WHAT MANNER OF
PERSONS OUGHT YE TO BE
2 Peter 3:1-14
11 Seeing then that
all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in
all holy conversation and godliness,
14 Wherefore,
beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of
him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
Pastor Rick Jackson
The 2nd Coming of Christ, depending on how you look at it,
covers a period of at least 7 years, from the Rapture before the Tribulation to
the "Touchdown Coming" after it. Take the truth of the Second Coming
and see what it should bring.
THE TRUTH OF THE
SECOND COMING OUGHT BRING:
1. An Earnest Expectation Among Believers [v. 1, 1 Th. 1:9-10]
For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we
had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true
God; And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even
Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
2. A Great Comfort to the Sorrowing [v. 2-3a, 1 Th. 4:13-18]
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren,
concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have
no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also
which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the
Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the
trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive
and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the
Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one
another with these words.
3. A Solemn Warning to the Lost [v. 3b-7, 1 Th. 5:1-3]
But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need
that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord
so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety;
then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child;
and they shall not escape.
4. A Galvanizing Alertness to the Saved [v. 7-8, 1 Th. 5:4-10]
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should
overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the
children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of
darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be
sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are
drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the
breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For
God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus
Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live
together with him.
5. A Blessed Assurance in the Promises [v. 9, 2 Th. 1:7-2:2]
And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord
Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire
taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the
presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be
glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because
our testimony among you was believed) in that day. Wherefore also we pray
always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil
all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: That
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him,
according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we beseech
you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering
together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither
by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is
at hand.
6. A Dynamic Devotion to Christ [v. 10-13, 2 Tm. 4:8]
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me
only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
7. A Purifying Hope for the Hopeful [v. 14, 1 Jn. 3:1-3]
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon
us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth
not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we
shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this
hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
