The End Times: Who, Not When - [2 Peter 3:8-13]

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on

the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for

even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for

you.

By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial.

Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and

glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Over the years, many people have tried to figure out the exact time, the exact date

when Jesus will return.

Back in the year 500 AD, some people studied the dimensions of Noah�s Ark and

figured out that, in fact, it would be that year that the Lord Jesus would return.

People throughout the years have said, �Well, maybe it�s 1829.

George Rapp, founder of the Harmony Society, said Jesus would return that

year.

William Miller of the Millerites in 1844 said that Jesus would come back that year.

Of course, that was referred to later as the �Great Disappointment.

� And we would see some Seventh -day Adventists spiral out from the Millerites.

In 1874, Charles Taze Russell, who was the president of what we now call

Jehovah�s Witnesses, said that in 1874, Jesus was going to come back.

And then when he didn�t physically come back, he said, �Well, it was just going to be a spiritual return.

Herbert W. Armstrong, edition of the Plain Truth magazine, said Jesus would return

in 1934.

To me, the funny ones are more by their name, �Eighty -Eight Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be

in 1988.

Actually, then the next year, Edgar Wiesenart wrote the book, �Eighty -Nine Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be

in 1989.

� Harold Camping, of course, published the book �1994 ?

� And then later he said Jesus would return in 2011.

This morning, it�s going to be very simple.

The question is not when is Jesus going to come back, but who is returning.

So with all the crazy end times discussions, the point is not when exactly,

but who are we talking about.

So if you take your Bibles and turn to 2 Peter chapter 3, we�re going to look at how do we live in end times

chaos, and is it to figure out and unlock exactly when Jesus will return,

or is it to think in a God -centered way, a triune God -centered way,

to think rightly as we walk by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for

us.

That is to say, not when, but who.

That's the entire sermon, �When, Not Who.

� And the great part about studying the person and work of God, it never gets boring.

You're always amazed when you study the triune God.

Spurgeon said, �The proper study of the Christian is the Godhead.

The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy

which can engage the attention of a child of God is the name, the nature, the

person, the doings, and the existence of the great God which He calls Father.

� Spurgeon said, �There's something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the divinity.

It is a subject so vast that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity, so deep that our

pride is drowned in its infinity.

Other subjects we can comprehend and grapple with.

In them we feel kind of a self -content and go on our way with the thought, �Behold, I'm wise.

But when we come to this master science, finding that our plumb line cannot sound its depth

and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with a thought, �I am

but of yesterday and know nothing.

No subject of contemplation will tend more toward the humbling of the mind than the thoughts of

God.

So this morning, dear congregation, we're going to look at who is returning and thinking about things from a God

-centered perspective and not necessarily when exactly is He going to come.

We will talk, as we did last week, about pure thinking, sincere thinking, unadulterated

thinking.

Scoffers and mockers and false teachers try to influence our minds, and so we want to make sure we think rightly.

So that at the end of this sermon, you might say with Jeremiah, �Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom and let

not the mighty man boast of his might.

Let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast of this, that he

understands and knows me, God says, and that I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness,

justice, and righteousness on earth, for I delight in these things.

� And that's what we want to do even in these last days.

Well, if you're new to the church, we're working through an epistle called 2 Peter, and it's found in your

New Testament toward the end, the second letter of Peter.

So Peter, by the inspiration of the Spirit of God, is writing letters, not just for his immediate

recipients, but also for us, because the Bible is transchronological, it's transcendent.

God is relevant, we are relevant, sin is relevant, hell is relevant, and so too we have the

ongoing relevancy of God's Word.

And we're in chapter 3, verses 8 through 13 today.

That's the plan.

Sometimes we don't go according to plan.

I have also been told that sometimes this is the church of the two -part sermon.

Nothing wrong with that, right?

Peter writes two letters, we can do two parts.

No problem.

And so we just go verse by verse, because I want you to see this message for yourself.

I'm not some holy man, I'm not a mediator, I'm not a bishop, I'm not somebody who stands between you and God,

I'm just the mouthpiece today.

I want you to deal with the text, so you come to know this book, 2 Peter, and as it were, you own it, and

you understand it, and you think, in this book of 2 Peter, there's all kinds of great things happening.

At the very beginning, he makes sure everyone knows that they're equipped, and that they

are a child of God, if they're trusting in the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

God gives you power, he gives you promises, he doesn't just say, well, you're a Christian now, you're on your own.

No, he gives you the power to say no to sin and yes to righteousness, and he begins working in your life, not just for salvation, but

he sanctifies you.

And Peter says, you know, these are important words, Jesus is going to come back, and I'm on my deathbed, and you need

to know that false teachers are going to come, and it says in chapter 2, verse 1, does it not, they

bring in secret and destructive heresies, denying the master who bought them.

There are going to be people coming along, and say the exact opposite of Jesus, Christ said something, these

people say the opposite, anti -Christ, don't you believe it?

Peter says, I know a little something about denying Jesus, don't believe these deniers.

Peter had a temporary denial, these people are fixed in their denial.

And he says at the end of chapter 1, you can either take the scoffer's words for it, or if you pay attention to

scripture, you'll be safe.

Verse 20 of chapter 1, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own

interpretation.

For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were

carried away, that's a nautical term, along by the Holy Spirit.

And so it's really a battle of the words.

You can either pay attention to Peter's words, or the scoffer's words, but you will pay attention to someone's

words.

You say, well I don't understand all the details in theology, that's fine, I mean who does?

One of my greatest moments is when I think to myself, God is infinite, and I'm finite, God is holy,

and I'm sinful, and the gap between the triune God and me can either produce praise, that's

the right way, or despair.

So for us as Christians, while we might not know every single detail, and even in chapter 3, Peter says, you know what, some

of Paul's writings are hard to understand.

Nobody said amen to that.

That is true.

But what we do have, we can understand, and the Spirit of God lightens our minds, illumines our minds, so we can

understand.

Here's what we're going to do this morning.

I'm going to read verses 1 through 7 of chapter 3, and then we're going to look at a

God -centered perspective in verses 8 through 13.

So let me read the first seven verses to give us context, then we'll get into the outline.

This is now the second letter that I'm writing to you, beloved.

You can hear Peter, the under -shepherd, he's been shepherded by Jesus, and he now wants to do the same to the people

that the Lord Jesus has purchased.

In both of them, 1 Peter and 2 Peter, I'm stirring up, think about coals and a fire that need to be

stoked sometimes, and here instead of a stick or a poker, it's the Word of God, your sincere

mind, your unadulterated mind, by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the Holy Prophets and the

commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, both Old Testament and New, knowing this, first of

all, that scoffers will come in the last day with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.

They will say, where's the promise of His coming?

For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of

creation, for they deliberately overlooked this fact, that the heavens existed long

ago and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the Word of God, and that by means of these, the

world that then existed was deliberately deluged with water and perished.

But by the same word, the heavens and the earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept

until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

I try to give outlines in epistles because it's easier for you to follow and it gives our mind some pegs to set

things on.

Let me give you today the end times, who, not when, and we're going to look at four

particular aspects of who God is.

God's perspective, number one, God's patience, number two, God's promise, number three,

and God's people, number four.

I don't always alliterate, but today it worked out just fine, and all the Baptists in the back row said

amen.

God's perspective, God's patience, God's promise, God's people.

Notice I didn't say when, the exact details, 2022 reasons why Jesus is going to come

back next year.

Maybe I could make a lot of money for that.

But you know what, then I'd give most of it to the church and so that would maybe be the reason for it.

No, no, everything needs to be from the perspective of who God is, not the specific details

of dates.

We are involved in this world, we're not monks and we want to make sure we live the right way.

So how do you live in a day and age where it seems like a long time ago Jesus

promised to come back, he hasn't come back, are the scoffers right?

Number one, God's perspective.

Will Jesus ever come back?

Make sure, dear congregation, you have God's perspective, not your own.

Verse eight, God's perspective, not your own.

Verse eight of 2 Peter chapter three, do not overlook this one fact.

Don't forget it.

It's a command, by the way, an ongoing command.

Keep this in your mind all the time, don't overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord

one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.

I mean the scoffers right now, make it happen right now, where is Jesus?

First thing we have to remember when it comes to the Lord's return is God is not on our

time schedule.

Does that make sense?

First thing, we don't have to say, well you know what, scoffers, they're saying Jesus isn't going to come back.

What does Peter do?

Did you know he's referring to Psalm 90 here?

Here's what Psalm 90 says, Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations

before the mountains were brought forth or ever you had formed the earth and the world from everlasting to

everlasting.

You are God.

You return man to dust and say, return, O children of man, for a thousand years in your

sight are but as yesterday when it is past or as a watch in

the night.

How does God see the world?

Is he late?

Is he on time?

Are things too crazy for him to control?

Chaos we see, unbridled we see, frenetic, frantic we see,

uncontrollable, but from God's perspective everything's right on target.

Remember the old days, maybe you remember Thomas Watson, he said if you look at a rug, a homemade rug, and you

flip it over, you see yarn every way, which way, and zigs and zags and knots and

ties and just kind of like this, I was going to say panoply or cornucopia of

yarns going every way, and then you flip it over and it looks perfect, right?

That thing perfectly, it's

a legitimate rug.

We're looking at things from our perspective and the first thing Peter does is says, you know what, make sure you see things as God does, and God

doesn't measure time in the same way.

We're thinking about, you know what, what does God think of time?

What is it to God when it comes to time?

A thousand years, it doesn't say is a day, and it doesn't say a day's a thousand years, but it's like, it's as.

The propaganda from the scoffers ought to be rejected.

This is quack theology from these fake doctors.

What if God promised something a day ago, would he fulfill it?

What if he promised it a thousand years ago, would he fulfill it?

What if he promised it two billion years ago, would he fulfill it?

Looking at the perspective from God helps us.

Now I know sometimes I, with you, dear congregation, struggle with your sins, and I struggle

with them too, but in this particular one, I think you've got the problem and not me.

I'm rarely impatient.

I mean, it's our flesh, is it not?

We are by nature, you know, we can't, you know, if somebody is in front of me at Haniford grocery

store, and they have 11 items in the 10 item thing, we need a good talking to.

Don't let the scoffers' impatient, bad theology influence us when we're already

thinking, you know what, oh man, come on, it's just like, will you ever come back, Lord?

Driving kids across country, or even to the Agawam

Park, what's it called, Six Flags, are we there yet, are we there yet, are we there yet, are we there yet?

If you say are we there yet one more time, we'll be there all right.

Peter quotes the psalmist who compares the eternity of God and a short human life, and now Peter says

the eternity of God with our expectations where we want everything right now, so just relax.

God's doing things for reasons, and they're way past our pay grade.

We got not to, as one writer said, trespass into the mind of God, oh God, why haven't you come back yet, that's not how we

talk.

God is not limited by my day timer, He's wise, I'm not, He's

just, I'm not.

Now in one sense, God is above time, right, He is a timeless creature, He is eternal, but remember God

works in time, think incarnation, He does act in time, but when

He acts He does it powerfully, I know you can do all things, Job said, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

It's not will He ever come back, it's who's made these promises, and that's why we move to number two,

how do we deal with end times chaos, who should we believe, let's make sure we have as a congregation

God's perspective, verse eight, and now let's remember God's patience, verse

nine, God's patience, verse nine, the Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some

count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any

should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Why hasn't Jesus returned?

Maybe He's busy, maybe He's senile, maybe He doesn't have enough power, maybe He's not

sovereign enough, maybe we're just not faithful enough to get Him to come back,

the answer for all those who may it never be, the reason why Jesus hasn't returned yet is God is

patient, God's patient, now before we look at this verse, because

there's some issues in our understanding of the verse, let's just put it this way, I was

saved 31 years ago, what if 32 years ago Jesus came back,

what would be my lot, my eternal lot, paying for my own sins, when did you get

saved, what if a year before you got saved, that was when Jesus comes back with all His furious

vengeance, not the first time like He came as a humble meek child, the Savior, but He comes back the

second time as a judge, what if Jesus came back as judge before you became saved,

aren't you glad He waited, I mean I'm very glad that the Lord waited, He could have come back at

any time, and yet He did not return in 1988, thank you Camping or whoever wrote that

book 88, because I would have been dust, I got saved in 1989, why, what's the

answer for this, the answer is God's patient, now let's just think theologically for

a second, and this is fun to do although it stretches your mind, there's a

pre -Genesis 1 .1 meeting, as it were with the Father and the Son and the Spirit was there as well,

and the Father gives the Son a bride to go rescue, in

time that bride is going to be sullied and dirty and sleazy, sinful, but the Father gives

the bride to the Son in eternity past, and He says by the power of the Spirit of God, I want you to go live for the

bride, die for the bride, redeem the bride, wash the bride,

cleanse the bride, nourish the bride, and then make sure the bride gets all the way to glory, so

in eternity past, there's a group called the bride, called the elect, not everyone, He could have

picked everyone, but He didn't, He could have picked no one, but He didn't, He picked some, He picked what we call the elect, the bride of

Christ, did you know that every single person that the Father sent

the Son to go redeem, is going to believe, then the Lord returns,

so let's look at this text a little bit as I explain what's going on here with the patience of God, that He

is not going to come back until every person that the Father gave Him, believes,

and you say that blows my mind, I hope it does in a good way, can you imagine if you're a Christian, in eternity

past, pre -Genesis 1, pre -sun, moon, stars, that the Father gave you

as a love gift to the Son, that the Son might go live for, die for, redeem,

cleanse, and then on that great day of glory, hands you back as the gift back to the Father,

so what's going to happen in the middle of all this is if we think to ourselves, that happens in time, that eternal

promise is going to flesh itself out in time, and we are going to wait to see what God

does, why is God patient?

Because there are still people that God has chosen who need to believe, now one of the things

about patience of God, that I think we don't often talk about patience, it's odd

to me because we talk about His wisdom or power, He's holy, He's sovereign, but one writer said, but

the glory of His patience itself shines forth on almost every page of scripture,

certainly it is that we lose much if we do not frequently meditate on the patience of God,

the Lord is full of compassion, He's patient, and so back to the verse again, the

Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, who's count slowness?

Back in verse 4, where's the promise of His coming?

Slow, slow, slow, He's not ever coming back, He's so slow you can just kiss it goodbye,

as some count slowness, but He's patient toward you, you want to know who the you

is, you can go back to chapter 1 verse 1 and find out who that is, it's the

people of God, He's patient toward you, and He's not wishing that

any of you to perish, but that you should all reach repentance, boy there's so much

in here and I don't want to get down to the details that we lose the big picture, but I will say this, this does not teach

universalism, God wants everybody to be saved and He gets what He wants, everybody will be saved, because there is

a hell, this passage does not teach that God wants people to be saved, but the people are

so strong, God doesn't get what He wants, does God always get what He wants?

Obviously, He gets what He wants, God cannot be thwarted by anyone,

the scoffers are saying, God isn't true, He's not coming back, and Peter says, His

delay is gracious, His delay is merciful, His delay is for you, I can put it this way,

if you've got a loved one that you really, really love and you're married to or you've got a child, a

wayward son, and you say, well my life is really, really difficult now, I sure wish the Lord

Jesus would come back, don't we kind of want that?

Would it have been good to have Jesus come back last year in the midst of all these troubles?

Michael, don't you think so?

Yes, of course, it would have been good for Him to come back, He's trying not to

smile, but what would have happened to your loved one

if Jesus came back last year?

This is the mercy of God, this is the patience of God, we're on God's timetable now and we're saying, okay,

they say He's not going to come back because He's impotent and we're saying He's not coming back yet because there's more

people that the Father has given to the Son and that the Son has died for that the Spirit is making alive

and causing to be born again and believing.

It's not God's inability.

Remember this, this would be more me.

Luke 9, when the days drew near for Him to be taken up, He set His face to go to Jerusalem and Jesus sent messengers

ahead of Him who went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make preparations for Him, but the people did not

receive Him because His face was set toward Jerusalem and when His disciples James and John saw it,

they said, Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?

Hey, these people aren't going to believe, burn them, but

Jesus turned and rebuked them and then went on to another village.

Why?

Because there are people who are not believers yet and they need to be believers and there's only one way you become a believer and that's

God makes you alive.

He causes you to be born again.

That's Ephesians 2 language, 1 Peter 1 language and your response is, I believe.

If you want a theological concept, here it is.

There are unbelievers who need to believe and God's waiting till they all believe.

Now He's not passively waiting, He's working everything together, but He's waiting until they do believe or if

you're a theologian, He's waiting for all the unregenerate elect to believe by actually

giving them faith.

He's not slow, He's not late, He's not tardy, He's not somehow unpunctual.

It's not that He doesn't care.

God is on time and we sometimes are like the sons of thunder.

Rain down fire and brimstone on this nation, God, because it's going to hell

quickly, but the Lord's patient.

He's been patient to you.

This is right from Habakkuk chapter 2.

If it seems slow, wait for it.

It will surely come.

It will not delay.

The Lord's going to come back.

He's going to come back.

He hasn't forgotten His promise, but He's patient.

The delay is gracious.

Now, if you'd like to study this because people love to argue about this verse and what does it teach and what does it not teach?

If you want to look at verse 9, the Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is

patient toward you.

The you is found in chapter 1 verse 1.

Those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, not wishing

that any of you, that's the point, should perish, but that all should reach

repentance.

R .C. Sproul, what is the antecedent of any?

It is clearly us.

Does us refer to all humans or does it refer to Christians?

R .C. Sproul, quote, God does not will that any of us, the elect, perish.

What's the point to everything?

You say, pastor, you're getting down into the details here.

I need to know the issue.

Jesus isn't going to return until every person the Father has given Him will believe.

And so we want to be patient because God is patient.

Peter Lewis said, the delay of Christ's second coming to salvation is not, after all, the failure of God's plan, but

rather the condition of success.

That's right.

We're saying, where are you?

Where are you?

Where are you?

We're like failure.

Scoffers say, where are you?

Where are you?

Where are you?

I'm saving people.

I'm saving people.

I'm saving people.

And when the fullness comes, we're gone.

Does this sound familiar to do to you?

Our Lord Jesus said in John six, I'm the bread of life.

Whoever comes to me shall not hunger.

And whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe all that the Father gives me

will come to me.

And whoever comes to me, I will never cast out for.

I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

And this is the will of him who sent me.

Listen, congregation, that I, Jesus should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but

raise it up on the last day.

This is the will of my father, that everyone who looks on the son and believes in him shall have eternal life.

And I will raise him up on the last day.

Do you see what he's saying there?

It's so wonderful.

Jesus said, everybody that the father gave me, they're going to come to faith.

I'm not going to lose one.

Can you imagine?

He wouldn't be a good shepherd if he lost some.

And I think it'd be fair now if I looked at you at the congregation.

Most are believing here.

Most are trusting in the risen Savior.

But one of the reasons, if you're not a Christian, that you should repent and believe right now, is

this is exactly how God has set it up.

That you have time.

God's been patient with you.

God should have sent you to hell the first time you sinned, unbeliever.

How many times have you sinned, unbeliever, over and over and over and over and over?

The fool has said in his heart, there's no God.

And by the way, that's been all of us when we were unbelievers.

We did the exact same thing, and yet God, we can testify, can we not as a Christian congregation?

God has been patient with us.

He's been kind to us.

We weren't running to God, we were running away from God, but God intercepted us and God made us alive.

I remember thinking to myself, I never asked for this.

I wanted to maybe feel good, maybe to alleviate my problems.

But God captures his people.

No purpose of God can be thwarted.

The point of this verse is not universalism.

The point is not God somehow is thwarted by people's wills.

The point is, God is compassionate and patient.

Remember in Jonah, why did Jonah get so mad?

Verse 3 of chapter 4, I knew that you were a gracious and compassionate God,

slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.

I knew it, God.

I knew that you're going to use my preaching to save people.

Happy evangelism, by the way, we'd always say to our kids, you know what, if they didn't look happy, we'd always say, send a missionary to your face.

Well, Jonah was the missionary.

I can't believe this.

Dear unbeliever, God has been so patient with you.

Do you not realize Romans 2, God's patience and kindness towards you should lead you to repentance,

to think rightly about your sin?

That's what repentance is.

Repentance is how do we think about sin?

Belief is in the object of the risen Savior.

You don't have a syndrome, unbeliever.

You don't have a disease.

You don't have an illness.

You don't have an affliction.

You're a sinner.

That's what you are.

You're a sinner.

I preached the wedding in California a while ago for my daughter, and many of you were there and helping and been

involved with the life of my daughter.

I really appreciate that.

And I preached the gospel at the wedding.

And first, before the gospel comes the bad news, the law of God that requires perfection.

And then we talk about Jesus who lived a perfect life and died for our sins, those things that weren't

perfect.

And so I talked a little bit about sin.

And a guy came up to me afterwards, and that's always kind of a scary thing.

Like, if you come up to me after the sermon and you want to talk, that could either be something good or something maybe not.

We've had both, but that's why I have bodyguards like Bob and Udo here.

He said, thanks for talking about sin at a wedding.

He said, you know, I was 21 years old before somebody told me I was a sinner going to go to hell unless I believed.

And while people don't really want to hear it, and you never want to hear I have cancer, then you can do something about it afterwards.

And so thanks for telling me that I'm a sinner.

If you're an unbeliever, you're a sinner and you need to be saved.

And the only thing that's keeping you out of hell right now is the patience of God.

I'm glad God waited for me.

I'm glad God is waiting for other people.

Will Jesus ever come back?

The question isn't when, it's who.

And God has got a perspective on this.

God's patient.

And now verse 10, God's promises.

You see the promise of God in chapter 1.

And now here in verse 9 and verse 10 and verse 13, God made a promise.

The day of the Lord is promised.

While he's patient, there is going to be an end to his patience.

Verse 10, but the day of the Lord will come like a thief.

He's patient.

He's patient.

He's patient.

But when that fullness of time comes in every person that God, the father has given to the son has believed by the power of the spirit of God,

then he's going to come like a thief when you're not ready.

And the heavens will pass away with the roar.

The heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed,

including every single unbeliever.

Believers are rescued.

We don't have to worry about the second coming because even in chapter two, we've learned that God knows how to rescue

the godly, but the day of the Lord will come.

It's a promise.

We'll come like a thief in the night.

It will be unexpected.

It will be sudden, but this day of the Lord that was promised back in the old Testament is going to happen.

It's the day of days.

Remember Luther said, I have two days on my calendar today and that day and that day is judgment day when

Jesus comes back and when Jesus comes back, three things Peter says happens.

One, the heavens will pass away with the roar.

Even that language.

If you ever have a super hot fire with tons of wood and your loved one says, don't put so much wood on there.

We want a small fire, but you be in the man that you want to be put on all that extra fire and all that gas

and every other kind of spontaneous combustible thing that you can find and you just feel it all.

You're 15 feet away and you can feel it, but you can also what?

Hear it.

Roar.

That's the roar.

The fire is so intense.

There's this whizzing sound, this, this rushing sound, this hissing sound.

It's a great noise because it's a great day.

An awful day.

Jesus said immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened.

The moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken

and the son of man will be coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Well, that's not all that happens when Jesus returns.

It says here, the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved in the ESV.

Literally, the elements will be dissolved.

The stoichia will be dissolved.

Now when I was in chemistry, I failed out really quickly, probably because I didn't know what the word stoichiometry even was.

How many people here know what stoichiometry is as a chemist?

Some do, you nerds.

Stoichi means element.

Stoichiometry, metron, means to measure.

You measure elements.

It's this thing we had to do in chemistry.

The elements of the world, fire, air, water, the earth,

all the elementary principles, things that are made of, which of course would lend itself to the ESV saying the heavenly

bodies are going to be burned up and dissolved or melted.

So when Jesus comes back, it's going to be the end of everything.

That's why people say, well, you know, Jesus came back in 70 AD when the temple was smashed

and he came back then.

No, no.

Everybody's going to know when he comes back.

Calvin said, what afterwards follows Christ's return, respecting the burning of heaven and earth

requires no long explanation because it's gone.

It's over, purged.

And then thirdly, it says the earth and all that is in it or the deeds that are in it will be what

exposed.

Now there's different manuscript evidence here.

It could be burned, but exposed is probably the right one.

What do you mean exposed?

Scoffers who say Jesus isn't going to come back, guess what their life will be exposed.

Every false promise about the person and work of Christ Jesus exposed everything that unbelievers do that they

hope nobody finds out about at nighttime exposed everything that they've said and done

sinful has been exposed.

When Jesus comes back, there's going to be a reckoning

expose what's going on.

And I think there are probably something in all of us where we think, you know, just justice if it would be done in this earth.

Well, it's going to have to start with exposure.

Of course, we as Christians, he's not coming back for us.

He's already saved us and we're his children.

But for the unbeliever, total exposure, judgment of God, God will

find them out.

And then finally, verses 11 through 13, God's people, God's perspective.

Let's think like God does from his perspective.

Everything's on time.

The delay is not impotency.

It is patience.

Verse nine.

God's going to keep his promise.

Doesn't matter how long ago he promised.

And now how do we respond?

How do God's people respond?

What should we do that this is going to happen?

Should we go to Israel and go and sit on a roof and wait?

Verse 11, since all these things are thus to be dissolved, are loosened, since it's all

going to end, what are we going to do?

And then he says, just, it's just so fascinating.

What sort of people ought you to be in lives of godliness and holiness,

waiting for and hastening the day or the coming of the day of God because of which the

heavens will be set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn.

But according to his promise, here's some good news for the Christian.

We are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Why do we study eschatology, the study of end times?

So we know when Jesus is going to come back.

So we're reading current events.

So we're saying, you know what, this is the mark of the beast and what's happening with all these things.

That's not why we study.

We study because there's an ethical response.

That is a response that says, Jesus is going to come back.

I should live in a godly way, out of gratitude, showing evidence of my

salvation.

First John 2, and now little children abide in him so that when he appears, the second coming, we may have confidence and

not shrink away in shame at his coming.

Warren Wiersbe said it's unfortunate when people run from one prophetic conference to another, filling their notebooks,

marking their Bibles, drawing their charts, and yet not living their lives to the glory of God.

I don't want to see charts, in other words, of when Jesus is going to come back.

We want to live holy lives.

You see, again, verse 11, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness?

First of all, if Jesus is holy and Jesus is godly and he saves you and pays for all your unholiness and ungodliness,

which he did for me as well, then what do we do?

We're not like those false teachers who run back like a dog to its vomit, like a sow that goes back to its own mire.

We don't do that.

If Jesus is holy, we ought to be holy.

First Peter, it even says that.

Since God is holy, we're to be holy.

What sort of people ought you to be?

It doesn't take a theologian to figure that out.

We should live a holy life that is separate, set apart, pure, and godly,

not ungodly.

Jesus is coming back.

So what?

So what?

So we should live a godly life.

What sort of people ought Bethlehem Bible Church to be?

This is a necessity.

This is a moral obligation in light of our salvation.

What manner of person should you be?

And then what he does here, you can't tell in English, but in Greek, in holinesses, plural, lots of holiness,

and godlinesses, lots of godliness, in every area, work, school, home, etc.

First Peter, the first letter that Peter wrote says, but like the holy one who called you, be holy yourselves in all

your behavior because it is written, you shall be holy for I am holy.

One writer said, given the massive investment of contemporary Christians in nationalism, materialism, and

pleasure -oriented Western culture, this passage should serve as a wake -up call.

When the day of the Lord comes, one's retirement fund will not be important, but rather what one has invested

in the kingdom of our sovereign Lord.

What else should we do?

Verse 12, how do God's people act?

Well, they want to live a holy life.

Spirit of God is dwelling in us.

We're able to do it.

Christ for pardon and for power, but also waiting for and hastening.

So let's look at the first one, looking for, are waiting, expecting.

I put a little envelope at the window by my bed, and I did what I said last week that I encourage you to

do by Horatius Bonar.

Perhaps today, Lord, could the Lord come back today?

Perhaps tonight, Lord, we're to wait for it.

We're to look for it.

Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The God -man's coming back.

We're going to look for that.

Peter wrote in his first letter, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you

at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

He's coming back.

I get the waiting part, but how about the hastening part?

This is weird, or is it?

Hastening.

How can you speed up the second coming?

How can you accelerate the second coming?

How can you hasten the second coming?

Well, let's close here.

We'll pick that up next week.

Remember, when God talks to us, he uses language of accommodation.

Even this whole Bible, as hard as it might be, the reformers would say it's like God's talking baby

talk to us, because the finite mind cannot understand the infinite.

But we can understand many things.

The day is set that the Lord Jesus will return.

It's fixed.

But from our perspective, as we evangelize and pray for people to come to faith, and one more

believes, and one more repents, and one more comes to faith in Christ Jesus, it's like a

hastening.

It's like an acceleration.

That day is fixed.

We believe that.

God has a decree when his son will come back, and only he knows it.

But from our perspective, we're living holy lives, and the way we hasten, the way we're zealous for, the way we

accelerate, as it were, is by evangelism.

So this is from the human perspective, and only the human perspective.

The coming of the day of the Lord.

And then it says, because of which the heavens will be set on fire.

That's pretty good motivation for evangelism.

I've always said the best motivation for evangelism is, remember you were going to go to hell and God saved you?

Oh, then I could be forgiven by sovereign grace.

And then secondly, to know every person that I know that doesn't trust, they're going.

That's a good motivation.

And while it's not talking about hell, hell will be after this.

But the judgment on earth is with fire and dissolving and melting and a loosening, and the heavenly bodies

will melt as they burn.

Not out of existence, not out of annihilationism, but a cleansing, a purging.

You see that word dissolved?

If you've got the ESV, dissolved, dissolved, dissolved, dissolved.

That word means to loose.

I want you to turn our final passage to Colossians chapter one, and we'll end on this high note on the Lord

Jesus, and we need to stop after that.

Although there's no second service, who needs to stop?

I get to preach 90 minutes every Sunday, so here we go.

Part two.

Hey, let's just finish the book.

Dissolve, dissolve, dissolve.

It's a word that means to loosen.

It means you're just like, okay, we're just going to kind of let this thing go.

I'm going to read something from Colossians chapter one, and here's what the end time is going to be like when Jesus comes back.

Right now, Jesus has the whole world in his hands.

Do you know he's got the whole world in his hand?

Do you know he's got you and me, brother, in his hand?

Do you know he's got the little tiny babies in his hand?

Do you know he has all the elements of the world in his hand?

Do you know he has all the Stoichia in his hand?

Do you know he has the heavens in his hands?

Do you know he has the earth in his hands?

Do we know he has everything in his hands, and he's holding it together?

But on that day, he loosens it.

And that's exactly what Colossians is going to teach us Colossians 1 15

speaking of the preeminence of Jesus the one who saved us and gave his life for us

he is the image of the invisible God the firstborn of all creation for by him all things were created

in heaven and on earth visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or

rulers or authorities all things including this earth were created through him

and for him Jesus the architect Jesus the builder Jesus the goal of

the universe in Jesus all the eternal plans of the universe in Jesus.

He builds it as it were in Jesus and for Jesus it's for his glory.

Verse 17.

And he is before all things.

He's first he and no other.

He is at the first place of everything.

Everything else is excluded.

Total claim of sovereignty.

Total claim of dominion authority majesty.

He's before all things he's pre -existent.

He was there with the Father and the Holy Spirit before all things.

Jesus is not a created being.

He existed before anything was created.

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

He's from everlasting the eternally begotten Son of the Father begotten not made.

And in him here's what I want you to think of when it comes to the day of the Lord loosening and dissolving.

And in Jesus all things hold

together.

How is this world held together.

What is the cohesive force behind the world not just going

chaotically spun out of control and exploding.

He Jesus is that one he creates he preserves.

And when preservation is no longer needed upon his return he dissolves he loosens.

He brings together.

He collects he holds together.

He is the cause he is the powerful one.

And he holds them together by his powerful right hand until that day.

And then it's over.

He lets go.

And then he doesn't have the whole world in his hands the whole world out of his hand.

And he's going to judge it.

But for us as Christians according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new

earth in which righteousness dwells.

I'm thankful for that.

That's right from a promise of God in Isaiah 65.

I will create new heavens in a new earth.

The former things will not be remembered nor will they come to mind.

Well we're back together as two congregations.

It seemed like back into one service.

And so I'd like to make an announcement today that some of you may agree with and some of you might let me tell you the

exact day when Jesus is going to return next year.

It's all wrong.

It's not when God's perspective is what I need.

That's why I need the scripture God's promises God's patience.

Then I say I respond as a people.

And so if this kind of message doesn't make you so thankful that you get to go to heaven based on the work of another

I don't know what else will.

And if this message doesn't make you as an unbeliever say I am gonna die and I'm gonna stand before God

one way or another.

I want to push you by faith to the Savior.

And also as a congregation people need to hear the message of a risen

Savior.

Do they not.

Let's pray.

Thank you Father for our time.

We praise you we bless you.

We're so thankful that we can have a refuge and advocate the Lord

Jesus.

I'm thankful that you didn't come back in 1988.

I'm thankful that you haven't come back even today because they're probably somebody sitting today that needs to

repent and believe.

Would you grant them saving faith in Jesus.

Name no compromise.

Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of

God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us.

Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6 we're right on route 110 in West

Boylston.

You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by

phone at 508 -835 -3400.