The Return of Jesus, the Last Days, and the Patience of God | Pastor Adam James | II Peter

Hey, welcome to Great City Church Online.

This is our new podcast channel for all sermon content from Great City Church in Monaco, Washington.

We exist to help more people love and follow Jesus.

Now I hope this message encourages you and strengthens your relationship with Jesus Christ.

So grateful for the messages that Pastor Kyle and Pastor Carrie have brought these last few weeks.

You're grateful for their teaching.

Come on, we'll give them thanks.

The word of God is good.

We're diving in this morning.

The title of my message, and I will set this up too.

By the way, I'm Adam, if I haven't had a chance to meet you.

Hi, good morning.

I'm one of the pastors here at Grace City Church.

They let me stand up here and talk or yell.

Either, you know, Harvard depends.

We'll see where we go here.

But uh uh and it's an honor to be here and get to open up God's word with you uh this morning.

But uh I am on the downhill side, thankfully, of a of a head chest cold that hit me this last week.

So uh just working through that.

And so you may hear it in my throat, clear my throat.

Hopefully, I don't have to totally you know mute and go mess mode or whatever.

But um if I do, just you know, give me a minute, we'll be back together.

No problem.

Uh and and so the uh the title of my sermon uh this morning is The Last Days.

Why hasn't Jesus come back yet?

You ever ask that question?

I mean, you ever wonder, especially when when things are just getting crazy?

You ever wonder, like, Lord, it takes you back to being a little kid on the road trip.

Are we there yet?

Right?

Are we there yet?

Like, like, hello, are you coming back?

In light of the last days, in light of what we see often, and certainly in our culture in these days, the question rises, when will Jesus return?

Like you look at it from a couple different ways.

When will he say like he's had enough?

He's seen enough.

And by the way, we just got to remember that that day is coming and will come.

And it won't be the first time.

Watch it, it won't be the first time that God has looked down on earth, seen things, and said, I've seen enough.

And Peter's reminded us of that moment multiple times already in his letter in chapter two, and he's gonna remind us of again that's in chapter three, speaking, of course, of the flood.

And so when we look around at the world, when we look around at the ungodliness, and we look around at the wickedness, at the darkness, at the at the ungodliness, we look around even at the state of the church, we look around at the this is why I'm so encouraged by your love for the Lord, because it says in the last days when wickedness abounds, the love of many will grow cold.

But I'm saying, not at Great City Church.

Come on, not at Gray City Church.

This is the place where you come to keep your love for the Lord, your your fire for God, your remembering of his mercy upon your life, you keep it aflame in this house.

And we stoke and stir one another up because as the days grow dark, come on, we're gonna grow bright.

We're gonna grow bright because that is the work of the Spirit of God.

The lamp of this house is not gonna go out in Jesus' name.

And so, but when we you look at the days, you look at the times, the dark, you think, my my goodness, he owes us, he owes us not another day of patience.

He owes us not another day.

We're living in borrowed time as it is.

Every day is grace, every day is mercy, every breath is patience, and many scoff and mock the very God who made their lungs and tongue and made the oceans, and you would mock that God who created all things, and in a moment can, has, and will judge the earth, roll it up, game set, match done.

And no one will have a word of complaint to the judge of the universe that stands on that on that day.

Um, why hasn't Jesus come back yet?

Like what in the world?

Why?

Lord, where are you?

Why the why the delay?

Two thoughts, and we'll read the text and and jump in.

Um as I was reading, as I've been reading this passage and thinking about this sermon and next week, by the way.

They're at least, well, we'll see if they give me next week still, but I mean, as of right now, I'm on the docket for next week.

So I'll tell you this.

What I realized is we do not think enough about the return of Jesus.

You do not think enough about the return of Jesus.

Thinking upon, remembering, recalling the reality, the future reality, and and and scripture calls it the our blessed hope.

It's a core doctrinal hinge pin, which we anchor our very faith and our hope upon, the blessed hope of the glorious return of Jesus, which we've already sung about this morning.

And it's that moment in the song when you sing about the death of Jesus, and then you sing about the resurrection, the empty tomb, and you feel, you feel the faith rise in the room, and then you get to the point we're talking about when he returns in robes of right and seeing him face to faith, and our faith becoming sight, there's a crescendo still coming in this journey of faith, friends.

There's a crescendo building, like the song we sing, and Jesus will return, and we'll see him face to face.

And what I love about this is Peter's last letter.

He's writing near the end of his life.

And as I've been thinking about what a godly, holy, first-hand witness apostle is thinking about and reminding the believers about at the end of his life, has caused me to lean in, lean forward and go, man, when you listen to what someone who's near the end talk, you ought to pay attention to what they talk about.

Now we know that's true of all the word of God.

Yes and amen.

We give it our full attention, but when someone is near the end, not just someone, but an apostle, the one who walked with the Lord, and all the biographical descriptions we've already heard.

You know, Kyle and Carey did a great job.

Peter, what a guy, what a character, one of my favorites.

I do feel a kind of kinship, you know, the whole foot-in-the-mouth thing, the the the zeal and the energy, and the kind of getting the cart before the horse sometimes, you know.

I'm like, yeah, buddy, yeah, all in, man.

That's Peter, all in.

Right or wrong, all in.

You know, but he's near the end.

What's he thinking about?

What does he give us as the church that says, first of all, understand.

First of all, above all, don't forget this, recall this.

You say, whoo, I gotta take note.

Here we go.

Second Peter chapter 3 through there.

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

Just the first nine verses today, and we'll pick up the latter part of the chapter next week.

And that'll be a wrap on 2 Peter.

He says, Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you.

I've written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.

I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.

They will say, Where is this coming?

He promised.

Ever since our ancestors died, everything just keeps going on as it has since the beginning of creation.

But they deliberately forget that long ago, by God's word, the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water, by these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.

By the same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

But, dear friends, do not forget this one thing.

With the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.

Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

So, Father, again, we just ask that you, by your word and by your spirit, would stimulate us in this room this morning to wholesome thinking.

God, that you would not only inform our minds and our hearts, but you would transform and conform our minds and our hearts to you today.

That all of our life that we live each and every day would be greatly impacted and affected by the reality of the last day when you return and we see you face to face.

And so thank you for your word and use it to accomplish what you intend here today.

In Jesus' name.

Everybody said.

Amen.

Amen.

We do not think enough about the return of Jesus.

His return is our future reality.

It's a guaranteed fact.

And that should absolutely inform how we live our lives today and every day.

In fact, not only inform, even as I prayed, but transform.

It has the power when you contemplate, when you think about the reality of the soon and coming return of the Lord, that Jesus Christ will again one day split time, split the sky, and return physically to this earth to save his own and judge the ungodly.

When you think about that day as a real day that is coming, has the power to transform the way we face trials.

The way we face persecution, darkness, difficulty, ungodliness, and all the things that we will encounter in the last days.

We should welcome and speed his coming.

We should make the most and best use of our days.

The days that he gives us.

Life is both a gift and a mist.

It's a mist, it's a vapor, and then eternity.

And as Peter is saying here, my second letter, all of it, and again, as he's nearing the end, to remind you to be regularly, regularly reminded by the Lord's perspective on life and on time.

So two big things that will hit in the text today that one is we see a key mark of the last days, and that being the coming of scoffers.

And then, secondly, the reason for God's seeming delay.

The reason for his delay.

Why hasn't he come yet?

We are, in fact, living in the last days, and uh my my view of these things is that we have been for some 2,000 years.

That's about two days, according to our text today.

See how this works?

We already got to start catching up with God's program of time.

They lived with that anticipation in one sense, knowing there were things yet future to be revealed and to come and to happen.

We even see that as Peter's alluding to it, it's pointing forward, and like that this is more to come, and yet there was a sense that they lived in the light of that reality even then, and that and that these events that had transpired, that they had seen with their own eyes of the of the person of Jesus of Nazareth and his life and his miracles and his teaching, his proclamation, and his betrayal and death and resurrection, and seeing him post-resurrection and his ascension, and seeing him as Peter was one of the few on the Mount of Transfiguration in his glory revealed in his natural habitat, as it were, prior to the incarnation.

We are in the last days.

So let's walk through the text here.

First, we see, you'll notice an exhortation to wholesome thinking.

An exhortation to wholesome thinking in verses one and two.

Right?

And and uh he says, Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you.

I've written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.

I want you to recall the words.

Recall, remember, recall the words spoken in the past.

And he mentions both the prophets, so Old Testament, and then he and he specifically speaks then about the commands of Jesus through the apostles.

So you have Jesus Himself and you have the New Testament apostles.

Old Testament, New Testament.

Here's the first kind of takeaway big idea.

God's word must always govern our thinking.

Very, very, you know, just simple, straightforward.

We see it, but again, here's the Apostle Peter at the end of his life, and he's emphasizing this.

We can never roll our eyes or scoff at the most basic, simple, fundamental reminder of because the impact of this reality, friends, plays out daily in yours and my life.

God's word, truth, truth.

This is why even at the beginning of 2 Peter in chapter 1, it talks about the precious promises, the promises of God, the things God has said, things God has promised, his character, his nature, we see at the end of this passage, we see the things God has done, his faithfulness on display, his power on display everywhere.

Look at creation, the reality of this truth, this word, must always govern the perspective and thinking of the people of God.

As opposed to, now stop and think about how often, if we're honest, when we reflect day in, day out, how we are all tempted or prone to allow other things to govern our thinking and our emotions.

We allow our emotions to govern our thinking.

We allow feelings oftentimes to get into the driver's seat.

Or we look around and we overwhelmed by what appears to be external circumstantial evidence crying out to us by the circumstances of our lives, and we will allow circumstances to begin to govern our thinking.

What we see playing out in a moment in time, and apart from a commitment and a saturation of our minds and hearts and a rugged, anchored faith in the Word of God, we can have circumstances begin to dictate our thinking.

Feelings, circumstances, or what others say, which again, we see a danger in this text.

We're saying, watch out for the scoffers.

If you're not careful, when you combine the three, it becomes a powerful concoction to lead you astray.

Doesn't it?

The circumstances that appear to look bleak, oh, where is God?

Why did this end up being what happened?

Then come in the scoffing voices, like, yeah, what were you thinking?

You you I mean, and it is, it's mockery of our faith and of our God.

Just set to make you feel stupid for believing in those fairy tales.

You bring in circumstances, you bring in voices of the scoffers and mockers, and the accompanying feelings that those can rise up, and we can lose our footing.

And Peter's saying, I want to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.

You must always remember and recall the words.

Recall the words.

The Old and New Testament.

Ah, come on, what has God said?

I know you're gonna tell me about what you see with your eyes.

I know you're gonna tell me what you feel, I know you're gonna tell me what others say, but I want to know, church, when we show up, what do we remind each other with?

What do we remind each other of?

What do we encourage each other and build each other up with?

What God has said.

Who God is, what he's done.

Our eyes are on him.

His word governs our thinking.

And we see as well, secondly, the power and importance of remembering.

The power and importance of remembering.

In one sense, you look at this text, and really Peter is calling us to remember three things throughout these nine verses in this passage.

The first, the words of the prophets and apostles.

Secondly, the flood, as it stands, is a rebuttal against the scoffers who claim nothing ever happens.

Oh, yeah, except for that one thing that did.

Kind of a big deal.

Except you mean like that time when God did exactly what he said he would do, like he's always done every time, exhibit A.

And then he will remind us of the character and nature of God, and what seems to be God's delay is in fact deliberate.

But notice when he says to remember the words of the prophets and apostles, and friends, we we we must always remember this ourselves.

We must always proclaim this as the church, and we must pass this on to the next generation, and we must charge the next generation to pass it on to the following generation.

Should the Lord tarry, should he continue for another day, which would just simply be a thousand years, tarry.

We must remind them that, friends, as followers of Jesus, as followers of the true word, of the true testimony of the reality of this man who has stepped into the world that he created and has changed only everything, that we in the church, we do not need what is new.

We only always need what is true.

We don't need what's new.

We never have, we never will.

So be aware, be on guard, watch out for those who come along and say, oh, by the way, actually, what what God did God really say?

Friends, we don't come here to like, oh man, it's like we're gonna get something new.

No, no, no.

We're gonna get something old.

We're gonna get something true.

We're gonna get something now now.

By the way, just because it's old and true doesn't mean it doesn't feel new because it comes fresh.

It can still be fresh.

How many know his mercies are new every morning?

Praise God.

There's a newness in the reality of the trueness of who God is and what he said.

But we don't need what's new, we need what's true, which is why Peter says, recall the worries.

Now, think think of a time.

Uh all the situations, I had kind of fun with this.

I I'll be have to be careful not to go too long.

This is actually probably my longest point.

This I got down this road of the power and importance of remembering.

But think about situations where you've been given important information that you need to remember, or when an important event took place that you needed to remember.

So, you know, maybe even this summer you've gone gone uh on a trip somewhere and you were given uh directions.

And and have you ever been in a situation where you're trying to find a place and you get on the phone with someone and service maybe a little spotted.

Well you just you just you take a ride, you go around, and you get to the watch out for the barn.

It's the barn, not the new barn, it's an old barn, and it's it's kind of an old brown one, but you're gonna go by the third road over the second bridge, and then there's gonna be a fountain on your left, but then watch out because it's gonna be mile marker six, and then you're gonna you're listening to this and you're like, honey, are you getting this?

Right, this down, put that speakerphone.

Hang on a second.

You know, like you're trying to capture these important directions to get to where you need to go.

And as you're going, you're like, wait, was it was it mile marker six or seven?

Wait, were we supposed to turn right or left?

Was it one or two exits past the the The fountain.

Have you had those driving experiences?

And you and you and you're like trying to remember that critical information that was relayed to you.

And sometimes it's just one piece of information.

It's all it takes to miss for you to end up in the wrong place.

You know what I'm saying?

Or or uh, you know, you need the code to get in to the gate, the code to get in the house.

We did a vacation rental thing for a few days, you know, got out of the smoke and got by a river, and like we show up at the door and we're punching the code in.

Done work.

Okay, got the text here.

We're out nowhere.

I mean, we have service.

The host guy, I'm like, will he respond to this text?

Well, he usually responds within six hours.

That's great.

Okay.

Standing outside the door with my luggage and family.

Like, what was it, was it, you know, was it 425-6718 or 425-6781?

Do you remember what he said?

You're like, okay, you know, and and and we got the right code.

We got in.

Um, fellas, how about this one?

Um, that shopping list that your wife gives you.

Personally, I'm always so, so confident when I leave the house.

I'm so confident.

Well, I'm gonna nail it this time.

I'm gonna remember every single thing on that list.

And of course, you get there, and of course, what do you do?

Send me the text.

Right?

Send me a text.

Right?

With things, important information that's given to you.

If you really want to remember it, what do you need to do?

Write it down.

Right?

Write it down.

You need to do one of two things, actually, when it comes to that kind of information that you're receiving, that is really important to recall.

You either need to write it down right then and there, like check it twice, write it down, or you need to repeat it.

You need to repeat it, repeat it, repeat it, repeat it so it gets burned in the brain.

It's 46718.

46718, and his name was Joe.

Joe, are you sure it was Joe?

It wasn't Todd, no, it was Joe.

I'm telling you, Joe.

Joe, Joe, Joe.

Say Joe five more times.

We got to get the guy's name right.

You either write it down or you repeat it.

Same thing with warnings that were given.

You know, you show up at the place, and it's like before your wife goes down the stairs, you're like, oh yeah, sweetie, they told us to watch out for the third step.

It's wobbly, the board is wobbly.

That would have been good information to have before.

You know, you know, it's like there's certain information that you need.

It's important.

I I and I'm I'm I'm go, I'm just you're humoring me here for a minute.

Um I literally was thinking about all of the information that is so critical for us to remember in so many different areas of life.

Um, you young dads, when your wife leaves the baby with you for the first time, did you remember to feed it?

You know?

But but when you fed him or her, I shouldn't say it, right?

When you fed him, when you fed her, did you warm it up?

And when you warmed it up, did you check the temperature with your pinky first?

Right?

You young dads figuring all this out, right?

Did you did you change the diaper?

Did you use the right cream and lotion, right?

That no, that one gives her a rash.

Why do we still have that bottle?

I don't know, but use the other one.

Okay, that's good information.

Did you put a fresh onesie on her, you know, on him, her, right?

It's like all of these things you gotta remember.

It's like, my goodness, moms are amazing.

They somehow have all this information that they that they remember.

How much more something like a veteran memorial?

Or like a 9-11 site, or like the Holocaust Museum.

Right, the reality is Israel's collapse on every occasion was the result of forgetting, of forgetting.

You read Psalm 78.

A nation that forgets is destined to repeat or surp or surpass past failures and lessons.

That's why things get written down.

Think about the checklists, things that get remembered that save lives, from flying planes to handling equipment and weapons, and even when you start out learning to drive a car, like you gotta roll through the checklist, you gotta remember to do all the steps, and then it you do something and something that's so critical and so important until it becomes second nature, until you can't forget it.

It gets in your bones.

You stimulate and you repeat and you rehearse and you memorize and you and you get it in you.

And friends, we have to do that with the word of God.

It has to become second nature in our bones to the point where, like Peter says, where we still recall it, we still remember it.

Because, friends, listen, you're gonna need the clarity of that remembering, of that repetition when you get into the fog.

And when you get into the fog of war.

And that's why we we have his word to return to again and again.

With all of these things in every area of life, the power and importance of remembering from a person's individual life to nations as a whole, how much more when it comes to what God has said.

How much more.

In fact, Peter tells us in chapter one that if that if you stop remembering, you stop growing, you stop learning.

If you aren't making spiritual progress, it's directly linked to forgetting what God has done or said.

And if you don't remember warnings, if you if you brush off, throw off, forget, and and spurn godly, wise instruction, corrections, warnings from the word of God, you young men, young women, you're coming on the scene, you know, and it's like you got all that energy and all the things.

Just remember there's nothing new under the sun.

We've been around this, done a few laps on this thing.

If you don't listen to the voice of wisdom and you don't heed those warnings, you're destined to become naive.

Think about grace was given.

We're gonna take communion into the service.

Grace was given at the cross.

Remembering it through communion.

I love this, I love this phrase.

I heard someone say this is how grace stays in the room.

Remembering is how grace stays in the room.

It was given at the cross, and how do we continue to have that grace impact in fresh and new way?

We remember, and we do that in one important way in the in the body of Christ with communion.

So stimulate wholesome thinking.

How recall the word.

All right, we'll pick it up here.

A mark of the last days.

Expect the scoffers, expect the scoffers.

What's he say?

Understand, scoffers will come.

You've been told that, so don't forget when it happens.

Look at this.

What do we know about the scoffers from the text?

Notice it says they mock God and his people.

They mock God and His followers, his people.

And again, we see the foolishness of it because Peter says it's like they they they forget that like this is the God who created the universe, the world.

They're so foolish to mock the power of the one who created everything and the power of the one who's coming again to judge everything and everyone.

They mock God and his followers.

They are led by evil desires.

Thirdly, they sow doubt and unbelief.

Scoffers, what's their intent?

They want God's people discouraged.

They want God's people defeated.

I regularly recall to my mind one of the one of the passages I kind of carry around often in my mind and my heart that the Holy Spirit brings to my mind, helps me to recall regularly, is the passage says, we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but are of those who believe and are saved.

I load that.

That is my daily carry.

That's one of my daily caries.

We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed.

I don't care what people say, I don't care what I see or what I feel, we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed.

But that's the goal of the scoffers, that's the goal of the onslaught, of the noise, of the criticism, and of the mockery throughout our culture is to sow doubts and unbelief in the existence of God, in the promises of God, and in the trustworthiness and faithfulness of God.

They want to sow doubt and unbelief.

They want us discouraged and defeated.

They certainly do not want us to keep on keeping on.

They do not want us to stay on mission, to keep proclaiming with confidence and with hope the reality of the truth of who God is, what he's done, and what he's yet to do in his return.

But friends, I will I will say this just to be true when it comes back to internally, always, you know, having that ready mechanism to push back against the scoffing and the mockery when it comes against you and mocks your faith and and the enemy tries to get in you, get on you with those voices of scoffing and mockery.

Just remember, God's not giving us more time to lose.

God's not giving more time on the clock, so the enemy is gonna run his score up, friends.

That's not how this works.

God gives more time, and yes, while more time on the clock in this earth will mean more tests for you, the whole point of it isn't about more tests, it's about more testimonies.

God's got more time on the clock because he's got some more winning to do, friends.

Come on, we got some more winning to do as the church.

We've got some more soul winning to do.

There's time on the clock because God's not done yet.

And if God's not done yet, that's good news for you and me.

Come on, it's good news.

God's not done.

He's building his church, the gospel is advancing, the kingdom is advancing.

He's not adding time to the clock in order to lose more.

But that's what the scoffers want you to think, feel, and believe.

And they deliberately notice this, they deliberately forget God.

This kind of a, for me, it was a little bit of a call back to Romans 1.

They actively suppress the truth.

They deliberately forget the God who created everything.

And oh, yeah, this little event where when they say everything keeps going on like it always has, nothing ever happens except for that one time it did, Allah, the flood.

They deliberately forget God.

Now, what is true about Jesus' return?

Just a couple quick things.

One, it's it's equated with the coming judgment of God.

So make no mistake, Jesus Christ Himself is the living judge who will return with the sword, robed, you know, clothed in robes of white, sword out of his mouth, like Jesus, his return is equated by Peter in the text with the coming judgment of God.

He's coming to judge, and that judgment, as we see, says will be by fire.

This present heavens and earth is being reserved for judgment by fire kept.

So by the way, all that environmentalist bull blowing.

No, no, no.

God's word says this earth is being reserved.

God has a reservation he intends to keep, and you and your little junk human speculation ain't gonna change that.

But go ahead and and and tack on some new environmental tax.

Right?

That was a side note, sorry.

Don't got all the politics out of my system yet, you know.

Right?

Give me a break.

Human beings gonna determine the destiny of this earth?

Good luck.

It's being reserved.

God has a reservation.

That's right.

It's being kept.

God has purpose and intention.

First time was by water, second time it's by fire.

We look around Washington State right now, we go, well, what might be going on right now?

It might actually be really, you know, the thing that's happening.

Maybe it is happening.

It's like.

But it's equated also uh his coming to to bring both salvation and judgment.

So it is both good news and bad news in that sense, right?

It's it's it's it's again, you know, Titus chapter 2 calls it the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our Lord and Savior.

Titus 2 · chapter mention

For those who believe, for those who belong to the Lord, for those who know and have that assurance, your sins are forgiven, your faith is in Christ, what a great day of rejoicing that will be.

What a great day of vindication that will be.

What a great day.

When you see your Savior face to face.

Again, if you actually contemplate and think more about, take time to actually put your mind to the reality that one day Jesus Christ is going to return, you're gonna see him face to face.

When you think about either your death or his return, for me, it literally, I have physical manifestations in my body when I put my mind to that reflection, not to get all weird and charismatic with you here, but I have it it's it's it's a thing when you think about that instant of that moment when you step out of this life and this time-bound reality that you're in now, and you step across that threshold into eternity, or when eternity crosses that threshold and comes into this world, in that moment, we'll all know.

At that moment, we'll all know.

And friends, all the hoping, all the praying, all the waiting, all the pursuing, all the faithfulness, all the responding to conviction, all the obeying, all of the effort will be worth it.

We'll be worth it.

What's true about coming judgment?

Just a few things.

Again, we're just pulling this right out of the text.

Uh just note, it will certainly come.

Again, scoffers are the ones that come along and say, oh, it's always going on, where is it?

Oh, what's going on?

Just we keep going round and round.

No, no.

Coming judgment, it will certainly come.

Peter is pressing at home.

It will be in the form of fire.

The ungodly will be destroyed.

So I was gonna say, this is both a blessed hope, and it's also, friends, serious business.

It's serious business.

Knowing that you know, that you know.

Where you stand, ready, ready for that day, ready for that last moment.

Do you know that you know, that you know, that you're ready?

That you've repented.

There is a way of escape, and it's the way of repentance.

Do you know that you've repented?

You, you, you, you, you, the ones here in this room, the ones listening to this sermon.

Do you know?

The ones who go to church, the ones who've grown up around God and his people.

The ones who come in and out and around and amongst the gathering of those who sing songs, adoring and worshiping Jesus and come to the altar and pray and look to the Lord as the refuge and comforter of their souls.

Do you do you know that you have repented?

Do you know that you're ready?

Do you know?

And are you excited?

Not to be on the planning committee, because that's not our job, but to be on the welcoming committee.

So, friends, God has a flawless track record, and don't let the scoffers shake your confidence.

Don't let the scoffers shake your confidence.

Okay, so now there are a few remaining minutes left here.

Why then, friends?

Why the delay?

Understand God's perspective on time and patience.

First, friends, it's not delay, it's deliberate.

God is not slow as some understand slowness.

He's not late.

His apparent delay is deliberate.

Everything God does has purpose, and everything God says accomplishes its intended end.

He has a flawless track record, what he has said, he will do.

And his delay is deliberate.

He tells us he's not wanting that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

And when Peter is writing this, it's very clear in the text, he says, in verse 9, the Lord is not slow in keeping his promises, some understand slowness.

And notice what he says next.

He says, instead, he is patient with you.

Not wanting any one of you to perish, but every one of you to come to repentance.

Friends, God is outside of time.

That's uh this is a whole mind-blowing thing.

You don't have time to do right.

A day is as a thousand years, a thousand years or as a day.

Like our limitations are not God's limitations.

And God's perspective is not our perspective.

His is not like ours, and ours are not like his.

God is outside of time.

He's eternal and he sees all the beginning from the end.

He knows all, sees all.

He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

He is the author and the finisher of our faith.

He is the creator and the judge of the universe.

He is the one writing the story.

He sees it all, every step of the way, and every move God has made has been purposeful and intentional and deliberate, and not one of his purposes has failed.

This is the sovereign God of history that we come to worship and to draw near, that we honor, that we sing to, that we bow before, that we pray to.

So God who created all things.

Notice the repetition of the word, word in this passage.

By his word, heavens and the earth were created by water out of water, by word, his word, his word.

What God says, God's word comes with creative force and power.

And so he's given us his word that still comes in a way from general revelation to special revelation, the specific word concerning his son that has the ability to pierce joint and marrow, thought and intention of the heart, gets into a place inside of you where nothing, nothing else can reach.

Only the word of God can speak to you in that place.

Only the word of God can pierce the hardest heart.

And he flicks that hard heart between his pinky and thumb, like a little diamond marble that turns to a marshmallow in the hands of God.

It's not hard for God to pierce a hard heart.

He does it, he sends his word, and when it gets in, and all the more when you open to receive it, it has the life-changing power of that same creative word of God.

And he's the one who speaks and he says, Today is the day of salvation.

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart.

Do you know?

God is not slow, but he is patient.

The man can come out, we're gonna move to clothes and have a time to prepare for communion and respond and worship and opportunity for prayer.

So, friends, are we in the last days?

Yes.

When will Jesus return?

I have no idea.

We'll talk more about it next week.

But I do know we shouldn't take a single day for granted.

That's right.

We shouldn't neglect a single conviction or prompting of the Holy Spirit, not a single one.

I always recall the passage in Ephesians, I believe it's chapter four, where Paul writes there and he's saying, describing the condition of the lost.

And he says, having lost all Sensitivity, they've given themselves over to a continual lust for more.

And you see the hard road of the fool.

You see the hard road of the rebellious.

You see the hard road of the one who rejects and spurns the convicting word and voice of the Holy Spirit.

Separated from the life of God.

He says, having lost all sensitivity.

And I remember reading that passage and thinking to myself, good night.

Have I lost some?

There are some who have lost all sensitivity.

Let us be a people who lose none of the sensitivity to the voice and the conviction of the Holy Spirit to keep you, to preserve you.

He's got a reservation for you.

At the table with the king, the marriage supper feast of the lamb with your name on it.

Oh, he's gonna get you there.

He's got a reservation for you.

Do you know that?

You know that you know that your name's there.

Don't neglect.

We should live every day being about our father's business, growing in his perspective, and growing in his heart for people.

Which is the final point.

Understand?

God's heart for the lost and God's heart for you.

When I say the lost, I mean you, you and me.

I was lost and now I'm found.

I was blind and now I see.

I was wandering in darkness and addiction and enslaved to the passions and lusts of my flesh.

Until God.

Until God stepped into my life.

Until the Holy Spirit knocked on the door of my heart.

It's not enough that you know information about God.

Do you understand that God's patience is purposeful in your life?

And God's patience is not just purposeful, He's waiting.

We think we're waiting.

Why hasn't Jesus returned yet?

And Jesus is saying, why?

To some, perhaps even in this room or here, and some that we know that we all know.

Why haven't you returned yet?

Why haven't you?

Who's waiting for who?

Who's doing the waiting?

God's waiting, God's seeking, God's pursuing, God's speaking, God's knocking, God's searching, God's looking, God's finding.

Because friends, his patience is personal.

His patience isn't just purposeful, his patience is personal.

It's got names on it.

He's not wanting any of you to perish.

He's patient with you.

Come on, can you can you remember?

Can you reflect upon and do you recognize God has been patient with you personally?

And so, friends, God's delay in returning should not result in your delay in repenting.

While Jesus is delaying his return, do not delay your repentance.

You who are here, Peter would say, near the end of his life, remember, remember, remember, recall the words.

Don't let the scoffers shake your confidence.

Don't let your feelings be in the driver's seat.

Don't let circumstances be in the driver's seat.

Don't let what others say be in the driver's seat.

You who are here until your last breath, make your calling and election sure.

His delay should not prompt your delay.

His delay should not feed your doubt.

His seeming delay should only fuel our desire and our devotion to be about our Father's business.

The harvest is white, the fields are white and ready for harvest.

The only question is more workers.

So friends, here's the close, okay?

Why hasn't Jesus returned yet?

Why hasn't Jesus returned yet?

I'll give you one very, very specific answer to that question.

His name is Al.

And two weeks ago, I baptized him in the Wenatchee River because he surrendered the white flag and gave his life to Jesus at Freedom Conference.

That's why.

That's why.

So who do you know?

Who do you know?

Who needs to come to Jesus before Jesus comes back?

You remember these one more cards, friends?

Church?

You remember these?

We still got these.

Maybe time to, as we head into fall, time to pull this out, brush this off, grab a few more, write a few more names down.

Who do you know?

Come on, Al was invited by a friend at Great City Church to come to FreedomCon.

He comes every week.

Now, by the way, that's now his fiance, Julie.

He came out of the waters after obeying God, repentance and obedience of the waters of baptism.

He got down on his knee and proposed to as his next step of repentance and obedience.

And Al and Julie are gonna make things right and get married in the presence of God.

I text I texted Al yesterday and I said, Bro, are you gonna be in church tomorrow?

He says, I'm a man on vacationing on Lake Roosevelt.

But tell everybody, I'm so grateful.

Tell everybody my story.

Friends, Al's what he's in his 60s.

God has set him free from addiction to alcohol.

He's got he had that prompting over and over all through years of his life.

He knew, he knew, he knew.

Put it off, put it off, put it off, put it off.

There's a lot of old ways.

Al said, I'm ready for the new.

I'm ready for the new.

I'm done with the old.

I'm done with the old, and I'm ready for the new.

I told Al I was standing on the banks of the river there.

There's like 20, 30 folks of his friends and family, and a stronger man nation group of guys, and two of his sisters from Altown were there for that day because it was, of course, baptism and proposal, and they came to church that Sunday, and they're like, they're searching for rent in this area.

Like, we gotta move here, come to this church.

His two older sisters.

I stand under.

I said, Al.

Better late than never, buddy.

Better late than never.

And friends, there's a river.

Plenty of water.

There's more room.

There's more room.

There are others who've put it off.

There's others keeping the voice of God at a distance, know just enough of it to know he's still there, yet haven't opened and surrendered and said, okay, I'll return to you before you return.

That's why.

That's why Jesus hasn't come back yet.

Because he doesn't want any of you to perish.

He wants every one of you to come to repentance.

His patience is deliberate and it's personal.

And you may be here, you may be like Al.

You certainly know an Al.

But church, the scoffers can scoff.

The apparent victories and losses can come and go.

But this I know what God says he will do, he will do.

And the doors are open, and he is speaking, and he is seeking, and the days of salvation are still here.

And as far as this house, our lamp will burn bright, and we will keep on keeping on with our father's business to welcome home more owls in Jesus' name.

In Jesus' name.

So, Father, we thank you for your word.

We thank you for your apostle Peter, your great servant.

We thank you that he now worships you with his eyes.

We thank you will join him one day when we see you return or when we meet you in glory.

God, I pray your Holy Spirit continue to encourage, strengthen, and build up your saints.

Strengthen us for these last days.

In Jesus' name, everybody said.

Thanks so much for listening.

I hope this message blessed you.

And if you want to learn more about Grace in the Church, visit our website listed below.

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