Who We Ought to Be

2 Peter 3:10

 

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”

 

After Jesus Christ died on that cross for our sins, and then was resurrected from the dead, and after he had appeared to many people on the earth over a span of about 40 days, I believe it was, then he ascended back to heaven where he is preparing a place for all of us who are following him with our lives. And one day he will come back, but this time to judge the world and to take his own to be with him for eternity.

 

From what I understand of what the Scriptures teach regarding last days events, there will be a period of time called the Great Tribulation before Jesus takes us to be with him. I don’t believe that the Bible teaches a pre-tribulation rapture of the church, so I will not entertain that concept. There is plenty of biblical evidence to support the fact that Christians will still be here during the tribulation and that we will be persecuted and martyred.

 

[Matt 24:1-51; Rev 2-3; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:7-10; Rev 14:12; Rev 16:6; Rev 17:6; Rev 18:1-24; Rev 19:1-8]

 

2 Peter 3:11-16

 

“Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

 

“Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.”

 

Now, please take note of what this is teaching here, for this is critical that we comprehend what this is saying and that we act accordingly. The knowledge that one day our Lord is going return as judge, on a day we do not know for certain when it will be, is to serve as a strong encouragement to us to make certain that we are living lives of holiness and godliness.

 

We are to be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. So, we have something to do with whether or not we are living holy and godly lives and with whether or not we will be found by Jesus to be without spot or blemish and at peace when this day comes upon us. We are not to be making sin our practice, but righteousness is to be our practice.

 

And take note of this, too, that we are to count the patience of our Lord as salvation. Why is that? What did Paul teach about this? Well, the longer our Lord takes to bring this judgment on the world the more time there is and the more opportunity there is for us to be living holy and godly lives and to not be those who are engaging in sinful practices, and for us to be assured of our salvation and eternal life with God.

 

For Paul taught that we must die with Christ to sin and live to Christ and to his righteousness. He taught that we must now walk according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh, and that we are slaves of the one we obey, and if it is sin, it ends in death, and if sin is what we practice, it ends in death, not in life everlasting with our Lord. But if we walk in obedience to our Lord in daily dying with him to sin, it ends in eternal life with God.

 

[Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15, 21; Tit 2:11-14; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Rom 11:17-24; 1 Co 15:2; Col 1:21-23; Heb 10:26-27]

 

2 Peter 3:17-18

 

“You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 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, I want to examine this concept in light of what many people are teaching today with regard to our salvation and our eternal life. For, not only is holiness and godliness not being stressed much at all in today’s modern gatherings of the church (or what is falsely called church), but in many cases it is being discouraged and even disregarded as “works-based salvation.”

 

What many have done today is that they have cut the gospel short. They have altered it and they have diluted it. They have removed the parts that they don’t like and they have twisted and distorted the Scriptures to their own destruction. For, they have altered the gospel of Jesus Christ and the teachings on Jesus and on his grace to make them more agreeable to the people of the world and to the flesh of human beings.

 

They are teaching that we can believe in Jesus and be assured heaven as our eternal destiny, but that we don’t have to repent of our sins nor walk in obedience to our Lord nor honor Jesus as Lord of our lives. These they make either recommended, but optional, or else they teach against them altogether by calling them works-based salvation which is to be discarded.

 

Basically, according to them, you can make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ or a mere acceptance of his grace and forgiveness of sins and you are now saved for eternity, heaven is guaranteed you, and nothing can take that away from you. It doesn’t matter how you live your life from that moment forward for they say your future sins are all covered by the grace of God and so they will not count against you. So you can sin as much as you want.

 

But this teaching is false, for it is based on selected Scriptures taught outside their context, for the most part, and which are being made to say what they want them to say because they deny, reject, and avoid all the Scriptures which teach what they don’t want to hear or accept.

 

So, the truth is that you are not saved once and then you are good to go and heaven is secured you no matter how you live from this point forward. We are saved (past), we are being saved (present), and we will be saved (future) when our Lord returns and he takes us to be with him at which time our salvation will be complete, and not until then.

 

Also, our salvation and our eternal life with God are contingent on us walking (in conduct, in practice) according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, and on us making righteousness our practice and not sin our practice, and on us daily dying with Christ to sin and to self, and on us walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, as well as on us continuing in Christ and in his word steadfast until the very end.

 

So, be careful that you are learning the truth from the Scriptures in their full context and that you are listening to what the Holy Spirit says and that you are following Jesus in obedience to his truth and to his ways so that you are not led astray by liars and deceivers who are trying to convince you that you can continue living in sin and still inherit eternal life with God. For, they are lying to you and it will cost you dearly if you follow them and not God.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; 1 Pet 2:24; Jas 1:22-25; Matt 7:21-23; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Jn 8:31-32; Rom 11:17-24; 1 Co 15:2; Col 1:21-23; 2 Tim 2:10-13; Heb 3:6, 14-15; 2 Pet 1:5-11; 1 Jn 2:24-25; Rom 8:24; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 1:18]

 

The Prayer

 

Written by David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager,

Alberto Testa and Tony Renis

 

I pray you'll be our eyes

And watch us where we go

And help us to be wise

In times when we don't know

 

Let this be our prayer

When we lose our way

Lead us to a place

Guide us with your grace

To a place where we'll be safe.

 

I pray we'll find your light

And hold it in our hearts

When the stars go out each night

Remind us where you are.

 

Let this be our prayer

When shadows fill our day

Lead us to a place

Guide us with your grace

To a place where we'll be safe.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqFCbtRz1Z0

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P.S. This is not an endorsement of the singers other than as musicians