SPEAKER_00: Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
SPEAKER_01: How's everybody tonight?
SPEAKER_01: Y'all doing well?
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for not leaving when you saw that I came back tonight.
SPEAKER_01: That's a blessing that you didn't leave.
SPEAKER_01: So thank you for that.
SPEAKER_01: Man, it's been this has been fun, right?
SPEAKER_01: This is our last night.
SPEAKER_01: That's sad, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: No, y'all are all excited about getting to go back with Roger next week.
SPEAKER_01: That's what's happening.
SPEAKER_01: So I know that's true.
SPEAKER_01: But it has been really fun.
SPEAKER_01: It's been a great uh experience.
SPEAKER_01: Matt and I kind of doing this together, and then we got a chance to bring David in and got a chance to bring Jared in.
SPEAKER_01: And uh and so it's been a really fun time.
SPEAKER_01: So uh I appreciate y'all jumping in and uh finishing the summer with us and and uh and working through it.
SPEAKER_01: So let me pray and then we'll kind of uh get started and finish up uh 2 Peter.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we thank you for tonight.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you for the food that we've had and those that prepared it for us.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I thank you for our time as we are concluding um the book of 2 Peter.
SPEAKER_01: What a joy to uh think about eternity and the coming again of Jesus and what all of that means to us in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: And as we study this last chapter, I pray, Father, that you'll help us grasp how the sure promise and return of Jesus calls us to the spiritual habits we've been studying this summer.
SPEAKER_01: Bless our time together.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we pray you'll bless the things going on around our campus.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and we thank you most of all for the gift of Jesus and salvation in his name.
SPEAKER_01: And we pray these things in his name, and everybody said, We are here to finish 2 Peter chapter 3, so let's do that.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to think about this.
SPEAKER_01: Here is the big idea for what the book is about and what the last chapter is about.
SPEAKER_01: This is the ending of the book of 2 Peter.
SPEAKER_01: It is the ending of chapter 3, and it is the big idea for us that we've been studying in this whole book about spiritual habits and all of the themes here.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what he says.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, dear friends, since you know this in advance, know what in advance?
SPEAKER_01: The coming again of Jesus, the ultimate judgment of God, and the creation of heaven and eternity and living with him.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, dear friends, since you know this in advance, be on your guard so that you are not led away by the error of lawless people and fall from your own stability.
SPEAKER_01: But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: To him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And so what he tells us, because we know Jesus is coming again, our response to the sure return of Jesus, our response to the promise and hope of heaven is what?
SPEAKER_01: It is work our spiritual habits so that we are protected from false teachers, we don't fall away from our faith, and we grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: What we've been studying, and that's why we chose this book as the textbook for spiritual habits, our response to the return of Jesus is to dig into our spiritual habits and grow in our walk with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's our response.
SPEAKER_01: So we talk about, we'll talk about that some more in a moment.
SPEAKER_01: Let me review for you what we know about the first two chapters, and then we'll read chapter three together tonight.
SPEAKER_01: What we know about the first chapter is he calls us to live for Jesus because he wants us to experience salvation and eternity with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, all that stuff about stirring up and add to your faith and all that stuff so that you will not be found useless when Jesus returns again.
SPEAKER_01: That's what chapter one was about.
SPEAKER_01: So he sets up for us.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to do these spiritual things because Jesus is coming back.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to experience the joy of that salvation.
SPEAKER_01: In chapter two, we talked about false teachers and how to recognize what false teachers were.
SPEAKER_01: And in chapter three, he's going to talk to us about why he warned us about false teachers.
SPEAKER_01: But ultimately, he warned us about that because he wants us to know that scripture we can always count on, and we always need to return to scripture, and our spiritual habits are based in what we do with Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Chapter 1, the great and precious promises of God, and that that helps us filter out false teachers.
SPEAKER_01: Why is that?
SPEAKER_01: Because we're going to see in chapter 3, Jesus is returning, and our response to eternity is to deepen our walk with Christ through our spiritual habits.
SPEAKER_01: Have your Bible with me turned.
SPEAKER_01: It's 2 Peter chapter 3, and let's read this chapter together.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what he says in chapter 3, verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: Dear friends, this is now the second letter I have written to you.
SPEAKER_01: In both letters, I want to stir up your sincere understanding by way of reminder, so that you recall the words previously spoken by the holy prophets and the command of our Lord and Savior given through your apostles.
SPEAKER_01: Above all, be aware of this.
SPEAKER_01: Scoffers will come in the last days, scoffing and following their own evil desires, saying, Where is he coming?
SPEAKER_01: He promised to come and he hasn't come.
SPEAKER_01: Where's your Jesus now?
SPEAKER_01: I thought he told you he's coming.
SPEAKER_01: How long has it been since Jesus went into heaven and he still hadn't come?
SPEAKER_01: That's what scoffers are going to be telling us.
SPEAKER_01: Ever since our ancestors fell asleep, all things continue as they have been since the beginning of creation.
SPEAKER_01: They deliberately overlooked this.
SPEAKER_01: By the word of God, the heavens came into being long ago, and the earth was brought about from water and through water.
SPEAKER_01: So you'll remember there, Genesis chapter 1, the earth was without form and void.
SPEAKER_01: God spoke, separated from the waters and all that, right?
SPEAKER_01: So he's talking about creation.
SPEAKER_01: And it happened by the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says in verse 5, they deliberately are, or they deliberately overlook this, creation, verse 6.
SPEAKER_01: Through these, the word of God, through these, the world of that time perished when it was flooded.
SPEAKER_01: And now he goes to the flood.
SPEAKER_01: So he reminds us, God spoke and creation occurred.
SPEAKER_01: God spoke and pronounced judgment, and he sent the flood and brought that judgment.
SPEAKER_01: By the same word, verse 7, by the same word, the present heavens and earth are stored up for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
SPEAKER_01: Dear friends, don't overlook this one fact.
SPEAKER_01: With the Lord, one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord does not delay his promise as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.
SPEAKER_01: But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.
SPEAKER_01: On that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed.
SPEAKER_01: Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be.
SPEAKER_01: You should be holy in conduct and godliness as you wait for the day of God and hasten its coming.
SPEAKER_01: Because of that day the heavens will be dissolved with fire and the elements with melt, with heat, but based on his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, dear friends, while you wait for these things, make every effort, we saw that phrase in the first chapter, make every effort to be found without spot or blemish in his sight at peace.
SPEAKER_01: Also regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our dear brother Paul has written you according to the wisdom given to him.
SPEAKER_01: He speaks about these things in all his letters.
SPEAKER_01: There are some matters that are hard to understand.
SPEAKER_01: The untaught and the unstable will twist them to their own destruction, as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, dear friends, since you know this in advance, our big idea, be on your guard, so that you are not led away by the error of lawless people, and fall from your own stable position.
SPEAKER_01: But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.
SPEAKER_01: So here's what you get in those three chapters.
SPEAKER_01: It is incredible the thematic, the clear thematic elements that Peter has written and is building this on.
SPEAKER_01: He is building it on eternity, and he's calling us to see eternity.
SPEAKER_01: And he's telling us our response to eternity is to trust Christ as our Savior, rest in his salvation, and then when we are saved, to engage in these spiritual habits which make us useful for him, and also protect us from things that are in the world and false teachers and all of that that would damage our faith, cause us to doubt, cause us to struggle, make us useless as followers of Christ because we are not bearing fruit.
SPEAKER_01: And so that those themes are woven all the way through the book, and you see them brought together as a conclusion in this last chapter.
SPEAKER_01: Now, one of the exercises that we did was inductive Bible study, and I taught you about who, what, when, where, why, and how, and all that.
SPEAKER_01: Raise your hand.
SPEAKER_01: Raise your hands if you don't want to do that again tonight.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: If you are doing that when you study, and uh Charlene was great enough to give you that third chapter, so you will have that one to do that as well.
SPEAKER_01: This is a beautiful picture of how things jump out at you simply by slowing down and reading scripture and paying attention to things like repeated words and concepts.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when we break down this chapter of chapter three, it's very easy to see how it breaks down.
SPEAKER_01: It breaks down into three main sections, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Look at what happened, look what happens and what is repeated.
SPEAKER_01: You have chapter three, verse one, dear friend.
SPEAKER_01: Then you get down to verse eight.
SPEAKER_01: Raise your hand if you don't have some sheets.
SPEAKER_01: Up the front.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you guys for doing that.
SPEAKER_01: Back over there, Roger.
SPEAKER_01: Over there.
SPEAKER_01: Coach, right up here.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody good?
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're doing that process and you are and and you're repeating those things, you're looking for those repeated concepts, look how easy it is to break down this chapter and begin to understand it.
SPEAKER_01: Because there's a lot of rich stuff in here, and there's a lot of deeper kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: There are a lot of phrases that can be confusing if you're not paying attention to them.
SPEAKER_01: So look in what he says.
SPEAKER_01: First thing we do is we break down this chapter, dear friends, in verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: And then you get a very parallel deal statement in verse 8.
SPEAKER_01: Dear friends, don't look over this fact.
SPEAKER_01: And then you get verse 14, therefore, dear friends, and verse 17, therefore, dear friends.
SPEAKER_01: And so you have that last phrase repeated, therefore, dear friends.
SPEAKER_01: When we see the question, therefore, we ask, what is it therefore?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: So that means something when you see therefore.
SPEAKER_01: And so you get three distinct sections to this chapter, which help us break down this chapter and understand it.
SPEAKER_01: And it's laid out right there for us as Peter wrote it.
SPEAKER_01: Dear friends, section one, dear friends, section two, therefore, dear friends, section three.
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01: Like, even I was smart enough to figure that out.
SPEAKER_01: I was kind of proud of myself.
SPEAKER_01: Like, hey, I figured this out.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and so we'll break down those three sections, right?
SPEAKER_01: And so here's what you get in the first section.
SPEAKER_01: Dear friends, this is now the second letter I've written you in both letters, and then you get a very parallel description of the way he started the book.
SPEAKER_01: He's going to pursue the book in the same way.
SPEAKER_01: I am stirring up your sincere understanding by way of reminder so that you recall the words.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you'll remember, in the first chapter, I talked about the fact and pointed out after he goes through all that stuff about great and precious promises and make every effort to add to your faith and all that, he comes back to the point.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Y'all, I'm not going to be here very long.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm going to remind you of these things over and over and over and over so that even after I'm gone, you hear my voice in the back of your head reminding you of these things, right?
SPEAKER_01: You remember that in chapter one.
SPEAKER_01: You get the same thing right here.
SPEAKER_01: I am stirring up your sincere understanding.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is a powerful phrase right here and a powerful description.
SPEAKER_01: He is driving home this conclusion.
SPEAKER_01: So the first thing he does, he says, Dear friends, and in that, that's a good English translation.
SPEAKER_01: This is a deep statement of love.
SPEAKER_01: This is when I tell y'all I love you as a church, I really do.
SPEAKER_01: And it's in my heart, and I love y'all.
SPEAKER_01: And what he's saying is, I love y'all.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not writing this to the masses.
SPEAKER_01: I care about y'all.
SPEAKER_01: These are terms of endearment that are very rich.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, your version may say beloved.
SPEAKER_01: If it says beloved, that word in the original language is one of the words.
SPEAKER_01: It has its root in the same word that happens when you're describing the love between God the Father and God the Son.
SPEAKER_01: That's how rich that word is.
SPEAKER_01: He cares about them that deeply.
SPEAKER_01: And so it's like you grab your kids and you get them by the shoulders and you're saying, kids, listen to me.
SPEAKER_01: It's that kind of a deal.
SPEAKER_01: Our son Grant, when he was young, he was like wild, right?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he was he was fun, life and party, crazy guy.
SPEAKER_01: He's running around all over.
SPEAKER_01: He's doing stuff all the time.
SPEAKER_01: He's cracking everybody up.
SPEAKER_01: When he was one, he talked like he was in high school.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he never had baby words, huge concepts.
SPEAKER_01: He just, I mean, it was, he was just that kid, right?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he just was that kid.
SPEAKER_01: And because he was running around all the time, he was always happening and he was having fun and everybody was a friend and everything was fun, and he's running around all that, and I'd say, Grant, son, come here and do this.
SPEAKER_01: And he's running around and doing whatever, and say, Grant, and he'd whatever, and then I'd go grab him and I'd whip him, you know, or swat him or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, Grant, you're gonna sit down a timeout and all this.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, What?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's kind of the way this did.
SPEAKER_01: And it took me a while to understand.
SPEAKER_01: Like, I would say, Grant, I need you to stop and bring that over to me.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, you know, it never dawned on me, like he never heard me.
SPEAKER_01: He wasn't being rebellious.
SPEAKER_01: He literally never knew that I spoke.
SPEAKER_01: And the way that I figured this out was I'd go over there and grab him by the shoulders and I'd say, Grant, and he's he was still going like this.
SPEAKER_01: He was trying to look at his buddies in the plays over there, and he's like, you know, and I'm here trying to talk.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, you know, and he's he like his attention was gone.
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01: And I'd get him and I'd get his hands and I'd go like this and I'd say, Grant, and I would I would stay there until his eyes would finally go, Oh, well, gee, dad's talking to me.
SPEAKER_01: And then I would tell him I need you to do this, and he'd go, okay.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm thinking, all this time I thought he was rebellious, and he just was like on the move, right?
SPEAKER_01: He was going 90 miles an hour on the move.
SPEAKER_01: And so this is Peter grabbing us, waiting till our eyes lock.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, now I've got your attention.
SPEAKER_01: Dear friend, now I want to stir you up.
SPEAKER_01: And this word, it means light of fire.
SPEAKER_01: It means he is trying to engage us.
SPEAKER_01: It is what we've been doing all summer long, trying to get, I'm gonna stir up, challenge, equip, get you excited, motivate.
SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to get you into these spiritual habits where you are adding to your faith.
SPEAKER_01: You are growing because you're getting closer to Jesus, you're exercising these muscles, you're being useful in your faith.
SPEAKER_01: That's what he says.
SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to stir you up.
SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to motivate you.
SPEAKER_01: If you knew, I'm gonna give you an example.
SPEAKER_01: So we were talking about evangelism on in uh on Sunday mornings and last week, Matt and some of you were sharing your testimony.
SPEAKER_01: If I told you Jesus is coming back Friday, and I can prove to you from God that Jesus is coming back Friday, what would your response be?
SPEAKER_01: Your love list would have a whole different motivation if you knew Jesus would come back on Friday.
SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't it?
SPEAKER_01: Like, some of us that didn't have one would get one in a hurry.
SPEAKER_01: And some of us who filled it out because we were in the moment excited at church and then sort of forgot where it is, we'd go find it.
SPEAKER_01: You'd go find somebody and you'd go, listen, you got till Friday.
SPEAKER_01: And you need Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And we'd get serious about it.
SPEAKER_01: And so what he's trying to set up here is listen, I'm trying to stir you up to where you sincerely understand what we're talking about.
SPEAKER_01: Like when I told you to add to your faith, and I told you I was going to repeatedly remind you of this until you heard my voice in the back of your head, even after I've gone, that's what I'm trying to get your attention to do.
SPEAKER_01: I am stirring you up to understand what I'm about to tell you.
SPEAKER_01: And it is, this is our response to eternity.
SPEAKER_01: Now, he reaffirms by way of reminder so that you recall the words previously spoken by the holy prophets and the command of our Lord and Savior given through your prophets.
SPEAKER_01: You remember in chapter 2, when we talked about, at the end of chapter 1 and into chapter 2, when we talked about false prophets, he said, listen, you need to know about your scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Guys weren't making up scripture.
SPEAKER_01: They were holy men of God who only wrote and spoke as they were directed by the Holy Spirit, and it is the infallible, inerrant word of God.
SPEAKER_01: And he's saying, Now I've got your attention, and I'm trying to stir up your passion to understand what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: I am going to remind you that this is all based on Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: That this is all the promise and the work and the instruction of God.
SPEAKER_01: And then he goes in and says, okay, above all, in verse 3, be aware of this.
SPEAKER_01: People are going to come and they're going to challenge your faith by telling you Jesus is not coming back.
SPEAKER_01: And that's a problem because Jesus promised that he is coming back.
SPEAKER_01: And so if Jesus promised that he is coming back and he doesn't come back, then Jesus is a liar, and then that undercuts the entire strength of our salvation testimony and what we've trusted in in the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01: And so he's saying, listen, you have got to stir up and add to your faith.
SPEAKER_01: You have got to be in the Word.
SPEAKER_01: You have got to be establishing these spiritual habits.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to be working your way through all of this because people are going to come and they're going to tell you that Jesus is not real, or Jesus lied to you, or Jesus wasn't really the Savior, and Jesus is not really coming back.
SPEAKER_01: And he was just a teacher and he's still dead in the grave.
SPEAKER_01: And you say, what about the empty tomb and the rolled away thing?
SPEAKER_01: And they're going to go, his people all rolled the stone away and they took his body out, and you get all that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: That's where all these weird theories come up.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus didn't really die, he was just in a coma or whatever, and you know, all this weird stuff that all through history people have tried to make up because they're trying to undercut, and literally, this is the scoffer part.
SPEAKER_01: He's not really coming back.
SPEAKER_01: You say, yeah, he is, he said he was coming back.
SPEAKER_01: You go, okay.
SPEAKER_01: When was Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John written?
SPEAKER_01: In the first century.
SPEAKER_01: And what year is this?
SPEAKER_01: 2023.
SPEAKER_01: Like, seriously?
SPEAKER_01: You still believe he's gonna come back?
SPEAKER_01: All these thousands of years?
SPEAKER_01: Really?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, like, he's not coming back.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what he's gonna that's what he's gonna tell us.
SPEAKER_01: And when you think about it, what Peter says is this challenge to our faith.
SPEAKER_01: Of all the ways people could challenge of our faith, what Peter tells us to be on watch for above all things is actually causing doubt that Jesus is coming back.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's a lot of attacks on our faith.
SPEAKER_01: Word of God's not real.
SPEAKER_01: Church people are just they're mean and that's all fake because they're the meanest people on the planet and all that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And I always tell them, that's not us, that's a Methodist.
SPEAKER_01: All the attacks, all the different ways they challenge of our faith.
SPEAKER_01: The one Peter is most worried about is people are going to tell you that Jesus is not coming back.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because the book of Proverbs explains it this way Hope lost makes the heart sick.
SPEAKER_01: If we have no hope of Jesus' return, what is the point of any of this?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: The anchor and foundation of our trust in Jesus, of our whole reason we got saved, is because we're going to be in heaven one day with Jesus, and it's going to happen because Jesus is coming back.
SPEAKER_01: When my I've told this story before, so forgive me, but when my dad went to heaven almost two years ago, Thanksgiving would be two-year anniversary.
SPEAKER_01: When my dad went to heaven, it was a shock.
SPEAKER_01: It was a stunning thing.
SPEAKER_01: We were sitting down to dinner the week of Thanksgiving with our family, and my brother called, and I'm on the way to the hospital, and Dad, it's bad, Greg.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, tell me what's going on after you, you know, eight o'clock at night, I'm getting a car to drive from Nashville to go to Memphis to be with all family off.
SPEAKER_01: And when we got there, dad was dead.
SPEAKER_01: We got there.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I told my brother and sister.
SPEAKER_01: He spent 82 years teaching the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: And he taught us about heaven our whole life.
SPEAKER_01: And he believed he was going to be in heaven, and there was no question in his mind.
SPEAKER_01: And he taught us that.
SPEAKER_01: And you guys are Sunday school teachers.
SPEAKER_01: My brother's a deacon.
SPEAKER_01: My brother-in-law's a deacon.
SPEAKER_01: My sister thinks she's smarter than all the other pastors in the world.
SPEAKER_01: Thinks she should be one.
SPEAKER_01: They're all Bible teachers.
SPEAKER_01: They love Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I said, listen, we are going to act like we believe heaven is real.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't want y'all wailing and doing all this kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Fine, cry, your heart works like that.
SPEAKER_01: But we are not going to act like heaven is not real.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to act like we believe heaven is real.
SPEAKER_01: Because what do you have?
SPEAKER_01: What does all this mean if there's not heaven on the other end of it?
SPEAKER_01: And the only way to get there is when Jesus comes back.
SPEAKER_01: And if Jesus said, Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me.
SPEAKER_01: In my father's mansion or in my father's house or maybe mansion, I'm going to prepare a place for you.
SPEAKER_01: And if I go to prepare a place for you, then I will come again to receive you to myself.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, what's the point of going to heaven to prepare you a place if I don't come back and take you home?
SPEAKER_01: Nothing Jesus told us is true if he's not coming back.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, what is the whole point of the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus paid the price for your sins, so you won't be separated from an eternity from a holy God who has to judge sin.
SPEAKER_01: And he died on the cross, he could be forgiven, so you could spend eternity in heaven with him, and he's not coming back.
SPEAKER_01: None of that is real.
SPEAKER_01: In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Paul says, here's the gospel, and it is all built on the resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: And if we don't, if if Jesus didn't raise from the dead, then we are the sorriest people in the world.
SPEAKER_01: Because we have faced our, we have placed our entire life on the truth of resurrection from the dead, which is also the picture of what happens when we are resurrected and salvation, we spend eternity in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And so Peter says, listen, if you lose this, if you lose the hope of Jesus' return, it's going to mess you up in every part of your life.
SPEAKER_01: It's going to mess you up in every part of your life.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's what he says.
SPEAKER_01: I need you to understand the promise of God.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why he gives this lesson here about the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: And this is not just scripture, but this is the word of God attached to his character that he spoke it.
SPEAKER_01: And if he can't make it happen, he's not God.
SPEAKER_01: And if he won't make it happen after he promised it, then he's not God.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's what he's saying: the word of God, and he's trying to give them a confidence that the promise of God means something foundational, tangible, and substantial to us.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's what he says.
SPEAKER_01: In creation, they are deliberately overlooking when they tell you Jesus is not coming back, he lied to you, he's not real, he doesn't have the power to say that.
SPEAKER_01: What they're doing is attacking the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's what he says.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, by creation, the Bible says, the spoken word of God created the heavens and the earth.
SPEAKER_01: And so, in the same quality and power as the God who spoke creation into being, it's the same word that says Jesus is coming back.
SPEAKER_01: When he called the flood and he said, It is going to rain, and I'm going to destroy and judge everyone but Noah's family.
SPEAKER_01: It was the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Listen, we all know the flood happened.
SPEAKER_01: The same word of God that spoke the flood and spoke the creation that we know happened as a fact in the past, by that same word, he says in verse 7, the present heavens and earth are stored up with fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
SPEAKER_01: It is the same quality and confidence that it will happen that we know it did happen.
SPEAKER_01: It's exactly the same word.
SPEAKER_01: Judgment will happen and salvation will happen, and we know it will happen in the same way that we know creation happened.
SPEAKER_01: It has the same level of tangible credibility of the word of God that judgment will happen, eternity will happen, and heaven will happen as the flood happened.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's an incredibly powerful message right here that he gives.
SPEAKER_01: And it is the greatest frontal assault on scoffers who say Jesus won't come back as there is in Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01: It's unbelievable when you think about that argument that he makes about the quality of the promise of God.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's that first, that's that first section.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all listen.
SPEAKER_01: I'm stirring you up to understand.
SPEAKER_01: Don't let anybody tell you that Jesus is not coming back.
SPEAKER_01: Don't let them tell you that judgment is not real.
SPEAKER_01: And he's saying, listen, eternity will come about.
SPEAKER_01: That's the first chapter.
SPEAKER_01: That's the first section of the chapter.
SPEAKER_01: Now look at the second chapter.
SPEAKER_01: Let me stop.
SPEAKER_01: Any questions about that?
SPEAKER_01: Thoughts about that?
SPEAKER_01: Y'all got that?
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to preach in this next part.
SPEAKER_01: So y'all get ready.
SPEAKER_01: Dear friends, there's our second second.
SPEAKER_01: Now we've moved to another thought.
SPEAKER_01: He's grabbing you to a second thought.
SPEAKER_01: He's calling your attention again.
SPEAKER_01: Just like I grabbed Grant, a little face, got his eyes.
SPEAKER_01: Dear friends, don't overlook this fact.
SPEAKER_01: Again, he's built off this.
SPEAKER_01: Don't let anybody tell you it's not real.
SPEAKER_01: It's real.
SPEAKER_01: Don't overlook this fact.
SPEAKER_01: With the Lord, one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord does not delay his promise as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.
SPEAKER_01: So there's the first part.
SPEAKER_01: Second part.
SPEAKER_01: Patience is not a broken promise.
SPEAKER_01: God's patience is not a broken promise.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, this was written in the first century, and yes, it's 2023.
SPEAKER_01: What are we supposed to understand about that?
SPEAKER_01: We are not supposed to have our faith challenged and doubt whether he's going to return.
SPEAKER_01: As people of salvation, of people who believe in the Word of God, we are supposed to understand He has given us this window in which to share the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: He is patient because he wants everyone to have an opportunity to be saved.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what he says.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.
SPEAKER_01: God is waiting one more day for whoever else is going to get saved to be saved.
SPEAKER_01: He is waiting one more day to give the opportunity to share Jesus with one more person before he comes back.
SPEAKER_01: Don't forget, he is coming back as surely as creation happened.
SPEAKER_01: He is coming back as surely as the flood happened.
SPEAKER_01: And he is waiting right now to give you an opportunity to share Jesus with somebody.
SPEAKER_01: Why is it that we are supposed to be adding to our faith, building spiritual habits, stirring up our understanding?
SPEAKER_01: Why are we supposed to be responding to all this?
SPEAKER_01: Because it is all about eternity, and right now is the last window that we have to help other people end up in heaven and not go to hell.
SPEAKER_01: That's what that says.
SPEAKER_01: And so our response to the delayed return of Jesus is not to doubt that he's coming again, it is to call people to look for his return and to place their faith in him as our Savior.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's incredible.
SPEAKER_01: The incredible wisdom and power that he builds together, the structure of this argument.
SPEAKER_01: Now, here's what he goes, and here's a couple of things about interpretation that'll help you in this moment.
SPEAKER_01: But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.
SPEAKER_01: On that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will be will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed.
SPEAKER_01: Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in conduct and godliness as you wait for the day of God returning.
SPEAKER_01: And so now what he's talking about is the second point of this judgment and redemption will occur.
SPEAKER_01: And now he is stating, restating, there is going to be judgment, and this is what's going to happen.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is a little bit convoluted if you're a new student to the Bible, if you've not studied a lot of these things, and it has some terms in here that you need to sort of learn to recognize as you're studying through this.
SPEAKER_01: When you see something like the day of the Lord, or if you read down there, the day of God, that's kind of a weird phrase.
SPEAKER_01: And you go, what day is that?
SPEAKER_01: If you're doing your who, what, where, when, why, and how, you're going to get when.
SPEAKER_01: Like when, day of the Lord is a when.
SPEAKER_01: Day of God is a when.
SPEAKER_01: W-H-E-N, when.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's what you do.
SPEAKER_01: When you see something like that, you don't understand, you ask questions.
SPEAKER_01: That's when you get out of Bible dictionary, you begin to study.
SPEAKER_01: And what you'll determine a lot of times on phrases like that, those have been adopted out of the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_01: And when you uh work on that phrase, day of the Lord, you figure out, okay, this is repeated a bunch of times in the Old Testament, and Peter knew that they would know that, or many of them would know what that is, so he uses that term so it makes sense to them as a reader.
SPEAKER_01: And so, day of God is the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this phrase thief, how many of you heard that phrase?
SPEAKER_01: Coming as a thief or thief in the night, right?
SPEAKER_01: We hear that, right?
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and chapter 5, you see that term, thief or thief in the night, right?
SPEAKER_01: So here's what you get.
SPEAKER_01: Just because a term like this is used, the thief, it doesn't mean that these are the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: So if you go back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and chapter 5, and you see that term, thief, comes as a thief, and another time it says thief is in the night.
SPEAKER_01: He's talking about there the rapture, and it's a very different description from this.
SPEAKER_01: He talks about there, I don't want you to be ignorant, brothers.
SPEAKER_01: It's good not to have ignorant brothers, right?
SPEAKER_01: That's old preacher Job.
SPEAKER_01: It's good not to have ignorant brothers.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say that one more time.
SPEAKER_01: It's good not to have ignorant brothers.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all get that?
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Just making sure you got that.
SPEAKER_01: And then because what had happened was in that first generation, scoffers were telling them Jesus is not coming back.
SPEAKER_01: This is all not true.
SPEAKER_01: Because that first generation of Christians was dying off.
SPEAKER_01: And they're going, what happens to my mom that taught me about the Lord, and she died, and Jesus didn't come back, and like, is she gone?
SPEAKER_01: Did she miss it?
SPEAKER_01: And Paul says, No, that's not what it looks like.
SPEAKER_01: And then he describes a day when there will be a voice and a trumpet and a dead in Christ will rise first, and all of us will.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's a very different description than this right here.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: The heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed, since all these things are to be dissolved in this way.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says in the next phrase, in verse 12, because of that day the heavens will be dissolved with fire, and the elements will melt with heat, but based on his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells.
SPEAKER_01: And so we get here, this is different than in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: And so we get here, day of the Lord and day of God.
SPEAKER_01: If you read through those things, what you're getting here is an overall description of final judgment.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: This is not a picture of the rapture, this is a picture of everything goes away.
SPEAKER_01: And he judges it with fire in the way that he judged with flood before.
SPEAKER_01: And then he redeems and remakes to a new heaven and a new earth.
SPEAKER_01: When you read in Revelation chapter 21, what does he say?
SPEAKER_01: Behold, I saw the new heavens and the new earth.
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: It means new in quality.
SPEAKER_01: It means it's been redeemed.
SPEAKER_01: God made it perfect and said it was all good in Genesis chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: And then Genesis chapter 3, we broke it.
SPEAKER_01: And we continue to break it.
SPEAKER_01: In uh Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, creation groans under the weight of sin and all of this, waiting for eternity, right?
SPEAKER_01: And so what happens is God redeems, he remakes, he changes it all back to what he intended it to be and made it to be in the first place.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why in that new heaven and new earth in Revelation chapter 1, redeemed world, he says, listen, there will be no more tears, no more sorrow, no more pain, no more crying.
SPEAKER_01: He said, You don't need a son anymore because you've got Jesus, who is the light of the world, shining his light everywhere.
SPEAKER_01: We get to tabernacle with him, and God makes his dwelling place or his tabernacle with man.
SPEAKER_01: And he gives this incredible picture of this is what heaven's gonna look like.
SPEAKER_01: But there is a judgment that occurs that separates who's gonna be in heaven with God forever and those who are gonna be in hell forever.
SPEAKER_01: And what he says is, what you know is coming is this judgment.
SPEAKER_01: God is going to judge, and the judgment is going to determine who's gonna pay the price for your sin.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna trust Jesus to pay the price for your sin on the cross, or are you gonna pay the price for your sin forever?
SPEAKER_01: And he's reminding them, listen, God's delay is not a broken promise.
SPEAKER_01: It is his grace to give people the opportunity to trust Jesus to pay the price for their sin.
SPEAKER_01: So they are not judged and in all of this that is destroyed by fire, and that they are living for all of eternity, separated from the Lord, and they get the opportunity to live in the new heavens and the new earth, where there's no more tears, no more sorrow, no more crying.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the Son, and we are living in the presence of God, and He's tabernacling with us.
SPEAKER_01: That's what He says.
SPEAKER_01: That's what this is.
SPEAKER_01: That this is the period of time that we have the opportunity to tell people about the mercy and grace of God.
SPEAKER_01: So back up again and put these together.
SPEAKER_01: That first dear friend, I am trying to stir up your understanding of what's going on in this moment.
SPEAKER_01: And don't let people tell you that Jesus is not coming back.
SPEAKER_01: Judgment is as sure on the promise of God as it was in the work of God in creation and the flood.
SPEAKER_01: Do not be confused that this delay is a broken promise.
SPEAKER_01: It is an opportunity to share Jesus because judgment is coming.
SPEAKER_01: And some people are going to live in heaven and some people are going to live in hell.
SPEAKER_01: Does make sense?
SPEAKER_01: It's just unbelievably powerful right there as you work your way through this chapter.
SPEAKER_01: And then you get to chapter 14, verse 14, and you get section 3.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, dear friend.
SPEAKER_01: Now, it's a key deal.
SPEAKER_01: When you stop and read everything, who, what, when, where, why, and how, and you're working your way through those, you're paying attention to all those words.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, this is a significant shift.
SPEAKER_01: Dear friend, I love you.
SPEAKER_01: Dear friend, this is the message.
SPEAKER_01: Dear friend, I'm stirring up.
SPEAKER_01: Dear friend, be aware of this.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says, therefore, dear friend.
SPEAKER_01: Like now it gets serious.
SPEAKER_01: Because of what I've just told you, because I am trying to stir you up in your spiritual habits and you walk with God and you stay away from what the false teachers tell you, because it will take away your hope, because it will make you doubt whether Jesus is coming back again.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is coming back again, judgment is real, judgment is sure.
SPEAKER_01: This is the period of time that you have in which to share Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, because of those truths, I'm going to command you on what you're going to do.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it doesn't get any stronger than that.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, because of that.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, while you wait for these things, make every effort.
SPEAKER_01: It's the same instruction as it was in chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: It is a parallel instruction to I'm stirring you up your sincere understanding.
SPEAKER_01: Make every effort to be found without spot or blemish in his sight.
SPEAKER_01: Make every effort to be found at peace.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 15, also regard the patient of our Lord as salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Just our dear brother Paul's writing.
SPEAKER_01: So what he's saying is, you have a response to eternity.
SPEAKER_01: Section 3 is if we are going to understand something of this magnitude that our hope rests in eternity, and it is sure and it is happening.
SPEAKER_01: And the way this is unfolding is God has given us a patient window in which people to lead Christ.
SPEAKER_01: If there is that kind of truth, it has to have consequences.
SPEAKER_01: You cannot come to church and learn these things and then go about your life just as if you just had dinner at church.
SPEAKER_01: Which unfortunately is the majority of what most Christians do.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, when we learn this and we learn this about eternity, and we learn this is a temporary deal while you wait for these things, we have got to have a response.
SPEAKER_01: There is no way not to respond to this.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, if you go back and look at every scripture in the New Testament, so far that I can find, every scripture in the New Testament, when he talks about the return of Jesus, he does not tell us when it happens, and he always tells us how we're supposed to behave because of it.
SPEAKER_01: Acts chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: We all know Acts 1.8.
SPEAKER_01: Wait, then you'll receive power from the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: When he's come upon you, you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the undermost part of the earth.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we quote that, we quote that verse.
SPEAKER_01: We forget the context of that.
SPEAKER_01: What literally happened in that moment is they come to Jesus and they say, When are you coming back?
SPEAKER_01: And when is all that eternity stuff going to unfold?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says, it is not for you to try to figure that out.
SPEAKER_01: Don't worry about when it happens.
SPEAKER_01: Instead of worrying about when it happens, wait for the Holy Spirit, and then you'll have power.
SPEAKER_01: And when he comes upon you with that power, you are to go be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and Neil.
SPEAKER_01: The most part of the earth.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he literally tells them, don't worry about it.
SPEAKER_01: God is the only one who knows that.
SPEAKER_01: It's your job to go lead people to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that what that says?
SPEAKER_01: 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, about what's happening.
SPEAKER_01: He describes their question.
SPEAKER_01: Your friends are dying, your family's dying, Jesus hadn't come back yet.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to know he's going to return.
SPEAKER_01: Trumpet, shout, all of that.
SPEAKER_01: Rapture, then Christ rise first, we remain calling again.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says, here's what you're supposed to do with it.
SPEAKER_01: You're supposed to encourage one another with these words until he comes.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there is a mandate, because we believe in a rapture and a second coming of Jesus, that we are required to be encouraging each other with this all the time.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because when scoffers tell us, as Peter said, that Jesus is not coming back and it causes you to doubt the hope of eternity, then it causes you to doubt Jesus and it causes you to doubt your faith.
SPEAKER_01: There is a mandated response to eternity.
SPEAKER_01: Because somebody had passed away.
SPEAKER_01: We are supposed to be encouraging the brothers with the truth that Jesus is coming back soon.
SPEAKER_01: It's hard to get people to come to church.
SPEAKER_01: Like COVID, everybody thinks, well, I can just put my feet up, watch television, and that counted.
SPEAKER_01: Whose hope did you encourage from your lazy boy?
SPEAKER_01: I was in a conference with all these millennial and Gen Z pastors, and they're all hip and cool, and they're doing all this, and because of COVID, it's this brainstorming thing, and they're all like online and we're learning all this online stuff.
SPEAKER_01: We've got to do all this online.
SPEAKER_01: Man, this power.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go reach people on the internet and all this kind of thing.
SPEAKER_01: Like, that's all cool, but who did you encourage from your lazy boy?
SPEAKER_01: And they got mad.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I don't care what you think.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what it says.
SPEAKER_01: You're to encourage one another with this.
SPEAKER_01: How are you doing that from your computer?
SPEAKER_01: You got to go look at somebody in the eye and you've got to tell them, I know you're going through a hard time, but listen to me, Jesus is faithful and he is coming back soon.
SPEAKER_01: There is hope for you.
SPEAKER_01: You can't do that from the couch and you can't do it from your iPad on Facebook.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to look somebody in the eye and be with them in church and give them a hug and tell them, Jesus is coming back.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's incredible to me.
SPEAKER_01: I get this stuff.
SPEAKER_01: I love my family.
SPEAKER_01: I'm giving my kids memories.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to the lake, we're doing all this.
SPEAKER_01: You have not exercised a spiritual gift from your ski boat at Lake Ozark.
SPEAKER_01: You have not.
SPEAKER_01: You have sinned and you have violated your fiduciary duty to the body.
SPEAKER_01: You have certainly not behaved blameless and made every effort to be like Jesus from Disney World.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, truth is important.
SPEAKER_01: They have consequences.
SPEAKER_01: And they have we are called to be in the body, and the body requires the body to encourage each other.
SPEAKER_01: And we've got to be involved in that.
SPEAKER_01: Look at some of these encouragements.
SPEAKER_01: Eternity is our greatest motivation for spiritual habits.
SPEAKER_01: That's why every one of these scriptures has eternity in it.
SPEAKER_01: We talked about 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, the rapture.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.
SPEAKER_01: It comes back and tells us again, in light of these things that Jesus is returning, and then he goes through four verses of you're supposed to be holy, and you're supposed to love people and you're supposed to do ministry in people's lives, and you're supposed to not fail in doing good.
SPEAKER_01: Because of his return.
SPEAKER_01: Why do we have the book of Revelation?
SPEAKER_01: I love this.
SPEAKER_01: This is like my favorite thing in church.
SPEAKER_01: Pastor, when are you going to preach Revelation?
SPEAKER_01: Pastor, we want you to preach Revelation.
SPEAKER_01: Pastor, we preach Revelation.
SPEAKER_01: You're not really a biblical pastor because you haven't preached from Revelation yet.
SPEAKER_01: We have Baptist churches.
SPEAKER_01: The happiest thing in the world for the people in that church would be for me to spend three and a half years going word by word through the book of Revelation.
SPEAKER_01: That's not true?
SPEAKER_01: Now come on, let's be real for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: Is that alright?
SPEAKER_01: It's like when I was a singles pastor, what they always wanted to hear was about dating.
SPEAKER_01: And the people that are already married, they want to hear about Revelation.
SPEAKER_01: I have some theories about why that is.
SPEAKER_01: I know that surprises you.
SPEAKER_01: It's fascinating.
SPEAKER_01: It is fascinating.
SPEAKER_01: Seven vials and 47 bowls and like 14 pinky toes on the beast, and something rolls down, and all that.
SPEAKER_01: It's like really fascinating, right?
SPEAKER_01: The mark and 666, and we're that on, and now I've got my iPhone and everything is on that, and I'm putting on the thing at the whatever, and like they don't take cash anymore, and you go through Walmart, and nobody works there anymore, and you can't find anybody to help you, and you gotta work that little gun thing, and you can't even check out, and like you, if you and they don't take cash at the teller anymore, they got rid of the people, and now they get rid of the money.
SPEAKER_01: You can only do it like in like 666, Pastor, you said six.
SPEAKER_01: Like, what is all that about?
SPEAKER_01: Why did he give us a whole book in the interval?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, he gave us a little extended version of what Peter said here, gave some more things about it so that we would know what the new heaven and the new earth is coming, and you can trust the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Now go get busy and lead somebody to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And we spent our time fascinated with the 14th pinky toe and whatever beast or whatever, or like the four horsemen and all that kind of stuff, and that's all cool, but we came to church, we did all that, and then we go to Waffle House after church, and then we go home and we do what we do, and we didn't even invite anybody back to church next week.
SPEAKER_01: That's not what the book of Revelation is for.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus knew that was going to be a temptation to us.
SPEAKER_01: That's why he wrote it with all that allegory, and it was all that hard to understand, and people are arguing all that when really what you ought to understand of that whole thing is we win.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus comes back, new heaven and new earth.
SPEAKER_01: What else do you need to know?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus said in Acts chapter 1, before he sent us out to be witnesses of the gospel, quit trying to figure out when it's going to happen and go tell somebody about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: The whole point about it is in passages like this, that's why Peter doesn't feel the need to go through all those details, and the Holy Spirit doesn't tell him to do all that.
SPEAKER_01: You just need to know it's happening, and you need to know that this period of time that you have is the only period of time you have to tell people how to be saved.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what this all is.
SPEAKER_01: And when we talk about spiritual habits of growing in the Lord and learning Scripture and sharing Jesus and worshiping him and all the things we've been talking about, the entire motivation of that is because eternity is coming, and you better get it right now because you're going to have to answer for it when we get there.
SPEAKER_01: That's what the whole thing is.
SPEAKER_01: It's about what happens now, not what happens in the future.
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, look what he says.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, while you wait for these things, make every effort to be found without spot or blemish in his sight.
SPEAKER_01: Now, how do we do that?
SPEAKER_01: What he said in chapter one.
SPEAKER_01: You add to your faith, you stir up your effort, you add to that patience and love and goodness and self-control and all those things, and you work at that and you grow in the Lord, you go stand on the great precious promises, you pursue all of that with him.
SPEAKER_01: He pulls that idea here together again.
SPEAKER_01: Make every effort the same phrase.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is coming back, and I don't want him to find me like this.
SPEAKER_01: I got the chance to preach in cowboy church several times when I was with the Arkansas Bass Commission.
SPEAKER_01: Who's ever been in cowboy church?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, like we need to do cowboy church, y'all.
SPEAKER_01: Was cowboy church awesome?
SPEAKER_01: It's awesome.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I love cowboy church.
SPEAKER_01: It is incredible.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm preaching in cowboy church, and the music is a little different.
SPEAKER_01: It's a little different.
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of cool.
SPEAKER_01: Janet was with me one time.
SPEAKER_01: We're preaching one of we got done.
SPEAKER_01: I said, How what do you think?
SPEAKER_01: And she said, Well, that was fun.
SPEAKER_01: The people are super nice.
SPEAKER_01: Music's different.
SPEAKER_01: And so here we are, I'm sitting over there, I've got my Bible, I'm ready to go preach.
SPEAKER_01: Man, they've been worshiping.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody was nice, it was awesome.
SPEAKER_01: I'm ready to roll.
SPEAKER_01: And then you have the special music, and the soloist guy comes up, and I don't remember exactly the lyrics, but basically this was a song.
SPEAKER_01: This old boy is drunk in his trailer, and he wakes up and his bottle of jack is almost empty, and you get to the chorus, and the chorus is this I know I'm saved, but I sure don't want Jesus to find me like this.
SPEAKER_01: That was that was the chorus.
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm not a cowboy.
SPEAKER_01: I love cowboys.
SPEAKER_01: I have a six-shooter.
SPEAKER_01: I like it, I love it.
SPEAKER_01: I love cowboys.
SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking, I don't really understand what to do with that now.
SPEAKER_01: But I look out, and I'm telling you, there are grown men weeping, and that was their testimony.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was incredible.
SPEAKER_01: And I had this moment where I thought, man, I need some of that.
SPEAKER_01: I needed to hear that song.
SPEAKER_01: I I may not be falling asleep drunk on my bed at least more than once a week.
SPEAKER_01: But there's plenty of stuff in my life I don't want Jesus to come back and find me doing.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's plenty of stuff in my life, but I don't want Jesus to come back right now.
SPEAKER_01: And what needs to happen in my life is I need to be thinking, I don't want to do that because he might come back in that moment.
SPEAKER_01: Not, I did it, and then I thought afterwards, I'm glad Jesus didn't come back.
SPEAKER_01: But it needs to motivate me to blamelessness.
SPEAKER_01: You see what that says right there?
SPEAKER_01: It needs, I need to be driven to holiness because Jesus is coming back.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't want to be, as it says in chapter one, useless in my faith.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be useful to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I'd a whole lot rather him come back and find me preaching or sharing Jesus with somebody or helping somebody in the church do something or move chairs on to the student building so we can get more people in there or whatever it is.
SPEAKER_01: Go over to the thing tomorrow and deliver food at the University of Arkansas, Fort Smith, a freshman or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: I'd a whole lot rather him find me doing that than find me doing some of the other stuff in my life.
SPEAKER_01: I'm supposed to be driven to be blameless.
SPEAKER_01: I'm supposed to be at peace.
SPEAKER_01: That means I'm walking with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Peace is the fruit of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: That means I'm in his presence.
SPEAKER_01: He's with me, and I'm making every effort to do that.
SPEAKER_01: We studied one of our favorite verses, Philippians chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: It says, let all your requests be made known to God, and then the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your heart and mind.
SPEAKER_01: I need to be at peace with Jesus because I've been pursuing my relationship with him.
SPEAKER_01: And there's the other response he says.
SPEAKER_01: Also, like the others are lumped together, but also I'm going to grab your attention with this.
SPEAKER_01: Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.
SPEAKER_01: This is the opportunity to lead people to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Like we got to get this.
SPEAKER_01: This Jesus is coming back.
SPEAKER_01: People are going to die and go to hell and be separated from God forever.
SPEAKER_01: And we have got to tell them about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we're doing all this, signing people up and doing these courses and encouraging each other and all that kind of deal.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you we can't stir this up enough.
SPEAKER_01: We can't do this enough.
SPEAKER_01: That's what he's saying right here.
SPEAKER_01: And then he comes back to our big idea at the end.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, dear friends, since you know this in advance, be on your guard so that you're not led away by the error of lawless people.
SPEAKER_01: Our spiritual habits protect us.
SPEAKER_01: It is our spiritual habits that protect us.
SPEAKER_01: How do we, how are we on guard from false teachers?
SPEAKER_01: And why does he warn us what false teachers are and the effect on our lives?
SPEAKER_01: It is pursuing, studying God's word, encouraging, living it out, making every effort to add to our faith, as he says in chapter one, that protects us from the false messages.
SPEAKER_01: It protects us from things that the world will say around us.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there are so many things going on and coming at us and what we live in in our culture and everything else.
SPEAKER_01: And what we're called to do is impact the culture, not the culture impact us.
SPEAKER_01: I need to be protected from the culture by listening to Jesus and renewing my mind and studying the word and living it out and pursuing blamelessness and all that stuff.
SPEAKER_01: That protects me from those false messages.
SPEAKER_01: And then the other thing it does, he says here in verse 18, but grow.
SPEAKER_01: We need to grow.
SPEAKER_01: We are called to grow.
SPEAKER_01: We have to grow.
SPEAKER_01: And so our spiritual habits are what grow us.
SPEAKER_01: We don't grow by accident, we grow by spiritual habits.
SPEAKER_01: And so, a truth of this magnitude, what is he saying, our big idea?
SPEAKER_01: Dear friends, since you know this in advance, since we know what Jesus is coming back, judgment will happen.
SPEAKER_01: Those who don't know Christ will be judged.
SPEAKER_01: Those who know Jesus will live in the new heavens and the earth.
SPEAKER_01: Because you know this is a window that is God's patience and a time to share Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Because you know this.
SPEAKER_01: Guard and grow.
SPEAKER_01: Our spiritual habits do that for us.
SPEAKER_01: I hope that's good.
SPEAKER_01: I hope that's exciting.
SPEAKER_01: I hope that comes together.
SPEAKER_01: I'll be around a little while if you want to chat about it.
SPEAKER_01: You guys have been great to be here all summer.
SPEAKER_01: It's been really good.
SPEAKER_01: I've enjoyed doing this with Matt and the other guys, and I pray it's been a blessing to you and encourage you in your spiritual habits.
SPEAKER_01: Um, we do want to remind you again, starting next week.
SPEAKER_01: It was on here at the end.
SPEAKER_01: Yes?
SPEAKER_01: No?
SPEAKER_01: I don't see it.
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, remind you next week.
SPEAKER_01: Wednesday in the Word, Brother Roger, men's discipleship, women's discipleship.
SPEAKER_01: Also, next week is a wana kickoff, so if you're in men's or women's discipleship, you're fine to do that.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks kind of a soft start, getting everybody started.
SPEAKER_01: First Wednesday night in September will be financial peace, grief share, uh, women's discipleship.
SPEAKER_01: Janet is gonna lead that.
SPEAKER_01: My wife Janet is gonna lead that.
SPEAKER_01: Moms of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: They're still gonna do the same format, discussion format, small group, all that.
SPEAKER_01: It's discipleship just like you expect.
SPEAKER_01: And y'all are just gonna plow through lady things together, and I'm not gonna go anywhere near that side of the building because they're doing girly things.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, men's discipleship will be cranked up in their deal.
SPEAKER_01: And then Jared Farley, who taught evangelism here, is going to teach a four-week class on sharing your faith and being salt and light.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm praying a lot of people sign that up and jump into that.
SPEAKER_01: One other thing, I'll tell you before we need to go.
SPEAKER_01: Um, Sunday night, the last Sunday night of August, the last Sunday night of August, we're gonna have a missions and fellowship night here at the church.
SPEAKER_01: This is awesome.
SPEAKER_01: Um we have partnered with the Jesus film people.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all know Jesus Film.
SPEAKER_01: Raise your hand if you know Jesus Film.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, a lot of people do, some of you don't.
SPEAKER_01: The Jesus film was made like 30 years ago.
SPEAKER_01: It was made in the 70s, right?
SPEAKER_01: And it's geez, like the chosen we're watching now, right?
SPEAKER_01: But it's it's the movie of Jesus life.
SPEAKER_01: It's very well done.
SPEAKER_01: Campus Crusade bought it, and then they have been taking it around the world, and so they are translating it into hundreds of languages.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the last time I looked, one of the guys said like 120 million people have been saved watching the Jesus film.
SPEAKER_01: So we have partnered with the Jesus film, and we are going to pick up the cost to translate the Jesus film into a language for a people group that has not yet been translated to.
SPEAKER_01: The Anu I I can't say it right.
SPEAKER_01: Huh?
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: It's a people group that live in Ghana and Joby or something like that.
SPEAKER_01: Hundreds of thousands of people have no access to the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna pay for them to translate it, and then they take it out into the bush in those areas, and they have this like backpack with a projector, and these dudes on these motorcycles take it back, and it's awesome, cool.
SPEAKER_01: And so that Sunday night, we're gonna have uh one of the executives from the Jesus Film Campus Crusade people with us, answer questions, stuff like that.
SPEAKER_01: Um, David Burton has been on one of these trips.
SPEAKER_01: David has got the projector deal, and so we're gonna set it up in the base, let you see what it looks like.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna show a clip or two, ask questions, and we're gonna pray over.
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be way cool.
SPEAKER_01: We're also gonna have food, so it's safe for you to come.
SPEAKER_01: Come have dessert, do all that, learn about our El Salvador team's gonna be there, talk about what they're doing.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna pray over our London team.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna have a table where you can get your passport because of what we talked about tonight, right?
SPEAKER_01: And uh, we've got the dates for next year's London trips that we'll have that night, all ironed out and all.
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be great.
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be fun.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all excited?
SPEAKER_01: Everybody gonna meet me there?
SPEAKER_01: Like it's gonna be great.
SPEAKER_01: So good.
SPEAKER_01: All right, let me pray for us.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, thank you for today.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for another day in which we could share Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you for our team and our folks that were out on the campus today and they were sharing Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you for our students that have gotten excited about sharing their faith in high schools and middle schools here in town, and they were out today and they've been praying over, telling their friends about Jesus and inviting them to church.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, I pray that while we wait, as Peter said, while we're waiting, you'll help us, grow us, guard us, and send us to share Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Pray these spiritual habits have been encouraging and a blessing to our friends and our family tonight.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you most of all for the sure promise that Jesus is coming back.
SPEAKER_01: It's in his name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: And everybody said, Hey, great to see you all tonight.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for being here.
SPEAKER_00: We pray this message has been a blessing to you and helped to strengthen your walk with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Please know we want to minister to you and pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: Send an email to contact us at fsfbc.org and let us pray for you and help you in any way we can.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to chapter and first, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.