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Dr. Tony Evans

Tony Evans - Living In Light of Eternity

August 17, 2025 | S25 E33 | 28:40

Tony Evans - Living In Light of Eternity
Dr. Tony Evans is known as a relevant expositor and is a pastor of pastors and a father in the faith.
#inActive #Eternity #Heaven #RelationshipwithGod #SeekGod #SpiritualGrowth #Challenges #Truth #Deception #Bondage #Lust

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Dr. Tony Evans | Tony Evans - Living In Light of Eternity | August 17, 2025
  • Tony evans: what he is asking us to do is to look at this life
  • 00:00:01.486 --> 00:00:05.624
  • From the life to come, and if we make the life to come bigger
  • 00:00:05.724 --> 00:00:09.494
  • Than the life we're now living, we will live better in this life
  • 00:00:09.594 --> 00:00:13.031
  • 'cause we're looking at that life.
  • 00:00:13.165 --> 00:00:15.434
  • Where you look will determine how we live.
  • 00:00:15.567 --> 00:00:19.004
  • May god help us to live with an eternal perspective.
  • 00:00:19.137 --> 00:00:24.009
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:00:24.142 --> 00:00:30.182
  • Tony: the greater your expectation is of heaven,
  • 00:00:34.386 --> 00:00:39.091
  • The better life you'll have on earth.
  • 00:00:39.091 --> 00:00:42.661
  • The lower your expectation is of heaven,
  • 00:00:42.661 --> 00:00:48.266
  • The lower will be your life on earth
  • 00:00:48.266 --> 00:00:53.038
  • Because expectations affect behavior,
  • 00:00:53.038 --> 00:00:59.544
  • And what peter wants to teach the ones he's writing to,
  • 00:00:59.544 --> 00:01:02.781
  • Which includes us,
  • 00:01:02.781 --> 00:01:05.450
  • Is that if you really wanna live life on earth
  • 00:01:05.450 --> 00:01:08.753
  • In the way it ought to be lived and maximize it,
  • 00:01:08.753 --> 00:01:12.357
  • You must learn to live it with eternity in mind.
  • 00:01:12.357 --> 00:01:17.662
  • He writes to those who are--
  • 00:01:17.662 --> 00:01:21.199
  • To read his epistle because many of us
  • 00:01:21.199 --> 00:01:27.672
  • Live in defeat in time because of poor expectations
  • 00:01:27.672 --> 00:01:34.646
  • About eternity.
  • 00:01:34.646 --> 00:01:36.281
  • So if i can, by the holy spirit's help,
  • 00:01:36.281 --> 00:01:40.318
  • Make that bigger and make this life smaller--
  • 00:01:40.318 --> 00:01:47.225
  • See, 'cause the problem is this life is bigger
  • 00:01:47.225 --> 00:01:51.596
  • And the life to come is smaller.
  • 00:01:51.596 --> 00:01:54.533
  • So we throw all of our marbles in the time basket
  • 00:01:54.533 --> 00:02:00.038
  • Because we miss the eternity basket.
  • 00:02:00.038 --> 00:02:03.208
  • We throw all of our marbles in history
  • 00:02:03.208 --> 00:02:05.577
  • Because we miss heaven.
  • 00:02:05.577 --> 00:02:10.882
  • We can reverse that. we can shift the focus.
  • 00:02:10.882 --> 00:02:18.390
  • We can transform the life.
  • 00:02:18.390 --> 00:02:20.192
  • That's what peter wants to argue.
  • 00:02:20.192 --> 00:02:23.028
  • The first thing that peter says--
  • 00:02:23.028 --> 00:02:24.896
  • The first of three things--
  • 00:02:24.896 --> 00:02:27.165
  • Is, to develop this eternal perspective,
  • 00:02:27.165 --> 00:02:30.035
  • You and i are going to have to learn to live
  • 00:02:30.035 --> 00:02:32.604
  • In light of god's word.
  • 00:02:32.604 --> 00:02:36.274
  • He speaks about the writing that has come beforehand,
  • 00:02:36.274 --> 00:02:38.910
  • Verse 2, from the prophets;
  • 00:02:38.910 --> 00:02:40.779
  • In the new testament, from the apostles,
  • 00:02:40.779 --> 00:02:43.014
  • And he says,
  • 00:02:43.014 --> 00:02:44.382
  • "i want you to know this first"--
  • 00:02:44.382 --> 00:02:45.717
  • So let's put this out front--
  • 00:02:45.717 --> 00:02:48.987
  • "that you will live in a time of mockery.
  • 00:02:48.987 --> 00:02:51.556
  • Mockers will come.
  • 00:02:51.556 --> 00:02:54.759
  • These mockers, these"--
  • 00:02:54.759 --> 00:02:56.428
  • A mocker is a person who makes light of something
  • 00:02:56.428 --> 00:02:58.730
  • That's serious--
  • 00:02:58.730 --> 00:03:01.600
  • "and they will raise the challenge,"
  • 00:03:01.600 --> 00:03:03.935
  • According to verse 4, "'where is the promise of his coming?'"
  • 00:03:03.935 --> 00:03:07.806
  • He says, "now, you need to understand,
  • 00:03:07.806 --> 00:03:09.474
  • First of all, that one of the primary motivations
  • 00:03:09.474 --> 00:03:12.978
  • For this challenge being raised is so that they are free to live
  • 00:03:12.978 --> 00:03:17.782
  • Any kind of life they wanna live,"
  • 00:03:17.782 --> 00:03:19.985
  • He says, "following after their own lusts."
  • 00:03:19.985 --> 00:03:22.587
  • In other words, "the more they can dismiss the eternal,
  • 00:03:22.587 --> 00:03:27.792
  • The more they free themselves up
  • 00:03:27.792 --> 00:03:30.595
  • To unrighteousness in the present."
  • 00:03:30.595 --> 00:03:33.765
  • 'cause if i can get god off of my mind
  • 00:03:33.765 --> 00:03:36.801
  • And if i can get eternity so far out there
  • 00:03:36.801 --> 00:03:39.638
  • That it's vague to me,
  • 00:03:39.638 --> 00:03:41.706
  • Then i don't have to be concerned
  • 00:03:41.706 --> 00:03:43.041
  • With how i live.
  • 00:03:43.041 --> 00:03:44.909
  • The closer heaven becomes,
  • 00:03:44.909 --> 00:03:46.911
  • The more concerned i have to be about my life decisions,
  • 00:03:46.911 --> 00:03:50.215
  • Choices, and priorities.
  • 00:03:50.215 --> 00:03:52.183
  • But the further i can push it off,
  • 00:03:52.183 --> 00:03:54.486
  • The less i need to worry about it.
  • 00:03:54.486 --> 00:03:57.489
  • What the enemy does is make this world bigger
  • 00:03:57.489 --> 00:04:00.825
  • And the world becomes smaller so i can do what i wanna do
  • 00:04:00.825 --> 00:04:04.663
  • And not have to worry about it
  • 00:04:04.663 --> 00:04:06.631
  • So that i can follow after my own lust,
  • 00:04:06.631 --> 00:04:09.668
  • Do my own lifestyle the way i want to do it.
  • 00:04:09.668 --> 00:04:14.005
  • And so what these people do and what we do
  • 00:04:14.005 --> 00:04:19.511
  • Is we do enough god to cover our bases.
  • 00:04:19.511 --> 00:04:27.185
  • We do enough god to cover our back "just in case."
  • 00:04:27.185 --> 00:04:32.090
  • "i want to at least said i went to church on sunday,
  • 00:04:32.090 --> 00:04:34.359
  • Just in case.
  • 00:04:34.359 --> 00:04:36.127
  • I'll do a little something here and a little something there."
  • 00:04:36.127 --> 00:04:38.330
  • You push it off far enough, but you do enough just in case,
  • 00:04:38.330 --> 00:04:45.437
  • Making--he calls it a mockery of the word of god,
  • 00:04:45.437 --> 00:04:51.343
  • Making a joke of this eternal perspective
  • 00:04:51.343 --> 00:04:55.447
  • That god is revealing to us through his word.
  • 00:04:55.447 --> 00:05:01.319
  • You know the person who's a mocker;
  • 00:05:01.319 --> 00:05:04.489
  • That is, they only live by natural laws.
  • 00:05:04.489 --> 00:05:07.092
  • If the five senses can't validate it,
  • 00:05:07.092 --> 00:05:11.996
  • Then they don't buy it, even if it comes from god.
  • 00:05:11.996 --> 00:05:18.536
  • That's why you have to go to college first
  • 00:05:18.536 --> 00:05:20.004
  • To become an atheist
  • 00:05:20.004 --> 00:05:24.843
  • 'cause you become educated into unbelief.
  • 00:05:24.843 --> 00:05:32.117
  • He says, "when we do that--"
  • 00:05:32.117 --> 00:05:34.753
  • Because he's writing to christians.
  • 00:05:34.753 --> 00:05:36.087
  • You'll see this in a moment.
  • 00:05:36.087 --> 00:05:39.157
  • "when we do that," he says,
  • 00:05:39.157 --> 00:05:40.992
  • "we join those who escape notice of something."
  • 00:05:40.992 --> 00:05:47.565
  • Verse 5, "when they maintain this, it escapes their notice."
  • 00:05:47.565 --> 00:05:51.669
  • When your professors in your secular universities--
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  • And sometimes even in the religious ones--
  • 00:05:57.275 --> 00:06:00.712
  • When they deny the eternal
  • 00:06:00.712 --> 00:06:04.682
  • While they seek to promote the scientific,
  • 00:06:04.682 --> 00:06:09.254
  • It says, "when they maintain this, it escapes their notice
  • 00:06:09.254 --> 00:06:13.892
  • That by the word of god the heavens existed long ago.
  • 00:06:13.892 --> 00:06:18.329
  • They were formed.
  • 00:06:18.329 --> 00:06:20.965
  • The world was then destroyed
  • 00:06:20.965 --> 00:06:23.768
  • And all of its surrounding water."
  • 00:06:23.768 --> 00:06:26.237
  • He says two things: they have forgotten
  • 00:06:26.237 --> 00:06:31.609
  • Or have rejected the fact that god himself intervened
  • 00:06:31.609 --> 00:06:37.549
  • For them even to have an earth and a universe
  • 00:06:37.549 --> 00:06:40.518
  • To extract natural laws from,
  • 00:06:40.518 --> 00:06:45.223
  • That creation itself shows that god intervenes in history,
  • 00:06:45.223 --> 00:06:52.363
  • The fact that god emerged the land through the water
  • 00:06:52.363 --> 00:06:57.202
  • In order to craft creation.
  • 00:06:57.202 --> 00:07:01.706
  • Things are sourced in a reality beyond the thing itself,
  • 00:07:01.706 --> 00:07:06.144
  • And he says they willingly reject that--why?--
  • 00:07:06.144 --> 00:07:09.581
  • Because they don't want any interference
  • 00:07:09.581 --> 00:07:12.517
  • In their life decisions.
  • 00:07:12.517 --> 00:07:14.686
  • 'cause, see, if you take god seriously,
  • 00:07:14.686 --> 00:07:18.690
  • Now you gotta do something with what he wants.
  • 00:07:18.690 --> 00:07:21.759
  • So you keep him vague or either deny him altogether
  • 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:26.164
  • So you don't have to be accountable to him.
  • 00:07:26.164 --> 00:07:31.569
  • He says, "not only is it reflected in creation,"
  • 00:07:31.569 --> 00:07:34.572
  • He says, "it's also reflected in judgment.
  • 00:07:34.572 --> 00:07:39.911
  • By the word, his word,
  • 00:07:39.911 --> 00:07:41.679
  • The present heavens and earth were--
  • 00:07:41.679 --> 00:07:43.481
  • Are reserved from fire,"
  • 00:07:43.481 --> 00:07:45.049
  • Coming out of verse 6, which says,
  • 00:07:45.049 --> 00:07:48.253
  • "the world at that time was destroyed."
  • 00:07:48.253 --> 00:07:52.891
  • He's talking about noah and the flood.
  • 00:07:52.891 --> 00:07:56.361
  • Let's rehearse noah.
  • 00:07:56.361 --> 00:07:58.730
  • God comes to noah and says,
  • 00:07:58.730 --> 00:08:00.932
  • "noah, i want you to do something that's getting ready
  • 00:08:00.932 --> 00:08:05.303
  • To sound ridiculous.
  • 00:08:05.303 --> 00:08:07.872
  • I want you to build a boat on dry land
  • 00:08:07.872 --> 00:08:10.441
  • 'cause it's gonna rain."
  • 00:08:10.441 --> 00:08:13.444
  • Now, what you have to know-- in case you didn't know it--
  • 00:08:13.444 --> 00:08:15.213
  • Is that, up to this point, it has never rained.
  • 00:08:15.213 --> 00:08:18.583
  • The earth had never seen rain.
  • 00:08:18.583 --> 00:08:20.285
  • The bible says the earth was watered from beneath.
  • 00:08:20.285 --> 00:08:23.721
  • So the waters came from beneath.
  • 00:08:23.721 --> 00:08:25.690
  • There was a canopy over the earth
  • 00:08:25.690 --> 00:08:27.725
  • That held the waters up there,
  • 00:08:27.725 --> 00:08:30.261
  • Separate from the waters that came underneath.
  • 00:08:30.261 --> 00:08:33.565
  • So they had never seen rain.
  • 00:08:33.565 --> 00:08:35.833
  • So god's word came about a subject
  • 00:08:35.833 --> 00:08:39.270
  • That was not his experience.
  • 00:08:39.270 --> 00:08:41.606
  • Oh, by the way, many things in god's word will contradict
  • 00:08:41.606 --> 00:08:45.877
  • Your experience.
  • 00:08:45.877 --> 00:08:48.146
  • Many things that god says will contradict
  • 00:08:48.146 --> 00:08:50.682
  • What your mama told you and what your daddy told you
  • 00:08:50.682 --> 00:08:54.085
  • And what your teachers tell you.
  • 00:08:54.085 --> 00:08:56.187
  • It had never rained before.
  • 00:08:56.187 --> 00:08:58.222
  • He says, "i want you to build a boat,
  • 00:08:58.222 --> 00:09:01.659
  • And you gonna look like a fool 'cause i want you to build it
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  • On dry land, and i'm gonna give you intricate specifications
  • 00:09:04.262 --> 00:09:12.403
  • For how this boat is to be constructed,
  • 00:09:12.403 --> 00:09:14.672
  • And you are to construct it exactly as i tell you.
  • 00:09:14.672 --> 00:09:20.278
  • But on top of all that, noah, it's gonna be 120 years
  • 00:09:20.278 --> 00:09:26.317
  • Before you see one drop of rain."
  • 00:09:26.317 --> 00:09:31.356
  • 'cause sometimes there's a long gap
  • 00:09:31.356 --> 00:09:36.327
  • Between what god says and what you see.
  • 00:09:36.327 --> 00:09:41.232
  • "so, noah, you gonna have to build a boat,
  • 00:09:41.232 --> 00:09:43.835
  • Looking like a fool,
  • 00:09:43.835 --> 00:09:45.403
  • On dry land simply because my word told you to.
  • 00:09:45.403 --> 00:09:50.975
  • You have no other basis for doing it
  • 00:09:50.975 --> 00:09:53.244
  • Other than you heard the word of the lord."
  • 00:09:53.244 --> 00:09:58.950
  • The bible says noah was a preacher of righteousness.
  • 00:09:58.950 --> 00:10:02.754
  • So he and his family are building a boat
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  • During the day.
  • 00:10:04.922 --> 00:10:06.357
  • During the evening, he's going out preaching.
  • 00:10:06.357 --> 00:10:09.060
  • It's a real short sermon, three words: "it's gonna rain."
  • 00:10:09.060 --> 00:10:13.064
  • [congregation laughing]
  • 00:10:13.064 --> 00:10:14.565
  • It ain't that deep. "it's gonna rain."
  • 00:10:14.565 --> 00:10:18.436
  • The man is looking like a fool.
  • 00:10:18.436 --> 00:10:19.971
  • The reason we know he's looking like a fool
  • 00:10:19.971 --> 00:10:21.639
  • Is nobody believed him,
  • 00:10:21.639 --> 00:10:24.642
  • And nobody believed him for 120 years,
  • 00:10:24.642 --> 00:10:28.346
  • And all he had to go on
  • 00:10:28.346 --> 00:10:29.781
  • And all he had to tell his family was "folks,
  • 00:10:29.781 --> 00:10:32.450
  • I know, i know, i know it sounds crazy.
  • 00:10:32.450 --> 00:10:34.519
  • I know we look ridiculous,"
  • 00:10:34.519 --> 00:10:36.154
  • But sometimes in obeying god's word,
  • 00:10:36.154 --> 00:10:38.990
  • You gonna look like a fool
  • 00:10:38.990 --> 00:10:42.160
  • 'cause it goes against the culture,
  • 00:10:42.160 --> 00:10:44.262
  • It goes against the standard,
  • 00:10:44.262 --> 00:10:46.130
  • It goes against what everybody else thinks
  • 00:10:46.130 --> 00:10:49.467
  • And what everybody else says.
  • 00:10:49.467 --> 00:10:53.137
  • And so 120 years later,
  • 00:10:53.137 --> 00:10:59.677
  • Mr. gorilla looks at mrs. gorilla
  • 00:10:59.677 --> 00:11:01.379
  • And says, "it's gonna rain."
  • 00:11:01.379 --> 00:11:03.147
  • I'd have at least thought twice when i saw two-by-two animals
  • 00:11:03.147 --> 00:11:06.984
  • Lined up, going into the ark.
  • 00:11:06.984 --> 00:11:12.156
  • Maybe there could be something to this rain sermon.
  • 00:11:12.156 --> 00:11:20.732
  • But because they wanted to deny god's intervention into history,
  • 00:11:20.732 --> 00:11:29.240
  • You and i are caught in the same thing.
  • 00:11:29.240 --> 00:11:31.542
  • We're caught in a god who doesn't move
  • 00:11:31.542 --> 00:11:36.380
  • When we want him to move,
  • 00:11:36.380 --> 00:11:40.151
  • That calls into question in our minds and heart
  • 00:11:40.151 --> 00:11:44.021
  • And most certainly in our society.
  • 00:11:44.021 --> 00:11:47.391
  • But the eternal perspective says that god's word is true
  • 00:11:47.391 --> 00:11:51.829
  • Even though i don't see it happening right now
  • 00:11:51.829 --> 00:11:56.501
  • Because he's intervened in the past.
  • 00:11:56.501 --> 00:12:03.341
  • Noah could live a different kind of life
  • 00:12:03.341 --> 00:12:05.109
  • Because he was looking at a different kind of word.
  • 00:12:05.109 --> 00:12:10.248
  • Secondly, we are to live in light of god's perspective.
  • 00:12:10.248 --> 00:12:15.520
  • Verses 8 and 9, "don't let this one fact escape your notice,
  • 00:12:15.520 --> 00:12:20.124
  • Beloved," christians, "that, with the lord,
  • 00:12:20.124 --> 00:12:23.628
  • One day is like a thousand years,
  • 00:12:23.628 --> 00:12:25.229
  • And a thousand years is like one day."
  • 00:12:25.229 --> 00:12:30.034
  • Wow, here's our problem.
  • 00:12:30.034 --> 00:12:34.906
  • We live life linearly--one, two, three, four, five, six,
  • 00:12:34.906 --> 00:12:39.243
  • Seven, eight, nine, ten, linearly--
  • 00:12:39.243 --> 00:12:41.179
  • From this point to this point to this point to this point.
  • 00:12:41.179 --> 00:12:44.549
  • We move from seconds to minutes to hours to days to months
  • 00:12:44.549 --> 00:12:48.352
  • To years.
  • 00:12:48.352 --> 00:12:49.687
  • We move linearly, from point a to point z.
  • 00:12:49.687 --> 00:12:54.358
  • So that's how we measure time.
  • 00:12:54.358 --> 00:12:56.661
  • Time is only meaningful because of linear movement.
  • 00:12:56.661 --> 00:13:02.967
  • However, god does not operate by linear time.
  • 00:13:02.967 --> 00:13:09.273
  • In other words, he transcends time,
  • 00:13:09.273 --> 00:13:12.310
  • Which is why the bible calls him the eternal god.
  • 00:13:12.310 --> 00:13:15.580
  • We live in three phases: what was, what is,
  • 00:13:15.580 --> 00:13:19.417
  • And what is to come.
  • 00:13:19.417 --> 00:13:20.918
  • Those are our three phases of our linear lives:
  • 00:13:20.918 --> 00:13:23.955
  • Yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
  • 00:13:23.955 --> 00:13:26.424
  • That's how we live our lives because we live in time.
  • 00:13:26.424 --> 00:13:30.595
  • God transcends that because he only exists in the present.
  • 00:13:30.595 --> 00:13:40.638
  • God does not have a yesterday, and he does not have a tomorrow.
  • 00:13:41.939 --> 00:13:46.711
  • He communicates to us that way because we do have a yesterday
  • 00:13:46.711 --> 00:13:50.081
  • And we do have a tomorrow, but he does not.
  • 00:13:50.081 --> 00:13:52.783
  • Everything is now.
  • 00:13:52.783 --> 00:13:55.353
  • When moses said, "when i go to your people,
  • 00:13:55.353 --> 00:13:59.090
  • They gonna ask me who sent me.
  • 00:13:59.090 --> 00:14:00.858
  • Who shall i tell them sent me?"
  • 00:14:00.858 --> 00:14:02.260
  • God said, "you tell them i am that i am sent you."
  • 00:14:02.260 --> 00:14:06.631
  • "i" personal pronoun, "am" present tense
  • 00:14:06.631 --> 00:14:09.600
  • Defined by "i" personal pronoun, "am" present tense:
  • 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:13.170
  • I am that i am--
  • 00:14:13.170 --> 00:14:14.739
  • In other words, the personal god who forever lives in now.
  • 00:14:14.739 --> 00:14:21.145
  • God only knows now.
  • 00:14:21.145 --> 00:14:25.116
  • So he doesn't have to look back at the past,
  • 00:14:25.116 --> 00:14:28.619
  • Nor does he have to look back at the future,
  • 00:14:28.619 --> 00:14:31.055
  • Because they all relate to an eternal now.
  • 00:14:31.055 --> 00:14:35.693
  • That's why, by the way, in eternity,
  • 00:14:35.693 --> 00:14:38.362
  • Time will be meaningless to you.
  • 00:14:38.362 --> 00:14:40.598
  • And the only reason that you will be able to think
  • 00:14:40.598 --> 00:14:43.801
  • In terms of time is to think in terms of eternity
  • 00:14:43.801 --> 00:14:47.138
  • 'cause there'll be no night.
  • 00:14:47.138 --> 00:14:49.040
  • So there'll be no rising of the sun,
  • 00:14:49.040 --> 00:14:50.374
  • Setting of the sun.
  • 00:14:50.374 --> 00:14:51.709
  • There'll be no measurement of time
  • 00:14:51.709 --> 00:14:54.178
  • Because everything will be now.
  • 00:14:54.178 --> 00:14:59.417
  • Now, i know that that's hard to conceive
  • 00:14:59.417 --> 00:15:02.586
  • Because you and i are locked into time.
  • 00:15:02.586 --> 00:15:06.490
  • So god's trying to help a brother out
  • 00:15:06.490 --> 00:15:08.826
  • And help a sister out by telling you,
  • 00:15:08.826 --> 00:15:11.629
  • "one day with the lord is as a thousand years,
  • 00:15:11.629 --> 00:15:15.866
  • And a thousand years is as one day."
  • 00:15:15.866 --> 00:15:19.937
  • Translation, don't use your watch to measure
  • 00:15:19.937 --> 00:15:23.441
  • God's timetable,
  • 00:15:23.441 --> 00:15:26.243
  • 'cause he didn't say one day is a thousand years
  • 00:15:26.243 --> 00:15:29.981
  • Or a thousand years is a day, he said it's like it.
  • 00:15:29.981 --> 00:15:33.684
  • In other words, it's outside of your scope of operation.
  • 00:15:33.684 --> 00:15:39.757
  • Or as isaiah 55 puts it, "my ways are not your ways,
  • 00:15:39.757 --> 00:15:43.361
  • And my thoughts are not your thoughts.
  • 00:15:43.361 --> 00:15:45.129
  • As high as the heaven is above the earth,
  • 00:15:45.129 --> 00:15:46.931
  • That's how different we are.
  • 00:15:46.931 --> 00:15:48.699
  • So don't use your watch to measure my time.
  • 00:15:48.699 --> 00:15:54.105
  • It's apples and oranges."
  • 00:15:54.105 --> 00:15:55.740
  • It's a total different orientation.
  • 00:15:55.740 --> 00:16:01.045
  • It's the difference between, to give you a visual,
  • 00:16:01.045 --> 00:16:04.749
  • You're driving on the highway,
  • 00:16:04.749 --> 00:16:06.517
  • You're driving from the church to downtown,
  • 00:16:06.517 --> 00:16:09.153
  • Or you're on some highway with a whole bunch of cars,
  • 00:16:09.153 --> 00:16:13.791
  • You're starting and stopping, you're moving,
  • 00:16:13.791 --> 00:16:19.296
  • And seeing that same highway from an airplane.
  • 00:16:19.296 --> 00:16:25.469
  • Things may look all crisscross and out of order on the highway.
  • 00:16:25.469 --> 00:16:31.208
  • But from the plane, you see how orderly things look
  • 00:16:31.208 --> 00:16:33.744
  • And how squared-off things are?
  • 00:16:33.744 --> 00:16:36.547
  • Because you're looking from a different vantage point.
  • 00:16:36.547 --> 00:16:41.018
  • So god wants you and me to live from a different vantage point,
  • 00:16:41.018 --> 00:16:47.224
  • Not from the vantage point of the temporal
  • 00:16:47.224 --> 00:16:50.294
  • But from the vantage point of the eternal
  • 00:16:50.294 --> 00:16:52.863
  • While still living in the temporal.
  • 00:16:52.863 --> 00:16:56.367
  • He wants to be driving on the highway,
  • 00:16:56.367 --> 00:16:59.336
  • Thinking about the airplane.
  • 00:16:59.336 --> 00:17:02.139
  • He wants us to think heaven while we maneuver in history.
  • 00:17:02.139 --> 00:17:09.880
  • He gets deeper 'cause he makes this point
  • 00:17:09.880 --> 00:17:12.583
  • About god's perspective:
  • 00:17:12.583 --> 00:17:16.987
  • The lord is not slow concerning his promises.
  • 00:17:16.987 --> 00:17:21.992
  • Wait a minute.
  • 00:17:21.992 --> 00:17:23.427
  • A day with the lord is as a thousand years,
  • 00:17:23.427 --> 00:17:25.162
  • A thousand years is as a day.
  • 00:17:25.162 --> 00:17:26.497
  • But you telling me he ain't slow.
  • 00:17:26.497 --> 00:17:30.568
  • Looks slow to me.
  • 00:17:30.568 --> 00:17:33.037
  • That's 'cause you looking at your watch.
  • 00:17:33.037 --> 00:17:35.940
  • You're looking at your calendar. i'm looking at my calendar.
  • 00:17:35.940 --> 00:17:38.809
  • And based on my calendar, god, you taking too long...
  • 00:17:38.809 --> 00:17:44.348
  • But the word says he's not slow.
  • 00:17:44.348 --> 00:17:48.285
  • So we gonna take god at his word.
  • 00:17:48.285 --> 00:17:51.856
  • So why does he seem slow?
  • 00:17:51.856 --> 00:17:55.092
  • He says that the lord is not slow concerning his promises
  • 00:17:55.092 --> 00:17:57.895
  • As some count slowness, as we look at it.
  • 00:17:57.895 --> 00:18:03.234
  • Let me talk about this next phrase:
  • 00:18:03.234 --> 00:18:04.802
  • "but is patient toward you."
  • 00:18:04.802 --> 00:18:09.940
  • Mm, remember, he's writing beloved.
  • 00:18:09.940 --> 00:18:12.877
  • He's writing christians.
  • 00:18:12.877 --> 00:18:15.913
  • God is not slow, but you are holding him up.
  • 00:18:15.913 --> 00:18:21.685
  • Mm, god is only slow 'cause you getting in the way.
  • 00:18:21.685 --> 00:18:29.760
  • God is only slow 'cause he's waiting not on him
  • 00:18:29.760 --> 00:18:34.598
  • But on you, on the beloved, on the christian.
  • 00:18:34.598 --> 00:18:38.035
  • You are holding him up.
  • 00:18:38.035 --> 00:18:43.207
  • This raises the theological conundrum
  • 00:18:43.207 --> 00:18:47.077
  • Between god's sovereignty and our responsibility.
  • 00:18:47.077 --> 00:18:54.185
  • The theological tension
  • 00:18:54.185 --> 00:18:56.554
  • Between a god who's in control of everything
  • 00:18:56.554 --> 00:18:59.690
  • And what that god who's in control of everything
  • 00:18:59.690 --> 00:19:01.492
  • Expects from me.
  • 00:19:01.492 --> 00:19:03.894
  • 'cause if he's in control of everything, sovereignty,
  • 00:19:03.894 --> 00:19:09.433
  • Then why isn't everything happening like it's supposed to?
  • 00:19:09.433 --> 00:19:13.337
  • Because within his sovereignty, he's crafted out responsibility.
  • 00:19:13.337 --> 00:19:21.312
  • In that football game,
  • 00:19:21.312 --> 00:19:22.880
  • There were certain things that were non-negotiable.
  • 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:27.518
  • The goal line is non-negotiable.
  • 00:19:27.518 --> 00:19:28.986
  • You can't move that, you can't touch that,
  • 00:19:28.986 --> 00:19:30.854
  • You can't play with that.
  • 00:19:30.854 --> 00:19:32.189
  • That is unmovable. it's a sovereign line.
  • 00:19:32.189 --> 00:19:35.559
  • The sidelines are sovereign lines.
  • 00:19:35.559 --> 00:19:38.529
  • The goalposts are sovereign. they don't budge.
  • 00:19:38.529 --> 00:19:44.034
  • You don't mess with those,
  • 00:19:44.034 --> 00:19:45.869
  • Because those are non-negotiables.
  • 00:19:45.869 --> 00:19:50.741
  • But the activity on the field is negotiable.
  • 00:19:50.741 --> 00:19:56.013
  • The plays that were called,
  • 00:19:56.013 --> 00:19:58.048
  • The things that cause us to jump and scream and howl
  • 00:19:58.048 --> 00:20:01.685
  • And go, "wow!"
  • 00:20:01.685 --> 00:20:03.254
  • And things that happened at the last second, and all--
  • 00:20:03.254 --> 00:20:06.056
  • All those were negotiable because those were plays
  • 00:20:06.056 --> 00:20:10.027
  • Called or defended on the field of play.
  • 00:20:10.027 --> 00:20:13.397
  • Those plays that made the life of the game so rich
  • 00:20:13.397 --> 00:20:20.237
  • Never infringed on sovereignty, 'cause the lines never moved.
  • 00:20:20.237 --> 00:20:25.542
  • The goalposts never moved.
  • 00:20:25.542 --> 00:20:26.944
  • They were sovereign and undisturbed.
  • 00:20:26.944 --> 00:20:30.781
  • But there was responsibility being executed on the field
  • 00:20:30.781 --> 00:20:35.319
  • That did determine how things wound up.
  • 00:20:35.319 --> 00:20:39.223
  • In fact, time itself was affected
  • 00:20:39.223 --> 00:20:44.728
  • Because they had to go through overtime.
  • 00:20:44.728 --> 00:20:49.099
  • They had to go through different things.
  • 00:20:49.099 --> 00:20:51.235
  • So time itself was affected
  • 00:20:51.235 --> 00:20:53.537
  • Within the confines of sovereignty.
  • 00:20:53.537 --> 00:20:59.410
  • So when god says he's waiting on you,
  • 00:20:59.410 --> 00:21:02.246
  • He is literally saying
  • 00:21:02.246 --> 00:21:04.315
  • While you do not affect what he ultimately determines to do,
  • 00:21:04.315 --> 00:21:08.285
  • You do affect timing.
  • 00:21:08.285 --> 00:21:13.590
  • It's a 35-day walk from egypt to the promised land
  • 00:21:13.590 --> 00:21:18.128
  • That took 40 years.
  • 00:21:18.128 --> 00:21:22.666
  • God never changed his plan.
  • 00:21:22.666 --> 00:21:24.568
  • "i'mma take you out of egypt,
  • 00:21:24.568 --> 00:21:26.003
  • And i'mma take you to the promised land,
  • 00:21:26.003 --> 00:21:28.505
  • But you will affect how long it takes.
  • 00:21:28.505 --> 00:21:32.810
  • It should have taken 35 days.
  • 00:21:32.810 --> 00:21:34.812
  • It has now taken you 40 years because you left me out
  • 00:21:34.812 --> 00:21:39.616
  • Of the time."
  • 00:21:39.616 --> 00:21:41.118
  • [congregation applauding]
  • 00:21:41.118 --> 00:21:44.955
  • Abraham and sara had to wait 25 years
  • 00:21:44.955 --> 00:21:49.626
  • To have a promise fulfilled of a blessing,
  • 00:21:49.626 --> 00:21:52.963
  • But because they introduced the flesh,
  • 00:21:52.963 --> 00:21:57.701
  • What should have happened a lot earlier took 25 years.
  • 00:21:57.701 --> 00:22:01.205
  • It didn't change what god said,
  • 00:22:01.205 --> 00:22:03.073
  • But it did change when it happened
  • 00:22:03.073 --> 00:22:07.411
  • Because god is waiting on us with regard to the timing,
  • 00:22:07.411 --> 00:22:11.915
  • Not with regard to the promise.
  • 00:22:11.915 --> 00:22:15.519
  • So some of us have been waiting on things for decades that god
  • 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:20.057
  • Is not free to do because we will not walk in faith
  • 00:22:20.057 --> 00:22:24.461
  • In the time.
  • 00:22:24.461 --> 00:22:26.063
  • [congregation applauding]
  • 00:22:26.063 --> 00:22:28.699
  • He says, "i'm waiting for you."
  • 00:22:28.699 --> 00:22:32.369
  • "not willing that any should perish,
  • 00:22:32.369 --> 00:22:33.904
  • But that all should come to repentance."
  • 00:22:33.904 --> 00:22:35.839
  • He brings in evangelism.
  • 00:22:35.839 --> 00:22:37.541
  • You're praying for somebody to get saved
  • 00:22:37.541 --> 00:22:38.942
  • Who you will not take the time to witness to.
  • 00:22:38.942 --> 00:22:42.913
  • [congregant applauding]
  • 00:22:42.913 --> 00:22:46.450
  • What he is saying to you is that you have a part to play
  • 00:22:49.486 --> 00:22:54.124
  • In the timing of god.
  • 00:22:54.124 --> 00:23:00.230
  • So a lot of christians will say, "well, i'm trusting the lord."
  • 00:23:00.230 --> 00:23:04.001
  • And the lord is saying, "and i'm waiting on you
  • 00:23:04.001 --> 00:23:10.007
  • 'cause i'm not slow concerning my promise,
  • 00:23:10.007 --> 00:23:14.077
  • But you can slow me down concerning my timing."
  • 00:23:14.077 --> 00:23:20.784
  • So don't let it be said that
  • 00:23:20.784 --> 00:23:23.253
  • "god never came through for me because he was waiting on me."
  • 00:23:23.253 --> 00:23:29.426
  • That's why there's so many things in the bible
  • 00:23:29.426 --> 00:23:31.662
  • That tells you to do something first
  • 00:23:31.662 --> 00:23:34.198
  • Before god does what he does.
  • 00:23:34.198 --> 00:23:36.834
  • He wants to see the obedience of faith before he will move.
  • 00:23:36.834 --> 00:23:43.540
  • We spend a lot of time saying, "god do this.
  • 00:23:43.540 --> 00:23:45.742
  • God do that. i'm waiting on you, lord."
  • 00:23:45.742 --> 00:23:49.746
  • And the lord said, "well, soon as you do
  • 00:23:49.746 --> 00:23:51.381
  • What i told you to do, as soon as you obey me,
  • 00:23:51.381 --> 00:23:55.986
  • As soon as you act in faith,
  • 00:23:55.986 --> 00:23:58.722
  • Then my time clock can kick in, but your time clock--"
  • 00:23:58.722 --> 00:24:05.729
  • There's a prescribed time to finish first kindergarten
  • 00:24:05.729 --> 00:24:08.832
  • Through 12th grade,
  • 00:24:08.832 --> 00:24:11.034
  • But you can be there a lot longer
  • 00:24:11.034 --> 00:24:18.442
  • 'cause you didn't do the work.
  • 00:24:18.442 --> 00:24:19.776
  • You didn't pass the test.
  • 00:24:19.776 --> 00:24:21.845
  • You didn't fulfill the obligation.
  • 00:24:21.845 --> 00:24:23.747
  • He finally says we're to live in light of god's priorities.
  • 00:24:23.747 --> 00:24:28.485
  • "the day of the lord," verse 10,
  • 00:24:28.485 --> 00:24:29.820
  • "will come like a thief, unexpected."
  • 00:24:29.820 --> 00:24:32.923
  • The heavens are gonna pass away.
  • 00:24:32.923 --> 00:24:34.424
  • They're gonna pass away with a roar.
  • 00:24:34.424 --> 00:24:36.059
  • The elements are gonna be destroyed with intense heat
  • 00:24:36.059 --> 00:24:39.930
  • Since all these things are to be destroyed.
  • 00:24:39.930 --> 00:24:42.733
  • Whoa, whoa.
  • 00:24:42.733 --> 00:24:46.470
  • He introduces you and me to the un-creation.
  • 00:24:46.470 --> 00:24:49.907
  • We know about the creation. this is the un-creation.
  • 00:24:49.907 --> 00:24:55.212
  • This is where he will disintegrate the universe
  • 00:24:55.212 --> 00:24:58.348
  • As we now know it and replace it with a new heaven
  • 00:24:58.348 --> 00:25:02.819
  • And a new heavens and a new earth
  • 00:25:02.819 --> 00:25:04.755
  • That will be perfect in righteousness forever.
  • 00:25:04.755 --> 00:25:07.925
  • That's the un-creation.
  • 00:25:07.925 --> 00:25:11.528
  • Watch this now: since all these things
  • 00:25:11.528 --> 00:25:15.198
  • Are to be destroyed,
  • 00:25:15.198 --> 00:25:18.201
  • Why are you treating them like they won't?
  • 00:25:18.201 --> 00:25:25.142
  • That new car is gonna be destroyed.
  • 00:25:25.142 --> 00:25:27.444
  • That new house is gonna be destroyed.
  • 00:25:27.444 --> 00:25:29.513
  • Those new clothes are gonna be destroyed.
  • 00:25:29.513 --> 00:25:33.483
  • That money will be destroyed and the bank that holds it
  • 00:25:33.483 --> 00:25:36.086
  • Will be destroyed.
  • 00:25:36.086 --> 00:25:37.721
  • Wall street will melt.
  • 00:25:37.721 --> 00:25:40.591
  • All the things that men hold high
  • 00:25:40.591 --> 00:25:43.293
  • Are going to evaporate into nothing.
  • 00:25:43.293 --> 00:25:46.129
  • So why are you treating it like it's gonna be here forever?
  • 00:25:46.129 --> 00:25:49.199
  • Because we've lost the eternal perspective.
  • 00:25:49.199 --> 00:25:51.535
  • Because history has become more important than eternity.
  • 00:25:51.535 --> 00:25:54.738
  • And so we make idols of things that are gonna burn.
  • 00:25:54.738 --> 00:25:59.176
  • Now, we live in this world.
  • 00:25:59.176 --> 00:26:00.510
  • So you need a car, you need a house,
  • 00:26:00.510 --> 00:26:01.845
  • You need clothes, you need money in the bank.
  • 00:26:01.845 --> 00:26:04.147
  • Yeah, he's not saying, "don't have those things."
  • 00:26:04.147 --> 00:26:08.518
  • He is saying, "put 'em in their right perspective.
  • 00:26:08.518 --> 00:26:13.323
  • This is not it."
  • 00:26:13.323 --> 00:26:15.892
  • What he is asking us to do is to look at this life
  • 00:26:15.892 --> 00:26:20.964
  • From the life to come, to make the life to come
  • 00:26:20.964 --> 00:26:23.667
  • Bigger than the life we're now living.
  • 00:26:23.667 --> 00:26:26.269
  • And if we make the life to come bigger
  • 00:26:26.269 --> 00:26:28.505
  • Than the life we're now living,
  • 00:26:28.505 --> 00:26:30.240
  • We will live better in this life
  • 00:26:30.240 --> 00:26:32.209
  • 'cause we're looking at that life.
  • 00:26:32.209 --> 00:26:37.280
  • Where you look, where i look will determine how we live.
  • 00:26:37.280 --> 00:26:45.422
  • "we're looking," he says in verse 13,
  • 00:26:45.422 --> 00:26:47.658
  • "for a new heaven and a new earth."
  • 00:26:47.658 --> 00:26:50.661
  • Guess what?
  • 00:26:50.661 --> 00:26:52.262
  • My life and your life now is a dress rehearsal for that day.
  • 00:26:52.262 --> 00:26:57.801
  • When we stand before the lord, and, yes, we will have missed
  • 00:26:57.801 --> 00:27:00.537
  • Some lines and missed some cues and made some mistakes,
  • 00:27:00.537 --> 00:27:04.307
  • But if every time we came to rehearsal
  • 00:27:04.307 --> 00:27:07.310
  • We were better than the last time
  • 00:27:07.310 --> 00:27:09.312
  • Because we lived in light of that day today,
  • 00:27:09.312 --> 00:27:13.583
  • Then our expectation will transform our behavior,
  • 00:27:13.583 --> 00:27:18.422
  • And eternity will give us victory in time.
  • 00:27:18.422 --> 00:27:22.192
  • May god help us to live with an eternal perspective.
  • 00:27:22.192 --> 00:27:22.192