Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of understanding the New Jerusalem and the Millennial Kingdom as a motivation for righteousness. He explains that the Bible contains extensive prophecies about the second coming of Jesus and His reign on earth, which are crucial for believers to grasp in order to cultivate a life of holiness. Bickle highlights that the knowledge of these truths can provide peace and steadfastness amidst the chaos of the world, urging believers to look forward to the promises of God. He stresses the importance of being prepared and worthy for the coming events, as the church's readiness can hasten the day of the Lord. Ultimately, Bickle encourages a deep engagement with these eschatological truths to foster a vibrant faith and a commitment to righteousness.

Well, I'll say it this way. For most of you, probably, the subject of the Millennial Kingdom is a new subject. It's something that possibly you've heard about a little bit here and there, but it's pretty normal to have not studied it much, and I think that what you're going to be surprised by, if that describes you, you're going to be surprised by how much is in the Bible on this subject. The subject of the second coming and the earthly kingdom of Jesus being on the earth, ruling the kingdom, is the subject. There's more scripture as compared to any other category of prophecy. The topic of the second coming, and particularly, far more than the second coming, what He actually does when He comes back to the earth. The ruling the earth for a thousand years actually has a lot more information than the second coming itself, but the two events go together. We're going to look at a very important passage, 2 Peter chapter 3. The whole chapter is critical, but we're going to look at just a little bit of it tonight and give an overview of the New Jerusalem, because 2 Peter, the apostle Peter insists on the idea that righteousness is dynamically motivated by understanding the New Jerusalem, that righteousness is motivated by understanding and seeing and grasping the truth of the New Jerusalem. Now, of course, if that truth is unknown, as it is emotionally in the body of Christ, then there's a significant motivation for righteousness that we don't have in our arsenal, so to speak. Now, when I think about being motivated for righteousness, I think of it in two ways. I think of it for my own life. Beloved, this material over the years has been so powerful in my own personal life, but then I think of it in a second way. I know for a fact it works personally. It motivates you, but then there's a second way. It's motivating people you love or people that you are just getting to know, motivating them in righteousness anchored in the reality of eternity. And it's not just eternity out there, but it's eternity that's going to be on the earth, the eternal dimension that will be touching the earth in a short amount of time. And that sounds like an oxymoron to say eternal and say the earth, but the Lord brings those two concepts together. Let's read it, 2 Peter 3, verse 10 to 18. We have it in the handout there, and we're just jumping right into the middle of the passage. And so don't just start with verse 10. Read the whole chapter. The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. Now, in this passage, Peter is going to...this is a very significant passage, where he is going to tie in the concept of the day of the Lord from the very beginning of trouble, the Great Tribulation, clear to the end of the Millennial Kingdom. The whole thousand years plus some is what he is describing here as the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is going to come like a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise. Now, the fullness of this is at the end of the Millennial Kingdom. That's the fullness of it. There's a down payment of this in the Great Tribulation, but he's talking about the fullness of it at the end of the Millennial Kingdom. And the elements of the earth will burn with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in them, they shall be burned up. Verse 11. Therefore, since all of these things will be dissolved, talking about the heavens and the earth, what manner of person ought you to be in holy conduct and in godliness? Verse 12, he says it for the first of three times, looking, looking for the coming of the day of the Lord. This word looking, he repeats in verse 12, he says it in verse 12, then repeats it in verse 13, then again in verse 14. Looking, understanding these things is what he's going to provide as his primary motivation for righteousness. He goes looking for and hastening the coming of the day of the Lord, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. And again, the fullness of this is at the end of the thousand-year earthly reign of Jesus. The down payment of this is during the Great Tribulation, and so we can be motivated by it in two different time frames. Verse 13, nevertheless, though we know a lot of negative is going to happen, nevertheless, we, according to his promise, we look for a new heavens. That's an atmosphere, by the way. The new heavens talk about the atmosphere above the earth, about the sky and the solar system. We are looking for a new heavens, plural, and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Now, righteousness dwells in the earth, in the Millennial Kingdom, in a substantial way, but not in an ultimate, in a complete way. But there's coming a time when there will be a new heaven. There'll be, I can't imagine, hardly, I'm not hardly, I can't imagine what the atmosphere, the new atmosphere is going to be like, in its sight, its sounds, its fragrance, its color, its properties. Oh my goodness, we can't imagine what that new atmosphere is going to be like forever and ever around the new earth. But in this heavens and earth, there will be, the idea is perfect righteousness. Righteousness will be ultimate, not just on the earth, it'll be ultimate in the heavens, because right now, in the heavenly places, there are powers and principalities. But in the days to come, the heavens, the atmosphere itself will serve the saints instead of hinder the saints, like it does now, partially because of the warfare that's lodged in that place. Verse 14, therefore, beloved, looking forward, there's the word look, it's the third time, verse 12, verse 13, verse 14, looking forward to these things. Now, the question is, you ask, is who's looking forward to these things? Because you can't look forward to them if you're not established in understanding of them. He says, therefore, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace. And the real context is in the fear that's going to fill the earth in the years before the second coming of the Lord. There'll be great fear everywhere. But the Lord says, you're going to use these truths as we're even approaching the first time of great trouble, the great tribulation. We're going to find peace in our heart, anchored in these realities. And again, when I'm saying about, if you don't look, if you don't understand them, you can't look to them, I'm not thinking about just as ourselves as individuals. Of course, I am referring to that. But I'm also referring to those that we're training and teaching and discipling. Whether it's one-on-one or one to a thousand, our training and discipling, we have to get people to look to these things if they are going to have the proper motivation and even mindset for righteousness. We've gone too long trying to bring forth righteousness looking near everywhere besides up and in eternity. We look in, we look out, we look around, but we have to look forward as well. And that's a critical part of spiritual health and emotional health. It says, be diligent to be found by him in peace. So it's going to calm the storm, the fear that is mounting right now in the nations. These realities will bring peace to our hearts and confidence. But not just peace, that will be probably the thing we feel the greatest need of as the pace picks up as we get closer to the end of the decades that I believe before us, the next three, four, five, six decades that are before us. Who knows? But also when we look forward, it helps us to be diligent to be spotless and blameless in terms of our character. It just doesn't calm the storm of fear. It gives us motivation to say no to the things that are bringing this fierce zeal of God of destruction. Verse 15, and account or understand that the long-suffering or the patience of the Lord, which he talked about earlier in the passage, that you know that the scoffers said, hey the Lord's never gonna come. And Peter said, don't you understand the purpose of the patience of the Lord, the long-suffering of the Lord? Here it's, he says, it's for salvation. Now the long-suffering of the Lord isn't just for salvation for more people to get saved. That's how this passage is typically presented, and it is true in terms of the number of people being saved. But that is not by any means the full scope of this passage. It's talking about for our own salvation, and it's talking about breakthrough in our own lives. And he says that the Lord is delaying the process of the end times so that the end time church gets a breakthrough before it begins. Because of the end time church, it's the church, the billion that are in the earth plus that are on the earth. When these things break out on the earth, if they're not grounded in these things, they will be swept away in apostasy. That's what he's talking about. When he says salvation, he's not just talking about people that have never heard, though I don't want to minimize that at all. But he's delaying his coming so the church doesn't stumble in the process of the day of the Lord events. And I would say this right now, and I don't think it takes a lot of discernment right now, if the day of the Lord events began this week, the vast majority of the church in the earth would stumble and fall away. And the Lord is actually delaying it for the sake of his church as well as for the sake of the lost. It's for salvation. Another word you could put there is breakthrough. You know, I wonder, my point isn't to be negative, but my point is to be personal. Because we always think about the folks out there. But I wonder what would happen to IHOP if these events began, I mean in the full sense of the words, in the near future. How many of us would actually do the things in terms of responding to God in the way that we say we would. The Lord says I'm delaying the process for the church as well as for the lost. Because I'm gonna have a church that's gonna be victorious. And that's the sense in which the church hastens the day of the Lord. We speed it up by a couple hundred million becoming ready to actually have victory in the crisis instead of defeat. And that victory is not just going to drop from heaven, and obviously it's gonna be by the Holy Spirit. But we have this idea that we're gonna live carnal, carnal, carnal things begin and there'll be so much help that all of our previous carnality will just be erased and we'll just be on fire the next Monday. It doesn't work that way. Doesn't work that way. That's why there's birth pangs to get the body paying attention so that the church globally doesn't fall away. The birth pangs are for the church to get ready and the delay is so that salvation would come to the church. And then, of course, an anointed church is going to fulfill the Great Commission in the earth. And I don't want to in any way minimize the value of that in this passage. But most times I've ever heard this passage talked about, the hundred percent of the focus is for evangelizing. And the greatest tool of evangelizing the earth is going to be a church that's in power instead of apostatized and backslidden. And God's vehicle of evangelism cannot be wrecked before the day of the Lord events take place. And that's what's on Peter's mind here. That the tool of evangelism, an anointed on-fire church, would not be shipwrecked but would actually be anointed and on fire. And so Peter is making the point to the saints here. He says, beloved, he goes, we understand. He says, we do understand, don't we, that the long, the patience of the Lord, because the mockers and the scoffers in 2nd Peter 3 earlier in verse 3 and 4, they're going, scoffers within the church, saying, ah, it's never gonna happen, it's never gonna happen, it's never gonna happen. Peter says, he says, don't they understand that the delay of the Lord is for the good of the church, not because God's lost interest in what's happening or lost account of the timing. It's because he's so zealous that the church would thrive in this hour. And beloved, it really, we really do have a dynamic, a dynamic cooperation and participation in determining and hastening, hastening means speeding up, determining the hour of which the events begin. And the concept in the New Testament, there's maybe about 15 verses on it, is in the concept of being worthy, being worthy. Being worthy doesn't mean somehow we've laid aside the cross of Jesus and now we're going to earn salvation by being dedicated. That's not what being worthy. Jesus said, if a man loves his own life more than me, he's not worthy. He's not worthy of my kingdom. Paul in 2nd Thessalonians says, pray that you would be found worthy. Luke chapter 21, Jesus said, pray that you would be found worthy to escape or to have victory in the midst of the trouble. And the idea of being worthy, again, there's about 15 passages in the New Testament about this idea. It's dynamically related to the, to this truth of hastening the day of the Lord. Being worthy means, it's talking about again, it's not earning, it's not worthy in that way. It's being prepared and having a measure of maturity that is commensurate with the trouble and the glory that's coming. That neither the trouble nor the glory will cause us to stumble. You say, how could the glory cause us to stumble? Well, when the Spirit of God begins to move, liars are struck dead at the communion table like Ananias and Sapphira. The glory of God entering the church will cause more trouble than we imagine. Because when the glory enters the church at a new level, the zeal of God and his standard increases and the attack of the enemy increases. The glory of God entering into a new measure into the church brings trouble and turbulence that we're not automatically aware of. And I just have a little hint of it just from Scripture and from history of what happens when God increases the level. But Peter's talking about, there's gonna be a generation that's worthy. Now, I don't mean earning it. Get the idea out of your mind of worthy means earning, earning it. Worthy means in shape for the race. That's not what the Greek means. That's my definition of it. That's not what I mean. I mean, it's not a Greek definition. It's like the big race is coming and we're in shape. We're ready. We're prepared. We're adequately equipped for that next leg of the race. And the Lord in his perfect discernment is looking over all the earth right now. The eyes of the Lord are going to and fro across all the earth. And here's what he is saying. When I discern in my perfect discernment that my church will succeed and not stumble, then the day of the Lord events will begin. I'm gonna say that again. I believe the Lord in his perfect discernment, his awesome discernment, is looking over all across the earth right now and saying this. Right now as it stands, the increased trouble and the increased glory, my church would stumble more than succeed at this hour. So it's not yet the time or the hour. It's as the prayer movement goes forth across the earth. And the prayer movement is not just a sign of the end times. It's one of the means of preparing the church for the end times. I'm gonna say that again. The prayer movement is a biblical sign of the end times. The very observable prayer movement going on right now across the earth. It is a biblical, a scriptural sign of the end times. And it's happening all the earth. It's exciting. It's just a little bit happening, but it's happening. It's not just a sign of the times. It is the very means, not the only means, but the very means of equipping the church, of equipping the church. So the Lord in his discernment is looking across the earth right now. And as the prayer movement increases, as revelation increases of the Word and of God's heart, as a deep and profound commitment to righteousness takes root in people's hearts, the Father and the Son of the Eternal Council, they go, they will succeed and not mostly stumble right now. Let's begin. Because there's so many grand things that will happen when the day of the Lord events begin, but the Lord prolongs them for the sake of salvation. And so when the critic says in 2 Peter 3, the critic in the church, wow, don't give me this end times stuff. They do not understand, Peter said. It's God's patience so that none would perish. He was talking about the household of faith, not just the people that have never heard the message. He goes, I would that none would perish. And I'm going to have a church worthy, in shape, ready for the task. And I don't believe it takes a lot of discernment to say, to just look across our nation. Certainly the church in America is not ready. That's why Jesus said, Jesus brought the same issue up again after the great passage in Luke 18, when he talked about night and day prayer. He said, you know, if they pray night and day in Luke 18, verse 7 and 8, he said, night and day justice will come. Oh, so many dynamic things happen. Their lives get transformed. Justice will break in. Then the Lord says, oh, by the way, before the thing's over, he goes, let me ask you one more question before this parable is over. When I come, will I find faith in the earth? Because that will be the issue. That wasn't a hypothetical question or just a, Jesus wasn't just being symbolic or dramatic. He, it was, it's the real issue. That's the issue that he is prolonging the end time scenario of which the church hastens it. When there will be dynamic faith to where the church succeeds instead of stumbles in the great falling away. Now many will fall away, but there will be a substantial number that will not fall away. And so the Lord says, uh, be diligent to be found by him right now as an individual in peace. Uh, get so connected to the knowledge of God, which is in verse 18, get so connected to the knowledge of God that we're the peace of the fear thing. Is it going to move you? But neither is the increasing escalating sin thing. Is it going to get you either? Because in the generation of the Lord returns, the issue of being without spot and blameless will be the most, uh, there'll be the greatest challenge of any time in history there. It will be more difficult and more supernatural encounter to live free spotless in the hour where a cult immorality theft and murder and perversion is going to reach heights never known in human history. The idea of being spotless to having no sorcery, no theft, no immorality, and no murder. Those are the four main things in revelation nine, verse 21, that are going to characterize the globe. No trace of them in our spirits. He says, uh, verse 14, he goes, look forward to these things. He goes, lock into this doctrine and this reality of the new heaven and the new earth. Anchor yourself into it. Be diligent to get free from the spirit of fear, be found in peace and get free from the occult, the murder, the immorality and the theft. And there's many levels of that, not just the, the, uh, overt and, uh, extreme levels of those four categories of sin. Jesus says, if you're angry in your heart, you've committed murder. We want our spirits free from those things. And Peter who has, uh, uh, uh, uh, takes on the pastoral issues as an apostle and his writings constantly first and second, Peter is law is, is rooting the people of God into the, into the reality of the second coming as the motivation to help them be diligent in the present. He says, okay, uh, verse 15, let's read it again and account or, or consider or understand that the long suffering of the Lord is for the purpose of saving people. And again, it's not just the lost it's for the preservation and the breakthrough. That's part of salvation. The deliverance is another word for salvation or another. It's the same idea is what I mean. It's not the, it's not the same word for breakthrough, for deliverance, for perseverance. That's why God's prolonging the increase of glory and the increase of trouble. Verse 17, he says, now you therefore beloved, since you know these things ahead of time, well, there, there it is again, there's, I said, there's three times the word. No, there's the fourth one. The fourth time, since you know these things beware, unless you fall from your own steadfastness, what Peter is, is connecting is that maintaining our steadfastness and staying connected to these truths go hand in hand. You know, I have a, certainly I'm not the premier example by any means, but just telling my own personal example, I am sure from personal experience that steadfastness and being anchored in these truths are dynamically related to one another. That I'm sure of. I know from my own personal experience, I need to be anchored more and I need more steadfastness. But I, I can look back and clearly see the relationship between the two. I mean, just think how this would fly if you hear you're in the counseling room and the guy's struggling with immorality and we tell them to get into eschatology. There's hardly any counselor on the earth that would do that except for Peter, James, and John and Paul and Jesus, they would. Now I'm, I'm really serious. You will never get set free without being anchored in these things, not fully. James says it, Peter says it, John says it, Paul says it, and better than all of them, Jesus says it on a number of occasions. Well, this is so pie in the sky and that's kind of where it's been. Let's do something practical. I can't think of anything more practical than our hearts being equipped for righteousness in a vile age. Because when we walk down in righteousness, oh, we just, we open up all the access points for the, for Satan to come and hit our body, our families, our spirits, our hearts, our finances, just everything. When we walk into the realm of darkness, which is the opposite of righteousness, we open up the access points of attack and there is no place of immunity apart from repentance. You can even go to IHOP. IHOP won't do it for you. It's the place of walking in union with God's heart. Then he ends it, he goes, he goes, beware, lest you fall from your own steadfastness. In the early church, we talk about the early church. Oh, we'd love it to be like the early church. Let me tell you, the early church struggled with falling from steadfastness, just like the church has through history. When Jesus came and visited the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2, he said, you've fallen from your steadfastness. In essence, you've lost your first love. The early church was losing their steadfastness. I don't want to make an inappropriate plug here, but I, I encourage all of our folks that want to go hard after this thing to be a part of this Saturday night thing. And they don't necessarily have to do Saturday night, but they have to do something, something that's like it. And if they come up with it themselves, go do it. If they can study and have the impact all by themselves, go for it. And I look at our missions base and our family here, and I see a substantial falling from steadfastness and lack of connectedness to these realities. And not more than I see in other places, actually less. That's, that's encouraging. But so I'm not saying, I feel like we're moving, we're making progress, but the Lord has much more he would have us make. And, and I, I've encouraged folks over and over again. It's not like it's something special about this meeting here, but wherever they can find it, get consistent, deep encounter of truth around the subject of the end times. Jesus said it, James said it, John said it, Paul said it over and over and over. So I want to encourage you, especially those that are new here in this last month, take, you know, you have to come because it's on your class schedule, but when it's over, don't do what so many do. When it's over, then they disconnect because they don't have to. It is critical. It's, it is for you. It really is for you. And again, I'm not looking for more people in a meeting. We'll have enough chairs as it is. That's not my point. Somehow get it. Not necessarily my version of it. Just get teaching, not just teaching, encountering your heart around the subject of the end times. Okay, Roman numeral one. So I took my vacation, but I haven't changed a bit, have I? I mean, same old, same old. An hour and a half on the introduction. You think if I was rested, I'd do better, but. Okay, Roman numeral one. The new heavens and the new earth and the new Jerusalem. Why understand it? Well, I've just kind of all but said it, except for I'm going to take you to a slightly different place. I'm only going to hopefully just say this for a minute, because this is a big subject I hope to tackle in us over several weeks. It's a vast subject. It's not a little subject. But I'm just gonna throw out a couple seed points to you here. God's ultimate goal is for Jesus to have a bride established with eternal voluntary love, living together in the new Jerusalem, ruling his vast empire throughout the whole universe. Okay, now that's not that hard of a point to understand. I'm saying again, his goal, that's a pretty simple idea. Actually, this part of it is. God wants Jesus to have a bride, here it is, established in eternal voluntary love, ruling the vast empire in the eternal city, the new Jerusalem, ruling the whole universe. I don't know what's going on out in the whole universe, but God, I know this, that there are a hundred million galaxies of which our galaxy is one. I don't know what God has on his mind, but it's vast. And I know that in the new Jerusalem that will be its final destination will be on the new, will be in the new earth, and that becomes the epicenter of God's empire, the government of it throughout all the vast universe. That's a big idea, but that's not the point I'm making when I say there's a big idea here. Here's the big idea. It's a vast idea. Eternal love is a mystery, just like sin is. Sin is called a mystery, but love is a mystery too. And here's what we have, this idea, we have this kind of unspoken idea that by the, by virtue of the resurrection, by stopping over the law, stepping over the line, love is automatic. We somehow, we love on automatic pilots, so free will's not really engaged anymore. And somehow God is pleased with kind of computerized, automated love. We just, we're programmed, we say yes, and we're disconnected from response. Well, no, we don't think that's true. We think we will still choose. Oh, we will still choose then. We'll choose in eternity. What will keep us from choosing wrong in eternity? Will God keep us from choosing wrong by giving us a pill that the Holy Spirit touches, by giving us an injection, by just making us feel the Spirit? What, what will cause voluntary love to stay fresh a billion years from now without God violating our free will? Because He's not going to violate our free will, and it will stay fresh. I'm not, don't worry, I'm not kind of getting you all, you know, exhorting you to be dedicated a billion years from now. You won't, you, everyone in the eternal city will make it once they're there. I'm not suggesting they won't, but what I'm suggesting is there is a very complex, strategic, thought-through, in the, in the ages past, context that God is in the process of creating that the context itself and our encounters with Him interface with our infinite capacity to love. I don't want to say infinite, but this, this ongoing capacity to love in it, in the whole context creates a people who choose with free will a billion years from now. And they say, yes, with fresh love. And my point is, is saying this, I didn't expect you to catch all this. My point is saying this, we, this, these passages are right at the point of the spirit of a drama. There is a drama that's so thought through, there is a context, a theater of life so premeditated by God to where human beings, without violating their free will, by looking at the history of the fallenness, the millennial kingdom, the new heavens of the earth, the beauty of Jesus, the power of the Holy spirit, our own gratitude in love by knowing truth about history in our own lives. We say, we love you. He has created a context where love will stay fresh, not on automatic pilot, not by an automated program, not by a computerized Holy spirit deal, because we have awestruck affectionate gratitude because of what we've experienced through history and how we encounter God in the presence of eternity. And the whole drama is laid out in premeditated and thought through by God so that it will not fail when it's in those other phases of his plan and his program without ever violating the free will of the human heart. And that's a vast subject because again, I think some just think, well, when we die, it's going to work and it will. And just how will it work? I don't know. It would just work. I mean, the Bible says it's going to work. Righteousness is going to prevail forever. Yeah, it's going to work, but I want us to begin to tap into some of the awestruck. That's the phrase I'm using awestruck gratitude, more than that awestruck affectionate gratitude. We will have in our heart a billion years from now that will be not the only, but that will be a critical contribution to having fresh love a billion years from now. But those plans are given to us and seed form in these scriptures. And as we touch a little bit of where this is going, we take a step back and we go, why did you plan it this way? Where is it going, Lord? And the Lord's answer is, I will have eternal fresh love without ever coercing anybody into doing something they do not want in eternity. It's by what they know and experience from the past corporately is the whole human history individually, where they experienced in the presence with the beauty of Jesus and that awesome environment. But it's the whole picture God is setting up. So a billion years from now, you will love because you will choose and want to love, not because you have to love. And the reason I'm giving you that, I didn't mean to take so much time on it already. The reason I'm giving you that idea, I would like you to go into this thing called the millennial kingdom, the study of it and the new heavens and the new earth, understanding it's a critical part of what will make you awestruck in gratitude. And beloved, when, as I touch a little bit of understanding, I'll have it more than I begin to feel a little bit of it now. And I can imagine the Holy Spirit saying it, it would always work for you. Now, it doesn't just work, then it will work then a lot more because you'll see a lot more clearly, but it begins to work now upon my own emotions, just feeling these truths a little bit. So I realized that's a little bit philosophical and that's out there a little bit, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna lay out some one, two, three principles over several weeks related to this topic, but it's dynamically related to the subject of the new Jerusalem because the new Jerusalem on the earth for a thousand years, I lost you there for a second. And the new Jerusalem on the new earth because the new Jerusalem, the eternal city where the resurrected saints live will descend to the millennial earth and it will be on the new earth. They are critical parts of the program of God to have eternal voluntary lovers in fresh love for billions of years. These, these truths, if understood, actually, we get some of the impact and the benefit of them even now in this age, takes a little bit of time, a little bit of thinking, but it's not so complicated. I, I, in some ways it's kind of simple, but it's just the, the hard part is just getting this verse with that verse and taking a step back and letting it go deep and not wanting to get it on the run. Like the idea, you know, I'll give it, you know, I'll give a four, I'll give 45 minutes to teaching on Saturday night. If I don't get it, then I'm not getting it. Nah, that's not going to work. You'll never get it. 45 minutes coming on Saturday night. It will take root in your heart to, to change your, your emotional chemistry, to get you feeling and thinking different about, uh, because it's not just, I think different about the future and therefore about the present. I think different about the God who's leading me and what he's like and how he thinks about me. When I understand these truths, it has a very dynamic, uh, uh, uh, impact about how I feel that God feels right now. When he looks at me, the, these subjects do, because I go, you plan this, this thoroughly, this far in advance with me in mind. And the answer is I did it only for my people. I did it only. I thought it all through far ahead of time. There's a plan that cannot fail. I've thought of every single contingency plan, every possible breakout of, of, of, of, of surprise from Satan, from the free will of man, the great abyss of sin in the human heart. I've calculated everything and this thing will not fail. That's what this truth is about. Because, you know, if God gives us, if God calls us to love, it has to be based on free will or choice. The minute our choice is suspended, it is no longer by definition love. And maybe, you know, again, some folks have this automatic pilot kind of idea. We just get up there and we're just on, we're automated to do what's right. If it's not by personal choice, it is no longer love. Once personal choice is suspended or over, we're operating on a different level. It's not love then. But the point is for voluntary, fresh love for billions of years. This thing is so thought through a billion years from now, it won't wear out. It will still have, the wave of it will hit us again. And again, that's how set up this thing is. God is so set up to human history for these days, when we stand in with the Lord in that day, that the wave of truth will hit us as to what really happened. We'll go, we love you again. And that will work billions of years. And it actually even works in this age too. But we got to take some time and we got to go somewhere with this stuff. Meaning go somewhere. I mean, we're study it, turn some things off and take some, you know, to say no to some things and go somewhere with this and fasting and prayer and getting our spirit vibrant and alive in these truths. You know, one of the, well, I'm in it, so I'm going to close in a minute. I didn't get anywhere. So I'll just take these notes for next week. But I'm just going to kind of hang around the subject for a few more minutes because it's too late to start another one. But you can read these notes and we'll just come back next week with them. But let's talk about the nature of the human heart. Let's just play with that for, let's look at that for a moment. And we'll close it just a couple of moments after this. Again, second Thessalonians chapter two, verse seven, I have it in the notes there. And I think it's paragraph one. It's called the mystery of lawlessness. And Paul, Paul, the apostle talked about the need to understand the mystery of lawlessness in context to the end times. Mystery of lawlessness is a very important truth. Because the end times, the glory and the crisis does not make sense if there is not a mystery of lawlessness. And the mystery of love is the other side of it. The mystery of lawlessness is the negative side, the dark side. There's not a biblical phrase that says the mystery of love, but it is a mystery. It's how the depth of the human heart receives information and then responds. That's where there's a mystery to it. And the mystery of lawlessness is this. I'm in a very abbreviated form of it. It's that people can see the glory of God. They can see the glory of God. Absolute, not a question about it is really God. And like the great end time revival. And they will, of their own free choice, choose the devil and worship him in the presence. There'll be two witnesses, signs and wonders, 144,000 miracles worldwide. And they will look at it with great things happening even to their own bodies and lives. And then in the presence of it, of this awesome display of God and free grace, they will go, no, I hate him. It is inconceivable to someone that is not moving in that direction that billions of people will do that. And what the Lord is saying in essence, he goes, you don't understand the makeup of the human heart. You don't understand why there's an eternal hell, because you can't understand eternal hell until you understand the mystery of lawlessness. There's a capacity in the human soul. There's a capacity in the human soul that when God set it into motion and created us, he says, I will not violate that capacity. I will honor it, but it has a vast capacity for darkness and a vast capacity for light. But I'm going to set up the situation right to where the light works. And so in the lake of fire and the lake of fire, this is purely hypothetical, but it's this kind of thing that if given opportunity to worship the man, Jesus, Satan comes out after a thousand years of incarceration and he hates Jesus as much. There's absolutely no rehabilitation at all. Once the mystery of darkness begins to move in that direction, the depths of human sin, it says that the nations of the world will hate Jesus revelation 11, 12. I mean, 11, 18, they hate him, but we're talking about in the, in the generation of the great end time revival, how could they possibly hate him? It's because of this thing is called the mystery of lawlessness. And we look at eternal hell and we go, God, how could you? He goes, you don't understand the properties of the human soul. You don't understand how it works. I could, I could, uh, uh, go against my plan and just annihilate everyone. But you don't understand the powerful, awesome, terrifying power of the human soul for good or for bad. And the reason there's one reason there's a lake of fire is because when people are reprobate, they don't want God ever again, never because the soul has depths to it. It has depths. We do not comprehend. And Paul made that point in second Thessalonians two, which is all about the end times. And he's saying this, you can't understand the great tribulation. You can't understand the lake of fire until you understand this mystery. He goes, it is a mysterious capacity of the human heart. Now let's go totally to the other side. This mysterious capacity of the human heart is working on the other side in eternity. Again, God's not stepping in and saying, Mike, I'm going to put you on automatic pilot. I'm going to do a switch, give you a pill, give you an injection. It's going to be the real me, the real you, your real personality with your real mind. You'll be glorified. You have great understanding and I'll be before the Lord a billion years from now as you will. And I'll say, I love you. Why? Oh, I've reviewed what you did in Genesis one in 6,000 years. And then I'll review what you did to the great tribulation and how the great revival and what happened in the millennial kingdom and how the nations revolted against you and how you took care of me and your beauty and what you did in the new heavens and the new earth. There's so many things I go, I love you. I love you. I love you. This, the wave of will hit us again and again. And the capacity of our heart in the right side and righteousness, we have no end. Well, I mean, we have no comprehension. I don't either. I'm not saying you don't, we don't. We have no comprehension as to the vast capacity of the human soul on the other side as well. But how God has set up this whole theater, this whole stage of the end times, the millennial kingdom and so many of preachers today right off the millennial kingdom, it is a critical part of the eternal drama. It is not, it is not a, uh, kind of an accident where God got a little enthusiastic and says, well, you know, that's a little carried away. It is a critical part of having fresh voluntary love a billion years from now. And the reason I want you to even know that without really developing it in a, in an adequate way, which would take several weeks in my limited way that I will do it adequately is that I have zeal to understand these truths because it makes sense to me. It connects with me that this drama in the great tribulation and the little kingdom, the great millennial rebellion at the end, the new heavens, the earth are all a part of the drama that will keep me fresh in love in the days to come. And in billions of years from now, and not only will it work, then it actually works now to some degree, not as much as it will then, but the power of it touches us even in this age. And that's what Peter means when he says in verse 12, looking for the day of the Lord activities, because the day of the Lord activities go throughout the entire millennial kingdom to the great rebellion at the end of revelation 20 for seven to nine, which is a critical part of the plan of the plan of having fresh voluntary love at the end. Let's let's end with reading second Peter again. So next week, we'll just start with Roman numeral one, but let's read second Peter. Let's go through it again. Now the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The day of the Lord events will come like a thief of which the thousand year reign and the, and the great rebellion at the end of the thousand years that you read in revelation 20 are all part of the day of the Lord events. It will come, it will begin like a thief and it begins at the great tribulation the last three and a half years. And again, my, I've said this for years that my, my, uh, uh, feeling is we're several, we're some decades out, two, three, four, five, who knows. But those days that day, the Lord, God gave the church birth pangs. So it won't sneak up on us. It's still come like a thief. And like it comes like a thief in two ways. Number one, it comes unexpected or suddenly. And number two, it comes with destruction. It comes with a negative consequences to the people who are unprepared. That's the sense of what you, I mean, why would Jesus use a term like a thief about himself? Because it comes suddenly, it comes unexpectedly and it comes with destructive consequences to the people who are not looking for it. He says, when, when, when, when the first domino goes down, I don't know if that's a good analogy, but when the Lord begins the day of the Lord, then the whole process as spoken in the book of Revelation will unfold. Once it begins, the birth pangs are over and it begins. The church is either ready for it or is not ready for it. God doesn't get in the middle and go, Oh no, they're not quite ready. Stop, stop the machines. No. Once it starts billions of people, it's a real drama and it's not a practice game. It's the real one. And God will not violate anybody's free will to get them to say yes. Because if he does it now, we'll have to do it in eternity. The reason he didn't do it now, because the plan is for an eternal voluntary, fresh love. He can't even begin that way. It says, well, why don't you just kind of override our will now? And then, you know, we'll get in a different mood in eternity. Then we'll go back to the original plan. The Lord says, no, I'm not even beginning. I will never override your will. Never. Because the eternal plan is based on the fact I don't. Okay. It's going to come like a thief. And he goes on and talks about the great drama. And again, right now, if you've never studied it, it seems like kind of arbitrary, a little abstract. The heavens are going to pass away. The great noise, the elements will melt like fervent heat. Now, how on earth could this motivate a person to do righteousness? Because it fits into the grand drama of creating a theater, a context that produces awestruck, affectionate gratitude in eternity forever and ever. And that the, these day of the Lord events are critical parts of what you will think in the days to come when you stand before the Lord. But I want to thank him now, not just then. Verse 11, therefore, therefore, since this great cataclysmic drama is going to unfold, that's what he's saying. What kind of people should you be? There's a great drama that's unfolding. And he's talking only about the negative part right now. He goes, why on earth would you, after God is, is, is manifesting his zeal against darkness, he's going to burn up the earth. He sent his son to the cross. He's going to burn the earth up. Why would you flirt with darkness thinking God will somehow lose interest in the fact that, uh, people are dabbling with darkness. His son was killed. He's going to burn the earth. He's saying, I'm massively concerned about darkness. It is not a small thing to me. Look what I'm doing. My son became human. I'm burning the earth. I got a billion year plan in motion. It is not small darkness. And that's the point. When we see it all, we're supposed to come up with the idea that God has a deep zeal to destroy darkness. And we're supposed to read it and go, you know, I'm not even going to play around with that area. This, it has nothing to do with me. That's just the negative side of it. Cause he's going to go to the positive side in a minute. Verse 12, he goes looking for and hastening, you know, Peter throws in this idea of hastening the coming of the day of Lord. He goes, uh, by the way, Peter preached on this in his second sermon in Acts chapter three, verse 20 and 21. He said, if we repent, he said, if there's repentance, God will then on the basis of human response on the earth, God will send Jesus whom heaven is retaining. Heaven is keeping Jesus up there and tell, and tell he sees repentance on the earth. Peter just won't let go of this doctrine. We'll, we'll, we'll do that another time when we talk about hastening the day of the Lord, but this is a Peter doctrine. He's really into this, but Acts chapter three, verse 19 to 21, read it. He says, you can hasten the coming of the day of the Lord. You can, you can be a part of that, which brings it into your generation. Of course, you only contribute in the way that your own personal life and then the people you impact, but you know what, that's what we're given. We're given our own heart and the ones we impact. And we want to hasten the day of the Lord by getting people radical for righteousness based on verse 18, the knowledge of God. He says, uh, verse 13, nevertheless, he goes, there's not just a negative side of God's zeal about how much he hates the darkness. He's going, you know, he killed his son and he's going to burn the earth. It's not just his zeal. He's, he's not going to lose interest in darkness. He is going to destroy it. People are not, they do not know how much resolve God has against darkness. He has massive resolve against darkness. He has in, I mean, unmeasured zeal against it. It is not just going to, well, boys will be boys. We don't want to play with that, which God has this intense resolve to destroy. It's like in his kindness, he's looking at us going, what are you doing over here? Doing this don't you know that the, the resolve I have, don't you know the seriousness of which I take darkness? And that's what Peter's saying. He goes, we look for the promise. And of course, the promise of the new heaven and new earth is the most promise. The, I mean, the most, the clearest promises in the book of Isaiah, but there's others as well. He says, we look for the promise of the new heavens and the new earth. We'll look at that next week where those promises are. You got some of them in your notes, verse 14. No verse 13. Therefore we, uh, we, according to his promise, we look for the new heavens. We look for the new earth. We don't just see God's zeal to destroy darkness. We see God's commitment to establish the billion year plan. You know, people talk about short-term or long-term, he has the billion year plan. And we understand the little hints from the scripture. We have enough of the key points of the plan to move us now. But the part that's most exciting, isn't just the facts themselves. It's the fact the plan is so thought through with us in mind. So that the vast capacities of our heart in love will stay fresh forever and ever and ever. Verse 14, therefore, beloved, look forward to these things. He goes, fill your mind with these, with, with, with truths about the end times. And as you're doing it, you're going to find in the process of doing it. He says, it's not enough just to study the end times. You can study the end times and be addicted to all kinds of things. He says, while you're, while you're doing it, while you are looking forward to it, be diligent, be diligent to cultivate peace instead of the spirit of fear, that's filling our universe. I mean, filling the earth and go the whole way and understand that the whole plan is so you'll be spotless forever. He goes, go ahead and say no to sin now. He says that on the account, he says an account this, or consider this, or conclude this, that the patients of the Lord, which again was the, which his big point was in verse eight, which we haven't read the patients of the Lord, the long suffering, the same idea he's referencing back to verse eight. It's for your salvation. It's for, it's for God's, uh, for salvation of the loss, but for salvation of the church, for the protection, the perseverance. So the church is cooperating instead of stumbling when the day of the Lord events began or 17, you therefore beloved, since you know, these things beforehand don't fall from your steadfastness. Don't come up with reasons. You know, every, anybody could come up with a dozen reasons not to go hard and they can get a dozen Christians to back them up and prophesy confirmation to them. There's a dozen reasons I'm doing this ministry in that ministry. I got this issue. I got this issue. I got that economics at this family issue. I got that. There's a dozen reasons and a dozen people that confirm them for you. Why we can lose our steadfastness, but none of them, none of them will be helpful to you in the hour when steadfastness is about our own life and preservation and salvation. But he says he ends it with that grand exhortation, grow in grace and grow in the knowledge, grow in the knowledge of Jesus, grow in the knowledge of the personality of God, fill your spirit with the knowledge of God. Amen.