phone guy?

Sorry.

Where else will you find an adult actress who is also a pastor?

This is a unique church that welcomes all sinners but glorifies Jesus.

And I'm like, that ain't that don't glorify Jesus.

The pastor goes on to talk about his open relationship with his porn star wife, whom he loves.

Now, I hadn't thought about this pastor for a while, but I thought I would pull him up to see if his church was still together.

Um, because I figured it wouldn't be.

Because when you build on a foundation that's not Jesus, guess what happens?

Uh it falls apart.

I did not expect to see what I saw this morning.

Um, he just uh pleaded guilty to rape and went to jail for 30 years.

Right?

Guys, we need we have to know Jesus' voice because we're going to hear from these people, and it's going to sound nice because they're going to tell you what you want to hear.

Is your marriage hard?

Go get you a side piece.

God's God calls that holy.

By the way, I cannot wait for y'all to like take this out of context and get me in trouble online.

And be quoting that dude about his open run.

No, okay.

Okay, we have to strive to know God's voice, Jesus' voice.

We must continue to seek to be obedient in the power of the Spirit.

We grow in community with the purpose of honoring God in our lives.

Christians don't passively wait for the coming day of the Lord, like people that are in and out with their heads in their phones.

No, we wait with expectation.

We share truth, we chase holiness, we fight destructive theology, and we grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But what do you think it means to grow in grace while we wait?

Praying to grow in grace, I'm not a big fan of that prayer.

It's like praying to grow in patience.

Lord, give me patience.

Yeah, he'll give you an opportunity.

If you ask God to grow in your grace, he might answer you.

He might put people around you that you're gonna need to show grace to.

He's gonna likely put you around a bunch of sinful people that need your grace.

By the way, he already has.

It's us.

I can tell you though, he wants you to grow.

Um, when I was in a band, I would try people out for our band.

And there were times when they would come and they would not be good.

They would be off tempo, or they would not know how to sing on tune.

And what I would do to them is I would say, hey, I would love for you to be in our band, but I need you to go and get these lessons.

And you get lessons on tempo.

I need you to get lessons on singing.

Whatever it takes, go get the lesson, come back.

We'd love to try you out again.

It's amazing.

I'll try you out a year later.

It's amazing what happens when they come back.

You can tell instantly the people who went to lessons and the people who didn't, the people who just sat around and waited for the next year and the people who put in work.

And friends, God knows the difference between us just floating and us seeking Him in everything.

He knows.

But the beauty of this is that while He's waited, He offers a way for us to accept Him, He offers a way for us to be pure in Him, He offers us the gospel.

Friends, the gap between us and God is too big for you to grit yourself to holiness.

It is only by the work of Jesus Christ, who came to this earth, died on the cross for our sins, rose again, revealing that he was bigger than sin and death.

It is only by the work of Jesus that you can be made whole.

But you can't think Jesus is a pretty good guy.

You can't just be like Jesus is okay with me.

Uh-uh.

No.

You have to follow him.

The beautiful thing is when we repent of our sin, um, God, and when you give our lives to Jesus, God gives us his Holy Spirit.

He's our helper.

I've seen many of you grow quickly, and it's because you've made God's church a priority in your life.

You read and listen to the Word of God constantly, and you listen to God's voice by his spirit in you.

And then you allow him to do the major work in you.

I see you, and God sees your growth.

He does.

But if you've been trying to save your marriage without Jesus' spirit in you, you are trying to lift a car over your head by yourself.

You can't unless your name is Mr.

Incredible.

If you're trying to stop sinning, but you are not all in with Jesus, guess what?

You can't listen to his spirit.

You're fighting a losing battle.

Give your life to God, be baptized, walk with a church you can trust.

If you can't trust us, go to what church you can.

And it won't always be the flashiest one with the best speakers.

And friends, I tell you, be careful when you hear charismatic preachers.

And when I say charismatic, I mean like that wink and a smile, charismatic, okay?

Be careful when you see people with big platforms.

Listen to preachers who exhibit the fruit of the spirit that you could see their lives, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

And even then, always have your Bibles open, checking what they say.

So you can double check even what I say.

Because I'm not God.

The Bible is the word of God, and I'm gonna get it wrong at times.

You have to seek knowledge through Him.

Peter warns us to watch out for snakes, watch out for liars, watch out for people who want to take advantage of you for your money.

Be careful with people who only tell you what you want to hear.

Open relationships?

Yeah, God calls them holy.

No, he does not.

Indian pastor Chris Ganachen gives advice to anyone who might be led astray by talented preachers with a$100 haircut.

It's probably like a$500 haircut now.

I don't know.

He says this the best defense against being misled is to obey his second command and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Savior and coming King.

For us today, this knowledge comes from our experience of Christ and especially from our study of God's Word.

So I end with this City Life Church.

And guess.

Christians don't passively wait for the coming day of the Lord.

We wait actively with expectation and hope.

God's Word, God's church, and especially God's Holy Spirit empowers us to share truth, to chase holiness, to fight destructive theology, and to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let's pray.