2 Peter 3:11-13 ESV
“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.”
One day Jesus is going to return to judge the earth and the
people on the earth and to take his bride to be with him for eternity. At that
time the heavens and the earth that now exist will be destroyed with fire. 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
(See 2 Peter 3:1-10).
Since this is what is going to take place, the knowledge of
this should encourage us to live lives of holiness and godliness. Why? Why
should us knowing that these things are going to happen impact how we live our
lives? I mean, I think most professing Christians today are fully aware of the
fact that these judgments are going to one day come upon the earth, but that
knowledge doesn’t seem to be moving most of them to live holy lives.
Why? Because they are convinced that heaven is their eternal
destiny no matter how they live their lives on this earth, and so the thought
of judgments to come don’t impact them, for they don’t think they apply to
them. For they are not being taught, for the most part, the truth of the
gospel, but they are being taught a diluted half-truth gospel which makes no
demands of them at all for holy and godly living.
I believe it is because salvation is being taught to them as
a one-time event that takes place in their lives which guarantees them heaven
no matter how they live their lives on the earth. They are not being taught
salvation as progressive sanctification and that if we walk according to the
flesh, that we will die in our sins, but if we walk according to the Spirit, we
will have eternal life. If they were, they would know that we must live holy
lives.
And so they don’t have the fear of God within them. They
largely take God’s grace for granted, believing that their sins are forgiven, that
they are on their way to heaven, and that nothing can take it away from them. And
so they feel secure that heaven is their eternal destiny regardless of how they
live their lives. But they need to know that how they live their lives on this
earth does matter for eternity, for we are all going to be judged by God.
And God is going to judge us by our works. If we sow to
please the flesh, from the flesh we will reap destruction. But if we sow to
please the Spirit, from the Spirit we will reap eternal life. If we make sin
our practice, and if righteousness is not what we practice, and if obedience is
not what we practice but disobedience is our practice, then we will not inherit
the kingdom of heaven but we will die in our sins.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn
15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1
Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Gal
5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal
6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb
10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Rev.
2-3; Rev 18:1-6; Rev 21:8, 27; Rev 22:14-15]
2 Peter 3:14-18 ESV
“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. 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.”
So, as followers of Jesus Christ, we are to be diligent and
intentional in our walks of faith to make certain that we are living godly and
holy lives in the power of God, and that we are not taking God’s grace for
granted, and that we are not presuming salvation is ours just because of some
one-time confession we made of Jesus as our Lord and Savior. And this takes
place in our lives when we surrender our lives to Jesus and we submit to his
will.
And we need to be careful that we are not carried away with
the error of lawless people and lose (fall from) our own stability
(steadfastness). And this is because our salvation and our eternal life are not
measured by a one-time decision we make in our lives, but by whether or not we
are living for Jesus, and forsaking our sins, and walking in obedience to his
commands, and if we continue in that faith, steadfast unto the very end (see
verses above).
So, as we wait for our Lord’s return, we should be those who,
by the Spirit, are saying “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly lusts, and who are
living self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s
return. For this is what God’s grace trains us to do (Titus 2:11-14). And we
should be growing in that grace by putting what this says here into practice in
our daily lives, continuing to deny the flesh and to walk in holiness in God’s
power.
Songs
in the Night
An Original Work / December 18, 2013
“About
midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other
prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25 NIV ‘84
Lord, I praise You forevermore.
You, my Savior, I now adore.
Hope in heaven awaiting me,
Because You died at Calvary.
I have been forgiven,
And I’m bound for heaven.
Jesus set me free from
All my sin, I say.
I will praise Him always!
Lord, I love You for all You’ve done:
Overcame death, my vict’ry won!
Jesus saved me, and now I’m free!
I rejoice in His love for me.
I will walk in vict’ry!
My sin is but hist’ry!
I am free to please Him
With my life today.
I will love Him always!
Lord, I thank You for giving me
A new life bought at Calvary.
Loving Jesus, I meet with Him.
Tender mercies now flow within.
Lord, I am so thankful;
Through my Lord, I’m able
To sit at His table;
Fellowship with Him.
I will thank Him always!
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