You can open your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 9, if you would this morning. Jeremiah 9. And let's begin with a brief word of prayer, if we shall. Father, we thank you this morning for this time we can be together. Thank you again that we have a copy of your word. It's inspired. It's of eternal value. And we thank you, Father, that everything we need to know and the spiritual realm is found here as you can open our eyes. And we pray that you would open our eyes this morning. You would direct with what is said. You would give us the ability to follow and to be just personally benefited as your spirit works on each one of us. So we just commit all this to you. Pray that Christ truly would be honored and glorified here. And we ask it in his name. Amen. So I was asked by Pastor Tom if I would fill in here this Sunday as he's getting a couple of days away with his wife, which was great. And so I had planned on that. And then we, as Poochie had mentioned, we were then told that Pastor Dennis would be here this weekend. And so if there's anyone here who are greatly disappointed, I can empathize. But as you know, last minute things there just did not allow him And so for a message, I just thought since I didn't think I was really going to have to be here, or I mean have to teach, I thought that I would do a message just as a backup just in case, one that we had done in Africa in part of the Revelation series. One of the messages we start with, I believe it's actually the first message that we would start with in the conferences that we did on Revelation. in Africa. And so I thought it would be fitting here because it is desired, it is intended to hopefully be practical as we think of prophecy in the practical realm before we dived into it over there. So we're We're going to spend some time doing some introductions, some things, and then we're going to spend the rest of our time in 2 Peter 3. And so let's begin by looking at, by turning to Jeremiah 29, as I said, and let me just put a word up here that you can take a look at, and it's the word certainty. Now imagine, actually I didn't even want to do that yet, imagine that you would know the outcome of the World Series that's going on right now. Some of you didn't know there was one going on, which is fine. Seven-game World Series, it's tied 1-1 apparently. Let's just say you knew the exact outcome, the winner of each game, the number of games it'll take, who's going to be the ultimate winner, and everything of that nature. Somehow you are privy to this very knowledge and you have it with certainty ahead of time. What impact would that have upon you? I mean, you would have some bragging rights. You could walk around with some swagger at your office, maybe. But even more so, if you're sharp, you'd say, I got some major gambling opportunities here. You could turn that into a lot of income. At any rate, it would impact, I would presume, your decisions. Let's say that you know with certainty you could have the outcome of the current person, if you're single, that you're seeking to match up with. You're in dating or you're involved with someone, and let's say you knew exactly how this was going to turn out. You could see that this was going to turn into a veritable dumpster fire and be a dramatic crisis one after the other. Or maybe you could look down and see that this was going to be a wonderful and stable and, you know, a lot of positive future. Knowing that, how would that impact your decisions that you would make. Would you make some decisions, I would think, if you could see and know that ahead of time? And how that, wouldn't that be nice? I was thinking, is there a song like that? Wouldn't that be nice if we... Anyway, could know these things. To know is certainty. You know, to know is certainty can give you a definite sense of confidence and a definite, even a sense of power in terms of confidence in this knowledge, because knowledge is power in that sense. So certainty is our word we want to focus on. And to have certainty, well, notice some of the synonyms that we see on the screen. For certainty, we have accuracy, we have any, whoops, try to get my. It does have a little arrow, right? There we go. We got unambiguous or authoritativeness, exactly, reliable, truly. Notice these are just all words, conclusive, confidence, that are related to certainty. Look it up in a dictionary, you would read certainty as a fact that is definitely true or an event that is definitely going to take place. And so to know these things, to have certainties, to know events, to know truth as if it's a fact, and you can definitely have an air of confidence as you understand things if you have that privilege of knowing things. with certainty. Certainty, then, is to be highly desired. But is it really possible to know things, especially in the spiritual realm? So we find ourselves in Jeremiah 9. Notice in verse 23, Jeremiah the prophet is told to tell the people here of Judah. In verse 23, the Lord says, let not the wise man glory or boast in his wisdom. And let not the mighty man glory or boast in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches. But, in contrast, let him who glories or boasts glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these I delight, says the Lord. So what is he saying in verse 24 in particular? Is it possible to understand and know him? And the answer is resoundingly what? Yes. And God wants us to have certainty about who he is, the nature, his character, his attributes, even things that he says about us, even history as it has progressively gone along, and even things in the future. But here he's talking in a relational sense, a personal sense. You can understand and know him. You can know and understand him as he has revealed himself. And he starts by looking at three things, loving kindness and his right, excuse me, and his righteous, judgment rather, and his righteousness. So yes, we can know him, and we can know how he has described and defined things. We're reminded of John 3.16 that says, for God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. This famous verse, and we're going to see in a minute that this also speaks of certainty. So we need to understand him, his loving kindness, his judgment, and his righteousness. And so there's a story that unfolds. There's a story of a creator God who we know. This is the Lord. This is who we can approach and know. And he, of course, is the king of kings. He is sovereign because he created everything. And so he is ruling over this earth. He's created us as human beings. And as Adam and Eve were One body were created equal, male and female, and we were created like vassal kings to enjoy this earth, to enjoy this world that he created. But all this time we are under his ultimate authority. But we, of course, were given free choice because a meaningful relationship is involved in a free choice. There's power in that relationship when there's free choice. And so we have this privilege to be related to him, to have fellowship with him, and we were given dominion. Responsibility even for the care of this earth. And with that volition that was given, that free choice, we know quickly the story goes wrong in Genesis. And we see that Adam and Eve chose to not follow after God's sovereignty and his rule over them. And they chose independence instead. and they therefore create a barrier between God and us. There is now a barrier between God who is righteous and holy, oops. Oh, I gave it all away, sorry. There's a barrier between God who's righteous and holy and is over us and maintains his holiness and therefore us and our sinfulness, we have this barrier. Get back to the right spot. And there, that's where we were, right? Okay, so this is understanding God's what in Jeremiah 9? Understanding his judgment, understanding his righteousness. He is righteous, he demands righteousness. He is perfect and pure and holy. His environment, his heaven, is perfect and pure and holy. And therefore, to relate with him is to relate on his terms. And his judgment is, when there is sin, there's separation. The wages of sin is death. So this is a picture of that. This is, therefore, part of the story. We can start to understand his righteousness, his judgment, and then we better, though, we can see that though we're living in this fallen world, this was not how it was intended. This is our fate. There's nothing within us that we can do to fix this. We are the guilty party. But God is, the first term in Jeremiah 9, 24, is what? loving kindness. And so now we see a display of God's loving kindness. This was not how he intended things to be. He's going to provide a solution. He is the one who initiates this, and he provides the story of Jesus Christ, who comes into this earth as we hear of him, who is holy, who is therefore an able substitute. And it is Christ who goes to a cross, and there he restores what was lost in Adam. because he died. The penalty of sin is death, and the consequences of sin have now landed upon him. Our sin was absorbed by him. The penalty of our sin was paid for by him. And therefore, Jesus Christ can be an able and adequate substitute and take upon our sin and say at the end of his time on the cross, it is finished. So the good news of God's loving kindness is God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son that Jesus came as a substitute for you and for me as he came to bridge that gap to restore a relationship between us and God by dying for our sin and paying for that and removing the penalty of our sin and therefore he now is rightfully under the throne of God in this place as a mediator, one mediator between those on earth and God above. as he's the mediator because he represents both God to us and us to God, and because he is provided his death and resurrection, as we'll see. So God so loved the world that he sent his only son, and Jesus Christ, therefore, accomplished something on that cross. And then, as a resurrected Savior, he now can offer life and eternal life to any who will believe him for it. If you will believe on Jesus Christ, if you will believe how he died for you, how he loved you, how he gave his life, how he's resurrected, he's victorious, and now salvation, forgiveness, cleansing is through him and through him alone, the one mediator between us and God. And at a point in time you choose to believe that, you put your trust in Christ, you say, that's what I need, because God has only provided one Savior. God has only provided one means for us to come to Him. The penalty of sin is death, so our good works do not pay for sin. Our church rituals do not pay for sin. What we do for God does not resolve the problem. Remember, we're the fallen character in the bottom left corner. We're guilty. So God resolves it, God provides, and so we then respond by faith to God's solution, which is Jesus Christ, his death, his burial, and his resurrection. Amen? So that's the good news. This is God's loving kindness, then, that we can understand, according to Jeremiah 9, his loving kindness and his righteousness and his judgment. And so God has shown this in his word, and he has provided this for us to see. So as we summarize it again, we see that here is the way God intended things to be. God is sovereign king. We are vassal kings. We are dominion and over this earth. But we are under him and related and relationally connected to him. However, our sin has brought a barrier and a separation. And we have chosen, therefore, to be separated from him. Therefore, we are in a broken, fallen state. But God provides, God loves, God sends the solution and the remedy. And when we put our faith in Christ, we're now restored with relationship, we're born again, we're alive in Christ. So this is the message. And so can we understand this? We could look at many more verses, but many verses would paint this and picture this. Yes, we can understand this. We understand God's loving kindness, and we understand his judgment and his righteousness. But notice in Jeremiah 9, 23, 24, again, we saw that he is righteous and just and so forth. But verse 24, what does it start with? He that understands, let's glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, exercising, what's the first thing? Loving kindness. You see, without understanding God's love and the gospel message of Christ and his redemption through him, we cannot really appreciate his beauty of the holiness and the righteousness of God. It just terrifies us. We just would, you know, like God is gonna squish us like a worm. But when we understand his loving kindness, we understand how he has reached into this world, we can be saved, we can be brought up, we can be born again, we can have a relationship with him, and then we can utterly be fascinated and enjoy and worship because of his righteousness and his judgments or his holiness. And so it's his loving kindness is the story that is brought out as we saw in John 3, 16. And through this, can you know him? The answer is yes. God says, I want you to know me. I have revealed myself. I've given myself over. You can find me in the pages of scripture. You can read of me, learn of me. Yes, you can understand and know him. And that means you can know it with certainty. John 3.16 is the language of certainty. For God so loved the world. Note that's the key idea. That's the main thought that drives all of John 3.16. God loves you and I. And he so loved us. The result of that love is that he, oops, he gave his only begotten son. This is evidence or proof of God's love. He has given his son. And that statement is a result statement. Resulting, showing us that because God loves us. This is what he's done. And then we see a purpose statement that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. This purpose statement is what we call a hena clause. It's the Greek word hena that gets translated that. And because of it's a hena clause in the English, in the Greek, the hena is going to be presented as like subjunctive, but it's dependent on the reality or the truth of the main clause. So what is the main clause in this verse? God so loved the world. Is that true? That's an absolute truth. In fact, it's even verified further by the very next statement, that he gave his only begotten son. So because that statement, that main verb is a fact, therefore the hina clause is an absolute fact as well. But when you translate it, if you're in a more literal translation, if you know those translations, that because of the Greek clause and the wording and so forth, the translation is always going to include words like may or that, etc. But that's just because the translator's condition has to do that based on their philosophy of translation, which is good, a literal translation. But we can understand. But this is not a may or a that, this is a certainty. And that's why as many modern translations, as I put this one up in LT, notice that is exactly how you would read it. God loved the world, he gave his one and only son. Everyone who believes in him will not perish. That is certainty. And that's why as you're sitting here today, you either are certain that you will not perish, you will never perish. Or you're not. But the good news is you can have that certainty. You can know ahead of time. And if you could know ahead of time that you're going to heaven and you're saved and you're forgiven, just like those other examples at the beginning, wouldn't that have some impact on our day-to-day thinking and our day-to-day life? So yes, we can have certainty. One last verse, turn with me to 1 John 5 on this, and we'll just see again a very simple statement that God wants us to know. In the book First John, the writer is John, the same one who we just read writing the Gospel of John in John 3.16. Many years later, he's still writing. And he says, in verse nine, if we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. This is the witness of God which he has testified of his son. So God is telling us, he's promoting and showing us and telling us about his son. And as a result of that, notice verse 13, these things about his son I have written to you, who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know. Know what? Who wins the World Series? No. Something far better than that. These things are written, the story of Christ, the message of his death, burial, and resurrection, how God sent him as the absolute solution. It's written so that you and I can what? Know, and that means with certainty. Know with certainty. that you have eternal life. When do you have it? Right now. As a current possession, you have eternal life within us when we put our faith, when we believe, as the verse says here, when you believe on his name. To believe is, again, to have confidence in or to put trust in, and so you have confidence in the certainty of these words, confidence in the certainty of the events these words are describing, the death and burial of Christ, and you then can know with certainty. What an amazing thing God wants us to know there, that we belong to Him, that we are of Him, that He is for us when we put our faith in Christ. And this is something we're to know, and this is therefore changing our whole outlook of life. You know, we add Titus 1, verse 2 reminds us that God, who cannot lie, And remember, we also know from 2 Timothy 3 that all scripture is given by inspiration. So we have an inspired word and a God who cannot lie, which means his word, the things that are written, are absolute truth. Therefore, we can stand upon them and have certainty. He's the source of this certainty. It's not our own well-wishing. It's fact from God presented to us scripturally. You know, today there's a lot of, seemingly a lot of confusion. We hear things like, I don't know what is true anymore. I don't know who to believe. I can't be certain about anything. Culturally, everything seems to be upheaval, but we have certainty. Who's the author, by the way, of this scenario that everything is, I don't know what to believe, and it's so confusing? Who's the author of confusion? Who's the author then as well? Another scenario we often hear is, there's a lot of fear about the future. Fear about the future. Who's the author of fear? So we have a culture, society out there, you know, a dominant way of thinking going on that is doubtful and not sure and who do we believe anymore? I don't know what to believe and I'm getting more stirred up and anxious and fearful. What's the source of that? That's a no-brainer. What's the source of that? It's not your Lord. God did not give us the spirit of fear, but of love and power and a sound mind. So we can have certainty. And God tells us again that he cannot lie. And aren't you glad that he has spoken? He's not silent. He's basically shouting at us. Psalm 19 tells us the creation is shouting at us, right? The attributes of God, the things of God. And not only that then, if we can have certainty about our eternal destiny, we can have certainty about future events as well. If God has brought about past events, will he not do the same with future events as he has described? So as we think of prophecy, we can actually have hope and assurance, it can have a tremendous profitable impact upon us, we'll see in a minute. And prophecy is a definite way to alleviate fear because it assures us of God's involvement in the things going on in our day and age. It impresses us with who he is and his omniscience and his omnipresence and his power, et cetera. And it encourages us what's going to happen and who's going to win and how we are connected to that. So it's very personal, very practical, very powerful. And again, God has not given us the spirit of fear. And so we can begin with a couple of terms that we'll jot down with this idea that God wants us to have confidence and certainty of the future. We, just I left this in here because if we're technically teaching a class when we're doing this and Africa. So what is prophecy? It's communication of a divine message through a human being, typically involving predictions. That's just a simplified statement. So it's communicating a divine message And someone is gifted or enabled to do this as a human, we'll just leave it at that. But it's typically normally involving future things, though we know prophecy has a forth-telling aspect as well. What is eschatology? It's the doctrine of dealing with the last days. It's the study of last things. So if we're going to an eschatological study, we're going to read and hear and learn about the future, maybe the rapture, the kingdom, the coming of Christ. Armageddon, New Earth, things of this nature. All of this would be eschatology. So we now have given you a prophecy chart and I remember I actually have maintained this statement. I remember Pete Travick actually saying this to young people many years ago with this chart, saying, if you know this chart, if you can understand the flow of this chart, you have a ton of wisdom that you wouldn't have or the world doesn't have, et cetera. And it's always stuck with me. It's so true. This chart is a simplified kind of prophecy chart. I believe it was done by, I think, Tom Gustafson back in the 90s, and it's been very helpful. And so notice this chart. I'm just going to break it down into four basic things that we can just quickly walk through. And if you can just follow that, it's not intimidating. It's not like, oh, who can know it? It's actually very straightforward. And the four things are first would be the church age. And that's where we are. It's the first thing you see following the cross of Christ. And we're learning about this in Acts on Sunday mornings. We just learned in Acts 2, the birth of the church, the beginning of the church was the day of Pentecost, 50 days after Christ was risen. The church age continues on until now, so 2,000 plus years. The church age is the time that God is calling out to everyone to be part of his assembly of those called out saints who believe in Jesus Christ. If you turn to Ephesians chapter 2, we just see a quick summary. We can read it here. And a lot of this you've heard and things I'm not going to just go into any detail much, but in Ephesians 2, We are told in verse 11 to therefore remember, he's writing to Gentiles here, that you once Gentiles in the flesh who were called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at the time you were without Christ, you were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope without God and the world. But now in Christ, notice the phrase, in Christ, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. So we understand that the Gentiles who hear the message of the blood of Christ, the gospel, are brought near and are included now to be in Christ, positionally identified in him. And he is the head and the church is called the body of Christ. Drop down to verse 16. By the way, in verse 11 we see the uncircumcision and the circumcision. We have Jew and we have Gentile, but verse 16 we read that God is going to reconcile them both, the Jew and the Gentile, to God in one body through the cross. So this is now what Paul is going to write to us about. And so when we get to verse 19, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but now as Gentiles, we are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. We have all been put together as fellow citizens, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus himself, the chief cornerstone. In whom, there it is again, a positional statement, the church is in Christ and we are the whole building being fitted together, it grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In whom, again, you are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. So we are a dwelling place of God because the Spirit indwells the believer, and therefore the church, as anyone who's a believer in Jesus Christ, we are part of the unified body of Christ. And it's a universal body of any Christian, that's why we can go to Zambia, we can go to Kenya, we can go to El Salvador, and have instant fellowship and rapport with like-minded believers who are also in Christ. Because this is what binds us together. This is what is far greater than any petty, earthly division or issue. And so now we're in Christ. This is the church, a supernatural body, that Christ is the head, and we're part of this, and this is the church age. God is, we are currently in the church age, and we know that the church age will come to an end with an event called the rapture, which is the next part of the next event. So we have the first thing is the church age. The second section, the second of the events is the tribulation. You see that on your chart. And what starts the tribulation is not technically the rapture, but we like to think of it as the rapture, but actually there's a peace treaty that comes shortly after. But let's just understand that when the church is taken up, the rapture is where Jesus comes, calls out his assembly, they meet in the air, and we then go up into the heavenlies, into the heavens, For seven years, Revelation chapter 4 and 5 will tell us about what goes on there. Meanwhile, Revelation 6 through 19 will tell us what's going on here on earth and its massive tribulation and chaos and judgment and so forth. Very, very prophetic. Much of the book of Revelation is going to describe these events. So now what are the two things we know? We're in the church age, soon to be at an end at the rapture, which could be any time, followed by a seven-year tribulation on earth, but a seven-year worship and praise session in heaven. Amen? Two things. Then what? Third thing. Jesus returns all the way to the earth, not halfway, but all the way, and we come with him. And so we come with Jesus Christ returning to the earth where he then will set up his 1,000-year kingdom. So this is the third event. Jesus returns and then a 1,000-year kingdom on earth. A 1,000-year kingdom where Jesus Christ himself is ruling on earth. There is no more curse. That's amazing. These are Earth's best days, by far the best days on Earth. No curse, righteousness being on, you know, being on the throne, Jesus Christ literally here. This is during this third event, the kingdom age, a millennial kingdom. That kingdom, by the way, goes on forever. but it'll take on its second phase on the new earth, where it lasts forever and ever. So these are basic prophetic events, and why is God telling us that you can be what? We can be certain that we're in the church age, that a rapture is coming, that we're gonna miss the tribulation, we're gonna enjoy this praise up in heaven, and then we're going to see the return of Christ, we're gonna actually come with him and be a part of this reign. We're gonna reign with him in some capacity here on earth where there is no curse at all. In fact, Satan, as you see there, is bound. That's why we see the chains there. He's actually bound at the beginning of this thousand-year kingdom and all the demons, and he'll be unbound at the very end. So now we're actually on earth with no curse and no demonic influence whatsoever. Does that sound good? Awesome, and Jesus Christ is physically ruling and we have true righteousness and our justice on earth. But what happens? At the end of the thousand years, Satan is on the loose and he's able to find instant fans and advocates that come to his side to become independent and rebel just like before. So this tells us the problem is not Satan and demons. I love describing this in Africa because they're so oriented toward everything is demons and Satan and such, but here you're gonna see an eternal, or not eternal, but a thousand year state where there's no such interference at all. but there's still mass rebellion and sin. Why is that? Jeremiah 17, 9 tells us, because the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Because our chief problem, and God's gonna demonstrate that during this kingdom period, is our sin nature. We're the problem. because there will be those who will enter into this kingdom that are saved but not glorified, so there will be still procreation and children, and all those children, and by the way, that'll be a very rapid advance of birth rate and such, because there's no curse, all those children will still need to make a choice to believe in Christ or not. And you think, well, that's easy, he's right there. But that's right there. And so it's not so easy. And so now we see the key problem is God will demonstrate for all to see it's our heart, it's our sin nature. It's our, we're just all rebels. So at any rate, the solution to that though is for us to realize that we don't have anything within ourselves to offer God or we can get saved, we can have eternal life, we can become regenerate and on the right side of everything. simply by faith in God who knows we're rebels and can't save ourselves, and provides for us. And so if we can humble ourselves at the cross, then we can put our faith in Christ. and enjoy certainty that we're not going to go through the tribulation. We're instead going to come with Christ and be with him in the thousand-year kingdom on the right side of everything. Following the thousand-year kingdom, we have the great white throne, the final judgment of all the unsaved. Everything is now set in order for eternity. And then we have the new heavens and the new earth. This is what we think of heaven. It's eternal. It's a new earth. It's a glorified, perfect, environmentally sound earth that we will reside in forever. Four events. What can you know if you understand these? You can know them with certainty. What are they? The church age, coming rapture, then tribulation, return of Christ, then kingdom, and then after the great white throne, eternity, new heavens and new earth. And if we can know that with certainty, how can that again affect us is the idea, and that's what 2 Peter 3 is now going to bring us through. Let's go there to 2 Peter 3. So by the grace of God, we can know these things with certainty. Of course, all this could have been camped on and more verses could have been shared and things, but hopefully many of us have had a lot of overview on this so we can follow this. But this is what God has said. These things are written, just like about the gospel and salvation, these things are written for us to have certainty and to know. So in 2 Peter 3, What is the value of that? Verse 1, he says, beloved. Just to point out, in this chapter, he says beloved four times. He addresses us as beloved four times. He's writing to believers. And he wants us to know some things. After he's already talked about, in chapter 2, false teachers and some things, days ahead, things that are going to come. He wants us to know that, verse 2, we would be mindful of the words that he is speaking and the things that were spoken by the holy prophets, reference to the Word of God. Be mindful of the Word of God. Be mindful. He's challenging us, verse two, to have our thoughts there. And then verse three, and what I did is, because we did this in Africa, I would try to have this be kind of like a, what we call like an exegesis exercise, so we would just ask questions, we're just gonna go through it. I would actually have them meet and talk in little groups and then we would go over this. But let's just look at our first question. Who is the subject of verse three? What is verse three about? And the answer is, scoffers. He tells us that in the last days, there's going to be scoffers. So let's get our mind on that, verse three. Knowing this first, scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts. So who are the scoffers? The scoffers, rather, are those who mock. What is a scoffer? You're mocking. You're just mocking. And you have like this arrogant dismissal. Yeah, whatever, scoffing. And when do they come? We're told here they will come in the last days. When is that? Yet future. Can you know this with certainty then? Answer, yes. So in the last days, let's expect scoffers to come. How do they walk and what do they call into question? Verse three, they walk according to the word of God. Nope. They walk according to their own ideas, their own agenda, their own lusts, their own desires. So they are walking according to their own lusts. And what are they saying? What are they calling into question? Is the Lord really coming? Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. So according to their lust, they're walking, and they are challenging the return of Jesus Christ. He's not coming. Come on. Why do you believe such foolishness is the idea of what they're presenting? So we continue on. How do they forget the basic truth of verse five? Because here's their problem. They willfully forget. So this is a choice. They are deliberately choosing to ignore, scoff, disregard the word of God. So they obviously have an attitude and opinion about the word of God because really they have an attitude and opinion about authority. They don't want to recognize this reality. So from verse five, we go into now what Peter wants us to know. They willfully forget that by the word of God, the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of water and in the water. He wants us to know that the creation was by the Word of God. That God spoke, let there be light and there was light. God spoke creation into existence by the Word of God. And then with that, He goes on, we wanna think in terms of, by the word of God, he created. So he's the author of creation. His fingerprint is on all of creation. And we ask, then, how does that fit with Romans chapter one, verse 18? And let's just turn there for a minute. Romans chapter one. Because Paul is gonna say something very similar to what Peter is saying here in 2 Peter three. So let's see Paul's, version of how he describes this. In Romans 1 verse 18, and this is a very helpful passage just to be able again to flow through in our thinking, the wrath of God, the righteous indignation of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Why? Because what do we do? Suppress the truth in unrighteousness. I have a dumb way of thinking of suppression. I think of Sesame Street Day's Oscar. Remember Oscar the Grouch lived in a garbage can? He'd open the can, stick his head out. Let's put the can back on and push him back in. That's suppression, right? Suppression. Only in this case, it's the word of God and the glory of God that wants to come out and push it back in and then sit on it. We suppress the truth of God. Notice God's wrath is revealed because it's ungodliness and unrighteousness. Ungodliness means mentally no regard for God. Don't have a place for him. Unrighteousness is the actions that will naturally flow out of that, which is all sorts of acts of sin. And that's what Romans 1 will unfold. Notice verse 19, what may be known of God is manifest in them. The fingerprint of God is upon them, God has shown it to them, and then the creation of the world, verse 20, and all of his invisible attributes are clearly seen, understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power in Godhead, so they are without excuse. Because, notice verse 21, they knew God. That's never in question. but they did not and chose not to glorify him as God, and also were not thankful. And they became futile, and their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. This is ungodliness, no God. Later in the chapter, which we won't turn to, you'll see all the actions that come out of that. Verse 24 all the way to verse 32, unrighteousness. So this is Paul's way of saying, they're scoffers. They're ignoring the attributes of God. They're ignoring the things that they see and they have that are obvious before them. So as we go back to 2 Peter 3, we see that our two writers are actually very similar, at this point anyway. We read then in verse five, they willfully forget by the word of God the heavens were of old, standing out of water, creation. And then verse six, by which the world that then existed perished being flooded with water. By the way, Romans 1 would fit in that this is an example of suppression in Romans 1, just like 2 Peter 3. Sorry, I jumped ahead of myself. Okay, so if you're wanting to write everything down, there's no regard for God. This is scoffing in Romans 1, as equal in 2 Peter 3. We won't turn to Hebrews 11 3, but it just says how God spoke everything into existence. Okay? He spoke the world into creation from nothing. God speaks in it. Okay, finally, we're back to where I wanted to be in 2 Peter 3. What event is verse 6 describing? And we would now say he shifted from creation to the flood. By which the world that then existed, that was created, it too perished and it was flooded with water. And notice we want to make an understanding of the phrase by which. What do you think by which is referring to? And the answer is to verse five, what do you think it is? By which? The word of God. So by the word of God, God created everything. And also by that same word, the words, the world that was perished. The authority of that same word, we have the flood and everything related to that. So we go on, the Word of God. So twice now, Peter is bringing our attention to the Word of God. And that's why he said, actually, the third time, because back in verse 2, he said, I want you to be mindful the words of the prophets, et cetera. So the Word of God, don't scoff at it. This is how everything came into existence. The same authority and word of God is how things became flooded. In verse seven, but the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. So in verse seven, he says, how are the current heavens and the current earth preserved? By the same word of God. So now in the present, we see God's word holding things together and keeping things in keeping things together, and he's doing so for a reason. What are the current heavens and earth reserved for in verse seven? So if you were doing this on your own, you'd be able to read the verse and find your answer. They're being reserved for a future judgment, for fire. So there's a coming time where the current heavens and earth are going to be destroyed. So it's good to remember that. Is it possible for us as human beings to destroy this earth and to have it come to a complete perish? The answer is no. It's all being preserved for a future day of judgment and fire when God will destroy it. Now, we've been given dominion over this earth in the meantime, so yes, there's a responsibility for us to exercise good stewardship and dominion, and we may or may not do that, and there might be some localized destructions because of that, but we are incapable of destroying. Because this is what God, this is, we can scoff at it, but this is what God is saying. By the same word, the world that perished, I mean the world that perished in the flood, and now the same word we're gonna see is holding everything together for this future judgment. How long are the current heavens and the current earth reserved for? And the best way, it isn't always clear in the translation, but the idea is they are being kept until the day of. So they are being kept, this earth that we're on right now is being kept by the power of God and it is until this exact time when God will push play or whatever and it will happen. So this is part of his domain and his sovereignty. So, fire and perdition and who doesn't do very well on that day at the end of verse seven? Yeah, the ungodly men. So this is a judgment that's going to make quick end of the scoffers and those who are choosing and insisting actually on not believing and not responding to this obvious expression of God that they are without excuse. So we see then in verse eight, We have the word but. But, beloved, there's our second time, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as 1,000 years and 1,000 years as one day. The two groups of people being contrasted, but, right before that are the scoffers and those who are ignoring the word of God, and now here it's the beloved. So he's talking to us believers, beloved, and he's exhorting us to not forget. And he's exhorting us to not forget. This is in contrast to the scoffers. Remember in verse five, what do they do? They willfully, what? Forget. They deliberately forget. So you, but, verse eight, are different. Don't forget. Don't scoff, don't ignore. The ungodly willingly does do that, but we are not. So we go on in verse eight, what is it that we are not to forget? He wants us to understand that one day with the Lord is 1,000 years, which means he is above time, or time is irrelevant to him. Now don't start calculating with a calculator one day equals 1,000 years and try to figure it out, because it doesn't say one day is 1,000 years, it says one day is what? as 1,000 years, so he's trying to just point out that with God, time is, what's time? And therefore, he's extremely patient, is the idea that's gonna come out. So don't forget, the scoffers are saying, where is he, he's never come around, it's been 2,000, 3,000, whatever it's been, look at all these years, ah, God, don't forget, he's saying. This timing is no issue to God. And then he gives us more perspective on that. Because verse 9, he says, The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering or patient toward us, and then also not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. What do you think slack means? The idea is hesitating, doesn't hold back. So he's not holding back, he's not hesitating. in verse 9 about his promise. He's not thinking, should I do it? Maybe not. I think I'll just wait longer. There's no hesitation or uncertainty. He's not slack because of that. He is actually waiting for a deliberate purpose. The purpose is what? That he can be longsuffering toward us, and also he's not willing that any should perish. In his gracious heart, the heart of God is seen, he does not want any to perish. He wants all to be saved. He so loved the world that he gave his only son. He is waiting and desiring. And the church is the opportunity. You become saved. You become part of the church. And think of the church physically as a building. It's not, but I mean just as an illustration, the building. At some point, the last shingle will be nailed to the structure, and we'll have the rapture. You follow with my illustration? So God knows the timetable. God knows what he's doing. And if this seems like he's slack, he's not like he's hesitant or unsure or anything like that. He knows exactly what he's doing and when he's going to do it. And the reason there's this delay is because his heart is that big. It's as big as those thousands of years in which people can get saved. And every day, someone is getting saved somewhere. Amen? And God is building his church. And that's where we are. We can be certain of that, but we also can be certain that one day it's going to be over. And now here, Peter is looking and telling us the heart of God. And this is his promise in verse nine. The Lord is not slack, verse nine, concerning his promise. What is that promise? It's been what he's talking about, the promise that he's coming again, the promise that he will judge with fire, the promise that there will be a new heaven eventually. This is all over, this is ending, this is done. I promise is what he's saying. So we can have certainty it's coming. Jesus is coming. And the reason why it may not seem to have been according to our timetable is because God has a gracious, long-suffering timetable. Praise the Lord for that, amen? Aren't you glad? That's how we got saved. That's how someone hopefully will get saved today, tomorrow, et cetera. And he's long-suffering toward us because he wants all to be saved. So we move to verse 10. What will certainly come in verse 10, but the day of the Lord will come. So notice, believers, that time is coming. The return of Christ, you can be certain. And following that, the destruction of all things. He says in verse 10, it'll come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, the elements will melt with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. So what happens to everything will be passed away, everything will burn up, everything. Even your fingernail clipper. Even your last penny in the nick of the piggy bank. Right? The trivial to the great. Everything is going to be destroyed. How many will escape? Nothing. Nothing will escape. So pardon me this indulgence, but I'm going to play a little video clip here. Let's see if you can figure out how this connects. You know, I feel like I grew up around firewood. I grew up around wood. I grew up around wood-burning stoves, fireplaces. I feel like it's kind of in my blood. My name is Jesse Horn, and I am the founder of Smoke & Flame Firewood Company, North America's only premium, handcrafted firewood manufacturer. I started Smoke and Flame in 2012 after growing frustrated by seeing poor quality firewood flooding the market. I wanted to bring craftsmanship back to firewood production. My criteria for sourcing logs is simple. I only source logs that'll give me the best firewood in the world. That's it. Each piece of firewood is unique. It has its own personality. It tells a story, which is something we definitely want to respect. My name is Carl O'Brien, and I'm an apprentice here at Smoke and Flame Firewood. Working with Jesse is... he's an artist. I will not sell a single piece of firewood until it is absolutely ready. And I don't care how long that takes. The way I look at it is, I wanted to incorporate a lot of the stuff they did in the old world with a lot of new and modern technology. Combining those two worlds. Basically slowing down, putting in the time and craftsmanship into making a quality, quality product. I consider myself a bit of a storyteller, but my words are wood. People just can't believe it's finally happening, you know? For so long it's just been a pile of wood at a gas station. Now it's like, wow, someone's actually taking the care into the wood we're going to burn. They love it. My name's Jesse Horn, and I make firewood. So do you see the applications? Everything's going to burn. What's our firewood? What are we paying attention to? What are we putting our efforts into? This is the whole point that we're going to now shift to. We're getting to the whole point of the message, and it's 1055. That's good teaching. No, but we'll get through, this is the application. Verse 11 is where it all comes home. Everything's gonna burn, not one thing is gonna last. Does that not, knowing the future, does not that shape our perspective? This is the whole point that Peter has been making, is going to make, rather, as we head into these last verses. This is our certainty coming into practical reality. And so we get to, So what, in verse 11. The question is, the coming reality of all things being dissolved can do what to us, in verse 11? As we look for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which, I'm sorry, it's in verse 11. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? What does this do to us? It hopefully shapes our motives and our priorities and our thoughts and our desires and our loves so that we become people, heavenly people. Our position in heaven, our saviors in heaven. His return and these coming certainties. I don't have time to make my firewood pretty. It's not a priority. And so we can become, in conduct and godliness, remember Paul's statement in Romans 1, he was saying God's wrath toward ungodliness and unrighteousness, same idea. And so our conduct and godliness, Peter just has the order, Different way. And since all these things will happen, what are we looking for, verse 12? We're looking for the return of Jesus Christ. But with hastening is the idea, with earnest desire. I can't wait for Jesus Christ to return, verse 12. We're looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God. And it's according to what, verse 13? When the heavens will dissolve, rather, verse 12, the fire, the elements will melt with fervent heat. Verse 13, nevertheless, we, you ready? According to the promise. There's the word of God again. According to that same word that created everything, remember? The same word that brought the flood. The same word that's keeping everything held together for the specific point in time that God's in control of. Well, that same word that gives the promise of Jesus returning, we put our faith and hope in that. So according to the promise, we then are going to be described. But before we look at that description, we find the promise, like I just said, back in verse 5, 6, and 7, those references to the Creator and the Word that brought the flood, the Word that's holding everything together. So notice, knowing this prophecy, it's designed to have an impact on our thinking and our outlook. In fact, We see in verse 13b, we're to be looking with excitement because he says at the end of verse 13, we're looking for a new heavens, a new earth in which righteousness dwells. And that righteousness dwells because that's where God dwells. Because it's the presence of God, and this again speaks of a relational aspect in the sense that we're gonna be with him and his righteousness and where his righteousness is ruling and dwells. And I'm looking forward to that. I'm excited about that. And so should we be looking for the end with dread and fear? No. We're looking forward. We're looking forward for the blessed hope and glorious appearing. We're looking forward for the righteous king to come and establish righteousness. We're looking forward to the new heavens and new earth after he destroys and judges and sets everything right. We're excited about this. We're an appealing people that are excited and optimistic actually. So we're looking forward. And so we're going to see as this passage ends up, we're going to see where there's two participles which are describing us, and then two imperatives that flow from it. So notice the first one is in verse 14. Therefore, beloved, how were we described? Looking forward to these things. Because we're looking forward to these things, we have the right certainty perspective, he gives two imperatives, be diligent to be found in him, and peace without spot and blameless. So in other words, and that diligence can come out in Hebrews 4 and other places, it just speaks of a mental alertness, a by faith perspective. Not to be diligent in preparing our firewood, but to be diligent in learning and understanding and anticipating the coming king. And secondly, consider how God's patience is opportunity for people to be saved. Verse 15, consider the long suffering of our Lord as salvation. So let's be glad, let's be excited. We're looking forward to these things. And let's be found diligent and steady with a certain outlook because it's shaped by faith. And let's be glad that the reason it hasn't happened yet is because the heart of God is on display and people can get saved. And they need to hear about Christ. So that is a byproduct of looking forward with excitement, not complaint that everything stinks, but looking forward. Because this is when God's glory is gonna continuously be on display. And then we have another participle describing us as we jump to verse 17. You therefore, beloved, again beloved, since you know this beforehand, since we know ahead of time, Better than who's gonna win the World Series. We know these four main events as we simplify it. We know with certainty these things. He gives us two more imperatives. Beware. Don't fall from your steadfastness. Stand. Don't hear the mockers. When is this coming? Where is this? What is that, right? Don't take heed to the mockers. the scoffers. And as you are taking heed to the Word of God and being diligent, et cetera, in that sense, by faith, lastly, grow in grace and glory in the knowledge of the Savior, Jesus Christ. So how awesome are these truths? How majestic and sovereign is our God, the creator who is sovereignly in charge of all of history and events, and that he actually desires for everyone to know him personally and to be saved, and he's waiting for us to personally respond to him as unbelievers, to be saved in the gospel. How does prophecy affect your daily life? By the way, how long will the Lord receive glory? Forever. So how does knowing all this give us impact? How can we leave here today with this? Well, we can know that you can have hope. You can have hope in a very certain future events that are coming and you can have assurance and confidence of this will happen. You don't have to hear scoffers or mockers or wonder and you are motivated by his patience and his desire for all to be saved and his glory and you have opportunity to be a testament to that, to be an ambassador for him and to share this to others. This makes us a peculiar people, zealous of good works. And I'm telling you, as you look at all these four events and the things related to them, if you're saved here today, this is all thumbs up and all positive. So much of our Christian scene today seems to have a lot of fear, anxiety, uncertainty, conspiracies. But you know the end. You're on the winning team. You know the events, have certainty. There's no need for anger, frustrations, fear, uncertainty, complaint, victimization. Victims, we're victims. Entitlement. Haven't you had enough of that? The word of God causes us to be, we know we're victorious in Christ. We know how this ends. and we can have hope and assurance and motivation. We're not of this world. We don't care about the heart of the wood. We don't care if the wood is becoming more touched with some conspiratorial ingredient. And if something's happening that seems like this is bringing the end and, look, this is what the Antichrist will do, well, praise God, that means it's gonna be sooner, we'll be going sooner, and we're looking for this end time when Christ returns. Praise God, it's out of my control anyway. But can we tell people about Christ and can we do it where we're actually appealing instead of griping, frustrated, and down? So this is our privilege, friends. We have hope and assurance and encouragement from knowing this, because our citizenship is above. That's where we're oriented. And we're ambassadors here simply to tell people of this world about the other world. And I don't want to get bogged down on how rotten this world is. I already know how it's going to end. Let me tell you. And by the grace of God, let's be winsome and different and excited. And let's remember, even what's ahead of us here, this is all future. Positive. Everything here is a thumbs up for the believer. The church, that's us now. We enjoy the indwelling of the spirit of God in us. We enjoy the one another's, the fellowship, the learning, the growing in Christ. The rapture, amen. We meet the Lord in the air. The tribulation, amen. Thumbs up because we're enjoying the greatest praise worship we'll see in Revelation 4 and 5. And we're not on earth. We're missing all of the negativity of the earth at that time. The return of Christ, amen, Armageddon, ultimate king and conqueror, and we're with him. And we will rule with him the thousand-year kingdom. Thumbs up. The great white throne, thumbs up. This will be a final resolution of all history. New heavens and new earth, thumbs up. It's all awesome. Everything is something to be looking forward to. Even the Bema seat. Imagine at the Bema seat, you're glorified. You're fit and ready for eternity. You're face-to-face with the Savior and notice His face and the smile on His face because we're the bride. Even that. Amen. And so when we understand this, and as we leave here today, may the Spirit of God give us a sense of hope, assurance, confidence, motivated, looking for opportunity. And as we sang before we started, be still and know that he is God. I jotted down a couple of lyrics that were excellent. Lord is on your side. Do you remember that? Lord is on your side. And even more important, as we're seeing today, you're on his side. And as he guided, he will guide in the future. as he has in the past. So may we rejoice in that, and let's pray. Father, we thank you for just this understanding, this brief overview, basic future events, and we just praise you that you are sovereign and king and absolute over all this. And you've got it all under control, and everything's happening at a time and for a reason, and just pray that we would just be mindful of just being under you, being ambassadors for Christ, recognizing our citizenship in heaven, thinking about who we are in Christ and what we have in him. And may we be excited with certainty, because we can stand on your word and know how you are describing it. So may we leave here today encouraged in these things, and we ask it of you, in Jesus' name, amen.