The Truth About The 2nd Coming

They can live however they want to there’s no possibility of punishment for their actions… no ultimate final reckoning for their sins. They can eat drink & be merry.
BUT IF GOD DOES EXIST… suddenly they know their standards aren’t good enough: they have to change.

2ndly …those people who ignore the potential of God’s judgment do so at their own peril. (vs. 5-7). God has a reputation for judgment. In any conversation, let someone bring up...
“Noah’s Flood”
Sodom & Gomorrah
The 10 plagues of God upon Egypt
...and image that pops into people’s minds is one of God’s judgment. God has a reputation for judgment.

Talk to an insurance agent about an “Act of God” and he’ll tell you it means a catastrophic destruction of lives and/or property.
When Peter speaks of Noah’s flood, he’s saying: God’s done it before… he’ll do it again – count on it!
In other words, it doesn’t matter whether or not you think He’s coming again in judgment – He Is! AND PEOPLE IGNORE THAT AT THEIR OWN PERIL.

The 3rd thing we need to understand about judgment is that God takes no pleasure in it (Vs 9).
Ez. 18:21-23 God says: "… if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die. None of the offences he has committed will be remembered against him. Because of the righteous things he has done, he will live.
Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?

We can understand that intellectually - up to a point. But there does come a point at which we’re not sure certain people ought to have the chance to repent. People who’ve done things – so evil, so foul, so unspeakable… we just know there’s special place in hell just for them. We would not be nearly as merciful to them as God would.
And yet, if God weren’t willing to be merciful to them His promises would be empty.

HOW COULD GOD SAY: Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. … all except your sins.

HOW COULD WE BELIEVE: Ps 103 which says; “He will not always accuse, nor will he harbour his anger for ever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. – and that will be true for everybody… except you…

If God weren’t able and willing to be merciful to the worst of sinners how could we be sure He would show mercy even to us?

But God didn’t want us to wonder about such things & so He showed mercy:
1. To a back stabbing brother named Jacob
2. To a prostitute named Rahab
3. To an adulterer named David
4. To a vile & evil ruler named Manasseh

God showed mercy to those the world would reject:
Paul wrote in I Cor. 6: “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you