 We're going to be looking at the day of the Lord as found in 2nd Peter chapter 3. Let me begin reading to you at verse 10 I'll read just verse 10 is the introduction then we'll move into our study though We're going to continue into into the conclusion of the book of 2nd Peter this morning But we'll read verse 10 2nd Peter chapter 3 verse 10 The Apostle Peter writes but 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 Now as we get the context of this because at the conclusion of this chapter The Apostle Peter once again returns to what he's been saying and we'll see that by summarization But as we look at chapter 3 we know that the Apostle Peter has been writing concerning false teachers Whom he has referred to as scoffers or mockers remember verse 3 how he had said knowing this first That scoffers will come in the last days walking according to their own lusts So he was speaking concerning these mockers who are motivated by their lust They're motivated by self-interest and he was saying that the presence of these kinds of people these scoffers Was really a primary sign that we are in the last days and and as they were coming and as they were giving their false teachings and all He made it clear that they began to question and undermine the authority of God's word Now that's the source of all of our encouragement and hope the word of God and the word of God We as believers really believe is inspired by God and Intended by God to to give to us hope and comfort direction and and all of the things that the word of God claims that it supplies for us Even as it says in Psalm 119 160 the entirety of thy word is truth When Jesus was speaking in Luke chapter 21 verse 33 Jesus said heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away And so the scoffers the underminers of faith come and attack the word of God and their argument as they're doing so is basically that that the the world and all has remained the same even since the beginning and As the apostle was speaking concerning that he made it very clear that they willfully forget that God judged the earth through the flood during Noah's day And so he is saying that God's word is true And you're forgetting what God has done in the past when he brought judgment Even as God judged the earth through a flood Even so the heavens and the earth which now exist are being kept in store for this by the same word for judgment And so as he has been saying God in the past judged and in the future He will judge again this time bringing a fiery judgment on the earth And so as he's speaking concerning that he's saying these things to keep these things in mind That's why he says in verse 8 but beloved do not forget this one thing that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day We as human beings simply have a different concept of time. God is not locked into it the way that we are It's like that story of that man who is having a conversation with God and as he spoke to the Lord God He said Lord. I have always wondered about time What is a thousand years like for you? God answered for me a thousand years is like a second So the man then asked well, what about money? What is a billion dollars like for you? God answered for me Billion dollars is like a penny So the man said Can I have a penny and God said if you wait a second, but an old joke. I like it men have a different concept of time and So that's what the apostle Peter is speaking about with the Lord one day is a thousand years a thousand years is as one day This is because God inhabits eternity as it says in Psalm 93 verse 2 your throne is established from of old You are from everlasting as it says in Psalm 90 verse 2 before the mountains were brought forth Or ever you had formed the earth and the world even from everlasting to everlasting you are God Psalm 90 verse 4 1,000 years in your sight are like yesterday when it is passed like a watch in the night And so he's been speaking concerning the certainty of judgment and even though it seems delayed It is most certainly coming and that's what he's been sharing And so he's going to continue that thought by picking up in verse 10 and saying but 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 burn Will melt with a fervent heat both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up And so he's saying this day of the Lord is coming it will come in a certain manner like a thief in the night When we hear the term the day of the Lord we need to understand what that's referring to Because that's a word or a phrase that you find in both the Old Testament as well as the New Testament The day of the Lord is an extended period of time When the Lord begins to deal with his enemies by destroying them Then he establishes his kingdom. He ends the present world system And he begins to reveal his glory The Old Testament has much to say concerning this day of the Lord It is referred to as a time that God pours out his wrath on the ungodly you see this in a lot of the Of the Old Testament prophets like Isaiah When you look into the book of Isaiah chapter 13 verses 9 through 11 Isaiah writes behold the day of the Lord comes cruel with both wrath and fierce anger To lay the land desolate He will destroy its sinners from it for the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light The sun will be darkened and it's going forth The moon will not cause its light to shine I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity I will halt the arrogance of the proud and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible Or Jeremiah 46 10 For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts a day of vengeance They may he may avenge himself on his adversaries Zephaniah 1 14 through 18 The great day of the Lord is near near and coming quickly listen The cry on the day of the Lord will be bitter the shouting of the warrior there That day will be a day of wrath a day of distress and anguish A day of trouble and ruin a day of darkness and gloom A day of clouds and blackness A day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the corner towers I will bring distress On the people they will walk like blind men because they have sinned against the Lord Their blood will be poured out like dust They're in trails like filth Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord's wrath In the fire of his jealousy the whole world will be consumed for he will make a sudden end Of all who live in the earth Joel continuing this cherry theme in Joel 2 verse 2 It is a day of darkness and gloom a day of clouds and blackness the day of the Lord A day when God pours out his wrath on his enemies In the new testament the day of the Lord is also known as the tribulation The tribulation is described for us in the book of revelation chapter 6 through 19 Again, it's a prolonged period of God pouring out his wrath on the Christ rejecting world In revelation 6 verses 15 through 17 it reads the kings of the earth the great men the rich men The commanders the mighty men every slave and every free man hid themselves in the caves And in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks fall on us And hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb For the great day of his wrath has come and who is able to stand the day of the Lord And that's what we're seeing here in verse 10 of 2nd Peter chapter 3 The apostle Peter is making it clear that God will be pouring his wrath out on those who do not receive Christ as Lord and Savior But he says in verse 10 the day of the Lord will come notice as a thief in the night Now when he says as a thief in the night That's an important thing because it gives to us insight that it's going to occur suddenly and without warning So what Peter is doing is he's making a distinction a distinction between Believers in Jesus Christ and those who have rejected him The point he's making is non believers will be taken by surprise when this occurs for them It will be like a thief in the night, but Christians are not to be taken by surprise And the reason why we as believers are not to be taken by surprise is very simply because we have God's word And because God has given to us his word We ought to be prepared for the return of Christ When paul was writing to the church of thessalonica in first Thessalonians chapter five versus two through four This is what he said to them He said you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the lord so comes as a thief in the night For when they say peace and safety then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman They shall not escape But you brethren are not in darkness so that this day should overtake you as a thief You're not in darkness. This is not to be a surprise to you Why because you know this perfectly well you have been taught this that's what he had said when he said you You yourselves know perfectly that the day of the lord so comes as a thief in the night you've been taught When jesus was speaking in book of mark chapter 13 Jesus said in verses 33 through 37 take heed watch and pray for you do not know when the time is It's like a man going to a far country who left his house and gave authority to his servants and to each His work and commanded the doorkeeper to watch Watch therefore for you do not know when the master of the house is coming in the evening at midnight At the crowing of the rooster or in the morning less coming suddenly find you sleeping and what I say to you I say to all watch So a thief comes in the night he comes by surprise and takes you suddenly You're not aware of it. He doesn't send you a note a week in advance saying by the way on tuesday at 10 15 p.m I will be breaking into your house. You don't get letters like that. The thief is going to come suddenly and in unexpected fashion So when this day of the lord hits the unbelieving world they will not be prepared You're prepared Believers are prepared because the word of god tells us to be on the watch on the lookout be ready And that's what he's speaking about now when this great day comes He speaks of the heavens in verse 10 again He says the heavens will pass away with a great noise the elements will melt with fervent heat All the elements that make up the physical world are going to be dissolved by heat They're going to melt away now as I was thinking about that I thought what kind of heat are you speaking about that everything's going to be disintegrated and so You know I started googling some things And I I found some things that you might find interesting because I was trying to get something to intellectually Hang my hat on what is hot and and and how how what things are hot and what is the melting point of certain Metals and islands. I just wanted to see that because it says the heavens are going to melt away and so Some of us have seen films of or perhaps you've been in a helicopter and you've flown over A volcano that is actually erupting and you've seen the lava flow And I've often wondered how hot is that? And the answer is the hottest lava is 2000 degrees That's pretty hot 2000 degrees But I started thinking well, what are some of the melting points of various metals and all and so Aluminum for example will melt at 1220 degrees copper At 1 983 degrees Gold will melt at 2000 degrees and cobalt melts at 2723 degrees Carbon steel melts at 2800 degrees ruthenium at 4500 tantalum at 5400 degrees and tungsten at 6150 degrees That is hot but I wanted to know is there anything hotter than that And the answer is yes, marie salsa, but What would be hotter and I found this An atomic bombs explosion temperature An atomic bombs explosion temperature 540,000 degrees Think about that for a minute 540,000 32 to be exact When it explodes, that's the heat that radiates from an atomic explosion The bible says that everything is going to melt There is going to be and if you will an explosion where the universe itself will burn He says it will it will be dissolved. It's going to burn It's going to pass away with the great noise and fervent heat When he speaks of this fervent noise naturally when I think of fervent noise I'm thinking in terms of just an explosion But the term fervent noise is really speaking about the noise that Something that is burning or something that has been ignited. It's that crackling sound when fire is burning dry brush And the universe is actually going to have that kind of sound the way that the apostle peter describes it When it is consumed in fire God brought judgment in the days of noah with water that will never happen again The next judgment is one of fire And it's going to be an explosive fervent fire that dissolves all things In isaia 34 verse 4 it says all the host of heaven shall be dissolved And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll All their host shall fall down as the leaf falls from the vine And as fruit falling from a fig tree And so with that in mind believers are encouraged verse 11 Since all these things will be dissolved what manner of persons ought you'd be in holy conducting godliness 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 So this is the day that's going to come a day of punishment for the wicked And seeing that that's the case then what are what are you as a believer to do he says as a believer you're to live You're to live a holy life. He speaks of holy conduct. That's my manner of life That's the way that I live live in such a way that is obvious that you are separated to god He speaks of godliness godliness refers to our worship our personal devotion our piety Not only within me have a heart for god But without me in terms of what i'm doing on the outside Live in such a way that it's evidenced by the behavior that I have that that people can see and can understand This person is sold out for jesus christ if we really believe it and that's where the problem is I think a lot of people know it but don't believe it But if we really believe it You're going to change You have to If you really believe it if you don't believe it you'll be the same As a matter of fact what happens As we start being like Like those who claim to believe something the false teachers but really don't Where is the promise of his coming since the fathers fell asleep things have been going pretty much the same Somebody can say i've been taught about the rapture and the return of christ and the tribulation and millennial kingdom and all of those things Since I was a young believer it hasn't happened yet There were an awful lot of people who think like that Who have gone back to their old lifestyle And the apostle peter is saying listen Seeing that these things are most surely going to happen you have testimony in the old as well as the new testament And the false teachers have come to undermine that hope that expectation That sense of being in the last days and therefore being ready for christ and seeing that this has taken place He's saying they're actually stealing your hope from you because you're beginning to look at Days differently than god does and god is simply saying listen if you believe this and live like you do You see in verse 12 he says my motivation is to be looking for and hastening the coming of the day of god He's saying I need to live with a hopeful expectation and what we would refer to to today as a holy urgency A holy urgency It's like what titus chapter 2 verses 11 through 14 says for the grace of god That brings salvation has appeared to all men It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self controlled upright and Godly lives in this present age. Well, we wait for the blessed hope the glorious appearing of our great god and savior jesus christ Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own Eager to do what is good live with expectation and urgency He speaks in verse 13 of a new heaven and a new earth notice where righteousness dwells The return of jesus is intended to stir us up and then to give us hope It's like what it says in revelation 21 5 when it says he who sat on the throne said behold i make all things new And he said to me right for these words are true and faithful The ravages of sin Shall be forever eliminated Sin shall not have the final word The paradise that was lost becomes the paradise regained isaas 65 17 says for behold i create new heavens and a new earth And the former shall not be remembered nor come to mind Revelation 21 27 says nothing impure will ever enter it Nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful But only those whose names are written in the lambs book of life When you begin to look at the last days And you begin to see the chronology especially as it relates to the period of time that we're living in You can begin to see that there are certain things that are Are about to happen and that will happen The next prophecy on the prophetic calendar that you find in scripture that is to happen and can happen at any moment Is the the prophecy related to the rapture of the church The apostle paul writing about that Told us in first acelonians chapter 4 verse 13 through 17 that there'd be an event that we are caught up to be with The lord in the air it's called the rapture And after that rapture you have what is called the fulfillment of daniel 70 70th week It's also referred to in scripture as jacob's jacob's trouble as well as the tribulation You have at the conclusion of the tribulation the return of jesus christ Jesus will establish the millennial kingdom You have the destruction of antichrist with his armies You have judgment of individual Gentiles according to the treatment of the the jews you have the judgment of israel You have that millennial reign of jesus that lasts a thousand years at the end of that you have a revolt from satan You have judgment you have the resurrection final judgment of the wicked dead Then you had the destruction of the present earth and heaven by fire And as mentioned earlier the creation of the new heaven and new earth And these things are about to take place So what are we to do while verse 14 looking forward to these things be diligent to be found in him in peace There's going to be perfect righteousness And since there's going to be perfect righteousness christians live life lives that are called righteous If we really believe that the lord's going to return our lives ought to demonstrate that If you believe that at any moment jesus christ could take the church his bride to be with him We ought to prepare ourselves to be with him First john three two and three says beloved now we are sons of god It does not yet appear what we shall be But we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him For we shall see him as he is and every man that has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure One day And it's not that long from now The voice will cry come up here Shout of an archangel The dead in christ will rise first We who remain shall be caught up together with them in the air Thus we shall be with the lord forever And when we're there in heaven with the lord jesus christ There'll be no more pain There'll be no more sorrow There'll be no more tears There'll be no more sin There'll be no more sickness. There'll never be another death. There'll be no more funerals There'll be no agony. There'll be no lies. There'll just be nothing but peace and joy. I look forward to that I look forward to being with the lord jesus christ I do I You know some of you have been having a very difficult uh year Maybe maybe a very difficult life, but some of you have been having a very difficult time There are a lot of people who are going through some very serious times of pain A friend of mine's uh foster son was hiking just last week He liked to climb And he went to the summit And as he was on top of this This summit that he had climbed There were those who were around to Heard somebody yell out something like I wish I could remember the exact quote, but it was something like Praise you jesus. I love you shouted from the top of a mountain And only to find that he slipped and fell to his death and they recovered his body a thousand feet below the summit His last words I love you jesus friend of mine's wife Just within the last two three weeks Died of cancer Pastor friend of mine another calvary associates five-year-old little girl Had a nasma attack And died in his arms Five years old My friend frank Riding his bike coming home Gets hit by a car Goes into a coma as we all know Goes home to the lord. I was in the hospital I had come to the hospital on the day that frank went home And I walked in There were a lot of delays for me to get into the room to go pray for him And I walked in and and as I walked in I I saw my friend He'd been in this church for something like 23 years I walked up to the side. I brought dave bustamante with me Walked off to his left side Reached over and touched his hand He'd been in a coma for four weeks And I um I spoke to him. I hadn't spoken to him in that state. I Normally would just stand there and pray silently and then pray for him and then leave But I reached over I felt impaled to touch his hand and reached over and And I said frank, you know, we're praying for you I love you And we want you to come home And I prayed for his family. I prayed for Frank and I remember saying something like father may he May he he needs to come home May he come home And as I walked from his side and I got to the foot of the bed The alarm went off a moment later the entire room was filled with nurses and his doctor By the time I got to the waiting room as they had said could you please wait in the waiting room We're walking through the door. We hear the term code blue I turned to dave my assistant and I say to him It's not a good. It's not good We step into the foyer And a moment later he's whisked into the presence of jesus christ Is that bad? No, it's great But as was said Christians grieve deeply because christians love deeply and we do we do My savior stood at the tomb of a dear friend by the name of lazarus And the shortest new testament scripture that I know of found in john chapter 11 simply says is he stood there at this grave site Jesus wept And I wept and I weep You know as a pastor there are many times that I walk up to this pulpit Pain in my heart You see me cry, but you don't know why It's because I hear a lot of pain It's because I stand at the At the base here at the altar And a mama brings her six-year-old baby and says can you pray for my son? Because his father told him yesterday. He doesn't love him And the baby cries in my arms And people sometimes think why is that pastor cry so much? Because I ask god to give me a heart like his And sometimes it breaks But there's a day coming When there'll be no tears there will be no pain. There will be no sorrow. There will be no death There will be no sickness. There will be no suffering There will be joy and the lord jesus christ and I look forward to that day to that day No more No more saying goodbye No more crying No more Sickness and sorrow Just joy and the death that swallowed up in victory Because we have life through jesus who is our life. I look forward to that. He is the resurrection He is the life and if you believe in this you shall never die I believe it and I know that god is doing that work in people's lives right now I know that and I rejoice in that So yes, the day of the lord is coming. Yes The earth and all the elements the universe itself will be redone And when it's over it's going to be this place that is new because god says behold I make all things new and the false teachers are creeping in and they're undermining that They're stealing the joy from from the believers and and so it says in verse 14 Beloved looking forward to these things be diligent to be found by him in peace without spot and blameless 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 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 You therefore beloved since you know these things beforehand beware Lest you also fall from your own steadfastness being led away with the air of the wicked But grow in the grace and knowledge of our lord and savior jesus christ To him be the glory both now and forever amen Let god's word Dwell in you richly these false teachers are misquoting the wisdom god gave to paul These are unlearned ignorant men. They refuse apostolic teaching and without that foundation He's saying they twist god's word out of context to their own destruction So watch out. He says watch out for false teachers. They will lead you astray Seeing that by prophets and apostles you've been forewarned be on your guard Lest you be led away from the truth delivered by the prophets and apostles by the air of the wicked Paul and philippians 3 said it like this He said i want to know christ The power of his resurrection The fellowship of sharing in his suffering Becoming like him in his death and so somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead Not that i have already obtained all this or have already been made perfect But i press on to take hold of that for which christ jesus took hold of me Brothers i do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it But one thing i do Forgetting what is behind straining toward what is ahead I press on toward the goal to win the prize from which god has called me heaven word in christ jesus Grow in grace grow in the knowledge of our lord and save you jesus christ For to him be the glory both now and forever Amen