Book of 2 Peter - Ch. 3, Vs. 1-18 (12/08/2002)

Park Meadows Church

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The third chapter. This section of the

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Bible, this chapter, has been maligned, has been misrepresented, and they all take a person out of context.

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So we're going to go through the third chapter, asking the questions, and it reads like this.

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This second epistle, we look. First of all, the

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Bible, the Old Testament, was written to whom? To the chosen people.

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To the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel. The New Testament was written to whom?

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The saints. The saints. The church. In this verse, we have a word, the

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Beloved. Now, we start the chapter with the fact that he's talking to the

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Beloved. What is that, Budger? It would be the church. All right.

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He's talking to you and I. Not to the world. It's read by the world.

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But he says, this second epistle, Beloved, I now write unto you, in both which

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I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance. Something is coming that you remember.

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First, what does it mean to stir up your mind? I would think,

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Brother Otis, it means to make you recall and make you ponder on something, to think on something that could be said.

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That's right. We find that we're slow to learn what we should do.

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I maintain that we know what we should not do. If you just stop doing that, little by little, is anybody with those kids?

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Yes, sir. Little by little, if you stop doing what you should not do, you'll begin doing that as you should.

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Sooner or later, if you do that, what you should do. Because you're always doing something.

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There's not many times in your life since you were born, before you were born, that you have not been doing something.

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You say, well, I've been sleeping so many days. I've never been able to sleep.

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So, we may not know what to do. We're slow to learn it, but we know what not to do.

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Brother Otis, you know, on that verse, what he was talking about, of a pure mind.

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If we thought, if we could put our mind in such an order, which

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I think I have a probability of, if we thought of a pure mind all the time, we wouldn't be doing the stuff you're talking about.

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If we could keep our body and mind together, you wouldn't be having that problem. And I think that,

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I can speak for myself, I have that problem time and time. Well, we all do. But the fact that you realize it means that you're on the right track.

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The remedy against the wickedness, both of the true doctrine and holiness, is to be sought for by a continual meditation of the writings of the prophets and apostles.

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Now, that's all we have. The Bible is made up of writings of the apostles and the prophets.

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You can't throw some place else in your life. So, a second verse.

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That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles, of the

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Lord Jesus. He just reiterates what

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I have just said. It's been told to you.

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It was told to you what He was going to tell you. And He told you, and then He told you what

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He told you. And it was written by the prophets and the apostles.

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Did our Lord Jesus write any of them? No. No?

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He did not. Third verse. Knowing this, first, knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own of us.

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Now, are we in the last days, Bert? Yes, sir. My father was in the last days.

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My grandfather was in the last days. And the only difference is, we're in the last days or we're close to it.

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They could not see how the world could become a void. But we are to know the fact that there shall come, there shall come scoffers walking after their own of us.

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Now, Greg, what does the phrase walking after their own of us mean?

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It means they're following their own desires, trying to satisfy those around them.

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All right. The character of the persons who are called scoffers, they're said to walk after their own of us, in the name of sensual spirits, by sensuous lives, no longer that they're giving themselves up to all manner of sin.

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If you had no restrictions, the only restrictions that you have is that put upon you by civil law, to be proven, to deny judgment, to deny judgment to come.

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Roger, how do we know that there's going to be a judgment? The Bible says it.

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All right, it says so, but how else do we know, Joy?

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Well, how else do we know? I'm thinking if we didn't have the scripture, how would we know?

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I don't know. I'm sorry. I don't know the answer. Is it because that God set the example when he destroyed the world the first time, when he did judgment with the flood?

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Is that he set the example, showing that he told him he was going to do it the first time, so we can just take it for granted.

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If he said he's going to do it, he's going to do it. Well, that's true. But this judgment is spiritual.

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How do we know it's coming? Well, the only other answer

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I can put out there is that there has to be one. Otherwise, we couldn't be responsible for our actions.

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But there has to be one. Perhaps the Holy Spirit shows us.

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He can show us. How do we know that the judgment is coming? Is that what you're asking? Yes. All of their answers are right, but there's still one more.

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Well, I think like the question you asked before, and I think, Greg, kind of hinted at what you asked about accounting before.

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There's never been an accounting, so there has to be one. And there needs to be a judgment, for good and evil.

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And it has to be something that has to be done. No, it has never been. It has never been done.

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It has never been. There's one coming. We know the causes never happen. It's never come.

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We have not experienced that. As it is expedient for them, there should be none, so they endeavor to find people, to find arguments supporting their cause.

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Now, I'll tell you, it's not very difficult. In the world, they do want it. And they'll follow after their own desires?

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No. Well, not so.

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What I'm lacking in court, in gratitude, is just to convince the very being that brought you into existence to live in defiance of Him and believe.

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It is not time for God to come and judge the world. If it was,

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He would have done it. When men begin to doubt whether He made it, there's always been people who doubt whether He made this world or not, because they cannot see or understand.

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Fourth verse. And saying, where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continued as they were from the beginning of creation.

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Now, that's not exactly true, is it, Laura? No. He destroyed them once.

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No. So it's renewed once, for sure.

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But there was not the slightest evidence that it would be accomplished, that they with whom

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I had believed this were entirely deluded. There are people that have no time for God, they think

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God doesn't exist, and all of this just happened, but they really don't think.

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They think about creation. Fifth verse. For this they willingly are ignorant of, but by the word of God, by His word, the heavens were golden, and the earth standing out of the water, and in the water,

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His colors. They were saying, where is

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His promise of His coming? It's been like this since the beginning of time. But we know it hasn't been like this since the beginning of time, because He destroyed it, and no one ever will see

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Him. Brother, I noticed going back on verse 4 there, these scoffers, they're using the same argument that a lot of people are using today.

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Well, He said He's going to come back, but He's not coming back yet, so they're really using it just to prove or discredit the word of God, are they not?

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Yes. It hasn't been, so He's not coming. You ever take a test at school?

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Long time. You know, six years ago, they were going to take it. Did you ever doubt it then?

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No. So we didn't prepare for it until the night before. That's our problem.

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You hoped for a catastrophe that you wouldn't have today, but you knew it was coming. Just one more day.

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Well, since the

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Father fell asleep, everything continues as it was from the beginning of creation.

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5. For this they willingly are ignorant, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and they were standing out of the water, and in the water.

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They had declared in the former version that the world was the same as it was from the beginning.

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It isn't. That nature always had and therefore ever would keep this course.

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But says the apostle in here, these scholars know better. If they be ignorant, they're willingly ignorant.

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They don't want to know. They don't want to know. What a change

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God made in the world since the first of it. And that He can as easily destroy it as He did in the first creation.

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Is it wrong for God to destroy something? No. Why do you say no?

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It's all His. He can do whatever He wants with it. That's the simple truth that I've decided to tell you.

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But that makes it so simple. He can do anything He wants to do. Now He has to have a

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God in mind about what He operates. He doesn't go by the law.

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We'll leave it at that. Whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished.

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The world perished. Was it a local flood or a worldwide?

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The whole world was covered with water. What do you think, Roger? Well, either way it was a miracle.

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If you can drown everybody in a local flood in the whole world, that was something. But according to the scriptures, it was a worldwide flood.

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Changing the environment completely. That's right. That is, it had once been destroyed, it would be destroyed again.

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That's as close as we can come to understanding. I think it's not a fire, it's within a fire.

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Let's see what Peter says. But the heavens and the earth, which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

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He pronounces that it will not be harder for God to burn heaven and earth with fire.

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That day, which is appointed for the destruction of the world, is already done.

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He pronounces that it will not be harder for God to burn the heavens.

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How can you burn the space? I'm not sure.

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Except where you have things like the sun, there's the gases that are causing the sun to erupt.

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Just imagine the gases and so on that could erupt into a, as we know, the fire, some thermal reaction.

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When you go into outer space, is there anything other than that?

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Actually, yes, but not very much other. All right.

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Brother, I was also talking about the fire. The core of the earth has got heat in it also, doesn't it?

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It'd be so bizarre to do it any way you wanted to, but I mean, you've got heat from below you or above you or anywhere else as far as destroying the world by fire.

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Well, let's read a little more. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the

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Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. What's that mean,

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Craig? Well, it means not like we think of it that way.

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God's on a different time scale. And our long term doesn't mean a thing.

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Actually, he's not on a time frame at all. So our time here is meaningless to him.

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That's right. Time is for man. Well, I assure you, then, that this delay in law and property is just according to our sense and aptitude of things.

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For God does not measure time as we do. That's hard to realize, but he doesn't.

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He says a thousand years is as one day, and one day is a thousand years. It means there is no time.

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It's but a moment to him who is eternal in that eternity.

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To the eternity of God, no finite duration bears any proportion.

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To eternity of all time is equally short. God does not measure time by our method or cast up years by our arithmetic.

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God is outside of time. Nine, the

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Lord is not slack concerning his promise. As some men cannot slackness, but is long -suffering to us burdened, not willing that any should perish, but that we all should come to repentance.

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There is the verse that figures. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise.

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Now, what promise? Well, this has to be the promise of redemption.

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No, I'm sorry. His return?

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His return. Go back to verse four. I'm saying where is the promise of his coming?

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So the Lord is not slack concerning the promise of his coming. As some men cannot slackness.

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Why are people... Oh, no, that's right. The promise is that he is coming. He's coming back, and that's the promise for all believers.

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And he doesn't count a thousand days or a thousand years at the same time.

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Maybe that's included that he's long -suffering and that this won't happen till after the thousand -year reign on earth.

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I mean, that is a long way off. So does that point to that maybe too?

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That many things are going to happen before this total destruction and eternity starts.

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Well, that's true. But he's not slack concerning his promise of his return.

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Believe it right there. Because we don't... We don't have it.

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But his long -suffering to who? To us.

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To us. Now, who's he talking about? Chosen people. Talking about us?

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Not willing. He is not willing that any should perish.

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Now, he's talking to us, and he's not willing that any of us should perish.

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But that all should come to repentance concerning his promise.

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His promise is to save us, his people. How did this work?

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Us work. His people. That any of us, that all of us, when us that are looking for it, but it will come to those that are not looking for it with the great knowledge.

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The sound of an arrow slishing through the air. Elements shall burn.

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What is the elements, Craig? He's talking about the individual atoms.

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The word is staking off. Staking off.

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And that means it's as small as you can build it.

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If the astronomers had been on the ball, they would have called our atom a staking off. As if only the first principles of our common construction were the constituents of things.

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Melt. Move over. To untie, to loosen.

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To untie the atom. The atom shall burn all things of life.

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Or things pertaining to life. Let's go further.

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The Lord, going back to Mark. The Lord did not slacken concerning his promise. As some men can slacken us.

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But it's long -suffering to us, the world. Not willing that any of us should perish.

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But that all of us should come to repentance. Now, this is what the great law is supposed to give us.

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Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conversations and in Godliness?

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What does it mean to dissolve? Roger. To separate the molecules.

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You might dissolve something in water. But it's taking it like in a solid form and separating them.

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All right. You didn't read verse 10. You caught me in the dark.

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Seeing that all of these things shall dissolve. Roger tells us to dissolve this tomb.

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To dust everything to a wiping paste. Is that the kind of dissolving he's talking about here?

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No, not really. He's talking about everything being broken down from their structure into just nothing.

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All right. Seeing then that all of these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons should we be seen to be?

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The same word as melt. So, melt means to untie.

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Everything is untied. How about that? We're no longer joined together.

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We're untied. All right. You cannot atom this world after it's been untied.

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Verse 12. Looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, untied, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.

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All I can do is look at it. I cannot picture it. I used to think that he was going to condense this creation back to Genesis 1 -1 where everything was in existence and the substance of what it was going to be.

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I now think everything is going to disappear. The heavens being on fire shall be dissolved.

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You say atomic explosion. I think that's a terrible thing to say.

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It's not going to be man's doing. No. We might have brought it all about, but...

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The elements, the very elements that seem to be on themselves will melt with fervent heat.

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Nevertheless, we his people, according to his promise, look for a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.

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This is why I believe that we will remember this life no more.

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Wherein dwelleth righteousness. I'm going to put this statement back.

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I cannot state my experience. I have not been there. Even though I've been on the coast,

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I have not made the trip. And until I do,

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I can say that you will remember this life no more. And I say 6517,

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Colonel. Roger, read it when you get there.

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6517? Yes. For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind.

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It's crystal. The 14th verse.

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Wherefore, they look, seeing that ye, and ye is who?

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A church. His people look for such things, intelligent, that ye, what is ye?

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We. It's us. H1. May be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless, and account, that the longsuffering of our

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Lord is salvation, even as our, his people. Beloved brother

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Paul also wrote according to wisdom given unto him, and written unto you.

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As also in all of his epistles, speaking in them of things in which are sometimes hard to be understood, which they are, which they are unlearned and unstable, rest, and suppressed, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

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Now some of the new Bibles, I say Bibles in quotation marks, that are in some of the churches today, they just like a newspaper.

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His word is supposed to be different. All of these vowels that King James uses is a language that was just for the

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Bible. I know I was rather shocked when I found out that people didn't talk like that.

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17. Ye therefore, who is ye? Us. Each one individually.

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Ye therefore, beloved see, ye know these things before. Beware, lest you also be led away with error of the wicked, all from your own steadfastness.

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Is it possible to experience a fall in Christ? You can fall in Christ, but you can't fall out of him.

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It's impossible to fall out of him. You can fall out of fellowship, but not from salvation.

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But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for him be glory, both now and forever.

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Amen. Even from the pulpits of today, by some good Bible. Of course it's easy to read.

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Of course it is easy to read. They say it's just like reading a storybook. And I have read some books.

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Now we have here, the story of the end of the earth.

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He's going to return, once through the judgment, the

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Son of His Father. Respect your places in heaven. But he will melt down this earth.

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The very atoms will melt. This chapter deals with the promise of his coming.

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He has not yet come, but we know he's going to.

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We know there's going to be a judgment, because he never has been one. We know that he judged the world with the form of water, but it didn't destroy everything.

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He will come, and the judgment he will create will happen on the new earth, and we'll live happily ever after.

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That's about all I can say about it, because none of us have ever only known what the

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Bible tells us. Now is there a word for anybody concerning this third chapter in 2nd

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Peter? I think it's past our understanding.

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It's just these hard things we have to accept as the way it's going to be. But don't you think that we're going to have a thousand -year reign on earth before this final judgment?

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Doesn't this come with the final judgment, the great white throne judgment, and then everything's destroyed?

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Well, it will seem like it should be, but I have not studied it.

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I believe it's not important. Is there anything else?

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I think we need to realize we cannot walk in this holiness or righteousness only in Christ.

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That's the main thing we need to get out of this. Father in heaven, thank you for this good day, for this good place.

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Thank you for this book that we've just studied. It's short, but it's very powerful. There are a lot of things in it that are difficult to understand.

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Help us to see those things. Help us to understand them, if you want us to know them, now and in the future.

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Help us to learn these things well so we can be strong. Help us stay in this understanding. Thank you,

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Jesus. Amen. Amen.