Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look
us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this
message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
We turn your Bibles, please. The second Peter chapter #3 I'm
not going to be able to say that much longer here.
The next couple of weeks we will be finishing in Second Peter and
then looking at Peter's life in the book of Acts for a few weeks
until the end of the year. But in the meantime, we are in
Second Peter chapter #3 in a message that I've entitled this
morning. Your future affects your
present. Your future affects your
present. Now that's completely backwards.
From really the way we think about those kind of things,
isn't it? Cause usually we understand it's
the past that affects your present, isn't it?
You know that that can be true in a negative way.
You know you could be. Treated poorly as a child or had
some sort of childhood trauma, That's something that can affect
you as an adult, isn't it? Your past can affect your
present in a negative way that you maybe witnessed a.
Poor marriage within your home. And because of that, it's
something that's affected you, something maybe that you
struggle with within your own marriage because of what was
modelled within your home when you were younger.
And so your past can affect your present, but it doesn't have to
be all bad necessarily. It can be true in a good way
too, can't it? Maybe get a summer job years
ago, maybe even when you were a young person.
But it was something about that summer job that turned you in a
whole new direction, a whole new career that your life changed
forever because of that one job that you took for 10 weeks when
you were 15 years old. Who would have thought?
But your whole life changed because of that, because your
past can affect your president, that one investment that you
made, that all of a sudden you're a millionaire now what,
right? I mean, we all have that
testimony, right? But you know, I'm, I'm sure you
know, we, you know what I'm talking about, right?
That one single investment man, all of a sudden you're retired
at age 42. Now that I think about, no,
that's definitely not true, but. It can be.
True, just maybe not for the crowd that we're looking at
here. This morning, and certainly not
for myself, but we understand that your past affects your
future both in positive and negative ways.
But today, as we approach the end of Peter's final epistle,
and again we're looking at Peter's final words here, he
weaves his conversation about the end times into a discussion
that answers this question. This is a question that I
oftentimes people have asked me. And that question is this, what
are the end times have to do with me?
What do the end times have to do with me?
Peter's talked a lot about the end times here in chapter #3
we've been inspecting it from several different angles here,
as we've been in Chapter 3 and even before Chapter 3 as well.
And maybe you've heard preaching and teaching and talk about the
end times. You ask yourself this.
Listen, the end times is at the end, hence the name.
So what does it have to do with me today?
Well, Peter's going to tell us it has everything.
With today, because not only does your past affect your
present, but also I would submit to you that your future should
affect your present as well. Would you stand pleased for the
reading of God's Word? Second Peter chapter 3, verse
#10 as we all stand together. Well, I mean, I'm already
standing, but you could stand up to, that'd be nice.
Verse 10 says this. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass
away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with the
fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein
shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these
things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to
be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking forward and
hastening under the coming of the day of God, wherein the
heavens being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the element shall
melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless, we, according to
His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein
dwell with righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found
of Him in peace, without spot and blameless.
Between verse #10 and verse #14, there's several transition words
that are going to get us from the place of asking the
question, What did the end times have to do with?
Me and then answering the question that your future
affects your present heavenly Father be with us this morning
as we get into the word of God and they get I ask humbly that
you'd help me to be able to say what I need to say today to
these dear people. The ones that are sitting here,
the ones watching online, the ones who may listen later, who
at a date that I can't even fathom, but they could listen to
this message. And I, I pray that what is said
this morning would be honoring and pleasing to you, an offering
that's a sweet savour in your in your eyes.
But again, we pray for those who are here today that we all would
be able to make sure that we leave here right with you and we
ask it in Jesus name, Amen. Thank you may be seated.
Again, we have a couple of different things at play here as
we begin our message. We have a question that asks
what does the end times have to do with me?
And I gave you an answer to that question.
Boy, would that be great, that I give you a sermon, I give you
the question, I give you the answer, and then we're done,
right? I mean, that's, well, you know,
that ain't happening, all right? But we want to get you to the
place where you understand why we gave you that answer.
Well, that your future affects your present.
And the Bible gives us the answer here in the verses that
we just read. But to be able to get from the
question, to get to the answer, I kind of want you to think of
it as a chain. And so to illustrate that today,
I actually have a slide here. I know a slide on Sunday
morning. Nobody go crazy on me, all
right? But it's the only way that I can
think of to be able to illustrate this for you today.
And imagine there's a chain with four links and the beginning of
that chain, we asked the question, well, what do the end
times have to do with me? But then we want to see the
connection with the final question, or the final answer
rather. But our future effects are
present. And so I want us to be able to
consider that this morning. The first link is the question,
what does the end times have to do with me right now?
The last link is the answer to that question that our future
ought to affect our present. The links in between, or the
verses that we read that help us understand how we get from the
first thought to the last thought.
And so as we look at this chain here this morning, first of all,
we see this in verse #10 What do the end times have to do with
me? In verse #10 what do the end
times have to do with me? Look at verse #10 with me again,
it says, But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the
night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great
noise, and the elements shall melt with a fervent heat, The
earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up
now. I will admit to a great mistake
that I made as a pastor over a course of several years.
And you say pastor, just one mistake.
No, no, I'm only admitting one mistake to you here over the
next few minutes. I've made plenty of them.
They could fill several sermons, but I want to admit one sermon.
Well, OK, let's try. There's another mistake I just
made. All right.
I want to admit one mistake that I've made to you in the past.
And it's this this idea of not teaching the end times for many
years I didn't teach on the end times really in any real way
here for several years at liberty now, certainly I made
reference to the fact that we believe in a pre tribulational
rapture and we believe in the pre millennial return of.
Christ, I mentioned that, but for some people, I think just
mentioning those things went right over their heads because
they're concepts that they never heard of or thought of or had
been taught before. I I never taught the Book of
Revelation and I didn't for many years, because when people would
ask me about it, I'd say something along these lines.
There's so many things that people need to know now that I'm
not as concerned with these things that are going on.
In the future. And that sounds like such a
spiritual answer, doesn't I mean it really does.
It sounds like boy that. Pastor really cares about me.
He wants me to know about the things now and I can worry about
the things in the future later and at some later point I was
going to get to the Book of Revelation, but I didn't seem
like I was in much of a hurry. And I will tell you that that
was such a mistake of mine on multiple levels.
And the first mistake was this. It was because people ended up
getting teaching on the end times from whatever source they
could find. And what I found was that people
like someone who is thirsty, drinking water that might even
be dirty or contaminated because they're so thirsty, they'll take
water wherever they can. We found that there were some
people, yes, even here at Liberty Baptist Church, that
found teaching that was contaminated with falsehoods.
They were not part of the word of God and they got really poor
teaching on the end times. But the second and maybe even
more fatal mistake was this was that I had thought somewhere
within my own mind that the end times doesn't affect.
Where we are in the here and now, and perhaps you have dealt
with that yourself. I don't really need to read the
Book of Revelation because I'm not really going to be around
for most of the Book of Revelation.
Certainly that is true. When the Saints are raptured up,
Chapter 4 begins that thought process of that seven-year
tribulational period. If you're saved, you will not be
there. I will not be there.
And so there is that thought that, well, maybe it's not as
important because I'm not going to be there.
But if we take the end times as a whole, if we take the idea
that Jesus Christ is coming back and that that is a future event,
I would say to you that the mistake that I made was that it
had nothing to do. With where we live in the here
and now. And here's the issue.
It has everything to do with the here and now.
Look again at verse #10 with me. We see that there's an imminency
with the end times, that the end time events that are the next
thing on God's prophetic calendar can unfold at any time.
The day of the Lord will come as what?
A thief in the night? Now I don't know a lot about.
Thievery. But I do know this.
You don't know when the thief is going to come, because if you
do, when the thief was going to come, you'd make sure the thief
didn't come. This is why you come to Liberty
Baptist Church to get these kind of thoughts, all right?
Yeah. You're not going to get these
just anywhere else. All right?
If you knew when the thief was going to come, you make sure he
didn't come as in the fact that you.
Make sure he. Didn't come inside the house,
but we don't know what time that the day of the Lord will appear.
We don't know when the Lord will break open the skies, the trump
will sound and the dead in Christ will rise 1st and unfold
all of the events that are going to follow.
We don't know it will come as a thief in the night.
And the last days are oftentimes collectively called the day of
the Lord. That whether it's the actual
second coming of Jesus Christ at the end of Tribulation period,
or whether we're looking at the fact of it, just talking about
the end times in general, this day and the Lord will come as a
thief of the night. And it will open, as it says in
First Thessalonians. It will open with the rapture of
those who are believers in Jesus Christ.
And this isn't something that's surprising to you because if
you've been here the last few weeks, we've covered this
extensively already in chapter #8 remember, a day is like 1000
years to the Lord, and 1000 years is like a day.
The Lord is not slack concerning His promises as some men count
slackness. No, we've covered all of this
already in the previous verses. And So what I'm saying to you
this morning ought not to be a surprise.
But I do see in verse #10 that there are three words that are
very important for us to look at, and they are issues, or
whether words that have certainty within them.
Read it again and I'm going to emphasize the words I want us to
see. It says, But the day of the Lord
will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall
melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that
are there in shall be burnt up. And it says that in these end
times it's not going to be a flood.
Remember Genesis chapter #6 And beyond that there was judgment
upon the earth, and that came by water.
This time judgment will not come by water, it'll come by fire.
And how will it come? It might come.
No, it could come. No, it possibly might come.
No shall, shall, shall. Three times words of certainty.
This is going to happen. The earth, or rather the
heavens, shall pass away. The realms above will pass away.
Whether it's the sky that we see, whether it's the universe
beyond, it will pass away. It shall pass away the elements.
And looking at that word elements, in the Greek, it means
the material causes of the universe, the material causes of
the universe will melt. And you know, I was even
pondering this this week, the idea that maybe the very laws
that hold the universe together, like the laws of gravity, issues
like matter and the laws of thermodynamics, motion, energy,
all of those matters, all of those elements could just melt
away. Say, well, how is that possible,
Pastor? Well, who do you think put those
things in place in the first place?
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Meaning this God's the creator of space and time and matter.
And so God himself could very well remove the laws of which he
put in place in Genesis 11. The heavens shall pass away.
The elements shall melt. The earth and works therein
shall be burnt up, meaning this, that everything that we see and
everything we cannot see, listen, it's going to be gone
and there's going to be a new heavens and a new earth.
That these are the things that will be put in place.
This is a certainty, and this matters to you, first of all,
because the End Times events are going to happen.
It's something that is on the calendar of human history.
Sure. It's on the future calendar of
human history. We don't know the date is on the
calendar of human history, but it will be on that calendar
nonetheless. The Lord knows that date.
The Lord knows that time. He will not be taken by
surprise. The end times matter to you
because these events shall happen.
They shall affect you in the future, whether you're alive
when they unfold or not. And if you're not sure about
this, you can go back to verse #9 the Lord is not slack
concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but as
long-suffering toward us, we're not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repent.
This meaning, all these things are supposed to take us to a
place, not just the place of heaven, but take us to a place
of understanding that our life is more than justice life.
That our life is more than just the things we see that are
around us, the things that we can hold, things that we can
touch, the things that we can gather around us.
And so we start first with this question.
Well, what? Do the end times have to do with
me? And so we see, first of all,
well, it shall be coming, so it has everything to do with you.
But continuing that thought, the next link in our chain that I
want us to see is that seeing then that the world doesn't
last. We don't live for this world.
Seeing then that's in quotes that the world doesn't last.
We don't live for this world, they say.
What does that mean? Seeing then why is that there?
Well, remember, we're looking at this like a chain, and the text
that we have is like a chain before us.
So in verse #10 you can see there's a certainty that this
world will end. So what do we see in verse #11
What's the 1st 2 words there? Say them out loud.
Seeing then meaning this. There's a link.
Verse #11 is linked to verse #10.
Verses #11 and I would say 12 as well are linked together.
So what we see in verse #10 is linked to verse #11 and 12
seeing then. That all these.
Things shall be dissolved. What manner of persons ought you
to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and
hasting under the coming of the day of God, where in the heavens
being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements
shall melt with a fervent heat? So it says, seeing then that
these things are going to happen, listen, there's some
things that you need to do differently.
Verse #11 says we should live a different life.
Seeing then that this is what's going to happen to this world.
You need to live a different kind of life.
What kind of life? One of holy conversation and
godliness. Now, holy conversation might
sound just like the way that we talk, that that's the words that
come out of our mouth. And in some ways, that's the way
we use the word conversation today, isn't it?
But anytime you see the word conversation in the New
Testament, you find that the Greek meaning of the word is
much broader than just conversation with our mouth.
It's the things that we say and it's also the things we don't
say. And it's the way that we have,
what would we call today, non verbal communication, that it's
the way that we act. It's our manner of living.
It's the way that we present ourselves.
And it says this because these things are going to happen
because the world is not permanent.
Listen, while you're here, you got to have the right life.
You got to have a life that is filled with holy conversation.
And you got to have a life that is filled with godliness.
And so he says you need to have a different life.
But then in verse #12 he says you need to have a different
look. You need to be looking towards
heaven because if you look too long at this earth, it's not
going to last. You need to look towards heaven
and everything that you do because what you do in this
earth will not last. That's why Titus 213 says
looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of
our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, the temporary.
Here's what he's saying. The temporary nature of this
world ought to make a cause us to make adjustments in how we
live in this world. The temporary nature of this
world ought to cause us to make some adjustments in how we live
in this world. You know, I don't know a lot
about building homes. In fact, by saying I don't know
a lot, I really mean this. I know nothing about building
homes. There's not a thing on earth
that I know about building a home.
But I do know this. I know how to build a sand
castle. I thought I'd get more
impressive, you know something from you.
In fact, I thought I'd get anything from you.
All right, But that's all right. I got a little something.
I know how to build a sand castle, know how to go to the
beach. You know, you get a little bit.
Of water man Ralph I. I could hug you right now.
Thank you, brother. All right, it's you.
Hey, it's you and me against the world.
Ralph, We're going for it. All right, let's do it.
OK. Next 20 minutes, it's you and
me. OK, So, you know, you get a
little water, you know, you put it in the form, you stack it up.
You know, you do that. Now, could you imagine building
a sink? They're fun, aren't they?
You know, you do with the kids, you know, and maybe you do it
yourself and you try to pretend the kids are around, but you're
really doing it for yourself because you want to do it, you
know? Or maybe that's just me.
OK, but. But could you imagine saying you
know I'm? Going to build a sandcastle.
Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to hire an architect.
Architect. I'm gonna hire an engineer, I'm
gonna get a general contractor. We're gonna get a few Subs.
In here we're probably gonna spend somewhere around $100,000.
And we are going to make the best sandcastle that you
possibly could make. And you go to the beach and you
clear the beach from many people as possible.
You bring the backhoe in, you know, you start getting after
it. You know, you have barrels and
barrels of water that you're bringing to make sure that
everything's just so. And you get this.
You're spending $100,000. Maybe that's not a lot to you
because those investments you made all those years ago.
Remember that at the beginning of sermon.
All right. But $100,000 you paid on this
sandcastle and people could look at you and be so impressed.
But they'd also realized this. You're a fool because you've
wasted time and energy and money on something that's about to
disappear. And isn't it amazing all the
time and energy and money that we spend on things that are
temporary here in this life? That's world's a bus stop.
It's here one minute. And we're gone.
The next you realize the temporary nature.
He says this wherefore that there is an end time, wherefore
there is an end date. Shouldn't it affect the way that
you live and the way you look now, Says this.
Look to heaven, not to earth. I mean, shouldn't you make some
different decisions based on the fact that this is in the future?
Shouldn't you live more for eternity than you should for the
present? Shouldn't the end times have
some effect on the way that we live right now, by the way,
building that sandcastle on the beach?
That's not even your land in the 1st place.
And may I remind you this world's not our home.
We're just a passing through, the Bible says.
Why would you spend so much time and listen, it's good to have
resources. It's good to have land.
It's good to have a savings. It's good to be able to plan as
best as you can. I'm done against that.
Listen the word of God's not against that.
There's a prudence to that. But listen, when our life is in
these goods, well, we just want to tear down barns and build
bigger barns. The Bible says this, thou fool.
Your soul will be called to be with the Lord faster than you
could ever imagine. Why?
Because the man who all he could see was right in front of him,
and he didn't realize the eternal implications of life.
Hey, because of the fact there's an end time, we shouldn't just
live for this world. But then that also brings us to
the next place, and we see this is the next link on our chain.
Nevertheless, the save will spend eternity in heaven.
You follow along what the the verses are doing, how they're
building on one another. We have seeing then and then
Verse 13 starts with nevertheless we according to
his. Promise.
Look for new heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness. Now this is important.
This verse tells us we're not just looking for the day of the
Lord, but we're looking for what happens after the day of the
Lord. Meaning what after the day of
the Lord, after the heavens melt and the earth melts with a
fervent heat. And again, when I talk about the
heavens melting, we're talking about the sphere of this earth
and we're talking about the universe.
We're not talking about heaven itself.
Where people are residing and God resides that it will melt
no, we're talking about the fact that the new heaven and the new
earth that it is going to be here and yes, that the save will
spend an eternity in heaven when we.
Listen to this. Wherein dwelleth righteousness?
Think about that for a second. Is there much righteousness in
this earth today? Not much.
Is there much righteousness that dwells within our flesh?
Not as much as we like to think. But there will be a time that
we'll have new bodies. Anybody wants to say Amen to
that? Yeah, Yeah.
All those aches and pains you had this morning, you know, when
you got up, that you don't have to deal with that anymore.
The tears that we have to deal with, we don't have to deal with
that anymore. The sorrow of this life, that
we're not just looking for the end time, we're looking for the
beginning of time no more. Wherefore there's more this life
than this life. Why?
Because there's an eternity that is to come, a place where in
dwelleth righteousness. Revelation 2127 There shall in
no wise enter it anything that defileth either whatsoever
worketh abomination or maketh the lie, but they which are
written in the Lamb's book of life.
The next chapter, verse 14. Blessed are they that do His
commandments, and that they may have the right to the tree of
life, and they enter in through the gates into the city.
This is a reminder that it's a promise you can take to the bank
because God is truthful. Remember that last week.
He's not slack concerning his promises.
God is truthful. You can take this to the bank
but also reminds us of this. Every single person needs to be
saved. Every single person needs to be
saved. Listen to this the Bible way
that you may not get to heaven, this place of righteousness by
your works. You cannot get to this place of
righteousness by your church membership.
You cannot get to your place of this place of righteousness by
simply giving money or any of the other things or committing.
Or following sacraments or any of those things.
It can only be by listen, understanding that you're a
Sinner, and you can't enter that place of righteousness in your
own sin. But Jesus Christ took that
penalty, the penalty of death and hell on the cross.
Why? So that you can be saved if you
accept the gift of salvation. John 336.
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he
that believeth not on the Son shall not see life, but the
wrath of God abideth on him. See, our chain here is almost
complete, isn't it? What are the end times have to
do with me? Well, we find that seeing then
that we're not always going to live on this world, we shouldn't
be making decisions just for this world.
And nevertheless, it's not just about that this world is going
to end, but there's a future in heaven with the Lord wherein
dwelleth righteousness. But finally we see this, that we
put all the links together with verse 14.
And what's the first word in verse #14?
Wherefore that means this, this has been brought to summation,
hasn't it? Wherefore, you know, if someone
says the word wherefore, that means we're taking this and this
and this, and we're putting it together and we're coming to a
conclusion. Wherefore this is what we're
talking about. And so that's what's happened to
verse #10. There's a statement made in
verse #10 and then there's another statement in verse #11
And 12 seeing then and then verse #13 nevertheless, well,
we're hooking it all together. And finally the last link is
this wherefore? Wherefore what?
Wherefore that we're not always going to be on this world, and
wherefore because there is a heaven to be gained.
Wherefore verse 14. Beloved, seeing that you look
for such things, be diligent that you may be found of Him in
peace, without spot and blameless.
This because of what there is to come.
There's some things you need to know right now.
Your future affects your present.
Were to be diligent, being diligent to be attentive,
industrious, not idle or negligent.
Were to be diligent to be found of him when he comes.
Were to be found of Him what? In peace, without spot and
blameless because of what's been talked about.
When he does come, we need to be ready.
You say, well, what if he comes after I die?
Well, that you will go to Him and you'll still have to meet
Him. And none of us know the day or
the hour of our death. We know this, that whether we
live or we die, we will meet the Lord and He will judge us.
He is the judge of the quick and the dead.
So what do we do? Where for our future ought to
affect our present. And we're to be diligent.
Being diligent means you're industrious, means you work
hard. You know what I think of that?
I think of a farmer. The only thing I know as little
about as building houses is farming.
I know very little. So what a great thing to be
using illustrations of things I know nothing about.
But I do know this. Farmers don't get days off for
holidays. Farmers don't get to tell the
cows. Hey, you know, Bessie, it's
Christmas Day. If you could just give me double
tomorrow, we'll be fine. You know, get tell the hens.
Oh, by the way, those eggs, you know, we'll, we'll take care of
them tomorrow. They're chores to be done no
matter what. There's a diligence to the
farmer's life that always has to continue, even to the point that
if they are not at their farm for a certain day, let's say
they're on vacation, they're out of town, you know what?
They have to. Literally hire someone else or
make sure someone else does the task that they do because they
have to be diligent that it's done every day.
If they're not diligent and they're planting, if they're not
diligent and they're ranching, if they're not diligent in the
milking, if they're not diligent in all the tasks that a farmer
or rancher would do, listen, they will lose their yield and
they could end up losing their harvest or the animals they're
tending to. What do we need to do?
Be diligent. That means that in light of
eternity, the relationship we have with God is not casual.
It's not on one day and off the next.
It's not something we just do culturally.
Well, I'm a Christian because I go to church once in a while or
I'm a Christian because I have a Bible in my home.
Well, I'm a Christian because my parents are Christians.
No, no, 1000 times no. It means that you and you
yourself have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ
and it affects everything you do.
It affects everything you say, it affects everywhere you go.
It affects everything you look at.
It affects everything you think. It affects everything on the
outside. It affects everything on the
inside because there's a diligence that comes with the
Christian life. Well, where does that diligence
come from? Because Jesus is coming soon.
He's coming soon. It don't affect how we live now.
Where for knowing all. These things and how to affect
the way you live your life now in peace, living in harmony with
God and man without spot, being pure and free from moral or
spiritual blemishes, reflecting a life of holiness, blameless,
conducting oneself with integrity beyond reproach so no
valid accusation of wrongdoing can be made.
What is going to happen in eternity ought to affect us
today. What a fool I was to think that
the end times wouldn't matter to a congregation.
What a fool I was to think that there was no coordination
between what's going to happen at the end times and who we are
right now. Because Jesus clearly spells it
out to us in his word that we are to be ready because He is
coming back. It's very clear that the end
times have everything to do with our lives now because our future
effects our present. Which leaves me with a couple of
applications for us this morning.
The first would be this, if you don't know Jesus Christ your
Savior, you need to know Him today.
Again, I mentioned this last week that it's not the church
that you go to that saves you. And I want to be very clear
about this in case there's some confusion, is that I'm not a
Baptist by accident. Fact, I didn't grow up as a
Baptist. I grew up as a Lutheran and then
once I got saved, I became a Baptist.
The reason why was because I appreciated the fact that
Baptist used the Bible and the Bible alone.
And so I'm happy to be a Baptist.
I'm not angry about being a Baptist.
I'm glad to be a Baptist. I'm thankful to be a Baptist.
I'm thankful for the legacy of doctrine through the years that
Baptists have held to. But I also say this, that I am
not a Baptist because that's what got me saved.
I'm saved by the blood of Jesus Christ.
And then I realized I need to be in a place that also exalts the
Bible, has the supreme authority for all faith and practice.
And I said, you know what? That's the Baptist Church.
So when I say that a church won't save you, I'm not
demeaning being a Baptist. I'm I'm a capital B Baptist, if
you will. I'm glad to be 1.
All right, I even got a card. I'll show you just a minute.
No, I don't have a Baptist card. Nevermind.
I do have a Charlie card for some reason, but that's all
right, I do. But I, I will tell you this, I
will tell you this, that if you want to hear the Bible preach
that the Baptist Church is where to go to.
But if you want to be saved, it's only by Jesus Christ and
Christ alone. If you're still struggling with
this thought process, if you're not sure where you'll spend
eternity, it's only the word of God that has the answer.
And it's why it's so important that the bat that not just a
Baptist Church, but any church preaches the word of God.
You know why? Because that's where the answer
is in the Word of God. You need to be saved in light of
what's going to happen eternity. There will be a great white
throne judgment for those who are not saved.
And those who are not saved will be cast forever into a lake of
fire. And again, there are those who
wish that a pastor would not preach something like that.
Won't you say things that are more gentle?
Won't you say things that are more comforting?
And I can't imagine anything more comforting than knowing
your pastor will tell you the truth from the Word of God.
And there is a heaven again, but there is a hell to shun.
And from the bottom of my heart, I want you to understand that
every single person within the sound of my voice must accept
Jesus Christ as their Savior. Well, that's your truth, pastor.
It's not my truth. It's just the truth.
It's all my truth. And your truth garbage that's
out there today is exactly that garbage.
Truth is just truth and truth is found where the Word of God.
Well, it brings us to the fact of those of you who are
believers today, because I would imagine that there are more
believers here today than non believers.
I don't really keep track of those kind of things because,
well, I don't know someone's heart.
But I would say this, I'm here at a Baptist Church service.
I would imagine that, you know, we're probably, you know, not
necessarily going on the next load, you know what I'm saying,
but eventually we're all going to heaven.
Amen. So I do know this in light of
our text, the person that you will be in the future, is it
what person will I be in the future?
I just mentioned, you know, it's a place of righteousness.
The person that you will be in the future, shouldn't it be the
person that you are now, the connection in light of who you
will be in the future? Why would you wait until then
when God's given you the tools to be able that person now to
live in peace, to try to find peace with your enemies, to
serve your family, to be the person you need to be at work
even when it's not the type of place that is really a great
work environment? No, no, we don't need to wait
until heaven, until those things are the way they are, but that
we try to make peace now in light of eternity, without spot.
You know, sin should bother us. We'll run that by one more time.
Sin should bother us instead. I'm afraid it thrills us.
No, it won't be that way in eternity, because it will be
eradicated in the presence of Christ.
But why should we wait until heaven for that to be the
primary desire of our heart? Well, listen, I'm preaching to
you as much as I'm preaching to anyone else because sin has a
way of boy making the flesh excited.
But are you going to be dealing? Are you going to be dealing with
the flesh and sin and eternity? No.
So why don't we start moving in the process of our
sanctification to being closer to God in that way now, instead
of waiting till we get to to be blameless being living in a way
that's above approach? Shouldn't Christians behave like
Christians shouldn't in public we be the best billboards
possible for Jesus Christ? When people see us, shouldn't
they see Christ in US? Or should they wait until we're
in heaven and it's eternally too late for people to see Christ in
us if they're unsaved? You know you're going to be like
Christ in eternity. You are if you're saved.
But why should we wait till eternity when God's called us to
be like Christ now? In fact, it's kind of revealing
about our relationship when we don't desire to be like Him now.
Because in the light of the end times, our future ought to
affect our present. When Diane and I met, I've told
the story a few different ways over the years, but the first
couple of months when we were in school, I didn't really even
know her. She worked in the line in the
cafeteria. And I imagine.
We, we passed each other, we talked, but I don't really
remember a lot about her. Before you start, like Pastor,
you don't remember her. She don't Remember Me either.
OK, so, but, but I just don't remember.
And so, but I do remember the minute I started working in the
cafeteria with her, I remember her very quickly.
And it was after a little while when we were friends.
And it's like, hey, you know, you're a good friend.
And I kind of called her my sister and she called me her
brother. And then after a while, it's
kind of like, you know, let's not do that, OK?
I don't because, you know, we don't live in West Virginia, you
know what I'm saying? And so I just, I'm not, I'm not
comfortable with this. All right.
Anybody from West Virginia here this morning?
All right. Good.
Ralph. OK.
No. OK.
But yeah. So, no, we're all we're all
good, right? And so listen, we got to the
place where we knew that that that the Lord, you know, was
working in our lives that that we were going to get married.
Could you imagine me making this pitch to her?
I want to have your hand in marriage, But there's a few
things I want you to know. It's not going to be a ring.
I have the money. Don't I mean, don't get me
wrong, but just seems like kind of a waste.
You know, there's a lot of there's a lot of expenses out
there. You know, we're dealing with a
lot of things ring. I do have the money, but I don't
have, we're probably not going to spend a lot of time together
until the wedding, to be honest with you.
You know, I'm busy, you're busy. I got a lot to do.
You know, there's probably a lot of things I'm have to get ready.
We're not going to talk a lot either because I'm not going to
learn about the things you like and those kind of things.
You know, we'll we'll figure that out later.
Listen, we'll we'll have the rest of our life to be able to
talk about these things. I really think the next year or
so, you know, I'm just going to focus on me.
You know, I've got some me things I got to deal with.
It's gonna be my last, honestly. It's gonna be my last time being
a bachelor, a man by myself. And I kind of want to live my
life the way I want to live it before the shackles.
Come on. You know what I'm saying?
It's just so. It's just like, But then listen,
after the wedding, I'll be a perfect gentleman.
I'm gonna be the best husband you could possibly imagine.
But I'm just gonna need this time.
I'm gonna need about a year. Get my own things in order.
Do my own things, my own things with my money.
You're not gonna have a ring. Don't worry about it.
In fact, you could probably plan the whole wedding.
In fact, you plan the whole wedding.
You let me know what the day is the time is, you let me know.
Hey, you let me know how to dress.
Listen, I'll, I'll even let you pick how to dress, all right?
I'll make sure I get the suit and all that kind of stuff
ready. But the meantime, what?
But then we'll be married and it's going to be blessed.
I mean, it is going to be incredible.
And you would say to Diane, don't walk.
Run away from that guy. Pay him no heed.
Pretend you don't even know him. You say, that is one of the
dumbest things I've ever heard. And listen, it's how most
Christians live their life. God, I'd love to spend eternity
with you. A place of no sin, eternal
bliss, to worship at your feet. And that sounds great.
I don't really have time to worship now.
I don't really have time to do the things you want me to do
now. Don't have time for your church?
Don't have time for your people. That money you keep giving me,
I'm going to spend it my way. I'm going to keep thinking the
way I want to think. I'm going to keep doing the
things I want to do. I'm going to live my life the
way I want to live it because I need some me time.
But when I'm with you, it'll be good when I'm with you and it'll
be the best put it. In the meantime, I need to do
some things for myself. I would say if you live your
life like that, I'm not saying you're not saved, but I question
that you understand the very essence of the goodness and
loving nature of God. Because if you saw the future,
it would affect your present. If you saw the future, it would
change how you live right now. Casual Christianity doesn't have
enough power to change a light bulb.
The Bible teaches us. It says with godliness comes
great power. No, And it hurts to say it.
You know why? Because there's an element
within me that likes to live my own way that I would never treat
my wife like that, but I'd treat my Savior like that.
Listen, your family deserves better.
Your kids deserve better. Your parents deserve better.
Your grandchildren deserve better.
Your employer deserves better. Your employees deserves better.
Most importantly, your Savior deserves better.
Your future affects your present.
In the end, Times has everything to do with the here and now.
So this week, as we add to our faith, allow the truth of
eternity to make a difference in how you live your life today.
Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org.
Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,
MA. May the Lord bless you as you
grow in His Word.