Well, thank you again for leading us, Mark, Jake, Sarah, appreciate that. I was thinking about that, how great thou art, as we were just singing, how great God is. 

Thursday night we studied in James about wisdom, and the Bible says a lot about wisdom, but it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I was thinking about that, what that means, the fear of the Lord, and we often say reverence or respect, but it's much more than that. It's almost a trembling at who God is, the whole of His name, the essence of who He is. 

As we think about, as we sang this morning, tremendous hymns, my sin not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross, God's grace and mercy in Christ, that He has saved us. What does it mean to be saved? We're saved from the wrath of God to come because of our sins, those tremendous truths. But the truth about who God is is also that God is holy, God is righteous, God is just, and God will judge. 

That's what Peter's talking about in our text this morning. We're coming to one of the most fascinating and important sections of this second epistle of Peter. This is what Peter's main point is in writing to these believers; he says he wants to stir them up, to remind them, to set their focus. 

In chapter 2 we've seen the reality of false teachers in the church. That’s been, I guess about three weeks ago, we looked at chapter 2, the reality of false teachers in the church and the danger that they present. We've learned about their character, their nature, the lies that they teach, the fellowship they often enjoy in the church. Peter writes these things to us that we might know who these men are, we might spot them, mark them out, warn about them, and remove them from the church, as Paul writes in Romans 16:17. 

False teachers and their false doctrine present a real and present danger to the church and its effectiveness and fruitfulness in God's plan and purpose. In chapter 3, Peter's going to hone in on a consistent and common false teaching that was a problem in his time and certainly is pervasive in our time. 

It's the denial of the judgment of God and the promise of His coming. As we saw in chapter 2, these heresies often center around licentiousness, lasciviousness, greed. False teachers are marked by a desire for money and by sexual immorality. They are self-centered, natural brute beasts, Peter says, driven by their lust, and they want to draw others, even believers, into their sin with licentious teaching. 

In order to do this, they must deny the judgment and coming of God. And this doctrine finds its beginning with the father of lies back in the book of Genesis. If you turn to Genesis 3 with me at verse 1, Genesis 3:1, the account of the fall of man, it says, "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made." And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" 

And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'" Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 

God promised that if they disobeyed, if they transgressed His commandment by eating from the fruit of that particular tree, then they would die; they would experience the judgment of God for their sin. And we know that this happened; we know that God's word held true. Paul tells us that by that one act, Adam's sin in the garden, sin entered the world and death through sin, Romans 5:12. And that every man born in Adam experiences not only the power of indwelling sin but also the death that came as a result. 

But the serpent was crafty. The deception that he brought to Eve and Adam was this: God will not judge you; you will not surely die. God just wants to keep you from experiencing the fullness of life; He doesn't want you to know what He knows. The lie was that God would not judge their sin, and it is just as much a lie today as it was in the garden. 

Scoffers will come, scoffing, denying, mocking the judgment of God and the power of His coming. This is the warning of Peter in chapter 3, and the message is this: the day of the Lord will come. You can be certain of this truth. Jesus will come, and Jesus will judge and set things right in this world, and God's plan and purpose will be carried out, will be brought to consummation. 

And the application for us is this: if all these things are true, if Jesus is coming again, if God will judge and destroy this heavens and earth and create a new heavens and earth in which righteousness dwells, then what manner of persons ought we to be? What should our life and our focus be about? What is it that we should be doing? How should we be living in light of the truth of His coming? 

The surety of the second coming of Christ promotes holy living and a fervent witness for Jesus Christ for everyone who believes. John also wrote about this, 1 John 3:2, he said, "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is, and everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure." 

The truth of His coming matters for our hope, our assurance, our confidence, but also for our life today and every day on this earth. He who has this hope in Him purifies himself. 

Let's look at our text together, 2 Peter 3, 2 Peter 3 at verse 1. "Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle, in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder, that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets," that would be the Old Testament, "and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior." 

Knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days walking according to 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 creation." For this they willfully forget, that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 

But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat, both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." 

I've given you five points on your outline this morning: First, wake up. Second, scoffers will scoff. Third, uniformitarianism; there'll be a quiz on that, by the way. Fourth, not willing that any should perish. And fifth, the day of the Lord will come. 

Well, first in verse 1 we see Peter's intent in writing these words. He says, "Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle," which means that the audience of this letter is the same audience of the first epistle, those Jews scattered by persecution out into the Gentile areas. 

Verse 2, "That you 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." So he's writing to stir them up, and his purpose is that they would be mindful of the words of God. 

Peter says, "The reason I wrote the first epistle and the second epistle is I want to stir up your pure minds by way of reminder." The words translated stir up literally mean to awaken or to bring to full attention. And the word mindful means to set our full attention on or to remember. 

What does Peter want for us? Why does he write these words of truth? He wants us to be fully awake, and he wants us to set our minds on the promises of God, the surety of His Word, the hope that we have in Him. He wants us to remember the words spoken by God through His prophets, by Jesus, the doctrines of the apostles. He wants us to be mindful, to set our minds on the truth of God's Word so that we might be stirred up, fully awakened, and focused on the truth, on the promise of God. 

You remember that great chapter that Peter began his first epistle with, the one Mark read this morning, you remember it quite recently, where he reminded us of the greatness of our salvation, of who we are, and what we have in Christ. 

I want you to turn back to that again, 1 Peter 1:3, and look at these words, think on these words of what Peter says is true about our salvation. He writes, "'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, you love, though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.'" 

Now I want you to look at verse 13 and Peter's conclusion, his application of these great and wonderful promises, these truths of our salvation. 

1 Peter 1:13, "Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." He says, "Pull together all the loose ends of your mind." You have any loose ends in your mind? I mean, what's going on in the world and the wars and rumors of wars and my finances and my children and my parents, and I got these projects, and I got work, and there's all these loose ends in your mind. 

Peter says, "Bind them up, pull them together." The wisdom of this world, the troubles and trials and cares of this world, our own thoughts and doubts and the sin that still dwells in us can unravel our minds, producing a lot of loose ends like a long garment that inhibits our ability to run and move freely. Peter says, "Draw it all up together, pull it in tight, gird up the loins of your mind and be sober and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 

We see the same exhortation in our text this morning: wake up, be attentive, set your mind on the promises, the word of God, the truth, the promise of His coming, the surety of judgment in the day of the Lord. 

For the lost man and Adam, the coming of the Lord means judgment, means darkness, wrath, condemnation. But for the believer in Jesus, the revelation of Jesus Christ, the coming of Christ for us means salvation, means consummation, means fulfillment of the promise, and release from the very presence of sin and eternity with Jesus in heaven. 

Rest your hope fully. Rest your hope fully on the next presidential election. Whew, that'd be tough, wouldn't it? Rest your hope fully on your fat bank account and your stocks. You know, Paul had stocks and bonds too. I know you'll get that in a little bit. Rest your hope fully, be mindful, remember the words, the promise of God and His word, rest your hope fully on the grace that is to be revealed at the coming of Jesus Christ. This is Peter's intent for writing these precious words. 

Well, next we see, scoffers will scoff. Verse 3, knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lust 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." 

For this they willfully forget, that by the word of God, the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. Remember the words, the Old Testament prophets, Jesus' words, the doctrine of the apostles in the New Testament, remember the words. And in these words we find a consistent warning against false teachers who are ever-present among God's people. 

They mock, they scoff, they question the Word of God. This is the method of Satan and his ministers from the beginning. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 11 they stand in pulpits in churches; they masquerade as ministers of righteousness, the devil himself as an angel of light. 

And the main truth that they really desire to undermine is the promise of His coming. And the reason they want to deny His coming is this: they want to do away with His judgment. They do not want to be accountable to a holy and righteous judge, creator, God. And they have one basic argument that they rest their hope on, and it's expressed in verse 4. 

It says, "For since the fathers fell asleep, all the way since the beginning, all things continue as they have from the beginning." All things continue as they have since the very beginning. This is the main doctrine of the scoffers, the false teacher, the world of man. Everything has been consistent since the inception of the universe; all things continue as they have since the beginning of creation. Here's the basic argument: Jesus is not coming again; God is not going to intervene in some cataclysmic judgment because He never has before. 

You see, if they can do away with all supernatural interventions in history, if they can rewrite His story according to His Word, then they can deny that He will come in the future. It's a silly argument. God is not going to come because God has never come. I'm not going to die because I've never died. First of all, it's a denial of all the evidence of history and of the physical world around us, but it's also a willful ignorance, an active suppression of the self-evident truth of a creator and a judge. 

The truth is that all things have not continued in consistency without divine intervention from the beginning. Their doctrine is called uniformitarianism. All things are uniform, exist in the same way, with the same mechanisms at the same rate since the universe came into existence. God never comes into the world of man because God does not exist. 

This always reminds me of the financial advice I often hear concerning investments. Those who favor the stock market will say, "All through history, from the beginning of the stock market, if you look at the rate of return, it's always continuing in consistency and produces at a good rate. All things continue in the same manner, so you can put your money in there and not worry about anything in the future." 

The problem with this is that we have seen cataclysm in the stock market. There have been great catastrophes that ruined people's lives to the point that they jumped out of windows and ended their lives. But we, in a very myopic way, can get lulled into a false sense of security. I mean, in my lifetime, over time, great wealth has been accumulated through these investments. It's how it's always been, and we can trust in it to continue without calamity. 

The lost man might today say, "I've been living my life high on the hog for all these years, doing what I want, living in sin, and God has not judged me. Where is He? Does He see? I have nothing to worry about; God never intervenes, there is no God." It's short-sighted for sure, much like the psalmist in Psalm 73 when he said, "The wicked prosper; they have no pain in death; they have all their desires with no pain." He wrote, "My feet had almost slipped until I went into the house of the Lord. Then I saw their end." 

We must be awakened; we must renew our minds to the truth of God's Word, because we can get distracted. We can be affected by the emotional challenge of the false teachers and the wisdom of this world. "Where is Jesus? Why does God allow the evil in this world? Why doesn't He fix the suffering and evil that goes on around us all the time? He's not coming. I mean, Peter was writing about this 2,000 years ago. 

We see in Thessalonians that the believers were expecting Jesus to come in their lifetime way back then and were concerned they had missed His coming, and what about those who had died in Christ? They were doubting 2,000 years ago, and now here we are, all these years later, He has not come, He has not intervened in the affairs of men, He's not coming, it's all a bunch of stories and myths, and none of it is real. We believe in science; scoffers will come. 

Let me ask you this: do you think it's an intellectual problem for the scoffer? A science, a knowledge problem? Do you think the men who came up with the premier example of uniformitarianism, the theory of evolution, did so because of evidence, because of science, because of intellectual honesty? This is the basis of the evolution of man: that for the last many billions of years since the Big Bang, all things have continued in a consistent uniform manner. All the processes and forces of nature have remained constant, and this process of evolution has taken a primordial soup and produced a man and the intricacies and interrelationships of all that we see around us. 

Was the motivation of the men who created and promoted this theory a reason-based, evidence-based, unavoidable conclusion? Darwin is largely credited with coming up with this theory, but it goes all the way back to Satan. Certainly, we see it here in the words of Peter describing the scoffers, they say all things continue, God never intervenes, He's never come, He never will, He does not exist, all things happen by natural process. 

This is the essence of evolution theory, but what was their motive in coming up with it? Thomas Huxley was called Darwin's bulldog. He was a great promoter of these lies. He had a grandson named Julian Huxley, who lived until 1975. He was one of the world's greatest promoters of evolution, and he was the head of UNESCO, and a great promoter of what's called eugenics, if you're familiar with that. 

Listen to a couple of quotes, and we'll get to the motive of the evolutionists. This one's prophetic of our time. These plans have been in place for a while. He first said, "As political and economic freedom diminishes, sexual freedom tends to compensatingly increase, and the dictator will do well to encourage that freedom in conjunction with the freedom to daydream under influence of drugs, movies, and radio. It will help to reconcile his subjects to the servitude, which is their fate." 

He also said, "How unfortunate for mankind that the Lord is reported by holy writ as having said, vengeance is mine." And in this next quote, we find the motive of the great promoters of this theory at its inception. "I suppose the reason that we leaped at the theory of evolution is because the idea of an accountable God interfered with our sexual mores." 

The problem is not an intellectual, scientific one. The problem is a moral one. Men want to do away with an accountable God, and thus they must deny his coming and judgment. The most convenient theory they've come up with to do this is macroevolution. That's the reason, and the only reason they hold so firmly to such an implausible explanation of origins. If they can deny the creation and the creator, then they can deny their accountability to that creator. 

So Peter says this is what they do. They willfully forget, they suppress the truth and evidence all around them in unrighteousness. There is the promise of his coming, "For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation." 

Verse 5 of our text, "They willfully forget that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water, and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water." They willfully forget; they rewrite history. Included in their willful ignorance is a denial of the creation. 

And God intervened, and in a most amazing way, speaking the whole of the universe into existence, creating in six days. And Peter highlights the cataclysmic judgment of the flood, where God judged the world, wiping out wicked mankind by consuming the whole of the earth in a flood. The evidence of this worldwide flood is replete in our physical world yet today. 

It takes, as Paul writes in Romans 1, a willful suppression of the truth, of the facts of creation, of the evidence of a worldwide flood, of the record of history contained in the word of God, in order for someone to come to the conclusion that God never intervenes in judgment in the affairs of men. And this idea of man is the only basis for denying the future judgment, as weak an argument as it is. 

God records for us in Genesis chapter 6 to 8 the record of the flood, and I'd like for you just to follow through with me, beginning in Genesis 6:3. We're going to read several verses, but I want you to think about what actually happened. 

It's not like you see sometimes in a church in the children's room of a little boat with a giraffe's head sticking out. And I want you to listen to what the Scripture says about the flood. Genesis 6:3, "And the Lord said, 'My spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh, yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.' There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. 

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, 'I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.' But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." 

Now go down to chapter 7, verse 11. Listen to the specificity of the Word of God here. "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened, and the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights. 

On the very same day Noah and Noah's son Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark. They and every beast after its kind, all cattle of their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. 

And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two." You often hear scoffers say, "Well, how did Noah get all these animals gathered up?" What's it say? "They went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life." So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him, and the Lord shut him in. 

Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. 

The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. Why do you think God throws that detail in there? The waters were fifteen cubits above the highest mountain. Why is that significant? Anyone know? The draft of the ark was fifteen cubits, so the ark could not hit the mountains. 

And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the Spirit of life, all that was on the dry land died. So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground, both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive, and the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days. 

Now go to chapter 8, verse 13. "It came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month and the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth, and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried. 

Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 'Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons, and your sons' wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.' So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him, every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth according to their families went out of the ark." 

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took of every clean animal and every clean bird and offered burn offerings on the altar. Remember God had instructed him to take how many clean animals? Seven, right? Not two, because if you took two and killed some of them, then you've got a problem. So God made provision for that. 

Verse 21, "And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, 'I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth, nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done; while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.'" 

We're living that right here in northern Wisconsin, aren't we? Well, this is quite an event to forget, don't you think? God has intervened in the affairs of men many and multiple times when the sun stood still in Joshua, when the earth swallowed up Korah, when Jesus came to this earth and took on flesh and dwelt among us, when Jesus bore our sins, the wrath of God for the whole world on the cross and died and was buried and rose again. 

God raised him from the dead. The miracles that Jesus did in his life and ministry were so numerous that they could not be contained in books, John wrote. God has intervened many and multiple times, not the least of which was the judgment of the flood where he destroyed the entire world. 

Peter says they willfully suppressed the truth in order to come to the conclusion that Jesus is not coming again. They scoff at His coming; He has not come. 

Let me ask you, my brother, my sister, why hasn't He come again? Why hasn't He wiped out all evil on the earth and set up His kingdom? The answer is in our text, verse 8. "Beloved, don't forget this one thing, that with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is one day." All that means is God's not on a timeline that binds him. He's outside of time. Everything's working out according to his plan. It's not a problem for him. 

Verse 9, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 

God has not wiped out all evil; He is so amazingly patient and long-suffering with men for this one reason: He's not willing that any should perish but that all should be coming to repentance and being saved. This is the amazing patience and long-suffering of our God and His great love for men, a desire for them to be saved. 

When I think about the wickedness of our world, the crimes that men commit against one another, against children, the way that men hurt one another and do vile and wretched things, the injustice of it all, it's hard for me to take. I can't imagine how these things offend and hurt a holy and perfect God. It's absolutely amazing to see the long-suffering of God and His great desire for men to be saved that He would allow these things to continue in order that men might believe and be saved. 

And of course, God demonstrated this great love for us and while we were yet sinners against God, against Christ, Jesus died for us. This is the heart; this is the love of God. 

But my friends, the waves of God's wrath are pounding against the dam of His mercy, and the age of grace will end; judgment will come, Jesus and His day, the day of the Lord will come. 

Verse 9, "The Lord's not slack concerning His promise as some count slackness but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat, both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 

Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be dissolved being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 

It may seem that the wicked are winning, that evil reigns in our world and the righteous suffer. But the day will come when Jesus will come in great judgment and wrath and set things right in this world and set up His kingdom on this earth. 

Turn over to Revelation 19, we'll look at one more passage. Revelation 19 verse 11, and get a picture of Jesus coming. John had a vision; he says, "I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness, he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flaming fire, and on his head were many crowns; he had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. 

And the armies in heaven clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword that with it he should strike the nations, and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. This is the meek and lowly Jesus here. 

And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, 'King of kings and Lord of lords.'" Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, "Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all people free and slave, both small and great." 

And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army. Then the beast was captured and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone, and the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh." 

Quite a picture. Judgment is certain. Jesus will come again, and he will judge in righteousness, and those who have not believed, whose names are not written in the book of life, will be cast into the lake of fire forever. This is the final end of the wicked. This is their destiny. 

But my friends, for us, for those who believe, we have a different destiny, a promise of eternal life in heaven with Jesus forever. God knows how to reserve the unjust for the day of judgment, but God also knows how to deliver the righteous. For us, Jesus' coming means salvation. We rest in this hope. We live as witnesses in this world for Jesus as we await the consummation of all things, as we wait for the day when Jesus will come to take us to be with him forever. 

He said to us, "If it were not so, I would have told you." Believe his promise, my friends. Trust His Word and know that the day of the Lord will come and Jesus will rule and reign. This is a great motivation for us to live for the one who died for us. 

In light of all these things, what manner of persons ought we to be? This is the question we will consider next time as we move into the last message in this second epistle. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we thank you for your Word, your truth, that you tell us the truth about creation, about history, about the flood, about Jesus, and about the sacrifice that he made on the cross for us in our place. Help us to love men as you love men, to tell them about Jesus, to tell them about their sin and their need, and the wrath of God to come so that they might turn to Jesus in faith and believe and be saved forever. This is the great privilege we have as your ambassadors who've been committed to us the words of reconciliation, Lord. 

We know that this is your heart, your desire, and why you are waiting. Father, help us to look forward to your coming, to rest our hope fully on the grace that will be revealed at your coming. In Jesus' name, amen.