Living in Light of His Return

Well, you've got your bible, I invite you to open up to second Peter chapter three. And today, our study of Peter's life and Peter's letters comes to its conclusion. That we've spent the last several months studying Peter from the from the accounts and the gospels to his epistle of first Peter and now we find ourselves in the last chapter of his second epistle, second Peter in chapter three. It's here that Peter's really gonna put before us the certainty of Christ's return and our subsequent response of how we live in light of Christ's return. That Peter's final words are concerning final things.

Final words addressing final things. So if you've got your copy of the scripture or your worship guide, we're gonna read a good chunk of first Peter chapter three. We'll read through verse verses 14. So we know that this is pinned by Peter under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And so these words as we hear them today, we hear them under authority from God himself God himself speaking to us.

So Redeemer Community Church, this is God's word for you this morning. It says this in second Peter chapter three. This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the of the Lord and through your apostles, knowing that this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, where is the promise of his coming?

For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God. And that by means of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word, the heavens and the earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, And the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, Because of which, the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace.

This is the word of the Lord. Amen. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for sacred moments like this where your people are gathered around your word. And so we plead with you, spirit of God, may these not just be black words on white pages, but may these words live.

May you open the eyes of our heart to see what this passage is truly saying. And if you would, in your seat, in your pew, would you pray? Would you ask that God would speak to you through his word this morning? And if you would, would you pray for me that I would be clear and helpful to you? And so God, we pray now that you would do the work that only you can do where you would touch our hearts.

And I pray now, God, that my words would fall to the ground. They would blow away. They would not be remembered by anyone in this room. But God, your words would remain and they would change us. We pray this, father, for your glory's sake, through your son and by your spirit.

Amen. Well, the National Institute of Health known as NIH, is housed in Bethesda, Maryland. This is the government organization responsible for experimental drugs and public health in general. Around 11,000, experimental clinical drugs are are being tried out at any given time within the NIH. And this became immensely personal for my family and I when I was in elementary school.

My dad was diagnosed with a one in a million neurological disease that radically changed my family's life. And when this opportunity at NIH presented itself, my family jumped at it. That this experimental drug, it could potentially be the thing that set our family right again, that was gonna make everything come back together, that it became our family hope. I'm not a scientist, I'm a pastor, but my understanding at the time, was you know that there would be two groups of people in my dad's study. There would be those that would be getting the actual drug, and those who would be getting the placebo or basically a sugar pill, in a way for them to kind of evaluate how are they recovering, how are things changing.

And so this became this time in my family's life in which we waited and we debated. We were waiting to see, is dad any better or is he getting worse? We debated around the dinner table, like, I think he's got the real thing. I think he's got the placebo. Like, we were waiting and we were debating around this thing that had become a place of hope for my family.

I think that's exactly what's happening here in second Peter three, that this great Christian hope, the person of Jesus, his perfect life, his sacrificial death on the Roman cross, his victorious resurrection and ascension, and his eventual return to set all things right. They are waiting for his return, but in their waiting, there is also much debating. And as they begin to debate, they also begin to doubt. There begins to there begins to become those who would say, there's no way he would come back. That doesn't even make sense.

And so it's here that Peter is gonna put before the people of God and I think the spirit of God is gonna place before us this morning ways for us to live in light of Christ's return. Specifically, four ways for us to live in light of Christ's return. But even as I was studying this passage, here's the reason why I need second Peter chapter three. The first is this, is I am quick to forget the fullness of our hope. That yes, I I understand what Jesus did for me on the cross, but I am quick to forget that he is returning to restore all things.

That the cross of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the return of Christ, it doesn't just change spiritual things, it changes everything. And I'm quick to forget that hope, and Peter is gonna encourage me not to do such a thing. The second reason why I need second Peter chapter three is that I am quick to mistake the volume of the world of cynicism and rejection and ridicule as the actual truth. That as I consume this outside world's opinions about who Jesus is and whether or not he will return, I can mistake that as truth. Another reason as we wait for Christ's return is I need second Peter three because it is easy for my heart to mistake God's patience in his return as his absence.

The fact that I don't think that he will return. And then lastly, and maybe even most applicable for a room like this, is I'm quick to mistake knowledge about Christ's second coming for preparation for his second coming. That I affirm it doctrinally, but I ignore it practically. Or maybe like a question to kinda sum that up, is that if I genuinely believe that Jesus is returning, that Christ will come back, what should change about the way that I live? So let's look at first Peter or second Peter chapter three verses one through 18 in four ways that we can live in light of Jesus' return.

I'm gonna say them and then we'll work through them in order. In verses one and two, I think Peter's gonna invite us to remember his word. For us to remember his word. And then in verses three through seven, Peter's gonna acknowledge that we need to expect pushback. We should expect pushback.

And then in verses eight through 10, we're gonna see that Peter's gonna invite us to trust his timing. Trust his timing. And then in verses 11 through 14, we're gonna hear Peter encourage us, invite us, challenge us to prepare to meet him. Prepare to meet him. Remember his word.

Expect pushback. Trust his timing and prepare to meet him. All for the purpose of living in light of Jesus' return. So let's look at verse one, shall we? It says, this is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved, and both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember.

Pen, pencil, highlighter, crayon, reminder. If you wanna circle, reminder. Remember. What does Peter want them to remember? He tells us, number one, the predictions of the holy prophets, and number two, the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles.

Now if you were to kind of sum this up for our for us today, he's saying, hey, remember your old testament. Remember the holy prophets, those who spoke of Christ's life, death, resurrection, ascension, and return. And then he's saying, remember the teaching of our Lord and Savior through the apostles a k a your New Testament. Like like remember what they said about Christ's return, that we were to stir up these thoughts. I think this is fun, interesting for us.

It's interesting here that Peter is equating the old testament and the new testament as fully God's word. That all 66 books of this bible is God's breath on a page. It is his inspired word that as it reads, he speaks to us. You can almost I don't have time to read all of them, but you can almost imagine Peter saying to the church, hey, remember Daniel seven? Remember Zechariah 14, Psalm two, Isaiah 25, Malachi three?

Hey, church, remember John fourteen one through three, Acts one eleven, first Thessalonians three, first Timothy six, remember these things, remember his word of what he has promised because the second coming of Christ is not a side quest in scripture. It's a central theme, that it's a core tenet of our Christian hope. Now, I don't wanna make any assumptions this morning. When we say the day of the Lord or Christ's return, here is what we mean. We mean that Jesus Christ will return to this earth personally, visibly, physically, and suddenly in great power and great glory, that he will gather his elect, raise the dead, judge the nations, and establish his kingdom.

If you're like me and you like headlines, Jesus comes back. Evil is destroyed. The world is put right and his people enter his joy. That the second coming of Christ is a huge piece of our Christian hope. It's not a side quest, it's a central theme and Peter is saying, remember his word, that believers remember the second coming.

Maybe think about it this way. My wife was at the earlier service. My wife My mom will be at the four today. Here's what they would tell you is true of me. I can't cook.

I make a mean Eggo waffle, crazy bowl of cereal. I mean, that Cinnamon Toast Crunch, it's nuts when I make it, tell you. Like, for my gentlemen here, like, don't ask me to grill something on your black stone because it will be black and it will be as hard as a stone. Like it's just not my game. But here's what my mom and Jameson would tell you.

I do know how to stir what's on the stove. Give me that wooden spoon, and I'll make sure those noodles aren't sticking, like I've got the capacity to stir what is on the stove. And Peter is saying here, I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder. That he wants for us to be a people of God who stir the stove of Christian hope, of Christ's return, to get the steam on our face, to smell the aroma of heaven, for us to prepare our appetites for the feast that we will enjoy with God, that we are to excite our senses as we anticipate his return, that we stir what is on the stove of eternity. Here's why I think this matters, that your hope in life and death is not something you need to create.

That you don't have to muster up hope, you don't have to conjure it up in your mind. Your hope has a substance. Your hope has the sauce, if you will. Your hope has a name, and it's the historic person of Jesus. That if you are to meet with an honest atheist or an honest agnostic and you ask what is your hope, the answer is maybe, just maybe, tomorrow will be better.

Maybe, just maybe, things will improve. Maybe, just maybe, that they hope in hope itself. We are not a people who hope in hope itself. We are a we are a people who hope in a person who has accomplished a thing, who is returning to renew all things. Our hope is not a proposition.

Our hope is a person. So how do we remember his word? How do we stir what is on the stove of eternity? I'm gonna try to be as practical as possible this morning. I'm gonna challenge you church that, your car rides this week are not for podcasts or music or a radio.

Who listens to the radio? Who am I talking about? Your car rides this week are reserved for a simple breath prayer. Come, Lord Jesus. Come, Lord Jesus, would you would you return and restore all things?

Would you reserve your car rides this week for prayer to him to stir your affections for his return. Can I have you, like, kinda step on some toes? What about if your car ride from church this morning as a family wasn't necessarily about we're gonna go for lunch or what the rest of the day was, but for you to pray as a family about the return of our savior, the substance of our hope. It's a good thing for us to remember his word because Peter's gonna tell us we should expect some pushback. Let's look at verse three.

He says, we remember these things knowing this first of all that scoffers, you wanna circle scoffers, scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. The Greek word play here is so fun, but scoffers, scoffing, mockers, mocking, ridiculers, ridiculing. I'm not I don't usually use the word scoffer in everyday language, so you could think, someone who mocks, someone who ridicules, someone who has the tone of derision. In a sense, it's, you fool. You think he's returning?

I mean, look at verse four. He says, they will say, where is the promise of his returning? Like you actually think that Jesus is gonna come be physically, visibly on earth to judge the living and the dead? You fool. And and I don't have time to go into it.

This is a flyover of chapter three, but in in verse four, he summarizes their argument. Essentially, they believe that God has never intervened in human history. Why would he intervene now? That God, since the patriarchs have died, God's just been kind of like sitting back, not involving himself. But then in verse five, Peter refutes this argument by saying like, hey, you remember the flood?

Like when the whole world was judged for its sin except for Noah, that that was God intervening. And in the same way that God intervened with the flood, he's gonna intervene again not through water but through fire for the destruction of the ungodly, that God is good at his word. But while God is good at his word, the world is good at ridicule. I know that I'm not supposed to care what people post on social media. I admit it.

I know I'm not supposed to, but I still like lives rent free in my head of a family member of mine making fun of Easter on Strava. I don't even run, but like I was on Strava and we're making fun of Easter. And it's still like it lives rent free in my head. But I shouldn't be surprised that someone who I honestly, someone who I love, who I respect, who is well educated, who I think well of is speaking in a way of derision or mockery or foolery about the event in human history I hold most dear. And so why does Peter put this here for us is that he does not want us to be surprised when we experience this sort of friction, this sort of pushback, this sort of ridicule from our culture.

And and this is why this matters is that our hope doesn't rest on our culture's consensus. Our hope rests on the person and work of Christ. That we're not hopping on a bandwagon here. We are not trying to win a popularity contest. We're trying to cling to what is true.

That he that he wants to prepare us for the pushback so that their doubt doesn't become our doubt. That their cynicism doesn't become our cynicism. That their unbelief doesn't become our unbelief. Okay. I've got time to throw this in here.

It's also interesting verse in verse three, when he speaks of their scoffing, he says, following their own sinful desires. It's interesting that almost always, those who will vehemently push back against the Christian faith, disagreement. It's almost always a moral one. That, yes, there are some like into intellectual conversations, conflicts that we should engage in as Christians, 100%, but lots of time, there is almost always a moral issue lingering beneath the surface. Why is that the case?

Because we have desires and instincts and we do not want a master or a god to tell us that we can't have it. So just something to keep in mind as we expect pushback, is it's almost never just intellectual, but it's almost always moral. There is this sinful desire that is beneath. So what do we do with this? How do we expect pushback for us to live a life in light of Jesus' return?

I'm gonna invite your family to play a little game this week. See a scoffer, name a scoffer. See a mocker, name a mocker. Not in a rude way, but you're going through a good old brain rot doom scroll on your phone, you read an article on al.com, you you fill in the blank, and you sense this, you fool, eye roll, dogging on Easter on Strava, for you to be able to say, it's a scoffer. God's word told me that this was gonna happen.

Like, that's a mocker. God's word told me this was gonna happen. And there's probably something going on in that person's heart that is causing them to push back in such a way. See a scoffer, name a scoffer. Didn't say this during the eight, but maybe name a scoffer, see a scoffer, pray for a scoffer.

To see it, name it, pray for it. Jesus' words, Matthew five forty four, pray for those who persecute you. Love your enemies. We remember his word. Believers remember the second coming.

We expect pushback. Mockers laugh at the second coming. And let's look at verses eight through 10 where God is going to guarantee his second coming. It says, but do not look overlook overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

I was told to keep this at a 30,000 foot view sermon, and we could spend I could do the next two Sundays on verses eight and nine, so I'm gonna pull a Joel here. If you would like to buy me a beer, I would love to talk about this sermon. College students, if you wanna buy me a cup of coffee, I would love to talk about this about this about this passage, but here's the main thing we need to grab. Number one, God's timing is not our timing. God's timing is not your timing.

He is the potter and we are the clay. Second thing, have you ever asked yourself, why has Jesus not returned? Why has he allowed for evil to go on for so long? Why hasn't he come? Here is the beautiful and simple answer from verse nine.

You, That God has delayed destroying evil so that he wouldn't have to destroy you. That verse 15 would say, and count the patience of our Lord as salvation. That God has delayed his coming in order that you may repent. In order that you may come to saving faith in Christ Jesus by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And of course, now it's easy for us to sit in these pews as the saved people of God and say, why have you waited?

When God is saying, there are still some of my chosen elect who have not come to me and I'm waiting for the day. God's timing is not our timing and God's patience is his mercy. God's patience, as verse 15 would say, is his salvation. So may we not mistake God's patience as his absence. God is still on the move.

God is still guaranteeing his coming, but not yet. Maybe think about it this way, most afternoons, I get to go pick up my three year old and one year old from school, day care, and I always go and pick up my oldest son first, and I pick him up and ask about his day, yada yada. And I'm like, Tate, you ready to go home? And he's like, let's go home. And then on our way to go get my one year old, we have to walk past the doors that would go out to go to go to the car.

And every time we walk past those doors, Tate's like, dad, let's go home. The thing that he doesn't realize is that I haven't gotten his sister yet. That the family isn't all together before we go home. And in the same way, God is waiting. We are walking past the door which would seem like Jesus returned to ensure that God's family is all here first.

So we wait because I wanna be very clear here. There are some tough language in this that that our world is stored up for fire being kept until the day of judgment in the destruction of the ungodly. That's verse seven. That each of us in this room will drink from one of two cups. We will drink from the cup of God's blessing because of the shed blood of Jesus.

Or I'm gonna speak to you in a very straightforward way, is we will drink from a cup of wrath that is restored for the ungodly. That someone will pay for our sin and it will either be Christ Jesus or it will be us. That his patience is not slowness, his patience is mercy. So what do we do as we trust in his timing? First thing, if you are in the room this morning, you do not know Jesus, I plead with you, turn from your sin and trust in the finished work of Christ.

Trust in him. Know this Jesus. It's the life you were made for. But if you are in Christ, you've trusted in Jesus, the second thing we can do is we wait, as we trust in his timing, as we share the gospel. That the gospel is the power of God for salvation for all who believe.

And so I would just say to you like, do you have a list of names of people you are praying would come to Christ in this next year? That would that would be a great way, for you to trust in the timing, to see his slowness as salvation. We remember his word. We expect pushback. We trust in his timing.

And then lastly, we prepare to meet him. Let's look at verse 11. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness. Let's jump up to verse 14. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace.

I love the phrasing in verse 11. If another thing if you want to circle it, what sort of people ought you to be in light of this revelation, in light of Jesus' return, what sort of people ought we to be? And the text is clear. We should be a people of holiness, a people of godliness, a people who are waiting for the day of Jesus' return. And so maybe just something to consider this morning, would you describe your life as verse 14 does, without spot or blemish and at peace?

Would you describe your life as verse 11 does? Lives of holiness, lives of godliness, lives of waiting for the coming of God. This makes me think about the countless young couples in our church who are getting married, who are preparing for their wedding day. People always talk about like, are you ready for your big day? You know, I've seen like the full gamut of it.

I've seen guys time out their haircuts, in order to make sure they're at the exact right length on that day. I'm not even gonna pretend to know what the women do with their hair, but it's probably more than that. I I, you know, I've I've seen the Joseph a Bank Men's Wearhouse, Does the tux fit? The answer is it doesn't. I promise.

It's finally getting your apartment or your townhome ready, Canterbury Gardens, like we gotta get like get it all set. Our finances, are we prepared to bring those together? Oh, and let's not forget, we've gotta sure we have our honeymoon set like Mexico Beach, like whatever it's gonna be. We're getting things in order. Are you ready for your big day?

The same way Peter is telling the people, are you ready for the day? Not your hair, but your holiness, not your suit, but your conduct, not your finances, but your genuine faith, not your honeymoon, but the new heavens and the new earth. Like wedding day, huge day, beautiful day, love it. The day in which Christ returns. It's the day we need to be prepared for.

Not just know a lot about, but genuinely prepared and so quite like question to slide across the table this morning. Like genuinely, are you ready? Are you ready for Christ Jesus to return to this earth physically, visibly, personally, and suddenly in great power and glory to raise the dead, judge the nations, and establish his kingdom? Are you ready for Jesus to return, for him to destroy evil, set the world right, and for us to enter his joy? Are you prepared?

Maybe a question to consider, a filter to run your day through to prepare yourself. I took this from a a dear friend of mine. He and his wife were, he was working corporate world at Home Depot. She was a school teacher. They were thinking about, just like dropping everything and traveling for a year.

Like nothing wrong with that, but here was the question that Ben asked, and I think it's a great question for us this morning. If Jesus was to return and he found me doing blank, would he be honored? If Jesus was to return in power and glory and he was to find me doing, would he be honored? This is from verse 14. Be diligent to be found by him.

And Ben would just tell you that he was convicted by the Holy Spirit that the way he was about to spend money and the way he was about to live unmissionally for a year was not gonna be honoring to Jesus. So he chose not to go. Maybe for you it is, you need to go. But it's a way for us to prepare to meet him. If Jesus was to return and he found me blank, would he be honored?

These are the four ways that we can live in light of Jesus' return. We remember his word, we stir the stove, we pray in our car, come Lord Jesus. We expect pushback, ridicule, mocking, derision. We see a scoffer, we name a scoffer and we pray for a scoffer. We trust in God's timing, that he's not slow, but he's merciful.

And and as a result, we repent of our sin and we share the gospel and we prepare to meet him, that we live lives of godliness and holiness. We ask the question, if Jesus was returned, would he be honored by how he finds me? We live in light of Jesus' return. I started this message by sharing about my dad, and our time at NIH. My dad has now passed away.

The experimental drug didn't work. It's not the reason he passed away, it ended up not working. The thing that we had hoped in, was faulty. But I'm grateful to stand before you today that my family's ultimate hope hasn't been faulty. The person of Jesus, his subsequent return has been enough for us and he has sustained us in this entirely and I await the day that Jesus returns and restores restores the new heavens and the new earth and my family gathers in this place and we will worship the one who has scarred hands.

And because of that, I will get to shake my dad's healthy hand. It's the hope of the new heavens and the new earth that Jesus' life, death, resurrection, ascension, and return doesn't just change spiritual things. It changes everything. Let's pray together. Our father, we thank you for your word and whatever we need to be sealed in our hearts today, we pray spirit of God, you would seal it and would you keep us far from being hearers of the word and not doers of it.

We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.