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This afternoon, I want to bring a message that's slightly different to our norm here at Redeemer. Usually, our habit is we're working our way passage by passage through books in the Bible. We've been going through the book of Genesis, currently in the life of Abraham.
We'll pick that up after Easter. But for this Sunday, like I said, I want to do something a little bit different, a little bit off the beaten path for us. If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, take them and turn with me to 2 Peter chapter 3.
2 Peter and the 3rd chapter. 2 Peter in chapter 3. If you grabbed one of the red Bibles that we give away, that's page 1080. 2 Peter and the 3rd chapter. 2 Peter in chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3. And we're going to read verses 1 through 14.
2 Peter chapter 3, beginning in verse 1 and reading through to verse 14. 2 Peter chapter 3, from verse 1 through to verse 14, page 1080 in our giveaway Bibles. If you are able to do so, can I invite you to stand with me out of reverence for God's Word as we read this passage to begin this afternoon.
2 Peter chapter 3, beginning in verse 1. Brothers and sisters, these are God's words. Dear friends, this is now the second letter I have written to you. 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.
Above all, be aware of this. Scoffers will come in the last days, scoffing and following their own evil desires, saying, where is his coming that he promised? Ever since our ancestors fell asleep, all things continue as they have been since the beginning of creation.
They deliberately overlook this. By the word of God, the heavens came into being long ago, and the earth was brought about from water and through water. Through these, the world of that time perished when it was flooded.
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. Dear friends, don't overlook this one fact. With the Lord, one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.
Our 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. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. 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.
Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness as you wait for the day of God and hasten its coming. Because of that day, the earth 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. Therefore, dear friends, while you wait for these things, make every effort to be found without spot or blemish in his sight at peace.
Pray that God will bless that reading of his Word and give us understanding of it. Let's pray, ask for the Spirit's help, and then we will get into God's Word.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word. We thank you that all of it is given by inspiration of your Spirit. We thank you that every word of it counts and every word of it is powerful. And so, Father, as we think about a part of your Word that at times we can be tempted to either ignore or to skip over, we ask that your Spirit would be at work.
Giving us a love for these things, opening our eyes to their importance, and above all, helping us to see how we can know, love, and serve Jesus better in light of these things. We ask it in Jesus' name and for his sake.
Amen.
Please be seated. This afternoon, I want to preach to you a message which really is in the form of a question. The question I want to put to you this afternoon is a very simple one. Does the end matter?
Does the end matter? As we begin, I want to start with another question. Does God mumble? Is God unclear when he speaks on anything? When I was a lot younger and a lot more hard-headed, my mom used to say at times when I wasn't listening to her, did I have water in my mouth when I spoke to you?
Well, when God communicates, is it like he's got, as it were, water in his mouth when he speaks? Most of us as Christians would hopefully say no. After all, we have banked our eternal destiny on the fact that God has spoken, and not only has he spoken, he's spoken clearly.
We believe that God sent his Son into the world to take on our sins and bring us who are far from God close to him, precisely because his Word says so. Of course, we don't believe that God mumbles or is unclear, like my precious mom would say, that he speaks with water in his mouth, so to speak.
Well, most of us would, I would hope, say yes, but if we're honest, there are a couple of areas where we might be tempted, at least by the way we approach them. To say maybe he did? On the one end, it's often been the case with Christians that when it comes to matters of the beginning, matters of origins, ever since the rise of the idea of evolution, there's been somewhat of a confusion on that subject.
This isn't a sermon about creation and all of those issues. We've preached on that before, so that's not really my aim this afternoon. Especially just to say that at times there can be a sense in which Christians kind of feel like, yeah, God said stuff, but we can't really take it at face value what he said.
But if there was a lot of supposed mumbling about matters to do with the beginning, then I'm convinced that there is even more supposed mumbling in the minds of many when it comes to matters relating to the end.
I started teaching the Bible at 18 years old. I wasn't much good at it compared to where I am today, but I started teaching about when I was 18 years old. And while I like to think I've learned a thing or two from those early years, if there's anything I've learned, there's two subjects that get Christians terrified.
Two subjects that when you start talking about it, Christians start shuffling in their seat and they get nervous. We actually talked about both of them in this service this afternoon already. Talk about evangelism and Christians get nervous, and talk about the end and Christians get nervous.
Evangelism and the end, or to use the more technical term, eschatology. You know I try to keep technical terms out the pulpit as much as I can. Eschatology just means the study of last things, the end.
And it's been my experience that God's people can either fall into one of two ditches on the subject. On the one hand, you can have those who are, can we say, a little bit obsessed with the subject? They, it's pretty much all they want to talk about.
They're constantly kind of reading the Bible in one hand, newspaper in another. We've all met those types, haven't we, at some point? And so some of us look at that and we're like, I don't want to be that.
And so unfortunately, we veer off into the ditch on the other side, which basically says, yeah, that stuff is there.
But you know what?
We don't really need to focus on that. If we don't focus on that, we'll actually be kind of normal. And so whether you've got obsession on one side or indifference on another, what you end up having is a large part of God's Word kind of just gets ignored.
Or we kind of do the impressionist thing with it. Those of you who like art, you know what I mean when I say impressionism, right? You know, it's the school of art. It's not really about detail. It's more just big picture, kind of more big strokes, that sort of thing.
But actually, I happen to think that if God in His Word says something, it's important.
Amen?
I think we can agree that. That if God opens His mouth to say something, it's because you need to know it. And so if God in His Word talks about the end and talks about matters relating to the end, we might want to give some thought to that, at least.
Let me be upfront what I want to do in this message. This message is not me trying to advocate for a particular position. I do have one. After years of studying Scripture, I'm pretty confident about the position I hold.
And actually, Lord willing, this coming year, 2024 in January, I actually want to teach a six-week class on it. So put that in your calendars, January 2024. I'm going to teach a class on matters relating to the end.
This, however, is not that. I am not trying to advocate for a particular view this afternoon. I'm not here to persuade you. If you happen to hold a view that's different to mine, those of you in the room who might know what my particular view is.
Let's be clear, believers can disagree on this and still be believers. They can even be in the same church. So that's not really my poem. I'm not talking to the folks today who are kind of obsessed about the subject or, in a more balanced way, at least have a position.
I really want to talk to those of us who maybe just a little bit are apathetic when it comes to matters of the end. I titled this sermon, Does the End Matter? You can see from your study guide. I gave it a sort of humorous Puritan style title.
You know, I love the Puritans. One of the hallmarks of their books is you had a title and then you had the real title, which was like a page long. Thankfully, I didn't do that. But my sort of joking half-page title was A Call to Consider the Importance of Matters Surrounding Jesus' Return and to Reject Apathy About the Bible's Teaching on the End.
A Call to Consider the Importance of Matters Surrounding Jesus' Return and to Reject Apathy About the Bible's Teaching on the End. Now, let me just kind of state where I'm going with this up from. I believe that being apathetic about the return of Jesus is a bad idea.
I also believe that being apathetic about the details of Jesus' return— I'm not talking the stuff people speculate on, the stuff the Bible actually says. I believe being apathetic about the details of Jesus' return is a bad idea.
And so, as I said, this evening, I want to ask and answer the very simple question, does the end matter? If you've not guessed already, I believe the answer to that question is an overwhelming yes. What we believe about the end does indeed matter.
And so, for the rest of our time, I want to consider three questions. I will try my best not to make this a long sermon, but we'll see how it goes. Three questions. Three questions that I believe should stir our hearts to examine the Bible's teaching on this issue.
And if I do my job well, which I pray by the Spirit's help I can, my hope is that you'll walk out of here desiring to know more and to long for the second coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So, three questions that I want us to consider.
I'll do my best to kind of move through. You can see the study guide's a little longer than it is usually, because I do have a lot to say today. So, let's get straight to work. Question number one I want to consider.
Question number one, why are so many Christians apathetic about the end?
Let's start there.
Before we can dig into the question of what the Bible actually says about the end, we might need to take a moment, take a step back, and ask the question, why are so many Christians apathetic about the end?
I've got a few reasons. Hopefully you grabbed a study guide on the way in to help you kind of follow along. I want to identify four reasons I think exist for this. Four reasons. Number one, let's call number one theological indifference.
All that's a fancy way of saying is, it's too complicated. And since it's too complicated, I just don't care. Like I said, I've been teaching the Bible for quite a while now. On top of the list of reasons I've heard for not digging into this issue, it's just too complicated for me to understand.
I mean, after all, think about this. If you've read your Bible for any length of time, Revelation is really complicated, allegedly. But, you know, I mean, seven-headed monsters. Revelation 12, there's a woman standing on top of the moon.
What's that all about? Like locusts with men's heads. It all just, like, wow. Like, I don't understand any of this. Martin Luther, the great reformer, do you know what he said about the book of Revelation?
Martin Luther, great reformer, we all love Martin Luther. Nevertheless, I don't agree with Luther on this. Luther was asked about the book of Revelation and he said, it is the mutterings of a dope addict.
And we look at them, granted, Martin Luther was an interesting character when it came to saying things he shouldn't say. And that's probably one of them. But while we might laugh at just the wildness of what he just said, how many times have you heard, I hear this all the time, great minds can't agree on this.
So what hope is there for me? Can't I just believe in Jesus, love people, go to church, and I don't really need to know all of that. But let's start with the obvious in answer to that question. Yes, understanding matters relating to the end can be complicated.
It does require a grasp of the whole of God's word in a way that not a lot of things do. Do you need to understand matters relating to the end to become a Christian? If you said no, correct answer. You don't need to understand this to become a Christian.
Can you go to heaven and not understand any of this?
Yes.
Can you be a faithful Christian who serves God in whatever vocation he's called you to and not understand all of this?
I want to be upfront in saying that. This is not a requirement or a prerequisite for being a faithful Christian or for going to heaven. Let me start by saying that. That being said, yes, it requires some work, but you all know I love Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Uncle Charlie, as I call him.
Uncle Charlie had a quote once he was asked about difficult things and he said, Dear friend, there is difficulty in everything except the eating of pancakes. The reality is that I'm studying things in scripture, even pancakes.
Actually, I think about that. Even pancakes can be hard, actually. But anyway, depends who's making the pancakes, I guess. Even so, the reality is sometimes things require work. In fact, our fathers in the faith, I put this in the study guide.
Our fathers in the faith understood that not everything in the Bible is equally clear. So they put it like this. Some things in scripture are clearer than others and some people understand the teachings of scripture more clearly than others.
But that's true. There are things in the Bible that are hard to understand. Even in this chapter, Peter says that. So we stopped at verse 14. Second Peter 3, 15 and 16, Peter says, Also, regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our dear brother Paul has written to you according to the wisdom given to him.
He speaks about these things in all his letters. There are some things hard to understand in them. Peter says, look, Paul writes some stuff that goes over our heads.
It's okay.
So the reality is there are things in the Bible that are harder to understand than others. Praise God, the plan of salvation is not one of them. As our brother was saying in his presentation, God gives us all opportunities.
And in fact, we can all grow in our ability to present that plan of salvation. So the plan of salvation is not difficult. There are other things in the Bible. Okay, maybe we need a little more work. But know what they go on to say.
So some things in Scripture are clearer than others. And some people understand the teachings of Scripture more clearly than others. However, the things that must be known, believed and obeyed for salvation are so clearly set forth and explained in one part of Scripture or another so that both the educated and uneducated may achieve a sufficient understanding of them by properly using ordinary measures.
In other words, the stuff you need to know is in the Bible. Praise God, God didn't say, okay, I'm gonna put some stuff here and then some other stuff you might need to, you know, go use Google for when it comes to knowing me and knowing my plan.
No, the stuff you need to know is in the Bible. Not only that, the stuff you need to know is either clearly laid out or explained in another part of the Bible. And to understand the Bible, you use ordinary measures.
In other words, you apply yourself to reading and studying the way that you would try to understand anything else. Faith family, we cannot plead difficulty about these matters without actually applying some effort.
This isn't just for pastors or for theology nerds or for the prophetically obsessed. Every Christian can and should, I would argue, understand something of matters relating to the end. Now, at this point, I know what people would say.
I know what people would say. But Kofi, there are so many different positions and so many complicated terms. No one can seem to agree and the usual thing I get, same four words I hear all the time. Kofi, I'm no theologian, which I can understand.
This is complicated. Yes, there are varying views out there on any number of issues relating to the end. And it's easy to say that, well, I just, I just, I'm sorry, this is just way too complicated. It's beyond me.
But I have to be honest and say that in a church like ours, in the theological tradition that we are in, where we rightly prize theology and we rightly prize digging in deeper, you have to forgive me if, allow me to be blunt for a moment, I'm not hearing that from folks who claim to be reformed in our theology like we do.
Folks who would rightfully argue for unconditional election, despite the fact that that takes some work to understand, or a definite atonement, even if that takes some work to understand, or the nature of providence, even though that takes some work to understand.
If we can do the work to understand those concepts, I think we can do the work to understand what the Bible says about the end. And thankfully, God doesn't leave it to us to try and figure this stuff out.
If you're taking notes, 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 7, Paul says this, consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. When we do the work of considering what the Word of God says, God promises to do the work of giving us understanding.
Have you ever wondered about that? That the more that you read the Bible, the more you understand it. It's not, well, I don't understand the Bible, so I'm not going to read it until I get understanding.
Oh, it's you read the Bible, and the more you read God's Word, the more you consider what God's Word says, God gives you understanding. And before I move on, I do have to kind of say that people like me, who stand in front of God's people and open up His Word and teach the Bible, we have to hold some blame here.
It's one thing when I'm not big on the clergy lady distinction, personally. I think all of God's people are called to serve Him in some way or another. Some of us just have a more public way of ministering, but everybody's a minister to some degree in God's church.
That's just my personal take. That being said, for those of us who occupy this office of opening up the Bible and explaining God's Word to His people, sometimes we haven't done ourselves any favors because we are indifferent to matters relating to the end.
One writer put it like this. He said, there is indeed a general lack of teaching on this subject matter from the pulpit of churches across the nations. The common reasons include lack of literacy among preachers on this subject, prioritization of more pragmatic messages, I'll talk more about that in a moment, and the fear of potential division, confusion, and misapplication of prophetic matters.
Maybe Christians, this is just a thought I had this week, maybe Christians are apathetic on this matter because those who stand in front of them and open up God's Word at times can say things and give the impression that it's okay to be apathetic.
And so for some, it's just indifference. But not everybody is in the camp of indifference. For some, there's a decided reason they've made a decision not to let it be there. They're just pragmatists. Pragmatism at its most base form basically says that the only thing that matters or what is most important is what has immediate practical value.
So unless this thing speaks to my life right here and right now, it's not that important. Now, pragmatism is not always a bad thing. As you can see, Laura's not here today. My wife, she's not feeling well.
Laura encounters my pragmatic side every time that she was here. Oh, I went to go see someone today. Oh great, how did it go? And I give her my version of what happened, which is usually very low on details and kind of just gets to the point.
Most of you who are men, you know this struggle. And then my wife would never say, oh, what about this? I don't know, I didn't ask.
How could you not ask?
I don't know, it wasn't important. But it was important to her because she's slightly more detail-oriented than I am. My approach to conversation is, well, not always pragmatic, but sometimes it is. It's like, I don't need to ask what, I don't need to remember what color you're wearing.
I don't, it's the difference between when men tell a story and when women tell a story sometimes. Like, we all kind of just tell the story and we don't really care. Oh, don't forget this part. Like, no, just not really important to the story.
Pragmatism works there. Uh, frankly, if you ask me, I'm not really big into politics, so I don't know much about it. It has no immediate value to me. I'm also bad at DIY. I have to watch YouTube videos to learn how to fix things.
Why?
I don't equally care about that as I do about studying the Bible and thinking about evangelism because I'm a pastor, that's my job. But here's the thing when it comes to the Bible. We can't just take the parts of the Bible that we think have immediate value to us and ignore the rest.
I quote it all the time, 2 Timothy 3, 16, all scriptures inspired by God and profitable. You might not see the immediate practical value, but allow me to give you just a helpful tip. If it's in this Bible, it has some practical value.
You might have to do some work to find that practical value, but if it's here, then it matters. So we can't plead pragmatism and say, you know, it doesn't really matter, so I can ignore that. So for some, it's theological indifference.
For some, it's pragmatism. For others, it's just worldliness. Worldliness. This might get touchy at points. Kofi, don't you think you're stretching it just a little bit?
Worldliness?
I don't think I am. I've talked about worldliness before in our purpose. I'm not going to labor this point. Worldliness is very simply a love for the world, as in this world system that's opposed to God and the things that make up this world system that's opposed to God.
That's all that worldliness is. Okay, Kofi, what does worldliness have to do with not caring about the end? Simply put, and I can say this because I've encountered this in years and years of ministry, both as a lay person and now as a pastor.
For so many, if I can boil it down to a question, it ends up like this. Why would I think about the end of this world when I like this world? You all know my love for cheesecake. Cheesecake is the king of desserts, in my opinion.
It's great. I'm not eating as much these days.
As you all know, I love cheesecake.
You know the saddest thing about cheesecake? When it's gone. I'm a very happy guy when you give me a piece of cheesecake. I won't say I'm heartbroken when it's over, but I'm a little less happy when it's over.
Because I like cheesecake.
I don't think of cheesecake the way I do anchovies. I think anchovies are gross, by the way. Don't put it on the pizza if you ever buy me a pizza.
Because my affection for cheesecake is such that when it's gone, I'm a little less happy than I was. My lack of affection for anchovies means that when they're gone, I'm very happy. And I can put it to you that in years of ministry, Christians won't say it.
After all, we know better. But when you start probing with some heart level questions, you realize that for some Christians, the reason they don't like talking about the end is because they're very comfortable in this world.
And the reality of a life hereafter doesn't exactly make folks happy when they're comfortable in this one. Not always my favorite person to quote, if I'm really honest. But I believe it was C .S. Lewis who said that if my heart can't be satisfied by anything in this world, it means that I am made for a world other than this one.
The reality is that, as my late mentor said towards the end of his life, 92 years old, dying of cancer, his nickname for me was boy, and it was his nickname for anyone under the age of 60. He said, boy, I have seen enough of this world to know it's nothing compared to where I'm going.
And so for some, wilderness is the problem. We just like this world so much that the idea of leaving this one doesn't sound all that appealing. For others still, it's the fear of the sensational. The fear of the sensational.
Now, like I said, we can't pretend that there aren't folks who get imbalanced and weird when it comes to matters of prophecy in the end. I mean, we've all heard the jokes, you know, 88 reasons why Jesus will come back in 1988.
We've all laughed at the left behind books and all of those sorts of things. I have to be honest and say that in the last few years, my heart has kind of softened towards those people. I think they're still wrong, but at least they care enough.
At least they're excited enough to think about Jesus coming, even if it leads them to some unwise thinking. But at the same time, we can't ignore that there are people who obsess over the stuff that's, as one of my favorite teachers used to say, it's in the white spaces of the Bible.
Not the stuff the Bible plainly says, it's in the white spaces. Trying to fill gaps the Bible doesn't fill or to answer questions the Bible doesn't answer. We've all seen the predictions of people who predicted the end of the world and it didn't happen.
Again, as one writer puts it, they've created a climate of cynicism when it comes to matters of biblical prophecy. There was a growing level of disengagement with this truth among genuine Jesus-loving believers who simply prefer to focus on engagement with society now rather than preoccupy themselves with understanding the vision of the end.
Yes, people who are slightly imbalanced exist, but we cannot allow the abuse of a thing.
To negate its normal use.
Just because folks get sensational doesn't mean we get a pass on not caring. Okay, so far I've not really dealt with the Bible too much. I've just been kind of preparing why we don't think about this.
But that kind of leads to my second question. If there's no biblical reason for apathy about the end, is there any actual reason positively for us to care? Now we get to go to God's word because question number two, why should we care about the end?
I think the Bible actually answers that question for us. Why should we care about the end? There were so many reasons I could have gone to. I just picked three because I wanted to be mindful of time. For the first of these, tell me to 2 Timothy chapter four.
2 Timothy in the fourth chapter. I called this one loving his appearing. And you'll see why I called it that when we look at this passage. 2 Timothy chapter four and verses six to eight. You remember last summer, we looked at 2 Timothy 3, 16 through to four, five.
Well, here's how Paul closes out that section. 2 Timothy chapter four and verse six. Paul says, for I am already being poured out as a drink offering. And the time for my departure is close. I have fought the good fight.
I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. There is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will give me on that day. If you're the Bible marking type, you might want to underline that phrase on that day.
Referring to the final day. And not only to me, but know what Paul says? But to all who have loved his appearing. This term appearing is an interesting one. It only comes up six times in the Bible. Here and then five other places.
Four of the other five aren't referring to Christ's first coming. They're referring to his second coming. In fact, verse one of this section mentions that. Where Paul says, I charge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus is going to judge living and the dead.
And because of his appearing and kingdom, talking about the second coming. Paul says that there is a crown of righteousness awaiting all those who love his appearing,.
His second coming.
This seems to fit with actually a few places in the New Testament. Titus 2 .13, if you're taking notes. We're told to be those who are. The grace of God teaches us. In fact, Doug preached on that while I was away.
Titus 2 .13, while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ. How do you know you've experienced the grace of God? It teaches you to wait. The word wait, prostekomenoi, carries this idea of eager expectation, anxious waiting.
John Piper and I would disagree on some matters relating to the end, but I think he's 100 right in his most recent book. Come Lord Jesus, when he says that quote, love for Jesus and his coming is a spiritual affection, a work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
And so I have to ask, if we're indifferent, we have to ask the question, is it because we have so quenched the spirit in terms of the desire he raises for this in our hearts that we have just become indifferent to the fact that Jesus is one day returning?
Ultimately, it's concerning because for the true Christian, it's not so much just speculation on one end or almost a vengeful thinking of, I just can't wait for Jesus to come back and crush this evil world.
That's not actually the Christian's focus at all. The Christian's focus is ultimately, I can't wait to see Jesus again. The Christian's focus is ultimately, I can't wait to see my savior. I can't wait for what I believe the Bible teaches, a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells.
And the Bible says, we don't just wait for it. Paul says, did you catch it? He says, we love his appearing. So why should we care about the end? Because we're commanded to be those who love his appearing.
But there's a second reason why we should care about the end. For this one, turn with me to Colossians 3. Colossians 3. Ladies, you just finished Colossians in your women's Bible study, if I remember correctly.
So you should be more familiar with these verses the most. Colossians chapter three from verse one, Paul says, after he's been dealing with this false teaching that was coming up at the church at Colossae, after he's dealt with that and dispatched it once for all, three, one.
So if you have been raised with Christ and the if there isn't a, maybe you have, maybe you haven't. It's no if and you have. Seek the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. For the Christian, we are those who have our, yes, our eyes in this world as we are faithful, as we're looking for those gospel opportunities as we live in this world.
And at the same time, we kind of have dual vision. We look at this world with one eye on eternity. That's why you can say verse two, set your mind on things above, not on earthly things, which by the way, those are suggestions, they're commands.
The Christian is the person who lives in this world, but ultimately lives for another world. And of course, that's not to say we don't work hard on our jobs or raise our families or serve the world around us in Christ's name, far from it.
In fact, it just means we do that differently because look at verse three, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. For the folks who come to redeem you, you remember we talked about this this morning, the fact that we have been united to Christ.
Well, here's Paul expressing the idea again, just as Jesus died, you died. And as a result, your life is hidden with Christ in God. Verse four is where I want to get to. Paul says, when Christ who is your life appears, oh, there's that language of appearing again, then you also will appear with him in glory.
For the Christian, the reality that Jesus is coming once again gives us focus. It keeps our eyes on the proverbial prize, so to speak. It helps us to remember not to keep our eyes focused on this world, again, world here referring to the system of things opposed to God, not the people in this world who we should obviously be caring for and seeking to reach for Christ.
But Paul says, if you've been raised with Christ, that you seek the things that are above. And as we do that, when Christ who is our life, because we're united to him, when he appears, we will appear with him in glory.
If by way of application, I can make a point for a second. If that's true, then might I suggest that we invest in eternity now. We understand the concept of investment everywhere else. We understand that concept when it comes to our families.
So we give our kids the best education we can. We make time to be present in the lives of our children with our wives so that we can say that, okay, we have put effort and time into that, which is really important.
We understand that on our jobs, we will invest time, whether it's going to school or ongoing training on our jobs so that we can be better at our jobs. We understand investing time and investing treasure in matters here and rightfully so.
But what about investing time in eternity? If we know that one day Christ is coming and that we will appear with him in glory, shouldn't that motivate us and spur us on to basically run as hard as we can in the direction of the things that matter most to him, loving his appearing, keeping our focus on eternity.
Here's a third reason the Bible gives. It turned me to Luke chapter 21. Luke chapter 21, third reason, maintaining vigilance. Maintaining vigilance. This is actually one of my favorite texts in the Bible about the importance of the second coming.
Luke chapter 21, this is Jesus himself speaking. In fact, he says these words are repeated in three of the four gospels, Matthew 24, Mark 13, and this passage in Luke 21. One of the Bible pictures of the coming of Christ that is dear to my own heart is this idea of the unexpected.
Pick it up with me in verse 34, Luke 21, 34. Be on your guard so that your minds are not dulled from carousing, drunkenness, and worries of this life, or that day will come on you unexpectedly like a trap.
For it will come on all who live on the face of the whole earth. Jesus says, listen, don't allow the things of this world, don't allow the cares of this life to sow. Isn't it interesting, did you catch that word?
He says, your minds are not dulled. It's the language that is used for drunkenness and the effects of drunkenness. Be on guard so that your minds are not dulled, or that day will come on you unexpectedly like a trap.
For it will come on all who live on the face of the whole earth. Well, if we're not to be those whose minds are dulled, what's our response? Verse 36, but be alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place and to stand before the Son of Man.
Jesus tells his disciples, and by the way, they didn't know when any of this was going to happen, neither do we, but he says, listen, since you don't know when this is gonna happen, be alert at all times.
This isn't the kind of being alert that you do when we had this recently with a fridge in our home, repair person was supposed to come, oh, we'll come between nine and five. I must be the only person who hates that.
Just like, seriously, like nine, that's not a window, that's a day. I've got things that could be doing with this time. I can't stay at home all day. But Jesus essentially says, be alert at all times.
You don't know when it's coming. But he says, don't just be alert. He says, pray that you may have strength.
To escape all these things.
One of the big objections I hate to talking about at the end is, Kofi, it makes people escapist. And I want to turn around and be somewhat cheeky and say, there's a good kind of escapism that we should all have.
Jesus says so.
He says, pray that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place and to stand before the Son of Man. I love what Calvin in his commentary on the gospel says with his usual bluntness.
He says, it ought to be observed that the uncertainty as to the time of Christ's coming, which almost all treat as an encouragement to sloth, ought to be felt by the people of God to be an excitement to attention and watchfulness.
God intended that it should be hidden from us for the express purpose that we may keep diligent watch without the relaxation of a single hour. For what would be the trial of faith and patience if believers, after spending their whole life in ease and indolence and pleasure, were to prepare themselves within the space of a few days for meeting Christ.
It kind of reminded me of when I was a kid. As you know, I'm the oldest of four kids. Parents would go out and say, we're going to be back by this time. Tidy the house. Some of you who are like me know exactly what I'm about to say next.
Did I tidy the house just that minute?
No.
Well, I know when they're coming. So about an hour, hour and a half. Okay, they're on their way. I might want to start tidying the house. But that's not the kind of watchfulness we should have as God's people.
I guess there is an unhealthy watching, of course, the kind that basically turns into a paralytic non-action and just says, well, I'm not doing anything because Jesus could come back any minute. That's not watching, that's laziness.
But there's a healthy expectancy that we should all have when it comes to the second coming. There's a final reason I want us to think about. Loving His appearing, keeping our focus on eternity, maintaining vigilance, kind of dovetails of what we've spoken about already in our service today.
How about pursuing fervent witness? Pursuing fervent witness. I won't have you turn there, but 2 Peter 3 that we read, remember what Peter says? Verse 10, but the day of the Lord will come like a thief.
Oh, same language that Jesus used, unexpected, like a trap. 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.
Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, in light of the fact that there is, we'll talk about this in a minute, a final judgment to come. Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, the CSB kind of translates this as a statement.
Some of your Bibles has this as a question. What sort of people should you be? In all holy conduct and godliness. But here's the point I want to get to about witness. Verse 12, as you wait for the day of God and hasten its coming.
Wait, what?
Hasten the coming of the day. If again, the day of God, he's referring to the end, the coming of Christ. What do you mean as we wait for the day of God? That part we understand. The part that gets me is where he says, and hasten its coming.
You know what it means to hasten something, right? Kind of move it along. How on earth can we hasten the coming of the day of God? I have to imagine that for Peter's readers, when they first heard this, they thought, what on earth?
And by the way, we can't kind of say, well, maybe that's not translated properly. No hastens, what that word means is where we get our word speed from. It means to hurry by extra effort. I like how the ESV study Bible kind of summarizes the point of this passage.
I think it does a good job. It says, hastening the coming of the day of God suggests that by holy lives, Christians can actually affect the time of the Lord's return. That does not mean, of course, that the Lord has not foreknown and foreordained when Jesus will return.
But when God set that day, he also ordained that it would happen after all of his purposes for saving believers and building his kingdom in this present age had been established. And those purposes are accomplished when he works through his human agents to bring them out, bring them about.
Therefore, from a human perspective, when Christians share the gospel with others and pray and advance the kingdom of God in other ways, they do hasten the fulfillment of God's promises, including Christ's return.
I don't claim to understand all of that, but I do understand this, that in the wonderful and mysterious providence of God, he has so tied the return of Jesus to the witness of his people in a way that in a sense, we can either slow that thing down or speed it up by our witness as his people.
Kofi, that's a guilt trip.
No, it ain't.
It's motivation. If we rightly understand that, we ought to be the most evangelistic people on the planet. Those are just four reasons. I could give more, but I'm already running out of time and time's not on my side.
Hopefully, I've done enough to at least convince you about why we should care. And maybe now you're wondering, okay, Kofi, I can't argue with what you said.
We should care.
But you have to admit this subject is confusing. You said so, and it can be. What are the stuff that everybody agrees on?
Let's just start with those.
Well, I'm glad you asked.
Question number three, what does the Bible say about the end? What I want to do is just to kind of walk through the things that all Christians agree on, regardless of all the other questions. And like I said, I have positions on all of those.
And Lord willing, next January, I look very forward to get to talk about all of that in some detail. But for now, here's the things that every Christian agrees with. Six of them in particular. I'll try and be quick with this.
Number one, everybody agrees that Jesus will return physically. So I didn't talk to our brother about what he was going to say, but he actually stole one of my verses, which was Acts chapter one and verse 11.
Jesus gives his, I like the way he put up the last words of Jesus, which rightly they are. Jesus gives his final words to the disciples. He goes up into heaven. You can just imagine how that went over.
Just like, what? And as they're looking up into the heavens, and we can understand why they'd probably be staring up there at that point. Bible says these angels appear, what does it say? That this Jesus, who you've just seen go into heaven, will in the same way return.
Well, how did Jesus leave them? He was a physical person who was in front of them, and then up he went. And the angels say essentially, the same way he went up, he will come back again. Shouldn't have surprised the disciples.
Jesus said that.
John chapter 14, verse three. Remember, don't be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me, my father's house, many mansions, all of that wonderful stuff we often read. Verse three, if I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am, you may be also.
So Jesus affirms that he would come back, and it would be a physical return. That's why oldest Christian creeds and confessions, they say things like the Nicene Creed, he shall come again with glory to judge the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.
Every Christian agrees Jesus will return physically. Not only that, secondly, we believe that Jesus is coming to establish a kingdom, that he's coming to establish a kingdom. Again, not the time for me to try and explain what I think the kingdom of God is in full.
For now, I just want us to agree the fact that the Bible says that there is some future aspect to this kingdom. So Lord's Prayer, we quote it all the time. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Remember what Jesus told the disciples, Matthew 8, 11, where he said that many would come from the east and the west to share in the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. We've quoted it sometimes when we have the Lord's Table, as we will at the end of this service, where Jesus says, I'm not going to drink from this again until I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom.
Yes, there is a discussion to be had about, okay, how present is the kingdom and how future is it? That's fine. But all of us agree that there is a future aspect to this kingdom to come. So we all agree that Jesus will return physically, that he's coming to establish a kingdom.
We all agree that thirdly, there'll be a final day of the Lord. A final day of the Lord. Now in the Bible, day of the Lord can sometimes be day with a small d referring to an event in history, but it can also refer to the day of the Lord with an uppercase D, the final day of God's judgment on an unbelieving world.
So we just read it in second Peter, he talks about the day of God, the Thessalonians, poor Christians that they were, people were running around saying that the day of the Lord had already come. And what does Paul say to them?
He says, listen, someone might be writing a letter saying it came from us saying the day of the Lord has come. It hasn't, it's still future. We may disagree about what that day looks like, but we all know there will be a final day of the Lord.
Number four, we all agree there will be a resurrection.
Of the body.
Again, it's easy to kind of skip past this, but actually in the New Testament, the resurrection is a really big deal. One passage, John chapter five. Jesus says, truly I tell you, John 5, 25 to 29. Truly I tell you an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the son of God and those who hear will live.
Just as the father has life in himself, so he has also granted to the son to have life in himself. And he has granted him the right to pass judgment because he is a son of man. Do not be amazed at this because a day is coming when all who are in the graves will hear his voice.
And come out.
Those who have done good things to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked things to the resurrection of condemnation. Jesus had no time for the idea that the resurrection was just a spiritual idea.
It was just, you know, what happens in the minds of people when they come to faith in Jesus? No, Jesus understood the resurrection to be very real. He also understood that there would be a final judgment.
Letter E, there will be a final judgment. Revelation chapter 20, I only need to read this one passage. Then I saw a great white throne and one seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence and no place was found for them.
I also saw the dead, the great and the small standing before the throne and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books.
Then the sea gave up the dead that were in it and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them. Each one was judged according to their works. Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. 2 Corinthians 5, 11, if you're taking notes, Paul says that, he describes this as the fear, literally is the word phobos, where we get phobia from, the terror of the Lord, this reality of a final judgment.
But on the other side of that final judgment, the Bible makes us to understand, finally, there'll be a new creation. Even in the Old Testament, there was this expectation.
That this world that we live on.
Is not the world as it will always be. So Isaiah 65, verse 17, for I will create new heavens and a new earth. The past events will not be remembered or come to mind. Next chapter 66, 22 and 23, for just as the new heavens and the new earth which I make will remain before me, this is Yahweh's declaration, so your offspring and your name will remain.
All humanity will come to worship me from one new moon from another and from one Sabbath to another, says Yahweh. We read 2 Peter 3, 13, based on his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells.
And right at the end of the book, Revelation 21, 1, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and earth had passed away and the sea was no more. And yes, Christians disagree about what that new creation will look like.
When does it start? When does it begin? All of those questions, but we all agree that this world is not all there is. One day there will be a new creation where the effects of sin will no longer be present.
Even if you don't understand anything else about the end, those are all the things the Bible is very plain about and we can all agree on and we cannot afford to be apathetic about. I'm over my time. Why would I devote a whole message, interrupt our study in Genesis, which I've thoroughly been enjoying and we'll get back to in a few weeks.
Why would I devote a whole message to the reality of the fact that Jesus is coming again? Well, simply put, because the Bible says way too much about it for us to pretend it's not there. You know, what's the phrase we use?
The elephant in the room. This is a whole herd of them sitting in the room. You can't ignore this. But more than that, I take you back to what we read in 2 Timothy 4. We're not called to not just know about the second coming.
We're called to love it.
Like a kid loves Christmas. Have you seen kids when Christmas is coming around? Our excitement for the second coming should trump even that. We're coming to the Lord's table. What is it that we say every week in the Lord's table?
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
This is the great hope of the people of God.
That our Savior will one day come back for his own, that he will right every wrong and that he will dwell with his people forever. That those who have died in the growth groups this week, one of the passages you'll look at is 1 Thessalonians 4.
But Paul says, I don't want you to grieve like those who have no hope, which by the way, Paul didn't say don't grieve. He says, don't grieve like those who have no hope because if they fall asleep in Jesus, they'll rise with him.
I've got certain people I can't wait to see on that, on that great and wonderful day. It's the great hope for all of us that one day the Savior who gave up his precious life for us will, as he said, come again and receive us to himself.
So that where he is, we may be also. And Heavenly Father, we thank you for that precious reality. We thank you for the fact that you are indeed coming again. The Lord is your people at times, this world is wearying.
Even this week, we heard the news of the shooting out in Nashville. Six precious souls who are with you now, awaiting that hope of the resurrection. And yet, Father, we grieve. Our hearts ache. Romans 8 tells us that creation is aching, groaning, waiting for that day.
Father, help us that we would be those who, that we would be those who long for that day, who await that day. And not only do we await that day, but as a result, we are motivated to tell others that that day is coming and that while it may be a day of judgment for some, it need not be a day of judgment for them.
That if they would simply come and find refuge in Jesus, that that day will be a day of rejoicing for them too. Father, stir in us a love and a passion for your return. And Father, as we come to this table, may we be reminded of the fact that though you are present with us by your Spirit, a day will come where we will partake of this table with you in person.
Pray these things in Jesus' name and for his sake.