What To Do Until The Lord Comes Back - Part 3

What to Do Until the Lord Comes Back - Part 3

2 Peter 3:14-18

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - May 5, 2013

BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION:

*Do you believe that Jesus Christ is coming again? If we believe what the Bible says about Jesus, then we know that the Lord is coming back. What should we do until then?

[1] Last week we talked about helping people avoid the horrible judgment coming on the world.

*In vs. 10 Peter said:

10. 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.

*Then in vs. 12 Peter said we should be:

12. 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?

*Judgment Day is coming, but God wants people to escape. As we saw in vs. 9:

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

*Until the Lord comes back, God wants us to do everything we can to help people repent and come to Jesus for salvation.

[2] Then in vs. 10&11, we saw that God wants all believers to commit to live in holiness.

*Peter put it as a question in vs. 11: "Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?" God wants all of us to live godly, holy, Christ-like lives. He wants us to live by His holy standards.

[3] We closed last week by seeing that God wants us to keep looking forward with God's sure hope.

*Three times in vs. 11-14, Peter told us to be "looking forward." And Christians, we can look forward with sure hope, because of our relationship with Jesus Christ.

*Tonight we will see 4 more things to do while we wait for Jesus to return. Let's begin by reading vs. 14-18:

14. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless;

15. and account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,

16. as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which those who are untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.

17. You therefore, beloved, since you know these things beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked;

18. but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

*What should we do until the Lord comes back?

1. First: Rush toward righteousness.

*This is the message for us in vs. 14, where Peter said: "Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, BE DILIGENT to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless."

*When Peter tells us to be found by Jesus "in peace, without spot and blameless," he is calling us to our best behavior. This is one of God's greatest desires for our Christian life.

*And there is urgency in those words "be diligent." The original word conveys the idea of using speed, not lollygagging around, but rushing to do something with intense eagerness.

*Abraham is a great example for us in rushing to do the right thing. In Genesis 22, God commanded Abraham to do the hardest thing he would ever have to do: Sacrifice his only promised son Isaac.

*Most men would have found every excuse in the book not to obey God's command. Most men would have delayed that heart-breaking task every way they could. But Genesis 22 says:

1. Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!'' And he said, "Here I am.''

2. And He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.''

3. So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.