Enough is enough. It's time for God's righteousness to reign. It's time for the Lord Jesus to be King. It's time for everything to be set straight and for the judgments to be given on evil. 2 Peter, as he's finishing up his letter, he points us in that direction. This is Peter, the Apostle Peter's final will and testament. And he's said already in chapter 1 and says it again at the beginning of chapter 3. He says, this is my last letter to you. I'm getting ready to go. I'm packing my bags. I know where I'm going. The Lord had made it very clear to Peter, hey, it's not going to end really pretty for you, Peter. In fact, they're going to bind your hands and take you in like a criminal. And that's how it turned out. Soon after writing this letter, Peter was killed for his master, for Jesus Christ. In fact, history tells us he was crucified. But he chose to not be crucified like Jesus, instead asked to be crucified upside down. And that's how he ended his life in martyrdom for his love for the Master. And so as he's writing and penning his final treatise here, he wants to point people to one absolute truth. And he says in verse two, you might see the verses up here again, 2 Peter 3, verse two, he says, you must remember a couple things. Remember what was spoken consistently from the prophets to the apostles. All throughout scripture, you have one great resounding message. And what is that message? Very simply, the day of the Lord. The Lord is going to show up. He is going to put an end to this tragic human story. Now, he says, now, leading up to that time, don't be fooled by scoffers and mockers and people saying, hey, nothing's changed. It's been forever like this. You know, wars and earthquakes and catastrophes, it's nothing new. He says in verse three, know this first of all, in the last days, mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts and saying, hey, you know, where's the promise of his coming? You talk about Jesus showing up and things turning better and righteousness and justice and nothing's changed. Mockers. You see them today. You see people mocking God's Word, God's promise, God's truth, God's people. Notice why they are mocking. Notice that little phrase at the end of verse 3. Why are they mocking? They are following after their own lusts. And that undergirds this antipathy towards the gospel and ultimately towards God's word. People want to live according to their own lusts. You see, when there is a notion of a judgment of some great creator showing up and calling us to attention at the end of the day, that means that you need to watch the way you live. That means that you need to apply yourself to His laws, that you need to follow His rules, that there is someone who's actually determining what's right and wrong. And I'll tell you, many people in our day and age don't want to live that way. They prefer to determine for themselves what's right and wrong and to curry to their lusts. And that's really what undergirds this reaction against God, reaction against religion, and this pushback against God's Word. People want to satisfy their lustful cravings. My wife is a counselor, therapist, and the Lord has opened all kinds of opportunities for her to be ministering to young ladies in Magosa. She meets with five, six ladies a day. She came home yesterday, just distraught over what she was hearing. I mean, this is a regular thing. But had a young lady from Uganda last night who was telling her of horrific things. Now she's pregnant with a child, doesn't know what to do. She's a child of Christian parents. But she got in with the wrong crowd and experienced just things that I could not mention from the pulpit. This has become a habit. And it's not just Magusa, I presume. It's all over the island, it's all over the world. It's horrendous. We're redefining what marriage is. And it's all based on my ideas and my opinions, and we're so modern, we get to determine what's right and wrong anymore. That's not the way it works. That's not the way God's Word has taught us. People are following their own lusts. And they're mocking God. Nothing's changing, nothing's gonna change. Verse 5 says, When they maintain this, when they claim this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. What's this whole thing about water? What's going on? He says there's two important things that they are going to scoff, that they are going to mock and deny. And it's gonna start right at the beginning. They're gonna scoff at the notion that God is the creator. They're gonna scoff at the notion that God is the one who started all this. They're gonna come up with new ideas and new theories of how this might have happened by chance instead. They're gonna take God out of the equation from the very beginning. And secondly, they're gonna scoff at the fact that God is the judge, that God is able and willing to judge sin. And yet the Bible tells us from the beginning, it was God who set everything in motion. He is the owner, the master, the creator of all. And secondly, we have this great example in Genesis chapter six through nine of God judging this world with a cataclysmic flood that covered the whole planet. Now, there's evidence for this actually all over the world, but scientists in our day and age still refuse to accept that. They would rather believe in hokey theories, because they do not want to accept God as the creator and God as the judge. Why? Because that will not allow them to live according to their flesh. If God is the creator, He makes the rules. If He's the judge, He enforces the rules. And they don't want that kind of God. They would rather be a God unto themselves. That's frankly the way many are living today. And so he says, God created the world out of water. And it's really interesting. When you read Genesis, it says the world was covered with water. And then God brought the land out of the water and populated it with trees and then with animals and birds and finally the humans he put in charge of it. And we made a mess of it after that. It wasn't God's fault. But it all started with him bringing life out of that water. And then with water inundating it and destroying it. And his point is very simple, Peters. He says, God did it once, he'll do it again. Notice he goes on to say, but by his word, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. The only reason the world doesn't implode and blow up in our face is because by his word, he gave a word, he gave a promise saying, I will not destroy it with water. Doesn't mean He will not judge it again. He has promised to bring judgment, this time not with water, but with fire. And the prophets and the apostles' writings are full of this message. But, the question again is looming, why hasn't it happened yet? But do not let this one fact escape your notice, that, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. It might seem like it's taking quite a long time. Our timing is definitely not the timing of the Lord. Why is He waiting? The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. So the main reason God is holding up on judging this world is because of his great heart of compassion. He's waiting for more to be saved, giving more people an opportunity, waiting for the church to reach the world in a more effective way. His heart is for the salvation of this world, not for judgment. This is why he tarries out of great enduring patience and loving kindness. But, he says in verse 10, but the day of the Lord will come. It's gonna happen. This is the consistent message of the Bible, and it's one that we often forget. We get comfortable in our lives. We are working for a degree, and establish a family, and get a house, and we get caught up in what is called life, and we forget that it's gonna come crashing down, and it's not a pleasant message. It's not one that we like to even talk about much, but it's the truth, and it is the ultimate truth, and it's one that the Bible wants to keep reemphasizing. Live in the light of this truth. It's going to end. The end is only the beginning of the glorious future He has promised to us. The day of the Lord, the day the Lord shows up, the day the Lord says, enough will come, and it will come like a thief. This reminds us of the words of Jesus that Peter himself heard. Matthew chapter 24, Luke 21, where he talked about the day of the Lord coming like a thief and he listed out a number of signs you'll remember. And he talked about the things that we're experiencing even today. He talked about wars and rumors of wars and earthquakes and famines and all kinds of horrendous events taking place towards the end. Peter also will reference later in this chapter, Paul, he says, Paul writes about these things. Where does Paul write about these things? Well, let me show you if you can hop over to 1 Thessalonians 5. He picks up the same theme. It's a theme, if we had time, we could develop it all through the prophets. You can go back and read Joel and Zephaniah and Zechariah. They talk at length about the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is not gonna be a day of partying. It's gonna be a day of judgment, of dark clouds. It's going to get much worse before it ever gets any better. Paul picks up this theme in 1 Thessalonians 5, where he says that the Lord Jesus is going to come and take care of His own. Don't worry about that. He will take care of us when that day comes. Now, as to the times and epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you, for you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. Exactly what Peter says. It's going to come as a great surprise. Now, this is exactly where we would want Paul to elaborate a little bit. That's what all of us are really interested in. When is it going to happen? When will he show up? But the consistent message of Jesus and Paul and Peter is, it's not for you to know. In fact, the whole point is that it's got to be a surprise. We need to be alert and await that day, like a master will show up and his servants are, you know, they shouldn't be dilly-daddling. They're going to be ready for him to show up, anxious for his return. And so he says, there's no way of knowing when it will be. Rather, it's going to be like a thief. And the thief doesn't ring you and say, I'm thinking of showing up tonight. Are you guys available? I'd like to kind of come in and check your house out. You don't get an invitation or rendezvous, right? But it gives us some idea of what to expect that period will be like. Because right when people are talking about peace and safety, peace and prosperity, then destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. It's going to be horrendous. It's going to be sudden. It's going to be cataclysmic. And the words he uses here reminds us that promises that the world would like to give us, promises that are often even touted from pulpits around the world of peace and prosperity, would turn out to be quite hollow. That's not what Jesus promised. It's not what the Bible teaches. And he likens it to the pains of a woman at childbirth. Now, that should, again, remind us of some other passages. Jesus mentioned the pains of childbirth when he talked about the signs of the end times in Matthew 24. Now, I find that to be really a helpful illustration of what to expect in these last times. Why is that? When we talk about, when we read in the Bible of great cataclysmic events, wars and rumors of wars and all these things to happen in the end times, it's easy for us to say, That's been the history of humanity. How will we know we're actually getting there? There's always been earthquakes and wars and famines and the rest. How do we know we're actually getting to the cusp of the end? Well, the pains of childbirth. Now, I can't say I'm an expert in that, but as much as a man can be, I have empathized with my wife. When we moved to Turkey 20 years ago, My wife was to give birth of our first daughter, Ishaa Al-Qaeda, in Izmir. And so we arranged with a doctor that spoke some English. The idea being we were still learning Turkish and we were hoping we could communicate with him in those moments. And also I wanted to convince him that I wanted to be in the birth. Now, that doesn't happen in Turkey. In Turkey, the moment of birth comes, you know, the man stays outside, maybe it's similar in Africa, and then he won't see his wife for several hours, and finds out whether it's a boy or a girl, and he's completely left in the dark, right? I wanted to be next to my wife. I wanted to help her and encourage her as best I could. I figured, you know, I have a part in this. And so we convinced the doctor about this. And sure enough, the moment came. And I came with my wife to the hospital. In fact, we came once. And she had felt some pain and discomfort and says, no, no, no, you have still several more days. Go back home. That often happens to young couples. So we had to wait a little longer. And we came again. And so they rushed her into the birthing room. And I'm coming in with her. And they're like, you can't come in, the head nurse. He says, no, no, but the doctor said I could. No, you can't come in. And well, we had a little argument there. And finally, they let me in, which I was glad for, because they were really kind. They just lacked in compassion. I don't know if it's the same in Cyprus. Haven't had a baby here, but just not a lot of empathy there. The nurse was barking orders, and the doctor was sweating bullets, and it turns out it was the head nurse, kind of the midwife that normally does the births, and the doctor is just kind of standing around. So, anyway, he's getting directions from the head nurse there, and he's trying to catch the baby, and trying to comfort my wife, and, you know, in all this, I'm trying to, you know, convey information from him to my wife. Well, as the birth came near to the birth, well, sure enough, he got so excited, he totally forgot his English. And so he's starting to talk to me in Turkish and I can't make any sense of it. Finally, he starts blurting out, pull, pull, pull. I had to translate, I think he means push. You know, push. Yeah, not pull, but push, right? So we had quite the lively experience there. Now, with regard to my second daughter, by now we were in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, and I actually had a better experience. Again, I came to the hospital and I tried to convince the midwife, I'd like to be there for my daughter's birth, you know, I did this to my first daughter, and she said, no. And I said, well, why not? She says, well, it's really simple. I'll show you. So she opened the door of the labor lounge, and there was several dozen women walking around with their hands on their hips, grunting and groaning, getting ready for birth. All Middle Eastern women. And she says, if you showed up in there with your wife, all these women would give birth all of a sudden. It would be a catastrophe for us. I said, okay, I get it, you know, you're in quite a conundrum, you know, over there, kids, women have lots of kids, you know, 5, 10, 15 kids per woman. So, it was a big affair. So, thankfully though, by God's grace, the day we showed up with my wife for the birth of our second daughter, Tirza, there was nobody in the labor lounge. It was just us and the doctor. She was surprised. We were surprised. And I said, well, can I come in with her? She said, no, you don't know anything. How are you going to help us? I said, actually, I do. She's been in labor for several hours now. And the contractions are coming every five minutes now. It started at 15. We're down to about five, four minutes. And they're lasting about a minute and 10 seconds. And she's dilated a few centimeters. And she said, how do you know all this? That's why I read up on it. You know, I'm interested. I'm a part of this. You know, she's my wife. I've done this before. She's like, okay, you can help us. Come on in. So I weaseled myself into the birthing room and was there to be with my wife for the second child as well. Now, why do I say this? Knowing a little bit about birth pains can help us a lot in understanding these passages. You know, similar to our first child, when a woman is awaiting that moment of birth, you're so excited and, you know, at the slightest contraction or discomfort, you want to run to the hospital and say, yeah, we're here, we're ready. And oftentimes, the doctor will say, no, no, no, you've got several more days to go. Go back home, right? But how do you know when it starts in earnest? Well, you start feeling the discomfort and the contractions, and they might come every half hour, every 20 minutes, but as you draw near to the birth, they become more frequent. It's not every half hour anymore or every 20 minutes, then it's every 10 minutes, then every five minutes, and when you've gotten down to about every three minutes, you know birth is imminent. Coupled with that is the fact that the contractions, the pain, the discomfort becomes more intense with time. At the beginning, it might just be mild discomfort, but then it's real pain. By the end, it's rigorous torture, right? So that they are coming back to back, and they are very intense. And that's when you know, we're there, right? And I think in a very real sense, Jesus is giving us an example of what to do with the signs that are going to be accumulating around us. There have always been earthquakes and wars and famines, but as we reach to the end, they're going to come back to back, more frequent, and they're going to become, with time, much more intense. Much more intense. Until we realize, just about the moment a woman is like, I just can't take this anymore. I'm done, you know? Caesarean. That's about when the birth happens. Just about when you can't take it anymore. And that's exactly what the Lord is trying to tell us about the end times, right? And I think it's important because the flip side of this is it's not just about the pain. Because the moment that child is born, and a child is in your arms, a strange miracle happens that you almost forget all that pain. All of a sudden, it's all history. And you are so enthralled with that child suckling on you that you just completely forget all the rest, almost. Almost, I say. Not everybody forgets, evidently. And I can't completely empathize there, so I want to be careful. But it is. It's such a joyous occasion, right? You've achieved your goal. You finally have that child in your hand, that birth. And so there's a sense in which the Lord is preparing us for the pain leading up to that great birth. And what is that birth? Romans chapter eight talks about the birth of God's children. When we finally are regenerated completely, when we are finally lifted from this pit of humanity and made into the full children of God in all our glory, and the Lord Jesus, the Son of God appears, to bring about this great restoration, the day of the Lord. And this is what we look forward to. But in the meantime, leading up to that time of great pain and trial and tribulation. And it all started, as you know, when Eve and Adam sinned and rebelled against God. Interestingly, that's the first mention of birth pains, right? A sign of, we broke it. We've messed things up. And women and men down through history have felt that pain. labor and toil for men and women. And that's going to become intense at the end until we enter into that final scene. Let's go back to 2 Peter chapter three, and he tells us again, the day of the Lord will come like a thief. It's going to be intense. It's going to be sudden. It's going to be unexpected. The heavens will pass away with a roar. The elements will be destroyed with intense heat and the earth and its works will be burned up. Interestingly, one of the fellows that was teaching this passage for us last week, he teaches geology at the university in Guilherme, and he says it's a known fact that the sun is burning up. Tons of the sun are being burned up every second. It's burning up. It's only a matter of time until it gives up and it explodes. And interestingly, here we see this documented. The heavens will pass away with a roar. The elements will be destroyed with the tense heat. The earth and all its work will be burned up. Not a flood this time, some greater cataclysmic event. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct, in godliness, looking for and hastening the coming day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning and the elements will melt with intense heat? I find this is very important because I love to study eschatology, study of the end times, and there's plenty of debate, there's plenty of things that we still don't know about, and we still need to be cautious in predicting. And yet there's one thing that is important to recognize about any study of theology, especially eschatology. People often think that it's just esoteric, it's all just kind of pie in the sky, and it's very impractical. So don't bother with the eschatology, but for Peter it's very practical. From the biblical perspective, our understanding of the end times, of the end days, is intensely practical. Why is that? Since all these things will be burned up. If that is the end game, if that's where it's all gonna end up, if that's the goal, if that's the final chapter, then our life today should be lived in light of that. What kind of people ought you to be? Not like the world living in lust, in ungodliness, but rather pursuing God's virtues, holy conduct, and godliness, looking for and hastening. It's a phrase that you'll often find repeated in the New Testament. Those who are long for the Lord's coming, who eagerly await His coming. There's a part of us that should be longing for it. Many of us I know who are young are sitting going, not quite yet, I'd really like to get married first. I'd like to, you know, finish my degree and there's a few things I'd like to wrap up before the Lord shows up. A few of the rest of us are like, Lord, anytime now, this would be a really good time to come. Happy to see you around. You'll get there, you understand what I'm saying. And so he says, longing for and hastening. How do we hasten it? I think in the context of the previous verses, talking about the salvation of the world, what's holding the Lord back? He wants the gospel to go out. He wants more to be saved. How can we hasten the culmination of all history and the return of the Lord? By getting out there and preaching the gospel. Hasten. If there's one thing you want to major in, it should be in the gospel. Preaching the gospel and getting it out there. This is the end game. Let's hasten his return. For according to his promise, we are looking for a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. What a beautiful phrase. A new heaven. He will recreate it all. It'll be greater and better than the Garden of Eden. It'll be amazing. More importantly, righteousness will dwell there. There is no nation today where righteousness dwells at the highest seat of power. There's corruption at every level. We see it on display in the news on our day. But there will be a day when there will be a new heaven and new earth with righteousness at the helm, the Lord Jesus himself. So this is intensely practical. It should affect the decisions we make as we sit down and chart our future and decide if we're gonna marry or not marry or whether we'll have children or whether we'll buy a house or whatever's going on. It should be in light of, okay, things are gonna wind down. Things are gonna get ugly any time now. Let's keep that in mind. Let's not assume and presume life will go on like this forever. So he says, therefore, beloved, verse 14, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, an opportunity for deliverance, just as also our brother Paul has written. And so his message is intensely practical, right? Be found by him in peace. The Lord will show up like a thief in the night. Are you at peace today? Not just with the Lord, hopefully with the Lord, but with those around you. Are we at peace? But when the Lord shows up, we're gonna say, Lord, just a second, just a second, I got a little unfinished business over here, right? Are we at peace? spotless and blameless when he comes and exposes us for who we are are we going to feel like adam and eve when they felt in the garden just full of shame are we going to feel naked or rather we're going to feel clothed in the righteousness of christ spotless and blameless and remember the lord is patient because He wants to give an opportunity of salvation. And we have a critical role to play in that. We are the emissaries of the Lord. We are the messengers. We are his gospel servants. He wants to use us in that regard. He speaks about Paul and how people are quick to twist those words and not want to understand and distort the message, right? He says, the untaught and unstable distort this just like they do the rest of the scripture to their own destruction. There are people who neglect this critical message of the second coming of the Lord, the end of the world as we know it, to their own destruction. Don't be one of them. Don't be one of them. You therefore, verse 17, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your steadfastness. I like the ESV translation better, more accurate. It says, and fall from your stability. The word is about balance. And I just want to leave you with that message as we go from here. Keep your life in balance. And we're caught between the here and the now and God's promises and these prophecies. And it would be easy to just lose sight of everything and forget everything that's happening today and just completely focus on things future, and that would be a mistake as well. We live in the here and now. We have responsibilities here and now. Let's take care of these. But let's not just focus on that. Let's temper this with a right understanding of things future. of God's promises and of where things are headed. Let's keep our balance. As the passage is developed, keep our balance primarily on God's word, squarely set on God's word and his promises, not on worldly secular theories and ideas that fly around and the politics and the news and the things that will very quickly sweep us away. It's easy to get caught up in those things. Come back to God's word every day. Stay balanced. Many of you watched the Tokyo Olympics this last summer. It was a sad reminder of the status of the world today with coronavirus and all that. I think one of the great takeaways of the Tokyo Olympics are probably going to be the whole discussion on mental health. When a world-famous gymnast like Simone Biles basically had to leave everything and not compete hardly because she lost her balance. I'm not able to have any sense of where she's at as she's flying through the air and twisting. And it highlighted the necessity for mental health. It's not just about performing. It's not just about winning, and you're under immense pressure to do so when you're in the Olympics, right? But of being stable and balanced in your health. If you're not where you need to be as a person, all the performance, all the achievements mean nothing. In fact, you'll crash and burn. I think it's a lesson there for all of us. We need to start talking about spiritual health and how balance plays a significant part in that. Being squarely rooted in God's word, being strong in our prayer, committed, devoted to prayer, committed to being at peace with one another. committed to proclaiming that gospel wherever we go and whatever opportunities come for us. This is spiritual health. This is spiritual balance. And this is what's gonna get us through those tough days ahead. So let's end with prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we're grateful to know that you know the end game, even if it's not all carefully spelled out for us, we know enough to know that we can trust you. We know enough to know that we have no reason to be anxious or worried or panicked. And so even as we see the world around us unravel and self-destruct and humanity self-harm, Lord, and we mourn for that, we also take great comfort in knowing your promises. And we want to hang on to them tightly and keep walking that road of godliness and righteousness and stay balanced, Lord, Just pray that everyone here, Lord, your children, would commit again to those spiritual disciplines that are gonna keep us strong and help us to endure those difficult days ahead. Lord, just pray that we would, again, renew our commitment to your word, to prayer, to fellowship, to holiness, and to your word, to the gospel. Lord Jesus, use us for your glory to the very end, we pray. For your name's sake, amen.