I'm just going to give a two-minute warning. Good evening, everybody. Just giving everybody a two-minute warning that we're going to be starting in just two minutes. Those of you guys who are over by the cafe, or if you can hear me out in the courtyard, or if you're doing meet-ups in the rooms, just make your way now to your tables, and we'll get started in two minutes.

Thank you, everyone. Jin's here. Oh, Jin's here? Yeah. I'm going to go by Jin. It definitely is missing something without the cajon. There's just nothing-- Just sad. What's that? Ever so slightly. All right, everybody. Please, let's gather our hearts. Please join me in a word of prayer as we start our midweek Bible study.

Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we want to thank you and praise you. God, as we come off a holiday week, spending time with family, but also making sure that we are mindful of all that we have in Christ, I pray, God, that by our sight of you, considering all that you are, that you have done, and all the work that, God, you have done in our lives, that our hearts will be overflowing with gratitude.

And God, although the weeks and days go by quickly, and although our weeks may be filled with various-- both responsibilities, distractions, burdens, and more, in every season, God, we want to give you thanks. And particularly tonight, as we think about your word, our fellowship in the scripture, and the opportunity to gather together in this way, we are grateful, Lord, for the privilege.

Father, we want to lift this time of praise to you, and we pray, God, that more and more, by continuing to devote ourselves, devote our attention to you, God, would you continue to grow our faith. We thank you in Christ's name. Amen. (SINGING) Create in me a clean heart, oh, God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Create in me a clean heart, oh, God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, oh, Lord. Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and renew a right spirit within me. Create. Create in me a clean heart, oh, God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away. Cast me not away from thy presence, oh, Lord. Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and renew a right spirit within me. Who else commands all the hosts of heaven? Who else can make every king bow down?

Who else can whisper in darkness' trembles? Only a holy God. What other beauty dimmeth such phrases? What other splendor as shines the sun? What other majesty rules with justice? Only a holy God. Come and behold him, the one and the only. Cry out, sing holy, forever a holy God.

Come and worship the holy God. What other glory consumes like fire? What other power can raise the dead? What other name remains undefeated? Only a holy God. Come and behold him, the one and the only. Cry out, sing holy, forever a holy God. Come and worship the holy God.

Who else could rescue me from my failing? And who else would offer his only son? And who else invites me to call him father? Only a holy God. Only a holy God. Come and behold him, the one and the only. Cry out, sing holy, forever a holy God. Come and worship the holy God.

OK, good evening, everybody. Just a few highlight of announcements. So just in case you guys are kind of wondering about the schedule again, December 14, Wednesday, is our last study. That last study is going to be a wrap-up summary. So please just make a mental note of that. And then soon, we're going to be starting our sign-ups for the next session.

So you're going to see both emails. And then next week, we're going to have a time where I'll introduce to you how to sign up for the next series, OK? Please remember that this weekend on Sunday is our communion service, OK? So please take time to just prepare your heart, pray, spend extra time communing with the Lord, repent of any sins that are in your heart, always be thinking about how grateful we are for the Lord's sacrifice, and come ready to participate on the special service, OK?

All right, at this time, please go ahead and go into your discussion groups. Thanks. All right, if we can have the people in the rooms come back out. All right, if we can have the people in the rooms come back out. We're going to get started. All right, we're second to the last of the passages that we're going to be looking at before we wrap up.

So we have this week, and then we have one more week next week, and then the week, the final week is basically going to be a wrap-up study. Okay? And so the wrap-up study is important because we don't want you to just finish the study and kind of like, "Oh, we went through the text," but we want you to be able to, after four months later, and I say, "Chapter 3, 2 Peter," like, "What's it about?" Right?

And if somebody brings up a subject like, "Is there a book that I can study on the last days or about false prophets? What's a book that you would recommend or what's a chapter?" And so you can flip over to that and then you can kind of, you know, recollect some of the things that you studied.

So it's not just something that you just have a notch under your belt that you did. That's something that you can actually use, practically speaking. Okay? All right, so let me pray for us and then we'll jump into the text. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your continued grace and love.

We pray that your word would truly speak to us. And we know, Father God, that your word and what you've given us is sufficient and that everything for life of godliness that you've given to us in the knowledge of his Son. And so we pray, Father God, that you would bless this time, help us to glean from it and gain insight, and not only for knowledge but for purpose of sanctification.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. So as you guys know, 2 Peter is Peter's last letter that he writes. Right? Before he... Right after this, he gets arrested. According to church tradition, he gets arrested, he gets martyred, and he gets beheaded. Right? And he gets beheaded and that's it.

And he knows this is coming. We saw that in the letter. He mentions it. Right? He knows that the end is coming. So, this is the last section of the last letter that he's writing. So imagine in your mind, if you're writing a letter to a bunch of your disciples and this is the very last thing you're going to say to them and they know that trouble is coming, obviously he's going to die because of persecution coming.

And they're not going to just come after Peter. They're going to come after Peter's disciples. They're going to come after the churches. And so this is the last section of the last letter he writes before he gets beheaded. Or not beheaded. Sorry. He gets crucified upside down. Paul is the one who's beheaded.

Nobody said anything when I said beheaded. Okay? So, you can kind of, you know, like consider the weightiness of what he is saying. So, he's wrapping up what he is saying, right, in the three chapters and basically telling them like, remember this. If you forget everything, you know, remember this.

Right? So, as you know, he, the purpose of this is since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be? And this is sort of the conclusion of everything that he's saying. So, he wasn't just trying to give them information, but through the information to do what?

So, they could live a certain way. Right? They would not be afraid that even if persecution comes and even if they end up dying for their faith to remember that Christ is coming. Right? And so, as a result of that, how should you live? Not simply how should you think, but how should you live?

You should think this way so you can live this way. Right? So, if all Bible study is, is helping you to understand what the Bible says, it actually does more harm than good. People who are not walking right with God, filling them with more knowledge actually causes you to be proud.

Right? It causes you to be proud. So, proud people, you add more knowledge, it actually does more damage. So, at the end of the day, Peter is not trying to get more information into them. The information has practical application. Right? So, the question that we need to ask ourselves is, how does your life get affected by the text that you're looking at?

Other than the fact that you have to study and then you have to study next week and the week after that. Outside of that, how does it affect? And so, one of the discussion questions that we'll have at the end is, specifically, how does the end times, the thought of end times, does that have any practical effect on your life?

Okay? So, this is what Peter was trying to get at. Right? What sort of people should you be considering the destruction that's coming? Right? The judgment that's coming. So, in the previous week where I was in here, in verse 10, just as a review, it says, "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat and the earth and its works will be burned up." In other words, everything that you're concerned about, everything that you're worried about losing is going to be destroyed.

Right? So, don't be afraid of that. Don't be afraid of losing whatever it is that you're working so hard to get because in the end it's going to be burned up anyway. Right? So, considering that, when Christ comes, all things are going to be made new. What kind of person ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?

So, what is the difference between holy conduct and godliness? Right? So, when you do an inductive Bible study, hopefully you are asking these questions, right? What's the difference between the two? These are the questions that you should be asking in order to gain insight. Can somebody, did you find anything, the difference between the two?

Can you have one without the other? Yes and no. Okay. Hopefully you had some time to look it up, right? These words. Holy conduct basically is external. Right? It's how you live. Godliness is more holistic. It's reference to piety. It includes piety. Right? Devotion. But the larger definition, it says whole of true religion.

This is what it says in the Bible dictionary. In the words of the Bible. In the word study. Right? Whole of true religion. Meaning godliness is reference to our whole conduct. Inward and outward. Toward God and toward one another. Holy conduct is specifically the way that you are behaving.

Right? So, can you have one without the other? Can you have holy conduct without godliness? Yes, you can. Right? You can behave a certain way and change your external behavior without being godly. Right? Who are those people? Pharisees. Right? They're really good at following rules. But they weren't godly people.

Right? God, can you have godliness without holy conduct? No, you can't. Because godliness encompasses holy conduct. Right? Because godliness is reference to your whole being. Right? And so, he's saying that in these last days, right, not only in your external behavior but in everything else, right, how should you behave?

Looking and hastening. So, this word keeps coming up here. Looking. Looking. If you go to the next verse, right, beloved since you are looking for these things. So, over and over again. So, what is this idea of looking? And what's the difference between looking and hastening? I'm trying to figure out if you are afraid to speak or you didn't do it.

Looking has the idea of hoping. Right? Your inner being of what you're thinking about the future. Hoping. Hastening is reference to action. Right? Did you find that? In your word study. If you just go back and look up the words, this is what it says in the dictionary. Okay?

Not English dictionary but the Greek dictionary. That's one of the key things that you want to have when you're doing inductive Bible study. Right? So, when you look it up, it's hoping. So, in your conduct, in your godliness, it begins with hope. Right? So, if the coming of the end, the day of the Lord, day of God, day of Christ, right, and all of those words are used interchangeably.

Okay? There are some people who will tell you, well, day of Christ means this, day of God means this, and day of the Lord means this. If you look at all the verses and how it's used, typically it's used interchangeably. There's no specific line. Okay? So, when the day of God comes, right, if you're not hoping, you're not going to be hastening.

Right? Because if you're hastening, right, if you're taking action without hoping, what is your life going to look like? Probably holy conduct without godliness. You understand what I'm saying? Right? You're changing your behavior but your inner person is not changing because your motivation is not because of his coming.

Right? You're not inwardly being motivated. You're outwardly being motivated. So, that's why he says considering the destruction, considering that all things are going to be gone, that Christ is coming, right, in your holy conduct, inside and out, in who you are, in hoping, right, in your hoping, hasten, action, take action.

Because the coming of the day of God is coming. Right? Now, almost everybody believes, Christian or non-Christians, believe the end is coming. Right? Yes or no? Right? Almost everybody. Whether you think it's going to come because of war, right, some people may say maybe we're going to have World War III and nuclear bombs are going to go off and there's going to be an end.

So, everybody's afraid of World War III. There's some people who say that because of climate change, right, and some alarmists are saying that this is going to happen in the next 10, 15 years if you don't change the course of time, you know, the earth is going to burn up so the end is going to come.

Right? Or there's going to be some sort of asteroids the size of California is going to hit earth one day and then we're going to blow up and we're going to disappear. Or maybe the aliens are going to come, you know, and they're going to take over. Or maybe AI is going to come and they can take over.

So, the talk of the end, depending on who you talk to, everybody has some idea, right, whatever your people may believe, that clearly there's any, anything can happen that can bring the end. So, if you are afraid of nuclear war, right, being politics, then what's going to end up happening?

You're going to get really into politics. Right? You're going to say, "What's America doing? What's China doing? What's Iran doing? What's Russia doing?" And so you're going to be paying very close attention to that because you're afraid that if something goes wrong here that the end is going to come.

There's a lot of people, right, whatever your opinion may be, thinks that the world is going to end if we don't change the way that we use fossil fuel and all this stuff. And so we have political ideas on that and some people are doing crazy things because they think the world is going to come to an end.

So, most people believe that there is going to be some kind of an end. That's why there's all this money being spent trying to get to Mars, right? Why are you going to Mars if you're not afraid? People are thinking about going to Mars because they think at some point there's going to come an end, right?

So, depending on what you think is going to bring an end, that's where you're probably going to spend your energy. So, he's saying as Christians, we are told the end is coming, right? It's part of our belief system. It's part of the gospel that we embrace, that end is coming.

And this end isn't by accident. It's not simply because we're driving cars or riding planes. It says it's going to be a deliberate judgment from God, right? That's what it says. And so, because the end is coming, how should you behave? So, in other words, if the end is coming, our natural thought is going to be, how are we going to survive that?

If you think it's climate change, you have to change the climate. If you think it's nuclear war, you have to get rid of nuclear weapons. If you think it's aliens, find them and destroy them first, right? Whatever it may be, if you think the end is coming, your natural response to that is, how are we going to survive that?

And so, he's saying as Christians, he said he made it very clear that these ends come. In fact, if we look at these texts, Peter says it, he started the first letter this way, "Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." And then based on the grace that's going to be brought to you, how should you live?

In Romans chapter 8, we are given, again, this is a very small snippet of, remember when we were going through Revelation, a lot of you guys who are here, a whole book of Revelation is a reminder to us, it gives us a visual picture of how this is going to end.

Remember the three judgments? Seven, seven, seven judgments in the book of Revelation. What is the first set of judgments that come? The seal judgments, and then the seventh seal opens up which set of seven? Trumpet judgments. And then on the seventh trumpet, what judgments come? Seven bowls judgment. So, if you remember, as we were studying, the judgment gets much more intense as we go.

So, Revelation 8 is right in the middle of that, the trumpet judgments. And this is how it's described, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.

For the creation was subjected to futility." Sorry, this is, I'm going to get to the other verse. "Not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself also would be set free from slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers pains the child were together until now." Okay? I don't know if you've ever studied this passage before, but the Bible says that creation is also under the judgment as man is under judgment because we were created to be the subduers of the land.

So, when we were corrupted, the Bible says that the earth also was corrupted. And so, before the fall, before sin came in, Adam and Eve labored and bore fruit. But remember, as a result of sin, remember what he said what was going to happen? Instead of bearing fruit, they're going to bear thorns and thistles.

Meaning the creation itself was corrupted. So, humanly speaking, like we see the corruption of creation and we're trying to fix it by not riding airplanes and not burning fuel. But the Bible says the creation was corrupted along with us. And it's eagerly waiting for the sons of man to appear.

Meaning restoration to happen to us so that the creation itself will be restored. Creation will not be restored until what's taken care of. Not we become better stewards of the planet. No, better stewards of our souls. Right? When God restores our souls to what God intended, He will restore us back into what He intended.

Both man and creation. Right? That's why it... What was that passage? In Revelation 8, 7, 3, this is the trumpet judgment. So the first sounded and came hail and fire mixed with blood and they were thrown to the earth and third of the earth was burned, burned up and the third of the trees were burned up and all the green grass was burned up.

You notice how much he says burning. The second angel sounded and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea and a third of the sea became blood. Third of the creatures which were in the sea had life, died and the third of ships were destroyed.

The third angel sounded and a great star fell from heaven burning like a torch and it fell on the third of the rivers. And again, over and over again, here the emphasis on burning. Right? So if you look here he says because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, right?

And that specific passage that we're talking about is in reference to this and the elements will melt. Right? Now, I heard some people asking the question why is the heaven in plural? Right? There's no big reason. Okay, I don't know if you had deep theological discussions about the S here.

If you look up the word heavens right? In plural, it will say that heavens, singular, and heavens, plural is used interchangeably in the Bible. Right? So I hope your discussion wasn't too deep. Right? It's used interchangeably. If you want to get technical, you could technically say heavens basically is covering everything that is not physical.

So you can say it's plural for that reason, but if you look up the dictionary it just simply says that's just the way it's used sometimes. Right? So the heavens again, if you want to distinguish the heavens by burning the elements basically you probably heard that statement heaven and earth, heaven and earth.

Right? Heaven and earth basically means material and immaterial. And it's a way of describing all creation. Right? Not just a particular part. It will all melt away with intense heat. Right? Everything that you value, your clothes, your car, your house, everything material will burn away. Everything that is not material, the things that you're concerned about, your reputation, right?

Your honor, your glory, all of that is going to be burned. That's basically what it's saying. So everything that we worry so much about that causes us sleeplessness, all of that is going to be gone one day. Right? So knowing that, what kind of people should you be? Right?

If everything is going to be gone tomorrow, how will it affect the way you live today? Would it affect your value system? According to the promise, looking again, hoping for the new heavens and the new earth. Okay? And this statement here, new heavens and new earth, is a restoration back to what God intended.

Right? And this language is all over. If you looked it up, you probably have found it all over. Isaiah 65, 17, "For behold, I create new heavens and new earth, and the former things will not be remembered." Right? It's talking about when restoration comes. It says Isaiah 66, 22, "For just as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make endure before me, declares the Lord, so your offspring in your name will endure." Right?

So the old heavens and the old earth will be destroyed. Right? It's no longer going to be here, and then the new heaven and new earth is where we're going to be dwelling for eternity. Okay? So obviously different people have different opinions on this, but basically if you follow the pattern of the book of Revelation, right, you have the tribulation.

Some people have different opinions about when we're raptured, whether it's before or after. But you have the seven year tribulation where all those judgments take place. After that, Revelation chapter 20 says that the millennial kingdom will come. That's where all the promises that He made to the nation of Israel is fulfilled.

And the genuine believers are there as co-heirs for the thousand years. And after a thousand years Satan is bound, and then he will be released again to deceive, and then the judgment comes. And then after the judgment comes, we enter into chapter 21. So chapter 21 is a description of the new heavens and the new earth.

Okay? This is the final state after all of that drama, after the millennial kingdom. So new heaven and new earth is after the millennial kingdom, the final state. And He says, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth." Again, millennial kingdom is in chapter 20. Chapter 21 is after that.

Okay? "Heaven at first, earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband." So new heaven and new earth is here, right? In a different form, right?

Heaven is not just some place up in the sky where you close your eyes and you imagine this heaven. The Bible says that heaven is a physical place here. But it's going to be in a new form, right? So Garden of Eden is going to be restored at an even better.

Okay? And the reason why it's better is because the presence of God and His glory is going to be, is going to shine even brighter, right? And the Holy Spirit is going to be indwelling in us permanently. "And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear.'" How much of our tears is because of heartaches that come from things that we hope for here, right?

Relationships, right? Jobs you didn't get, friendships that didn't last. How much of our tears are based upon hope and yearning for things that don't last, right? He said, "When we get to heaven," right? New heaven and new earth, "every tear from their eyes, and there will be no longer be any death," because we will be in our final state.

"There will no longer be any mourning, no more crying or pain. The first things have passed away." First things referring to where we are now, right? Where Adam and Eve brought the curse, and the curse is reversed, right? "He will sit on His throne and be said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.'" He said, "Right, for these words are faithful and true.

Then He said to me, 'It is done. I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.'" Right? It is done. Where else did you hear that in a different form? At the cross, right? When Jesus says, "It is finished." So that's why we said that, remember we talked about the last days?

It's oftentimes referring to everything after that period when Jesus' death and resurrection, because everything that was needed for this to happen has happened. The only difference now is that we are in a period of grace, right? For evangelism, to bring other sinners to come to Christ, and we'll get to that next week, right?

"I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost, He who overcomes." What does it mean to "He who overcomes"? Are you going to fight and you beat somebody? What does it mean "He who overcomes"?

If our salvation, our reward is dependent on those who overcome, shouldn't you know what overcoming means? What does it mean to overcome? And He says this repeatedly in Revelation to the churches, "He who overcomes, He who overcomes." "He who endures to the end." "Perseveres to the end." "He who does not give up." It's not the person who starts, it's the one who ends, right?

So that's why the reformers came up with the perseverance of the saints. So the true assurance of salvation comes from perseverance of the saints. If you really believe, you will persevere, right? You will inherit these things and I will be His God and He will be my Son. And this is the final state.

So we have one more section that's kind of wrapped this up. In fact, the next passage kind of continues this thought of what person you ought to be and then He kind of warns them or encourages them to pay attention to the Scriptures, especially Paul's writings, before he says his final goodbye, which will be next week.

So the question for discussion today is, what do you most look forward to in the new heavens and the new earth? When was the last time you really hoped for His second coming? Not just when you're tired or you got hurt or you felt like somebody disappointed you or you didn't get the job you wanted and it's like, "Oh, you know, in heaven." It's almost kind of like your escape, right?

When things get hard here, you kind of want to escape and go to heaven. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about your daily life, right? When things are going well, how does the coming of Christ affect you, right? When your jobs are secure, when you have good health and your bills are paid and your relationships are good, how does the second coming help you?

This is the reason why it says it's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven because a rich man does not have external things reminding him of hope that's coming because they're satisfied, right? So the question is, if the whole conclusion of Peter's letter is, "What kind of person are you going to be considering that you profess to believe this?" Right?

So what is it about the new heaven and new earth that you look forward to, right? What does hastening of the coming of Christ look like in your daily lives? What kind of actions do you take? Not just internally, I'm hoping for this, but how does that affect you?

And this is related to number three. How does looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God affect the following specifically? Does it affect the way you spend your money? There's two things that you can tell what people value, right? And it's 100% true. How you spend your money, how you spend your time.

It reveals where your value is. So wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be also, right? You want to see where your heart is at? Go look at your budget, right? So how does it affect your money? How does it affect the way you budget? How does it affect the way you spend, right?

How does it affect the way you give, right? How does end times, knowing that all this is going to be gone, the way you view your job, your career, right? Do you see it as a temporary thing? Like if I get a good job, I get to get money.

And so is it just temporal? Is the excitement of getting a new job your next paycheck or good retirement? Or is it beyond that? Right? Does that have eternal value, right? So how does it affect your career? The way you view relationship, both Christian and non-Christian, right? How does the coming of Christ and destruction of the old heaven and earth and new heaven and earth coming, how does that affect your relationships?

Do you have non-Christian friends that you have never shared the gospel with, right? If you knew that destruction was coming and you're a friend, how should that affect your relationship, even for Christians, right? How does hanging out with other people who believe the Bible, how does hanging out with other people who believe this, right?

And if you're hanging out with people who profess to believe this and all you talk about is the next movie, next vacation, right? That's something we need to consider, right? How does it affect my relationships? How does it affect the way you spend your time, right? When you have a chunk of time, like you got a vacation coming up, do you automatically think, "I'm going to fulfill my bucket list.

Where am I going to go? What am I going to eat? What am I going to do?" Is that the first and only thing that you think about? How does eternal value affect even your leisure, right? I would think the more we are consumed with this thought, that the more it would have a direct effect on every one of these things, right?

The way you raise your children. Some of you guys who are raising your children. Are we raising our children with eternal goals in mind or are we hoping that they'll get a good job, get married, have children, retire well, have a nice, peaceful life without turmoil? Is that the goal or are we really raising them with eternal things in mind?

Are they also preparing for the end? Right? Alright, so I want to give you guys some time to discuss these things, right? The hope and to hasten based upon the old earth and old heavens disappearing and new heaven and new earth coming. Let me pray first and then I'll let you get into your small group.

Heavenly Father, we ask for your grace and your Holy Spirit to empower us, strengthen us, that these words would not fall on deaf ears. Help us, Lord God, to examine our own hearts, our own thoughts, our own lives. That we would not be like the Pharisees that just going through the motion and externally behaving in certain conduct, Lord God, while ignoring what may be going on in our own hearts.

We pray, Father God, that hoping and hastening of the coming of Christ would affect our thoughts, our joy, our pursuit, our finance, our family, our leisure, our goals, our hopes. That we would be righteous, that we would learn to be gracious and that we would truly live up to the calling that you've given us.

So I pray that you would bless this time of discussion, may it be fruitful and may it cause us, Lord God, to be sharpened. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.