How Should Knowing About the Day of The Lord Impact My Life?

And an issue sometimes that we shy away from because it's so shocking to our sensibilities as fallen people in a fallen world. And that is the day of the Lord. We talked about this last week and today Peter is going to address the issue of how should this affect us knowing the truth about the coming of the day of the Lord that Jesus Christ is coming back again. How many of your treasures will survive the day of the Lord? Listen to these words. No public infressions right now. Listen to these words, but the day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat and the earth and its works will be burned up. Think about that for a moment.

Will any of the things that I value and employ my life into on a daily basis in my living will it survive this awful day of God's justice and judgment? Another possible reading of this verse, the final phrase there, although I don't think it's the right one, but it's interesting that this does appear in some early manuscripts is and the day will expose it. The works of the earth will be exposed on that day. In other words, the true nature of the things of this world will be seen for what they are. You know, that fits the teaching of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 3 when he talks about what we do for Christ in our bodies that it's going to be examined by Christ and the fire of that day and that I believe is a very strong metaphor for the fact that on that day everything will be exposed for what it really is.

There will be no secrets on that day when Christ comes back and Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3 that we have to work in the kingdom in such a way that when the inspector comes our work will pass inspection because that day will expose the true nature of it. It's sobering, isn't it? It's sobering to think that every generation of Christians have been instructed to live in light of the fact that Jesus could come in our lifetime. I don't happen to be one of those who thinks that the events in the newspaper necessarily tell us that Christ is coming tomorrow or next year or in 2006. I think that Israel could be driven off the land and come back and I don't know that we understand all those all that has to take place in order for the events that are described for us in the New Testament regarding last days to happen.

But one thing I know for sure that the Bible teaches us that every generation ought to live in light of the fact that Jesus could come back. Jesus could come back in our lifetime. Listen to what Peter writes in 2 Peter chapter 3 after saying that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed within Kent seed in the earth and its works will be burned up. He goes on in verse 11 since all these things are to be destroyed in this way and all these things of course are these the earth and its works everything that we see and perceive. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way what sort of people ought you to be and holy conduct in Godliness looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning and the elements will melt with intense heat but according to its promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Therefore beloved since you look for these things be diligent to be found by him in peace spotless and blameless and regard the patience of our Lord is salvation just as also a beloved brother Paul according to the wisdom given to him wrote to you as also in all his letters speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to understand. You agree with that? There are some things in the epistles of Paul when he speaks about the second coming that are hard to understand and that's Peter's estimation which the untought and unstable distort as they do also the rest of the scriptures to their own destruction you therefore beloved knowing this beforehand be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.

Amen. Now Peter says in this text that we are looking at today that a knowledge of the day of the Lord should produce some effects there's a lot of things that we learn that don't change our life a bit you notice that there are many things that you learn in this world you can read the newspapers every day you read a lot of things and study a lot of things which will have no impact upon your life at all but Peter says a knowledge of the day of the Lord out of producing effects he talks about three specific effects that a lot of producing our lives and notice what they are there and your notes let me show it on the screen first of all it should produce a new attitude about the things of the world a new attitude about the things of the world he says these things and quite literally what the verse says what Peter says is these things are in the process of being destroyed now he says that because it's a very forceful way of saying it is coming count on it the day of his wrath is coming and the things all these things the earth and its works are being destroyed it is certain and it is imminent you have all kinds of passages in the New Testament Peter and Paul and John all speak in these kinds of terms we are living in the last hour John says Peter says the end of all things has drawn near James says the judge is standing at the door he's got his feet on the what do you call that thing across the door on the what on the yeah whatever that is he's got his feet right there he's standing at the door Christ is near his coming is near and that ought to impact us what kind of impact should it have on us well our orientation is no longer to be toward the things of this world but toward the eternal God this is why we say things like you know you should love people and use things and not vice versa and our biggest problem is that everything in our culture tells us to love things and use people why do we network so we can use people why do you develop relationships in this world system so you can use them in in our on Wall Street our eyes are being open to the fact that there is so much corruption in large steadfast companies that people are scared to death because in our culture we are influenced to love things and to use people in order to have those things and keep those things if Peter says now that we understand the fact that these things are headed for destruction then our lives are to be characterized by two things notice what they are in verse 11 by holy conduct and God in us holy conduct is just simply saying this is how we are to use our bodies how do you use your body we have to use our bodies in this way aware that we are set apart for God's purpose and use Paul calls your physical body the instrument an instrument of righteousness the members of your body your ability to think and act and make decisions are just be seen by us as instruments of righteousness weapons of righteousness we fear ourselves as belonging uniquely to God and therefore living our lives for him for his purposes you know sometimes we sing these songs that have militant expressions in them you know he's like we sang today my redeemer I think it was in that song that he's leading us into battle and people go what is that all about we don't want this kind of religion that believes in holy war well there is a war going on that's what's so significant about the fact that God is so patient God Peter tells us in us in art from our perception delays is coming to give opportunity but the battle is coming the God of the universe the one who has been who has been appointed as the head of this world Jesus Christ himself who has authority over every government is going to come and when the nations of this world stand in opposition to God there is going to be a war and so we are in a battle now but this battle is so different than the then the Jews thought in the first century when Jesus came and they began to wonder is either Messiah he's the Messiah what did he destroy the Romans instead of destroying the Romans he tells us to love them instead of destroying the Romans he says take the gospel to them that's how the battle is going right now the way the battle is going now as we go into all the world and make disciples for Jesus Christ we don't kill people because they won't believe in Jesus we don't mass a mass Christian armies to go and fight against pagan nations we take the gospel we take the cross it's the way of the cross this is the way the war is going now it's the way of the cross but one of these days Jesus is coming back and Peter says we had to live our lives right now in all holy conduct and godliness because we recognize this first Timothy he says in the in second time the two rather in the household there are vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor in other words you have vessels in your house utensils and bowls and so forth that some of them have honorable use and some of them have dishonorable use and he says we should purify ourselves from these things so that we could be fit for the master's use we could be pure and fit for the master's use and so he says we had to live in these last days recognizing that everything in this world is is going to come under judgment and the judges on his way and then he says in and in all godliness all that means is living your life as worship giving God what he deserves is your life worship do you do what you do has worship to God the investments you make the way you maintain your car the way you know your grass the way you pay your bills the way you talk to your neighbor the way you do your job you do it as under the Lord he says slaves ought to do their work as under the Lord for his glory not on a fear of their master but out of the fear of the Lord how you bear your burdens how you bear up under the the heaviness of the trials of your particular life do you do it as worship to the living God that's why you can have holy sweat if you do it as under the Lord in that wonderful you can do what you do as under the Lord I think that's the most wonderful thing Bill Hamster can use his scalpel as under the Lord Mitch Peters can pound his hammer as under the Lord as worship Jeff Somyang can teach people about using computers and so forth as under the Lord for his glory all of life is to be worship in fact it's almost deceptive for us to think that we come together for worship because people get the idea oh okay I'm on a worship on Sunday mornings with the saints but the biblical concept is that we live our lives in worship we settle our arguments in a way that's going to glorify God that's what Peter said if two believers in a church have a dispute over a business matter they ought to settle it in a way that glorifies God even if it needs you're going to be taken advantage of because your life is a life of worship my life is to be a life of worship and being aware of the day of the Lord should should cause us to live our lives in a definite way engaged in God's work and doing it as unto work as worship unto the Lord that's what he says in Romans 12 isn't it present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable in God which is your reasonable service of worship to use your capacities as a human being your ability to think and act and accomplish things in this world it's to be done as unto the Lord because you know what if it isn't it isn't going to stand the fire of the second coming of Christ the day of the Lord it's going to be burnt out that's a false essence in 1 Corinthians chapter three 1 Corinthians 7 false says that all of us in fact in this room I don't think there's anybody who wouldn't fit this category he says those that use the world you're not abusive use it but don't abuse it use it for the glory of God but don't abuse it we have a new attitude about things in the world we love that which is eternal and we use that which is temporal and every person you know is eternal and that's an awesome thought that every person that you know is eternal as far as they are everlasting they will never cease to exist use temporal things that car is going to wear out I love one thing about my wife that I love is that she's incredible house homemaker but she loves people more than she loves things and she doesn't mind using things in order minister to people and that's how we ought to be let aware everything we have out in ministry to people that's why all my stuff looks worn out I wish it was true notice verse 12 he says looking for and hastening looking for and hastening the coming of the day of the Lord because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning in the elements will melt with intensity our orientation he says now is heavenward and not and not earthward it is heavenward and forward we hasten that is it that's a funny word isn't it that we are to hasten the day of the Lord how do I hasten it well this word means to distract desire something very earnestly it's kind of a play on words it's a figure of speech that you hasten something it's like that's that irritating mervin's commercial where the woman stands at the door an hour before the store opens and says open open open what's going on she's trying she's so desires that start to open so she can spend her money on that those sales items that she is trying to exert her desires will to cause it to happen he says that's how we are to be concerning the coming of the day of the Lord we are to hasten it how do we do that well Jesus mentioned two things we ought to be doing to hasten the day of the Lord the coming of the kingdom of God upon this earth and its fullness he says in the in the his the servant on the mount that when we pray we ought to pray that kingdom come they will be done on earth as it isn't heaven so our praying for the advance of the kingdom and how does the kingdom advance the kingdom advances as we take the gospel out as we preach and live and practice the gospel what happens is in doing that the gospel goes out and the day of the Lord is hastened and the second thing he says we ought to do in Matthew 24 is we ought to preach the gospel because it is the response of the gospel that is going to bring the day of the Lord the coming of the kingdom of God you know the rabbis have a saying some rabbis have the saying that if Israel would ever completely and fully the entire nation at one moment repent the Messiah would come now they don't embrace Jesus as their Messiah but this is their thinking at the entire nation were to repent and of course if that repentance was true it would be a repentance concerning Jesus Christ another form of that is if the entire nation of Israel would simply keep Sabbath on a one Sunday I mean one Saturday forgive me on one Sabbath that Messiah would come well in a sense they they're saying something that has a kind of a twisted truth to it because it is going to be the advance of the gospel and the response to the gospel that is going to be the precursor the harbinger of the coming of the kingdom and that's why the nations of this road going to be so angry and stand against this Christ because we are making progress that the kingdom of God is going out and more and more people are coming into the kingdom and where Jesus said to the Apostle Peter thou art Peter and upon this rock that is your confession that I am the Christ the son of the living God I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it you know it's a picture there of Peter he says to Peter and all those who preach the gospel it's like you sticking your head through the gates of hell and proclaiming salvation in Christ and you're dragging people out of the hands of Satan in his kingdom and people turn to Christ and save and as the gospel advances the world is going to get more and more angry the agents of Satan in this world who want to stop the gospel it's amazing how it is so open in our country that people hate the gospel and try to pass laws and try to do things to keep the gospel from being proclaimed and lived and preached and talked about openly in our culture so our orientation is heavenward and forward but we are not pessimistic about the future we are very optimistic we are to live our lives in worship with great happiness enjoy and pleasure in fact you know there's a book called the pleasures of God written by John Piper and this what this book is it's a book on theology proper a book on the character nature of God but it does it in this way it says the way you discover what God is really all about is find out what he finds pleasure in what brings deep and profound pleasure to the heart of the living God when you find out what a person finds pleasure and you find out what their character is don't you isn't that true think about that in your own life what do you find pleasure in John Piper as a little thing you've all heard God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him when we are satisfied in God when we find deep and profound satisfaction in God more than anything else in life that glorifies the living God and so he says in verse 13 but according to his promise we're not pessimists we are optimists about the future according to his promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth and notice the characteristic of this new heaven to new earth it is going to be a place a sphere of existence in which righteousness dwells a place in which righteousness dwells and you don't understand righteousness is far more than we usually think of we usually think of righteousness as being God always doing what's right righteousness is always keeping the rules always staying within the lines righteousness is so much more than that righteousness is that God has a character in which he keeps his promises to his people he is faithful to his covenant righteousness is what a man is when he is faithful to his marriage covenant to his wife that he loves through the way he promised the lover on his wedding day that's a righteous man when a person keeps their promises and their covenants imagine what it would be like to live in a world where righteousness dwells what would it be like to live in a world where people were characterized by the righteousness of Jesus Christ and all their conduct and relationships what would it be like to have a personal relationship with a human being who was perfectly righteous would that be amazing is it something how we do this in life I remember as a kid when I first discovered this and you meet new people and you really attracted to them and you develop relationships with them you think they're the greatest thing walking on the face of the earth and then you get to know them and they get to know you and then you begin to see all their flaws and their weakness and their unrighteousness sometimes you'd be so disappointed imagine what it's going to be like in the New Heaven and New Earth when you are set free to love Christ the way you ought to love it isn't amazing you come here every week and I don't want to be like this but I can I can tell this happens so you come to church every week and you hear what you ought to be doing you're not doing so you get beat up by the word of God and you leave all you know look in your wounds imagine what it's going to be like in the New Heavens and New Earth in which you are going to love Christ as you ought to live in when you want to come to those be setting sins that be setting sin that controls your life right now you want to come to your doubts about the living God and his intentions for you and letting you go through what you're doing now you want to come to those temptations that flare up in you and it's almost like you go into automatic pilot in succumbing to those temptations toward the end of the 19th century Alfred Nobel who was a Swedish chemist read an obituary in the local newspaper that was an obituary of him the words read this way Alfred Nobel the inventor of dynamite which he was who died yesterday devised away from more people to be killed in a war than ever before and he died a very rich man it shocked him actually what had happened was his older brother had died and they had gotten mixed up with Alfred the newspaper reporter had bungled the the epitae but the account that he read in the paper it's such a profound effect on him on Nobel that he decided he wanted to be known for something other than developing the means to kill more people efficiently than any other man living for a massing of fortune because of it and so he initiated the Nobel Prize the award for scientists and writers who foster peace in the world when you think about what you're going to leave behind and what you're going to take to the next world Peter is encouraging us to have a different attitude about the things of this world the things of our life what really matters what's really important having you notice that some of those things that were so bright and shining and important to you when you first got them when your life changes direction when your priorities change when your world view gets modified all of a sudden those things are so important to you are absolutely worthless and the biggest problem you have is trying to find out what those things you actually have to rent space to store up all those things that you thought were so important and now you discover they know they're not important at all anymore well we have to start living in such a way that we counted to be true that Christ is coming back and this earth and all of its works are going to be burned up and the only thing that's going to be left are those things that I invest in eternity now how can you invest in eternity invest in people for the glory of God use the resources that God puts in your hand including your talents and skills and knowledge and abilities and money and all other things use it to meet the needs of people in the name and for the glory of Jesus Christ that's how you invest in eternity I remember before I went into full-time ministry in fact it was about ten years before God really got my heart about giving and I what finally grabbed me was it doesn't matter what I spend my money on in this life it's just going to be gone but if I invest in eternity even if I and I remember at that point I first started worrying about you know raising my kids and getting getting them through school getting their education and preparing for later in life how am I going to survive in old age and all those things and I remember thinking you know what if I invest in eternity it doesn't matter what happens to this economy everything I invest in eternity is secure every other single investment you have in real estate the stock market gold and silver that you got hidden in your backyard why two case supplies it's gonna be worthless and it is not secure isn't amazing how people are people close to me I remember those days in the stock market was soaring and they were saying I made whatever $20,000 yesterday in my retirement time amazing how that go away isn't but something that you can never be taken from you is what you invest in eternity the moment you take the minister to the lives of people to minister the gospel and its implications in the way you treat people and minister to them those things can never be taken from you but straight to heaven somebody came in this week and invested several hundred dollars in a student in a student assumed new student to go to theological college you know that we saw Bob Kauffman came and presented to us somebody came and invest some money to support one of those students for a year you know that that money has been put into eternal things and it's gonna read benefits throughout all eternity think of that what better way to spend your money what an incredible investment now the second thing he says that this ought to do to us is we understand the truth about the day of the Lord is it should bring a new anticipation of Christ coming do you want Jesus to come I mean do you really want Jesus to come and could anyone detect that in your life and the way that you live could anyone tell that I want Jesus to come or am I so oriented and the things of this life in this world that no one could ever detect by the way I live the way I order my life here that I'm looking for a world to come the man named James Charles Dettin who was the became a Broadway star in the piano lesson before he did that he served several years in a many years in fact a great force of his life in prison for manslaughter and someone wants asked him how he managed to make such a remarkable transition from being a conduct a prisoner becoming a Broadway star and he had this little one liner that's so perceptive he said unlike the other prisoners I never decorated my cell think about the energy that you pour into decorating your cell and how much energy are you pouring in to the world to come to the church at Pergamum Jesus said repent therefore or else I am coming to you quickly and I will make war against them with a sort of my mouth what he is doing for us in unveiling to us his message to the church at Pergamum is how serious our life really is in light of the truth of who Christ is in the coming of the day of the Lord the day of the Lord is going to reveal whether you are at peace with God or not look at verse 14 therefore beloved since you look for these things be diligent to be found what does he mean by that he means Jesus is going to come and he's going to find you in one condition or another and he says be diligent to be found by him by Christ when he comes in peace he's talking to us as a group he's talking to the people who's writing to as a group and by application to us as a group as a part of the body of Christ be diligent to be found by him in peace in another place Peter loves this word diligent it means to stretch yourself out put your utmost effort into it in other places he says we had to stretch ourselves out to maintain peace and here he says oh do everything you can to be found at peace when he comes spotless and blameless one of the things over the years that has troubled me and it troubles me about my life as well as others is when you discover that people are willing to live out their lives without experiencing peace with particular believers they've just decided they're never going to really love that particular believer they're never going to be at peace with that believer they're just going to live their lives at war with them now it's obvious Paul says you as much as lies within you be at peace with all men you can't be it's impossible to be at peace with everyone all the time but as much as lies within you Peter's telling us Jesus is coming back and that we ought to be at peace with one another because that's a way he wants to find us and he tells us in verse 15 that patience his patience is God's patience with us and with this world waiting until the right moment is not slackness but salvation don't consider it slackness regard notice verse 15 regard the patience of our Lord as salvation or regard the patience of our Lord for salvation just is also a beloved brother Paul according to the wisdom given to him wrote to you this is the day in which we can make peace if you're not at peace as some fellow believer you need to make peace today because Jesus may come back tomorrow and he wants us to be found at peace and notice this what happens is that we don't like this and therefore it is very appealing to us for someone to distort the word so that we don't have to submit to the commandment of Christ he says there's also in all his letters speaking in him that is Paul of these things in which are some things hard to understand which the untought and unstable distort they put it on a rack and twist it all out of shape that's what they do with the epistles of Paul as they do also the rest of the scriptures to their own destruction by the way here's a testimony second Peter 316 that Peter considered the writings of Paul to be scripture the word of God but he says don't twist or torment the scriptures so what Satan did when he confronted Jesus tempted Jesus in Matthew 4.6 he quotes a promise of God to the Messiah that he will protect him and he twists that scripture to produce implications that are not there that Jesus would test God by casting himself down and see if God casting himself off the temple to see if God would save him Jesus knew that was not the meaning or the purpose of that text that Satan was twisting the scriptures and Peter's been writing this book about those who twist the scriptures and his main concern is that you not lose your steadfastness your firmness in following Christ in these last days by listening to false teachers and notice how he describes these men in verse 16 he says which the untought and unstable distort now what are you saying if there are people in the church who will speak up about God's will for your life whether they stand before a pulpit or they simply speak to you in small groups that they do it somewhere else one-on-one but he says they're untought and unstable these are the ones who twist the scriptures it's the reason that God has placed pastors and teachers in the church now some pastors and teachers can twist the scriptures also but the reasoning put pastors and teachers in the scriptures in the churches is in order that those who twist the scriptures would be confronted that's one of the responsibilities of pastors and teachers this is an important issue because it is a it is a difficult thing to cut it straight to cut it straight when it comes to teaching the Bible we've been meeting we just started meeting on Wednesday mornings men are meeting at 630 at the Britwood Cafe we're gonna start talking about the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man what kind of freedom does man have and what kind of what kind of sovereignty does God have and one of the things that's happened just in those two meetings we've had in conversations is I realize I'm not always understood I'm just amazed by that I think I'm so clear so precise and so clear and yet I'm amazed when I hear people feedback to me what they thought I said but it's a difficult job to be clear about the teachings of scripture G.K.

Chesterton pictures orthodoxy this way that is true biblical teaching he said it's like walking along a narrow ridge almost like a knife edge one step to either side was a step of disaster Jesus is God and man if we emphasize one to the elimination of the other it's a distortion of truth God is love and holiness if we emphasize the love of God that we totally diminish the holiness of God we have distorted the truth Christianity is grace and truth it's not just grace it's grace and truth the Christian lives in this world and also lives in the world of eternity so if you overstress one to the elimination of the other to the exclusion of the other we have heresy I want to make this clear I don't have any doubts in my mind whatsoever that this book is God breathed that's what it says about it stuff that's what Jesus said about it that's what Paul said about it it's what it's what it testifies to itself and the way it's put together I think we can be honest with this text I think we can come to it and not superimposed our theological system upon it that we don't have to come with with the fear that if we actually read it as it is we're gonna find errors in it I think it will stand the test of the most severe critic I have absolute confidence in the Bible I don't have absolute confidence in my understanding of it or my ability to teach it but I work at it and we have to work at it because it's so easy for it to be distorted so easy for people to lose their firmness their steadfastness from the truth by being fed a bill of goods what most tragic things in life is when a man twists Christian truth and holy scripture into an excuse and a defense and even a reason for doing what he wants to do rather than doing what the word of God and what the will of God is there are a lot of things that the Bible teachers that I wish it taught something slightly different I wish it said that the way I want to believe it there's some difficult things in scripture it is difficult to understand what the scripture says about the sovereignty of God is absolute sovereign control over all things and what it says about the responsibility of man and the freedom of man to make real choices how do we bring these things together and the fact is there are things in scripture that we cannot understand the Deuteronomy 29th is that there are things that God has not revealed that is and some of those have to do with well how do you fit this together but we humbly submit to a God that we trust I trust God a whole lot more than I trust theologians and Bible scholars who twist the scriptures there are geniuses in this world I mean men who are genuine world class scholars of the Bible who hold the same view of scripture that I do and there are some that don't I don't count noses I believe this book because of the testimony of the Holy Spirit to my heart through the scriptures this book to me has perspicuity it is clear if you'll take the time to look at it even though there are things in it that are very difficult to understand it I will never understand until we get to heaven and you won't either the third thing that he says is that we it is ought to bring a new commitment to spiritual growth he closes the letter with his main concern which is the concern of the letter he warns them of the seducers and encourages them to grow the book is this letter is written to these believers because he's a concern that they're going to be thrown off the path that they're going to be made unstable in the commitment of walk with Christ because of these false teachers who are going to lead them off the path and so he closes the book of these words you therefore beloved knowing this beforehand be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the air of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity he encourages us to grow he says in verse 17 don't be seduced the word steadfastness there means firmness God wants you to become firm in your faith firm in your understanding in your relationship with God through Christ Jesus Mike and I said under a teacher a theology teacher Leverend Schaefer Dr.

Leverend Schaefer and he was quite a colorful man he used to use this expression I heard him say this a dozen times probably more than that about people who twist the scriptures some particular and he would name names without a dad and he would say he's got the backbone of a jellyfish and the brain of a lot Peter is saying be steadfast be firm in your commitment and your convictions about the unveiling of the truth that we have in Jesus Christ as it's recorded in his word remain firm in your relationship with Christ so that your life will produce something that will survive the fire of God's judgment Jesus referred to it as his desire that we would bear fruit that remains John 15 abiding me abiding me what does that mean abiding me well it certainly means it certainly means that you have an ongoing active thoughtful intentional pursuit of Jesus Christ that you rest in his work and you pursue a relationship with him over everything else in life abided me he said and you will bear fruit that remains fruit that will stand the day of God's judgment of this earth and its works live a life that's going to have eternal benefits not simply temple so that when you stand before Christ on that day you will not shrink back from him at his coming but you will delight in the fact that he's finally got here to save us to the uttermost to complete this work of salvation to remove all my sin to make me completely and totally righteous in my relationship with him and everyone else Ephesians 2.10 says for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of good works which he has before ordained that we should walk in them it is the will and purpose and pleasure of God that you fulfill the works the good works that he has before ordained that you should walk in he has equipped you in a unique and wonderful way he's given you a spiritual gift he's given you spiritual experience he's given you life experience he's caused you to go through certain things and he has good works laid out for you individually as you fulfill those works in the power of the spirit you will bear fruit that remains and he says in verse 18 therefore be committed to grow this is a present imperative which means be committed to continually continually be grown in Christ John 173 Jesus said the reason that God has given you eternal life the reason that God has given you eternal life in Christ is so that you might know God personally and know his son Jesus Christ that's why he saved you so you could really know him Philippians 3 Paul says I have come to understand that everything that I accomplish in my life through the flesh no matter how much recognition or reward there is is trash in fact he uses the word that I wouldn't even want to give you a very literal English translation the word we don't use in polite company but he says it's like the stuff you flush down the toilet in comparison to the value of knowing Jesus Christ you know whatever you're going through that's what you need more than anything else is you need firmness in your relationship with Christ you need firmness the goal of the Christian life current Ephesians 117 is to know Christ in this fullness and that's why he's coming back that's what's going to happen when you come back let's take a moment to pray our father we pray that you would sober us today as we stand at this moment in history in redemptive history and we look back we see all that you've done and we look forward to all that you have promised to do we can't help but think the time is near we can't help but suppose that Jesus is coming quickly and we pray Almighty God that in your grace and for your glory that you would grab hold of our thinking our minds our imaginations that we would see the obstacles to believing the truth about Christ and is coming for what they really are and help us to embrace Christ and to embrace this promise and to live in a way that we could say even so come quickly Lord Jesus I'll put the living such a way that we could say oh I hope he comes today we pray that you would do that for us and we could live out our lives with great energy and pleasure and joy in God to use every resource you put in our hands in a way that would reflect who you really are we ask that you would impact our hearts with this truth in Jesus name thank you In your...

Scoffing root, In my place, Condemn me, In your... Sealed my garden, With his blood, Hallelujah! What a saving you! In his eyes, And helplessly, Starless land of God was seen. O Lord, don't be, Can you be a little, yeah? What a saving you! In his blood, What a need to die! In his flesh, What a need to die! In his flesh, What a need to die! Hallelujah! What a saving you! In his eyes, Oh, yes, King! All we have left, Is all we have left, Is all we have left, Is all we have left, Hallelujah! What a saving you! Bring it, come to the Lord's table. This is a communion meal. We break bread here. The first century in the East, Middle East, The break bread that someone Was most intimate kind of fellowship.

In fact, if you had a meal with someone, You had to protect them. It was a commitment to be on their side. And imagine that God invites us to come and have a meal. Jesus Christ invites us to come around his table. We call this the Lord's table, Because He has instituted this meal That we could come and commune with Him as His people. It's so great to have communion with the people of God. It does. Jeff and Denise home for a weekend to take communion with us. That's what you can do every month to come home for communion. And it's good to see John, Martina, by the way, After our open heart surgery And you've been so good and we're so glad he's here And Terry, to be with us in all of you. This is a fellowship meal.

So fellowship meal that the elements themselves Have great significance Because they speak about the realities Of our relationship with God and with one another. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10, Even though the symbols kind of ruined in the way we pass up these little pieces of bread, We don't actually let you break off a piece from the one love. But he said in the early church, When you broke off a piece of that one love, It was to signify that we are all one love. We are all one bread because of what Christ has done. That we share in common the most important thing. We don't share common personalities, common tastes, Common pursuits and all those things. Some have completely different senses of humor, for example.

But what we do share in common is the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what these elements, This food that we take is a picture of. It's a picture of the Christ, The Son of God who became a man. His humanity was so real that he had a real human body. And it's like John, the Apostle who wrote first John, You could have there, you could have felt of it, you could have touched him. John says, we touched him and I can still remember what he felt like. We looked at him, we looked in his eyes, we gazed upon him. We heard his voice that came out of the voice box. He spoke, words. They knew what his voice sounded like. And we come to this table, we remember that Jesus, in order to save us from our sins and to bring us into this kingdom of God, under the rule of God, the rule of Christ, that he became one of us.

And then this cup represents the new covenant is glad. It represents the fact that in order to be in this relationship with God, it was necessary for Christ to die in our place. To shed his, for his blood to be shed, which means that he died of violent death under the judgment of God. The judgment that was new means Christ experienced to the floor. It says that God made him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. I read a statement this past week by a guy named William Dumbrow, who writes, has written quite a bit, I love his book. He said, he made his statements, it really grabbed my attention. He said, by, in quality, all human endeavor is designed to come to be a peace in the presence of God.

All the frantic effort of unbelievers is trying to get to the place where they could actually have the kind of rest that God offered. Hebrews chapter 4, it says that we can enter into his rest through faith and Christ. You can be a peace of God. You may be here this morning and just full of anxiety about one thing or another. You may be an anxiety about the fact that you know there's things in your life that God has commanded you not to be a part of and not participate in. And you're living with anxiety because of your sin. David said that, David said, my iniquity has caused me deep anxiety. The message of this meal is, if you have believed, if you are resting in Jesus Christ, and faith in Jesus Christ will always, without exception, over a lifetime, be expressed in obedience to Christ.

If you have faith in Jesus Christ, the fact is you have peace of God. And this meal is a time in which we actually experience, in a very real sense, like the writer of Hebrews says, we've tasted of the age to come. We have a fellowship meal with Jesus Christ and His people. We are expressing that we are all one in Christ and we've all been bought with the same Christ, the blood of Jesus Christ. That's why it's wonderful in the Church of Christ there are no barriers, no racial barriers, no economic barriers, no social barriers, no gender barriers, we are one in Christ. We stand before God accepted in Jesus Christ. And it's from this position that we leave this place to live for Christ knowing that He has made us to be at peace in His presence.

So this meal is an expression of that that we are at peace, we are at peace in the presence of God. You're not wonderful that we are at peace in the presence of God, that we can actually take the time to eat this meal. I read this thing the other day it says most, it says that most, there are more accidents, automobile accidents caused by people eating while they're driving and talking to the telephone while they're driving. That's how we are isn't it? That's what a meal is simply, you know, quenching your thirst and your hunger. You drive through McDonald's, get a meal, scarf it down as you drive down the freeway. What we do is we come together to take the time to be at peace in the presence of the living God and share a meal with Him.

So the matter that come down and pass out these elements is they're passing it out or you're going to hear the word of God, the men are going to read from the songs. Listen to these words. These are prophetic. They point forward to what Jesus was going to do for us and what we celebrate in this meal. So if the men would come first to pass out the bread. That would be that much. My God, my God. Why have you taken me far from my deliverance or the words of my God? Oh my God, I cry by the day that you do not answer from time to time. But I have no rest that you are holding. All of you who are at the throne of the places with this hell, in you are farthest trusted. They trusted and you believe in them.

So you may call it out and read the letters. In you, they trusted and were not this appointed. In I, I'm the Word, the Mount of Heaven, the Reconque of them, the despised by people. All of them shooting, scyrily, they separated with the blitz, they ragged with the bad saying. So get yourself to the Lord. Let him deliver Him. Let him what can happen. Because he will write to me. If you are he who brought me forth from the womb, you may be thrust upon my mother's breast. I told you when I was taught to purify. You have been my God and my mother's womb. I am going to do a lot. I am going to do a lot. If you do not start talking to the Lord with your hands for there is nothing to help. The Lord will kill you.

I am going to create you with a certificate. You will be taught to count out in those ways. The reality is the way I am. And the Lord doesn't have to walk at all. I am going to go without it. I am purified by because the blood flowing is not in the bolts. What strength do you draw by the cultures? I have snowing and I tongue sesame seeds in my dry. And maybe you will just die? When God analogy, energy and your power connects you to it. He cares just by a man like me. And hearing that all my problems feel good, I stare at them. They provided my work with enough cash and my facility to pass the line. But you will already do not borrow only through my health, but you can pass the system. So, with my school and the storage, I want to provide for the customer where it is at.

So, this is a line-in for us, the quality of the wildlife to the end. I will tell you that you're making it through my development. And this could be assembly, I will place you. You who fear the Lord will raise them. All you descendants of Jacob, glorify them, and stand in all of them. All you descendants of Israel. So, he has not despised or afforded the attention of the obligatory. Nor has he hidden his face from him, or when he cries to him for help, be heard. For you, touched by police and the slave assembly, I shall pay my bow before those who fear again. The afflicted will eat and be satisfied. Go to seek them to replace the Lord. Let your heart be in forever, all the ancestors who remember the strength of the Lord.

And all the families of the nations who have risen before you, and the kingdom is the Lord's, and the rules of the nation, all across Christmas and the earth will keep them worshiped. All those who don't have to discuss your body in it. Even if you did not keep it so alive, austerity will serve him. When you told him the Lord to become a generation, they will come and declare his righteousness to a people who will be brought to a people that is important to him. And he will go out and tell him to do that. He will cry to the Lord when he comes back to you. He will follow you. The Lord is in his country, and when he comes back to you, he will make somebody out of your country who will use his life as a firefly to restore his life for you.

You guys have the talent to raise your community spirit. You can go like one without a shadow of death. I fear no evil for you, I believe. You will cry when you come back to your country. You will declare his kingdom to a people that is important to him. You will be brought to a people that is important to him. You will be brought to a people that is important to him, and when he comes back to you, he will go out and tell him to do that. Jesus told his disciples in the midst of the Passover meal when he instituted this meal that we take up today, the new covenant meal, but he should take and say, this is my body, which is given for you. And this is the new covenant in my blood. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let me pray and then we'll partake of this. Our Father, how grateful we are that because of your great love with which you loved us, you sent Jesus Christ into the world to rescue us and to reconcile us through his redeeming work. We thank you, Father, for your great promise that since we have been reconciled through his death, much more shall we be saved through his life. When he comes back in judgment, we are going to be delivered from your wrath because he is alive to save. And so today, as we come to this table, we recognize that it is with Jesus Christ that we come in as his people. Thank you for this bread that represents his body, which was given for us. Thank you for this cup that represents the new covenant that was purchased to his death on our behalf.

We acknowledge your great work, your continuing work of salvation in Christ Jesus. And we partake with great thankfulness in Jesus' name. Let's partake together.