Heaven: The Day of the Lord | 08/23/26

As Christians, one of the core tenets of

our faith is that we believe in the

return of Jesus Christ. We believe that

he will come again. After his

resurrection, he was lifted up into the

sky in front of many witnesses, in front

of his disciples. And then the the

disciples who were there were told by

angels that Jesus would return in the

same way in which he left. So my

question to you is, what are you

expecting when Christ returns? What do

you personally expect when he comes

back? Is it is everything going to stay

the same except now Jesus is here on

earth? Or will you just disappear? Will

you be raptured like in the left behind

series? Will you simply vanish, leaving

your clothes and your pets and your

friends to wonder what happened to you?

And if you do disappear, where does your

body go? and how long will it be there?

And what will you do there?

I hope to answer some of these questions

this morning for you. Today, we're

actually going to dive into a biblical

event known as the day of the Lord. It

actually has a few different names

throughout the Bible. It's called the

day of the Lord, the day of Christ, the

day of God, the day, or that day.

All of these titles are referring to the

same event, the day in which Christ

returns to bring salvation and judgment

to this world.

When I used my Bible software to search

through the entire Bible for references

to the day of the Lord, I got 15 single

spaced pages of tiny fonts in a word

document. That's how much the Bible

talks about the day of the Lord. And

there's a reason for that. There's a

really good reason for that. The day of

the Lord is the next event in the day of

redemption, in the story of redemption.

Let me say that again and then I'll

explain what I mean. The day of the Lord

is the next event in the story of

redemption.

Think about a story.

A good story has at least four parts to

it. First, there is the exposition.

That's the context. Introducing the

character, setting the scene, the

character development. In the Bible,

that is creation.

God, the main character, is introduced.

The setting is given. It's the earth and

the heavens. That's where all of the

story of redemption will take place.

Humans are introduced as good and

beautiful co-rulers with God.

That's the stage that is set, the

exposition. Next, any good story will

introduce a conflict, a struggle,

some problem that arises that has to be

solved. A villain is introduced into the

story. In the Bible, this was the fall

of humanity into sin.

Humanity who was made good and

beautiful, sinned against God. Humans

traded their reign and their fellowship

with him for a lie. And then were marked

as enemies of God, taken captive by

Satan to do his will and destined for

hell and death.

This was humanity's problem.

Then every good story must have a

climax.

This is always the most exciting part of

the story. It's the part where the hero

comes and resolves the conflict. He

solves the problem. He wins the battle.

He defeats the dragon and rescues the

princess.

The climax of the Bible is the death and

resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is the

hero of the story of redemption. He

solved the sin problem. He resolved the

conflict between God and man. He

defeated the dragon, Satan. And he

liberated his betrothed, the church,

from our captivity to sin and death.

And the church has been celebrating and

walking in this freedom for the last

2,000 years.

But we're still waiting for one more

part of the story,

the last part, the resolution.

You can't end a story with the defeat of

the dragon. You need to tie up the loose

ends. Did the dragon die or will he come

back with a vengeance? Did the prince

marry the princess? Did they live

happily ever after? The day of the Lord

in the Bible is this final act of

resolution in the story. It's the

gateway to the happily ever after. In

our human experience, much of the story

is already over.

We're 90% through the book. Creation has

already happened. The fall happened. The

death and resurrection of Christ already

happened. All we're waiting for now is

the last piece, the final act of

resolution. The day of the Lord is the

great resolution to the story of our

redemption.

Now, we're doing a series on heaven. You

know this, but this sermon is not

technically about heaven itself.

Rather, it's about how heaven will come

about.

Last week, Elliot showed us where we go

when we die before the day of the Lord.

Today I will bring you up to the very

gates of heaven so to speak and then the

next two weeks we'll describe what's

beyond beyond that gate as pastor Eric

explains for you the new world and then

Josh unpacks the beatotific vision that

is seeing God face to face.

But this sermon is important because

it's the next thing that will happen.

The last thing we're waiting for. Before

we read our text together let me give

you my definition of the day of the

Lord. If you're a notetaker, this is

your cue. I don't know if you have

notetakers in San Jose still, but if you

if you do take notes, you might want to

write this down. The day of the Lord in

the New Testament refers to the day of

Christ's return and the subsequent

resurrection and judgment of all mankind

for all time. I'll say that again. The

day of the Lord in the New Testament

refers to the day of Christ's return and

subsequent resurrection and judgment of

all mankind for all of time.

Now, that could be expanded, but that's

what I have time to cover today. So, our

text this morning is second Peter

chapter 3:es 1-14. If you've got your

Bibles, go ahead and make your way over

there. Second Peter chapter 3:es 1-14.

Now, just a quick disclaimer. This is a

topical sermon. I'm not going to unpack

this entire text in an expository way

like we normally do at West Hills.

Rather, I'm going to pull a few points

from our text and then attempt to

support those points from other places

in the scripture. So, that's how we're

going to tackle this. Second Peter 3:es

1-14.

Peter writes,

"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 Lord

and Savior through your apostles.

Knowing 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 delused with water and

perished. He's talking about the flood.

But by the same word the heavens and

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

as a thousand years and a thousand years

as 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 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 in 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 the hasten 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 God.

This morning, we're going to look at

three aspects of the day of the Lord.

We're going to look at return,

resurrection, and recompense. Return,

resurrection, and recompense. First,

let's look at the return of Christ. Our

long awaited Messiah will return on the

day of the Lord. When Peter was writing

second Peter, he was writing to address

some scoffers who were upsetting

Christians in the church. They were

saying things that were having them

getting them worried. They were saying

things like, "Look, the world just keeps

on spinning around and around.

Nothing is ever changing. Years have

passed since Jesus left, and he's not

come back. He's not coming back.

That's what they were telling the

Christians.

Today, we have people like the Jehovah's

Witnesses who will tell you that Christ

has already come back. He came back in

1914. You just missed it.

It's important to note here that Peter

equates the coming of Jesus with the day

of the Lord. He makes those two things

the same event.

Those two things are the same for Peter.

Let me say that again. In the New

Testament, the return of Christ happens

on the day of the Lord.

The scoffers are sarcastically asking in

verse four, "Where is the promise of his

coming?"

Peter's answer is in verse 10. The day

of the Lord will come like a thief.

That's his answer. Where is the Lord?

The day of the Lord is coming.

That's when he is coming.

Now, one thing to note is when Peter and

Paul and Jesus talk about the day of the

Lord coming like a thief in the night,

they do not mean, hear this, they do not

mean it will be a secret.

They don't mean Jesus is coming back in

a secretive way.

They mean that it will be at an

undisclosed time.

That's an extremely important

distinction that could change your

esquetology. That is your view of the

end times.

Now, I may step on some toes here, so

let me step on them as gently as

possible.

You might have noticed in my outline of

words starting with R, return,

resurrection, recompense, there is one

very conspicuous R missing,

the rapture.

What about the rapture, Jason? How come

that R doesn't make it on the list?

Many of you have been taught from your

childhood as I was. If you grew up in

Sunday school and in church in the last

150 years, you've probably been taught

that Christians are to expect a secret

rapture of the church. That all of us

who are believers in Christ will

suddenly one day just disappear. We'll

be gone.

We'll simply vanish. And then the world

will go crazy for seven years. But we

won't be here for it. This idea of a

secret rapture was popularized by the

left behind books and movies and is now

the dominant the dominant view or

perspective of Christ's return among

American evangelicals. Although it is

not the dominant view in the rest of the

world and nor nor is it the dominant

view for most of church history.

So how did we all come to believe in

this secret rapture if we were raised in

church? If you weren't raised in church,

you probably don't know what the rapture

is and probably don't care.

Well, it all started with one passage in

the Bible where

an idea of being caught up to meet Jesus

in the air is mentioned. 1 Thessalonians

4:16-1 17. It's the one place that talks

about this in the Bible. And from this,

an entire theology theology of a secret

rapture was was developed. And I want

you to listen very carefully and see if

this sounds secret to you.

Paul writes, "For the Lord himself will

descend from heaven with a cry of

command, with a voice of an archangel,

and with a sound of the trumpet of God,

and the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are alive, who are left,

will be caught up together with them in

the clouds to meet the Lord in the air,

and so will always be with the Lord."

This word caught up in the air is where

some theologians get the idea of this

secret rapture that we're just going to

disappear from the world. And I think

that if you combine that verse with a

misunderstanding of what a thief does,

that that Jesus is going to like break

into our homes and steal us out of our

beds in the middle of the night, you

come up with a theology of a secret

rapture. And it makes sense. But let me

just point out a few problems with this

idea of the rapture. In 1 Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 4:16

4:16, which I just read, Paul said,

"Christ will descend with a cry of

commands, with a voice of an archangel

and the sound of the trumpet of God."

In our text today, we read second Peter

2 Peter 3:10

3:10, which said, "But the day of the

Lord will come like a thief, not

quietly, and then the heavens will pass

away with a roar, and the heavenly

bodies will be burned up and dissolved."

I don't know about you, but that doesn't

sound very secret to me.

This sounds like a loud, glorious,

terrifying arrival of a conqueror.

But what is this business about meeting

him in the air then?

Well, in ancient days, when a king was

visiting a city or perhaps returning

from conquest or maybe a liberating

general was approaching a city that had

been held in captivity, the people of

the city would empty the city. They

would go out to meet this coming king,

this conqueror, and then they would

return with him back into the city. We

saw this very thing happen with Jesus on

Palm Sunday. Jesus had just performed an

incredible miracle in the town of

Bethany, a few miles away from

Jerusalem. He raised Lazarus from the

dead. And that was such a notorious

thing that the word of that spread to

Jerusalem a few miles away. And then

Jerusalem emptied. All of the people in

Jerusalem went out to meet Jesus outside

of the city. They met him and then they

came back in with him in a triumphal

procession.

This is the imagery of 1 Thessalonians

4. Not a secret rapture of believers,

rather a deafening proclamation. the

arrival of a victorious liberator, the

glorified king, and then he comes with

his host of saints who had previously

passed away. This is what Jesus was

talking about in Matthew 24 when he

said, "Two men will be standing in a

field. Two women will be grinding at the

mill. One will be dis will disappear and

the other will be left." They disappear.

They go to meet Jesus in the air. And

then they come back down with him.

not to be gone for seven years, not to

be gone for a thousand years, but they

come back down to participate in the

great day of the Lord.

Add to this

Revelation 1:7, which I think is the

Revelation 1:7

death nail of the secret rapture,

where John writes, "Behold, he is coming

with the clouds, and every eye will see

him,

and all the tribes of the earth will

wail on his account."

Even so, Amen.

This is a global proclamation

of the arrival of the king.

Now, depending on your esquetology, you

might object, well, Jason, you're

conflating two things. You're conflating

the day of the Lord and the gathering of

the saints to meet the Lord. Jesus

returning and the day of the Lord are

two different things. Most of us have

been taught that those those two events

occur a thousand years apart from each

other.

So we assume that there will be a secret

rapture and then much much later on a

separate day there will be the day of

the Lord. But Paul answers that

objection in 2 Thessalonians chapter

2:es 1-2. Notice how he equates the day

of the Lord

to the coming of Jesus Christ. He

says,"Now concerning the coming of our

Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered

together with him,

we ask you brothers not to be quickly

shaken in mind or alarmed either by a

spirit or a spoken word or a letter

seeming to be from us to the effect that

the day of the Lord has come." In other

words, Paul says that the day that Jesus

comes back and the day of the Lord and

the day that we're gathered to him, all

of those are the exact same event.

So then, what can we expect to be the

first thing that happens when the day of

the Lord comes?

What is the sign that it's all started?

The images of the coming Christ from the

passages I've already read are

terrifying.

They're terrifying if you're not a

believer.

The sun darkened,

stars falling from the heavens, Jesus

coming on the clouds. Can you use your

imaginations with me for a minute?

We're told that the day of the Lord will

come like a thief in the night. Not not

that it will be a surprise, but meaning

we we don't know when it will happen.

And so you're just minding your own

business, going about your day. And then

all of a sudden, you look up to the sky

and you see the risen and glorified

Christ

in all of his glory and majesty coming

on the clouds and the sun and the the

moon pale in comparison to the radiant

brightness of the glory of the son of

God. He's surrounded by a comm a

consuming fire. A trumpet blast fills

the earth and shakes the ground beneath

your feet.

He's got an army of departed saints at

his back. The stars in the sky begin to

drop like flies as he's preparing to

roll up the universe like a scroll.

All of humanity alive on the earth is

watching.

It's very clear why he has come.

He has come for salvation and for

judgment. If you're in Christ in that

moment, you're lifted off the ground.

You're ga gathered together with the

rest of the saints into this consuming

fire, this whirlwind, this mount

siesesque

vision of holiness.

And then you follow King Jesus back down

to earth after you have met him in the

sky along with the rest of the global

church.

And why will you follow him?

We will follow him because from that

point on we will be with him forever. we

were told. But we will also follow him

to participate in the day of the Lord.

Now, let me just make a quick comment

about our esqueological differences if

we've got them. If you were like me and

you were raised to believe in a secret

rapture like most American children

were, it's important at this point that

we note that even if we disagree about

the order of these events, all

Christians believe that all of these

events will take place.

They will all happen. And I tell you for

certain that esquetology is not

something worth dividing over with other

Christians.

One day we will all be in the new world

together and we won't give a rip about

who was right about the rapture. We will

be so enraptured at the vision of God

that we get to see him face to face and

be with him forever and all of our

disagreements will pale and be petty in

comparison to what eternity has in store

for us.

So whether you compress the events of

the day of the Lord into a single event

as I see it or if you extend it out into

many different events over a thousand

years or more as most of us have been

taught, one thing we agree on is that we

all long for the day of the Lord.

We all long for our savior's return.

Okay, so that's the return

of of Christ. Let's now look at the

resurrection of mankind.

On the day of the Lord, all people from

all time will rise from the dead.

We see this in numerous places in the

New Testament. Let me show you a few. 1

1 Thessalonians 4:13–15

Thessalonians 4:13-15,

the passage right before the one we read

about meeting Christ in the air. We

read, "But we do not want you to be

uninformed, brothers, about those who

are asleep." As Elliott explained last

week, those who are asleep is just

another way of saying the people who

have already died and are now in the

intermediate state with God. We do not

want you to be uninformed, brothers,

about those who are asleep, that you may

not grieve as others do who have no

hope. For since we believe that Jesus

died and rose again, even so, through

Jesus, God will bring with him those who

have fallen asleep. For this we declare

to you by a word from the Lord that we

who are alive who are left until the

coming of the Lord will not precede

those who have fallen asleep. And then

you can continue into verses 16 and 17

which we already read. For the Lord

himself would descend from heaven with a

cry of command with the voice of an

archangel and with the sound of the

trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ

will rise first. Then we who are alive

who are left will be caught up together

with them in the clouds to meet the Lord

in the air. And so we will always be

with the Lord. Let me just paraphrase

that for you. What Paul is saying is

that everyone who ever believed in

Christ, all of the faithful worshippers

of Yahweh, Old Testament, New Testament,

present day, all Christians who ever

believed in Christ, anybody who ever

anticipated the Messiah's coming like

Abraham did, though he didn't know his

name, but knew he would come to King

David, to Peter and the apostles. All of

us who have believed in Christ will be

given a new body.

reunited with our souls if we have

already departed.

The souls that were disembodied and in

the presence of Christ during the

intermediate state, they will be given

their glorified bodies finally.

Well, now that those souls are united to

glorified bodies as Christ approaches

the earth on the day of the Lord, then

all of the living Christians, those who

have not gone to the intermediate state,

those of us who still have our bodies,

who are still alive, are given bodies as

well that are glorified. And we are

called up to meet the church in the air

and Christ. All of us together, the

global church, the people of God descend

from heaven with him as a heavenly city,

a new Jerusalem, a glorious bride.

We know that this happens on the day of

the Lord because of what Paul tells us

in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. In verses

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

51 and 52, Paul says, "Behold, I tell

you a mystery. We shall not all sleep,

but we shall all be changed in a moment,

in the twinkling of an eye, at the last

trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and

the dead will be raised imperishable,

and we shall be changed."

What he's saying is that those of us who

do not die before Christ returns will be

changed. We'll be transformed. We'll be

given new bodies. That the trumpet

sound, the day of the Lord comes. The

trumpet summons in in the Bible, the

trumpet of God summons God's people to

meet Christ. It's the trumpet that

signifies the end of the world as we

know it.

But it's not only deceased saints that

are raised from the dead.

Jesus comes to earth with his church and

he sits on a great white throne. And

everyone, every single person who ever

lived is raised from the dead in that

moment

and summoned to stand before the throne

of God.

We see this in Revelation 20 11

through13 where John writes, "Then I saw

a great white throne and him who was

seated on it. From his presence, earth

and sky fled away and no place was found

for them. And I saw the dead, great and

small, standing before the throne, and

books were opened." Then another book

was opened, which is the book of life.

And the dead were judged by what was

written in the books, according to what

they had done. And the sea gave up the

dead. This is resurrection language. The

sea gave up the dead who were in it, and

death and Hades gave up the dead who

were in them. And they were judged, each

one of them, according to what they had

done.

The sea and the earth give up their

dead. Death gives up its dead. Meaning,

everyone is raised and brought before

the Lord's judgment seat.

Adam and Eve and Abraham and King David

and Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan

and Joseph Stalin and Mother Teresa and

all the popes and grandma and grandpa

and Joe and you and me are all raised

from the dead

and given immortal bodies changed

forever in a moment.

And that will be very good news for some

and very bad news for others.

After we are raised, what happens next?

A reckoning.

We've looked at the first two aspects of

the day of the Lord, the return of

Christ and the resurrection of all

mankind. Let's now look at the final

piece, the recompense of humanity.

I chose this word recompense for a few

reasons. First, it's a biblical word,

but also it conveys with it two aspects

simultaneously. Recompense means

repayment, but it carries with it this

idea like making amends. Like an

offending party has has hurt someone and

therefore they have to make recompense.

They have to repay or make amends to the

person that they've hurt. And so two

ideas are conveyed simultaneously. one,

somebody is getting rewarded and

somebody else is getting punished

depending on where you stand. That's

what this idea of recompense carries.

Picture it in your imagination. All of

mankind has gathered from every age, has

gathered, been raised from the dead,

gathered around Christ's throne. He's

returned with an army of angels at his

back and an army of saints who have

died. and all of his people who were

still living have met him in the air and

returned and are now standing before the

great white throne.

He's almost ready to purify all of

creation.

He takes his seat.

And then we read what happens next in

Matthew 25:31-33.

Matthew 25:31–33

When the Son of Man comes in his glory

and all the angels with him, then he

will sit on his glorious throne. Before

him will be gathered all the nations and

he will separate people one from another

as a shepherd separates the sheep from

the goats. And he will place the sheep

on his right but the goats on his left.

Sheep, as you probably know in the New

Testament, signify the people of God,

Christians.

There will be a great separation on the

day of the Lord. Those who have rejected

Christ are divided from those who have

believed in Christ.

And then as Peter says in 2 Peter 3:10,

2 Peter 3:10

the works of all will be exposed.

As we read earlier in Revelation 20:12,

Revelation 20:12

"And I saw the dead, great and small,

standing before the throne, and books

were opened,

and the dead were judged by what was

written in the books, according to what

they had done.

These books that Jesus opens are the

accounts of the deeds of your life, of

my life,

of everyone's lives.

It's not an investigation.

An investigation implies a searching out

of the truth. This is a revelation.

This is an exposure of the truthfulness

of how we lived.

We are not revealed by who we pretended

to be, but who we actually were.

Who you really were, not who you

convinced other people you were, is what

is exposed on that day.

Every deed,

every word,

every thought, every motive

exposed.

And yes, we Christians must endure this

terrifying moment as well. As Hebrews

Hebrews 10:30

10:30 says, "For we know him who said,

"Vengeance is mine. I will repay."

There's our recompense language.

And again, the Lord will judge his

people. His people. That's Christians.

That's you. That's me. If we're in

Christ this morning, we too must be

judged. We too must be exposed. We must

all stand before the judgment seat of

Christ. And I tell you, there is not a

more terrifying thought in the world to

me than having all of my sin publicly

displayed for the world to see. This

should motivate our holiness.

Shouldn't this cause us to fear?

In fact, that's where Peter's thoughts

take him in our text. Right after he

says in verse 10 that the earth and the

works done done in it will be exposed.

He says in 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 the fear of exposure motivate your

holiness.

Everything you do will be made known on

that day.

In the moment of intense temptation,

bring that thought to mind. If I do

this, it's going to be exposed.

Let that drive you to Christ for mercy

and for a way out of that temptation.

All of our deeds exposed at the judgment

seat of Christ.

And what will be the verdict over your

eternity?

I ask you friends, what will be the

verdict over your eternity?

What should your judge say to you

in that moment

after every human who has ever lived in

every age on the entire planet has heard

read aloud out of the books from the

lips of the all- knowing ever truthful

Jesus Christ? What should your verdict

be?

There is no investigation of your life,

only a revelation of your deeds, an

entirely truthful accounting of

everything you've done. And each one of

us knows that if we're honest, if we're

truly honest with ourselves, if we have

the humility to admit it, the gavl

should fall and Christ the just should

declare guilty.

Guilty.

Guilty of five million counts of pride.

Guilty of three million counts of lust.

Guilty of two million counts of hatred.

Guilty of six million counts of gossip.

Guilty of 1 million counts of taking the

Lord's name in vain. Guilty.

The books recording our deeds will

condemn us.

all of us.

But then

another book will be opened, the Lamb's

Book of Life. And anyone who put their

faith in Jesus in this life has their

name recorded in that book.

And on that great and terrible day of

the Lord, Christ the judge will look at

all of his people, all of his sheep, all

of his little lambs, his precious bride,

his beloved church, and he will declare

with a voice that booms across the

universe, not guilty. For there is no

condemnation for those who are in Christ

Jesus. I died for these ones. They would

be unjust to punish them again. The

wrath of God will not touch them.

His name is written in the book of life.

Her name is written in the book of life.

I already paid your penalty. I forgiven

everything. Nothing can separate you now

from my love.

>> Thank you, Jesus.

But what about those whose name is not

written in the book of life?

What about those who rejected Christ in

this life?

In 2 Thessalonians 1:es 6-10, Paul says

this, "Since indeed God considers it

just to repay," there's recompense

language again, "Since he considers it

just to repay with affliction those who

afflict you, and to grant relief to you

when you are afflicted, as well as to us

when the Lord Jesus is revealed from

heaven with his mighty angels in flaming

fire, inflicting vengeance on those who

do not know God and on those who do not

obey the gospel. El of our Lord Jesus.

What will happen to them? He continues

in verse 9, they will suffer the eternal

punishment, the punishment of eternal

destruction away from the presence of

the Lord and from the glory of his might

when he comes on that day to be marveled

at by his saints, by all who have

believed because of the test, because

our testimony to you was believed.

For any person who does not throw

himself at the mercy of God in this life

will have no hope on the day of the

Lord.

You have one life to live only one.

One lifetime in which you must choose to

give yourself to Christ to be owned by

him or on the other hand to be your own

master.

If you choose the latter, you will find

on the day of the Lord that you have

disobeyed the gospel. And the recompense

of the Lord will be required of you. And

the payment of that recompense is

eternal destruction away from the

presence of the Lord and the glory of

his might.

I don't want that for you, for anyone in

here. And God doesn't want that for

anyone at all.

Did you catch what Peter said in 2 Peter

2 Peter 3:9

3:9?

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 reach

repentance. The whole reason that Christ

has delayed 2,000 years was to give you

a chance to repent, to give your

neighbor a chance to repent, to give

people more time. God has been stalling

to give more people a chance to repent

and to come into the kingdom and become

his child.

He wants more to be rescued.

If you're not a Christian and you've

been putting off becoming a Christian,

don't wait another minute. Today is the

day of your salvation.

Give your life to him. Don't wait

another second. Repent and be forgiven

of all of it.

Beg Christ to make you his child. And he

will. He will.

That's the recompense for those who do

not know God and do not obey the gospel.

What is the recompense for those of us

who are in Christ, who are Christians,

who love Christ?

What will your experience be on the day

of the Lord at that judgment seat?

Grace.

So much grace. Wave after wave of

amazing grace will hit Christians on

that day. every sinful motive, every

sinful thought, every sinful word and

deed forgiven because of the cross of

Christ.

That's grace. But more than that, you

will also be avenged for all of the

wrongdoing done to you. For all of those

who hated Christ and who hated you for

his sake. You will be not just avenged,

but also comforted by Christ. He will

wipe away every tear from your eye. All

of the pain that you have gone through,

that you've endured in this life, gone.

There won't be a memory of it.

The formal former things will not come

up anymore.

This is just the beginning of your

recompense if you're a Christian.

Finally, you will actually be rewarded.

Hear this. You will actually be rewarded

for the good that you have done in this

life. That is so important.

2 Corinthians 5:9-10 tells us, "So

2 Corinthians 5:9–10

whether we are at home or away, we make

it our aim to please him, for we must

all appear before the judgment seat of

Christ, so that each one may receive

what is due for what he has done in the

body, whether good or evil."

Paul makes it clear that at the judgment

seat of Christ, on the day of the Lord,

we all will receive our recompense. that

which is due for what we did in this

life, for how we lived. For Christians,

our sins are not going to be taken into

account, they're forgiven.

Now, there's no small debate as to what

the rewards for Christians will be.

And I don't have time to get into that

debate, but we do get some hints in the

Bible. So, I'll give you what those

hints are.

Jesus says things like, "He who gives up

houses, lands, families for my sake will

receive 100fold what he lost in this

life in the new world."

We could debate whether he means a

hundred literal houses, 100 families.

Maybe you get a 100 mother-in-laws.

[snorts]

I've got an awesome mother-in-law. It's

not a real joke.

Well, we're I don't know if that's

literal a hundred times literally or if

that's Jesus trying to be hyperbolic,

saying this is going to be absolutely

mindblowing.

You can't even imagine it.

We're also given language in the New

Testament about judging angels and

ruling over cities. I don't know what

that means,

but we're supposed to take away from

those hints. It's going to be so worth

it. Everything you lose in this life

will be worth it

beyond your imagination.

So, we've seen three aspects of the day

of the Lord. The return of Christ, the

resurrection of mankind, and the

recompense of our lives lived on earth.

Let me just now leave you with some

things to ponder. How should we live in

light of the day of the Lord?

Firstly,

we should marvel.

We should be better marvelers.

Do you marvel at Christ now? Are you in

awe of him? Are you in awe of his

amazing grace? Did you hear what I said

about all of your sins being forgiven

and then receiving rewards on top of

that? How can we not marvel and be in

awe of a savior like that?

Are you dumbfounded by the fact that he

will take vengeance on your behalf?

That wrath will be poured out for your

sake against those who hated him and

hated you. I hope that the day of Lord

helps us become better marvelers.

Secondly, we should participate.

Peter said in 2 Peter 3:12 in our text,

2 Peter 3:12

"We are waiting for and hastening the

coming of the day of God." How do you

hasten the day of the Lord? How do

ordinary regular everyday Christians

affect an event like this? A cosmic

cosmically significant event, the one of

the most significant events in the story

of redemption. And you can change that.

You can affect it. You can hasten it.

How is that possible?

Well, there is a list of names recorded

in the Lamb's Book of Life of those who

must believe before Christ returns.

When the last of those names believes in

Jesus, Christ will not delay any longer.

Hasten the day by finding the names.

Share the gospel with your friends, with

your neighbors, with your co-workers,

with your teammates.

Their names may be written in the lamb's

book of life. Through your witness, God

may reveal 10 names in this lifetime

from his book of life. We hasten the day

by finding the names. When all the names

come in, the day of the Lord will come.

So we should marvel, we should

participate.

Thirdly, we should long for the day of

the Lord.

Hebrews 9:28 says, "So Christ, having

Hebrews 9:28

been offered once to bear the sins of

many, will appear a second time, not to

deal with sin, but to save those who are

eagerly waiting for him." Are you

eagerly waiting for Christ?

Or would you rather he wait a little

longer? You've got more things to do in

this life. You've got things to

accomplish.

You've got things you'd like to

experience. You've like you got things

you'd like to accumulate first.

Maybe it's I want to get married before

Christ comes back. I want to have

children. I want my children to be

raised. I want them to be married. I

want to retire. What are the things that

you want to want Christ to delay for? I

would submit to you those are probably

idols. Those are definitely idols.

Do you long for the day of the Lord?

Second Timothy 4:8, Paul says,

2 Timothy 4:8

"Henceforth

there is laid up for me the crown of

righteousness, which the Lord, the

righteous judge, will award to me on

that day, and not only to me, but also

to all who have loved his appearing.

Let us strive to be the kind of people

who will love his appearing, not those

who will wish we had never been born."

The day of the Lord refers to the day of

Christ's return and the subsequent

resurrection and judgment of all mankind

for all time. As Christians, we must

marvel. We must participate. And we must

long for the day of the Lord. Let's

pray.