Pay Close Attention | Last Words of a Dying Man Series

How are you guys doing? Y'all should all respond doing way better than you. As you see, go ahead and get this out the way. I was doing something that I shouldn't have been doing, which is playing basketball, and I completely tore my key leaves. Yeah, it's pretty bad. Having surgery on Tuesday, so please pray, but especially pray for my wife, 'cause now does she already have four boys to take care of? Just add another boy to that, 'cause she has to take care of me. But I'm grateful to be here in the house of the Lord to worship with you all, and I'm grateful that my unfortunate injury did not get in the way for me to spend time in God's word. So if you have your Bibles, please go ahead and turn it to Second Peter, chapter one, Second Peter, chapter one. We are going to be continuing in our Second Peter series, the series is titled, The Last Words of a Dying Man, and we're gonna be in verses 16 to 21, 16 to 21, Second Peter one, 16 to 21, we're gonna read God's word. I'm gonna pray, and then we're gonna dive into our passage. We say something very important every Sunday morning when we engage God's word and it's this church. The Bible is what? True. Starting in verse 16, Peter says,

"For we did not follow cleverly devised myths "when we made known to you the power "and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, "but we were our witnesses of His majesty. "For when He received honor and glory from God to Father, "and the voice was born to Him by the majestic glory, "this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. "We ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven, "for we were with Him on the holy mountain, "and we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed "to which you would do well to pay attention "as to a lamp shining in a dark place "until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. "Knowing this, first of all, that no prophecy of scripture "comes from someone's own interpretation, "for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, "but men spoke from God as they were carried along "by the Holy Spirit. "The title of this message is this, "pay close attention, say that with me, church, "pay close attention. "Dare we Father, we love you? "We thank you, we seek your presence, "we seek your word, we seek your truth. "We know that our sin, this world, "our flesh, the enemy himself, "as seeking to distance us from you, "but we desire intimacy with you. "We want our faith in you to turn into good works. "We want our belief systems in you

"to actually be manifested into a day-to-day lifestyle. "So we walk in obedience as we say no to sin, "and as we share and spread the good news. "God, we love you and we thank you, "and if there's anyone in this room who does not know you, "I pray that you convict them, encourage them, "and let them know that you desire "to offer them grace and mercy. "Be with us this morning as we spend time in your word. "Let the church say together, amen." Church, how amazing is it that we worship a God that pursues after us way before we ever pursue it after Him? You may have heard this before, but what makes Christianity so unique is this, every other religion, it's man trying to find his way up to God, but Christianity is God coming down, seeking to find his way back to man. We see this ultimately in the first coming of Jesus Christ. Isn't this so special? God's stepping out of heaven to find his home with man because man chose to abandon his home in God. But here's what's so interesting about Jesus stepping out of heaven over 2,000 years ago. When God stepped out of heaven to find his dwelling place with us, man, he did so humbly. Jesus coming to this earth was so wonderful. The king of the universe was born in Bethlehem, and no one even knew it until these wise men came searching for him, looking to worship him and give him gifts. The god of the universe came into this world in the loneliest of ways. He entered into this world as an infant. The most

weak and vulnerable state one can be in, even more vulnerable than my messed up leg. Jesus was not born to parents of noble status, only regular people. His birth was not in luxury, just a manger, because there were not the adequate travel arrangements for them to stay and in. When royalty is born, there is normally a great expectancy. People are counting down the days. There is an audience waiting to witness every detail, not with King Jesus. Only a few shepherds in the book of Luke and some wise men in the book of Matthew wanted to witness this birth. If someone were to tell you, "Hey, the god of the universe decided to become a man," no one would ever picture a little Hebrew family with a baby wrapped in shabby cloth sitting in a place where animals would eat out of. But now that we see the bigger picture, now that the New Testament has been written and studied for over thousands of years, we understand that Jesus' first coming was humble in this way because his humility embodied his first mission. Jesus' first mission was not to step out of heaven to be worshiped or praised and lifted high and marveled at. No, Jesus' first mission was to step out of heaven and to die for the sins of humanity. Jesus had humble beginnings because Jesus came to be humiliated. Jesus was wrapped in shabby cloths to eventually be stripped of his clothes to be beaten. Jesus was placed in a manger, a place where animals would eat out of because he would ultimately be placed on a cross to shed his blood for our sins. Christianity, the religion where God comes to man because true religion teaches that sinful man can't approach the Holy God. But the emphasis that I really want us to lock in on is, yes, there is a glorious reality that Christ came to us but how he came to us. The means in which God pursued after us is this. He came as the suffering servant, Isaiah 53. Jesus came to serve sinners. Jesus came to give up his life so we can have eternal life in the Father. Oh, church, what a glorious mission Jesus accomplished for us on his first coming over 2000 years ago. This is what we all say together. Amen. But you want to know what else is special about this church? The first coming of Jesus is not all there is. The scripture says Jesus is coming back again. A Christian doctrine says Jesus will come again and when he does this time it's going to be the exact opposite of how he came the first time. And Jesus second coming, he's not coming in shabby cloths but robes of glory. This time when Jesus comes the Bible says everyone is going to know it's him. We will all be his audience. This time when Jesus comes again he's not coming to be humiliated. He's coming to give his final blow. One sin Satan and everyone who's pursuing after the corrupted desires of this world. And Jesus first coming, it was just a few shepherds and a

couple of wise men of the east bowing to him but in a second coming every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Christ is Lord. He's not coming in humility but in full glory and sinners won't be greeted with grace like all of us have. But all who remain in their sin and will be greeted with destruction. So when I second, in our book in second Peter, Peter is writing to Christian who are ultimately being lied to. There are these false teachers telling them that Jesus is not coming back. Peter is just making all of this mess up. Like don't listen to this mess. Don't be sitting around waiting for the second coming of Christ. Just go and just live your lives so as Peter is in chains and prison waiting to eventually take his last breath for the cause of Christ. The apostle is telling them Christ is in fact coming so you better pay attention because once again in his first coming he came with grace, mercy and humility with a desire to say He's meeting sinners with justice and judgment. Think about it, if you were the apostle Peter, what would you do? What would you say in order to try to convince someone that Christ is in fact returning? People already know that Peter is a miracle worker. We know the story is in Acts when he gave a lame man the ability to walk. Peter's already preached messages where thousands of people were saved. What would you do if you were trying to plead with people to get them to understand this important truth? Don't think just because we're experiencing persecution or because Peter's in change, Christ is not returning. If you were Peter, what method would you use to convince them? And our passage Peter points to three very important things to plead with the recipients of this letter that Christ is indeed returning. And I wanna say it in one statement and this statement is gonna sum up really the focus

of our passage. Here's the statement, it's gonna be on the screen. The second coming of Jesus Christ is no man-made myth but has been confirmed by our witnesses, hundreds of years of prophecy and God himself through the inspiration of Scripture. So as these Christians are being lied to being told that Christ isn't returning Peter's response is extremely simple. I am an actual witness of this truth. The Scripture is also a witness of this truth and God himself the author of Scripture, the author of this biblical prophecy is a witness of this truth. So you're not just simply disobeying Scripture, you disbelieving the second coming of Christ, you are disobeying God himself. These are the arguments that he's about to walk through. So the reality is many of us in his room, we probably, most of us believe that Jesus is literally returning again. So a question, how is this message going to relate to us? Here's what I pray is a huge challenge. You may not have someone in your ear trying to convince you that Jesus is not returning in judgment but you may have sin in your heart that's trying to convince you that Jesus is not returning in judgment. This makes sense. Here's what I mean.

When your heart knows that Jesus is coming back to destroy sin, that should lead all of us to have this sense of urgency to make sure no sin is living peacefully in our hearts. Why? Because when Jesus comes back, he's not pursuing peace with sinners like in his first coming, that was his first mission. But in the second coming, he's pursuing justice. So when we are allowing sin to live peaceably within us, we are treating sin as if Jesus is actually not returning. He's actually not coming to put to death the very thing that corrupted God's beautiful creation. So intellectually, we know that Christ is coming, but morally if not careful, our sinful hearts will actually try to get us to ignore this reality that Christ is indeed returning. And maybe there's someone in this room that actually struggles with the literal idea that Christ is returning. And if that's you, I pray that through us walking through God's work together, that you're encouraged and convinced that no Christ is indeed coming. Let's go back to verse 16 and let's spend time unpacking the rest of this passage. So Peter says, once again, for we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

They were not cleverly meant, clever myths, but we were eyewitnesses of His Majesty. So Peter's responding directly to the tack of these false teachers. Peter makes it really clear. He and the other apostles didn't make this up. Jesus is coming in full power and glory. Peter is not sitting in chains awaiting his death over some story he made up. Who in their right minds would risk their life over a fairy tale that they made up? Not a fairy tale that someone else made up and then deceived them and the trick in them that it was true. No, we're talking about a fairy tale that he himself made up. That's completely different. Who would do such a thing? So some of us may ask, oh, wait a minute, why would these false teachers think they were making this up? Like what would lead some of these people into being unsure that Christ is indeed returning? I want us to listen to the words of Paul where he writes in 2nd Thessalonians, chapter 1, verses 7 to 10. It should be on the screen in front of you. Paul says this. He says, "And to grant relief to you who are afflicted." and flaming fire. That's the key. Mighty angels flaming fire inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His

might. When He comes on that day to be glorified in His saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed because our testimony to you who was believed. So when Jesus' second coming Paul is talking about angels and fiery flames and these false teachers are like, really? Is that what y'all? This is what y'all are teaching. This is what you think is going to happen. This sounds like a myth. This sounds like this scary story that y'all are just making up seeking to control our behavior. See, if we believe Jesus is coming back ready to punish people, it would make us live however you want us to live. These are just scary tactics that you're seeking to control us. We can live however we want to live. This makes sense while Peter actually says at the end of 2 Peter in chapter 3 verses 15 through 16, listen, Peter says, "And count the patient of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you." So the apostle Paul has already written to some of these Christians just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him as he does in all of his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that may be hard to understand which the ignorant and the unstable twist to their own destruction as they do the other scriptures. So basically Peter is saying, I know this may be hard to understand. I know there may be some truths about Christ returning to judge. It may not make sense with your current reality, but don't listen to these false teachers. Why? Because Peter is about to go on and explain because he's actually witnessed this thing. It's going to happen in a vision that the Lord gave him. Let's see what Peter's referring to when he says we have witnessed. Let's go to verses 17 to 18. "For when he received honor and glory from God the Father and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain." It's interesting. Did you know if there's only three times recorded in the New Testament where people were able to audibly hear the voice of the Father? Only three times recorded in the New Testament. The first is the most well known is when Jesus was baptized and then what happens? The Father says, "This is my beloved son with whom I am well. What church? Please." Another time, which is not as familiar maybe to some of us, is in John chapter 12, this is where Jesus is telling the crowd he's about to go and suffer and die. He's about to be lifted up. This is after his triumphful entry. His soul then starts to become troubled because we know Jesus is fully God, fully man. As a man, his soul was actually troubled over the death that he was about to experience and then listen what happens in verses 27 to 28 in John 12. Jesus says,

"Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I have come to this hour." And then he says, "Father, glorify your name." And then this is what happens next and a voice came from heaven. I have glorified it and I will glorify it again. Peter was a witness to both of these things, but what he's really pointing at in verses 17 to 18 is another time when people audibly heard the voice of the Father and it's in the mountain of transfiguration. If you remember in Matthew, in Mark chapter 9, Matthew chapter 17, and also Luke chapter 9, Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him to a mountain and something vitally important happens because the mountain of transfiguration is such a key argument in what Peter uses to combat the lives of these false teachers. Let's give a quick recap. Let's reread over the mountain of transfiguration. Let's see what Peter is trying to accomplish as he takes us back on memory lane about this incredible story. Matthew chapter 17 verses 1 through 9. So Matthew 17 was 1 through 8, "And after six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves, and he was transfigured before them. And his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, They appear to them Moses and others. "Lord, is it good that we are here if you wish? "I will make three tents here, one for you, "one of the Moses and one for Eliza. "He was still speaking when behold, here we go, "a bright cloud overshadowed them, "and a voice from the cloud said, "'This is my beloved son, with whom I am well. "What church? "Please, listen to him.' "When the disciples heard this, "they fell in their faces and were terrified, "but Jesus came and touched them saying, "'Rise and have no fear, and when they lifted up their eyes, "they saw no one, but Jesus only.' So here's an important question.

Let's think about this. Why would Peter point to the mountain to transfiguration as evidence that Jesus is actually coming back? Does this not seem a little strange? Just add a quick glance of this reading. It doesn't really sound like that has any indication that Christ is returning. Matter of fact, why would Peter not go back into Acts chapter one? We remember the story. Jesus is resurrected, and he spends 40 days with his followers, and he's teaching them, and he's doing all these amazing things, and he's ensuring up doubts. And then what happens? He tells them to wait in Jerusalem, 'cause I'm gonna give you the power to Holy Spirit, so you can be the witness. And then what happens? He ascends into heaven, and what do the apostles and the disciples do? They're just stuck to look at and engaged into heavens as he's ascending. And then what happens? An angel appears next to them and listen to what the angel says in Acts chapter one verse 11. Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him going to heaven. Doesn't this seem like a little bit more of an obvious blatant example

that Christ is returning? Here's why it's so important, and it's in the word transfigured. The original word means metamorphist, change, transform. The text says in Matthew chapter 17 verse two, Jesus face change, transform to being bright like the sun, and its clothes became as white as light. What's happening here? What Peter, James, and John saw was Jesus in his full majesty and glory. Which is why if we go back to our texts in second Peter, verse 16, Peter says we were our witnesses of his majesty. Once again, why is this so important? Where is the dots being connected? Just think about it. One of the main reasons why the Jews doubted that Jesus was the Messiah in the first place, that Jesus was the king in the first place, is because they had the only category they had for the Messiah was this king who would come in power and glory and majesty seeking to defeat all of God's enemies. But instead, 2000 years ago, Jesus came in humility and death. So if we pay attention to the flow of the gospel of Matthew as he's telling this story of the mountain of transfiguration, it actually makes perfect sense. Watch, here's what I mean. The mountain of transfiguration was told in Matthew chapter 17, you wanna know what happened

just to chapter earlier in Matthew 16? Jesus tells his followers again, I'm about to die. I'm about to go to Jerusalem. I'm about to be delivered up into the hands of my enemies. I'm gonna be murdered. And then Peter says, oh no, this has never happened to you Messiah. You're the Messiah, you can't suffer, you can't die. You're supposed to have supreme glory and majesty. You're supposed to destroy the enemies of God. How are you gonna be destroyed by our enemies? And what was Jesus' infamous rebuke to Peter? Get behind me, Satan. So once again, why is all this important? It's because the Jews didn't have the full story. They knew the Messiah was supposed to come in power and glory, but that was in his second coming. Not his first. So in his first coming, Jesus came in humility. And that confused the people because they thought he was supposed to come in power and wrath. So Peter says, you can't die. And now in his second coming, he's coming in mighty power and wrath. And now these false teachers are like, really, who's gonna believe angels in fiery flames? Aren't we the same way church? Our expectations of God is always mixed match, right? We can't seem to get it right so many times. Our expectations are either too small or as boxed in

or our expectations of God is too self-centered. So we always missed the point. So even though Jesus' first coming was in humility, listen, church, Jesus wanted to let his inner circle know that a second coming was going to be... So he takes them up to this mountain and he transforms before their very eyes. Jesus' face was so bright, it was like the sun, his clothes was so bright, it was like looking at light. This is Jesus' true glory. And then they hear the voice from the Father. This is my son, whom I am well pleased. Matthew places this story showing Peter and the other two apostles that Jesus' true nature of majesty because Peter and the rest were confused about his nature as the suffering servant. So the mountain of transfiguration Christ is saying, I know you're confused, I know I'm talking about I'm about to go and die, I know I'm about to give up my life and the category that you have of me being the Messiah is this supreme ruler who's about to come and just rain down rousing everyone. I know that's the category that you have, but my first mission was to be a suffering servant, but I am coming back and here's what my glory is gonna look like, his face turns into as bright as the sun, his clothes like the light. This is what the entire world is gonna see on my second coming. This is what he's saying on the mountain of transfiguration.

So while Peter is in chains hearing about the lives of these false teachers saying that the second coming of Christ is just baloney, it's just a fairy tale. Peter is saying, oh no, we have witnessed this with our eyes, we've heard it with our ears. We could barely even experience it. - Peter understood that the glory Jesus showed him on the mountain of transfiguration was the same glory. The rest of the world is gonna see. And when he comes, he is coming for justice. No more peace with sinners, only destruction, but there's one more element on the mountain of transfiguration that we really haven't hit on yet and that's in the fact that in this vision, there was two other individual scene. It was Moses and Elijah. Them being there showed that the whole Old Testament law in Moses and then the whole Old Testament prophets and the prophet Elijah points to the fact that the whole world is gonna see Christ in this glory and the same glory that the three saw on the mountain. The whole scriptures point to Christ in its full glory. Remember, his first coming, he came to be a sacrificial lamb. Oh, but a second coming every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. Which leads to the rest of Peter's argument. Watch, let's go to verse 19. No. Verse 19, he says, and we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed to which you would do well

to pay attention to as a lamp shining in a dark place and to the day dawns and the morning store rises in your hearts. Peter is saying so many things and just in this one verse. First, he's saying that the prophecy's about Christ in the Old Testament, which is why both Moses and Elijah's presence and the transfiguration is so important. It's validation that's representing the whole Old Testament is pointing to this reality. Then he says, it's more fully confirmed by Peter's eyewitness account of when he saw this amazing vision. The eyewitness accounts of Jesus Christ are crazy important in studying history the past, when we study the past, the words who hold the most weight in explaining a specific event are those who actually witness the event. We understand this, right? Studying history is tricky. I mean, how do we know what actually happened if none of us was there? The key is finding the one who actually was there. Peter is saying, I was there. It reminds me, so many of y'all, some of y'all, I guess, know I'm still a new guy here. I play football and back in 2015, we played a school called West Alabama. That doesn't maybe sound too impressive to y'all,

but there was one individual on that team that was extremely impressive, and it was Tyree Kiel, the cheetah, he played for West Alabama in 2015. So, you want to talk about eyewitness? I can't remember what you want it was. It was either a reverse or a screen. I'm a corner back, and he gets the ball, and all it takes is a receiver to just get in my way for half of a second, and then our witness, I saw cheetah, peer on dart. I would show y'all the film, but I'm already beat up and embarrassed, so we're not gonna do that. The Old Testament prophecy speaking about Christ coming in glory is confirmation number one. And then Peter is saying, me witnessing the transfiguration is confirmation number two. So he says in verse 19, the prophetic word is more fully confirmed. So he also says in verse 19, pay attention. Pay attention to my apostolic witness. Pay attention to the Old Testament prophecies, like Joel chapter two, where it describes the day of the Lord with these ends. Pay attention because he is returning and it won't be like his first coming church. And then finally in verse 19, Peter says, "Like a lamp signing in a dark place "into the day dawns and the morning star rises "in your hearts."

In other words, in other parts of scripture like Revelation, Jesus is referred to as the morning star. In other parts of scripture, the day dawning is referring to as judgment day. So Peter says, "This light will rise in your heart," meaning you will know in your heart Christ returned. Our days may seem dark. Sometimes we can lose hope that Christ is actually returning, but just like it's easy to see a lamp in a dark space, it's gonna be that easy to see Christ and he returns because he is the light returning into a dark world. And then he closes with these two verses 21 and 21. Knowing this, first of all that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. So listen to his logic. Let's make sure we're understanding Peter's logic. Let's make sure we're tracing it. He says, "I'm an eyewitness to the fact "that Jesus is returning his example "is a mountain of transfiguration. "Prophesy is another proof that Christ is returning. "Think about Joel chapter two, Ezekiel talks about it "in chapters 37 and 39, and some scholars believe "Daniel chapter nine is also referring to this, "but then this chapter closes with something really important. "Peter wants all of his readers to understand

"that the scriptures that prophesy about the second coming "and the scriptures that talk about everything else, "for that matter, is not merely written by man." Yes, biblical authors were human. Yes, the biblical authors who wrote the prophecies, they used their own individual experiences and their own individual personalities and their own linguistic styles of writing when they wrote, but the true author's scripture is not man-church, the true author of scriptures got himself through the work of the Holy Spirit. See, we as Christians should believe in what we call the dual authorship of the scriptures. The dual, D-U-A-L, here's what this means. Did Moses write the first five books of the Bible? The answer is yes. Did God write the first five books of the Bible? The answer is yes. Dual authorship, both God and man wrote the scriptures. Some may say, man, I just can't trust the scriptures because man wrote it and since man's not perfect and that means the scriptures that they wrote must also not be perfect, so I can't trust it. But if we really think about it, doesn't the dual authorship of scripture actually make sense in regards to God's character? Here's what I mean. God always has a desire to fulfill his will in this world through us, mankind. God created this world beautifully, but in many ways,

it was incomplete, so what did he do? He gave man the responsibility to work, toil the land so God's creation can reach its full beauty. He could have created this world in full completeness, but he did not. He created this world without reaching its full potential because he wanted to partner with man to complete his creation. He gave Adam a job in the Garden of Eden. Another example, God could have saved humanity completely by himself without using us to spread his word, but nope, he wanted to use us to church. He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit and then he gave us a mission, so Paul says how beautiful is the feet of those who spread the good news? God could have saved humanity without us, but instead God desires to partner with us to spread his word. God could have given us his word directly from the heavens, but instead he wanted to use the apostles, the prophets, to speak through them, to get the message to us. The dual authorship of scripture is a beautiful doctrine. That should be trusted and accepted. But here's what Peter's main focus is right here. Peter's like, you're a fool. If you don't listen to me about the second coming of Jesus, because I actually witnessed this vision with my own eyes. He's also saying, you're a fool if you don't believe in the second coming of Jesus, because hundreds of years of prophecy speaks to this event.

But you want to know what's even more foolish to not listen into prophecy or not listening to me? It's when you don't listen to God himself, because God himself is the author of these scriptures. Church, we can never disconnect the word of God from the person of God. We can't disconnect it. Not listening to scripture is not just It's ignoring the God who spoke through man to write the scripture. Because the authors of scriptures are not just men using their own interpretation when they wrote on these scrolls. They were speaking directly from God, which is why we say something very important every Sunday when we engage the Bible. The Bible is what church? True. We can't disconnect the word of God from the person of God. Our scriptures contains the mind of God. It contains the emotions of God. It contains the mission of God, the power of God. Our scriptures contain the very presence of God. This Bible is God's word. The Holy Spirit has been inspired. The Holy Scriptures have been inspired by the Holy Spirit. So here's how I wanna close. If you remember, I said that there may not be someone in your ear that's seeking to convince some of us

that Christ is not literally returning, but there may be sin in your heart that's trying to make you live as if Christ is not returning. Do you have any sin in your heart, church, that is living peacefully within you? Is there any sin that you may have made peace with instead of war? John Owen says one of the most popular quotes about old Puritans, he says you better be killing sin. If not sin, it will be killing you. That means we need to go to war with sin, but if not careful, can't we make peace with our sin? Maybe we're trying to convince ourselves that you know what, this sin's really not that bad or maybe we convince ourselves that you know, I just really need no hope for my sin and I've tried and I just, I can't change so whatever, I'm just gonna keep on living. Or are you just struggling your shoulders after a sin like, and you know what, no one's perfect. Jesus knows my heart, you know, it's all gonna work out. You wanna know if sin is found peace on your heart? Ask yourself these questions. When's the last time you confess these sins to someone? Do you have a plan to actually repent and go to war with these sins? Have you ever fasted over these sins? Have you ever asked someone to pray specifically for these sins? Or do we make excuses and say, man, this is just who I am.

You know, this is just kind of just who I am. Church, that's never been an excuse that we say, we should be more worried about who we are in Christ instead of who just who we are according to our sin nature. Because like last week's message, the pastor Todd walked us through, there is power to change and it's through Jesus Christ. There's power to change and that power was revealed to us through his first coming. And this is especially important. Here's one of the last statements that I wanna close with. We either receive the power to change that's available to us through Christ's first coming or we receive the power of God's wrath that will be waiting for us through Christ's second coming. So Peter is saying you'd better pay attention to my apostolic witness to these hundreds of years of prophecy and the spirit of God himself because he is returning and when he does, his full glory will be on display. What Peter, James and John saw at the mountain of transfiguration, we're all gonna witness it as well. The whole world will. So, there's anyone in this room who needs to receive mercy from their sins. Because we have two options, experience the grace from Christ's first coming or it's experience the wrath of Christ's second coming. Those are our only two options that's available to us church. So right here right now as we close,

is there anyone who's like, man, I really need to do, I need to go to war with my sin. I've been making sin my friend and we can't never be friend something that Christ has made an enemy. And if there's anyone in this room who feels like me and you've been making peace with your sin, I pray that right here right now that you surrender, that you change jerseys, you don't make friends with your sin, that you actually partner with the spirit of God, the word of God and the people of God to actually go to war with your sin. But here's the thing that where you will lose every single time until you actually surrender your life to Jesus. So if there's anyone in this room who needs to do so, I encourage you. can be this disconnect between what we intellectually believe in our theology and how we actually live in our everyday lives. So in this context we're talking about our sin, are we treating our sin as if Jesus is coming? And here's the second thing, what about our pain? Are we viewing our pain as if Jesus is coming? Because remember Revelation 21 verse 4 says, "He will wipe every teal from their eyes and that shall be no more and neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away." I need to hear this truth, hear this truth church because I've been catching myself throwing a little pity party for my little bummed out leg but I'm not a victim church. Jesus is coming and there's going to be a day where I can jump and never blow my

Achilles again church. In the pain that some of you all are experiencing as well, sometimes we can find ourselves throwing a pity party and there's some real life suffering that is like, "Wow!" But I'll never forget my pastor back at home in Nashville, his son passed away to go to the Lord. And I remember him standing on stage and this is what he said, he said, "Don't pity me. We want your prayers but don't pity me and my family because we have everything in Christ." And Christ is returning and when he returns, everything that we lose, we will get back tenfold. So here's how I want to close. Is there anyone in this room who needs a surrender their life to Christ because when Christ comes on a second coming, all is there's wrath and we'll be a fool to not take advantage of what he's provided in his first coming which is grace and mercy? And is there anyone in this room who feel like it's the pain, it's just getting the best of them and you need to be reminded of the truth, that oh Jesus is coming back and this pain, it hurts really bad, really bad but we just need help from God's people through praying through counseling through whatever we need to direct our attention on the fact that although this pain is real, the second coming of Christ is also real. And the pain that's getting in the way for me to have joy in Christ will be no more and we will worship in all eternity with our Master who the Father spoke from the heavens and said, "This is my Son whom I am well pleased and through our faith He will also say, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant.'" Dear Heavenly Father, we love you and we thank you. If there's anyone in this room who needs to respond to your word, to your gospel God, I pray that you lead someone to salvation. I pray that you lead someone to repentance. I pray that you lead someone to start taking repentance serious where we go to war with our sin instead of seeking to make peace with our sin, instead of seeking to make excuses for our sin and I pray God if there's anyone in this room who's suffering, that you let them leave church today with a smile on their face. Not because their suffering is gone but because we know that you will, you're coming back Jesus and we will never have a tear roll down our face again. We love you and we thank you. Let the church say together, amen and amen.