[SPEAKER_00]: Good morning, Church.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's stand for the reading of the word.
[SPEAKER_00]: This morning we are reading out of second Peter, this chapter 3 verse 10 to 13.
[SPEAKER_00]: It says, but today of the Lord will come like a thief.
[SPEAKER_00]: The heavens will disappear with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed by fire.
[SPEAKER_00]: The earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
[SPEAKER_00]: Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought to be?
[SPEAKER_00]: You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of the Lord and speed its coming.
[SPEAKER_00]: The day will bring around destruction of the heavens by fire and the Elements will melt in the heat.
[SPEAKER_00]: But in keeping with His promise, we are looking forward to the new heaven and the new earth with righteousness dwells.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the Word of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think speedy gone.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, you guys have a seat.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, Al Marie.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, Maria is going to be our official narrator of things.
[SPEAKER_01]: If we need things narrated, what a fantastic, lovely reading voice.
[SPEAKER_01]: Love that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are going to be in second Peter chapter three a good bit this morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we'll read a little bit of revelation as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: So today is our final Sunday in the story of redemption series.
[SPEAKER_01]: This nine weeks series you've been walking through.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just really trying to get a good biblical understanding and foundation for God.
[SPEAKER_01]: history.
[SPEAKER_01]: And really what today is is today is eternity.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've had a few of these weeks where we've covered, you know, several thousand years, but today we're covering all of eternity.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we'll be here a little while talking about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a joke.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're gonna move quick.
[SPEAKER_01]: But really, I do, I'm just, man, I'm thankful, I'm thankful for
[SPEAKER_01]: opportunity that we've had to do this series together.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've taught a so many of you and have such good conversations about just having our eyes really open to the whole story, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Just being able to see the whole story.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's very helpful to us.
[SPEAKER_01]: I do want to encourage you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe as we get into the new year here, if you've never like read through your Bible, just read through the Bible.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's various kinds of reading plans on this.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can do chronological or kind of just bybooks of the Bible.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you've never done that, make that a goal this year.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think this is like doing that is helpful to see this.
[SPEAKER_01]: really.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's where that comes from.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is all scripture and it just helps us to see the big story.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I think it's very helpful.
[SPEAKER_01]: So what I want to do real quick is really just recap, recap all of this while we've been walking through for the past eight weeks.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the ninth week.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so what do you have here on the screen?
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you know, write that down, take a picture of that, whatever you'd like to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just how we've seen God's nature revealed to us as we've been walking through the story of redemption.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're seeing His story, but more importantly, we're seeing
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, God's character and nature are revealed in many different places in many different ways, but I've kind of pulled out just maybe a word from each of the sections.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the creation, Genesis 1 and 2, we see God as creator, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: The fall, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Genesis 3, really, Genesis 3, 3, 3, 11 that got us holy and got us sovereign, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: The promise that got us purposeful, that Genesis 12 through 50, God's purpose is in calling a people to himself, Abraham and the patriarch, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: in the Exodus, we see that God is personal.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, you see a lot about God in the Exodus.
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course, you see His holyness, you see His justice and all those kind of things.
[SPEAKER_01]: But really His personalness, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like that He's personal to His people.
[SPEAKER_01]: He reveals Himself.
[SPEAKER_01]: He gives Himself a name.
[SPEAKER_01]: I am, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: As He reveals Himself to Moses.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was really just about Him letting the people know, I am this great transcendent God, but I'm also close and near in personal.
[SPEAKER_01]: I see you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I hear you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I listen to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I care about you, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: So, what God tells His people.
[SPEAKER_01]: in the nation and in the books of Joshua really through second chronicles we see that God is king we talked about that how there is no substitute for God as king he is sovereign ruler over all things and we must follow him and obey him as our king and the exile a lot of the prophets we we see again and again that God is faithful the prophets speak very much of God's faithfulness to keep his word always to keep his word
[SPEAKER_01]: And we talked about this that God will keep his word both for blessing and for destruction.
[SPEAKER_01]: He keeps his word.
[SPEAKER_01]: He does not lie and he promises both of those things.
[SPEAKER_01]: Blessings for those who will obey him and follow him by faith and destruction for those who will not and God is always faithful to that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course, in the Messiah, the Messiah really where we got to Jesus, and we see, really, that's at the very center of all of this story, the cross, which is still behind all of this, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: The cross sits really in the background of all of this history, reminding us that all of it comes really to its epitome and its climax and the person of Jesus, and he is our Messiah, our Christ, our noointed one, the Son of God, that we see that God is redeemer.
[SPEAKER_01]: that God has purchased for Himself, the people that He promised long ago to purchase for Himself by the blood of His own Son Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: That was the currency to redeem us, to purchase us out of sin and death.
[SPEAKER_01]: And God is our Redeemer.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is our Savior.
[SPEAKER_01]: Praise God.
[SPEAKER_01]: and then the church last week we looked at really the book of Acts and a lot of the letters of the New Testament.
[SPEAKER_01]: We learned that God is Father.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that is such a such a unique and new way of relating to God.
[SPEAKER_01]: In the Old Testament, God has spoken of His Father very infrequently and in the New Testament, that's one of the most predominant ways that He has spoken of.
[SPEAKER_01]: That He is now our Father by faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have now become sons and daughters of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Praise God for that.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so today, we're going to talk about the new creation.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to talk about the new creation.
[SPEAKER_01]: And what we see in this new creation idea, and in the book of Rev.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm actually going to turn to Revelation real quick if you guys want to turn there with me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Very last book of your Bible, Revelation chapter 1, verses 7 and 8.
[SPEAKER_01]: Look at verses 7 and 8 and Revelation 1.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says this, look, he is coming with the clouds.
[SPEAKER_01]: And every eye will see, y'all, as we just sang this, I don't know if y'all know this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every eye will see him.
[SPEAKER_01]: even those who pierced him, and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him, so shall it be a man.
[SPEAKER_01]: And here's him speaking, I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come the Almighty.
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is what we see in the new creation, heard of that God in Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega.
[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't just start it.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's gonna finish it.
[SPEAKER_01]: to completion.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's who God is already a good little commentary on that this week, John MacArthur, said this, that God is the Supreme and sovereign alphabet.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's kind of his point here, when he says, on the alphabet, and the Omega's, the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet, and his point is being that God is the Supreme and sovereign alphabet is to say this, just like the alphabet has the potential to contain all knowledge and wisdom.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what God is saying about himself.
[SPEAKER_01]: I contain in myself the beginning and the end of all knowledge.
[SPEAKER_01]: beginning in the end of all wisdom and there will never be anyone or anything that will thwart my purposes to complete what I began.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's who God is and that is what God says when he says, I am Alpha and Omega from A to Z, he will do all that he is promised that he will do.
[SPEAKER_01]: So many books at the Bible really speak of eternity.
[SPEAKER_01]: Today I want to just want to just
[SPEAKER_01]: Many books that Bible speak about most of the books that Bible speak of attorney.
[SPEAKER_01]: Several books have specific apocalyptic literature and the Old Testament is like Ezekiel and Daniel Daniels quoted very often in Revelation.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then in the new test when we have like 1st and 2nd Peter 1st, 2nd Thessalonians, and of course Revelation as this kind of apocalyptic literature about what's going to come in the end of all things, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: But most of the books of the Bible speak in some way about the eternity of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right, just that God's nature is everlasting, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Genesis 21, 33 says that God is the everlasting God.
[SPEAKER_01]: 2nd Samuel 7 says that David's throne will be established forever.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, this is how God speaks Psalm 90, verse two, from everlasting to everlasting.
[SPEAKER_01]: You are God, all right.
[SPEAKER_01]: These are how the books that Bible speak about Him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Even Jesus said this, heaven and earth will pass away, but my word remains forever.
[SPEAKER_01]: Philippians 3 verses 20 and 21.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Apostle Paul writes, our citizenship is in heaven.
[SPEAKER_01]: And from there, we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly bodies to become like His glorious body, by the power.
[SPEAKER_01]: that he has, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And so all throughout Scripture, we just see this idea of eternity.
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course God works in time and space, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: We know that, however, really everything that he does and all that he says is always in the context of eternity because God is outside of time.
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't exist in time as we do.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus stepped into it for 33 years.
[SPEAKER_01]: And now, and on and to eternity, God exists outside of time.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so,
[SPEAKER_01]: Actually, the Bible says this to us in the book of Ecclesiastes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ecclesiastes three, and this is a great Bible verse two, memorized, if you want to, Ecclesiastes three, verse 11, it says he has made everything beautiful in its time.
[SPEAKER_01]: He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
[SPEAKER_01]: He has set eternity in the hearts of men.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what it says.
[SPEAKER_01]: God has put eternity in our hearts.
[SPEAKER_01]: What does that mean?
[SPEAKER_01]: I think what that means is that we are made for eternity.
[SPEAKER_01]: And like he said, there's still mystery, though, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: There's still mystery to who God is.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've seen the story that he's revealed to us.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the reality is this and understand this, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: You know nothing about God that he is not revealed to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nobody just comes up with ideas about God that are accurate and true.
[SPEAKER_01]: God has revealed Himself to us in the Scriptures.
[SPEAKER_01]: In the understanding that we have of who He is, we have that by His Word and by His Holy Spirit who has now illuminated our hearts and minds.
[SPEAKER_01]: We talked about this last week where Paul writes that in Ephesians 1, that He's made known to us the mystery of His will.
[SPEAKER_01]: and yet there's still some things about eternity future that we still can't even grasp understand or fathom, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: There's still mystery to it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You'll feel that sometimes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now think of the Ecclesiast, E311, is kind of telling us there's this tension that we live in, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: This tension.
[SPEAKER_01]: We sang that a minute ago.
[SPEAKER_01]: The tension's going strong, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: You feel that tension sometimes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you ever feel like this world's not your home?
[SPEAKER_01]: You ever feel like there's something more, you ever feel like you're just hoping and you're waiting and you're kind of striving and spoiling even, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: That again, God has revealed so much to us, but yet we still wait and we still hope and we still look forward, so we're kind of living in the tension.
[SPEAKER_01]: I call this the tension of the already, not yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the tension.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the already.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, amen and Christ Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not yet because we're not there yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're not all the way yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're not perfect yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not completed yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus finished the work on the cross and yet still we have more to look forward to and so we're already positionally holy in Christ, but we're not yet practically holy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Does that make sense?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, positionally in him, he sees us as his sons.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are holy, made right with God forever, positionally already.
[SPEAKER_01]: We still mess up, day by day.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, we're still struggling.
[SPEAKER_01]: Paul says this in Philippians 3.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not there yet, but I'm pressing on, taking steps day by day.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're already declared righteous and yet we're not yet able to perfectly be righteous in the way that we live.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're already children of God and yet we've not yet fully received our inheritance in him and eternity.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're already free from guilt and yet we don't yet have what we're not yet completely removed from feelings of shame and temptations to sin, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, we stuck in my field that, like feel that tension, I feel that tension.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I want to look at second Peter chapter three, if you guys will turn there with me, second Peter three, because I think what Peter's doing here in second Peter three is he's helping us with this
[SPEAKER_01]: trying to help us with the already not yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: Peter feels the tension when Peter writes this.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's feeling the tension.
[SPEAKER_01]: This guy spent three years doing ministry with Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: Can you imagine the tension?
[SPEAKER_01]: He feels, I hate you, didn't ministry with Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then he saw Jesus rise again from the dead and ascend back to heaven.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Jesus is telling his disciples, I'm coming back.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so now Peter's just man he's hoping and he's waiting and now he's a he's a apostle and a pastor and a missionary to the church and he's riding these letters trying to help the church cope with this in between time of already yes, but not yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: and he's not yet come back.
[SPEAKER_01]: So how do we live, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the question.
[SPEAKER_01]: How do we live in that tension?
[SPEAKER_01]: Six things, six things.
[SPEAKER_01]: The first thing is actually not in 2nd Peter 3, but I do want to make this note.
[SPEAKER_01]: Number one is the spirit of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you live in the tension of the already not yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the spirit of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Peter doesn't specifically mention it here, but I didn't want to say this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I feel I would feel remiss if I didn't say this.
[SPEAKER_01]: That the Holy Spirit, remember, we talked a lot about this last week.
[SPEAKER_01]: Go listen to that message if you missed it.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Holy Spirit is the deposit guaranteeing
[SPEAKER_01]: That's where the Holy Spirit is for us.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is the power of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is the wisdom of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is the hope of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is the love of God, port into our hearts to remind us day by day that Christ is King and He's coming back again and to empower us to live for His glory.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the Holy Spirit is okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: So how do we live in the tension?
[SPEAKER_01]: We walk by the Holy Spirit.
[SPEAKER_01]: Guys read the New Testament letters.
[SPEAKER_01]: Paul talks so much about what it looks like to live by the Spirit to walk by the Holy Spirit.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: Number two, and now we're
[SPEAKER_01]: What do we need to remember?
[SPEAKER_01]: We need to remember the story of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, we have the Spirit of God, but we need to remember the story of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, in verses 1 through 7, dear friends, this is my second letter to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to towards wholesome thinking.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the Holy Prophet's and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.
[SPEAKER_01]: First of all, you must understand that in the last days, scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.
[SPEAKER_01]: They will say, where is this coming He promised?
[SPEAKER_01]: Ever since our father's died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation, but they deliberately forget that long ago, by God's word, the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water.
[SPEAKER_01]: By these waters also, the world of that time was delusged and destroyed.
[SPEAKER_01]: By the same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly man.
[SPEAKER_01]: So Peter is just harking back to the story of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's saying, if you're living in this tension, and you even, maybe even have people around you who kind of scoff and mock at what you believe.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if any of y'all have those people in your life, but you may.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's on people who ridicule and make fun of the fact that we have hope for eternity and we have hope that Jesus is going to come back.
[SPEAKER_01]: We literally believe this, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're a Christian, you do believe.
[SPEAKER_01]: He will come back riding on the clouds just like he said he would.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he will then judge the living in the dead.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Peter is saying we go back to the story of God because we see that he created all things in the beginning.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he destroyed the earth once.
[SPEAKER_01]: He already did it once.
[SPEAKER_01]: He did it by water.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you remember the promise that God made to Noah at the end of that.
[SPEAKER_01]: He said, I will never destroy the earth again by water.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Peter's like, he's not.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not going to destroy the earth by water.
[SPEAKER_01]: Praise God.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to do it by fire this time.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we remember the story of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we remember that God's word is truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's already done it once.
[SPEAKER_01]: Archaeology and history, like the things that you can study all throughout the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: They really bear witness to a global flood.
[SPEAKER_01]: They really do.
[SPEAKER_01]: It happened.
[SPEAKER_01]: and God's going to come back.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus is going to come back again, and He's going to destroy the earth again and create a new one.
[SPEAKER_01]: Praise God, He's going to create a new one, new heavens, new birth.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we learn a revelation.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we look to the story of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Number three, we look to the nature of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Look at verses eight and nine.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, but don't forget this one thing dear friends.
[SPEAKER_01]: With the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise.
[SPEAKER_01]: As some understand, slowness, He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come.
[SPEAKER_01]: to repentance.
[SPEAKER_01]: God is infinite.
[SPEAKER_01]: What do we see in the tension, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: We see we look to the nature of God that he's infinite, that he's timeless and so he is completely free and unchanging and he's patient.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're infinite, you can be really patient.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you understand that?
[SPEAKER_01]: God has no time that he's bound by.
[SPEAKER_01]: A thousand years is a day to him and a day is a thousand years.
[SPEAKER_01]: He can be the most patient being that exists.
[SPEAKER_01]: because he's he's he's not bound by he's never late he's never in a hurry he's never behind schedule.
[SPEAKER_01]: God is always on the time that he wants to be on and we are on his time and his time is eternal.
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is how God operates when you're when you're struggling with the tension.
[SPEAKER_01]: Remember that remember God's nature number four remember the heart of God remember the heart of God because look at verse nine again they said he's not slow and keeping his promises he is patient with you not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.
[SPEAKER_01]: Listen, there may be somebody in this room who needs to hear this statement today.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is very good for you that Jesus has not come back yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because you're not right with Him yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: And once He returns, those who are not right with Him, there will be no more opportunity.
[SPEAKER_01]: He will judge those who confess faith in Him in our made righteous by His sacrifice in His blood and His resurrection.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so he's patient.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's being patient.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the clock is ticking.
[SPEAKER_01]: But God's patience is meant to lead us to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: Some of you might have heard the gospel a hundred times and you've still never really come to the Lord Jesus and confess to him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Today's the day of salvation.
[SPEAKER_01]: Today may be the day he rides on those clouds.
[SPEAKER_01]: do you repent and you follow Jesus?
[SPEAKER_01]: Number five, how do we wait in this tension?
[SPEAKER_01]: The people of God, the people of God, I think we help one another wait in this tension.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna read this little section here, verse 10.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.
[SPEAKER_01]: The heavens will disappear like a roar.
[SPEAKER_01]: The elements will be destroyed by fire.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
[SPEAKER_01]: Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?
[SPEAKER_01]: You ought to live holy and godly lives.
[SPEAKER_01]: Christian church, how do we live?
[SPEAKER_01]: Holy Godly lies.
[SPEAKER_01]: We pursue the Lord in all that we do because the time is coming when Jesus is coming and so we live now holy and Godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed it's God just means we're hoping for His coming.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're hoping, and we're praying, and we're singing, Mayor Notha, come Lord Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: That day, we'll bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.
[SPEAKER_01]: But in keeping with this promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven, and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
[SPEAKER_01]: So then dear friends,
[SPEAKER_01]: Since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless and at peace with him.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's peace with him because you have faith in Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let your faith be born out and fruit.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like every effort every day to live your life worthy of the calling you ever see in Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: We talked about that last week.
[SPEAKER_01]: Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with wisdom that God gave him.
[SPEAKER_01]: He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters.
[SPEAKER_01]: Peter's just saying, hey, go read Paul, read my buddy Paul.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then he actually says, his letters contain some things that are hard to understand, even Peter was confused by Paul at times, which ignorant and unstable people distort as they do the other scriptures to their own.
[SPEAKER_01]: destruction.
[SPEAKER_01]: Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position.
[SPEAKER_01]: But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to Him be glory both now forever, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's the last thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: How do we wait in this tension?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the glory of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: We hope and we pray and we wait and we live our lives now in and for the glory of God in all things.
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of the letters of the New Testament end this way to God be the glory of both now and forever.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: We already read in Ecclesiastes 311 that God has placed eternity in our hearts.
[SPEAKER_01]: God has made it sure from the very beginning, even his creation of men, of women, that he would put into the hearts of us, a desire and a passion for something more.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now here's the thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: You and I, we sometimes get distracted from that.
[SPEAKER_01]: We get distracted from eternity.
[SPEAKER_01]: We lose focus and we lose heart at times.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's a very sad thing because God has put eternity into our hearts.
[SPEAKER_01]: He has created us to desire him to run on the glory of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why we talked about that week.
[SPEAKER_01]: One made in his image, made for his glory.
[SPEAKER_01]: And everything else that we desire and everything else that we strive for and run after in this world, y'all it's sinking sand.
[SPEAKER_01]: And everything that you have, everything that you own, everything you've ever accrued, will one day be burned up in that fire, and all that will be left.
[SPEAKER_01]: is you and me late bear before the Lord, that either we know him or we do not.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it will matter how we spent our time here.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I want to use this little illustration.
[SPEAKER_01]: I got this for myself, Francis Chandler.
[SPEAKER_01]: This years and years ago, so I was like, I'm gonna co-op that for my own purposes.
[SPEAKER_01]: See this little green sticker?
[SPEAKER_01]: That's your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: All of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the story of God from beginning to end.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you and I are here, somewhere, every decision you've ever made is right here, every trophy you've ever won is right there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every dollar you've ever put into your bank account is somewhere right in here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every victory and every mistake, right there.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is eternity.
[SPEAKER_01]: You got us placed at this into our hearts.
[SPEAKER_01]: A desire for this, a hope for this, a longing and expecting of this.
[SPEAKER_01]: And yet, somehow, some way for some reason, you and I decide that that's what's important, that this is the most important thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Out of all this,
[SPEAKER_01]: that we spend all of our time in all of our energy, just trying to get stuff here, trying to make ourselves more here, trying to feel better here, trying to be happier here.
[SPEAKER_01]: trying to accumulate here, trying to win here, trying to be important here.
[SPEAKER_01]: And God's just going, I have more for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have so much more for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's your past and it's your future and it's more.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's on and on and on and on and on and on and one way or the other brothers and sisters, you will spend eternity somewhere.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it will depend, it will depend upon this, what's you chose to do here, you put your faith in Christ, you fall upon His grace, you look to Him and you trust in Him, and you live your life here for the glory of His name, for the gospel story, for the story of redemption, for the hope of everlasting life with Him.
[SPEAKER_01]: you live your life here for that.
[SPEAKER_01]: We lose side of that, you know.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I said, we can lose focus and we can lose heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: We can lose focus because we can't see eternity yet, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like it's it's kind of it's over there.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's often the distance.
[SPEAKER_01]: We can't see it yet, you know?
[SPEAKER_01]: So we lose focus there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Second Corinthians 418 says what is seen is temporary and what is unseen is eternal.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we see we see the little grain.
[SPEAKER_01]: We see that thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: We see what's here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I can see it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can feel it touch it taste it here like I get this.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it's so easy for us to lose focus on that.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's so easy for us to lose focus on God and his redemptive work because we just get so focused here.
[SPEAKER_01]: So stuck in the here and now and we can lose heart because let's be honest, y'all this world can beat us down at times.
[SPEAKER_01]: Life is hard here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Speaking of the choir, y'all know that life is hard here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Raise your hand if you believe life is hard.
[SPEAKER_01]: Seriously.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, you're in good company.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: Life is hard.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we can lose focus and we can lose heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: We can get discouraged.
[SPEAKER_01]: We can get frustrated because we fail and we sin and we fall.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we grieve, we struggle.
[SPEAKER_01]: If we give into these temptations to lose heart and to lose focus, we may begin to live our lives again.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is why we do this.
[SPEAKER_01]: We begin to then live our lives because we've lost focus and we've lost heart like this little thing is all that matters and like this is our only home.
[SPEAKER_01]: I hear it now, this is home.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've lost focus on that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've lost heart, I'm discouraged, and so all I have is this.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's why we live that way.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I heard a story many, many years ago, I had to look this back up this past week.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Morris and family that has been in a wife, the Morrison, and they were missionaries for 40 years, 40 years in the continent of Africa.
[SPEAKER_01]: Early 1900s, missionaries for four decades in Africa.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just doing ministry traveling around country, country sharing the gospel for the glory of Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: They actually were called to come back home, come back to America where they lived.
[SPEAKER_01]: And on the way home, they were on a boat, came across the ocean on the ship, and they're actually on the same ship that President Teddy Roosevelt was on at the same time, and the whole time they see people are just like celebrating Teddy Roosevelt, and they're so happy that Teddy Roosevelt's on the ship, and the husband, Mr. Morris, and the husband, he just kept kind of getting frustrated at that.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, why does everybody care so much about this guy?
[SPEAKER_01]: He was home, coming from a hunting
[SPEAKER_01]: for the gospel.
[SPEAKER_01]: And no one gave a rip.
[SPEAKER_01]: No one cared about even knew they were.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were on the ship too.
[SPEAKER_01]: Teddy Roosevelt goes and kills a buffalo or whatever and he gets praise as he's coming home.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the guy's just so mad about them.
[SPEAKER_01]: They get home and they get to the dock and all that stuff and there's like a whole party waiting for of course president Roosevelt and everybody's so excited.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he's back all the things.
[SPEAKER_01]: They get off the ship.
[SPEAKER_01]: No one's there.
[SPEAKER_01]: No one greets them.
[SPEAKER_01]: No one says a word.
[SPEAKER_01]: and they'd run it a little flat and they went off and got into their home, no furniture, no nothing, just dark, no electricity, just now in this little flat and their new life back home.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that night the husband told the wife, I'm just frustrated.
[SPEAKER_01]: We spent 40 years for the glory of Jesus over there and we get out of nobody cares.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wanted no one care that we're home and they care that you know, tell you Roosevelt's home.
[SPEAKER_01]: And his wife said, I think you just need to go pray about this.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, like a good wife does.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like, just you need to pray about this, like you're bitter, you're frustrated, I get it.
[SPEAKER_01]: He goes in his room and he prays for an hour or so and comes back out and he told his wife, he said, you're right, and I needed to pray about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: He said, as I was praying.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it was like the Lord himself came and he put his hand on my shoulder and he said, you know why?
[SPEAKER_01]: No one cares that you're home because you're not home.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're not home.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not where you're ending up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Who cares?
[SPEAKER_01]: Who cares if we get praised?
[SPEAKER_01]: Who cares if life is easy?
[SPEAKER_01]: Who cares if life is comfortable?
[SPEAKER_01]: This is not our home.
[SPEAKER_01]: Our citizenship is in heaven.
[SPEAKER_01]: And from there, we await a Savior.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Lord Jesus Christ, He will come back.
[SPEAKER_01]: And He will now then bring us into eternity to go home with Him.
[SPEAKER_01]: So here's a question.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just want to end with this book of revelation.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's go to the very last chapter in the Bible if you want to turn there with a revelation 22 He's the question.
[SPEAKER_01]: Where does all this go anyway?
[SPEAKER_01]: Where does all this end?
[SPEAKER_01]: And what's common for us as we because here's the reality, you know all of us in this room we're getting closer to that
[SPEAKER_01]: You are closer to this now than you are when you walk through the doors today.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just want to know, I know you want to know, where's this going?
[SPEAKER_01]: Where's this lead?
[SPEAKER_01]: Revelation 22.
[SPEAKER_01]: First one, the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal flowing from the throne of God,
[SPEAKER_01]: end of the Lamb, down the middle of the great street of the city.
[SPEAKER_01]: On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
[SPEAKER_01]: No longer will there be any curse.
[SPEAKER_01]: The throne of God, end of the Lamb, will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.
[SPEAKER_01]: They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
[SPEAKER_01]: There will be no more night.
[SPEAKER_01]: They will not need the light of the lamp or the light of the sun for the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: God will give them light and they will reign forever and ever.
[SPEAKER_01]: The angel said to me, these words are trustworthy and true.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophet sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.
[SPEAKER_01]: Did you hear that?
[SPEAKER_01]: about when we get there into eternity, what we're going to see it's Eden, the river of life, and the tree of life, El Eden is not our past.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is our future.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we have the stories of Adam and Eve, but for us, that's our future, the tree of life.
[SPEAKER_01]: it awaits us in eternity.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the curse will be gone.
[SPEAKER_01]: Death and darkness and sin and suffering will be no more.
[SPEAKER_01]: There will only be life, only new creation, only joy, only gladness in the Lord for ever and ever and ever, our exile from Eden will one day be over in all who trust in the Lord
[SPEAKER_01]: face to face.
[SPEAKER_01]: So live your life right now for eternity, friends.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't get so caught up in this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I believe that if we live our lives for that, if we live our lives for this, we live our lives for eternity, the eternal story and the glory of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: It actually makes us much more prepared
[SPEAKER_01]: It's when we just focus on this, that we become useless in this world.
[SPEAKER_01]: We focus on that, we focus on Christ, we focus on His glory, and that will all make more sense to us.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it'll change the way you spend your time, it'll change the way you spend your money, it'll change the way you treat people, it'll change Thanksgiving dinner this Thursday.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know, I know, so many others stressed about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You put your eyes there, and it will change that for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is what we're going to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to worship together just one more time here in a minute before we do that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just want to give us an opportunity to pray.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're on the prayer team and you'd like to step down here for a minute while we do this.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you just want to stay where you're at, that's great.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just stay where you're at and you pray.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you want to come down and ask someone for prayer because you need something specific.
[SPEAKER_01]: But here's what I would love you to pray about.
[SPEAKER_01]: I would love you to pray about this this idea this morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, how am I spending this in a light of that, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the question.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what we're asking the Lord and just we want to be intentional, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: We want to be intentional with this because this is all at stake.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is our story and this is what awaits us in glory.
[SPEAKER_01]: The new heavens, the new earth, the river and the tree of life.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what we're hoping for.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, man, let's just bow our heads together if you guys will just bow your heads with me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to pray for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I'm inviting you if you want to come down for prayer, if you want to continue just to pray at your scene, just seek the Lord in this that we would spend our lives now for eternity.
[SPEAKER_01]: God help us with this, please.
[SPEAKER_01]: Set our hearts again on eternity.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've created us that way.
[SPEAKER_01]: So as we live in this tension, let us live for your glory.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let us live for the things that are unseen,
[SPEAKER_01]: and let us trust you in Jesus' name.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.