BIG IDEA:
GOD’S PROMISES ABOUT END TIMES MOTIVATE US TO PERSEVERE IN HOLINESS
INTRODUCTION:
Everyone has heard of “The Big Bang Theory” of how this world came into being. Of course that is completely ludicrous … but because of the depravity of their hearts, men refuse to believe the simple account of creationism — the very Word of the God who brought all things into existence. Instead mockers choose to willfully rebel and refuse any accountability to their loving Creator so that they can persist in fulfilling the lusts of corrupted flesh. Here in this passage we have the not as commonly known theory about end times = “The Big Burn Theory!” Once again we need to pay careful attention to this word of prophecy which has been verified by the process of divine inspiration through God’s holy messengers. It is going to happen … it could happen very soon … and it should drastically impact how we live our lives today.
I. (:10, 12B) THIS WORLD IS HEADED FOR DESTRUCTION
A. You Can Count on the Day of the Lord … But You Can’t Predict It
1. You Can Count on it
“But the day of the Lord will come”
Check out OT prophecies for background into this concept of “the day of the Lord”
Like a train barreling down the track towards an inevitable wreck;
Like a guillotine that is already falling and will soon reach its final destination.
2. But You Can’t Predict It
“like a thief”
B. The Day of the Lord Involves Cataclysmic Total Dissolution
“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”
“the heavens will be destroyed by burning”
“and the elements will melt with intense heat”
II. (:11-12A) ONLY HOLINESS AND GODLINESS HAVE LASTING VALUE
A. Imminent Destruction Should be a Powerful Motivating Force
“Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way”
What are some of the “all these things” which the world considers so important and wastes so much ambition and energy trying to attain?
B. Holiness and Godliness are All That Count
“what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness”
C. The Godly Long for the Day of the Lord
“looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God”
Piper:”Verse 9 said that God is holding back the final Day that you may repent. It follows that repenting and living a life of holiness helps remove the cause for delay. We don’t hasten the Day in an absolute sense because Acts 1:7 teaches that the Father has fixed the times and seasons by his own authority and Jesus said in Mark 13:22 that the Father knows the hour of the Son’s return. But from our vantage point we can hasten the Day by fulfilling the pre-conditions of Christ’s return, namely the preaching of the gospel to all the nations (Mk. 13:10) and the repentance of the full number of the Gentiles who must come in before the end (Rom. 11:25). Evidently Peter believes that lives of holiness and godliness will indeed fulfill these conditions and hasten the Day of God.”
III. (:13) THE NEW WORLD WILL BE CHARACTERIZED BY RIGHTEOUSNESS
A. God’s Promises Will Be Fulfilled (despite what the mockers say)
“But according to His promise”
B. God’s People Have High Expectations
“we are looking for new heavens and a new earth”
C. God’s Program Has Always Been Righteousness
“in which righteousness dwells”