The Certain Return of Christ | Last Words of Dying Man Series

Hey, grab your Bibles, if you would, we're going to be in second Peter chapter number three, second Peter chapter three. How many of you, as you look at the kind of the landscape of our culture and just the chaos of our world, the chaos of our nation, you find yourself just looking around going, what in the world is going on in the world around? Raise your hand if that, Gene, do anybody feel that way? You're just looking and going, what in the world? What's going to happen in the future? Here's what we're going to talk about today. We're going to look today at the certainty of Jesus' return. And so as we see chaos in the culture, as we see wars across the globe, here's what we have to recognize is that the fact that Jesus Christ is coming back is going to in the hearts of every person should either bring us to a place of dread in light of that day or in hope in light of that day. And this is what I want us to talk about this morning. Peter is going to remind us in the entirety of chapter three, both this week and next week, we're going to look at the second coming of Christ, the return of Jesus in the midst of a world of chaos. For believers, here is my hope. My hope is, is that you would find encouragement and comfort, and that you would be anchored on this foundation, that you would not waver, and you would begin to live in light of that. So second Peter chapter three is where we're going to be. Start reading in verse one, if you're there, say the Bible is true. He says, "This is now the second letter that I'm writing to you beloved. In both of them, I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder." Now, something we've got to understand, Peter is writing in his first letter, and now this one, he's giving them a lot of reminders, gospel reminders, different reminders about the things that has already been revealed in the Scripture, and specifically in chapter three of second Peter, he is going to remind them about the second coming of Christ. So he's not introducing a new subject to them, it's something that they know Christ promised he was going to return. They know that, and he's reminding them of that really because of some of the things that they're facing in the culture and the false teachings around them. But he does this by calling them beloved. Why is that important? That in this chapter, as he talks about the second coming of Christ, he's not rebuking false teachers, he's actually encouraging true believers. He's going to say some harsh things about judgment and condemnation, but he's doing this as a way of encouragement for his people so that they would persevere in the midst of those who would mock Jesus and make fun of his return. Look what he goes on to say. He says in verse two, he says that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior

through the apostles. Now what is he talking about here? So in chapter three, he's reminding them about the return of Christ, that Jesus Christ is coming again. Amen? And he wants them to know that they can live with confidence because the Word of God has revealed that Jesus is coming back. He talks about this is made known through the prophets. What he's talking about is the writings of the Old Testament that the prophets of the Old Testament would tell us that the day of the Lord is coming. There's a day of judgment coming, a day where God is going to enter into humanity's space and he is going to bring both condemnation and restoration all together where he will redeem his people and restore all things and he's going to judge on the day of the Lord and in the day of the Lord all the wickedness of the world. He's telling us, look the Old Testament has been telling us about this. But not just the Old Testament, the New Testament tells us this as well. That's why he talks about the teachings of Jesus and the apostles here in verse two. So what does he mean? Well what Peter wants us to remember is that they were eyewitnesses to the teachings of Jesus, that Jesus said himself that he was going to return. In fact we see this. Peter was there in John 14 when he told the disciples, hey, don't let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, what I've told you that I go there to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, what? I will return to take you to where I am. And so Peter was there when Jesus made this promise. Peter was also there the day that Jesus ascended back to heaven. And if you remember the story as they're looking at the sky like holy smoke, where did he go? The angels kind of tapped him on the shoulder and was like, hey, why are you staring at the heaven? The same way that Jesus ascended the very same way he is going to descend again. That Jesus is going to return. And he's telling us that they've written about this. So the New Testament records for us the words of Jesus and the teachings of the apostles. And true because it is not the words of man being spoken, but rather the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Whenever you read God's Word, read the Bible, you are reading God's very Word. This is inspired by the Holy Spirit, amen? So what Peter is telling us is listen, God's Word through and through both Old Testament and New Testament points to the reality that Jesus Christ is going to return. And this is a predominant theme of the 27 books of the New Testament. 23 of them explicitly refer to the Second Coming of Christ. Two others mentioned it. Only two letters in the entire New Testament don't mention the Second Coming of Christ. Here's another little statistic for you about the New Testament in the return of Christ. Of the roughly 260 chapters in the New Testament, within the 260

chapters of the New Testament, there are over 300 references to the Second Coming of Christ. Peter wants us to know with certainty Jesus Christ is coming again. Now the question is why is he giving us and them this reminder? Here is the reason. Look what he says in verse three. He says knowing this, first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing following their own sinful desires. And here's what he's saying. He says in the last days, by the way, this is a question that gets asked to me a lot through the years. Hey, are we in the last days? The answer is yes. The last days actually began when Jesus ascended. We have been in the last days and we are closer than ever to the return of Christ. And so here's what he says, in the last days, in the days in which we're living in, he says scoffers will come. And what they're going to scoff specifically is this idea that Jesus is going to return. They're going to mock this idea of judgment coming and Jesus coming back and they're going to ridicule believers. And what Peter wants us to understand is that in the face of opposition, in the face of persecution, in the face of mockery and scoffing about Jesus and his return, he wants us to stand strong in the face. Now, look what he says in verse four, he's going to show us the type of scoffing. What are they going to say? How are they going to mock this idea of Jesus return? Verse four, they will say, "Where is the promise of His coming?" Where's the promise of His coming? "For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation." So in other words, the false teachers are going to come. Those who had mocked the second coming of Christ, here's what they're going to say. Where is this Jesus you've been telling us is going to come back? Where is this judgment that we should be fearing? Where is this day of the Lord when He's going to come back? He's like, "Man, y'all been saying this for 2,000 years. The prophets in the Old Testament for thousands of years talked about the day of the Lord. The disciples talked about the day of the Lord. The preachers have been preaching about the day of the Lord. And it has not happened. Where is this? Why isn't He come already?" And so they're going to mock and scoff thinking about the fact that creation has been going on without any interruption. And yet for all of these years, y'all have been putting your hope in that your king is going to return. They're mocking the return of Christ. It's been 2,000 years and He told us He was coming back. You're just the apostles of the New Testament. They thought Jesus was coming in their day and then now the preachers today are saying it's going to come in our day and they'll make this kind of a mockery or scoffing doctrine. And here's the thing. So the question is this. How many of you have ever,

and this is true for me, but how many of you would confess and say, "Man, there have been moments where I'm like, is He really going to come back because it's been a long time?" Anybody ever felt like that? Yeah. And could it really happen in our day? They've been saying that for a long time. So here's the question. If those of us who know Jesus is going to come back at moments will have those, is He really going to come back? Imagine the way the world thinks about this idea of the Second Coming of Christ. The scoffing and the mocking. And here's what Peter is afraid for us. He's afraid that if we're not careful, we're going to begin to think, well, maybe He's not coming. So the question is, how does Peter refute the mocking? How does he refute this scoffing of these false teachers who are going to question the Second Coming? And here's what we're going to discover. We're going to walk through these verses and what we're going to discover is that Peter is going to tell us you can live with certainty in the Second Coming by simply looking at the nature of God. He's going to point us to a number of attributes of God, God's character and His nature. And He's saying to us, "The nature of God itself gives us that he's going to return. You say, "What do you mean?" Well, I grew up deer hunting with my dad, and I started hunting at an early, and Arkansas is like a way of food for us when I grew up. And so we couldn't, you know, survive all football as yesterday proved, but we, so anyway, we loved to hunt. And so I was hunting by myself at a very early age, like nine or 10 years old. My dad would walk me out to the deer stand, put me on the deer stand and basically say, "Okay, you're going to sit here until I come back." And I always hated evening hunts. And here's why. Because my dad didn't believe in coming back until everything was dark, like dark 30,

like 30 minutes after dark is when he came and got us. And so I remember as a kid, my dad put him on the deer stand and he's like, "Look, do not get up. Do not leave. Do not get off this stand until I come back." Like there's going to be a moment where the sun's going to go down and you're going to get probably scared. You may even hear some things in the woods. Coyotes may start, you know, yapping and you're going to be uncomfortable and you're going to want to get out and run out to the road. But I'm telling you, you've got to wait until I come back. And he would always say this, but I'm going to come back. And I'll just tell you, as a kid, the only thing that I had to hang on to in those moments as the, that got dark and the trees began to look like monsters, you know what I'm talking about? And like everything was moving. The coyotes were like, they're probably a mile away and you felt like they were right there with you in the deer stand. I would be literally shaking. And the only thing that kept me in place was the fact that my father always kept his word. In other words, the nature of my father is what gave me hope in the middle of the darkness. Listen to me church, listen, we were living in dark days. We were living in days that can bring fear and worry about the future and about what's going to happen. But listen, what Peter's going to show us,

the nature of our father can give us hope in the dark. So I'm going to look at that this morning. So here's what we're going to do. I'm going to give you three sets of attributes or character traits of God's nature that give us the certainty to know it may look like he's not coming back, but he's coming back. Here's the first that I want you to write down, write down this. First of all, we see that God is sovereign and transcendent. God is sovereign and transcendent. Look what he says in verse number five. He says, for they deliberately overlook this fact, talking about those who are scoffing the second coming. For they deliberately overlook this fact that the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of the Lord. Verse six, and that by means of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perish. You're like, what in the world is he talking about here? He's talking about the sovereignty of God. You say, so what is the sovereignty of God? We'll give you a definition. Wayne Grudem says this about the sovereignty of God. It's simply this, it's God's exercise of power over all his creation. It's God's exercise of power over all his creation.

The sovereignty of God simply means this, that God rules and reigns and has all power over all things. And this is what Peter is emphasizing. Think about the scoffing that was going on. Where is this return of Christ? Where is this judgment? I mean, the world has continued and all of this that you were talking about, God's gonna intervene in human history and bring about this event that's gonna change everything and the scoffers are going. Man, the world has been going on for thousands of years and there's been no intervention, there's been no change. Where is this God that you're talking about is coming back? In other words, they were saying because he hasn't intervened in his return. They're going, "He hasn't done anything in creation." And so what Peter does is does this. He says, "Look, so I'm just gonna highlight some things." He says, "These scoffers deliberately overlook two important things in the Old Testament." Number one, creation. And he reminds us of God's sovereignty over creation. In other words, whenever the world was first created, it was chaos, it was without form, it was void. And there was water over the face of the deep. In other words, there's this mass of chaos in God by his word and sovereignty broke into the chaos and just by speaking into creation,

the sun found its place, the moon found its place, the stars, the water separated, land appeared, everything that we have now and the natural of order of things came to be out of chaos simply by the word of the Lord. God is sovereign over creation and we see it by looking at the creation account. God intervened to chaos and brought order. And then he says, if you follow the timeline of the Bible a little further, you'll remember that by the word of the Lord, in his sovereignty, he spoke again in the cosmos where God allowed the water to cover his creation, and by his word and his power, he intervened in creation, and where there was sin and the evil, he brought about judgment upon it simply by his word. In other words, the flood is an example of God's divine intervention and his sovereign power over creation, that just with his word, he can intervene and bring about judgment. Now here is the application. He gives us to case in point creation and the flood to show us God's sovereignty. Look at the application in verse 7. He says, "But by the same word, the heavens and the earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept in heaven until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly." In other words, he's saying, "God has a proven track record." At creation, he is verified and proven that he is sovereign over creation, and just by his word, he can bring order out of chaos. In the flood, God has proven himself to be sovereign just by his word. He can drown the earth in water and bring about judgment. And the same word that God used in creation, and the same word that God used when he flooded the earth, is the same word and the same power that he will speak and sovereignly, he will bring divine intervention and bring judgment on the earth when Jesus Christ returns.

The sovereignty of God and what he has done. So here is the point, listen, he has a proven track record. His promise can be believed, listen to this, and his power is limitless, and just like he has intervened in creation before, he will do it again. Not only is he sovereign, he is transcendent, he is transcendent. Now, the word transcendence is not something we talk about a lot, the transcendence of God. You say, "What is the transcendence of God?" John Piper says this, "It simply means that God is above independent of and different from his creation. But God is above independent and different from his creation." In other words, he is not bound to or dependent upon creation, that God exists in a realm beyond limitations. There's nothing that we are bound by that God is not bound by. Now why is that important? Think about what the scoffers are saying. Where is this return of Jesus? It's been thousands of years, and the fathers have gone to the grave, and the apostles have been preaching. It's been 2,000 years since Jesus ascended, and y'all have been talking about him coming back. It's been 2,000 years, why hasn't he come back? And here is what Peter is going to do. He is going to address this by showing us the transcendence of God. Look what he says in verse number eight. He says this, "But do not overlook this one fact beloved, that with the Lord one day is a thousand years, and a thousand years is as what?" One day. He's saying the scoffers are looking at their watches, and they're looking at their calendars and going, "Man, it's been 2,000 years.

Where is he?" And here is the problem. They are trying to hold God to a standard that they are bound to, but he is not. You see, we are bound by space and time, are we not? So here's a challenge for you. Try to make it through one day, and just regular normal conversation, and make no reference to time. Try to try to do that. Like if you meet somebody at work, hey, how is your day? Oh, wait a second. It's a reference of time. What time do you get off work? Okay, time. Here we go again. Hey, what do you do for a living? I do this. How long have you been doing that? That makes sense? All of our interaction, we are so bound to time and space. Are we not? And so when we look at the second coming, we can only think of that through the vantage points of our being limited into time and to space, right? So we think 2,000 years is a long time. But here's what Peter says. Look, you're looking at this through the wrong lens, through God's lens, you've got to understand. A thousand years? That's one day. One day? That's a thousand years.

Watch this. God exists beyond the cosmos, He exists beyond creation, which means this. Yesterday, today, tomorrow and 10 million years from now, it's all the same moment for Him. So we shouldn't look at 2,000 years and calls it to question, oh, wait, maybe He's not coming back and God's like 2,000 years. It's like two days for me. Church, hear me say this, Jesus Christ is going to come back. And we should not be discouraged because He hasn't done it yet. What we have to understand is in His divine nature, He is sovereign over everything. And in any moment He can, and when it's time He will, but let's not look at our calendars and look at our watches and wonder what's He waiting on, let's make sure that we remember He exists in sovereignty, listen to this, and transcends time and space. And let's just trust Him that He will do what He says He will do, right? Here's attribute group number two. Not only is He sovereign and transcendent, listen to this, He is patient and merciful. He's patient and He's merciful. Look what He says in verse 9. Jesus the Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise, what promise, the promise of His return. So we're looking at our watches and we're looking at our calendar going, man it's been 2000 years and we're going, what's taking Him so long, Peter wants us to make sure that we understand what this time gap means for us. Look what He says. The Lord is not slow to feel His promise as some count slowness, but is patient towards you not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. Do you follow what He's saying here? What He's saying is simply this, He says, look, when you look at this delay that Jesus ascended 2000 years ago, it's going to be really easy for you to go, man it's taken forever. Like why is He so slow to come back? Where is His return?

And He says, look, you got to look at it differently. You don't look at it as in, He's just tardy, you got to understand that He's not come back yet because He's patient. He's patient. You see God in His great love and His mercy for creation, He is delaying. So when you look at the world around you, when you look at the evil that exists, when you look at human trafficking and you look at the abuse of children, when you look at the evil that exists and the darkness that's in our world, listen, when you look at that, you've got to ask the question like, why hasn't He already burned this whole thing down? Amen? Like if we're truly honest, we won't indict God, look at Him going, how can a loving God condemn anyone? When we have, look at how can this evil broken world not already be condemned? Let me tell you why, why He hasn't burned it down yet because He's patient and He's merciful and Peter says, look, here's His heartbeat, watch this, He's not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance. So why is God delaying this return because He is temporarily by His mercy withholding from humanity what we deserve in order to give us what we don't deserve which is grace and forgiveness through the personal work of Jesus Christ? And you know what's so crazy about this? This delay that is an expression of God's nature of being patient and His nature of being merciful is the very thing that these scoffers are indicting God for. But they're literally mocking the very thing that God is giving them in order to redeem them in their broken fall and rebellion. You see this, actually this 34 says this, listen to this, "The Lord passed before Him and proclaimed the Lord the Lord, a God merciful and gracious," listen to this, slow to anger, what does that mean? Patient. And abounding and steadfast love and faithfulness. You see, what seems to be a delay in God's return is simply Him giving sinners an opportunity

to repent. This is what Paul writes in Romans chapter 2 verse 4, he says, "Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience?" You presume on those things, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance. So when the scoffers go, "Why hasn't He judged us yet?" You know what the answer is? It's because He's given you a chance to repent. Don't slap the hand of God that's offering you salvation. As a father, like I try to be a pretty good dad, I try and like patience is something I sometimes struggle with, anybody else centers in the room like me. And so like, but there'll be moments where you're like, "I know I'm not perfect dad, but I try to be patient." And especially when my kids are younger, there'll be those moments where like, "Man, they are just disobedient and like, it's a train wreck and then they won't, when you're getting on to Him, they won't stop talking." "Okay, listen, I got to go take a time out for a second." Because they deserve the heavy hand of love and nurture in that moment, nurture in the hindquarters of what I mean. But you're like, "I'm trying, look in my face. I'm going to tell you the 17th time, please knock it off. I don't want to go to that place, all right? Please." And you're just like, "Would you help me help you in this moment?" Like, are you -- I'm giving you fight. Could you stop talking? Right? Any parent ever felt that before? Listen to this. If we who are sinful parents can have that kind of patience,

how much mourners are Heavenly Father? God's judgment is coming. But His patience is now. And we need to take opportunity to proclaim it to those who need it and embrace it if we are in need of it. Because here's the reality. There's another set of attributes. And the reality is His patience and His mercy will come to an end in regards to opportunity. Why? Because here's the last two groups of attributes are character traits. God is holy and just. God is holy and just. Now, I want to unpack this for you just for a moment. God is holy and just. So what does it mean for Him to be holy and just? Well, holiness simply means to be perfect, to be set apart, to be in a category all by yourself. And I'll just say this. Biblically speaking, holiness is the hardest word to understand. And here's why. The word itself means category all by itself. Holy is completely different set apart. So a lot of words you can use like similes. You can like, it's like this or it's like this or it's kind of like this. But with holiness, you can't do that because it's in a category by itself. There's nothing you can compare it to. And so here's what when the Bible says that God is holy, it's saying He's all together different in a category

by Himself in a way that we can never fully comprehend or understand. That God is completely, morally and absolutely perfect and righteous in a category all by Himself. In fact, He's so holy that there are angels in heaven right now. And since their creation, here is their one job. They hover around the throne of God and they say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The earth is full of His glory." And this is a song and a chorus that they sing ever since creation for the rest of eternity. This will be the declaration of heaven. Why? Because no other word best describes God than holy. He is morally and righteously perfect with no flaw. And because of that, He is also just. So what does just means? Just simply means He's right. Like He's right. He sees things rightly. He judges things rightly. Justice in Him that is executed. So here's what that means. It means that what God says is good and what God says is evil is absolutely good and evil. What God says is true and what God says is false because He's just. He is right in declaring what is true and what is false. Does that make sense? And what that means is because He is just, that means He is the just judge, that He has the right ability, the only one who has the ability to bring about judgment on sinners.

That what He calls sin as sin, what He calls righteousness as righteousness. And He's the only one because of His nature who has the right to bring about judgment on good and evil, unrighteousness and righteousness. Are you tracking me so far? Now listen to this. And here's what that means. Because God is holy and just, it requires that He also must bring judgment on anything that is unholy and unrighteous. He has to. Because if God is holy and just, He must do this. He must judge what is unholy and unrighteous. And here's why. If He doesn't, then no longer is He holy or just. Because if He is holy and just, He must judge that which is out of step with His character and His nature. And the Bible repeatedly points us to the day of the Lord when Christ returns, listen to this, He will in His holiness and the fact that He will bring justice, He will execute the right judgment on creation. And here's what that's going to look like. Listen, it is going to bring about both. Listen, condemnation for In the day of the Lord, when He comes, His holiness and His justice will execute both condemnation on unrighteousness and the restoration of righteousness. I want to look at the first, the condemnation of unrighteousness on unrighteousness. Rather, look what He says in verse number 10, He says, "But the day of the Lord," this is a reference to the return of Christ, "but the day of the Lord will come like a thief." Now, eyes right here for a second. What does He mean? He's actually quoting the very words of Jesus. It'll come like a thief. When does a thief come? When you don't expect them to come. When you least expect them to come. Jesus uses the parable when He talks about His return. He says, "If the master of the home knew what time the thief was going to break in," He would have been

prepared. But thieves don't send an email. They don't, like, send out a message going, "Hey, oh, by the way, 10 o'clock tomorrow night, I'm showing up, I'm taking everything." Why? Because we're in Texas, we're crying out loud. We will be prepared. And He says, "That's how Jesus is going to show up," like a thief. When you least expect it, when you're just going through life and everything is good or everything is wrong, you're just kind of going, there's another day. All of a sudden, without moments notice, He will break into time and space, and He will come. And that is the day of the Lord. And with that, watch what He brings. Look what He says. He says, "And then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed." The picture here is divine judgment. Jesus will return. And on that day, He will judge the living and the dead. And this was a point He's already made. Look what He says in verse 7. He says, "But by the same word, the heavens and the earth that now exist are stored up for fire." In other words, He's saying, "In the judgment that God brought in Noah's day, He brought judgment of flood, and the judgment of Christ returned, He will bring a judgment of fire." Here's what He says will happen. They're being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. Listen, Peter is reminding us, listen, that it may look like sinners are going to get a pass. It may feel like that now that evil just has a free reign over everything. But only temporarily. And there is a day of reckoning coming. And so this is, listen, this is great hope. When you start thinking about the condition of our world, when I think about all of the innocent children that are being trafficked around the world, when I look at the wars in the families, the lives that are destroyed, when I see the evil prevent, when we see people in powerful places abusing authority to oppress people that they're supposed to be serving, that kind of evil. When we think about the immorality and the abuse and all of the things that some of you have endured in your life, it may look like those who did these things are going to get away with it, but they're not. Revelation tells us this that when Christ returns, both great and small will stand before King Jesus. Why both great and small? What He's saying is both the somebodies and the nobodies will stand before King Jesus. So those in popular society, those in political power who abuse and oppress and they're evil and they're ungodly, they mock the name of Jesus. Those who persecute believers, by the way, there are more martyrs

today than ever in the history of Christianity. More Christians are dying for their faith right now than ever in history across the globe. Both small and great will stand before King Jesus and listen to this. And on that day, no one is giving a defense for themselves. When they stand before King Jesus, there's not going to be, this is not fair. Why? Because when they see the holiness of God and the glory of God and they see it face to face, all of the years of denying Him and of mocking Him and rejecting Him and living life their way, they're going to know in that moment, oh no, I am guilty as charge and there will be no defense. There will just simply be an experience of banishment and receiving in themselves the condemnation that they deserve. This should grieve and bring comfort simultaneously. What do you mean bring comfort? It brings comfort to know that God will right the wrong. At every innocent child abused, God will vindicate. He loves His creation and He will bring justice, but also should grieve us why, because on that day we have people we know who will experience the condemnation. But listen, it's not just a day of condemnation. Listen to this, it is also a day of restoration. Look what he says, the restoration of righteousness. He says in verse number 11, he says, "Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought we to be in lives of holiness and godliness?" Listen to this, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolve. There's the judgment again, and the heavenly bodies will melt away. But look at verse 13, "But according to his promise we are waiting a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." Anybody waiting for that day? It's the day where he will wipe every tear from our eyes. There will be no more sickness, no more pain, no more suffering, no more death, no more abuse, no more divorce. None of the things that we experience that bring pain into our life, it will all be done away with. Everything will be once again as it was supposed to be. It will all be made new. That's the day that we should be longing for. This is what Peter says. When you understand what's coming in the return of Christ, when you understand what he's going to accomplish, there will be something inside of us that

says, "Hase in the day, Lord, come quickly. We want you to return now, Lord, because we want things the way that they're supposed to be." Amen? And there may be some dark moments, and it may be that your faith costs you and following Jesus is hard, but in the end, listen to me, Jesus is coming back. Jesus is going to return. I want you to think about for a moment. When I was a kid sitting on that deer stand, my dad would drop me off. And I'm just telling you the terror that I would feel as I saw the sun going down, and eventually it would be completely dark. As coyotes would start, imagination running wild, I would literally sit there and shake. And what would keep me in that place is my dad would say to me, every time he would say, "Do not leave the place that I've set you." And he would tell me, "Hey, it's going to be dark." And it may feel like I'm not coming. And there may be things that terrify you in the night. There may be sounds that you hear that overwhelm you. There may be things that you see that frighten you, but you've got to remember I'm coming back. So don't move from this place. Don't move from where I've set you. You've got to stay there until you see me, because before too long, here's the pit, here's the trail that I'm coming, and I would see the flashlight. And sure enough, in the middle of all of that, I'm sitting there and I'm waiting. Where is my father? When is he coming? When how long has it been? I don't even know what time it is. And all of a sudden, I would look up and there would be this moment of hope, because the hope would be the light I knew. That's my father's light. And he would slowly make his way. And here's what's amazing as I begin to see the light and begin to see the coming of my father. Here's what would happen. All of the fears would begin to go away. The sound of the forest would begin to go away at the sound of the footsteps of my father. Church, I'm here to tell you, our Heavenly Father has said to us,

I've placed you in the season of human history where you are. And you were in a season of political chaos. You were in a season where the name of Jesus is mocked and ridiculed. You were in a season of history where there's a lot of persecution and there's a lot of things to be afraid of and you're going to be overwhelmed. It is going to feel really dark. But here's what Jesus wants us to know. I have set you for such a time as this and you need to stay in the place that I set you and you need to keep your eyes up. Don't look at the forest and the fears of the world. Don't let the darkness overwhelm you. You keep your eyes and you look to the horizon because before too long you're going to see the light of Christ and he is going to come and he is going to make all things new. So you just stay in your place and you just stay the course and you don't move because your father has made a promise and Jesus Christ is coming back. It's anybody longing for that day today. This is our hope. to receive Christ as your Lord and Savior today. It is not an accident that you were in this room. In fact, I'm going to ask everyone if you would just to stand to your feet. I'm going to ask you to bow your head. And for those of in this room who are uncertain of your relationship with Jesus, I'm going to ask everyone to bow your heads. And listen, I'm not going to make any apology about this. You are either right now destined to experience God's judgment in your sin or to experience full restoration because you are in Christ. See, when you stand before the judgment, you'll either be judged according to your sin or according to Jesus' righteousness. And the difference between the two is what you've done with Jesus. And so, if you've never fully placed your faith in trusting, I'm not talking about religion. I'm not talking about going to church. I'm not talking about mom and daddy's faith. I'm talking about you repenting of your personal sin and trusting in the death and resurrection of Jesus as your only hope. If you've never done that, then right now is the time for you to do that. You can just do that with every head bowed. If that's you, just right now, just say, "Jesus, I need a Savior. I need you to forgive me of my sins.

I need you to make me new. I want you to transform my life." I'm going to ask your decision and courage or just to get in position. For those of you right now who you just prayed to receive Christ, you just trusted Him as your Lord and Savior or you're going, "Man, I need that." I'm going to ask you to do me a favor right now and really it's you a favor. With no one looking around, if you prayed to receive Christ, you're with me just a moment ago. This is going to take a lot of courage. I'm going to ask you right now to leave your seat. Right now, just slip out of your seat and I want you to go to one of these encouragers. They're standing in the aisles in front of you. I know this takes a lot of courage. It's like there's a lot of people. So I had you stand. You can just tap and say, "Hey, I got to go take care of something." And you just slip out, grab the hand of someone next to you. Right now, if you are uncertain of your relationship with Jesus, but you're like, "Today, I've got to know Him." Well, I just prayed to receive Him. Right now, just slip out of your seat. Is there anyone here? And in love and mercy, I'm going to say this, if you sense Him calling your name and you are stiff-arming Him today, and if you were to slip out into eternity, this moment will be marked in your mind for eternity of the day that you rejected Jesus in a salvation. And I'm not trying to scare you or go old school. I'm just telling you the truth. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to pray a prayer blessing over us. Next week, I'll be preaching part two of this sermon with what does it look like for believers to be ready? I'm going to pray a blessing over you, then you're going to be seated. We're going to have a few announcements and get out of here. But if you need to trust Jesus, you need someone to talk to you right after our services, there'll be people right here at the front of this room that you can leave and come and say, "Yeah, I've got to talk to somebody." Father, I love you, and I thank you right now, Lord, that you have made a way for us, that you are coming back. And we pray that our hearts would be ready and prepared. We ask this in Jesus' name. [BLANK_AUDIO]