Well, on Thursday evening at midnight, the clock will strike, and this old year will be history, and we will not get one minute of it back, just like our own lives here on earth. We are going in one direction, and there is no reverse. You never get this hour again. You never get this minute again. You never get this second again. And if there's any people on earth that ought to be time conscious, it should be the Christian, the one who is saved for heaven and looking forward to that day when the Lord shall appear. When you go through the Bible, you discover that it has a lot to say about time. It talks about the time being short. It talks about the 11th hour. and it talks about God having a time for everything. In Ecclesiastes 3 we read, to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. A time to be born, and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to break down, and a time to build up. A time to weep, and a time to laugh. a time to mourn, and a time to dance. So, in God's providence and in the circumstances in which he leads us, there is a perfect time for everything. And the one thing the Christian doesn't want to do is to miss God's perfect timing. Now there is a day none of us is going to miss, and that is the day of the Lord's return. In verse 10 of chapter 3, we're told here the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. There is a day set. And an hour is set when the Lord will come suddenly. We're told that every eye shall see him, and we who are believers in the Lord Jesus shall be caught up in the air to meet with him. And that is our glorious future. Now, the dates, of course, are hidden from us. God does not reveal to us the day of our death. nor the day of his return. And that is for a good reason, because it keeps us busy. It keeps us seeing. Because if you knew the day and the hour of your death, well, it would change your whole perspective on life. How could you function? How could you sit exams? How could you strive for a career? How could you plan your life? if you knew the date and the calendar which was your last day on earth." This hidden nature of the Lord's return also keeps us pure, because we're told here in verse 14, Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent, that ye be found in him without spot, and And then when you go to verse 15, here's the key word I want to set up tonight, and account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation—account. I would like you to circle that word in your Bible if you care to mark your Bible. I think it's going to be key to this message tonight. The word there, account, would mean calculate, factor it in. So we are to think in a right way and to account. God's way of timing. Now, in this chapter, it talks about scoffers. It talks about those who deride God and those who have no time for God. And you'll notice the scoffers' way of counting time. Well, when you go over here to verse 3, you will say, "'Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts.'" They mock the present time. They're walking. They are living habitually, going on and on in their present-day affairs, and they follow their own lusts. These scoffers, they mock at the present age, and they serve themselves. They follow their own natural passions and inclinations to do what feels good, what looks good to themselves, without any heed. to the ticking of God's clock. They're only mindful of their own present time. They mock every law and every rule of authority, walking after their own lusts. Now, the lesson that we need to put on here tonight is that there is no morality outside the Bible. When men begin to walk after their own reasoning, their own desires, their own carnality, well, they always flaunt against God. But there is no way to know what is right and wrong apart from the Bible. There is no other book. There is no other standard. This is the law of the Lord. And indeed, in our generation, the leaven of immorality is ever increasing. Men doing what is right in their own eyes, walking after their own lusts. And this is an age of sexual perversity. I was stunned at the number of new words in the last year or more that have been devised to try and define sexual perversity. Now, this is in a dictionary sense. This is just words that men and have started using psychologists and doctors and philosophers and educators, they come up with these terms. And they're endless. They never seem to end. At the end of the day, they are all under one category, pornography. The biblical word for pornography is the word pornea. And anything that you would feast your mind, follow along as a rule, or lust after with your eyes or carnal desires, outside of marriage between one man and one woman, and we're living in tragic days when I have to go to the length of extending a qualifier to marriage, one man and one woman, it is pornography. Pornography is all around us, billboards, newspapers, television advertising, movies, marital breakdowns, marital affairs, innuendos, suggested free sex. I can't describe it any other way. We are living in an age when men are walking after their own lusts. Now, the modern term for it is called moral relativism. And they say, well, you just follow the trend of the culture or the circumstances in which you live. And what is acceptable, you just follow along with the convention of the day. Moral relativism, let me define it for you, is the view that ethical standards, morality, and positions of right and wrong are culturally based, and therefore subject to an individual's personal choice. Without any rule book, without any heritage, it's all thrown away now. and it leaves everybody free, free to do their own thing. The tragedy of it in its application in society with young people in high school and university that are taught these things, there's an agenda to cram the young person's mind with these values, which are no values, or to get away from any standard, the problem is that it creates a double standard. Young people going to university are told there is no right, there is no wrong. And then when there is someone who is molested, well, suddenly there is a right and a wrong, and suddenly a young person's in trouble, and it becomes totally unwieldy, and it leads to all kinds of problems. It fosters a defiance of law in the home, parental law. And it fosters defiance in civil law. No wonder we're living in an age of anarchy. Men are saying, no one's going to tell me what to do. I'm free to do my own thing. And so young people end up in trouble with the law at home, the law at school, and the law of the land. And I, as I stand in this pulpit, have also to preach that they're going to be in trouble with God. because they have given up God's standard of right and wrong. And in reality, they're living in rebellion to God, and will bring God's judgment upon themselves. And all the while, the world is telling them, there is no right and wrong. So, they mock the present time. If you look at this verse 4, you will also see that they mocked past time. They said, where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. So they're talking about pastime. And these fathers, well, they are the patriarchs. They are the mighty men of the Old Testament, and some perhaps in the New Testament, these great religious leaders. Since, where is their promise that they have given of a judgment that's coming upon the world? And since creation, everything has continued as it was. And so they mock the past time. They say, all these old fogies are dead now. They are no more. They're all gone, and they're all out of sight. And you know what? The world just continues on as it was. There is no such thing as judgment upon this world. These scoffers, you'll notice, that they are uniformitarians. They think that as we see today, that's how it has been in all of history. There never was an intervention of God. in judgment upon this world. And they say all things continue since the creation. But they're forgetting two great events. One is the fall, when Adam was driven out of the garden, and the curse of sin was put upon him with all its guilt. And the other is the days of Noah, when there was a worldwide flood. These scoffers These mockers who refer to these old men, these old fogies, they are saying, there's not a word of judgment. But you'll notice that they are willingly ignorant. It's not that they don't have the history book. It's not that they don't have the Bible. It is fearful how many people who claim to be either agnostics or atheists or modern-minded humanists, and they know the Bible. And they very often quote it in the Authorized Version, too. They know the old text of Scripture, and they willfully deny it. Look at verse 8. But, beloved, be not ignorant of one thing, that one day is with the LORD. No, sorry, go back to verse 5. This they willingly are ignorant of. They've chosen to blank it out. They've chosen not to think about it. They've chosen to say, well, that just can't be. And they block it out. And therefore, they mock the past. So they're mockers of the present, walking in their own ungodly lusts. They're mockers of the past, that God has never brought judgment before. And with that mindset, they go on to be mockers of the future, because they go on to say that, well, there's never going to be any more. Where is the promise of his coming? And so they scoff at the very threat of the Lord's coming. They deny all past judgment, and they deliberately choose not to think about that, because then they don't have to think about future judgment, and they make a joke of God's promise. Look at that in verse 4. Where is the promise of His coming? As in heaven. They say somebody got it wrong, and so they go on in their madness. And they conclude that God doesn't judge sin at all. God is not interested in my sin. He doesn't matter. He doesn't care about my sin. In fact, He might be a God who tolerates my sin. And He's a God of love and not of judgment. That's the conclusion of the scoffer. And if you're in that category tonight, you're in trouble. You're in trouble because you are going to be what we call a free thinker. No one is going to tell you what's right or wrong. You're going to have a heart that's in rebellion to God. How can you pray? How can you worship? How could you pray the Lord's Prayer? Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. No, you say, I don't believe in God's will for me. There's no set path for me. It's up to my own free choices. That's the mindset of the scoffer. And as I say, if you're in that category, you are in great trouble. You can't be a Christian, you can't be a Bible lover, and you can't claim to a home in heaven. You're a lost soul. You have no hope of heaven. You're doomed. And these are the scoffers, how they count time. Now in verse 8, notice God's way of counting time. It says here, But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. simply means that with God, time stands still. In reality, with God, there is no passing of time. God lives in the eternal now. Now, I do not accept that this is proportional, that one day with God is a thousand years down here on earth, and that God's agenda is slow, and down here it's faster. That cannot be. But this is language to demonstrate the thousand stands for a time that is beyond calculation. God lives in the eternal now. God has no tenses. God is not in the past, He's not in the present, and He's not in the future. He is eternal, the Seum, yesterday, today, and forever. Francis Turretin was the first theologian to come up with the term that God dwells in succession, and he sees everything instantly, all time, as a rapid video before his eyes, from beginning to end. And he sees your life from the day that you were conceived in your mother's womb till the day that you leave this world as a flash. That's the God whom we are dealing with tonight. Now, this language of one day for a thousand years is to teach us that God is not bound by a human or an earthly agenda. God is free from time because He's outside of time, and therefore He keeps His promises. Look at verse 9. The Lord is not slack. concerning his promise, as some men count slackness. The conclusion of the scoffer, of course, was that, well, God's not in this. God doesn't care. God doesn't count this. But in reality, with God, the passing of Ages or periods of time doesn't change God's program, God's promise, God's agenda for this world one iota. And God keeps his program. Now, there are two great examples of this. One is the Passover, when God led the children of Israel out of Egypt, which was the 14th day of Nisan, the first month of their calendar, but it was to the very day that God had ordained. Let's turn to Exodus chapter 12 and verse 41. Exodus 12. verse 41 and it came to pass at the end of 430 years now that's 430 years from Jacob taking his family down into Egypt. And he received the promise that God would lead Israel out of Egypt again. And after 430 years, even the self same day. Notice that. The self-same day it came to pass that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. That was God's perfect timing. That was God's program. The other example, of course, is the birth of our Lord Jesus, who in the fullness of time, with all the patchwork quilt of the prophecies of the Old Testament, that Jesus would be born of the house of David in Bethlehem, that He would be the King and He would be the Prince of Peace, all of these things. And we're told in Galatians 4 and 4, in the fullness of time, Christ came forth, born of a woman, made under the law. And the first coming of our Lord Jesus was according to God's program. His second coming will also be according to his program. Do not tell me tonight that you cannot believe that this world is going to end. And Christ shall appear in the glory, and he will bring this world to an end. Now, another thing is mentioned here in verse 9, and that is God's long-suffering. This is God's way of calculating time. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as men count slackness, but is long-suffering to us-ward. This delay that men talk about, this apparent non-intervention by God on a sinful world, it is simply explained as God's long-suffering, that He gives men, women, generations time to repent. Can you imagine the number, the countless millions of people who have been converted since Peter wrote these words? God gives time in this world, not because he is not angry with it, not because this world does not deserve judgment, but because he's building his church. From the very day that man crucified God's Son, this world was ripe for judgment, and God could have cut Right there. But every day has been a day of grace. of God's long-suffering. Why? To usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Now, God's long-suffering, while it may appear to delay and lengthen, but it does not deter Him from His program. You're told here in verse 10, the day of the Lord will come. It will come as a thief in the night. That means he will come unannounced, when we are not looking, when we're not observing. He will destroy this world by fire. It says, "...in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements," not elephants. There is a story in some of our churches that someone was reading this passage, and they saw the consonants and saw the appearance of the word, and they read it as an elephant. The elephants shall melt with fervent heat. And the conclusion was, if those big animals burn up, what's going to happen to you? No, the elements foundation of this world, the created world, the material things of this world, government houses, beautiful homes, airplanes, boats, cars. In a great inferno, this world is coming to a sudden end by fire. And that is God's program. When that all happens, there's going to be a new heaven and a new earth. And it says there, "...the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up, seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved. What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless, we, according to His promise..." Now notice that. Here's how the Christian counts time. Here's how the child of God counts time. The wherefore is Peter's application. Wherefore, beloved, he's speaking to the Christian, and he's speaking to you and me. Wherefore, according to his promise, that is not forgotten, has not gone aside, but it is salvation. That's what it says here. It is salvation. It's salvation to each succeeding generation, one after the other. And you're here tonight hearing the gospel. You're called to be saved. You're called to leave the mockers and the scoffers and those that are heading for judgment. And you are called to believe the gospel and be saved. This is now the Christian's way of accounting. It is salvation. It is salvation to those who look for the coming of the Lord. Verse 11, saying then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God. That's what the Christian program is. That's what the work of the kingdom is. That's why we are missionaries. That's why we pray. That's why we maintain the gospel witness. We're hastening the day of Christ's return, working to that end. and praying, even so come Lord Jesus. We're not trying to hold back the program, but believing in the promise, we labor earnestly to promote it. And so we're on God's side. It is salvation of the hope of new heavens and a new earth. What an amazing thing. This world's going to be burned up by fire, and there will be new heavens and a new earth. That means a refurbished earth. That means there's going to be a completely new world wherein there is righteousness, no more sin. no more stalking by the devil and all the demons of hell, they will be damned in the lake of fire. There will be no more scoffers on the earth, no more wicked, but those who are in Christ and saved will have part in that new heaven, that new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." Now, I do not believe that that is the millennium. I believe it's the eternal state, and my reason for it is it becomes after the fire. It's after the fire. The new heavens and the new earth comes after this world is destroyed. And it is a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Doesn't go on to talk about a thousand years. Doesn't go on to talk about other characteristics of a temporary millennium, but rather it is rather a dwelling place for the righteous. Now, the fear of the Lord and of eternity must rule our hearts if we're rightly to live for God. We've had a look at time tonight. One of the saddest things is that most people just waste their time. The clock ticks, the calendar comes up and down, The years go by and lives are wasted. The last thing we want to do is to stand before God having wasted our years. And so let's tonight recognize God's promise, the promise of His coming, and tell the world to be prepared. We know that Noah, and he's probably one of those fathers that is referred to earlier in the passage, one of those who proclaimed God's judgment upon the world, and they rule him out as really not reliable. But he was a preacher of righteousness. And in this perverse, ungodly age, when men are walking after their own lusts, we need to preach righteousness. We need to preach God's holiness because we're going to live in a new heaven and a new earth where there is righteousness. And we're to call each one to right accounting. I wonder, do you have eternity in your calculation tonight? Are you accounting time as you ought? Some people don't really care much for marking the old year out and the new year in. They may go to bed at eight o'clock on Thursday evening and say, well, I'll just go to bed as usual and get up in the morning. It'll be no different. Others want to see that clock tick into the new year. They want to be wherever, with whoever, and celebrate it in a special way. How are you accounting time? Are you a scoffer? Are you with gods? program and promise. Are you a Christian who, we're told here in verse 15, account that the long-suffering of the Lord is salvation? That's our hope. That's our gospel. And if you're to be saved, if you're to be in that new home, heaven, you must cease from the scoffer and hold on to God's promise. Claim the gospel of salvation to your own heart and be saved. Now, this is my last opportunity to preach on a Sunday in this year. And I am cognizant of the passing of time. This will stand in eternity. You've come to church and heard the gospel. You've been warned of the way of the mocker and the scoffer. You've been told of the promise and God's program. Are you going to just say, ah, that doesn't matter to me? Are you going to dismiss it? In reality, you're going to be saying, I don't believe God's promise. I don't believe in this program that God is going to destroy the world by fire. I don't believe that Jesus, the Son of God, is coming again. I don't believe that there's going to be any divine intervention in this world. I'm a uniformitarian. Things will just continue on as they are. God is not going to step in and judge the world. That's the scoffer's way of counting. And he begins in the past, he practices it in the present, and he scorns at the future. And if you're doing that tonight, you're lost. And you need to recognize that God has a program, and He's going to one day send Christ, and this world will burn up by fire. and you might burn with it if you're not saved. And tonight you need to lay hold on the promise and say the God of heaven is going to send his son. I'm going to be ready. I'm going to be saved. I'm going to believe this gospel. I'm going to count this as my salvation. That's the thrust of this passage tonight. And I ask you to search the Scripture here and to search your own heart and to think of going into a new year without a Savior is a fearful thing. May God take His Word tonight and write it in your heart and save you and bring you to repentance. That's why God gives time that you might repent. And if I can be of any help to you, I gladly will.