Louie Giglio - Is This The End?
I’ve loved 1 Peter; we loved it so much that today we’re going to add on 2 Peter and wrap this series up, «Unshakable.» I hate that, and I know you do too, and you’re thinking, «Wait a minute, there’s a lot in here we didn’t get to cover.» Well, fortunately, we get to read the Word of God every day of our lives as much as we want. You can dig in and let God peel back the layers on every single text. But I’ve loved what we have covered and the way God has shaped our lives.
Today, we’re really coming not only to the end of 1 and 2 Peter but also, perhaps, to the end. We’re 39 days away, something like that, from New Year’s Eve; that’s a crazy thought and an opportunity to ring out 2020. Normally, we’re coming into New Year’s Eve ringing in the new year, but this year I’m excited about ringing out the old year and bringing in the new year. We started the Roaring 20s with a bang—I mean literally with a bang. We shot fireworks off at the Mercedes Stadium, but in a lot of ways, it has turned out to be a bust. In the middle of it, there have been incredible challenges: fires like we haven’t seen in our lifetime, floods, storms, plagues, and pestilence like we haven’t seen in generations. In fact, I saw an article online the other day that said there have been 100 disasters globally since we went into quarantine—floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, and fires that have affected 50 million people. We are still in the Atlantic hurricane season, thank you very much, and we’re up to Hurricane Iota, the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet, because we went through all the A to Z names, then started on Greek letter names, and so far we’re up to the ninth one of those.
That’s a generational occurrence. So, when you see headlines like the one that was in NPR the other day, which caught my eye because of obviously one word: «Locusts Are a Plague of Biblical Scope in 2020,» you have to ask, «Why and what are they exactly?» That was June 14, referencing the plagues of locusts that absolutely devastated the Horn of Africa—nations like Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, and many surrounding countries—but also places like South China, coming across the Middle East and Asia. NPR even said these plagues are of biblical scope, and all these occurrences beg the question: Are we living in the last days? Peter speaks to this for us today.
In case you don’t want to build up tension and wait for a big resolving answer at the end, I can give you an answer from the Word of God—a resounding answer to the question, «Are we living in the last days?» The resounding answer from God’s Word is absolutely yes, we are living in the last days. Now, there’s zero applause in the room, and there were no gaps, so nobody seemed really excited about that, and no one seemed shocked. It was a very blasé response to a pretty defining statement today. I’m not sure where to go from here, but I guess I’ll just go back to the Word of God.
In 1 Peter, chapter 4—just kidding, I meant 1 Peter 4:7—Peter writes by the power of the Holy Spirit, «The end of all things is near.» If you can get a hold of your Bible at home, go get it and open it so that you have it in your lap because we’re going to ping around into different texts today. I want you to be able to move quickly, but we’re anchoring in verse 7: «The end of all things is near.»
In other words, we’ve talked in this book about the rule of the Roman Empire and the effect that’s having throughout Asia Minor. We’ve talked about the fact that believers are now living among pagans—they’re living next door to people who don’t know about Jesus, maybe haven’t heard of the resurrection, or don’t want to believe it or accept it. We’re seeing a situation where there’s pressure from without to be a follower of Jesus in your business, neighborhood, community, among friends, and family—that some people are married to non-believers, which creates tension; some are working alongside non-believers, which creates tension. We believe in a King of Kings, but we’re under a rule of law, and that creates a certain amount of tension.
Peter is saying, «Oh, with all of this, the end is near! All this is coming to a close, and it’s getting close. Therefore, be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.» Now that’s an interesting combination of ideas that we’re going to look at more carefully. The answer to the question, «Are we living in the last days?» the Word of God and the writer of this letter, writing around 64 A.D., is saying yes; the end of all things is near. Personally, that was true for Peter. If you fast-forward over to chapter 1 of 2 Peter, just look across the page at verse 12: «So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live here in the tent of this body, because I know,» Peter is saying, «that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. I will make every effort to ensure that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.»
So for Peter, his mindset is that the end is near; his mindset is that he is living in the last days. But also the mentality of the believer was that we’re all living in the last days. We’ve talked before about Emperor Nero, the one about whom it was said in lore that he played his fiddle while Rome was burning. Rome burned for nine days; the city was completely destroyed, and Nero was the emperor at that moment, says he was a distance away in his palace outside the city, playing his fiddle while the whole city burned to the ground. Well, unfortunately, there were no fiddles in the time of Nero, but he was playing something—people believe maybe his lyre, because that was an instrument available to him. Nero created massive problems for believers—the first time really that the powers of government turned toward the people of faith in Jesus.
Reading in Fox’s Book of Martyrs, it says this: «This persecution was general throughout the whole Roman Empire, but it rather increased than diminished the spirit of Christianity.» In the course of it, speaking about the persecution that came with Nero, Saint Paul and Saint Peter—our guy—were martyred, along with Erastus, chamberlain of Corinth; Aristarchus, the Macedonian; and Trophimus of Ephesus, converted by Saint Paul and a fellow laborer with him, Joseph, commonly called Barsabbas, and Ananias, bishop of Damascus, each of these 70.
So all of a sudden, the tide has turned. We’re just 30 years downstream from the resurrection, yet there’s an enormous amount of persecution coming on the followers of Jesus. 2 Peter tells us, and the end of 1 Peter tells us that these believers are being scoffed at because of their choice of lifestyle in following Jesus. In addition, they’re being snuffed out by the persecution of Rome. People are sensing maybe this is the end, and certainly we’re living in the last days because if Nero is going to torch believers at night to light the gardens for his parties, then surely it can’t get worse than this. And so, when Peter writes in chapter 4, verse 7, and says, «The end of all things is near,» no one reading this letter would go, «Oh, I really want to bring that into question.» Everybody was thinking absolutely, it can’t get worse than this, so the answer is a resounding «Yes, we are living in the last days,» according to the Word of God.
The problem is I’m reading in my text in verse 7 the word «near,» but I have the perspective of moving a long way downstream—2,000 years downstream—and I’m looking back at the text now with the context of human history, and I’m thinking, «I don’t know about that word 'near.'» They probably felt super close to the readers in 64, 65, 66, 67, 68 A.D., but it doesn’t feel as near in 2020. So how near are we, and how can we say today we’re living in the last days when the «near» was 2,000 years ago? We do that by turning the page into 2 Peter, chapter 3, and understanding end times math.
I’d like to read the whole text if I can, beginning in verse 1: «Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I’ve written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, 'Where is this coming he promised? '» He’s answering his own question in the context of both of these letters. They’ll say, «Where is this coming he promised? Ever since our fathers died everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.» They deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word, the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also, the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
Now here comes our text: «But do not forget this one thing.» And what he doesn’t want us to forget today is end times math. «Do not forget this one thing, dear friends: with the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.» In other words, don’t look at this simply through the lens of the watch that’s on your wrist. «He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.» «But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.»
End times math says that 2020, as grueling as it is, with its 100 disasters since quarantine, with its fires, floods, storms, pestilence, and plagues, in end times math, 2020 lasted 86.4 seconds. Now, some of you are saying, «I would have been happier with 8.64 seconds. We could be done already.» But in end times math, the hardest year most of us probably will navigate in our lifetime lasted 86.4 seconds. So we get perspective now that yes, we are definitely living in the last days. It’s been two days since Jesus was raised from the dead, so we’re in day three. I don’t know how many days there are going to be, but we’re in the third day right now, and a lot of things happen on the third day. So maybe it’s all going to happen on the third day, meaning sometime in the thousand-year span we’re in, Jesus is coming, and this world is going to end as we know it. It’s not going to be destroyed by a flood as in the days of Noah because there’s a promise that that won’t happen again, but it is going to be destroyed by fire, according to the Word of God, and everything in it is going to be laid bare—all the things we built, all our accomplishments, all our pride, all our bastions of life on earth—they’re going away in a heartbeat, like a fire roaring through Northern California.
Then you see on the news the day later metal frames where a school existed and a chimney where a multi-million dollar house existed, and all of a sudden, like a thief in the night, things that we built and things that we depended on and things that we thought were going to bring us happiness—they’re gone in an instant. Imagine the entire earth being gone like that, and only a chimney standing to say, «Yeah, it was great, but it’s gone.» Not only that, the heavens as well, so that God can, as we see in 1 and 2 Peter, create a new heaven and a new earth.
We’re going to see this verse in a moment. So, if we are in fact living in the last days, if we don’t know when the 86.4 seconds is going to be up and Jesus is going to appear, how do we make sure that we don’t get lulled into this thinking like these scoffers—"Where is the Lord’s appearing? Oh, Peter must have got it wrong; the Holy Spirit must have been mistaken. The end of all things is near; I don’t think so.» How do we not get lulled into that human «I’m looking at my watch» mentality, and how do we live as though we’re in end times math where a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day? We’re on day three right now. How do we live with that view?
A few things: Number one, we live with patience. Patience is a virtue, they say, but no one likes it. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit, but none of us want to have anything to do with it. We’re not very patient with ourselves, have you noticed that? We’re not very patient with God a lot of the time, and we’re certainly not patient with other people. But patience is the working of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is involved, one of the ways you’re going to know he’s involved is because patience is going to be in the story. It’s one of the fruits of the Spirit, and God, being the Holy Spirit—Father, Son, and Spirit—operates in patience. He’s going to need you to operate in patience because you’re living in the last days, and he’s going to need you to be patient with him and his sovereign purpose and plan.
Even though for you, if you could get your hands on the levers today, you might make it all work out on a different timeline. He’s going to need me and you to humble ourselves to his patient plan. Trust me, no one wants to pull the plug on an ungodly world more than a holy God, but no one understands the magnitude of what’s going to go down the drain if he does more than a holy God. Some of your coworkers are going down the drain; some of your family members are going down the drain; some nations, by and large, are going down the drain; entire world viewpoints are going down the drain; man’s way of thinking is going down the drain; all of man’s pride is going down the drain; all of ungodliness is going down the drain—all of it is going down the drain, and God knows that. So he’s not eager today to, in his sovereign power, say, «I’m done with you guys; I’m pulling the plug.»
I hear believers all the time say, «Man, I just wish the Lord would come.» The Lord is saying, «Man, I don’t want to pull this plug because when I do, those three families that live in your cul-de-sac, they’re not going to be standing in the city of righteousness; they’re still scoffing at the Savior.» He is saying, «I am a patient God, and my patience right now is overwhelming my justice because I want to see everybody in the story.» Peter writes about how we should live. He says in verse 8, «Do not forget this one thing: with the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness; he is patient with you,» so you might want to say the word with me: «He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.»
So what this does for me, knowing that I’m living in the last days, is it highlights my desire to let the Spirit of God form a spirit of patience in me because I have to have patience to understand that the pain has a purpose. Peter talked about the day that he was on the Mount of Transfiguration. It’s the way he promises everything in 2 Peter, and he talks about it this way in verse 16. I don’t think we have the text, or maybe it’ll come up, but let me read it for us if we don’t. He said, «We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.»
«For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the majestic glory—'This is my Son, whom I love; with him, I am well pleased.' We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.» What happened? Jesus said to Peter, James, and John, «Come up with me on the mount.» Once they were high on the mount, the glory of God descended, and they saw Jesus, they saw Moses, they saw Elijah, they saw the glory of God. Then they heard a voice from the majestic glory saying, «This is my Son, whom I love.» The text says in the Gospels that they fell on their faces to the ground when they heard the voice, and Jesus came over and said, «Hey, it’s okay. It’s okay; we’re all going to be okay.»
When they got up off the ground, they looked, and they only saw Jesus. So what happened? In a moment, God did what he occasionally does—he connected the dots. Most often in this world, the dots are not connected. You don’t know how your prayer this morning is changing eternity. You can’t see how it’s all working. You don’t know how your worship today is changing the kingdom of God, but it’s happening. You don’t see how your gift today, your generosity today, is working, but trust me, God’s connecting the dots.
But on this day, he connected the dots. He said, «Guys, I know you’re trying to figure all this out. I know it’s not all making sense right now, so come up on the mountain. I want to show you something. There’s something called the glory of God, and it will put you on your face. There’s Moses and Elijah—there are your boys right there. He gave you the Law; he told you about the holiness of God; he helped you see that no one could be righteous in and of himself. He helped you see that you can’t see God and live; he helped you understand that you can’t do ten simple things in your own strength.
Elijah came with that foreboding sense that there’s going to be a sea change happening, that the Spirit of God is going to come on people, and God’s going to move miraculously through people. God’s got the power, God’s got the authority; he’s not afraid of anything. Bring all the prophets of Baal; bring them to Mount Carmel, and I’ll show you fire coming down from heaven. Elijah is going to outrun the chariot of Ahab all the way down the road to Jezreel. I’m going to show you Spirit power, and I’m going to show you the need for a Savior. In the end, they’re going to go away, and it’s just going to be Jesus.
So we don’t thank you, Moses; thank you, Elijah; but Jesus does what he said—he fulfills the Law and he fulfills the prophets. The Law said there has to be a Savior, and the prophets said he’s on the way, but it’s going to be a long time until he gets here—hundreds of years before he gets here. Then religion said, in a way, „Moses, you didn’t make it, man, and you’re not going into the promised land.“ Elijah, you say there’s this coming Savior, but he’s not coming in your lifetime or your kids' lifetime or your grandkids' lifetime or your great-grandkids' lifetime, and all of a sudden God said, „Let me show you grace.“ Moses, come stand in the promised land, then Elijah, there he is right there, and he connected the dots.
Now you would think that would have been enough for Peter that he would have gotten it all right after that. He still had a couple of bumps in the road, even after God connected the dots. But God’s probably not connecting the dots for you like that today, so you’re living by faith patiently. Somehow, God is using all this because he wants people to be saved, so I’m going to adopt a spirit of patience in my life.
The second thing that’s true for us when we get this end times math and we do believe we’re in the last days is we get urgent. So we’re patient, but we’re also urgent. You’re like, „How can you be patient and be urgent at the same time?“ I’m talking about being urgent, not about things that last a minute or two, but things that last forever. We are really urgent right now about stuff that lasts a minute or two—something like 86.4 seconds or so—but God wants us to be urgent about the things that last forever today. He’s encouraging us to get a spirit of urgency in our lives because we’re reading over here that he comes like a thief—he comes quickly.
That’s what he said in 2 Peter 3, but „the day of the Lord will come like a thief.“ So in end times living, if I could be a little bold, hey, I believe Jesus is coming soon. Kind of a „Jesus is coming soon“ person, you know how you know you’re one of those people? Because you’ve shared the gospel with everybody in your company. You know how you’re in the company of „I’m one of the ones that believes Jesus is coming soon“ because you’ve left a note on your mailbox that said, „If Jesus comes, I’m not 100% sure how the pets work out“? I have a friend who does that because they believe Jesus is coming soon.
If you’re in that company, I believe Jesus is coming soon; I believe it could be any day. Look what’s happening—the fires, the floods, the storms, the pandemic, the plagues— all of this turmoil we’re in. I believe Jesus is coming soon. Then everybody in your neighborhood is getting a short gospel presentation in their mailbox this Christmas. „Hi, we’re the Johnsons; you might not know us; well, we live seven houses down on your street. We just want to make sure everybody in the neighborhood knew that we’re believers in Jesus, and I know I don’t know where you’re coming from, but we really do believe that there’s an opportunity right now for everybody to put their faith in Jesus to be forgiven, to know grace, to know his mercy, to know his kindness, to be born again, to be brought to brand new life. In the event that we’re living in that last moment or two, we just didn’t want Jesus to come and for us not to have told you the good news that we’ve been sitting on seven doors down.“
The third thing, coming down to the end here, that will be true of us if we’re living in the last days is we’ll be confident. Fear is a less than mentality; you know how the little triangle goes that way—that’s „less than.“ I believe Satan is winning; therefore, I’m going to live in fear. But Peter is trying to encourage us that Satan is roaring, but he’s not winning, so I’m going to live confidently in a greater than mentality; meaning I’m not going to live in fear; I’m going to live in confidence because I don’t believe Satan is winning more than I believe Jesus is coming.
The last of these is that we ought to live congruently. Yes, I use the word „congruently“ in a sermon—in other words, we would get our focus on where we’re going, and we would make our lives match that even though we’re not there yet. That’s what he said in verse 11 of 2 Peter 3: „Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.“ Verse 14: „So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with him; bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation.“
I was flying to Panama City, Florida, a few years ago on a family vacation. My family was already there, and I was flying by myself. It was one of those little smaller commuter-sized operations, and we were all sitting packed in the gate area. You know what’s happened going to Panama City, Florida, anytime from spring to fall: the weather is going to bring you a delay nine times out of ten. We’ve got this thunderstorm thing, and the flight has been pushed back. Then it got pushed back again, then it got pushed back again. I’m not sure if it’s going to go, and by now, I could have gotten in a rental car and driven down there and already been there by now practically. But all this is going on, and as I’m sitting in the gate, I’ve noticed there’s one of these professional men’s softball teams in the gate.
Do you ever see them at the airport? They all have the shoulder bag or the duffel bag, and they’ve got all their bats and gloves and gear in there, and they’re all looking like they’re going to go bash it out. I guess they’re going to a softball tournament somewhere in the Panhandle of Florida. They’re just sitting around; we’re all sitting around, and I can kind of now size up everybody in the gate area. Finally, we get pretty good confirmation that this flight is going to go in 45 minutes, and I can sense that things are stirring with them because I’ve added up that they had a little bit of time to get there, drop their stuff at the hotel, get rolling, go to the complex, and get ready for the game, have lunch, or whatever. But all that’s gone now, and now it’s like, „If the flight goes on time, and we land, and we get in the car and go as fast as we can, we can get there in time to not have to forfeit our game situation.“ That’s what they’re thinking. I know this by confirmation because at some point, I see two of them come out of the men’s room, which is within eyesight down the concourse a little bit, and they are fully in their softball uniforms.
So the word has trickled out: „When we get there, we’re going straight to the game—get dressed.“ They have their uniforms in their bags, and they come out and sat down. It happens over the next 15 minutes to the point where every minute or so, two or three dudes are coming out of the men’s room in full softball pants, socks, jerseys—the hats, the whole thing. I don’t think they put their batting gloves on or their eye black, but they were getting close.
As we’re boarding, there’s a men’s softball team boarding, and as we get on the plane, there’s a lady with a baby, there’s a dude with some khakis on, and there’s a teenager with some jeans on. Then there are like 20 of these softball dudes coming on, and they’re all sitting down on the plane. They’ve all got their matching uniforms on there, and nobody’s looking at them going, „Man, what is wrong with those people? Yo, check out the softball team.“ They didn’t feel the slightest bit unnerved by it; they were like, „What? Yeah, we’re the Kings of the Road! That’s our team name! That’s us, Kings of the Road; here we come!“
Excuse me, excuse me, I’m in here; I’m by the window. What had happened? They had added it all up. We just have enough time to get where we’re going, and we want to be ready and not miss it when we get there. So we need to change now, and as we’re changing now, we couldn’t care less about what anybody in the gate thinks about us because we’re the Kings of the Road. They weren’t coming out of the men’s room going, „You go that way; I’ll go this way, hopefully nobody will see that we have our softball uniforms on; I’m going to get down behind the seat; I don’t want people to realize that I’m different, that I’m standing out, that I don’t look like everybody else.“
He is saying, „Listen, if it’s in times and you’re living in the last days, then you need to make sure that there is congruency in your life, and you need to get to that place where you are less concerned about what the world around you thinks about your behavior, your point of view, your lifestyle, the way your family is moving.“ You need to look forward and get ready; you need to check the weather app and see what’s it going to be like on the last day, and start packing accordingly because that’s where I’m going.
The most encouraging thing of all was in that Fox’s Martyrs description, and I just want us to walk away today in faith, not in fear. Fear wants the mic, but Jesus is Lord. So it’s like your five-year-old on their little beatbox, „I got my mic, and I can push the button and sing in the living room.“ That’s fear. Jesus is Lord, and he’s greater.
Going back to the opening, this persecution—this has got to be the end of the day, this Nero fellow—we’re going to blame the fire of Rome conveniently on the Christians—so, as Nero, I can get off the hook, and that’s just going to start an entire of unthinkable pain for people like Peter. This persecution was general throughout the whole Roman Empire, but it rather increased than diminished the spirit of Christianity. The church grew, the gospel went forward—this word living today was written while Nero was running the show as the most powerful person on the planet. He who took his life outside of Rome—the only Roman emperor to do so—who now has just left us bullet points in history and quips about playing a lyre as the city burned; yet we’re here today, living in the power of the Word of God breathed under the pages of God by the men and women of God through the Spirit of God, with a church that has grown and prospered, spread, and moved into every corner of the world, and is doing so today.
The plug is still in, but the gospel is still moving; patience is still the play so that more and more people today can put their faith in Jesus and repent from their ways. And we’re a part of that! Come on, church, we are a part of that today! We are in a winning, unshakable story today!