Living In View Of The End

Introduction

I should be turning your Bibles this morning to 2 Peter, the third chapter. 2 Peter, the third chapter will be our text in just a little bit. First of all, thanks to those who have joined us today as we’ve come together to worship our God. Truly we have magnified his name in praise. We have considered what he has done for us in the sacrifice of his son on the cross for our sins. And we’ve even been reminded of just how terrible sin is, why we need God. And now we look to him, we look to his word so we can be instructed about how to live, how to honor him, how to give thanks to him in our lives. Sometimes current events and things in the news will prompt us to even consider what we study in the Word of God.

And certainly all of our minds have been on the terrible tragedy that happened this past Friday. And that’s not what my lesson originally was about, and you’ll see that in just a moment. But we will come back to that at the end of the lesson. So if you were coming today and even interested in hearing from a biblical perspective, how we can put such a tragedy in some kind of light, then perhaps that’ll satisfy that at the end. But before we get to that, and if you can turn that off in your mind anyway, you before that were probably looking in the news, and you had been hearing about this that’s supposed to happen at the end of even this week. The Mayan calendar and predicting the end of the world as many people have held.

And there are many who have have fallen prey to such theories and such speculation. And if you’ve been looking at the news in the past couple weeks, you noted that even, well, ahead of NASA, and let me get his name here so I don’t uh I misquote, Don Yeomans, who’s the head of the Near Earth Objects Program Office at NASA. And don’t ask me what the Near Earth Objects Project is. I’m assuming that has something to do with the moon and probably some other things, maybe some satellites. I don’t know. But he was compelled to address the Fuor over, well, the end of the world is going to happen on December 21st, 2012, because the Mayans predicted it thousands of years ago or hundreds of years ago.

He looked at, in his response, he looked at several of the supposed reasons why on December 21st this world is going to come to an end.

That’s the theory of some. And well, all he would simply say about that is, well, we’ve not seen any mysterious planet headed our way, and there are thousands of people who are looking in the skies each and every day. And so for this to happen, well, well, a planet’s going to have to materialize from somewhere, and well, that’s just not happened. There are theories about how all the planets of our solar systems, all of our solar systems are going to line up, and that’s going to produce these incredible tidal waves. And, well, things do line up in our solar system from time to time, but there’s none of that supposedly going to happen on December 21st. And really, the only thing that has a great effect on our tidal system is the moon and the sun.

And those line up rather frequently. You may know from eclipses. And, well, that’s not going to produce the end of the world. There are those and others who think, well, somehow on December 21st, the polarity, the north and the south, the axis of our earth are they’re going to flip. Well, the scientists would say, well, that would be possible. We don’t think that’s going to happen on December 21st, but it would be possible for the axis of our earth to flip in that way, and there would be consequences of that. We’d have to change our compasses. We’d have to make north-south and south-north, but that would be about the extent of that. And so it was an interesting read, and you may have even seen that a minister in the Russian government came out and said that we have been observing the earth, and this is not going to happen on December 21st.

And you and I would agree with that, I think. We would say, well, no, there’s no reason to conclude that December 21st is the day that the world’s going to end. And you’ve probably also read that what really happened with the Mayan calendar is it’s a cycle, and another cycle is simply supposed to begin. But the point is, well, what if they were right? What if they did predict in the end of the world? Not that they were right.

What would give them any more insight into when the world was going to end to the other thousands of people have predicted the end of the world at some time or another? Well, nothing. Which actually brings me to my point. My point this morning is not looking at supposed theories of when the earth is going to end. My point is how man is looking at the end of the world now. At the conclusion of his statements, Mr. Yaman said, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. And since the beginning of time, there have been literally hundreds of thousands of predictions for the end of the world, and we’re still here. And there’s nothing false about his statement. There have been hundreds of thousands of predictions for the end of the world, and we are still here.

But what’s the underlying point? The underlying point is all things remain as they have been. There’s this uniformity to life, even though scientists would certainly say that changes occur, but yet in the overall scheme of things, it’s just things continue to progress. Time continues to move on just as it always has, and therefore we could conclude that time will continue to move on just as it always has and will continue to do so. If you turn in your Bible to 2 Peter chapter 3, you might recognize that passage. You might recognize that that is actually something that Peter dealt with in 2 Peter chapter 3. This idea that, well, things have not changed, and therefore things are not going to change. Read with me beginning in verse 3 of 2 Peter chapter 3.

We’ll not read all this text at this time. Knowing this, first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lust, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation. When they maintain this escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by his word, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice.

Beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat.

But according to his promise, we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. We could go to this passage to simply talk about the end of the world. And Peter does talk about that. But Peter’s overwhelming point in this passage is, yes, things will change. Yes, this world will be destroyed. And so how are you living in view of that day? How are you living in view of the end of all things?

1. This World Will End

This world will end. Peter says that there will be in the last days. And by the way, when we see that phrase in the last days, Peter in this case, is not just looking to forward to things that would happen in the future, Peter’s also addressing some of those who are making this claim in his day. There were those claiming at his time that, well, the Lord will not return. Things have continued on just as they always have, and that’s their reasoning. Everything looks like it’s always looked. Time continues to move on just as it’s always moved on. Why should we expect anything different to happen? Peter’s first point then is, well, you don’t know your history very well. You don’t know your history of God’s dealing with man.

In verses 5 and 6, he makes that clear. He says that, yes, this world was created by the word of God. It was created in water by water, and it was destroyed by water. This world’s been destroyed once. Of course, if you’re familiar with the account in the Bible in Genesis chapter 6, beginning of the flood, you’d also remember that when Noah and his family were saved through the flood, through the Ark, by the Ark, that God made a promise. He’d never destroy the world by water again. And he is not. Yes, there have been floods across the world. There has been destruction that has occurred on the earth, but the world itself has not been destroyed by water. But what is Peter’s point? You say that everything is going on just as it always has.

And probably the people who lived in the day of Noah, leading up to the day that the world was destroyed by water, they were probably saying the same thing. Today is just like yesterday. Tomorrow will be just like today. But then everything changed. And so Peter’s point. This world is now being reserved for fire. Kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. We should make a point here that there are many who would look to this passage and want to see a metaphorical destruction by fire. Well, to do that, you would have to make the flood and destruction by water metaphorical too. And he’s either talking about both are literally happening, or neither literally happened. The world was destroyed by water. It is now being reserved for fire.

Well, when will this happen? Peter didn’t know. He didn’t claim to know. He did say it will happen according to the period that God determined. That’s the point of verses 8 through 9. Many have taken verse 8 to somehow kind of calculate when the world will end, and they’ll take this day and a thousand years, and what we can calculate. That’s not Peter’s point. He’s saying that with God, our time isn’t the same. One day with God is a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. Yet God will do it. Why is he delayed? Verse 9. He’s not slow in his promise, but he is patient, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to eternal life. But in the very next verse in verse 10, but the day of the Lord will come like a thief.

You won’t know, I won’t know. But it will come. And when that day comes, then yes, this world and the ungodliness of it will be destroyed as well. Peter says this world is going to end. But that serves the purpose of bringing us to his exhortation. Don’t be deceived by this thought that everything will go on unchanged. That just as today was like yesterday, tomorrow will be like today. You don’t know that. Things will change. And so we need to prepare for it. Verse 11. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat.

But according to his promise, we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. The Lord will come like a thief. And Peter says, we ought to live in a way that is looking towards that. Peter does not mention at least the word of judgment, but the idea of judgment is implied throughout. Ungodly man will be destroyed, and yet those who are living holy lives, lives of godliness, they can look forward to the promise of the new heavens and the new earth. But of course, that idea of judgment is found throughout the scriptures, a passage that we would all know probably pretty well, 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 10. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ and therefore give an account for what we’ve done in the body.

Yes, an idea of judgment at the end when the Lord does return. Peter says we need to live in view of that.

2. A Direct Link Between Conduct and Conviction

In verse 3, he says, know this, first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lust. And then he goes on to say, they are denying the Lord will return. So what are they doing? They are following their own lusts. Go back to chapter 2 and in verse 13, speaking of these false teachers. He says that speaking of Christians, that you’re suffering wrong as the wages of. I’m sorry, no. He’s speaking of the false teachers. Suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong, they count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions as they carouse with you. We’ve not yet read chapter 3 and in verse 14. We will read that here in just a few moments.

But there, Peter encourages us, God exhorts us to be spotless and blameless. And yet these who deny the return of the Lord, what are they? They are stains. They are blemishes. As others have said, there is a direct link between conduct and conviction. If you are convicted that the Lord will return one day and he’ll reward those who follow him, that will determine your conduct. And yet, if you have no conviction of that, that will determine your conduct as well. You’ll not live for God. You’ll not live in any kind of godly way. You’ll live apart from God. But another point needs to be made here, too. This is a call for repentance. Repentance because, yes, the Lord will return and there will be judgment. And by their nature, we could say that those would look, at least on the surface, as negative things.

When God calls us to repentance and he reminds us that there is to be a judgment, let us be impressed in our own minds that God is not just trying to make us feel bad. That’s not the point. Should we feel bad over sin? Absolutely. Should we mourn over our wrongs and the sin that we’ve done against most holy God? Absolutely. But if God, that was his only point, well, he could do that really well, couldn’t he? He could really put us under the microscope. He could really turn on the heat and say, look at how terrible you are, and just languish in it. But that’s not the point, is it? The point in reminding us of these things, the point of encouraging repentance is so that we can escape those things.

That we don’t have to suffer in those things anymore, that we don’t have to dread the return of the Lord, that we can look forward to it, even as Peter says there in verses 12 and 13. Hastening the coming of the day of the Lord, looking forward to the new heavens and the new earth, where righteousness dwells.

And so we conclude this morning by asking what changes should I make? It’s almost a new year. So the time for resolutions.

You didn’t stick to your diet in 2012. You resolve you’re going to do that in 2013. Well, what have you done? Well, you felt bad, first of all, because of how you ate in 2012. You may have eaten some wonderful food, but you felt bad because your body’s feeling bad. So there’s some remorse there. And so he said, I’m going to change something here. I’m looking forward to a new year, and I’m going to do something better. Instead of fries, I’m going to eat carrots. Sounds wonderful. So we have to put into practice.

3. You Be Holy in Your Conduct

We’re all saying there’s things that I need to change in my life. I’ve got to repent over some things because my life isn’t going the way that I wanted it to. God’s encouraging you to feel the same way about your spiritual life. If you look back over the past year and over the past years, do you feel bad about some things? Sure you do. I do too. Is God wanting you to wallow in that for 2013, or is he wanting you to do something positive with that and actually make some changes? That’s what he’s wanting. He’s wanting you to follow him now. And within this chapter, 2 Peter chapter 3, Peter’s encouraging us in several places to make some changes. First of all, as he read there already in verse 11, he says, You, since all these things are going to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct?

Holy conduct. If you need that defined for you, well, Peter defines it back in the first book, 1 Peter chapter 1, and verses 15 and 16. Like the holy one who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior, because it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy. Peter says, You be holy in your conduct. Your God is holy. Therefore, you resolve to be holy too. Is there a soul here that couldn’t resolve to make that a change for 2013 that I need to be holier in my conduct? Have any of us approached the level of God in holiness? Absolutely not. And so resolve to change. Look towards the day in which the Lord will return. And resolve now that I will follow closer to the Lord.

I will strive to be holier in my conduct. You have a problem with truthfulness. God is one who cannot lie. He is truth. And so if you have a problem with truthfulness, then why have a problem with holiness of conduct? Well, resolve the change. Resolve that this time. I will spend in being truthful. You have a problem with love? True love for your fellow man, true love for your brethren, a sacrificial love. Well, God is love. And God has given all for us. I think we could all resolve to be closer to God, to be more holy in our conduct and our love for Him and our love for each other. Have a problem with patience? I do. I ask God every day. Remove the anger in my life and help me be more patient.

Because I need that help. And yet we already read in 2 Peter chapter 3 and in verse 9. He is patient. He’s waiting. He’s not returned yet. He’s longing for us to be with Him. Have a problem with patience. Then admit that and resolve. This year I’m going to be holier in my conduct and throughout the years coming. And by the way, this is a wonderful time as we make these resolutions, as we resolve to live toward the end. To reach out to our brethren. You have a problem with truthfulness? Then approach your brother or sister and say, I need help here. And ask for help. Ask to be accountable to somebody. Ask for pointers and how they have lived lives of truthfulness and holiness, whatever it may be.

4. People Who Are Godly

Let’s not say that we can just go it on our own. Let’s reach out to one another. Peter also says in this passage in verse 11 that we ought to be people who are in our conduct godly. That we want to show godliness. Godliness is a wonderful word. The idea of godliness is living a life that reverences and shows respect for God. Can we all say that we have lived the past year or the past years, how many ever they have been? And that every aspect of our life has been devoted to giving honor and reverence to God? I doubt it. But if I’m being holy in my conduct, if I’m growing closer to him, if I’m emulating him, then I can be a godly person.

5. Be Found in Peace, Spotless and Blameless

I can be a person who reverences him, who shows him honor. Not just by my words, we need to do that by our words. The praise of God always needs to be on our lips, but in our lives. As we are truthful and godly and people who love, people who sacrifice for others. We can reverence God in our lives. Over in the 14th verse. Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace. Spotless and blameless.

What typifies your relationships with man? I hope it’s peace. Because that’s what God desires of us. To be at peace with our fellow man, be at peace with our brethren. And ultimately, of course, by doing those, to be at peace with Him. Peter says, When the Lord returns, you want to be found in peace. You got some strife in your life? You can’t always control the attitudes that others have towards you. But what we can control what God has given to us is our attitude toward others. Are we people who long to make peace? Are we people who are forgiving? Are we people who, when people have wronged us, rather than speaking of them behind their back, rather than retaliating that we are willing to go to them and seek them back?

That’s what God asked of us. If you would say that that has not typified your relationships, then should you feel bad? Sure. But God wants you to do something positive now. He wants you to change. He wants you to now be found in peace. You do what’s in with your power, within your power, to repair those strained relationships. You seek to be at peace with others, be at peace with your brethren. And so you can be at peace with God. You be found spotless and blameless whenever he returns. When you see that terminology, you may instantly think of those sacrifices given in the Old Testament. How they were to be without blemish, without spot. Our Savior, the Lord, was one without blemish and without spot. Therefore, he was an acceptable sacrifice.

We, and you know the passage of Romans chapter 12 and verse 1, Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 4, where we are encouraged to be holy and to be sacrifices to God. Well, a sacrifice to God is required to be spotless, to be blameless. Could you say that your moral conduct over the past year and the years before has been spotless and blameless? None of us could say that. So sure. Feel remorse for that. But let it lead to repentance. And say, God, I don’t want to be like this world anymore. I don’t want to live in this immorality, whatever it may be in your life. So you can be found spotless and blameless at his return because the blood of Christ has forgiven you of your sins.

6. Grow in the Grace and Knowledge of Jesus

Verse 18. We’ll skip over a few verses. We’re just going to come again to verse 18. I’ll start in verse 17. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard, so you’re not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the end of eternity. Amen. The idea of this passage is that both grace and knowledge come from Jesus. And you are encouraged to grow in both of those things. What does it mean to grow in grace? We think of grace and we think of a gift. This is what God has done for us. How do you grow in that?

Turn back in your Bibles, if you would, to Titus chapter 2. In Titus chapter 2 and verses 11 through 14. Titus chapter 2 and verses 11 through 14. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of our glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works. Grace determines everything you and I are going to do. That God has done this for us for this for us. He has given his son for us.

And now whether we appreciate that gift or not determines how we’re going to live. So Peter exhorts us, you grow in the grace of Jesus Christ. You be smitten every day. Here’s what your God has done for you. He has done for you what you cannot do for yourself. And that grace will therefore teach you to deny these ungodly things. It’ll encourage you and instruct you to live in a life that’s pleasing to God. Have you lived smitten by the sacrifice of Christ every day of your life? I haven’t. What a resolution to make. Living in view of the end. That Christ and His sacrifice and God’s great love for me will be in my mind every day. It’ll be at the forefront of my mind.

It will mold me, it will shape me. And it’ll help me in serving Him.

And therefore, to do that, they’re related. You grow in knowledge. We’ll talk about this more even before the beginning of the year. But you take this word. You take this precious word that God’s given to us. And you look at it. Not as just instruction for godly living, it is instruction for godly living. But you take it. And you grow in your knowledge of here’s what God has done for you, and here is how undeserving you and I we are. And therefore you look in it. And you see, here’s how I can serve my God. Here is how I can deny those ungodly desires of the flesh. Here is now how I can follow him in righteousness. You grow in your knowledge of what God has done for you, and you grow in your knowledge of what God would ask of you.

Have you been faithful in that? Probably not. Can we be? Absolutely. Peter is exhorting us.

Conclusion

Of course, the terrible reminder from this past week is that life also ends, not just when the Lord returns, but that tragedies abound. That even the innocent die suddenly and without warning. My brethren, I do not mean to alarm anyone. But none of us came here this morning thinking that someone would come in and blow up a bomb or come in with a machine gun. Just as twenty elementary students did not go to school this past Friday thinking that this would happen to them today. The chances are minuscule. Just as we might say the chances of the world ending on December 21st, they are minuscule. We don’t know. That’s the point. We don’t know. You remember what our Lord exhorted those who came to him in Luke chapter 13?

They told him about those who Pilate had sacrificed that he had killed the Galileans and they mingled their own blood with the sacrifices. And what did the Lord say, do you suppose that these were worse sinners? I say unto you, repent. Were those people who died in the tragedy in Connecticut worse sinners than you and I? Those kids weren’t sinners at all, I believe. I believe the Bible teaches that. And yet they perished. Were those who died in tragedies, whether it be in Oregon or in Colorado, or in China, or in Afghanistan, or wherever it may be across the world, were they worse sinners than you and I? No. Did the Lord cause those things? No. Those things happen because our God is separate, separated through sin from his creation.

But our God would ask us, you allow these things to make you think. You allow these things to examine your own conduct and how the end will come. This life is not certain. And even those of us who might even live to the end of the world, yet the world would end. You don’t know. And so our conduct ought to be that, which is preparing for and hastening even the return of our Lord. Would you pray with me this morning? Our Father, we come before you as people who acknowledge, Father, that we have sinned in our past. And maybe, Father, there’s even sin in our present. But Father, we would pray that you would remain patient with us. Father, you have been so patient. And we would pray, Father, that each and every soul here this morning that stands apart from you.

Father, that whether they need repentance in their life now, and that they need the blood of Christ to forgive them of their sins through baptism, Father, that they would respond. And Father, if that be the case, that we have come to you through the blood of your Son, and yet we see again that we have not been looking to you, that we have not been allowing you to mold our conduct, Father, that we would repent. And Father, may we be a people who can pray to you that Lord come and come quickly. Bring us to yourself, that we may be with you for all eternity. And it’s in your Son’s name that we pray. Amen. I pray the Lord comes quickly. I don’t want to live through things like happened Friday.

I don’t want my sons to have to live through things that happened Friday. But I don’t know if he’s going to come quickly. None of us do. All we can know is here is what the Lord asks. Live ready for that day. And we can. Because of what he did for us on the cross. That the blood of his son will forgive. And we can have a relationship with him now and looking forward to the end. And being with him for all eternity. You stand apart from the Lord. And we exhort you, don’t leave here this morning apart from the Lord. Make the changes that you need to make. Come to God. Repent of your sins. Be baptized so that you will be with the Lord and you can look forward to being with the Lord for all eternity.

Can we aid you in some way? Won’t you come as we stand and as we sing?