In his sermon 'What Manner of Persons Ought You to Be,' Jason Dohm explores 2 Peter 3:10-13, discussing the Day of the Lord and its implications for believers. Dohm highlights two key truths: the Day will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night, and it will be an unparalleled cataclysm. He emphasizes that God's patience offers everyone time to repent, and scoffers who doubt the promise of His coming are warned. The sermon urges believers to live in holy conduct and godliness, always ready for the Lord's return, which will lead to the creation of a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells. Dohm uses scriptural references, including Luke 12 and 1 Thessalonians 5, to reinforce the necessity of being prepared and cultivating a life that reflects a yearning for Christ's return. He distinguishes between superficial sanctification and true transformation that comes from being in Christ, urging believers to dedicate themselves to God and shed worldly defilements. The ultimate hope for Christians lies in the confident expectation of eternal life in a renewed creation, free from sin and corruption.

Please read along with me in 2nd Peter chapter 3 starting in verse 10 going through verse 13. 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. Therefore since all these things will be dissolved, What manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and 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 melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless, we according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." So I'm pretty sure that the rapture is going to happen right after we sing, and can it be one day?

At least that's how it is in my mind. We finish the last note and then the rapture. I wasn't so sure it wasn't going to happen this morning but nothing yet. So we're closing out 2 Peter. We're in 2 Peter chapter 3 verses 10 through 13 this week and The title of the sermon comes right from the text.

My favorite sermon titles come right from the text, which is, What Manner of Persons Ought You to Be? Peter has just described a long-suffering God who does not want anyone to perish, but that people would feel the weight of their sins and that it would drive them to repent. That the weight of sin would be felt by people and it would drive them to flee to the cross for refuge from the wrath of God. But so that no one mistakes the kind intentions of God. He is kind, he is full of compassion.

But if you take that fact, and you conclude from that that He will overlook sin, that there will never be an accounting for sin, then you will lose the fear of God and it won't do what it's supposed to do, which is to drive you to the cross for refuge. So having described this long-suffering God, this God that does not want people to perish, that takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He follows right on the heels of that, speaking of the day of the Lord, the day when Jesus will return. So the flow of the text is, there are scoffers who say, where is the promise of His coming? In other words, if it hasn't happened by now, it's never going to happen.

That's what the scoffers are getting at. And then Peter, next, gives the reason for the delay. That's what we talked about last week. The delay is because God is patient. He is long suffering.

He doesn't want people to perish in their sins. He keeps giving day and day and day for people to have an opportunity to repent and flee to the cross for refuge from the wrath of God. And so now he comes and he speaks of this day that the scoffers mock at. They think that if it hasn't happened by now, if it hasn't happened by the year 2014, it's just never going to happen, but that's not true. Peter tells us that that's not true.

Peter tells us that that day will come. We're going to actually see those words in the text. The day of the Lord will come. So Peter is confident. He speaks with certainty.

And he's using this now, this portion of our text, to instill in us the fear of the Lord. Why? So that we would be terrified of God and shrink back from Him in fear? No, that is not what the fear of the Lord is to do. It isn't designed to drive us from Him, to shrink back from Him.

It actually is designed to drive us to Him. Because He is the only place we can get refuge from this wrath. As we go to the text, let's pray. Oh righteous Father, help us to live in the shadow of this day. I know that is what this text is designed for us to do.

This day casts a long shadow. May we live in the shadow of it. May we think of it. May it be present in our thoughts every day so that we would live a life of wisdom. So that we would flee to the refuge of the cross.

So that we would not be consumed by your anger at sin. God, I pray that you would press these truths home to our hearts. Help me in the preaching of it. Help my brothers and sisters in the hearing of it. We ask these things in Jesus name.

Amen. So Peter begins with speaking of the Day of the Lord and he tells us two truths about the day of the Lord that are essential. You don't get very far without knowing these two truths. Truth number one, the day of the Lord will come in a certain way. So it will come, you can't miss that, that's right here in the text.

Peter is asserting with all confidence that the day of the Lord will come. Yes we are in the year 2014, it has been a long time but not to God it hasn't been. It's been two days to him. He's been delaying giving us the opportunity to repent and turn towards him. The day of the Lord will come.

Peter is confident in that. And it will come in a certain way. Verse 10. As a thief in the night. That is how the day of the Lord is coming.

Like a thief comes at night. How does a thief in the night come? At night. Under cover of darkness, so that you are unaware of the approach of the thief. That's why they come in the middle of the night.

That's why they don't stroll up to your house at noon. Thieves don't operate that way. They come under the cloak of darkness so that their coming will be a surprise. They cannot be anticipated by you. They come without warning.

That's why at night. They come undetected. The thief in the night comes undetected. The thief in the night comes when most people are asleep assuming that all is well. That's really the punch line.

The thief in the night comes when most people are asleep assuming that all is well. Jesus speaks directly of this in Luke 12. Turn to Luke 12. Peter got this, not surprisingly, directly from Jesus. What Jesus says is recorded in a number of the Gospels, but I think most helpfully for our purposes today in Luke chapter 12.

Turn to Luke chapter 12. I'll begin reading in verse 35. And I'll read through 40. Luke chapter 12 verse 35, Jesus says, Let your waist be girded, and your lamps burning, and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master when he comes will find watching.

Assuredly I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." That last phrase is getting at what Peter is teaching in 2 Peter 3. The Son of man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.

So when Jesus speaks of this, He has a calling for his people and the calling is this. Have your waist girded and your lamps burning. These are signs of readiness. If your waist is girded, you're ready for movement and ready for action. If your lamp's burning, it's because there is an expectation that He is coming.

Even here Jesus sets the expectation that there may very well be delay. He says he might come in the second watch of the night. He might come in the third watch of the night. Right before dawn he might come. Right in the last hours of the night he might come.

He wants to find his servants with their waists girded, ready for movement, ready for action, with the lamps burning, still expecting him to come, still ready for his appearance. And he says that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief would come, he wouldn't have let his house be broken into. He says of himself exactly what Peter says of him. He comes like a thief in the night. By definition this day will be a surprise to most.

Jesus has said it would be so. By definition, Almost everyone will be surprised when the promise of his coming is fulfilled. Now get this, this is important. For those who are not surprised, The few who have their waists girded and their lamps burning, for those who are not surprised, it will not be because they saw the signs, but because they obeyed our Lord's command to always be ready. So if you're not caught by surprise by this thief in the night, Jesus Christ, returning to do what He always said He would do, if you're not surprised by that, it won't be because you have read the tea leaves right.

Don't you dare be the kind of Christian that reads Revelation in the right hand, and the newspaper in the left hand, as a way to read the tea leaves. To say, oh we can tell now. It's 365 days out, or one month out, or one week out. It's not going to be like that. Jesus says over and over again, it's going to be an hour when you don't expect.

So if you're not caught by surprise, it won't be because you were better at comparing revelations with the newspaper than the other guy. It will be because you obeyed a command to always be ready for his return. You believed his promise that it would be an hour that no one ever expected and that you ought to be ready at any moment. Paul teaches exactly the same thing. Listen to this.

1 Thessalonians 5 verses 2 and 3. In 1 Thessalonians 5 verses 2 and 3, Paul writes, For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. The exact same words that Peter uses. For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.

There is No escape for anyone from this great and terrible day of the Lord. No escape. In fact, in Revelation 6, the kings of the earth are desiring that the mountains would fall on them to protect them. But there is nowhere to flee from this day. No one escapes from the day of the Lord.

Paul says that people in that day are going to be saying peace and safety. They're going to be sleeping peacefully assuming that all is well and meanwhile here comes the thief in the night, in the fulfillment of the promise of His coming. Jesus confirmed the same in Revelation. Listen to Revelation 16 verse 15, which says, Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garment lest he walk naked and they see his shame." So in Revelation 16 verse 15 Jesus says again that he is coming as a thief and he says again that the one who watches, the one who obeys the command to always be ready will be blessed.

And he says that that man has kept his garments and he has avoided the shame of nakedness. And that takes us all the way back to Genesis and the fall and the shame of nakedness. It brings us all the way forward to a wedding feast and having to have a wedding garment be pulled in. You could spend an hour just giving an exposition on that one verse. But what we have here is a unified teaching of Scripture.

Jesus teaches it, Paul teaches it, Peter teaches it, and then Jesus confirms it in Revelation. Jesus will come, The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. In the hour that people aren't expecting. So if you're not surprised, it is because you've obeyed a command to always be ready. That is truth number one.

The day of the Lord will come in a certain way. It will come like a thief in the night, undetected, without warning, when most are asleep, assuming that all is well. Here is truth number two. Truth number two, the day of the Lord will be an unparalleled cataclysm. So Children, now we're learning a vocabulary word.

Cataclysm. We can count this as a homeschooling day. Cataclysm is a large scale and violent event in the natural world. A large scale, violent event in the natural world. A large scale violent event in the natural world.

It's going to be a cataclysm, but not just a cataclysm. An unparalleled cataclysm. In other words, there won't be anything to compare that day to. Nothing before has ever been like it in magnitude. In type, yes.

In magnitude, no. There have been many judgments of God. In fact, The Day of the Lord is a term that doesn't just get used of the last day of human history. The Day of the Lord gets used many times in the Old Testament prophets as a specific judgment. The Babylonian captivity began with the Day of the Lord.

But this is the ultimate Day of the Lord. The point is that of all these many judgments of God, Him revealing His wrath towards sin, each has only been a little picture to give us some sort of perspective on the coming judgment. Each one of those judgments throughout the Old Testament and in the New Testament and since the New Testament, each one of those instances of God pouring out His wrath against sin has only been a little picture To give us some sort of perspective on the coming judgment, which has no equal. So it is an unparalleled cataclysm. The Genesis flood is just a little picture.

It's very likely that hundreds of Millions of people died in the Genesis flood and eight were saved. Only eight were saved. It's just a little picture of the day of the Lord. Sodom and Gomorrah with its total annihilation of everyone and everything except for Lot and two daughters. Two daughters.

It's just a little picture of the day of the Lord. 70 AD and the Romans sweeping through Jerusalem and annihilating the population, and tearing down the temple, the pride of the Jews, so that one stone wasn't left on top of another. With Only the Christians who had obeyed the words of the Lord, when they see these things coming, they fled to the mountains. They did do that. So some Christians were saved.

Some Christians were saved when the population of Jerusalem was annihilated. That's just a little picture of the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is so far beyond any of these that each pales in comparison. Listen to the language from our text in 2 Peter, Verse 10, the heavens will pass away with a great noise. Many of the good translations render it roar.

It will pass away with a roar, 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. Listen to verse 11. All these things will be dissolved. Listen to verse 12.

The heavens will be dissolved being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat." Peter is hitting it, and then hitting it, and then hitting it, and reusing the same words again. Pounding it into our thoughts, what the day of the Lord will be like. It will be an unparalleled cataclysm. Not just the world as we know it, but the universe as we know it will be done away with. Not annihilated, but renovated.

We're going to come to Romans 8 in a minute. I think Romans 8 sheds light on what this means. So I do not want to blunt the force of the text at all. It is going to be an event like no other event, but it's not annihilation. Theologians have often called it a renovation.

Listen to Psalm 102. Psalm 102 verses 25-28. Psalm 102, 25-28, the psalmist says, 25-28 the psalmist says, of old you laid the foundations of the earth, capital Y you, God. Of old you laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, The earth that you founded, the heavens that you made, they will perish.

But you will endure. Yes, they will all grow old like a garment. Like a cloak, you will change them. They will be changed. But you are the same and your years will have no end.

The children of your servants will continue and their descendants will be established before you. The people of God continue. The Lord's people will come out on the other side of this day. They will be established before the Lord. The Lord's people have nothing to fear from this day at all.

Even though it's such a fearful day, what could be more fearful than the heavens and the earth and all the elements, all the building blocks of everything that we know being melted. What could be more terrifying than this? And yet, the Lord's people have nothing to fear from this day. And as we'll see in a minute, we're called to run towards this day. So, the psalmist in Psalm 102 says that the heavens and the earth grow old like a garment and like a cloak.

God will change them. It's like He's changing a coat. That's what the day of the Lord is going to be like to him. God is eternal. He's from everlasting, He's to everlasting.

But the earth as we know it, and the heavens as we know them are not that way. He's going to change them out like a garment. We're impressed with creation. In many ways that's so appropriate. It's so appropriate to go out on a day like yesterday.

Just say, Lord, what have you done? What have your hands wrought? And praise Him for the things that we see. Or to go out on a starry night and just look at the Stars that cannot be counted by us, and glory in what He has made. But this text, our text today in 2 Peter, will teach us this, to save our awe for the Creator.

Oh, it's right to go out on a day like yesterday and just wonder at what He's done. But we should save our awe for the Creator. In Matthew chapter 24, 35, Jesus says, Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. Everything that we know, everything that we experience, the beautiful day that we were in the middle of yesterday, the star-filled sky, are all temporary things. God and His Word are not temporary things.

They are eternal things. So truth number one is that the day of the Lord will come and that it will come in a certain way. Truth number two is that the day of the Lord will come and that it will come in a certain way. Truth number two was that the day of the Lord will be an unparalleled cataclysm. If you spend any time thinking about what Peter is saying here at all, you'll be in awe.

It is a dissolving of the heavens and the earth. A mighty roar. And an ending as we know it of the earth and the heavens. Peter says this, the third point on your outline. These two truths should have massive implications in our lives.

These are facts. Truth 1 and truth 2 are facts. And these facts should change us. Look at verse 11 again. Therefore, since all these things, the heavens and the earth, will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?

In holy conduct and godliness. Peter makes the case that we should live looking for this day. That's the start of verse 12. Look for it. We should live looking for this day.

This day casts a long shadow. So live in the shadow of it. Be aware that you're in the shadow of this unparalleled cataclysm that is coming with such certainty and that this will help you to cultivate holiness, godliness. I don't know about you but I'm looking for tools. I'm looking for help.

I'm looking for things that will spur me on in the cultivation of holy conduct and godliness in my life. I need that. This has reawakened a thirst in me this week, the study of this, to just cultivate more of this in my life. When I look at my life and how much progress still needs to be made in holy conduct and in godliness. And here, God has come to us in this text and given us something that will help us to cultivate these beautiful, essential, wonderful things in our lives.

That is Peter's intent. Listen to this note from the Nelson Study Bible. I think this note from the Nelson Study Bible absolutely hits the nail on the head. The primary purpose of prophetic teaching is not to satisfy our curiosity, but to motivate us to change our lives. This is why prophecy.

Not to satisfy our curiosity about the future, but to motivate us to change, to make progress in the faith. The note goes on to say, rather than working for things that will ultimately be destroyed. We should work for things that are eternal. If you knew that the day of the Lord was tomorrow, How would you spend today? This is what Peter is driving at.

If you knew that the day of the Lord was tomorrow, all those affections that you've been cultivating and nurturing For things that are earthly, what would they seem like to you if you did know the day and the hour? And that it was tomorrow at noon. These affections that are so hard to shed for earthly things, it would be easier to shed. Peter is trying to help us with this. He is trying to make those affections easier to shed.

So people who live with an eye towards this day bear two marks. And I must say this before going any further. This is only for people in Christ. The cultivation of holy conduct and godliness is only a subject for people in Christ. You must be justified before you can be sanctified.

Quote unquote sanctification for people who are unregenerate is just an external cleaning up that makes you more proud than you were the day before. May it never be that we are satisfied with unregenerate people cleaning up a little on the outside and being exalted, even more exalted, in the natural man. And better equipped to exalt themselves against their neighbor in their own mind. To think well of themselves. Quote unquote sanctification, external Cleaning up of unregenerate people puts them further from the cross, not closer.

Because the self-congratulation that follows just makes those unregenerate people self-satisfied. Unregenerate people, self satisfied. They lose their sense of need. They lose their sense of the sickness that will drive you to go to the physician. When unregenerate people try to cultivate holy conduct and godliness, they're cultivating a warped holy conduct.

A warped godliness that just has them being the dog. That vomits out the vileness. That dog will go back and lick it up again. Peter's already said this in chapter 2, 22, I think. I can find where I am in my notes.

Yes, chapter 2 22 where Peter talks about the dog returning to his vomit, the sow having been cleaned up, going back and wallowing in the mud. So these are admonitions, exhortations to those who are in Christ, who are new creatures in Christ, who have been justified, and then they can turn their thoughts also to sanctification. Not losing sight of their justification, but also looking to make progress in the faith. So here are the two marks of those who have an eye towards the day of the Lord. Holy conduct.

Holiness has two components to it. The first component is separation from evil. Coming out from evil. That is an essential ingredient of holiness. Coming away from the defilements.

The second essential ingredient to holiness is dedication to God. It's not just coming out of the sewage. It's coming out of the sewage for purpose. To be dedicated to God. It's living for Him.

You cannot live for Him without coming out of the sewage and the defilements in the world. But it's not enough to just shut off that. You must live for Him. Not just holy, but holy conduct. Conduct is manner of life.

That's what this Greek word means. Manner of life. A pattern of life. So Peter is saying, as we consider the day of the Lord, it helps us to come out of the defilements. To think that tomorrow at noon, there might be a mighty roar, and a melting of the elements helps us to come out of the defilements and to dedicate ourselves to living for Him.

You have been bought with a prize, therefore take your members and live for him. Godliness. Godliness is sort of a term that's a little hard to get your arms around. It might help to start with the contrast to godliness. I think the contrast to godliness is worldliness.

Being cast in the image of the world. It's a metal term. You heat up the metal, you make it molten, and then you cast it in a mold. Worldliness is putting that molten metal into the mold of the world and assuming that image. So godliness is the polar opposite of that.

I think it's summed up well in Ephesians 5 verse 1. In Ephesians 5 verse 1, Paul says, Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. Take that molten metal and put it in the polar opposite mold of God the Father. What does that look like? It looks like Jesus.

Jesus is the express image. Jesus is the express image. Jesus is the fullness of the image of God. Men are ever going to look anything like their heavenly Father. They have to learn to look like Jesus, to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ, to be cast in that mold.

So that they are looking more and more and more like that. Peter has already spoken on a couple of occasions about godliness. In chapter 1 verse 3, which we are memorizing, Peter has said, His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Christian, you have what you need. God's divine power has given you all things that pertain to life and godliness.

We have what we need to be godly in Christ. In chapter 1 verse 6, which we're also memorizing. Peter has exhorted us to add to our faith godliness. There were some other things in between. The point is our faith shouldn't be alone.

Our faith should be accompanied by signs that it's a living faith. And one of those is godliness. We should be adding to our faith godliness, this conformity into the image of Jesus being cast in the mold not of the world, but to be imitators of God as dear children who want to look and act and talk like their father. Isn't this what we see even in the world? Little boys running around wanting to look and act and talk like their father.

Paul says, be like that. That helps us to understand what godliness is. Peter says, as we live in the shadow of this day, as we consider what it will be like when Jesus does return in the hour that nobody expected, but some are obeying the command to always be ready. And when He comes back, as we look to this day, it helps us be conformed into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't you yearn for more of this in your life.

Is there any Christian here who hears that we have a tool to help us cultivate holy conduct, separation from defilement, and being set apart to God to live to His glory. We have tools to help us cultivate godliness, shedding the image of the world, but being cast into the image of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Christian, does that not make your heart burn? Oh, may it make our hearts burn so that we long to be like Him, to be less like what we always were and more like the image of Jesus. Not so that we can be puffed up, so that we can live to His glory so that He'll be seen as a God who can take this, think of you in your unregenerate state, and transform you into this precious image.

It's for the glory of God. Paul gets the last word on this. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Paul says something akin to this. It's not exactly what Peter is saying, but it has a bearing on what Peter is saying.

1 Corinthians chapter 3, I'll read verses 12-15. 1 Corinthians 3 verses 12-15, Paul writes, Now if anyone builds on this foundation, he's just said in the previous verses, there's only one foundation, and it's Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation, Christ with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear. For the day. For the day we'll declare it because it will be revealed by fire.

And The fire will test each one's work of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved. Yet so as through fire. Yet so as through fire.

Peter says that the earth and all the works in the earth are going to be burned up. Paul says, some of your work will survive the day. Some of your work won't survive the day. And the question is, where are you storing up your treasure? There are some things that are immaterial, and they bring no earthly benefit, maybe.

But it's treasure stored in heaven. That work will survive the day. That work will survive the refining fire that burns away all the chaff. There are things that we spend so much time, so much energy, so much love on, that will never survive that day. When we love things in the world, we have to know that the day is going to come.

It's just going to burn it up like chaff. It will not survive the day. There will be no reward. It will not have been a storing up in heaven. There will be nothing left from all the time and energy and the love expended on that thing.

Hopefully when I say this, that thing pops into your mind. So that you can identify it and put your finger on it and say, I have loved something that will not survive the day. I've given hours and hours to something that will not survive the day. Given so much precious resource to something that will not survive the day. Finally, last bullet on your outline.

Christians have a great hope beyond this day. Christians have a great and mighty and joyful and spectacular hope beyond this day. Not wishful thinking kind of hope, confident expectation kind of hope. Biblical hope. The Bible never uses the word hope synonymously with wishful thinking.

We use it that way. The Bible never uses it that way. When the Bible uses hope, it means confident expectation even though you can't see it. Christians live with a confident expectation, even though they haven't seen it yet, of what will be beyond the day for the Lord's people. In verse 12, Peter writes, we're back in Peter now, 2 Peter 3, verse 12, Peter writes, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of the Lord.

Looking for it, and we're hastening the coming of the day of the Lord. Now does that mean we can speed it up? Does that mean there is certain conduct that will make it happen sooner? It sounds like that. But I believe that the best understanding is to earnestly desire.

That is a meaning of this Greek word, to earnestly desire it. So there is haste, and there is haste that is caused by a burning in your heart for it. And the picture is, you are running to that day. You are running to it. You are so full of anticipation of the return of your Lord that you are reaching for that day because He is coming back.

He is your Lord. He has purchased you with His own blood. And you cannot wait to see him. Think about what it was like waiting to go to Texas to get that girl. Like The day just can't get here fast enough.

Like I'm straining towards it because of the anticipation. The earnestness of the desire for it. I think the King James renders it right. King James renders it, hastening unto the coming of the day of the Lord. Running to the coming of the day of the Lord.

Hastening unto. Listen to the end of 1 Corinthians. So Paul ends a 16 chapter letter to the Corinthian church with these words. This is 1 Corinthians 16 verses 22 and 23. Paul writes, If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed.

And then he says, Oh Lord, come. And then he says, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. There's an acknowledgement that a day is coming where those who do not love the Lord Jesus Christ will be accursed. The Greek word is anathema. And then after anathema, we get another Greek word, Maranatha.

Which means, Oh Lord come. Oh Lord come. There is a burning in the heart of the Apostle Paul for the coming of his Lord. He's reaching forward for that day. He would pull it forward if he could because of his earnest desire to see the Lord come back for his people.

Listen to the end of the Bible. You're going to hear exactly the same words. The end of the Bible ends as Paul's letter to the Corinthians ends. Revelation 22 verses 20 and 21 are the last two verses in the Bible. Revelation 22, 20 and 21, John writes, He who testifies to these things says, Surely I am coming quickly.

Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. The same words that Paul uses, come Lord.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen. Brothers and sisters, this is the heart of the Christian. Every Christian, every man and woman and child who has repented and believe the Gospel has a birth in their heart of a desire to see the Lord come back to claim His people. A desire to see the end of sin in their own lives, in the world. A longing for the end of all tears and to be in the presence of the Lord.

May our hearts burn. May we reach forward to pull that day forward if we could because of our earnest desire to See the day come. May we be like Paul. Oh Lord, come. May we be like John.

Even so, come Lord Jesus. May God give us such a longing To see Him break the eastern skies and return. Oh Lord come. So why would anyone earnestly desire a meltdown of the universe? This is why.

This is why. Because we can't be with him forever until this happens. So if this is the prerequisite, give me the prerequisite. If this is what it takes to be with him forever as a bride is with a groom, then may God speed the day. Why would anyone earnestly desire a meltdown of the universe?

Because of what is beyond that event for the Lord's people. A new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. You're living in this earth. Does righteousness dwell here? Only in very small pockets.

There will be no end to the righteousness on the new earth. I want to bring us to two passages that are relevant to the new heavens and the new earth. The first is Romans 8. Please turn to Romans 8. Romans 8, Paul talks about a groaning creation.

Romans chapter 8. This is the first text that I believe sheds light on what Peter is teaching about the new heavens and the new earth, and the events that lead to the new heavens and the new earth. Romans chapter 8, 20-23, Paul writes this, For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope. Because The creation itself will also be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

Not only that, but we also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, eagerly awaiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. In Genesis 3, when mankind fell, corruption came into the world. And there's been so much corruption for so many centuries. And we have defiled this creation. And it will not do to be the place where righteousness dwells.

It must be cleansed. It must be cleansed. So there are two things I think that are important coming out of Romans chapter 8 verses 20 through 23. The first is that even creation needs to be cleansed from corruption. Paul actually says there's going to be a cleansing.

The creation is groaning under the weight of the corruption that has been brought into this world. And he says in verse 21, because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. I believe that Peter is describing that in 2 Peter 3, our text for today. The second thing that I take out of Romans 8 is that the newness of creation is parallel with the newness of our own body. In other words, we groan under corruption and the creation groans under corruption.

When Jesus returns, we'll receive a new body, uncorrupted, and the earth will become new, uncorrupted. What exactly is the relationship of this body that has aches and pains and problems and groans under corruption and our new bodies? 1 Corinthians 15 says some things, but I don't understand them. I don't know. But it makes it clear there is a relationship.

What exactly will be the relationship between this earth that is groaning under corruption and the new earth? I don't know. But it will be glorious. And it will be free. It will be cleansed, totally cleansed from corruption.

Our final text is Revelation chapter 21. Please turn to Revelation chapter 21. Speaking of the new heaven and the new earth. In Revelation chapter 21 verses 1-5 John writes this, Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.

Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, no sorrow, nor crying.

There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then he who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, Write, for these words are true and faithful." All these things are according to his promise. The words written are true words, faithful words, words you can bet your life on. Peter is calling us to bet our lives on these words, and to take these words in order to cultivate lives of holy conduct and godliness for the glory of God.

Peter says, the new heavens and the new earth are where righteousness dwells. Indeed, because God dwells there. Righteousness dwells there. This is about a groom and his bride. She'd give us a yearning in our hearts.

In conclusion, this is the Christ-centered life. I haven't said those exact words, and you might have thought, great, now there's something else I have to think about. As if the catalog of things I'm supposed to be mindful of and think of wasn't long enough. We seem to add them every week. Now I have to think about this day all the time.

I'm saying no it's not new. I'm saying this is just simply a natural outgrowth of a Christ-centered life. The more Christ-centered we are, the more this naturally is a part of our thinking. As we look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, we remember His return. We yearn for His return.

A Christ-centered life is a Christ yearning for the return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It's not a new thing to remember. It doesn't go in the catalog. It sits on top of the catalog. If your thoughts are turned to Christ, if your thoughts are saturated in Christ, then your thoughts will be wandering towards the day of His return more often than ever.

What manner of persons ought you to be? We should have a manner of life separated from evil. A manner of life. A pattern. A pattern of life.

Not just good days here and there, but a pattern of life separated from evil and dedicated to God. Living for Him. Having been set free from him, living like freed men. The alternative to this life of living for him, being Holy, set apart from Him, removed from evil. The alternative to that is to be asleep, assuming that all is well.

This is the epitome of foolishness. This is the height of foolishness. To live lives as if we were asleep, assuming that all is well. Jesus has talked to that so directly in Luke 12, which we already considered. I'll leave you with this.

Revelation 21 verse 27. So we only read the first five verses. Had we continued, we would have hit this in Revelation 21 verse 27. But there shall by no means enter it, it is the new heaven and New Earth, but there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life." The new heavens and the new earth is where righteousness dwells. Defiling things cannot come there.

Defiling things are not welcome there. So it is not our righteousness. Our righteousness is as filthy rags says Isaiah, says God through Isaiah. Our righteousness is filthy rags. Our righteousness isn't welcome there, because it's not real righteousness.

The real righteousness comes by cleansing through the blood of Jesus Christ. You have to be written in the Lamb's book of life. You have to be washed in His blood. Or you would be a defilement to that place. Nothing that defiles can ever be welcome there, can ever enter there.

Let the long shadow of the day of the Lord make you wise. Non-Christian, let it make you wise. Consider that the day is coming. It will be the day of a mighty roar and heat that will melt down everything that you know. And it could be tomorrow.

There is nothing in reading the tea leaves that says it cannot be tomorrow. Be wise. Is your name in the Lamb's book of life? Have you repented and believed the gospel? Has His blood covered you.

Christians, how ought we to live in the shadow of this day? Oh, may God give us a pattern of holy conduct, coming out from the defilements, and living for Him, being dedicated to Him, being conformed into the image of Christ. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for this text. God, I know when we leave some text, I'm afraid that I'll forget.

Don't let us move on from the day, from the consideration from it, from a Christ-centered life that remembers and longs for His return. Make us a holy people, make us a godly people, imitating our Father as dear children. As he sings in Jesus' name, Amen.