Living in The Light of Christ’s Coming

Heaven, for the Christian, is not just a final destination, but it is to be a present motivation. Heaven isn’t just a place that, as Christians, one day we will go to. And believe me, one day, as Christians, we will go to heaven. Jesus is preparing us a place, and He said, “I’ll come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, you may be also.” But it’s not just pie in the sky in the sweet by and by. Heaven is to motivate us to live for God now. So not just a final destination. It is to be a present motivation.

That’s exactly what Peter says in our text today. I want you to notice it in verse 11. He says, “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation…”—or “living”—“…and godliness?” Peter’s asking a question in verse 11. It’s actually a rhetorical question, and he’s going to give us the answer. The entire passage today is the answer to that question. And here’s the question: “How should we live in light of His coming?” If we really believe—and as Christians we do—that Jesus Christ will come again—if we really believe that this world is going to pass away and we’ll have new heavens and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness, that we’ll be with God eternally in heaven, then what manner of living should we be involved in? How should we live? How do we conduct ourselves? What are our attitudes and actions to be in the world until we go to be with the Lord?

Now in this third chapter of 2 Peter we’ve seen that there are four admonitions on how to live in light of His coming. We’ve looked at the first two. I just want to remind you that last Sunday we saw that we are to be mindful and we are not to be ignorant. “Beloved…be mindful,” verses 1 and 2; and then he says, “Beloved, be not ignorant,” verse 8. He wants us to be mindful of two things: the truth of God’s Word—that God said in His Word that Christ would return, that there would be new heavens and a new earth, that He would judge sin and reign in righteousness; and in verse 3, that there will come in the last days scoffers. And this is what the scoffers are going to say, the Bible predicted: “Where is the promise of His coming? For since our fathers have fallen asleep…”—or “died”—“…all things continue as they were from the beginning.” They are holding to what’s called “uniformitarianism”: nothing changes, everything remains the same, everything will go on, that God will not intervene in human history, there’s no supernatural, there’s no God outside this universe Who we expect will come to save us or deliver us. So know that these scoffers are going to be coming.

And he said, “Be not ignorant.” He gave us three things not to be ignorant of. Number one, God is eternal. Why has it taken so long for the Lord to return? Because He’s not on our time clock. “One day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as a day.” God is eternal. He’s not bound by time. Secondly, God is merciful. That’s why it’s taken—it seems to us but not to God—such a long time for the Lord to return. The Bible says that “God’s not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance,” verse 9. God “is longsuffering.” He “is not slack…as some men count slackness.” He is patient and merciful, waiting for us to come to salvation. Then, thirdly, God is faithful. I want you to notice it in verse 10. This introduces us to our topic in verse 11. It says, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, in which…”—notice this—“…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 therein shall be burned up.” So Peter makes it very clear that the Lord is going to return. “The day of the Lord” will come and will catch the world unexpectedly, not ready, because He’s coming “as a thief in the night.”

Now there are two more admonitions that we are going to look at in our text this morning, and that is, “Beloved…be diligent” and “beloved…beware.” I want you to notice the first, verses 11-14, and let’s read that text, “Beloved…be diligent.” Verse 11, “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation…”—Old English for “manner of living”—“…and godliness, looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless, we, according to His promise…”—verse 13—“…look for…”—key phrase—“…new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore…”—here’s the conclusion, 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.”

Now I want you to notice in verse 11, “seeing that all these things shall be dissolved.” This is the question: “What things?” If you just started in verse 11, you wouldn’t know what he’s talking about, “seeing that all these things shall be dissolved.” The answer is in verse 10. Back up one verse. “The heavens shall pass away with a great noise…”—this is God’s big bang—“…and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”

Now there are a lot of people who believe that billions of years ago there was a big bang, that we have evolved over billions of years and out of this chaotic big bang comes this universe that we live in. That’s kind of hard for me to believe: that out of nothing can come something, and that something blew up and evolved into this highly tuned universe that we live in today, with life and balance and all that goes on. But they accredit it to a big bang. My theory is that the big bang hasn’t happened yet. Peter says the big bang hasn’t happened yet. The big bang is yet future to us. There’s going to be a big bang, and God’s just going to release His hold from all the atoms in the universe. And I hate to say “blow away” or “bang” or “boom” or whatever, but it’s going to be bigger than that. This whole universe is going to be completely blown away.

Do you know that the heavens are the home of fire? When we read in the Bible where Peter is saying, “The elements will melt with fervent heat,” you might say, “Well, how’s that going to happen?” Aside from the fact that we have atomic bombs and nuclear bombs, God doesn’t need any of that stuff. All He has to do is release His hold on the atoms in the universe. All He has to do with billions of galaxies with billions of stars is to instantly turn them into super novas. Boom! And the heavens will be dissolved with a fervent heat. Billions of stars bigger than our sun, with all the hydrogen and all of the gases in the sun, are just going to explode. All “the elements are going to melt with fervent heat.”

Now you say, “When is this going to happen?” We looked at it last Sunday. When Christ comes at the Second Coming, He will introduce the kingdom age. Now the world is going to be pretty much decimated at the Tribulation, but Christ is going to come, and there is going to be a kingdom on earth for a thousand years after His Second Coming. And then the heavens and the earth that exist now will be dissolved, and John said in Revelation 21, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth.” That’s what Peter is describing here. So Peter and John in the Revelation are consistent with what they’re describing. This is the end of time, and we will have a new heaven and we will have a new earth.

But here is the question: “How should we then live?” The first answer I want to give is negative. It’s not in my text. That negative answer is: certainly not as a materialist. Everything you see—and this is what the Bible says, and it’s true—is temporal. That includes the cosmos and the universe. Everything we see is temporal. Only that which is not seen is eternal. So if the temporal is going to be done away with—“dissolved” Peter says, that all “the elements are going to melt with fervent heat”—why would I want to live for this world? Why would I want to live for the temporal? Why would I want to live for the mundane? Why would I live for only what I could see, smell and feel? Why would I not want to be spiritual and live for God and live for eternity and live for the things that are going to last? Basically that’s what this whole passage is saying. If all these things are going to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be? Well, not a materialist.

But two things, Peter tells us, that we need to be. The first one is holy, verse 11, and godly. I love that. We need to live holy and godly lives. The idea of holy speaks of our actions. It’s living differently from the world. Holiness is not a haircut. Holiness isn’t clothes. Holiness isn’t wearing a robe. Holiness isn’t chanting in a church with stained glass. Holiness is being like God. It’s living separate from the world. The words “saint,” “sanctify” and “holy” all come from the same root, the word “hagios.” It means to be set apart and dedicated unto God. The Bible clearly teaches that God is holy. And because God is holy, we, His people, should be holy. Now we’ll never achieve perfect holiness like God. He’s completely absent from sin, and He’s completely righteous. But we should live differently from the world. So holiness basically means we live separated, consecrated, devoted lives. We don’t live for the world, but we live for God in His kingdom.

Secondly, it says we should live in godliness, verse 11. This refers to our attitude. I think there’s a difference here between holiness and godliness. I believe holiness is the fruit of a godly attitude. A godly person is a person who lives constantly wanting to please God, honor God, obey God and to live for God. You’re a God-conscience person. Everything in your life is influenced by what God thinks, what God says. “Will I win God’s approval? Is this pleasing to God if I think this, if I do this? This is what we call “piety,” but it’s a true piety. The Bible says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” That’s godliness; the reverential respect for God. It’s not a cowering fear that He’s going to strike me with lightning or send me to hell. It’s a respect, an awe, a reverence for God. Then in what I think, what I say and what I do, I want my life to be pleasing to God. So we want to live in holiness by our actions and in godliness by our attitudes.

Paul says the same thing when he writes to Titus in chapter 2, verses 11-13. He says, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly, in this present world; looking for the blessed hope of the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” So we need to deny ungodliness, and we need to live soberly and righteously in this present evil world.

Let me show you, secondly, in verses 12-14, that we need to live with expectation. So how should we then live? We should live, number one, with holy and godly behavior and attitude, and, secondly, we should live in expectation, “looking for and hastening to the coming of the day of God.” Follow again with me verses 12-14. He says, “looking for and hastening to the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless we, according to His promise…”—notice God has promised—“…and we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells 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.”

But notice verse 12. We’re “looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God.” And then, again, verse 13, he uses the phrase “look for.” And then again, in verse 14, he uses the phrase “look for.” So verse 12, “looking for”; verse 13, “look for”; and then verse 14, “look for.” It portrays an attitude of expectancy. Basically and simply, as a Christian, we should get up every day and say, “This may be the day.”

Do you know that Jesus could come back today? You go, “I want to watch the football game.” Don’t be stupid. We can play football in heaven. Don’t worry about that. “I got a big date tonight. I don’t want to get raptured yet. I don’t want the Lord to come.” You know, as believers, we should live with a constant expectation and hope that this may be the day when we will see Jesus face to face. And that’s the tenor of these verses. Live with expectation. Live with hope. Be looking for, anticipating, eagerly desiring His return. He’s basically saying that we as Christians should be heavenly minded. You hear people say from time to time, “You’re so heavenly minded that you’re no earthly good.” That’s not true heavenly mindedness. That’s just weirdness, is what that is. Put on a robe, sit on a mountain, wait for the Rapture, don’t be engaged in life.

I honestly believe, with all my heart, that the more heavenly minded you are, the more earthly good you become. You want to be a great husband? You want to be a great wife? You want to be a great parent? You want to be a great friend? You want to be a great coworker? You want to be a great person? Then “set your affections on things above.” Amen? Not on things of the earth, because you have died to this world, to its affections and lusts and you are hidden with Christ in God. And He’s our hope. He’s our expectation; we’re looking for Him. So we don’t want to be wrapped up in the world.

1John 2:15-17 says, “Love not the world…”—the “cosmos,” the “evil world’s system apart from God”—“…neither the things that are in the world….”—and then he describes it—“…the lust of the flesh..”—your “passions”—“…and the lust of the eyes…”—your “possessions”—“…and the pride of life…”—your “position.” These are the things of the world. They’re not of the Father, and they’ll pass away. But whoever does the will of the Father, he “abides forever.” Jesus said it like this, “What shall it profit you if you gain the whole world but lose your soul?” So you’re the richest person in hell; big deal. Have you ever seen that old bumper sticker? “He who dies with the most toys wins.” What a stupid bumper sticker. If that’s on your care, come up after church and we’ll pray for you. “He who dies with the most toys wins.” Are you serious? You’re going to be bragging in hell about all your possessions? You can’t take it with you.

Even as Christians, the only thing we can take into eternity is that what is of eternal value, that which is invested in the kingdom of God, that which is done for the glory of God, that which is done in the power of the Holy Spirit, to honor Him. So we need to turn these things of earth into eternal value by living for Him. When Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God,” that’s what it means to get our mind, our affections on spiritual things and living for Him.

Notice the reason is in verses 13 and 14. Because “according to His promise, we’re looking for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.” Let me tell you something. Heaven’s going to be awesome—to use an old worn-out word; right? Awesome. It’s going to be great. It’s going to be awesome. What word do you use to describe heaven? It’s going to be beyond anything we could imagine or even comprehend or understand. I’ve met people who say, “I don’t want to go to heaven. I’ve seen the pictures. Little fat babies playing violins, sitting around on a cloud.” Heaven’s going to be amazing. I can’t wait to go. The older I get and the more this tent, this body, starts to dissolve, the more I long for that new body in heaven. So I’m looking for new heavens and a new earth.

And in new heavens and a new earth dwells righteousness. No more sorrow. No more sickness. No more sin. No more Satan—praise God! All the former things are passed away. And God will wipe every tear from our eyes; amen? We will be with Him and He will be with us. What a glorious thing that will be. So I believe we should set our minds on heavenly things. And we need to “look for,” verse 14, such things.

We need to “be diligent, that we may be found of Him…”—found in Him, walking in fellowship with Him, experiencing His—“…peace, without spot, and blameless,” because Jesus Christ is coming again. “Beloved…be diligent.”

But there’s a second admonition in verses 15-18, the end of the chapter. That is, “Beloved…beware.” I want you to see it. Follow with me, beginning in verse 15. He says, “Account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, which in some things are hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction….”—verse 17—“…Therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware…”—there’s his “beloved…beware,” verse 17—“…lest you also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace…”—verse 18—“…and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.”

Now there are three areas we need to be vigilant in. First to all, be vigilant, or beware that you do not lose your evangelistic zeal. Be careful that you do not lose your evangelistic zeal in these last days. I want you to notice it in verse 15. “The longsuffering of our Lord is salvation.” What does he mean by that? He means that one of the reasons why—and he’s already mentioned it in verse 9—is that God’s “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” He means that what seems to be a long time for the Lord to return to set up His kingdom, for Him to bring the new heavens and the new earth is, in reality, God’s mercy and God’s longsuffering, God’s patience. He doesn’t want anyone to perish. He wants everyone to come to repentance and believe in Jesus Christ and be saved.
So he tells us that these scoffers are going to mock and say, “Where’s the promise of His coming? Jesus hasn’t kept His promise.” No. He will, but He’s longsuffering and patient and He’s merciful. God is not willing for any to perish. In the New Living Translation, verse 15, is rendered, “The Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved.” You know, I believe you are here today hearing this message because God loves you, and God is patient and God’s given you opportunity to believe and be saved. Many times you could have died. Many times you could have gone into eternity, but God has spared your life and brought you to this point in time. You’re not here by accident today. You hear this message. God has given you another opportunity. Jesus actually said, “Behold, I stand at the door of your heart and knock, and if you hear My voice and open the door, I’ll come in and have fellowship with you.” Is God speaking to you today? Do you hear Him knocking on the door of your heart? Are you willing to open your heart and let Him come in today?

You say, “Well, I thought you were telling us we needed to maintain our evangelistic zeal?” We do. Because God is patient, because God is longsuffering, what should we be doing? Telling other people. We should be telling our family. We should be telling our friends. We should be proclaiming. Christmas is a great time to tell people about Jesus Christ and Who He is and why He came. We celebrate Christ’s coming at Christmas, but do we ever stop to ask, “Who He is? Why did He come? Why do we follow Jesus? What claims did He make?” So we need to proclaim to our family and to our friends and others how to be saved by faith through the grace of God and trusting in Jesus. That salvation is not by our good works but by faith in Jesus Christ. So basically he’s saying that God is patient and longsuffering.

Then he mentions in verse 15 that our “beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles…”—verse 16—“…speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable, twist…”—or “wrest” in the King James, but “twist” or “pull out of context”—“…as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction.” So Peter is telling us here that Paul writes about this salvation. He writes about the patience of God. If you want to know how to be saved, no better place than the epistles of Paul. “By grace you have been saved, through faith, but not of yourself. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.” Amen? The ungodly are justified by faith in Jesus Christ. It’s by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

And Peter says even Paul wrote about these things, but there are some people who twist and pervert the truth of God. Scripture twisting. Beware of those who twist the Scriptures, give it their own meaning and pull it out of context. They tell you what God means by what He said rather than “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.” God doesn’t stutter. What God said in His Word is very clear. So don’t lose your evangelistic zeal. Don’t be dissuaded by false teachers who twist the Scriptures.

Now I want you to note the second thing we need to be vigilant in. Don’t be carried away with false teaching, verse 17. Now I just mentioned those who twist the Scriptures, verse 16, to their own destruction. He warns us in verse 17, “Therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware…”—It’s a military word. It means “be on guard,” “keep watch”—“…lest you also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.”

So in verse 17, he says, “Beloved, beware,” and, as I said, it’s a military word. It was actually used for a soldier guarding his post. And the idea is that you keep your eyes open. You are vigilant, that you don’t allow the enemy to take you captive and lead you away, that you are sober and vigilant and you stay awake and stay watchful. It’s the whole concept of keeping watch at your post. If you’re not watchful and careful, you can be, first of all, dragged away, verse 17. He says there you are being “lead away with the error of the wicked.” Then, secondly, you will “fall from your own steadfast position.”

So we need to have our eyes open. We need to be discerning and we need to be careful. When someone’s preaching from the Bible, is that really what the Bible says? Is that really what it means? Is it taken out of context? A lot of popular preaching today is just promoting man’s ideas and throwing verses in to justify it being a sermon. But the verses are taken out of context and misapplied. This is why it’s so important when we study the Bible that we interpret it according to its historical, grammatical and theological context. You don’t want your words taken out of context. You don’t want somebody telling other people what you meant by what you said. Neither does God. God said what He meant and meant what He said. The job of the preacher is to read the text, explain the text and apply the text. Nothing more, nothing less. This is what the text says. This is what the text means. This is how the text applies to our lives. That’s Biblical preaching. That’s what it means to preach the Word. Not just your own ideas and throw verses in to justify it as being a sermon preached on Sunday morning.

So what I’m telling you is to be on guard. Have your eyes open. Be watching. Be vigilant. Not only are mockers coming in these last days but also false teachers and false apostles and false prophets are coming. And what’s happening is that some Christians are being carried away. They’re falling from their own steadfastness. They’re not standing on the rock of Scripture. My heart for you, as members of this church, is that you stand on the Word of God alone; amen? Dare I say it again? The B-i-b-l-e, that’s the book for me. I stand alone on the Word of God, the B-i-b-l-e. Don’t follow the world. Don’t follow man’s ideas. Don’t follow the philosophies and ideas of our culture. Think Biblically. Think Scripturally. Stay aware. Stay vigilant.

And then, thirdly, verse 18, in closing, don’t lose your spiritual balance. Maintain your evangelical zeal. Tell others about Jesus Christ. He’s the only hope of salvation. And then, secondly, don’t be carried away with false teaching. But thirdly, verse 18, don’t lose your spiritual balance. “But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him…”—that is, “our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”—“…be glory both now and…”—what?—“…forever.” That’s because Jesus is our Lord Jesus Christ and our Savior, and He’s God.

Now I want you to notice that he says here not to lose your balance. If you don’t want to be dragged away and you don’t want to fall from your own steadfast position, you know what you need to do? Keep growing. And he gives us two areas to grow in: in grace and in knowledge. How do they differ? I believe that grace here is character, the fruit of the Spirit. It’s likeness to Jesus. It’s actually the living out of your knowledge. Knowledge is knowing God as He’s revealed in the Bible. The only way to know God is as He has chosen to reveal Himself in the pages of Scripture. That’s the greatest revelation of God. So we take in the knowledge, but do you know what that knowledge is intended to do? It’s intended to change your character. Change your life. Let me put it in shoe leather for you, very simply. If you are growing in the true “knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” you’re going to grow in grace. Your life is going to be changing.

It’s not uncommon to find a Christian who gets really into the deep things of God and gets into theology and doctrine, which I’m all for. That’s exciting. But their lives don’t really change. These are often the people who want to debate with me after I preach a sermon like this on Sunday morning. They want to get into all these fine points of theology, eschatology and soteriology and all this stuff, and I’m thinking, “Why do you want to debate this stuff? Are you being kind to your wife when you go home today? Are you showing her more love and patience? Are you friendly on the freeway when you drive?” “No, but I know Greek and Hebrew. I’m a Bible scholar. Better get out of my way.” Do you know that if you’re not kind, you’re not spiritual? “Yah, but I know the Greek.” It doesn’t matter. You’re just a Greek dodo bird, is all. “Yah, but I’ve studied prophecy. I’ve majored in eschatology. I know my prophecy.” And you’re into all these things, and it’s like, “Yah, but what about the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ?” Are you more like Jesus?

I’m also preaching to my own heart here; okay? Because I’m a pastor and because I spend most of my time studying theology and doctrine and preaching the Word, the question is, “How do I treat my wife? How do I treat my kids? Am I loving and kind and patient? Am I the kind of person who is like Christ? What good is all my knowledge if I don’t grow in grace?

So my appeal to you is to keep and maintain your balance. Don’t become an imbalanced Christian. You need to grow in grace, and you need to grow in knowledge. And if it’s real knowledge, it’ll transform your life. You will be living more like Jesus Christ. If you’re properly studying your Bible and applying it to your life, it’s going to change your marriage. It’s going to change your attitude. It going to change your relationships with other people. But if you’re just using it to get head knowledge and information, nothing’s going to change. So there has to be a balance. You grow in both the grace—the character, the spiritual fruit, which is the work of the Holy Spirit—and in knowledge.

You remember in 1 Peter 2:2 Peter says, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may…”—what?—“…grow thereby.” You cannot grow apart from this book we call the Bible. But if you’re growing in your knowledge of God’s Word, then you will become more like Jesus. The purpose of God’s sanctifying work in your life is to make you more like Jesus Christ. Not make you argumentative, critical, fault-finding, grumpy, angry and bitter—look like you’ve been baptized in lemon juice. Joy is the flag flown high from the castle of our heart when the King is in residence there; amen? That’s what changes our lives. So we need to be balanced. We need to “grow in the grace” and we need to grow “in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Let me say this. There’s no more important knowledge than the knowledge of Jesus’ person and Jesus’ work. No greater knowledge than knowing Who Jesus Christ is and what Jesus Christ came to do. Let me give you a little quickie. Jesus is God, the second person of the Triune God, Who came down to earth and entered this world through the womb of the Virgin Mary, so He was both God and man. He lived a sinless life, performed miracles, spoke like never a man could speak, willingly and voluntarily gave His life to die on a cross as the substitute for mankind’s sin. When Jesus died on the Cross, He was actually giving Himself to pay for and atone for the sins of the world. Then He was buried, and three days later He rose again from the dead victorious, indicating that God the Father accepted His atoning work on the Cross. Forty days after His Resurrection, He physically, bodily ascended back into heaven, and He is exalted at the right hand of God the Father. He ever lives to save anyone who will call upon His name. The Bible says if you call upon His name, you will be saved. That’s the Gospel. The whole Bible could be rolled into one verse, and it’s the greatest verse you could ever imagine. John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

Have you trusted Jesus today? Have you received that gift today? Have you opened your heart today and been forgiven of all your sins and invited Jesus Christ to come in and forgive you and make you His child? God wants to give you a gift right now. You can’t earn it. You don’t deserve it. You don’t merit it. It’s grace. But you can receive it by faith, which is trusting Him. You’re not trusting in your goodness. You’re trusting in Jesus Christ, Who died, was resurrected and lives for you today. You say, “Well, what if I don’t believe in Jesus? What if I don’t want to believe in Jesus, or I reject Him?” Then you make a choice. You make a decision right now. Jesus said, “You’re either for Me or you’re against Me.” Jesus said, “I am the way, I am the truth and I am the life.” And He said, “No one comes to the Father except…”—how?—“…through Me.” He’s the way. Without Him, there’s no going. He’s the truth. Without Him, there’s no knowing. He’s the life. Without Him, there’s no living.

Have you trusted Jesus today? I want to give you an opportunity right now to invite Christ to come into your heart and forgive your sins as your Savior.

Let’s pray.