So, if I could ask you to direct your attention to the second epistle of Peter, chapter 3, verses 10, and I'll read down to 14, 2 Peter 3, 10 through 14. The Bible says, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, into 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. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace, without spots, and blameless. The topic that God has placed on my heart for tonight is diligence in godly living. And the title that I've given to tonight's message is a question, the question of will you be ready? The question, of course, is a loaded one. Will I be ready for what? And the answer to that is the impending day of the Lord. And we're going to explore this topic tonight. And my prayer is that God will speak to your hearts through His word. In this passage of divinely inspired scripture, the Apostle Peter is speaking, first and foremost, to believers. We can infer this based on the beginning of this epistle back in chapter one, which starts with a greeting to believers. Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them which have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Peter is writing to the church as a whole, emphasizing the assumed faith of the reader, seeking to warn and exhort all believers to be ready for the imminent return of Christ. Now why does Peter seek to warn us? He is warning us because not everyone will be ready for that return. God is warning us through Peter to be ready now for his return rather than waiting until the last minute. This also is an exhortation that is pointed at believers, directing them to live godly lives in this present world and, like Jesus when he was here on earth, to be about the work of the Father until the time is accomplished for God's plans to be fulfilled. Before I get into the rest of tonight's message, I want to take a moment to lightly define some terms that I'm going to be using frequently. I saw myself typing them a lot, so I thought I better define them before I say them. Before I get into the, sorry. The first of these terms is faithful. And to be faithful means to be steadfast and unmovable, reliable, loyal, and to adhere to certain duties. And in the context of tonight's message, faithfulness will imply a specific, lost my place. Faithfulness implies a care taken to maintain adherence to a specific instance, duty, or detail, which we'll get more into later. The second term is diligent, and to be diligent is to be careful, persistent, and earnest in following the will of God, and in the general serving of God, both at home and outside of the home. The third term that I have is the day of the Lord. And this is an event in scripture that entails final judgment on humanity and the earth. It is generally accepted to be the time in which God will destroy the old earth and bring about a new heaven and a new earth. You can see that talked about in verse 13. Next is the term encouragement. To encourage someone biblically would be to remind them of the truths of God's word, to be a friend and ask them how they're doing, where they're struggling, or what they need prayer in. How can I be a help to you is the question at the heart of the term encouragement. And the last term I want to explain is the word blameless, which simply means to be free from guilt, shame, or reproach. We're told to live in a way that leaves us blameless before God. You can see that in verse 14. To live blamelessly is the instruction we have been given to prepare for the imminent return of Christ, and indeed it's the only thing we can properly do to prepare for that day. Jesus will not be impressed by anything but obedience and faithful service. Let's look back at verse 10 here. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens and the earth shall pass away with a great noise. My first point is simply that the day of the Lord is coming. This is an undeniable truth that echoes throughout Scripture, that one day Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, will return to judge the living and the dead, and that at the end the earth, the skies, this entire present universe and all that are in them will be burnt and melted and will pass away completely. This fact should point us to three initial truths, the first of which is that the day of the Lord will come, as I just read, as a thief in the night. What does this mean? This means that the day of the Lord will come suddenly, without warning, and it leaves us without a way to accurately pinpoint the day or the hour. We have no way to determine the date and no way to prepare in advance, meaning simply that we must prepare now. Secondly, the day of the Lord will come, and on that day all of our earthly possessions and riches, our cars and our bank accounts, our checkbooks, our toys, our books, our clothes, all material possessions and everything else that matters to us on this earth will suddenly no longer exist. They will mean nothing, less than nothing. They will profit us nothing in that great and terrible day of the Lord. Indeed, the only thing that will matter will be what we have done for Christ. Similarly to when someone dies on earth, we can't take our stuff with us to the promised new heaven and earth. I recall the quote from C.T. Studd, who said, only one life will soon be passed, and only what's done for Christ shall last. Thirdly, the day of the Lord brings judgment. The book of Revelation speaks of the great white throne upon which sits God himself, and in front of which throne the sum of humanity is judged according to their works, and importantly also according to the Lamb's book of life. Works alone do not justify a man or woman. Jesus said that on that day many will say, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have done many wondrous works? And Jesus will say to them, depart from me, I never knew you, ye workers of iniquity. Those who are saved will receive rewards according to their godly living, and those who are without Christ, unsaved and regenerate, will be cast into hellfire prepared for Satan and his followers, according to the divine and holy justice of God. My next point is that the impending day of the Lord should motivate us to godly living, taken from the text, in all holy conversation and godliness. Because the day of the Lord is coming soon, believers should be motivated to live godly lives. Jesus said that those who love Him will keep His commandments. And this means that Christianity is not a mere Sunday activity, but a lifestyle of service and submission, and a lifelong labor of love and joyful servitude to our Father, who has saved us from our sin. If there is no desire to serve God through the week in the life of a believer, there's a problem there. True believers will, like Christ, find their meat, their substance, and their life's joy in being about the work of God in every aspect of their existence. In verse 11, I want to quickly point out the term all holy conversation does not merely or only mean our physical speech, although that is a part of it. The Greek word here translated as conversation is defined literally as manner of life, conduct, behavior, or deportment. Thus, all parts of our life, audible speech and otherwise, must be holy before God and consistent with godly conduct and character. I submit to you all tonight that more than what we say, everything we do is subject to this principle. We just heard it from Corinthians, from Pastor. The places we go, the people we see, our amusements, our entertainment, our careers, our friends, our family, our schooling, the words we speak, yes, our actions, the things we spend money on, everything, absolutely everything must be submitted to the standard of God's word. J.C. Ryle said, do nothing that you would not like God to see. Say nothing you would not like God to hear. Write down nothing you would not like God to read. Go no place where you would not like God to find you. Read no book of which you would not like God to say, show it to me. Never spend your time in such a way that you would not like to have God ask, what are you doing? Everything we do must be reviewed under the microscope of and through the lens of God's will contained within his word and the leading of the Holy Spirit in your life. The next point, now that we have, I hope, firmly established that we must be living holy and perfect lives in this time, such as is possible, I want to take a moment to apply this to the personal lives of those hearing tonight. How do we, as Paul put it to Titus, deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world? Firstly, by faithfully partaking in personal and corporate worship of God through the reading and preaching of his word, singing, and fellowship with other believers. We cannot, we cannot serve God if we are regularly forsaking the assembly of the saints. Nor can we serve God if we are neglecting his word and prayer, be it in private or corporately with the local church. Both personal time with the Lord and corporate public group worship are essential to the spiritual health of the believer. Next one, by being faithful to our families. Firstly, honoring our parents will honor God. Children, obeying your parents in the Lord, obeying them as they obey God, is the chief command that you have at this present time. And obedience to God in such a way is a must. And adults, I count myself as one, such as is in us, we are to honor our parents as we are led by the Lord in word and action, such as is possible, remembering that our first allegiance is to God. men and women by being faithful to your wives and husbands respectively, by respecting, loving, honoring, cherishing, and supporting them. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave his life for it," Paul wrote. And then he wrote, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. Men, by leading your households faithfully under God, and women, by supporting your husband's leadership in the Lord. Spouses are a good thing, a gift from God, and a ministry, even though many may not think so, especially not often. It's so easy to consider ministry as being just something that happens within the four walls of the church building. whatever building we happen to meet in labeled Blank and Blake Church. Ministry is what happens across our lives. It should not be something that is kept just within the sanctuary of the local church. How can we claim to be living for Christ if we only participate in the things we're supposed to do for him for maybe four hours a week, maximum, if he's lucky? This all, no doubt, sounds rather elementary, but it has been proven that our nation would benefit from a return to the basics of Christian living in the home. We all heard the statistics on Friday, or found them on the back table, right? Our nation is in dire need of the light of God, and the church is desperately in need of a return to true biblical principles, a revival, if you will. It was on Friday we heard Pastor Coleman say, as goes the family, so goes the church, so goes the nation. And that's why I put this part here. The direction of the nation, and the direction of the church even, are decided most effectively not by congresses or church councils, not by protests or political rallies, not by presidents or kings, but by true Christian living, both inside the individual and inside the home. My next point is by being faithful in our place of employment. Those of us who are employees, those of us who have someone we call boss, a manager, are commanded to obey our employers truly and properly, fully, and as unto the Lord, not just with lip service or the bare minimum of work. And we are, in so doing, we are in proper, full obedience to them, showing them God. Being a humble servant at work and doing the job for which one is compensated is essential to maintain a good testimony of your fellows and of your boss. Is it fun? Probably not. And it's also not usually very easy. But it's a mission field all the same. And we were never promised an easy, simple, convenient life as Christians. We're commanded to take up a cross and follow him. Next one is faithfulness to the local church and your ministries. And I started this section with faithfulness to the local church, and I want to continue the theme in the same vein. It is essential for us to be a part of the local fellowship of believers, bearing one another's burdens, exhorting one another unto love and good works, praying for each other, meeting each other's needs, and being united to speak to the greater community and to present a godly witness to the world, both spiritually and physically. Spiritually, we can be a help to others and the local church as a whole by encouraging one another, by taking time to visit a shut-in at their home or facility, or to visit another church member to encourage them and talk about the things of God. I truly doubt many of us will truly understand the positive impact of such visits to a home or to a facility. However, one day we will, when it's our turn to be visited, when we're shut in or in our own facility, and the knowledge that we will one day receive those same visits, or the hope that we'll one day receive those same visits, should encourage us to make those visits ourselves. They're still members of the church, even if they can't be here every Sunday, right? Building off of the last point, by being given to hospitality, showing kindness to others, and bringing them into your home for a meal and fellowship, you can open doors to evangelism or discipleship. a meal taken to a family who's just lost a member, a meeting over coffee or lunch for purposes of fellowship or discipleship. These are things that will uplift someone mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Physically, inside the church building and in the realm of the local church, we must be faithful to our more easily recognizable ministries. Cleaning something that needs it, watching the kids, running the nursery, or teaching a Sunday school class, holding down the sound booth, or weeding the flower beds outside, cleaning the toilets, or replacing a missing light bulb are examples of a ministry inside the church. Whether or not this is glamorous, eye-catching, or particularly appealing is up for debate, but these ministries and all the others that I didn't mention are first and foremost a service to God, and they are avenues of living a faithful life before Him and serving Him. This next point is very much a summation of the last couple, but all those with a talent have a responsibility to honor God with that talent first and foremost, as it is God who has given humanity every good and perfect gift. Those with a talent for the piano should seek to honor God with their playing. Those who can orate amazingly, weave vivid pictures with mere words ought to use those words to proclaim the gospel. Those with a penchant for art ought to create artworks that point to and glorify the creator. The list goes on and on for every talent and gift that exists among humanity, the gifts that are given by our gracious, loving God who delights to give gifts to his children. Lost my place again. But the truth remains that every gift ought to be used to honor and glorify the Father who blessed you with that gift that you have, whatever that gift may be, whether it's easily findable or not, or whether or not that gift is easy to use for His glory or not. Once again, our lives aren't supposed to be easy, but they're supposed to be God-glorifying. Outside the church, in the community, and the wider lost world, we have a responsibility to evangelize the nations, to teach to all people the good news of the gospel. We have, in our Bibles right in front of us. We hear preached to us every week the good news that humanity is no longer in bondage, needs no longer to be in bondage to sin. The world no longer needs to remain in the grip of death. And we have a responsibility, the privilege of sharing this news because it's good news, is it not? The gospel has been likened many times to a life preserver, to someone in the middle of a vast ocean, or to a cure for a terminal disease brought in at the last minute. And for a good reason. The gospel of Jesus Christ is our blessed hope and our security in eternity. The gospel is a preserver of life eternal and a cure for the disease of sin that we're all born with. This disease that if left untreated, like a tumor, it will grow and spread and we will die from that. The death for one in sin is something that we as believers should have a desire to avoid at all costs and to help others avoid at all costs. That will not be a pleasant day of reckoning for the one who dies in their sin. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature is our command above all others. And how better can we love our neighbors and honor God than by spreading the gospel? It's the Great Commission for a reason. It's not, you know, the Secondary Commission or the Tertiary Commission. It's our first directive. Next is to be faithful to do all to the honor and glory of God. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Everything we do, from the most mundane tasks to the most impressive feats, should be treated as a chance to honor God and give Him the glory that is due Him in our lives. He is the one who has blessed us with everything that is good, from light and air to talents and abilities, our minds on our bodies. And with that comes an innumerable host of opportunities to honor and glorify Him in any and all things that we do. And to do the opposite is a grave error. How can we say that we're preparing for His return if we're not doing the things He expects us to be doing? Look at the parable of the talents. How did the Lord respond to his servants who used the gifts he gave them for the profit of their master and their master's land? And how did the Lord respond to the servant who buried his gift, fearing his master, but not letting that fear encourage him to do anything about or with said talent? Consider the meaning of the parable as it relates to this message. How will Christ react if he comes back and finds his people sitting on and squandering the talents that he has given us, rather than using them for the good and glory of his kingdom? Indeed, how can we be prepared for Christ's future return if we are not about his business now? Would you be happy, consider, to see the return of the Lord if He comes to you when you're viewing a sinful entertainment? Returning tomorrow, would He find you being about His business or squandering the time that you have on earth to go have fun with meaningless things and ignoring the good that you know you're supposed to be doing? If he were to return tonight before your head touches your pillow, will he find you honoring him with every act, thought, and word? And also here is a warning against hypocrisy. Believer, how can you, who are a corrector of the foolish and a teacher of men, possessing the law and not follow it yourself? Paul states these words in Romans chapter two, continuing on to ask the reader, you, therefore, who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? The ones who teach others, the ones who show an example of Christlikeness, must carefully examine their own pleasures, entertainment, and the things on which they spend their time and money. Honoring God is not a 9-to-5 deal or an 11-to-12 o'clock on Sunday arrangement. It's a 24-7, 365-and-a-quarter, day-a-year requirement and obligation. We can't treat God like we treat our earthly employers, where as soon as we're off the clock, the employer doesn't get to talk to us until we're on the clock again. We don't get dedicated time for ourselves away from our Savior, and if we're trying to find it, there's a problem there too. If Jesus is a full-time Savior and a full-time advocate for us before the Father, we ought to be full-time servants of His kingdom. Christ himself, as our example, spent even his downtime and his times of rest honoring the Father in what he did. Praying for hours at a time, even when he was just relaxing by himself on top of a mountain, leaving the apostles wondering where he just went, he was communing with God, spending his time glorifying the Father. We call ourselves Christians, right? Little Christs, that's the origin of that word. Should we not be following his perfect example in all things? Even when we're at home and in secret away from prying eyes, the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the good and the evil. Make no mistake, when Jesus returns, there will be people, many people, many people even who claim the name of Christ who are caught doing something wrong, something that they should not be doing. But God forbid we use that reality to excuse our lazy living. It has been said that weakness in others is no excuse for weakness in yourself. Regardless of what others around you are doing, you have a command to live for God now with all diligence and care taken to maintain your testimony. I want to look at an application now tonight. To believers, Paul wrote, to redeem the time because the days are evil. We ought to always be about the work of the Lord, doing all that is his will with the intent of being prepared as his bride for his imminent impending return in glory. The bridegroom is preparing to come, and he will come unexpectedly without a warning, and we as his bride have a responsibility to be prepared for that. And to unbelievers, I want to earnestly and honestly warn you and plead with you for the sake of your souls tonight. The day of the Lord is described as great and terrible. God is great and mighty, all-inspiring and all-powerful, and so are His judgments. Great and terrible indeed will be the day that Christ returns to judge the world. And while His people have been saved from the wrath to come, you who are outside of Christ have not been saved from any wrath. In this room tonight are many who will hear, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Both those who claim the name of Christ and yet are not his, and those who don't bother with the pretense. Let me plead with you for the sake of your souls tonight. Jesus asked, what shall I profit a man if he gained the whole world but lose his own soul? And the text, speaking of the melting of the earth and its elements, echoes this theme. Tell me, genuinely, what good will your bank accounts and cars, your stock portfolios and collections of rare and interesting things mean when they all perish in judgment fire and you find yourself perishing in hellfire? Let this be a warning to you and a plea for your soul's good. Come to Christ today. Flee the wrath to come. Don't let this night pass without a serious examination of your soul. Jesus stands at the door of your heart, knocking. He will gladly come to save those who call on His name. Let me be clear, the hour is coming soon when such pleas will go unanswered. We just heard this morning, the door of the ark will close at one point, and when that ark closes, there's no opening it again. Those who are outside of the ark will be left to face the judgment of Almighty God, and His people who are inside the ark will be safe, of course, will be sitting happy inside. Do not let any feeble worldly excuse keep you from seeing eternity with Christ in paradise, reunited with your Creator. You will see before you tonight the elements of the Lord's Supper, the reminders of His broken body and shed blood for the sin that you commit, the sin that I commit. The entire reason for Jesus coming to die for us at all is that He came to save sinners, says Paul, of whom I am chief. And that sentiment should echo in the heart of everyone tonight, believers knowing full well that we are the chief of sinners. And to unbelievers, you are too. No sin is too great for God to forgive. No person is too far gone to be redeemed by Him. There is no need, no earthly reason for you to leave this place, this house of God tonight without knowing for sure and putting to rest the eternal destination of your soul. No man knows the day or time of his death, but I promise you all tonight, death comes suddenly and unplanned. Some of you tonight in this very room hearing my voice right now may not make it home to your beds before you stand before the creator of the universe, Don't make the mistake of putting off salvation until it's too late. Felix told Paul, in the book of Romans, he was almost persuaded. But you know, we never heard of Felix being fully persuaded. We never heard of him going any further. Rather, instead, my mind goes to the story of the rich man, who was persuaded a little too late, waking up in hell and begging Abraham for a drop of water to cool his tongue, and begging for his brothers to be spared from this fate. Almost persuaded isn't good enough. Thinking about it isn't good enough. The only sufficient thing is to cry out to God tonight who will receive you with open arms, to pluck you from the miry clay of sin and the bondage of death, and to tell you go and sin no more. My plea tonight is that those under my voice who are not saved tonight would not pass up this opportunity, this gift of salvation. One day, those who are not saved will learn the hard way that they aren't. They will be fully, completely, and eternally confronted with the just, holy punishment for the sins that they so willingly take part in. I pray that none in this room would see that tonight. And for that reason, I beg, come to Christ. And finally, as I move towards a conclusion, the question I started tonight's lesson with was, will you be ready? And I want to echo that question again. Are you ready? If Christ were to come before I finish this sentence, would he find you eagerly awaiting him? Would he find you ready? Would he be received with your open arms? Or would he find you cowering in fear, hiding from his wrath, knowing full well what his return means for your soul? To believers, let me exhort you to live in a way that honors and glorifies God so that you are ready when the time comes and the Lord returns. When that time that no man knows occurs. We sing the song, It is well with my soul. When my face shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll, the trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend. When that happens, I want you fellow believers to be ready, to be ready to open your arms to Christ. and to be fully prepared for that return, ready to hear the words of Christ, well done, my good and faithful servant. Paul told the believers at Thessalonica to encourage each other with his words concerning the end of days, because it is our blessed hope. One day Christ will return in glory, honor, majesty, and power, like I said earlier, to judge the living and the dead, to wipe away all tears, to rebuild the heavens and the earth, and to remove the effects of sin, death, pain, and loss from all of us who are in Him. We say with the Apostle John, even so, come Lord Jesus. And to unbelievers, flee the wrath to come. Answer the call of Christ and surrender to Him, lest you continue unwary and unconcerned straight into hellfire. Indeed, you who do not believe in the Son of God are condemned already, and the time of your death and your reckoning with eternity comes soon. Unexpectedly, unpreparedly, not everyone is guaranteed a deathbed experience. Very few who say, I'll get God when I'm on my deathbed will ever see a long, drawn-out time on the deathbed in time to consider turning to Christ then. Many do. Don't stake your eternity on that chance. Do not brush off the call of God. Do not continue to ignore the clear message of Scripture. Come home. Let's pray.