How Should We Respond to Mockers?

Second, Peter chapter 3, I've been getting a lot of questions for some reason about the whole issue of giving, which I'm not going to talk about today, but I just want to let you know that when we get done with 1st Peter one more week, you're going to spend a few weeks talking about giving from a biblical perspective, because I've gotten some unusual questions, which I don't even understand exactly why, since we have a building project coming up, and I suppose maybe that's what it's about. I don't know. We haven't asked for any money yet, but I guess everybody knows we're going to, and I don't know if they're worried if we're going to start twisting arms or attaching wages or something. I'm not early this year, but we're going to talk about this for a couple of weeks about the biblical new covenant approach to giving, and it's a wonderful privilege that God has given us as believers to give to the work of the gospel here and around the world.

Let's look at 1st Peter chapter 3, beginning in verse 1, I'm going to read the 1st in verses of chapter 3. Peter writes, this is now beloved, the second letter I am writing to you, in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder. You should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking following after their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of his coming? Ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation. When they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God, the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed being flooded with water.

But the present heavens and earth by his word are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. Do not let this one fact escape your notice beloved that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is one day. The Lord is not slow about his promises as some count slowed us, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. 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. Today we want to answer to this question, or see the answer to this question that Peter gives us in this text and that is how do we respond to mockers?

Now a key element in the gospel that you find throughout the New Testament, especially in the book of Acts, is the apostles go out and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. One of the primary elements is this truth that Jesus is coming back and he's coming back in judgment and he's coming back to establish righteousness on the earth. Notice this part of the gospel, Revelation chapter 1 verse 7 reads, Behold, he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him, even those who pierce him and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him, even so, amen. There's no way to get rid of this part of the gospel message that Jesus is coming and he's coming in fiery judgment, but in every generation men have mocked at this idea that we believe in a second coming of Jesus Christ.

You've seen the cartoons, you've heard the wisecracks, but this is nothing new. In Malachi's day, evil men said, where is the God of judgment that you speak of? In the Psalmist day, the heathen demanded, where is thy God that you claim is coming in judgment? Or in Jeremiah's day, the enemies of Israel said, where is the word of the Lord that you proclaim? And then Peter tells us in his day, and the last days they will be saying, where is the promise of his coming? The great majority of the gatekeepers of our culture mock at the idea and ridicule the idea that Jesus is coming back to save his people and to judge the ungodly. That's a concept in fact in which some believers are very timid about.

If you look at the statistics regarding preaching in the church, you'll discover that the message of judgment, coming judgment, is left out of many, many churches because of the fear that it is an offense to people. Now there's a little sidebar here that I just want to mention, real briefly, and that is in verses one and two. Look at those again a second about biblical teaching. And notice what he says, this is navel of it. The second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. Notice this. Effective Bible teaching has three characteristics according to these three verses.

The first is that it is repetitious. Biblical teaching is repetitious. It doesn't mean that I repeat everything I say three times. It means that we should be preaching the same message over and over again, the same major big themes of the biblical unveiling of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's necessary for truth to penetrate the mind. Philippians chapter 3 verse 1 Paul admonishes those believers to continue to rehearse these things in their mind so that they understand them. Think about them again and again. We have a great desire in the church in America to hear novelty. We love it when somebody comes up with a message that they've never heard before or perhaps some doctrinal truth, some doctrinal claim that someone has never heard before.

Let me just give you a simple little principle. If you hear somebody teach something that you have never heard before, it may be because you're just not studying your Bible. But if no one else has heard it before, you can be sure it's not true. Because this message, this commandment of Jesus Christ has been declared over and over and over again for the last 2,000 years. New Testament preaching and teaching is a rehearsal of a doctrine that was unveiled in the first 60 years of the life of the church. We preach this ancient book. This book that we opened the Bible was completed before a hundred AD. Imagine that. For less than 70 years, in a period of time, less than 70 years, the entire New Testament was completed.

And so we preach this ancient book and it is repetitious for us to say over and over again the truth of who Christ is and what Christ has done. Now there are many nuances, many implications that we have not even begun to scratch the surface of in our own understanding little on what we teach. But we teach these great truths over and over again. That's a part of biblical teaching. The second thing is that it is spiritual. He says, I do this to stir up your sincere mind. What does he mean? Well, he means this is to penetrate into the inner part of you. In 1 Timothy 1, when Paul instructs Timothy to go into Ephesus, he sends him to Ephesus and he says, I want you to teach the truth there and to correct error.

And then he says this, the goal of our instruction, the goal of biblical teaching is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Now in other words, biblical teaching isn't simply to produce a lot of knowledge in the heads of believers or unbelievers. It is to change lives. The purpose of biblical teaching is to affect the heart and mind and will to produce a good conscience and a sincere faith. The third thing about biblical teaching that he mentions here is that it is authoritative. Notice in verse 2, he says, that you should remember the word spoken beforehand in the past by the holy prophets. That is the Old Testament prophets. And notice the contrast here, the words of the prophets and the command singular of the Lord and Savior which is spoken by the apostles.

It is authoritative. The Old Testament pointed to Christ. The Old Testament is fulfilled in Christ and the apostles proclaim him and his commandment. And notice that, his commandment, the commandment of the Lord, the commandment of the Lord Jesus. This emphasizes the fact that his teaching is authoritative, that it is a command to us. When Jesus taught his teaching bore authority, that was the thing that astonished the people as they listened. He doesn't teach like the rabbis. He doesn't wrangle over words and little doctrinal niceties that have no impact at all. He teaches in a way that commands our hearts. And it's singular because it is unified that all the Bible comes together in Jesus. All of the promises of God are yes and a men in Jesus Christ.

He is the focal point. All the Old Testament flows towards Jesus Christ and is fulfilled in Christ. That's what we are told by Jesus himself, the law and the prophets are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And his commandment is authoritative. And judgment on the last day is going to be based upon our response to the word of Christ. Think of that. At the great white throne judgment, when Jesus sits on the throne, every person stands before him that that judgment is going to be based upon a person's response to the command of Jesus Christ. He is the ruler of this universe. He has died and been buried and raised and ascended and has sat down at the right hand of the Father and given authority over everything, the second Adam who reigns from heaven.

And notice that this authoritative teaching which contains this truth about the second coming of Jesus Christ becomes the opportunity to mock. And the mockers Peter says are coming. They have come and they will continue to come. What does it mean to mock? You know what a mocker is. A mocker is somebody who makes fun of you pretending that you are not what you claim to be or mimicking you in a way that makes you look foolish. These mockers, he said, are going to come and mock Christians' belief in the second coming of Jesus Christ very specifically. Now I say this over and over and over again because I really do want to penetrate your minds and hearts and that is that the heart of the gospel is the second coming of Jesus Christ.

He is coming again. And I can tell you that every branch of biblical Christianity teaches this. It doesn't matter if you are all mill, pre mill, post mill, everything but one tiny group of people in evangelicalism which I don't believe they are evangelical called consistent predators who say the judgment has already passed and Paul himself says that he is not a Pharisee. Everyone else throughout the world, he is in biblical Christianity, he teaches that Jesus is coming back. We may disagree over all the little fine details. You know I don't know if you heard about this but Tim Le Hay, Jerry Falwell is establishing a school of prophecy that the Tim Le Hay School of Prophecy. And they are going to offer a master's degree in his particular brand of eschatology.

Now typically a master's degree in a seminary is a three-year program past your master's degree. But this program is going to be one year because Jesus is coming so soon. That's the truth. A one-year master's program because we don't have much time. Now Tim Le Hay, like many others, have done, I have made a huge mistake in saying they know when Jesus is coming back. At least that's what I've heard, that he's actually set a date. And you know what, every person who's ever set a date for the return of Christ has been wrong. Now you could say, well he's not wrong yet. Well he will be. If he's actually set a date which I've been told by a couple people that he has, he will be. Now I believe he wants Jesus to come back like the rest of us.

He's a dear brother in Christ. But anyone who says they know when Jesus is coming back is just not listening to the words of Jesus who said no one knows, not even the son. Only the father knows. Now what are these mockers saying? Well they're saying two things. They're saying first of all that you Christians are believing in ancient myth. You're believing in all the myth. This promise that has been propagated has been delayed for so long that it's safe now to stay that it's never going to be fulfilled. If it was going to happen it would have happened a long time ago. The second part of their argument is that things will continue as they always have. This is characteristically a stable universe.

The one thing we know for sure the son's going to come up in the morning and everything's going to be as it always has been. Convulsive upheavals just don't happen in this stable universe. That's what they're saying. Now this is somewhat like the doctrine of uniformitarianism. Uniformitarianism is just this. It is a geological doctrine that existing processes acting in the same manner as a present are sufficient to account for all geological changes. In other words there is no reason to believe in some cataclysmic event. Now some have abandoned this in the last few years and some scientists, biblical scientists, non-Christian scientists believe that there have been some cataclysmic events like a meteor hitting the earth that destroyed all the dinosaurs.

But these mockers say that there's no reason to believe that anything's ever going to change. Things are going to go on just as they have been and to proclaim that Jesus is coming back is just a fear tactic. It's just to scare people and to manipulate people. Well how does Peter respond to all of this? What is his response? Well let's look at it. First of all he says the Lord has demonstrated his judgment. You're wrong. It escapes your notice. Notice verse 5 for when they maintain this that everything has been the same since the beginning and nothing has ever changed. He says when they say this it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water through which the world at that time was destroyed.

It was destroyed by water. He says being flooded with water. He responds to the second argument first of all and he says is this a stable universe? Have you forgotten about the flood? When it says that it escapes their notice that actually quite literally says they willfully ignore this reality. They willfully ignore the truth that God has judged the earth through flood. The lesson of the flood and all of history and God's intervention in all of history is that there is a sovereign ruler over this universe and anyone who defies the king of the universe will pay a heavy price and he does so it is own parable. What escapes their notice he says is that by the word of God and through water this universe was made and then God judged the world through water.

The flood occurred. I believe the Bible teaches clearly a worldwide flood of an act of judgment of God upon this earth. Go back and read Genesis chapter 6 and you'll see the reason for it and the reason for it sounds so much like our world today. It is amazing. Of course God promised he would never again destroy the earth by flood but notice in verse 7 but the present heavens and earth by his word are being reserved for fire kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. You can be sure that the human race is not going to destroy this earth. It's not going to happen because God is going to. God is going to bring judgment on this earth and everyone is going to know it is God himself who is bringing judgment upon this earth.

Not only does the Old Testament teach that the judgment of the world happened by water but it also warns about the coming judgment by fire in the day of the Lord. It's amazing when you go back and look at the prophets and how they see this final judgment and characteristically how they describe it. For example Joel in Joel chapter 2 says he foresees blood and fire and pillars of smoke. He sees the earth destroyed by fire or Psalm 50 where David sees a fire devour before God on the day that he comes back to this earth. Isaiah 29 and 30 and 66 Isaiah speaks of a flame of devouring fire and the sword of God or Nahum the prophet sees the hills melt and the earth is burning at the presence of God.

His fury is poured out like fire. Awesome descriptions and finally the last book of the Bible and there are many more like this but the last book of the Old Testament rather says that the day of the Lord shall burn as an oven. In fact turn there that's an easy book to find because it's the last book in the Old Testament right before Matthew so turn back to Malachi and notice the last chapter of the last book of the Old Testament and how he describes this judgment. He says for behold the day is coming burning like a furnace and all the arrogant and every evil doer will be chaffed and the day that is coming will set them ablaze as the Lord of hosts so that it will lead them neither root nor branch in other words going to be complete destruction.

Not just the forest fire that can grow back but at total and complete destruction but for you who fear my name the son of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. Now it's interesting here that he puts together this judgment and blessing at the second coming. John the Baptist prophesied that Jesus would remove the chaff from this world and he would burn it with unquenchable fire. When John announced the coming of Jesus he said he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Now he baptizes the Holy Spirit 2000 well not 2000 but 1970 years ago he baptized his people with the Holy Spirit but there's a day in which he's going to baptize this world with fire that's not the baptism of the Holy Spirit that's the baptism of judgment and he says he's going to clear his threshing floor and he's going to burn the chaff.

Now all of these are warnings about the judgment of Christ that is coming and Peter's argument is this this is not an unchangeable universe. God is in control of the universe. This is no deus God who created this universe and walked away. This is a God who personally rules in fact in the person of his son over this universe and just as he judged it with water he is going to judge it and purge it in the future by his word and fire. The day of judgment's coming. See that's the bad news of the gospel. There is a judgment day coming and it is a truth that people will not believe the good news until they understand the bad news. The bad news is that the day of judgment coming in which Christ is going to personally come back to this world over which he rules.

He has the right to rule as the second atom the one who died and was raised again and exalted to the right hand of his father and Peter's argument is those who mock at the second coming forget that he has already demonstrated his judgment and he has promised judgment in the future. The second thing he says in responses that the Lord has his own timetable his own time schedule look at verse 8 but do not let this one fact escape your notice beloved that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. He's responding to this scoffers who scoff at the supposed delay of the coming of judgment and he is baseless this on Psalm 9, verse 4. That's almost about the brevity of life and the eternity of God and this almost says these words for a thousand years in your sight oh God are like a day that has got just gone by or like a watch in the night you see Peter is saying the mockers have overlooked God's time perspective God is not slow he's right on schedule and notice the admonition to believers do not forget don't forget this same word that he uses in verse 5 which is intentional forgetfulness do not forget that with the Lord a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day don't let the propaganda of the mockers distort your perception of the second coming of Christ every generation of Christians are to live in light of the fact that Jesus could come back in our lifetime and then the third argument he gives in response is that the Lord is patient not slow the Lord is patient not slow and listen to this wonderful wonderful promise the Lord is not slow about his promises as some count slowness but is patient toward you not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance the mockers argued God is slow to keep his promises Romans the book of Romans Paul says in chapter 2 and also in chapter 9 that this is not slowness this is the patience of God this is the mercy of God in other words every moment that God gives this world before judgment comes is an act of kindness and mercy that they have in repentance and believe so this third argument against the mockers is God's delay is not slowness on his part but it is patience towards you towards us well then we need to ask well who is this you well as you know there are those who believe that this verse is teaching that God doesn't know this is taught by what's called open theism that God doesn't know who is going to turn to him but he wants everybody to know that if you will turn to him you will be saved and he's waiting and waiting and waiting to see how many will turn to him John Calvin who sometimes doesn't sound like a good Calvinist said in his commentary on the epistles to Peter listen to the statement this is what John Calvin said not willing that he should perish so wonderful is his love towards mankind that he would have them all be saved and is of his own self prepared to bestow salvation on the lost you know this is the testimony of scripture as he says that God takes no delight in the death of the wicked first Peter two forces God desires all men to be saved that's the desire of God this verse what's unusual about it is there are two words in the Greek language that's used in the New Testament anyway two major words used in the New Testament for will when it speaks of the will of God one of them means God's desire many of you have experienced this at home this past week you might have a desire a certain you will to do something in a sense that you desire to do it you may be laying on your hammock and in the out in the sun and it's a wonderful day and you're enjoying it and you begin to desire a large glass of iced tea and you desire that glass of iced tea but you may not determine to get that iced tea because you may desire to lay there more than you desire to get up and go get the glass of iced tea and the word desire as will speaks of God's desire that's what's used in 1 Timothy 2 the good God desires all men to be saved and that's the testimony of scripture some hyper reformation has reformed the reformed whether capital R have trouble believing that God desires all men to be saved and so they simply take a passes like that and simply change it to say something like God desires all the elect to be saved that's not what the verse says John 3 16 doesn't say for God so love the elect that he gave his only begotten sun it says God so love the world and in the context of the gospel of John that means the world in rebellion against God that means a humanity that is that enmity with God God so love this enemy that he gave his only begotten sun the two silver bleeds and him should not perish but have eternal life what's unusual about this passage is that Peter uses a word that means very definitely to determine so where bull am I and it means to determine and he says God has not determined that any should perish and you could you could translate it this way the God has decided determined that none should perish but that all should come to repentance now the key to this I think is found in the fact that he is if you notice in the middle of verse 9 God is patient toward you he's patient towards his people and he has determined that none of them shall perish but that every single one of them will come to repentance Peter's explanation of why it seems like there's a delay in the coming of Christ is that God still has people to save the same thing he told the apostle Paul when he went to Corinth and preached the gospel in Corinth and then they began it began to begin to build this opposition to him and Paul is thinking here we go again I'm going to be thrown in jail I'm going to be beaten and Jesus appears to Paul that night and he says to Paul don't leave this city continue to preach the gospel here because I have many people in this city that I'm going to save you see both those truths are true God desires all men to be saved and God has determined to save his elect that he said his affection on from all eternity God's love for his elect is like a it is likened to a man's love for his wife John Taylor loves Maryland Taylor like he loves no other woman in all the world God loves his elect like he loves no other people in all the universe they are the object of his grace and his love and he gave the life of his very own son in order to redeem them there is in the church right now this strong response to a movement that is heretical as far as I'm concerned it is not orthodox it's called open theism and it teaches that God does not have absolute foreknowledge or not absolute omniscience and not absolute sovereignty because he has decided that he would let people make their own decisions and he doesn't know what decision you're going to make now you tell me how we got here if that is true how did Jesus get to the cross if that is true how did you come to Christ if that is true the Bible teaches over and over and over and over and over again it permeates the message of all the Bible that God has of people that he has chosen for himself that he sent Christ into the world to die for those people that he poured out the spirit in order to grab their hearts and turn their hearts towards Christ and to believe upon him and he has determined to save them to the uttermost and he still has a whole batch of them that have not come to faith in Christ yet that's the testimony of the Bible that's the God that we serve he is a God that is omniscient a God that is omnipotent a God who has his sovereign overall and even the evil works of evil men cannot escape the sovereign rule of the sovereign God of the universe he is in control and he has determined that he's going to save his people why is he delaying his coming because he's going to save his people he's going to save his people I got a letter a couple of weeks ago from a cousin that I've been witnessing to for decades and I did his father's funeral a few months or so ago and he wrote me a letter and I know that he had come to faith in Christ just somebody's last just in fact very recently I thought about this because I've known this guy so well and I've watched him all over all these years and I prayed for him and witnessed to him and no movement and then over these last couple of years he got exposed to the gospel of fresh and again in a local church where he's living now and he's come to rest his faith in Christ he wrote me this note and it was really a nice note and then at the end he said your cousin and brother and I thought you know that that is just like God see that's what God is doing God is saving people God is saving his people and it's a wonderful thing to know that when a person comes to faith in Christ is because God has set his affection upon them now this tells us something by the way about time and that is first of all that God has a different relationship to time than we do be patient God knows what he's doing and when you think you cannot endure any longer recognize that we have a God in heaven who is in control of time the days of your life and secondly time is an opportunity Ephesians tells us that we should buy up the time because the days are evil take every opportunity it is a gift of mercy from God every day is if you're here today and maybe your young person has grown up in a Christian family you've never rested your faith in Christ and you've heard this over and over and over again and you can't wait for the day that you don't have to listen to it anymore I want to tell you that God has given you another day another opportunity another opportunity to hear with the ears of faith the ears God gave the world is an opportunity for men to repent and turn to God every day which comes to us is God's gift to us it's God's gift to us believers every day is an opportunity to develop and to purify ourselves and to grow in the faith to become more effective in following Jesus Christ and we do well not to forget God's gift of time you remember those days in your life when you used to think oh is this day ever going to be over I can't wait until I get through this month or this year or this decade every day is a gift every day is an opportunity to do business with God every day is a day to come to the living God with empty hands and received by his grace what you need it's a gift of grace the last response he gives is that the day of the Lord will come like a thief notice this in verse 10 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 throughout the New Testament Jesus says and his followers say he's coming as a thief what does that mean it means he will come unexpectedly he will come when men do not expect him to come and he will catch this world by surprise he's coming as a thief how will the great change of this earth come how is God going to transform this world under his son it's not going to come by human effort or human achievement we are the cause of its pollution the sin that permeates this world is because of us it's not going to come by a process of evolution and development because this world is headed for a kind of destruction and renewal there's only one way the change can come it has to come by a direct action of the living God the intervention of God and the Bible calls this the day of the Lord the first occurrence of this day chronologically the Bible is in the book of Isaiah the book of Isaiah chapter 2 he speaks of the day the Lord's day a particular day in which God is going to make huge changes in fact turn with me there Isaiah chapter 2 listen to these words Isaiah chapter 2 verse 12 for the Lord of hosts will have a day of reckoning against everyone who is proud and lofty against everyone who has lifted up that he may be a based and hear about their arrogance against God they ignored God they refused about to his authority they refused to live under his rule or which they were created and there's coming a day he's going to stand against them a day of reckoning and it will be against all the cedars of Lebanon he mentions all these images all these metaphors for great strength for those things that stand sure like the twin towers for those things that are immovable he says it will be against the cedars of Lebanon that are lofty and lifted up against all the oaks of basin against all the lofty mountains against all the hills that are lifted up against every high tower against every fortified wall the thing that men make against all the ships of Tarshish that is against the economy against all the beautiful craft the pride of man will be humbled and the loftiness of men will be a based and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day he goes on it's incredible language as he speaks about this day of reckoning the day of the Lord throughout the Bible we have this unfolding of the day of the Lord in its events and it begins with judgment and it is culminated with peace initiated with judgment and fulfilled with peace the peace of God ruling and raining over the earth through the person of Jesus Christ and notice this language back in second Peter it is with a roar quite literally the heavens will pass away with a crackling roar is going to be visual and sensory response we're going to see it this devouring of all the earth let me show you something about the timetable of the Bible how this Bible speaks of the flow of what God is doing in this world the Bible speaks and it pictures the flow of history this way the present evil age that we are in and then a future age the age to come the messianic age this age is going to be characterized by the coming of Messiah who's going to make things right turn things back right side up and righteousness is going to ran in the earth that's the picture that we have in the Old Testament as it pictures this flow of history the present evil age and the age to come the messianic age the age of the great deliver the anointed one of God the priest and king and prophet is going to come and make things right but then we have the cross the cross was totally confusing even though God unveiled it in the Old Testament when Jesus came his apostles his disciples were totally confused at the fact that he went to the cross and if you remember they all fled they didn't say great prophecy has been fulfilled Messiah has been crucified our sins have been paid for they didn't do that they ran they ran and hid because they couldn't figure this out this Messiah who they thought Jesus was was supposed to come and reign in righteousness on the earth bring judgment upon the earth as John had said he will John the Baptist had said he's going to cleanse his threshing floor he's going to bring judgment of fire upon this earth in fact at one point John the the Baptist was confused and he sent message to Jesus are you the Messiah or should we wait for another because Jesus wasn't bringing judgment he wouldn't even break a bruise read he was gentle and humble in heart and John's thinking is this the Messiah and when Jesus dies as the apostles are totally confused but then they began to get the message as Jesus teaches them for 40 days about his kingdom before he is a sins back to the Father he gives them instruction and what they come to understand is this that we are living and they didn't know how long this overlap was going to take we have been living in it for 2,000 years 190 70 years but this overlap of the ages if this is what's happened Jesus said that if I do this in the power of God then the kingdom of God has come upon you in power there was an initiation a very real initiation of the kingdom of God the Messianic age Jesus came and he began his mighty work and yet they were confused and so now here we are in this overlap of the ages this period of time which we don't know how long it's going to last maybe it'll last another year maybe another thousand years but we live in this overlap of the ages in this gap in what has been called the already not yet phase of God's program we were transferred out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear son and yet his kingdom is not coming power upon this earth we don't see Christ glorified on this earth raining and yet we live in the kingdom of God and yet we pray that kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it isn't heaven you see we're living in a two-aged kind of time an overlap notice in Hebrews 926 it says now once at the consummation the Suntaliah the culmination of the ages the key point in all the ages it's the time when these ages begin to overlap Jesus came he has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself that's what kicked off this particular period of time in the program of God it begins with Jesus putting away sin by the sacrifice of himself and then we are told that the final the finishing of this two-aged period is when the day of the Lord begins when Jesus comes back in judgment and begins to rain and righteousness upon this earth and we enter into the age of to come in its fullness and the present evil age is gone judgment comes and we enter into this new phase so we live in this time right now in this this already yet not yet phase of God's program as John says in 1st John 2 the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining we are tasting of the age to come we are experiencing in a very real way what is promised in the messianic age even before Jesus comes to rain upon this earth in a physical visible way 1st John 3 and this is where this expression comes from the already not yet phase of God's program John says now already we are children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be because Jesus hasn't come back but we know that when he is revealed we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is so here we are in this period of time we are in the already not yet phase of God's program there's a very real sense and with Jesus is sitting on a throne of authority over this universe and yet he has not yet to sit upon a throne upon this earth the new Jerusalem is not yet come down we've not seen the fulfillment of this program that God has but we live in this time when the the power of Messiah is here to save people and so we go out into all the world there's not one area in this whole world that we are kept from going to in the authority of God to take the message of Jesus Christ we can go to Uganda we can go to the Philippines we can go to Saudi Arabia you may have to witness in prison or to the executioner but you can go and take the gospel anywhere because Jesus Christ is Lord of all see that's what he was saying in Matthew 28 all authority has been given to me in heaven and upon earth therefore go what's stopping you all authorities been given to him he's the risen exalted raining Messiah in a very real way and so we go now how are we to live in these days and these last days in the already not yet phase of God's kingdom in this overlap of the ages how are we to live what are we to do I think the simplest way to express it is what Paul says in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 16 buy up the time because the days are evil you know something you don't know you do not know and I do not know and no prophecy buff knows no all millenialist knows no pre millenialist knows no post millenialist knows bow don't know either and Joe don't know either when G when this age is over when Jesus is going to come back and so we buy up the time I remember as a kid I grew up in a denomination where they they would easily and gladly manipulate people to turn to Christ they felt that the unjustifies the means and so they would actually say with authority I've heard preachers say I want you to know that God has told me this is the last opportunity you're going to hear the gospel if you don't come forward tonight you will never be saved well they were wrong the end doesn't justify the names and so I can't say to you this will be the last chance you will ever have to receive Christ to turn to Christ but I can tell you it may be Jesus may come back today the Messiah may come back in glory and power today he is coming back and we are to live in light of his second coming and we are to buy up the time because the days are evil and we live under the reign of the one who rightfully has authority over this entire universe and over every life think of this people you will never speak to a human being over which Jesus does not have total sovereign rule they may be living like rebels but he is the rightful ruler over their lives and when you speak to them you are and you speak to them in the name of Jesus you are speaking to them in the name of the person who owns them back in chapter 2 the first part of chapter 2 if you remember as he's talking about false teachers false teachers who are not believers by their very own teaching and he says about them they even deny the master who bought them the master who laid down a price to purchase not only his elect but this entire universe they owe him allegiance because he is the master and ruler and sovereign over this entire universe the audacity to stand before people and teach a document denies the authority of Jesus Christ that's what he's saying but I want to encourage you believers that you when you speak for Christ you speak for the one who not only is reigning but is returning the clear teaching of the Bible is there is coming a day when God will break into every life either by death or by his physical coming back to this earth it is appointed and a man wants to die and after that the judgment take that seriously as you live out your Christian life that you're living in the last days and Jesus has given you a sign that to take let's go into all the world we just stand together with me let's pray our kind and gracious father how grateful we are that we have come to understand from your revelation of yourself and Jesus Christ that you are God of all grace that you are God who desires all men to be saved you are God who offers salvation to every person on this planet who will turn to Jesus Christ and we pray all father that you would set our spirits burning in compassion for this lost world that's headed for a day of judgment that you would motivate us to take the gospel message to this world in every way that we can and to support those who go I thank you for your sovereign elective purposes that you have chosen the people for yourself and you're going to save your people but I also thank you that you have given us this warrant to say to any person on the face of this earth repent and believe on Jesus Christ and he will save you from your sins help us to be faithful to do that I pray give us wisdom as we live out the gospel and as we communicate it through our lives and our words help us father to be a church that is a lampstand for the gospel of Christ we pray in Jesus name amen we're gonna