Now, all the way. th th th Okay. Yeah. Yeah. th th Good evening. If you would turn your Bibles to 2 Peter 3. And we'll be studying the first 10 verses as we continue our study of the book of 2 Peter that we've been titling, Preparing for Persecution. And for the last several weeks, we've been talking about and 2 Peter has been warning us about false teachers. And I don't know about you all, but it kind of took its toll on me. I understand that being warned of false teachers is necessary, but it's not very uplifting to hear about false teachers week after week after week after week, and all you hear about is this is your opposition, and this is what you need to watch out for, and all of that. So I am very happy to be starting chapter three, because now, today, everything changes. Today we get to hear about the return of Christ. Today we get to hear about our blessed hope. So if you would stand in honor of the reading of the Word of God, and we'll read 2 Peter 3, verses 1-10. The Word of God says, This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your minds by way of remembrance, that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior. Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, 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. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word, are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 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. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness. but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And verse 10 just shines out to me. I don't know if it does to you. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works that are therein shall be. burned up. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, as I did earlier, I do again confess my utter need and dependence for you to preach these words with truth. So God, I pray that you would empower me to do that. And God, I pray that you would enable each person that hears these words to be true hearers of the word. Open their hearts and apply these words of truth to their souls. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I think that there are a few days throughout the history of the world that God has marked on His calendar. I think that if God has a refrigerator in heaven, I'm not sure if there is one, but if God has a refrigerator in heaven, these days are circled in a big thick red marker on his calendar. You say, well, what are these days? What are the days that God has circled on his calendar? One, I think it's creation. I think the days of creation are circled on the calendar of God. Second, I think it's his son's birthday. The incarnation is circled on the calendar of God. The crucifixion is circled on the calendar of God. When the perfect Lamb of God laid down His life willingly on the cross. I think the ascension is marked on the calendar of God. That when Jesus ascended to be seated at the right hand of the throne of God on high, to be declared the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords to the glory of God the Father. I think those days are all marked on God's calendar. I think the return of Christ is another day that is marked on God's calendar. And the return of Christ is the only one of these days that I've described. And perhaps there are others. I was thinking about it this week. Maybe the flood is marked on God's calendar. The cataclysmic day when he flooded the whole earth. Maybe, you know, I don't know. Maybe the day of the Mount of Transfiguration is on. I don't know what days are there, but these are just a few. But the return of Christ is the only one of those days marked on God's calendar that has not happened. And we need to know and we need to focus on this return of Christ. Because the Bible is very clear, Jesus is coming soon. Not just the Bible, the old southern gospel song, Jesus is coming soon. I hope you know that song. The Oak Ridge Boys sang that song. If you don't know that song, go home and listen to it directly following the sermon. Right? Jesus is coming soon, morning or night or noon. Many will meet their doom, trumpets will sound. All of the dead shall rise, righteous meet in the skies, going where no one dies, heavenward bound. It's a great song, and it's true. Jesus is coming soon. The return of Christ will be a life-changing, world-altering, eternity-defining event. It is the day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. For believers, the return of Christ is their steadfast hope. And for unbelievers, the return of Christ is their certain doom. I think this is why Martin Luther said there are only two days on his calendar, today and that day. It's a big deal. Luther thought the only important days in my life are what happens today and what happens on that day, the return of Christ. So the return of Christ is a big deal, a world-altering deal. But as we have seen throughout 2 Peter, When persecution comes, Christians will be attacked. And we need to know that the doctrine of the return of Christ is not exempt from these attacks. We must be ready to defend this doctrine at all costs. You say, why? Why is the return of Christ so important? Because I want you to know that the return of Christ is not merely a doctrine reserved for academics to debate and to wax eloquently about in a library or a study somewhere. The doctrine of the return of Christ is something that's real. The doctrine of the return of Christ is hope that carries believers onward each and every day. It is that hope that we need to withstand when persecution comes. If we do not have that hope, that hope in the return of Christ, we will not make it when persecution comes. So we must be ready to defend the doctrine of the return of Christ. So that's what we'll study here today in these first 10 verses. And really, it's verses 3 through 10. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on verses 1 through 2. We actually talked about these in the very first sermon on 2 Peter. This is kind of Peter's purpose statement on why he wrote the entire letter. He said, I'll write this second epistle, beloved. So he's expressing all this pastoral concern to these people. He wants to stir them up. He wants to awaken them. He's specifically talking to believers. And he wants them to remember some things. Verse 2, he wants to remember things from the holy prophets. That's the Old Testament. He wants to remember things from the apostles of the Lord and Savior. That's the New Testament. So I say all that to say, Peter is preparing us for persecution. That is his purpose in writing this entire book. This is why God inspired Peter to write this book, to prepare us for persecution. Specifically tonight, he's stirring us up to remember of the day of the Lord, to remember of the return of Christ. We need to remember some things about Jesus' return. because those things will be challenged when persecution comes. So that's what we're gonna look at here tonight. Three points for you. They all start with the letter C. So you guys can look out for those. Point number one is the challenge of the world. The challenge of the world. Because in verse number three, He says, starting out there, he says, know this first. So there's this one thing that he wants us to know first. And this word first here, it's a priority. It's not order, but it's a priority. He's saying, this one thing here is important. He's saying, pay special attention to this one thing. OK, well, we say, OK, we've got our attention. Know this first. That they shall come in the last days. Well, I think it's important for us to understand what are the last days? We need to understand what are the last days. Are these the seven years of the tribulation? Is that what he's talking about here? No. The last days, as the Bible refers to it, is the time between Christ's ascension and Christ's return. It's a pretty big period of time, but these are the last days. And it's a very general term. It's a generic term. It's not a specific term. It's a pretty general term talking about this big time from when Jesus left to when Jesus comes back. And we must be fully aware that as the end of time approaches, as that period of time gets closer and closer to the end, there will be many that will challenge us. And there will be many that will challenge the return of Christ. So that's what's happening here. The world is challenging us believers about the return of Christ. Verse 3, knowing this verse, that there shall come in the last days scoffers." You say, what's a scoffer? It's a mocker, someone who mocks us. So the world is going to ridicule us, to make fun of us. They're going to make fun of what we believe about the return of Christ. They're going to make fun of the fact that we think that Jesus is coming back. I listened to a preacher this week who actually said he believes that this is a broader term. Richard Caldwell said that he believes that this is really anybody who is not prepared to accept the revelation of God would be a scoffer. That's probably true, but I think more specifically here, these are people who are mocking us about the return of Christ. These are people who are seeking to undermine the confidence of believers. That believers are confident that Jesus is coming back and there are these scoffers who are coming and saying, that is foolish that you believe those things. People who believe believers are crazy for believing such things. Now, I want to tell you, scoffers have always existed. At least ever since the fall of man, scoffers have existed. We see scoffers in Noah's day, right? Noah spent, what, a hundred and some years building the ark. And throughout that time, there are all these people who have said, no, we've never seen rain before, so we think you're crazy. And Noah, a preacher of righteousness, is being steadfast and following after the Lord. But there are no doubt scoffers that are coming after Noah, and they're saying, Noah, you're crazy. Who in their right mind would build this giant boat to hold all these animals? So yeah, so scoffers have always been around. But in the final days, scoffers will be more prevalent. There will be more scoffers. And I guess you could say scoffing will increase in the final days. As the day approaches, there will be more and more of this, not less and less. And we learn a little bit about these scoffers here in verse 3. It says that these scoffers are walking after their own lusts. So they are scoffing at the return of Christ because they want to pursue sexual immorality. That these Christians are being mocked so sin can be justified. They're putting down Christians so they can justify their own sin. And it says here, that they're walking after their own lusts. This is not a one-time thing. This is to travel. This is the long-term behavior of one's life, the pattern of their lives. These scoffers are lustful people. And just a little sidebar, the pattern of your life reveals your heart. It does, right? If you walk after your own lusts, that reveals a lustful heart. So whatever pattern you live in your life, that reveals your heart. It's true for sinners. It's true for believers. What is the pattern of your life? It's just a little sidebar. So that's their first challenge. I think this is an arrogant challenge. that they've given here. They're arrogant and they're just out there mocking believers and scoffing after these people who believe that Jesus is coming back. Their next challenge is what I've written down as an emotional challenge. Because in verse 4, they start cutting them deep. They start attacking them directly. They start to hit with low blows. They shove the dagger in the gut. verse 4, and saying, 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 they're saying here, they're talking about the fathers, these are the Old Testament patriarchs, and they're saying, They all died, and the day of the Lord has not come. All of your forefathers, they're dead and gone. And Jesus still hasn't returned to make things right. And I'm going to tell you, every generation of Christians has thought that Jesus would return in their lifetime. They have. They have. Jesus said that he would return 2,000 years ago, and he still hasn't. So these people are saying, if he hasn't returned by now, he ain't coming. That's the argument that they're making. They say, you guys have been saying that Jesus is coming back for 2,000 years. He ain't coming. Y'all are foolish in thinking that. And they go on. He says, where's the promise of their coming since the fathers fell asleep? All things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. So they're going to take this a step further. They're going to say, We think that God is absent from the world, and whatever happens in the world, happens. That's the argument they're making. They're making the argument that God is distant. They're saying that divine intervention isn't a thing. They are denying that God does anything in the world. They're not necessarily denying creation. But these people are denying that God is involved in creation in any way, shape, or form. They believe that the world can only function through the laws of nature. Only what has happened in the past will happen in the future. That's how they see it. They view the world as a closed system and no supernatural superintendence can happen. I want to tell you that this is the problem when you put your faith in science. Science, by definition, is the study of the natural world, which means, by definition, science cannot comprehend the supernatural. Science cannot comprehend God. And that's what these people have. They have this very finite view of who God is and what God is capable of, and that's what they're using to attack believers. And I think that's what our world will do today. They will take this very finite view that's confined to the realms of what has happened in the last little bit, and they have no concept of the supernatural. They have no concept of who God is and what God can do. So that's their second challenge. It's an emotional challenge. A final challenge here, it's an ignorant challenge. We see here in the beginning of verse 5. For they willingly are ignorant. I mean, that's a great description of anybody. These people are purposely denying the return of Christ. You see, it wasn't for lack of evidence that these people don't believe in the return of Christ. The evidence is right in front of their faces, yet they still said no. I think there are so many people like this in our world today, people who claim to be so smart, but are willingly ignorant of Christ, of who Christ is. They are denying Christ so they can pursue the lusts of the flesh, just like these people were in verses 3 and 4. So that's the challenge of the world. And you say, well, how does that, what kind of application is there for us? That's the state of the world, right? A bunch of people who deny the return of Christ. I think this should ignite our passion for evangelism. That we should see this is what the world believes. The world thinks that the return of Christ is foolish and is not going to happen. And we need to be bold people, bold champions for the Word of God and for Christ, going out there and giving people the gospel. Peter said that in his first letter, 1 Peter 3.15, Peter says, Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you. Be ready, church! That when somebody asks, where did you get this hope? Say, it came from the Christ, the Son of the living God. The one whom you say will not return, I guarantee you He will return. And I hope and I trust in Him. But I want to tell you that God will not be silent when people challenge the return of the Son. So we're going to see in point number two, God's going to give us a clarification. Point number two is the clarification from God. God is now going to give us a compelling argument of the return of Christ. And really, He's going to give us, I think, six reasons why Christ will return. Six reasons here in these next few verses. Now, verse number five. He says, for they were willingly ignorant of that by the Word of God. So the first reason why Christ will return is because the Bible says Christ will return. That's a pretty good reason why Jesus is going to return. And to deny the second coming of Christ is to deny the very Word of God. So all you scoffers who are out there, if you have a problem with the return of Christ, take it up with the Bible. Take it up with the author of the Bible, God Himself. You know, there are 300 references to the return of Christ in the New Testament alone. 300 references. The return of Christ is not some obscure doctrine that no one talks about. Don't be lulled away by all of this endless debate about the end times. There are some aspects of the end times that we don't understand. There's the pre-trib rapture and the post-trib rapture and pre-millennialism and all-millennialism. There are all these things that theologians like to debate and churches like to divide over and split over. But I want to be clear to you. You cannot debate the return of Christ. That is non-negotiable. There is no argument to be had with the Bible, in the Bible, about the return of Christ. It is certain that Jesus will return. The Bible is clear. Christ will return. The Bible said that Christ would come the first time. And the Bible was right. The Bible says that Christ will come a second time. Spoiler alert. The Bible will be right. There is no debate, there is no question, Jesus will return. So argument number one, it's a pretty good one, the Bible says that Christ will return. Argument number two, creation says that Christ will return. That by the word of God, the heavens of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water. So this is talking about creation, and we know through the biblical account that when creation happened, the world didn't look like it does now, right? It was a little different. The world was kind of in like this little cocoon of water. There was water below the world, and there was water above the world, and that's why people were able to live to like 800 years old. It's because they were kind of in this cocoon of water protected from You know all the rays of the Sun and all these countless things so they were able to live much longer So what do you but really that's that's kind of a sidebar and not super relevant to the point that I'm trying to make here is That's extra for you. So God is talking about creation here. And because God created the world, and because God is sustaining the world, we can be sure that one day He will return to make things right in His world. He created the world, He sustains the world, and He will return to make things right, to clean up this world that we've made a mess of. You can be sure of that. We'll talk about this later. One day Christ is going to return to uncreate the world. and recreate the new heaven and the new earth. But we can be sure that because God created the world, he will one day return and clean up the world. Now, I want to tell you something else. As a scientist, I want to tell you that science doesn't have all the answers. coming straight from the mouth of a scientist, I want to tell you, the Big Bang states that the world came from nothing, has no purpose, and will ultimately return to nothing. I think this is rubbish. Foolishness. Creation screams the glories of God, and creation eagerly waits the revealing of the fullness of His power and majesty at the return of Christ. So number two, creation says that Christ will return. Number three, history says that Christ will return. Verse number six, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. I don't have to tell you all a whole lot about this one. This is talking about the flood. This is talking about Noah and the flood. The world being overflowed with water and everyone perished save eight people on an ark. So the flood, the historical evidence that God will judge the righteous and save His people. But don't you believe that Jesus will come back to judge the righteous and to save His people? God has done it once. He will do it again. History says that Christ will return. Argument number four. I mean, if you're one of these scoffers, the argument, the weights are going to one side or the other. It's looking pretty strong to God's argument here that Christ will return. But let's just keep going here. I could have stopped after number one and it would have been good enough for me, but we'll keep going. God felt that we had a need to have all of these, so we'll lay them all out here. Number seven, heaven and hell. or sorry, verse seven, heaven and hell say that cross will return. But the heavens and the earth, which are now by the same word kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. So, in John 14, Jesus says, I go to prepare a place for you. And as believers, we love to hear that. We love to hear that Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us. But I think that there is also a place being prepared for unbelievers. Right? And that's hell. Right? If Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us, you better believe that He is preparing a place for those He will judge and those whom He will condemn. God is right now preparing eternity for both believers and unbelievers. You know, we talk about, you know, do you want eternal life? And that's true. We talk about eternal life. But everyone is going to exist eternally. Now, there is eternal life and eternal death and damnation. But everyone, no one ceases to exist. We don't believe in annihilationism. At the day of the Lord, you will be ushered into eternity, either heaven or hell, either life or death and damnation. And at the day of the Lord, there's going to be a grand opening of these places that Jesus has gone to prepare, heaven or hell. So heaven and hell say that Christ will return. They're being prepared right now for his return. Number five, time. Time says that Christ will return. Verse number eight. But beloved, do not be ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. And Peter here, he's quoting this from From Psalm 90, I think it's verse number 4, it says, For a thousand years in thy sight are but a yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. But I want to tell you, God's timing is not our timing. To us, time is very finite. To us, we only have a set amount of time on this earth. Right? Time is very finite. To God, time is irrelevant. God is eternal. Time isn't something that he is bound by, that he is confined to. Jesus has been gone 2000 years. But to God, that's like two days. Right. I mean, that's the if I can do the math here. Right. That's what he says. One day is with the Lord as a thousand years. He's gone a couple thousand years. It's like two days. You know, I think for us, this is a blessing and a warning. I think this is a blessing in that we get to know that Christ will return exactly when he's supposed to. We don't have to worry about when Christ will return because it's on God's timetable. And it's whenever God wants him to return. But I think it's a warning as well, because Christ will return exactly when he's supposed to. And we may not be ready for that return, but Christ will return on God's timetable. No man knows the day or the hour of the day of the Lord. Don't let these crazy date-setters tell you they'll be like, OK, one day equals a thousand years. Jesus was in the tomb for three days, so that must mean the return of Christ is in the year 3000. Right? Some people say that. I've heard it. This is a legitimate... I made that one up. I'll be honest with you. I'm sure somebody else has said it before. This next one is a legitimate one. People have said before, seven days of creation means that the world will exist for 7,000 years. By using this verse and this logic, they say that the earth will exist for 7,000 years. Again, no man knows the day or the hour, and we can go further on that, the year, the month, the anything of the return of the Lord. we cannot even begin to understand God's timing. Even think about this in your day-to-day life. We have ideas in our head as to how life should go. You think about it, you're in high school, you're like, yeah, I'm gonna go get this degree, I'm gonna get this job, I'm gonna get married, I'm gonna have these kids, yada, yada, yada, and then God's timing says, nope! Not going to happen. You're going to be doing something completely different. I mean, how many people actually grow up to be what they wanted to be when they were in fifth grade? I wanted to be an astronaut. I'm not an astronaut. I'm a scientist. I'm a little close, but not an astronaut. Don't really have any desire to be an astronaut at this point in time. God's timing, God's plan for my life is is completely different, and I'm sure there are examples for each one of you, how you thought you had a plan, and you thought you had timing worked out in your head and in your mind and in your life, and God said, nope, my timing is very different. The same is true with his timing when he returns. His timing is very different than our timing. But one more point here on timing before we move on. Aren't you glad that Christ did not return before you got saved? Aren't you glad that that was true of God's timing? That Christ could have returned, that it could have been God's plan to return at any point in time, but praise be to God that He did not return before you got saved. So number five, time says that Christ will return. One final one, the character of God. Number six, the character of God says that Christ will return. Verse number nine. The Lord, so again, when you say the Lord is, verse 9, it's going to tell us about who God is. That's a verse right there. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness. You say, well, what does that mean? God has not forgotten His people. God is not indifferent. God is not distracted. That's what these people were saying. They're saying God doesn't care about you. He's left you here on this on this world. He's forgot about you. He isn't able to come back and to save you and to bring you into heaven. God's late. God's not late. God's timing is perfect. His timing is perfect in salvation. God's timing is perfect for when He returns. Mysterious, and we don't understand it, but perfect nonetheless. And it says here that He's not slight concerning His promise. Well, that's great, right? We see here that the return of Christ is a promise of God. It's a promise of salvation for believers. It's a promise of judgment for unbelievers. And we can count on this promise because God is truth and He cannot lie. This is part of the promise of God. And it goes on to say here in verse 9, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to usward. God is patient with us. God is longsuffering toward us. God is merciful to us. He isn't slack. He's patient with us. Luke 18 verse 7 says, And shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night? And why does he not do those things? Because he bare long with them, or with those who he's waiting to save. The real reason that Christ has not returned yet is because God is patient with unbelievers. And that should be great and phenomenal news to us. And he goes on here in verse 9, He says, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. This is tricky. This is a very challenging thing here. Because you can take this verse, and some people do, they take this and they do something that's called eisegesis. So I'm going to teach you something about hermeneutics real fast. Eisegesis is to take a verse. You pull out a single verse and you say, what do I think this verse means? Just a single verse. And then you say, that's what that verse means. And that's not what we do here, right? We exegete. We consider the whole of scripture, the totality of scripture, and develop a consistent and a right understanding of what verses say. So we're not going to take this first and say, well, that was, God saves everybody. Universalism, God saves everybody, right? He's not willing that any should perish. So God doesn't want anybody to perish. Nobody's going to die and go to hell. I don't know why he's warning us about, about hell, but nobody's going to go to hell. And then all are going to come to repentance. Everybody's going to be saved. Is that what that means? No, it doesn't. Because here, the word willing, this cannot be talking about God's sovereign and effectual will. It cannot be that. Because we know that throughout the Bible, and even in this passage that we're studying, God doesn't save everyone. And I think the best way to think about this is the desire of God versus the decree of God. And we're not talking about the decree of God here. That's not what we're talking about. God is not decreeing that no one will perish. He's not decreeing that everyone will come to repentance. But He is desiring that. We know that the Bible says God does not delight in the judgment of unbelievers. God would love to save everyone. But God is just as just as He is loving. And God will punish unbelievers. But I don't want us to get caught up in this part of verse 9 because I don't think that's the main point of this. I think the main point of here is that God is delaying His second coming so that the elect will be saved. God is delaying His second coming so that His people will be saved. There is a predetermined number of people established before the foundations of the world that will be saved. God knows the exact number. Get this, God knows the last elect believer that He will save. He knows that. God knows that it's Jim Bob in Arkansas. But Jim Bob is going to be the last person that God will save. Determined before the foundations of the world, Jim Bob will be the last believer saved. And that's what God's waiting for. That's why Jesus hasn't returned until this point. Because God is waiting on, He's being patient. He's being long-suffering. He's being merciful and allowing more people to be saved. And then the day of the Lord will come when Jim Bob is saved. I think it will happen instantly. I think God will regenerate and then the day of the Lord. Regenerate, Christ returns. There's no need to wait after that. It will be instant after that. I want you to think about all the sin that God sees in the world. It's a lot of sin. There's a lot of sin. I know how bad I am. I know how much sin that God sees in my life. Now think about the entirety of the world and they might not be as bad as I am. But I know that there's a lot of sin out there in the world. There's a lot of wickedness out there in the world. And, you know, I think there's many reasons why God is omnipotent and we're not. I think one of the reasons is because we couldn't handle it. We couldn't handle to know all the sin that's out there in the world. I think it would overwhelm us. I think it would consume us. But in spite of all that he sees, he is still long-suffering with us. He is still patient with us. His hand of judgment has not yet fallen on us. It should have. God should have wiped us all out a long time ago. All the sin. All the unrighteousness. All the wickedness. Yet God is long-suffering with us. That's the sixth and final argument here. the character of God. I think that's a pretty good set of arguments there. That should give us certainty and confidence in the return of Christ. That no matter what the world says, we can know that the day of the Lord is near. That Christ will most certainly come. And I think these arguments culminate in verse 10, which is a glorious declaration on the return of Christ. So verse 10, our final point, the certainty of His coming. But the day of the Lord will come. You say, okay, what does that mean? What is the day of the Lord? We need to know. We've been talking about it. I've said it a few times. What does the day of the Lord mean? R.C. Sproul says, The day of the Lord will be the day when the brilliance of His glory would shine so intensely that the entire world will see His majesty and God will vindicate Himself in victory and vindicate His people. That's a pretty phenomenal definition. R.C. Sproul had a way with words. I'm going to boil it down to a little bit simpler level. The day of the Lord is a day of salvation and a day of judgment. That's the simple definition. That it's a day of salvation. That God will bring about final salvation for his people. That he will finally deliver his people from this world to his presence. That we will be forever with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Or perhaps we could put it how we sung it this morning. When we sung, it is well with my soul. O Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight. That is part of the day of the Lord. It's a day of salvation, but it's also a day of judgment. Joel chapter 2 tells us about this. Joel 2 says, Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in the holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord cometh. For it is nigh at the hand, a day of darkness and a day of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness. As the morning spread upon the mountains, a great people and a strong. There hath not been ever like, neither shall be any more after it. Even in the years of many generations, a fire that devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth. The land that is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness, yea, and nothing shall escape them. Joel 2 paints a picture of the day of the Lord as very desolate, a day of destruction, a day of judgment. So the day of the Lord will certainly come, and it will be a sudden coming. It says it here. The day of the Lord will come. It's certainty. There's no doubt that the day of the Lord is going to come. It's not saying the day of the Lord might come. Or the day of the Lord will probably come. No, the day of the Lord will definitely come. And it will come like a thief in the night. That's what it says here. It will come suddenly. It will come unexpected. There will be many who will be unprepared for the day of the Lord. Get this. Burglars do not schedule appointments. They don't, right? I think that's what we're getting at here. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. They're very unexpected, right? If burglars scheduled appointments, you would prepare for them. You'd be sitting on your front porch with a shotgun. But that's not how this works with the day of the Lord. It's going to come suddenly. It's going to come unexpectedly. But the day of the Lord will come nonetheless. Whether you are ready or not, the day of the Lord will come. So the day of the Lord is a sudden coming. It's a supernatural coming. Moving on here in verse 10. in which the heavens shall pass away. This is a reversal of creation that I talked about. And again, I'm going to just quote as well with my soul, because I picked it not just because it went well with this morning sermon, but this evening's as well, right? What does as well with my soul say? The clouds will be rolled back like a scroll. The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend. There will be a reversal of creation. Get this, the vastness of space and time will be consumed in an instant. I mean, just think about that. That will blow your mind to even try to comprehend that. I mean, think about the millions of stars in our universe. And think about the planets. And think about everything that's out there. The vastness of space will be gone in an instant. That is the all-consuming power of God when He comes in His return. It's amazing. And then He goes on there. He says, which the heavens shall pass away. I think that's talking about the universe, about the sky. And then he says, will pass away with great noise. And the elements, I think that's talking about the earth, shall melt with fervent heat. This word elements here, I'm going to geek out for you as a scientist for just a second. This word elements means, it literally means ones in rows. Things that are arranged in rows. And we know the elements are arranged in the periodic table. But that was done in 1871 by Dmitri Mendeleev. He arranged the elements into rows and created the periodic table. Well, 1800 years earlier, God was writing about these elements arranged into rows. I find that to be interesting. Maybe you don't know that. Obviously, a few thousand years before that, God was creating those elements, but neither here nor there. I found that to be interesting. But the elements shall melt. Or again, as another song that we sang this morning would say, we sang Amazing Grace, My Chains Are Gone, The Earth Shall Soon Dissolve Like Snow. I think about these songs. Imagine that. Imagine Mount Everest, highest mountain in the world, melting like snow. I mean, I get there's snow on the top, but imagine the mountain itself dissolving away like snow. Science abides by what's called the law of conservation of mass. The mass is neither created nor destroyed, that we just transfer things. We do chemical reactions, we make one thing into something else, but we can't create mass. God will obliterate this concept in his return, that all mass, all matter, will be destroyed. And here's a little sidebar for you. It is so foolish to think that we can affect the end of the world in some way, shape, or form, right? It doesn't matter how much greenhouse gas emissions that you reduce, you are not going to alter the sovereign plan of God to return and consume the entire world. Now, I'm not saying that you should not be a good steward of the world that God has given us, but let's be real here. We're not going to cause the end of the world. God will cause the end of the world when he will melt the earth away. I don't know how many greenhouse gases we have to do to melt Mount Everest like snow. Probably a lot. There's nothing we can do to alter the end of the world. It is a supernatural coming. And finally, here at the end of verse 10, we see that it's a serious coming, a serious coming. As he says at the end, The earth also and all the works that are therein shall be burned up. All the labor, good and bad, large and small, will be destroyed. All the great works and accolades, gone. All the great inventions and achievements, destroyed. All the wonderful moments of unity and perseverance, gone. In a moment, all the works of the world will be burned up. This begs the question, where is your hope today? Have you placed your hope in the things of this world? Have you placed your hope in the works of the world, as we see in verse 10? The works that will be burnt up? Are you trying to work your way into heaven with good works? Do not be surprised when these good works are burned up in the day of the Lord. Amos 5.18 says, Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord. To what end is it for you? The day of the Lord is darkness and not light. He's saying, woe unto you if you desire the day of the Lord and you're not ready for it. If you're an unbeliever today, the day of the Lord should scare you to death. You should be terrified, trembling, shaking. The world has been warned and the day of the Lord is coming. We are certain of that. I bid you, beg you, plead with you that you should take a very deep look within and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ before his coming. Because at His coming, it will be too late. I would ask you, will you believe what the scoffers in this passage would not believe? They didn't believe in the revelation of God. They didn't believe in the creation of God. They didn't believe in salvation from God. That God makes sinners right with them. that on the cross, Jesus died in the place for sinners, the just for the unjust, the righteous for the unrighteous. They didn't believe those things. The scoffers, they didn't believe those things. They scoffed and they mocked. Don't be like them today. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. And ultimately, they didn't believe in the day of the Lord. So don't be like the scoffers in this passage. Believe in the full revelation of God, creation, salvation, the day of the Lord. And do it today. Do not delay. I heard a phenomenal story this week of D.L. Moody. D.L. Moody was a preacher in Chicago. And he was preaching the night before the great Chicago fires. And in his invitation, he told his people, as he presented them with the gospel, he told his people to go home and to think about what they had heard and to respond the next night. That very night, the entire city of Chicago lit up in flames. Hundreds died that one night. Dale Moody said he would never give a gospel presentation. He would never tell someone to delay. He would never tell someone to do it tomorrow. For tomorrow is not guaranteed. So if you don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, do it today. Make it right today. And for believers here, have hope today. You can make it. because the day of the Lord is near. No matter how bad the persecution might get, do not lose hope. Wait with eager expectation, depending upon, standing upon the promise that Jesus made to you that He will return. Next week we'll talk about verse 11. Seeing that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought we ought to be How should we live? We'll talk about that next week. But for this week, hope in the return of Christ. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, what a phenomenal passage of Scripture. I'm so thankful that you allowed me to spend hours upon hours in this this week. It was a blessing to my heart and to my soul. So God, I thank you of that. But God, more than that, I pray that you would instill in us a supernatural hope. God, that we would never lose our hope in the return of Christ. That no matter what is thrown our way, what manner of persecution comes our way, we would always cling to the return of Christ as our steadfast hope. So God, make that in us, and God, I pray if there's anyone who doesn't know Christ as their steadfast hope, that they would make that right today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.