Warning

2 Peter 3:3-4

3 Above all, be aware of this: Scoffers will come in the last days scoffing and following their own evil desires, 4 saying, “Where is his ‘coming’ that he promised? Ever since our ancestors fell asleep, all things continue as they have been since the beginning of creation.”

2 Peter 3:8-10

8 Dear friends, don’t overlook this one fact: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; on that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed.

2 Peter 3:17-18

17 Therefore, dear friends, since you know this in advance, be on your guard, so that you are not led away by the error of lawless people and fall from your own stable position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.

-Warnings are everywhere

Ever heard of the lady who bought an RV around the time that Cruise control was becoming popular?

Well that story turned out to be false as far as I understand.

What about the lady who sued McDonalds because she spilled hot coffee on herself and ended up with 3rd° burns all over herself? That was true.

We always see warning labels on everything? Even things that seem to be so obvious, as “Caution HOT” on a cup of Coffee.

Or detergent bottles , “Do not drink or Eat Bleach” - “Harmful if swallowed.”

We have warning signals that sound when a tornado is coming. There is even one that is scrolled across the TV screen.

Warnings serve their purposes too.

Since the invention of the Doppler Radar system, it has save countless lives from devastating storms and tornados by sounding the warning sirens for miles within the path of storms.

My Grandma used to tell us stories about how during WWII, there we air-raid sirens that would go off to warn people to hide incase an enemy bomber was in the air flying over.

I am here alive today thanks to a fire alarm.

While I was living with my grandma in Chicago as a young man, we lived on the second floor above a dry cleaner’s.

A Fire brought out in the middle of the night in the store below us.

I remember my grandma waking me up in that panicked voice of hers. I know that voice was only reserved for extreme emergencies, as I came too, I heard that deafening, sound that saved my life.

-Warnings have their place

Warnings have their place. Of that there is no doubt.

I am glad they are there for us too. For instance, if you’ve ever traveled to the southwest, and stopped at a rest area, you’ll notice, there are warning signs right at the entrance to the toilets, to beware of Rattlesnakes!

Slide

Yes, that’s one I am sure grateful for.

-Sometimes we can get complacent

But sometimes, they can happen so often it becomes like “Crying wolf.”

Dictionary

Definitions from Oxford Languages Phrase:

Cry wolf

“Call for help when it is not needed, with the effect that one is not believed when one really does need help.”

This term comes from the tale about a young shepherd watching his flock who, lonely and fearful, called for help by shouting “Wolf!” After people came to his aid several times and saw no wolf, they ignored his cries when a wolf actually attacked his sheep. The tale appeared in a translation of Aesop's fables by Roger L'Estrange (1692), and the expression has been applied to any false alarm since the mid-1800s.

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cry--wolf

So, then when nothing happens after so many soundings and testing of alarms, we get used to the sound of the alarm and become complacent in attitude towards it don’t we?

How about those tornado and fire drills in School? You remember those don’t you?

We would get so used to them we would look forward to them as a way to escape the boredom of everyday school routine.

But, what happens when you no longer startled by the warning?

You get to a point where you no longer believe in the seriousness of the warning. You begin to take risks.

You begin to stretch the boundaries of what you know to be risky.

You do it once, nothing happens,

Do it twice, nothing happens,

It can go on like this until you end up

getting hurt

or caught,

Pregnant,

infected with STD,

you get cancer,

become an addict,

Or someone gets killed

So -on - and- so - Forth Or whatever.

There are places in the human experience where we flat out don’t even leave a warning.

I guess there is a point where humanity figures, if your that stupid, then go ahead at your own risk.

For instance, In my time as a Mechanical technician in the city of Chicago, I was sent to many high rise Buildings. In my line of work, I almost always ended up on the roof-tops of some of the tallest skyscrapers.

One of the first things you realize, when you get step out onto the tops of one of those gargantuan buildings, (and this is without anyone “WARNING” you,) is that you would think with a roof top so high up in the sky, there would be a guard rail around the perimeter of the roof line NOPE!

I guess they figure, why spend the money for that, if you’re stupid enough to walk to the edge of those roofs, then you probably deserve to fall.

-God always warns before judgement

Aren’t you glad that God gives us plenty of warning before His judgements come down?

Before He can no longer tolerate the Sin of humanity and sends calamity upon the earth in judgement, He always, always, always, sends multiple warnings.

He told Adam and Eve before they ever committed a sin He WARNED them, “Don’t do that or this will happen.

Then He warned Cain, if you don’t watch out, sin will happen.

He warned Lot about Sodom & Gomorrah.

When Lot heard the warning, He immediately shot up into action like I did during that fire.

Lot when around the town trying to warn his sons-in-law and they made fun of him. They ridiculed him, they made him look as if he were a fool.

-We must never get complacent with God’s warnings

When we preachers talk about the end times coming upon us and that it’s time for you to get right with Jesus, they make fun of us.

Or call us DOOM & GLOOM Preachers when we preach about the imminent return of Jesus to judge.

Then after preaching that, we hear that you or so and so,

went and got caught up in some addiction.

Or that you are living a double life,

Or you abandoned your family,

What ever that obviously demonstrates, It shows you didn’t take the warnings seriously.

What do you think will happen to your eternal soul if Jesus comes back and finds you in your sin?

You might be thinking, “Well, I’ll be covered through Jesus.

But that’s only for people who are saved. What does it take to be saved?

Acts 2:38 (CSB)

38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Let me ask you something, How can you repent if you are in the middle of the sin?

So, If Jesus were to come back, and found you in sin? (Pause) - You do the Math!

Now, just as in the days of Lot, people are going to ridicule you for the warnings.

They are going to try hard to make you out to look stupid.

They’re are going to tease you as they do now when we preach about the coming of Jesus.

We hear it on the TV, radio, internet, everywhere. They make fun of us.

Kirk Cameron was a teenage superstar on the rise in Hollywood. What happened to him?

He heard the warning and began sounding the alarm and they threw him out of Hollywood for being “Ultra-Religious”

You know why they say it like that?

Because those who otherwise claim to be believers are still living like unbelievers who aren’t taking the warning seriously. So, when they see a person “actually living out a Christian Life” all of the sudden he is “Ultra-Religious” Like, “This guy doesn’t only talk the talk, but he walks, the walk”

Tells us that in the last days there will be scoffers. Making fun of us, etc.

2 Peter 3:3-4

3 Above all, be aware of this: Scoffers will come in the last days scoffing and following their own evil desires, 4 saying, “Where is his ‘coming’ that he promised? Ever since our ancestors fell asleep, all things continue as they have been since the beginning of creation.”

-Don’t be caught in sin when He returns

Why am I telling you all of this?

Consider this another warning. Do I have your attention?

Jesus is coming back, and according to things happening on the world scene at the present, I don’t think we have very much time left.

I don’t even think we have as much time as some of us Ultra-Religious people think we have.

In 1 Samuel 8:6-20, we are told that Israel wanted a king.

They wanted to be just like every other nation around them. They didn’t want to be ruled by the judges anymore.

They wanted a Worldly King. Someone they could prop up and celebrate, like all the other nations around them.

We are told that Samuel was upset about this rejection of him. God told Samuel it’s not that they rejected the Judges but Him.

Then God told him to WARN them about what they were giving up.

God once again sounded the warning.

If you reject the Word of God as your king, you chose another one.

This King is going to take the best of your life for himself, your children, your house, your stock, all of it for himself.

And when things start to go bad for you, you are going to cry out to the King you chose, and it will not hear you Nor will it rescue you in that day.

You see its God’s way or YOUR Way!

If you don’t take the warnings seriously, that means you don’t really believe it.

So, you trade away the written Word for man’s opinion of the world, and how it began, and ultimately how it is going to end.

And you take your lessons from men who tell you we came from Apes.

If They got the beginning wrong, how can you trust them to be right about the ending?

Because you rejected God as your king, you must lie in the bed of your own making.

-God is sounding the alarm

God is sounding the warning.

We who preach the True Gospel are sounding the alarm.

You better get right with Jesus right now!

Because tomorrow isn’t promised to anyone.

Things are getting really bad politically, bad financially, and they are rapidly getting very bad Spiritually.

Never, except in the time of Noah were the conditions of the world so full of sin, as we are right now!

And yes, you are a part of it!

But you don’t have to go down with the ship.

For God has given you ears to hear. He is calling you out right now in your life, “All Aboard!”

This is the time to Repent and get right with God.

You might be wondering how we know that the end is near?

Im so glad you asked. As we already established that Jesus said in

Matthew 24:37 (CSB)

37 As the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be.

We are living in that last times.

Of this there is no doubt among true bible believers.

-Are you going to be ready?

That however, is not in question of today’s message. The question is, “are you going to be ready?”

Just because you believe is not going to save you.

You must repent of your sins, and be living as though you truly believe that Jesus will literally come back at any minute

I’ll close with this verse from Luke

King James Version

Luke 21:28-31 King James Version

28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. 29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; 30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. 31 So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.

Amen