Okay, so you're there in 2 Peter and look at chapter 3 and verse number 3, 2 Peter chapter 3, verse number 3.
It says, Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers.
The title for the sermon this morning is The Last Days.
And so we have the Apostle Peter here in the last chapter telling us what the last days will be like.
And so we want to pay attention to this.
And one thing that you'll often think about when you think about the last days, people tend to think about the end times.
Now the end times is part of the last days, but that's not what the last days refers to.
We'll look at that as we go through this chapter.
Let's start with verse number 1 now. It says, This second, a pistol of course being 2 Peter, it says,
Beloved, I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance.
And so when it says here that he stirs up our pure minds, to stir up is to wake up, to shake you out of your sleep.
He says, look Brevin, it's not time to be asleep anymore.
You need to have knowledge, you need to be aware, you need to be reminded that there are times coming that aren't going to be pleasant.
And so he talks about these last days to come, but look at verse number 2 and I love verse number 2.
He says that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour.
And so what Peter was saying, look I'm stirring up things, I'm causing you to remember certain things,
but what are these things that we're being caused to remember?
The writings of the holy prophets, the writings of the Old Testament prophets are the same things that the New Testament apostles,
because not just it says and of the commandment of us the apostles,
some people have this mindset that the Old Testament is just for the nation of Israel,
the New Testament that's for another body called the church and they separate these things so much.
And Peter's just reminding us, hey the writings of the Old Testament, they're the same things that we've commanded as the apostles,
these are the same things that we're causing you, we're stirring you up to remember.
And so listen, you know when I come to preach I've said this before,
all I'm doing is stirring up the things that we ought to remember when it comes to our Bible reading.
We should be readers of our Bible, we should know what the Old Testament prophets spoke of,
we should know what the New Testament apostles spoke of,
and when I come to preach before you I'm just bringing to remember the same things that have been covered from the very beginning in the Bible.
And if for you it's all brand new, it's either because you've only been saved recently,
or you've not read your Bibles cover to cover.
It surprises me how many times people don't know that the Bible says certain things.
People get offended, God doesn't feel that way, and you show them the Bible verse and it's like,
well I didn't know that was in the Bible.
But you've got to read the Bible cover, how can you be stirred to remember things if you haven't read it once?
You can't recall that once and the reason this preaching that we get from this church and other good churches is unpopular
is because people have forgotten what the Bible says.
And I just love it because it's saying here that the Bible is consistent.
From the Old Testament prophets to the New Testament apostles, all these things are consistent and the same.
Now let's look at verse number 3.
So this is important.
Now this isn't the first time that Peter brings up these people.
Because if you just look back in chapter 2, Peter's just continuing the thought that he had in chapter 2.
Look at verse number 10.
It says,
And if you were here for last week, you'll remember that the people that are brought up in chapter 2 are false teachers, false apostles, false prophets.
These same false people are the same people that will scoff the Bible, that will scoff at God, that will scoff at what the Bible says.
Remember, they try to get into a position of authority to teach the local church, but really they're there to scoff at the Bible.
They're there to make fun, to mock what God has to say.
Now, if you can, please turn to Hebrews chapter 1 for me.
Hebrews chapter 1, because Peter does mention the last days here.
And you could be mistaken into thinking this has to do with the end times.
And yes, it does, because as we keep reading the chapter, it does tie into the end times, but it's not just the end times.
We want to understand what are these last days.
When the Bible talks about the last days, what are we talking about?
Look at Hebrews chapter 1 and verse number 1.
Hebrews chapter 1, verse number 1.
It says,
So, there was a time in the past when God spoke to his people by the prophets.
Those are the same Old Testament prophets that Peter speaks about.
But look at verse number 2.
What are the last days?
And so what do we learn from there?
We learn that the last days began from Jesus Christ.
When Christ came, he established the New Covenant, the New Testament.
That begins the last days.
And so when we think about the last days, it's not just end times, which plays a role, but it's also the time from Christ.
And so it's the latter days.
From the Old Testament prophets, they would look at the time of Christ coming as latter or later days.
Those would be referred to as the last days.
And so when we think about the last days now, we look back at 2 Peter chapter 3, the last days are now.
The last days have been since Christ.
And so since Christ, the Bible's telling us there's been scoffers.
People scoff in the Bible.
It's not something that will come, it's something that's already here.
Okay, that's what I need you to understand.
Now one thing, another passage that I want you to, or you don't have to turn that, I'll just read it to you.
It's Isaiah chapter 2 verse 2, I'll just read it.
It says,
And it shall come to pass in the last days.
So there it is again, the last days.
That the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains,
and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.
Think about what this period is talking about, these last days.
And many people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths,
for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
So I want you to think about what is this period.
I'll ask you guys for it.
It says in verse number 4,
And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people,
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nations shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
Does anyone want to say what that passage was about in Isaiah chapter 2?
Show of hands if anyone knows, what was that period about?
Well, it's talking about Jesus Christ ruling from Jerusalem, and all nations being under him.
So has that happened yet?
No, it's talking about the millennial reign of Christ.
Okay, the millennial reign of Christ is also referred to as the last days.
So what are the last days, Reverends?
In summary, when Christ has come back all the way up to the millennium, really.
So it does include the end times, but when the Apostle Peter is speaking to us about the last days,
he's speaking about the here and now.
This is why we need to wake up.
We need to wake up and understand we're in the last days now,
and we'll be dealing with people that are false prophets, people that are scoffing at the Bible.
Back to 2 Peter chapter 3 now, verse number 4, 2 Peter chapter 3 verse number 4.
And saying, what are these scoffers saying?
Now before I read this verse, I must admit, until last night, I did not really understand verse number 4.
Okay, because let's read it.
And saying, where is the promise of his coming?
For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
Now I get what it's saying, but when I think about the, what's the word I'm looking for,
the reality of false prophets today, the reality of teachers, so-called teachers of the Bible,
I've never heard, I've heard a lot of false prophets.
I've heard a lot of false teaching.
Okay, I've heard people preach and I'm not even saved.
I did not know, obviously, at the time, but I've heard a lot of false prophets preach.
But I've never heard anyone ask the question, where is the promise of his coming?
Like, I've never heard someone say, you know, Jesus Christ is not coming back.
When it comes to, you know, Christianity, I'm not talking about false, like, completely false religions.
I'm talking about those that set themselves up to be prophets and teachers of Jesus Christ and of the Bible.
I don't know about you, brethren, maybe you've experienced this,
but I've never heard anyone ever teach, either in a church or whether just preaching on television or on YouTube or something,
I've never heard a teacher say, Jesus is not coming back.
It seems like even the false prophets, you know, are willing to teach and admit that Jesus Christ is coming back at some point.
And so this is what challenged me about verse number four. I never really understood it.
You know, I've never really understood, well, I've never seen these people say these things, all right?
And so what's beautiful about going chapter by chapter in the Bible and studying verse by verse is,
and I've said this before, you get the direct context.
You get the context around it, and then it helps understand what is being referred to there.
It's not that people are denying that Jesus Christ is coming back. We'll soon see what it is.
We'll soon see what it is. I don't want to jump ahead. We'll come back to verse number four and understand what that is.
But what they're saying is that things will continue as they were since the beginning of creation.
So there's not, there's something's not, you know, they're not preaching something about the coming of Christ.
We'll see what that is, okay? We'll come back to it. Verse number five, verse number five.
For this, again, speaking of the same scoffers, the same people that say, where is the promise of his coming? Verse number five.
For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old,
and the earth standing out of the water and in the water.
And so this, of course, is speaking about the worldwide flood. We'll have a look at that.
But it says, you know, it says for this they are willingly ignorant of.
So this is what they're missing in their preaching. And they're purposely, they're willingly ignorant of it, okay?
They're purposely not teaching certain things about the Bible, alright?
And part of that is when it comes to the flood of Noah. Now we'll see what that is soon.
Look at verse number six. Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished, okay?
And so we know that the flood of Noah, the flood in Noah's time, was the judgment of God.
And it came and it destroyed the earth.
Now I don't understand where people get this idea that God will not judge,
that God is not angry with the wicked every day.
Listen, all you have to do is pick up your Bible. You don't get very far.
You get to Genesis chapter six, okay? You get six chapters into the Bible
and God is already telling us that he's so angry at the world he's going to destroy it.
How do you miss that in the Bible? How do you miss that's the God of the Bible
who's angry at sin, who's angry at wickedness and just decides I'm going to destroy the entire world.
I'm going to destroy the population. Only Noah, only Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord.
You know, only for Noah was God willing for mankind to be delivered through an ark, you know?
So there weren't many righteous people.
And so we begin, I don't know how people miss the judgment of God.
And listen, even if someone doesn't get to chapter six, all you have to do is get to chapter three.
When Adam and Eve sinned, okay? All they did was, look, listen.
All they ended up doing was taking a fruit and eating from it, okay?
But that sin was harsh enough for them to die spiritually to be kicked out of the garden of Eden, okay?
And ultimately die physically, you know, which will bring about this curse that God put upon the earth.
God was so angry at that first sin that he judged Adam and Eve, okay?
He told them, don't eat of that tree. They disobeyed the Lord.
And we see the judgment of God in Genesis chapter three. How do people miss this part of God?
How do people miss it, okay? And yet, hey, these same preachers are ignorant of the fact that God's judgment,
willingly ignorant, they're purposely avoiding that topic that God will judge the world.
That God has destroyed the earth, alright? Let's keep going, verse number seven.
But the heavens and the earth which are now, the heavens and the earth which are now that we live in, brethren,
by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
What? Yeah, so in Genesis chapter six, God destroyed the earth, or, you know, preceding chapters as well,
with a flood, and the same earth that came out of the flood is reserved for judgment once again.
God's going to bring judgment upon this earth once again because of the ungodly men.
Hey, these are the things that these false prophets are willingly ignorant of.
This is what they're avoiding in their preaching. What are they avoiding, brethren? The judgment of God.
They're not preaching that God is an angry God, that He hates the wicked, that He hates sin, okay?
That He's angry every day at the wicked, the Bible tells us. That's what the false prophets don't preach.
You know, so when we look back at verse number four, and we look back at the scoffers, what are they saying again?
When it says there, where is the promise of His coming?
It's not that they're denying that Jesus Christ is coming back.
It's that when Jesus Christ is coming back, He's coming with judgment.
He's coming with His wrath. He's coming with the wrath of the Lamb, with the wrath of God,
the day of the Lord, which we're going to read about, when He destroys this wicked world once again.
That's what they ignore. That's what they're willingly ignorant of.
They don't want to preach about the judgment of God. They don't want to preach that God is angry with sinners.
Okay? And listen, when we go door to door, we're preaching that every week.
We go door to door, and we say, hey, the Bible says you're a sinner.
And you know what? The judgment for sin, ultimately when you pass away, is the lake of fire.
You know, God's going to cast sinners, those that die without Jesus Christ, in the lake of fire.
We are constantly preaching the judgment of God.
You know, I sometimes receive phone calls.
You know, I don't always tell you guys, but I receive phone calls, and if I were to think about the one topic
that most people get angry about at church, is that we talk about sin, and hell, and hell.
Oh, it's not right for you to tell people that people, you know, you're going to hell.
Oh, you left this leaflet on the door, you know, how dare you say that people are going to go to hell.
Are you kidding me? You know why they think that way?
Because they've been listening to scoffers. They've been listening to false prophets.
They don't even understand. They don't even think.
You know, I've had people say to me, there was one guy, who was it, brother Michael? I was with you.
And he said to me, he was saying, you know, the Bible says, you know, God is love.
So have you ever considered hell? You know, why does God cast people into hell?
It's because those people love hell. They love to be away from God,
and so God will put them in a place where they're far away from God.
Except they're not far away from God. Except the hell fire is fire coming from the Lord.
The Lord is the one who lights the fires of hell in his wrath.
So they're not away from God, and they're not going to love hell.
Okay, but that person's trying to reconcile the idea of God casting people into hell and saying, well, that's not loving.
So it must be loving to cast people into hell.
You know, because again, they listen to scoffers.
And so it's not Christ coming back that's the issue.
It's when he comes back, he's coming with wrath. He's coming with judgments.
That's what these people, these preachers, these false prophets don't want to preach about.
And so that, once you understand the direct context of it, now you understand what they're scoffing at.
Now you understand what they're willingly avoiding when it comes to preaching the Bible.
And so this allows you to be stirred up, to wake up.
Hey, if you listen to a preacher and he doesn't preach about sin, he doesn't preach about hell,
he doesn't preach that God is angry at the wicked, he doesn't preach that God is going to judge his earth and burn this place up,
you can just mark it down. That person's a false prophet.
That person's a false teacher because he's willingly ignorant of, willingly ignorant.
It's not like he's just ignorant. It's not like he just didn't read those passages.
He just prefers to avoid them. He willingly avoids those passages to not teach the people the Word of God.
And by doing that, they scoff at the Bible.
They scoff at not telling people what God truly is like.
Okay. Now, if you can please go to Genesis chapter 9 for me. Go to Genesis chapter 9.
So Brevin, don't get too comfortable on this earth. Don't fall in love with this earth.
I love the Sunshine Coast, but don't fall in love with the Sunshine Coast.
God's going to destroy it with fire. It's been reserved for fire.
That's for the whole earth. You know, and look, it's beautiful to love God's creation,
but even it comes to a point where God is so angry at the wicked, the time is coming, it's reserved for judgment.
It's all going to be put on fire. It's going to be lit on fire.
Look at Genesis chapter 9 verse 11. This is after the Lord destroys the earth of a flood.
And just a reminder here, it says in verse 11, Genesis 9 and 11,
and I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off anymore.
Oh, thank you, Lord. You're not going to cut off the flesh anymore.
You're not going to judge the earth anymore. Oh, hold on.
Anymore by the waters of a flood. Neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
So God promises, yeah, he won't destroy the earth again, but with a flood.
Okay, so it leaves it open that yes, he will destroy the earth again, but this time we fire.
This time we fire. And so I think a judgment of fire is going to be a lot harsher than a judgment of water.
Either way, both times, a lot of death, a lot of destruction when it comes to the Lord's wrath.
Okay, look at verse number 12. And God said this is the token of a covenant,
which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for perpetual generations.
I do set my bow in the cloud, that's a rainbow, and it shall be a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
And Brevin, so when we see a rainbow in the clouds, Sebastian's pretty good at working out when there will be a rainbow.
He kind of sees the weather condition, he sees a bit of that rain, and he's like, I'm pretty sure there's going to be a rainbow.
And yep, sure enough, usually there is a rainbow, okay, under the right circumstances.
And that's to remind us, it's there to remind us of what? The LBGT. Well, kind of, alright?
That God hates sin so much that he destroyed the earth and he's going to destroy it again.
But he put the rainbow to remind us and to promise us it's not going to happen with a flood.
This is my covenant with you, I'm not going to destroy the earth again with a flood.
But then we have the more sure word of prophecy that says, well, he's coming back to destroy it, we fire.
Okay? And so that rainbow, yeah, it's wow, Lord, you've got a covenant with us, we're not going to be destroyed with a flood, we're a worldwide flood.
But it's also to remind us, wow, there was a time you did destroy the earth with a flood.
There was a time when you hated wickedness so much, you know, that you ended up destroying the earth.
And so, you know, we are called to remember the judgment of God.
We're called to remember that he is angry at sin.
Alright, back to 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 8.
Then it says, But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Now this verse gets misquoted so many times, so many times.
Some people say by this verse that when the earth experiences a thousand years, that God only experienced one day.
Kind of says that, okay? But then it also says, that's part of it, but then it says, and a thousand years as one day.
So it reverses it, okay? So it's like saying if we experience one day, then the Lord experiences a thousand years.
So what is it saying? Is it a conflict of scripture? Is it to be taken literally like that?
And the reason people take that quite literally in that sense is because there's this idea, and I've experienced this, you know, in the 80s and the 90s,
because I went to churches that taught on the pre-tribulation rapture, and in the 80s there were all these movies being made.
You know, people were thinking either the Lord's coming back in the 80s or he's coming back before the millennium.
Because people had somehow in their calendars worked out, so called, worked out that, listen, we're about 6,000 years, you know?
And there's another thousand years to come, which is the millennial reign of Christ, they'll say, and that'll be the end of it.
Because they'll say, well, you know, a thousand years is as one day for the Lord, okay?
And so they say, well, you know, God just operates like in a week. He's got a week, you know, 6,000 years have passed, six days.
That means we're so close to the rapture, right? It's going to happen in the 80s, what if they worked out because of the nation of Israel?
And so many of those prophecies failed. So many people in those days have egg on their face.
That's why when people say to me, Pastor Kevin, are we in the end times? You know, the pandemic or plandemic, what are you going to call them?
I'm like, I don't know, probably not. Because I don't want to end up with egg on my face, right?
Jesus says that we'll know when the abomination of desolation takes place. That's when we'll know, okay?
And that's, I'll hang my hat on that, you know, I'll risk believing that and say, well, that's when we'll know.
But the point is this, that what this passage is telling us is that time is irrelevant to God.
God is outside of time. One day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is one day.
It's irrelevant to God. God is outside of His creation. God created time. He created space. He created matter.
God is outside of these things. God can be everywhere and anywhere and at any point in time.
You know, God is above the laws that He created that we live in. This is why we worship a God of eternity.
We worship an eternal God. He always has been and He always will be. He never came into existence, okay?
The Bible says, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. What did God do for millions of years before creation?
There was no millions of years. God is outside of time, okay? The creation was the beginning of time.
The beginning means the beginning of time, okay? But before that, yeah, God existed. But there was no time.
Because God is outside of time and if that blows your mind, it should blow your mind because we worship a great God.
And you know, one day it's coming that we're going to be living in that eternal phase with God when He creates the new heavens and the new earth.
And so, God is outside of time. So, you know, people are saying, well, where is, you know, God's judgment?
Things continue. Where is the coming of Christ? When is He going to do? Things continue.
So yeah, well, God is outside of time. He's not on this, you know, on a human's stopwatch, you know, to work out.
This is why I always laugh at people that try to work out the end times. It's like God doesn't care about time.
He's not affected by time. At His time, the judgment will come. When the Lord says this is the time, it is enough.
That's when the judgment is going to come. That's what the Bible promises us. That's what we preach, right?
Look at verse number 9. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is long suffering to us-ward,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
And so, you know, having the attitude of saying, well, I wish God would just judge the earth right now, today.
It might sound righteous to say that, and I can understand the feeling. I can understand, you know, seeing the wickedness of this world and say,
Lord, it's enough. Can you judge this world now? I kind of understand the feeling, but you must understand,
the reason God has not done this yet is because He's not willing that any should perish.
The Bible tells us that He is long suffering. Why hasn't the Lord destroyed this earth just yet?
It's because He's waiting for more people to get saved. He's waiting for more people to repent and believe the gospel,
to turn from believing some false gospel, false gods, believing in their own works, believing in baptism or believing in righteous living.
No, He wants them to repent and turn, believing on Jesus Christ. He's long suffering. Thank God He's long suffering for us.
Thank God He did not destroy this earth before we got saved. Thank God that He's got that long suffering.
We've had the time to get saved. So isn't the time we have right now then, even though God is outside of time,
He's not being slack, but He's given us time. He's given us time. Doesn't that show you then how important it is for us to use our time
to preach the gospel, to see people get saved? Because this is what He's waiting for.
He's waiting for His people to get out there, preach the gospel, and see people saved.
If you can go back to chapter 2, 2 Peter chapter 2 verse number 5, He did the same thing when He destroyed the earth with a flood.
It says in verse number 5, And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person.
And it says this, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.
Look, God gave Noah some 100 years before the flood came, gave him notice.
And so Noah here is a preacher of righteousness. And of course when you preach the gospel,
when God is long suffering for people to get saved, the righteousness that you're preaching is the righteousness of Christ.
You go to heaven by the righteousness of Christ, not by your own self-righteousness, right?
And so if Noah is a preacher of righteousness, what is he doing for those 100 or so years?
Not only is he building the ark, but he's also preaching the gospel. He's trying to get people saved.
And I'm sure he got people saved. It's just that not everybody came on the ark.
He ended up just being him and his family. And so even before God destroyed the earth with a flood,
He made sure there was a preacher of righteousness. And just like the Lord is waiting to destroy this earth,
it's reserved for a judgment of fire. He's waiting for His preachers of righteousness, which is us, to do the work.
Yeah, we can be busy building an ark, but we can't forget that we're also called to be preachers of righteousness.
The ministry of reconciliation that God has given us. Let's keep going in verse number 10.
2 Peter 3, verse number 10.
But the day of the Lord, now if you've gone through the end time series with me, you know what the day of the Lord is.
It's the day of God's wrath, okay? Which is a period of just shy of three and a half years, alright?
And that's when God will pour out His trumpet judgments, the vile judgments, alright?
But we're going to be resurrected. We're going to be raptured before that day, okay?
After the tribulation, but before God pours out His wrath, okay? We're going to be looking for that day of the Lord, okay?
And that day, it says, will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise,
and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up.
Alright, now let's keep our finger there. Let's go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.
1 Thessalonians chapter 5, let's have a look at this reference once again of the thief in the night, alright?
The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. Let's look at this once again.
And I know this church is well established on this doctrine, but it gets preached so incorrectly and I've heard it preached so wrongly for so many years.
I feel I always need to go back to it when the Bible allows me, basically, alright?
So 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse number 2. Now when it talks about melting with a fervent heat,
some people have this idea that this is after the millennium, when God destroys the old earth and the old heaven,
and creates a new one out of it, okay? That's not what it's about. It's talking about the day of the Lord.
It's talking about God's wrath. And part of God's wrath is a judgment of fire, okay?
Fire is going to be thrown down from heaven half an hour after the resurrection. We read about that in Revelation chapter 8.
Okay, we read about that, but look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse number 2.
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. So we can see the Bible is consistent there.
But then it says this, for when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them.
That's God's wrath as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.
Now some people say, well see, the rapture is a pre-tribulation rapture. We don't know when it's going to take place.
Because it's a thief in the night, you know? But no, it's those that say peace and safety that it's going to be a thief in the night to.
It's going to be a thief in the night to those that are unsaved. Because as we're reading verse number 4,
it says by ye brethren, brethren that's brothers and sisters, that's saved people, but ye brethren are not in darkness that the day should overtake you as a thief.
And so it's not going to overtake us as a thief. We're going to know. We're going to see the abomination of this nation.
We're going to see the rise of the antichrist. We're going to see the mark of the beast before that final generation.
We're going to see the beast persecute the people of God. And then we're going to see the sun and moon go dark and the stars fall from heaven.
And we're going to know the Lord's coming. It's going to be exciting. It's not going to be like a thief in the night.
We're going to be called unawares. We're going to know exactly what's going on once we get to that time period of the great tribulation.
Let's keep going in verse number 5. It says ye are all the children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.
So if a thief breaks in at night, we can't break into us because we're not of the night.
We have the knowledge that the Bible tells us. Verse number 6. Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober.
We need to be alert. We need to understand these doctrines. We need to understand the last days.
This is why Peter says look I stir in you. I'm trying to wake you up. You need to be aware of what the last days are going to be like.
There's going to be a lot of false prophets. There's going to be a lot of false teaching. People aren't going to be teaching about the judgment of God.
They're not going to be teaching about the day of Christ properly. The day of the Lord properly. They're not going to be preaching these things properly.
And so we need to be stirred up. We need to be awake. We need to know what the Bible tells us. Back to 2 Peter chapter 3 verse number 11.
2 Peter chapter 3 verse number 11. Seeing then that all these things, that's the world that we live in, shall be dissolved.
What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness. This is why preaching God's judgment is so important.
It's because when we understand this seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved. When you understand that God's judgment is going to fall and destroy all these things.
All these temporary earthly things. All these things that you were trying to live for. All these things you were trying to. What piece of the pie can I have in this world?
When you understand that it's nothing. That God's going to destroy it all. That's going to cause us to live in all holy conversation and godliness.
When you preach that God is angry at sin, people are going to be like, oh man, God's angry at sin. I better start cleaning up my life. I better start trying to get rid of the sin out of my life.
When you preach that God is swift, that he's going to, that he's wrathful and that he has judgment, you're going to be concerned about, well, I don't want God's judgment to fall upon me.
I don't want God to chastise me with a heavy hand, therefore I'm going to make sure I keep a clean account with God, a short account with God.
I better make sure that I try to live godly, do the things that God wants me to do. This is why the judgment of God is so important.
But these scoffers in the last time, as I said, they don't want to preach about the judgment of God and so no wonder our society is just waxing worse and worse.
No wonder people don't have a fear of God anymore and feel they can just do whatever they want.
Well, yeah, all that wickedness, all that unrighteousness is being reserved for the wrath of God to come.
Let's look at verse number 12, looking for, so what are we looking for? And hasten unto the coming of the day of God.
We ought to be looking for that and saying, Lord, I can't wait for the end times. I can't wait for you to come, Lord, and take care of business.
I can't wait for you to bring judgment. But while I'm waiting for that, Lord, I know you're long suffering.
I know you're giving me time so I can get out there and give people the gospel, get them saved.
So yeah, we're excited for the future to come. We want to be excited for God's judgment, but at the same time, use your time wisely.
You're left here for a purpose. If God just wanted you in heaven, he would have taken you to heaven the moment you got saved.
Yeah, he wants you in heaven, but he's left you here for a job. He's left you here to see people saved.
You know, the Bible tells us in Hebrews 12, 29, for our God is a consuming fire. God is a fire.
No wonder this whole earth's going to melt with fervent heat. No wonder it's going to be destroyed.
Verse number 13, nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwell of righteousness.
So brethren, we have this old earth. We have this old heaven, you know, as it were.
And yeah, you know, we have to operate in this world, but don't set your hearts here. Set your hearts on the new heavens and the new earth to come.
And we know after the millennial reign of Christ, Jesus Christ gives the kingdom to the Father.
The Father establishes a new heaven, a new earth. You know, we have the new Jerusalem descend from heaven to the earth, and the Lord's going to be with us forever.
Okay? Now, I'm just going to read to you from Isaiah 65, verse 17. It says, for behold, I create new heavens and a new earth.
And the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind, but be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create.
For behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy, and I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people.
And the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
So the Lord wants us to be focused on heaven. The new heavens, the new earth, no more crying, no more sorrowing, no more weeping, but joy.
Joy forever. No more sin. That's what we ought to be looking for. And so, if that's what we're looking for, if that's our real earth, the real heaven that we're looking forward to, then we need to live in light of that truth.
Okay? Let's not live for this world, but live for the world to come. Okay? Verse number 14.
Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, that's the new heavens and the new earth, be diligent, hey, put the effort in, that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless.
Okay? So it's talking to save people. We're already saved. You know, there's nothing that's going to change the fact that you're going to go to heaven forever.
And so when it's talking about being without spot, without being blameless, again, this has to do with our daily walk with Him.
You know, the Lord wants to continue being more like Jesus Christ as we grow in the Lord.
But when it tells us there, without spot and blameless, this should again bring us back to remembrance, what He wrote about in chapter 2.
Let's look at chapter 2 again. Verse number 13. 2 Peter 2, verse number 13.
And shall receive, speaking of the false prophets, the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime, spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you.
And so if we're to live a life without spot, being blameless, we can't allow ourselves to be influenced by false prophets.
This is why I said to you last week, if we somehow end up with a false prophet in the church, that guy's getting kicked out.
We want new life after the church to be blameless. We want it to be pure. We want our church to be sound on doctrine.
And so again, we're reminded, we need to live lives without these spots, without these corruptions, without these blemishes that the false prophets are.
Okay? Verse number 15. There's number 15.
An account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. There it is. Just a reminder, again, why is He longsuffering? He wants people to get saved.
Okay? I'm doing nothing to get people saved. Well, you better do something. God's counting on you to be part of the work.
Okay? Part of the preaching of the gospel. It says, even as our beloved brother Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him, have written unto you.
So even Paul, the epistles of Paul, even Paul's telling you, you need to get out there and preach the gospel. You need to get out there and see people saved.
And so this is like consistent teaching. Of course, we should expect that too. It's the most important doctrine. It's the most important thing, you know, getting people saved.
And what I like about this reference though, if you remember, I said to you that first Peter and second Peter were written toward the end of Peter's life.
Okay? Because it's talking about, you know, soon, you know, passing on and things like that. What I like about that is that it brings up his brother Paul.
And, you know, Peter and Paul have had conflicts in the past. I'll just read to you in Galatians 2-11, this is Paul writing about Peter.
Paul says, and when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed.
And so there came a situation when, and I won't go into it all of it now, but where Paul had to call out Peter and say, Peter, you're wrong!
He did it to his face. He did it publicly in front of other people. Now for a lot of people, they're not going to let go of that grudge.
You know, for a lot of people, they're going to think, man, Paul, how dare you do that? How dare you embarrass me like that?
How dare you do me wrong like that? You know, that's what some people would be like.
But no, what we learn as we get toward the end of Peter's life, he says, you know what, Paul, he's a beloved brother. I love Paul.
Even though we've had conflicts in the past, even though he's called me out publicly and he embarrassed me, you know what, Paul's a good guy.
You know, I love Paul and so he recommends Paul. That's what I like about that stuff, right?
You know, we can't be people that if we're challenged with our sin, if we're challenged with the word of God, oh, I'm so offended.
I can't believe he stepped on my toes. I can't believe he mentioned, listen, the person that's telling you that you're wrong from the word of God is someone that loves you.
You know, Paul is the beloved here. Paul loved Peter. That's why he corrected him.
If the preacher, listen, this is why the false prophet doesn't preach about sin.
He doesn't preach about the judgment of God because he doesn't love you. That's why.
The preacher that preaches on the judgment of God and telling you that God hates sin and you need to clean up your life, that preacher loves you.
Because he wants you to be without spots. He wants you to be blameless.
He wants the time when Jesus Christ comes back to say, hey, they are good and faithful servants.
You know, he wants Jesus to say that about you because you've been warned about the judgment of God and you've made a decision, man, I better clean up my life and live for him.
Alright, I love the fact, you know, that Peter is not a man who holds a grudge against Paul.
And you know what, if you've been corrected by a preacher of God's word, if you've been uncomfortable or offended by God's word, don't hold a grudge.
Don't hold a grudge. If it's coming from God's word, it's been preached because that preacher loves you. Remember that.
The guy that gives you, that tickles your ears and scratches your ears, he doesn't love you. Okay, he doesn't look out for your best interest.
Verse number, what am I up to? I've lost it. 16, yep, alright, 16.
As also in all his epistles, so again, these are Paul's epistles, speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to be understood.
Now, brethren, what Peter is saying, some of Paul's epistles are hard to understand, is what he's saying.
Okay, so when you read your Bible and you're like, I don't understand, that's okay. Even Peter struggled to understand sometimes, right.
It's fine to read your Bibles and you know, you're going to understand some parts of it and you're not going to understand other parts of it, that's okay.
As I was telling you, I didn't really understand verse number four in this passage until like last night. Until I understood, oh, the context is giving me the answer.
And you know, that's obvious, but sometimes you just read the Bible and you don't stop to think about what that is really saying, okay.
And so it's fine to not always have the answers. It's not like you always have to have an answer for every verse immediately.
It takes time. Even the Apostle Peter, who spent time, three years with Jesus Christ, you know, couldn't always understand what was being written.
But one thing he does confirm, it says at the end of verse number 16, as they do also the other scriptures unto their own destruction.
He's saying what Paul wrote are the scriptures. You know there's a movement that I've been hearing about where people want to reject Paul.
They say, well, you know, Paul, he's just writing out of his own interests. You know, it's not the Lord using Paul. This is just Paul's opinions.
And usually it comes with women pastors. Because Paul makes it so clear that a woman is not to be a pastor.
He makes it so clear that you've got to be a husband, a man, of one wife. A woman can't do that.
It makes it very clear that women are not to teach in the church. And I say, well, that's Paul. Paul didn't like women.
That's why he didn't get married. Listen, Paul is always, you know, he mentions Phoebe, he mentions Priscilla.
He loves the ladies of God. He loves those that are serving God. It's not that he hated women.
You know, he mentions them many times when they helped him in service. All right?
It's just, you know, we get here confirmation by Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, one of the twelve that Paul is writing are the scriptures.
Now, if you look at verse number 16 again, I'm going all over the place there.
Let's start where it says, in which are some things hard to be understood.
So some things are hard to understand. But then it says this, which they, talking about the false prophets, that are unlearned and unstable rests.
What's rest with a W? Well, think of the word wrestle. When you're wrestling, that's where you get the rest from.
That's like, you know, wrestling, you know. And so the false prophets come to the Bible, they're unlearned.
They don't have the Holy Ghost in them. The Holy Ghost is what teaches them the word of God.
And they come, they don't understand it, so they twist it, you know. They make it seem like, oh, that was Paul's words.
That wasn't really God saying that. You know, and they'll twist, that's where you get the idea, the twisting of the scripture.
It's the wrestling of the scripture. And you have to be aware of the false prophets. They're very crafty. They're very cunning.
You need to understand this Bible. You know, what I preach is just ought to be things that you, that I'm bringing back to your remembrance.
Oh, yeah, I remember reading that. Oh, yeah, I remember God saying that. Oh, yeah, it's in that passage.
I'm not coming here preaching something new to you. I don't want to do that. I think I'm coming past it to preach my wisdom.
I came, became a pastor to preach God's word, to bring into remembrance the things that you should have already read in the Bible.
And to help you understand, hey, there are some things that maybe you didn't understand. Hey, I've been saved.
I don't know if I've been saved the longest in this church, maybe. You know, and I've spent more time reading the Bible.
I spent probably more time studying the Bible. I should, at least as a pastor, right? I should be doing something like that.
And so I should be able to give you some answers to the scriptures that maybe you didn't fully understand.
This is how we learn. This is how we grow. And so you should always be judging the preaching that you hear.
When I'm preaching, when any person's preaching the Bible, you should be checking to see whether it's something that is definitely written in the Bible, whether it's true.
You know, don't just take a man's word for it. Don't just take somebody that has great words, great vocabulary,
and think, man, he must be telling me the truth, because look at the great preacher. Is it on the word of God?
Is he preaching the judgment of God? Is he preaching about hell? Is he preaching that God hates the wicked?
Verse number 17.
Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.
That's what he's saying. You have to be careful of these false prophets. They wrestle the scriptures, so you also have to be careful not to wrestle the scriptures with them.
So it's saying here that even God's people can fall at the hands of these false prophets.
You can fall from your own steadfastness at the end of verse number 17.
And you know the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10-12, wherefore let him that thinketh his standeth take heed lest he fall.
We have to be careful because Christians can fall. Christians can backslide.
You know, hopefully, if you're in a backsliding state in your life, you don't get to the point where you completely fall off the radar.
Where you completely fall out of church. Where you can completely fall out of love for God.
Where you can completely fall out of preaching the gospel. You need to be careful of that area.
When you're finding yourself backsliding, getting a little bit further, I don't know if I'll go to church today, I don't know if I'll pick up my Bible, I don't know if I should praise the Lord today.
You should wake up, man, I'm falling! I'm falling, I need to wake up, I need to be stirred up and remind you that God is an angry God.
God's going to chastise me, God's going to judge me if I don't live for him.
So let's make sure we're not being led astray by these false prophets.
Verse number 18, but what are we to do instead? Instead of falling away, verse 18, but grow in grace.
You know what, your life should be constant growing. Tomorrow you should be a little more mature in the Lord than you were today.
A week from now, a month from now, a year from now, you should be a little more mature as the time goes on.
Instead of falling away, you should be growing in the Lord.
And in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to him be glory both now and forever. Amen.
So you know, we give God all the glory, both now, we come to church, we give him the glory, we praise God.
We don't come to church for a man, no. We come to church to serve God, we come to church to praise God,
we come to church to give God the glory now and forever for all eternity in the new heavens and the new earth.
We're going to continue giving God all the glory. Let's pray.