Amen. Thank you so much for being here and for the opportunity we have together to worship God. And I’m personally very excited about closing out Second Peter now, not because I’m tired of Second Peter. It’s just a great book. I’m excited because of what we will talk about today, and I’m really hoping it will make a difference in your life.
We’re going to talk today about the second coming of Jesus Christ. The second coming of Jesus. Jesus came the first time he came as a baby in a manger, and the world was not ready. The world didn’t receive that coming of Jesus as we needed to. He came as a baby in a manger.
He went to the temple with his parents, and on one occasion he gets lost. And Jesus did all of that. And eventually, at age 30 or so, he started his public Ministry. And a few short years later he was put to death on a cross. And so he came that first time to really bring about Salvation for you and me.
But the Bible says he is coming a second time, and this time when he comes, he will come bringing Salvation to those who know him and judgment to those who do not. And a couple of passages I want to read for you as we begin here in Hebrews 927 and 28, the Bible says, just as people are destined to die once and after that to face judgment. So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many, and he will appear a second time, catch this, not to bear sin, but to bring Salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Jesus is coming back again, but he is not coming to bear sin. This time he’s already done that.
He’s accomplished that. You and I have the privilege now being able to respond to what he did in that regard. But the second time he’s going to be bringing Salvation. They’re going to be people waiting for him to come, and he’s going to come bringing Salvation to them and judgment to others. In Acts chapter 17, another passage, as we begin in verse 30 and 31, the Bible says, in the past God overlooks such ignorance.
But now he commands all people everywhere to repent, for he has said a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead. God says the very resurrection of Jesus proves that one day Jesus is going to come back and judge this world. He’s going to be the judge and the jury and the executioner the next time he comes. Christ will judge and for some that will be a terrifying day. It will be a terrifying day. One place in the Bible, it says the people would be calling for the mountains to fall on them and for the Hills to cover them. It’s going to be a terrifying time for some. But for others, it will be a time of incredible joy because you will know that you made the right decision to follow the man Jesus Christ. So we’re going to talk today about the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Two weeks ago, we talked about how a lot of us long for normal to come back. It’s great to look out and see a lot less masks today. Last week was our first week without the mask.
And it was kind of cool being able to meet in this setting and not have to wear masks and not have to worry about mask mandates and all this kind of stuff. And you know, it’ll be cool when we get to where, gosh, you don’t have to worry about social distance thing. You can go to concerts like you used to. You can go to football games and you remember last year you watch TV and you see the cutouts.
You didn’t see real people. You saw cutouts and it got old. I lost my interest in basketball. That’s almost sacrilegious for me to say. But I hated looking out there seeing these pretend people.
I wanted to see real people. And so we longed to have everything back. But the thing I want to encourage you with today Jesus is coming back.
You can bank on that. You can know that he is coming back and he is going to set a lot of things straight for each one of us. And so we’re going to talk about this today. The Bible makes it clear that after Jesus died and he was buried and he was raised from the dead, the Bible says he appeared to the disciples, and at one point he appeared to over 500 of his followers at one time.
And I don’t know about you, but maybe you’ve asked yourself the question at some point. Why didn’t he appear to more than just the disciples? Why didn’t he appear to Herod and Pilate the religious leaders that were responsible for him being condemned to die? Why not appear to the chief priests? Who all they could say about Jesus was crucify, crucify.
They wanted him dead. They did not want him around or why not appear to the soldiers, the ones who pierced his side with the sword? You know Jesus, it probably will help your cause if you would appear to some of your enemies and the people who were responsible. And I don’t know that we can know absolutely the reason for that. But in Revelation chapter one, maybe we get a little bit of a clue as to why he didn’t do that.
Didn’t appear to those people. In Revelation One, verse seven, in case you can’t read it, it says, look, he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him. Even those who pierced him. And all Peoples on Earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be, Amen.
Maybe God decided I don’t need to go to these guys because I’m going to them later. When Jesus comes back, they will get to see at that point in total truth, the incredible mess that they made by crucifying my son. In Acts chapter 1 verse 11, it says Men of Galilee, they said, Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. Jesus, guys, is coming back.
He is coming back. Whether you believe that or not, he is coming back. Sometimes I’ll say, I hear people say things like, Well, I don’t know that I believe the Bible. I don’t care and God doesn’t care. Well change that, he does care. He wants you to believe. But the bottom line is that Jesus is coming back. It’s going to happen whether you are ready for it or not. And so we got to talk about the second coming, guys, this is real. This is very, very real. Let’s go ahead and read our text here today, and you can just follow along on your device or in your Bible. Second Peter, chapter three, verse eleven, the Bible says this, since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live Holy and Godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed His coming.
That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with His promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new Earth where righteousness dwells. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with Him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means Salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters, his letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort as they do the other scriptures to their own destruction.
Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, notice that since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the era of lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the Grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to him be glory both now and forever. Amen. Peter urges these guys to wholesome thinking. In chapter three, verse one, he says, I want you to think correctly about things.
I know there are some false teachers that have infiltrated your ranks. They’ve sort of gotten into the Church and guys we have to constantly guard against that. Even with our Church. You say, Well, Eddie, we know the truth. You guys teach us the truth we go through this study series and we do word and discipleship, and we understand all of that.
But, guys, we can have even in the Church, those who infiltrate our ranks with their own kind of teaching. And so as elders and as Ministry leaders, our evangelists, Marcus and Brian, we are striving with all of our heart to keep this Church on the straight and narrow when it comes to the word of God. And that’s why I don’t mind when I’m up here preaching the Word and you go home and you study something and you got a question. I don’t mind answering your question because, guys, the Bible says those who teach are going to be judged more strictly.
And I want to make sure you’re going to be led in a proper way.
And so Peter says, I want to get you to some wholesome thinking. I want you to think about things in the right way here. And there are a couple of thoughts I want to share with you about that. The time. Let’s talk about three things.
The time the judge and the people judge. The Bible says that in the fullness of time, in the last days, Jesus would return. And he said, Well, when are the last days Eddie. Well, you look at Joel, chapter two, Joel talked about a prophecy. He says, in the last days, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.
And you remember who kind of validated Joel’s prophecy in the New Testament? Anybody remember? I think I heard. Peter. The Apostle Peter, the day of Pentecost. Peter is standing there.
He’s preaching the first gospel sermon, and he tells them he said, this is that which Joel talked about. He said, this is that what Joel talked about in his prophecy. And so in the last days, it was going to occur. Guys, we’ve been in the last days for roughly 2000 years or so. And so Jesus could come.
His coming could be imminent. It could be today. The Bible says it will happen in the twinkling of an eye. Literally, guys, we could be sitting in this auditorium and God decides to part this ceiling part the clouds, and Jesus comes on the clouds.
It could happen right now. It’s going to happen in the fullness of time. And the judge, Jesus himself is the judge. He will judge all the nations of the Earth. He is our divine King, and he is our judge.
Thirdly, the people judge. The Bible says in Matthew 25 that all nations will be gathered before him. All nations. Think about that. I mean, that’s Iran, that’s Iraq, that’s England, that’s China, that’s India, all nations were gathered before. But the Bible says he will judge us individually.
It won’t be as a group. God won’t swoop down and say, okay, Orlando Church, you’re all here. You learn the right stuff. So we’ll just take all of you and go to heaven. No, it’s still going to be an individual thing, but everybody’s going to be judged.
The Bible says, we’ll all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. And so what Peter helps us to see here is that they’re going to be scoffers, though. He said they’re going to be four generations. Every generation is going to have scoffers, those people who come along and say, hey, what is this about a second coming?
I mean, every day continues as it is. I still go on Facebook. I write to my friends, I tell them about my dog and my cat. Life just sort of goes on. It’s no big deal.
I’m going to watch some football today. I’m going to go over to Dave pool’s house since he loves football. We’re going to watch football together today. I mean, Eddie, it just kind of goes on like no big deal. But Peter says they’re always going to be scoffers.
That doesn’t mean it’s not true. They’re always going to be scoffers who say that. And he said, and they deliberately forget what God has already done. God says he created the world out of water, and he destroyed the world of all with water, just like he was able to do it then. He said, the next time it’s going to be fire, he’ll do it again.
He says they deliberately forget this stuff. But God has made it clear that he will do what he has said. And they overlook the fact that God doesn’t look at time the way we do. A day is like what? 1000 years and a thousand years are like what? A day in God’s economy.,Two days have passed.
That’s it. And we think, Well, gosh, god has taken a long time. God has said it’s just been a couple of days, and really, it could be a couple of minutes or it could be a couple of nanoseconds for God. But God doesn’t look at time the way we do.
And I love this, the bottom line, God is incredibly patient. He is incredibly patient. We would not be anywhere as patient as God is. But look at what it says God does in his patience.
Second, Peter three, verse nine. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise. Okay? God said I’m going to deal with what you’re thinking. You’re thinking I’m delaying. He said, no, I’m not slow in keeping my promise as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance. God says, I want you to repent. I want to have a relationship with you.
I want you to go to heaven. I want you to be with me for all eternity. And I’m waiting. I’m giving you time to repent. Romans two, verse four, same idea.
Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness forbearance and patience? Not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? God is patient, guys. He wants us to be with him for eternity. And we’ll say more about repentance in just a moment.
Paul reminds, Peter, I should say, reminds these guys that when the end happens, when Jesus does show up, it’s going to be sudden. It’s going to be unmistakable, and it’s going to be cataclysmic. It’s going to be crazy. Like I said earlier, people are going to be yelling for the mountains to fall on them and for the Hills to cover them. Guys, this is a big deal that will be going on.
It’s going to be both terrifying and exciting all at the same time. And so Peter says, considering all of this, considering Jesus return, considering all that God has done in the past and how he destroyed the world of old, and he’s proven that he can do it again, and he will do it again. It won’t be water but fire next time, considering God’s incredible patience. What kind of people ought you to be? And the bottom line, guys, for you and me, is that we ought to be Holy.
We ought to be Holy. We should be righteous in how we live before God. Waiting for the return of Jesus ought to cause us to want to be Holy, to want to be right before God. And to being Holy is simply being set apart for God. It’s being an instrument for God to use in a powerful way.
It’s being sanctified. We’ve heard that word. It’s haguyos. It means being set apart for God to work in your life. And when you really believe in the second Coming, when you really believe in the second coming, you look forward to that.
You won’t be shrouded by disbelief because see, if you don’t really believe in the second coming, then you tend to be indifferent. You get up every day, you tend to think like the world. The second coming hasn’t occurred. I hear you talking about it, Eddie, but I don’t see it happening. But when you really believe that the second Coming is real, when you really believe that Jesus is going to come back and he’s going to deal with this world, and he’s going to deal with your sin. He’s going to deal with my sin.
Then that conviction inspires you to conduct your life in a Godly manner. Conviction inspires the right conduct. In 1 First John 2:28 you can write this and down. And now dear children continue in Him so that when he appears, we may be confident and unashamed before Him at his coming. He says, continue in Jesus, keep living the right way.
Keep doing what God has called you to do. And then on the day of judgment, man, you can have confidence. You don’t have to be ashamed at all when he comes. And so Christians, disciples of Jesus we’re expected to look for and long for the coming of Jesus. That is how we should be living.
And in fact, in the early Church. And you’ll remember this from Thessalonians there were some people who were so looking forward to the return of Jesus. They were quitting their jobs. They were saying, okay, I got to get ready. Let’s sell stuff.
Let’s get rid of stuff. Let’s get it. It’s kind of like the Overstreets. It’s really kind of cool. Before they move I got a call from Amy, and it was kind of cool. Amy says, Eddie, I have your book and there’s a book I let them borrow last year. And Amy says, I have your book. And it was kind of cool because Amy realized we’re moving, so we don’t need any extra stuff to have to pack up. So she’s a smart lady.
She’s getting that out of the house. And really, guys, when we are wanting and looking forward to it, we couldn’t do like the Thessalonians where they just said, okay, let’s get rid of everything because Jesus is coming. Paul said, look, if you don’t work, you shouldn’t eat. He said, you got to go back, do your jobs, do what you’re supposed to. But when you know Jesus is coming, when you have that conviction, it affects your conduct.
So how do we speed this day? How do we kind of hasten the day of the Lord to come? And I want to talk about that for a minute. First of all, it’s through preaching and evangelism. It’s through preaching and evangelism.
People need what we have. There are people around you who are suffering. As I prayed earlier, there are people in this room who needed to hear about the love of Jesus today. They need someone to help them apply that to their soul and help them to be right with God. We need to preach the Word of God.
Matthew 24. You can write this in verse 14, and this gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come. God expects us to preach the word to other people. It’s still good news.
It really is still good news, and people need to hear it. Plus, the other reason why we need to preach is that it’s the only hope people have. It’s the only hope, guys, we have the only message that can make a difference in this world. And we need to tell other people about it. And I couldn’t help but think about it.
And I thought, okay, I’m going to give them a corny illustration, but at least make sure they’re listening to me. And they’ll remember this point. All right? My wife’s got this look like, oh, no, where is he going? But here it is.
You all know on TV, you watch the progressive commercials with flo and all that. Show me hands. I know you all watch TV all the time. Okay, honest people. But I’m watching this commercial, and there’s the one that comes on where it shows them all at the beach and they’re lounging around and they say, Guys, we’re not going to talk about insurance. Have you all seen that one? Anybody? Okay? And what happens is they overhear some people talking about insurance and bundling things.
And finally Flo just has to get up and she has got to go over there and talk. And I know it’s just a commercial, but the idea of what I’m talking about is clear. She saw a need, people need, and sometimes we will hear people in conversations and we know we have a message that can make a difference. Maybe you hear about somebody whose marriage is struggling. They’re talking about leaving.
And you know, God can make a difference in your marriage. And instead of saying something, you remain silent. Guys, we have the only message of hope that people have. So we got to preach the word and hasten the day. Another thought, prayer.
We need to be praying a lot more. A lot more prayer. Jesus, Jesus taught to us to pray, your Kingdom come. Your will be done. You say, Well, Eddie, wait a minute.
The Kingdom is already here. We’re a part of the Kingdom. It was ushered in on the day of Pentecost, but the Kingdom hasn’t come for everybody. So we can still pray your Kingdom come. And in Revelation eight, just read that.
It talks about the prayers of the Saints ascending before God. And every time I read that, I think I said, God, I want that censor full of my prayers. So we need to pray. Another thing we need to do is Godly living. We talked about this already.
Looking back at the verse we read Second Peter, three, verses eleven. It says, since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live Holy and Godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed it’s coming. First Peter 2 verse twelve. It said, Live such good lies among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
God expects Godly living. That is what should characterize our life. And I got to read this in Acts chapter three. Repentance and obedience, repentance and obedience. Guys, I know there are going to be things in our life that may be sin in your life that you don’t even know you’re committing.
Or maybe you haven’t acknowledged yet. But this is the mindset we need to have about sin. Acts three, verse 19, repent then and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out. The times of refreshing may come from the Lord and that he may send the Messiah who has been appointed for you. Even Jesus.
Heaven must receive Him until the time comes for God to restore everything as he promised long ago through his Holy prophets. God expects us to repent. Repentance to be a way of life for a disciple every single day, every single day. Guys, if you’re and I know sometimes, like I said, you may not totally acknowledge, but there’s probably something every day that you can repent and you can turn your heart to God over. And I read two different commentators as I prepared this message. It’s kind of interesting.
Both referred to this saying from rabbis back in the day. It says the rabbis had two sayings, it is the sins of the people which prevent the coming of the Messiah. This is what the rabbis used to say. If the Jews would genuinely repent for one day, the Messiah would come. The other form of the saying means the same.
If Israel would perfectly keep the law for one day, the Messiah would come when a man truly repents, he opens his heart to the coming of the King and the King’s coming to the world.
The Bible says that we’re going to be living in a new heaven with a new heaven and a new Earth. The Bible also talks about how we will have resurrected bodies and anybody who says they understand what all of that means is trying to sell you something. I don’t know what a resurrected body, I was looking at poor Richard Martin walking in today. He’s having serious trouble with his health, and he was walking a little slowly.
And I remember once playing basketball with Richard, and Richard was moving a lot easier than he is today. And the thing that encourages me when I hear this is God, I don’t care what that body will be like, but if it’s better than this one, sign me up. I want one, this kind of thing. And even with these resurrected bodies, like I said, we don’t know what all that means.
We don’t know what it means when it says a new heaven and a new Earth. But that’s what it says God is going to do. But what we do know is that when Jesus returned, evil will be destroyed, the righteous are going to be renewed, and there’s going to be a restoration of all things. And in this new heaven and new Earth, there’s only righteousness.
So you may as well get used to living that way now. That’s all that’s going to be there. So you may as well get used to living that way now. But one of the biggest things about the second coming of Jesus is that Jesus himself will return. Now think about that.
You and I have not had the privilege of seeing the Savior face to face. But Jesus himself will return, and he’s going to be the standard by which everybody is judged. Jesus is the standard. That’s why when we study the Bible with people, most of the time, we start out with what we call the word study. Because in John chapter 12 verse 48, it says, Jesus says the very word that I spoke to you will be your judge on the last day. And so we want people to know what the word of God says.
We want them to have that as their standard where Jesus is going to be the standard by which we’re judged. But he’s also going to be the compassionate one who understands our frailties. And I praise God for that. I mean, on my best of days, and I’m a mess. I mess up, I blow it, I blow it as a husband, I blow it as a dad.
I think the older I get, I was telling the Jeff Sabotin last week. I said, you know what? I don’t know where some people get their confidence, Jeff. I said, but the older I get, the less confident I feel.
And Jeff said, you know what it is that he is because you and I have made enough mistakes. I praise God that my frailty is known by Jesus. I purposely wanted this to be a little more serious because this is a very serious subject. Jesus is coming back whether you are living that way or not, Jesus is returning, and we need to be ready for that.
And so people everywhere need to repent. Second thought is disciples also need to take this seriously. We need to take it seriously just because you studied the Bible and you were baptized. Maybe it was a long time ago. Maybe it was just this year.
You need to make sure you are living for God today. And I don’t mean perfection. The Bible says, if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus’s Son does what? It purifies us from all sin. Just keep walking in the light.
Just keep walking in the light. And the third thing is, day of the Lord demonstrates God’s righteousness. Sin destroyed the original world that God created that was perfect. When God created Adam and Eve in the garden, everything was perfect. Ever since their sin, even the Earth has been waiting for the redemption of this world. And so God is going to make it all right.
A couple of questions I want you to think about. Maybe you’ll have a discussion with a friend. Are you a follower of Christ whose love for God has waned?
Are you a follower of Christ whose love for God is waned? And then Secondly, how will your life reflect what you know the future holds and the person who secured that future? In other words, you know what the future holds. Jesus is coming back. He’s going to judge the world.
But if you’ve been secured by the one who secured that future, you’re good, you’re good, you’re ready for it. And so I want to finish this thought with Communion. And I’ll read this for you. Since the children have flesh and blood, and he too shared in their humanity so that by his death, he might break the power of Him who holds the power of death that is the devil and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
Jesus became like you and me. And he did that so that he could free us from our fears and our concerns. He wanted us to have the assurance of a relationship with him and to be with him for all eternity. And the first time Jesus came around, he did what we celebrate. Each week he took away all of our sins.
He gave us the opportunity to be right. But the next time he comes, it’ll be just to come for those people who have embraced that truth. And he’s going to bring you Salvation. But if you not embrace that truth, he’s going to bring you judgment. And I would not be your friend to tell you otherwise.