I never cease to be amazed at my inability to understand the mighty workings of God. Now let me tell you what we just witnessed just a few minutes ago. David got up. and assumed that he was going to read out of one passage and thought he got mixed up and he was looking for something else and so he turned to 2 Peter chapter 2 and you read that. Yesterday morning I got up assuming that I was going to preach out of the next portion out of Job And so I'd, well, I'd actually started two, three days before trying to read out of Job and find the Lord's mind out of Job. And I, it just, it just wasn't there. It just, I'd read, I'd read, I'd read, I'd look at commentaries, I looked at everything I could read. And I'm telling you, it was just, to me, it was just darkness. So providentially, I came across a passage out of 2 Peter, and I turned to 2 Peter yesterday morning and began to look at that, and I thought, this is the message, 2 Peter, out of chapter 3. And what you read out of chapter 2 just led right up to what I want to say.

Now let me tell you something. Romans 828 is always Romans 828. And all things work together for good to them that love God. The Lord obviously has something to say tonight to Katie Baptist Church and has so orchestrated this thing. Now I've got a set of notes here. But I'm really anxious to hear what the Lord has to say. So I want you to turn with me to 2 Peter 3. 2 Peter 3. And what I'm going to do, I'm going to look at the first seven verses, but I'm going to lead up to these first seven verses as we consider a few things.

The scripture that we want to consider tonight was certainly one that was born to the heart of God's people, and especially to Peter. The message that I want to look at, it was born to his heart to write down what he wrote in these epistles that he wrote, 1 and 2 Peter. And years before Peter was moved to pen these apostles, the Lord had told Peter, as Peter was called to be an apostle, and the Lord told him, turn to, hold your place in 2 Peter. The Lord willing, we'll be there in a minute. Luke chapter 22. Luke 22. Luke 22. Look at verses 31, 32. Luke 22, 31 and 32. The Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you. that he may sift you as wheat. But I've prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

When you're recovered, he was converted in the sense of being regenerated, but he's getting ready to fall. He's getting ready to stumble. like all believers do. He was getting ready to. And the Lord told him he was. He informed him. And the scripture says in Luke 22, starting in verse 54, this is what happened, right? It wasn't long after the Lord told him that. He said, you're going to stumble. You're going to fall. You're going to deny me. Never happened, Peter said. Never happened. Verse 54 of Luke 22, they took him, led him, and brought him to the high priest's house. And Peter followed afar off. And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall and were sat down together, Peter sat down among them. But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire and earnestly looked upon him. and said, this man was also with him. He denied him saying, woman, I know him not. And after a little while, another saw him and said, thou art also of them. And Peter said, man, I am not. And about the space of an hour, After another confidently affirmed saying of a truth, this fellow also was with him for he is a Galilean. And Peter said, man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately while he yet spake, the cock crew and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly.

Now in this passage of scripture, you can turn back now to 2 Peter 23. There's basically four things, I'm not gonna have like four points, but there's four truths that I wanna consider for just a few minutes tonight out of this 3rd chapter, 2nd Peter. And here's the four things, and what I'll do is, like I said, it won't be .1, .2, .3, .4, but I'm gonna bring these things out in this message. Here's the four things. Our need of hearing and being reminded by God Almighty through his word of our need of him. That's one thing that I'm going to be mentioning tonight. Secondly, a warning concerning scoffers and doubters that are around us that would try their best to lead us astray. And then thirdly, the certainty of Christ's And then, fourthly, an admonition concerning our walk. And I'm going to try to cover these four things in an exhortation of these first seven verses out of this third chapter.

And I want you to remember, now this epistle was written by Peter shortly before Peter's death. Look at 2 Peter. Just back a page there, chapter one, verse 13, 14. Peter said, 1 Peter, I'm sorry, 2 Peter, chapter one, verse 13. Yea, I think it meet, I think it's fit, as long as I am in this tabernacle, as long as I'm in this body. Now you remember what he did. Spirit of God was very clear in what happened. The Lord told Peter, he said, you're going to deny me. Peter said, it ain't going to happen. And he did it. And the Lord looked at him, and it broke Peter's heart. And here's Peter now. He's many years later, and he's getting close to dying. Verse 13, yea, I think it meet, I think it fit, as long as I'm in this tabernacle. to stir you up by putting you in remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has showed me."

Now, Peter was saying, there's something that I need to say to you. There's something that's needful for me to remind you of. He said, as long as I'm in this body, I want to remind you of these things. And this is what we're going to cover. These things that he wanted to remind them of. These lessons that we need to learn. Peter learned a lesson the hard way. But here's the thing. These hard-learned lessons are so profitable. They're so wonderful. By nature, we would not choose them. but they are blessings beyond compare because they remind us.

Peter said, I want to tell you something. I want to remind you of something. This world is not our home. He said, I'm going to leave this place, this tabernacle that I'm in right now, just a tent, what do you say? It's just a temporary place. We've got a heavenly home that's been promised to us. A place in glory. We talk about these things and we just don't understand them. But they are their soul. And there's an anxiousness. I think age does that to you. I think distress does that to you. Pain does that to you. The Lord knows how to wean his people from this world. Peter said, I'm leaving this world. I know I won't be here long, but I want to tell you some things that I've learned.

I love talking to somebody that's been there. You know, if I want to get some advice for somebody, I want to talk to somebody that's done that before. If you've never done it before, I love you. But if you've never done it and you don't know what I'm talking about, then really it's no profit. But if you've been there, Peter said, I've been there. Now let's just look at these scriptures for just a minute. These first seven verses. 2 Peter chapter three, verse one. This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you, in both these epistles, what he's talking about, which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance.

Now he said, I want to agitate your mind. I want you to think about what I'm saying. We're just going to be here for just a little while, not just a little while here tonight at the church. The Lord may come back before this service is over. Wouldn't that be wonderful? But if he doesn't, There's some things that we need to be reminded of. And this man, Peter, was a man that knew something of the tendency of our nature to stumble. Peter could have read, you know, I could read these things about different men, different women that gone through some things in this world and they've stumbled and they've suffered and they, you know, and I can read about it and I believe it. I read it, I believed it. But I'm telling you, buddy, when you feel it in your own self, all of a sudden you know it. You know something a little bit more.

He's writing to believers is what he said. Look at, look at 2 Peter, hold your place right there. 2 Peter 1.1. Second Peter, one once, Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is such a joy to me to be able to talk to some believers, people that know God and exhibit In heart and practice, I can't see your heart, but I can see something of the evidence of wanting to hear what God has to say. And what he's saying is that back in 2 Peter 3, 3-1, he said this 2nd epistle, I'm writing to you to stir up your pure mind. Sincere, sincere is what that word means. I want to stir up that sincere mind, you that bear the mark of faith in Christ, that walk like a believer.

You know, to me, one of the greatest examples, one of the greatest declarations, I could say, of a person that knows and walks after Christ is one that sees something of their frailty. Seeing something of your frailty and your unworthiness, that is a blessed, you know what the opposite of that is? Thinking that you're somebody. They only got two kinds of people. Those that truly have a spirit about them that they're needy. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit. They're gonna see God. The Lord brings them down. So Peter's writing somebody. He said, I'm writing to you. I want to stir up, agitate. Get it mixed up. I want to bring it to the surface here, what you've learned before, you that bear the mark. I want to stir up that word. Actually, I looked it up. It means arouse, wake up, and render active. Now, you that know him know that we need to be stirred up. We need to be stirred up. We're just so, hold your place there. Song of Solomon. Here's one that we've read a lot, but I love it. Song of Solomon, chapter five. Song of Solomon, chapter five. I want to read those first few verses where the Lord came to the Shulamite, his bride, Song of Solomon 5-1, I'm come into my garden, my sister, my spouse.

Now, just let's get this really personal now. Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I'm in the midst of them. I'm in the midst of you. And as I've said before, surely there's two or three here that have been, by the grace of God, made to know him. I believe there's more than that, believe me. But surely, we're two or three. And he said, I'm coming to my garden. This is his garden. This is his garden of beauty and the smells of the fragrance of his righteousness and his holiness. And we smell him and we read his word and we hear him. And he said, I'm coming to my garden, my sister, my spouse. I've gathered my myrrh with my spice. I've eaten my honeycomb and my honey. I've drunk my wine with milk. Eat, oh friends. Drink, yea, drink abundantly, oh beloved.

Now, just put yourself in the place of the Lord saying that to us right now. Now we've assembled ourselves together. We've sung songs that honor him, that magnify his honor, glory, grace. We've taken his word. This word that he has preserved, that he's sent through men that he called, and called them holy men, wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit of God. And now we're reading this, and he's telling us, he said, I want you to, I want you as you meet together, I want you to come to my garden, here we are, here's the garden of the Lord, right here, come, eat. Drink, enjoy.

Now, listen to what we have to say by nature. You say, well, that was that woman back in Song of Solomon saying that. No, this is us. There's an old man in us that this is how he talks. This is how the old man talks. Paul said, oh, wretched man, that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death. This is us. And you that know him, you'll agree with me.

I sleep, but my heart waketh. It's the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled, for my head is filled with you and my locks with drops of the night. Now, now, you know that those are the words of Lord. That's the word of the Lord. That's God's word. That's the spirit of God speaking. This is what he says. He fellowships with his people. He said, I'll give you one heart and a new spirit, and I'll sup with you, and you'll sup with me.

But we that know him, and I'm talking about know him truly in grace and mercy. But that old man is still there. And it's us. It's us. We're still in this body with an old nature that has not been changed. It's just as evil and wicked as it's ever been. And that is our attitude.

Verse 3, I put off my coat. How shall I put it on? Oh, it's just too much trouble. I just got comfortable. I just got under the covers. and they feel so good and I don't want to get up. I've washed my feet. I don't want to have to defile them. My beloved put his hand by the hole of the door and my bowels were moved for him. You know, isn't it amazing how when the Lord brings us to ourself and causes us to remember. That was so disrespectful of me. That was so You know, how could I talk like that? How can I think like that? And we do. We do.

But, oh, listen, I tell you, does he know how to draw us to himself? Listen how he did it. I rose up to open to my beloved, and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet-smelling myrrh upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself. and was gone, my soul failed when he spake. I sought him, but I could not find him. I called him, but he gave me no answer.

I've told you so many times, I know I have, but it made such an impression on me. Old Maurice Montgomery, he said, Lord, he said, Marvin, remember, he said, the Lord may just put you out on a limb and make you think he's gonna leave you there. Oh, what a lonely place. I think I just, you know, Paul, I mean, Peter said, I want to stir up your mind. I want to I want to stir up your mind by way of remembrance. And he says, verse two, that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord. He said, I want to stir up your mind and bring you back to some remembrance of things that was told you from the Lord by the holy prophets. I want to remind you what they've all said. Stir up that pure mind imparted to you.

You that know that the flesh still dwells within. Beloved, we've heard the gospel. We've heard the message of God's grace. Totally salvation, totally by the grace of God. And we read it and we know it. Paul, Peter says, I want to I want to tell you again that you might be mindful. Because we're all prone to forget. And while we're being reminded of the truth of the gospel. Peter was moved to give us a warning. He said, I want you to remember something. He said, now I'm here to talk to you. He said, I've been where you are. I know it. I feel it by experience. He said, I know what it feels like to know what I've done and how I denied the Lord. And he said, I'm still here by the grace of God. And he said, I want to tell you something so that I can say something to you. And you might hear from somebody who's been there and knows what you're thinking and how you feel.

He said this. Knowing first, he said, I want you to remember something. Verse three. That there shall come in the last days coffers walking after their own lust. I want you to remember, it is gonna be in the last days. Now, the scripture sets forth something. I want you to hold your place and turn to 1 John 2. 1 John 2, 18, 19. Just a few more pages toward the back, maybe one page. 1 John 2. 1819. Little children, it is the last time. As you've heard, that Antichrist shall come even now. Are there many Antichrist? Whereof we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, if they had been of us, I think about, again, how many different denominations, how many different ways, false ways of salvation. He said there's many antichrists. There's many. I've said this before. Have you ever seen or just imagined how many different denominations? They all got a little bit of different something about them. There's just a little difference in them. but they're all of them are just, they're anti-Christ, anti-Christ against the Lord Jesus Christ.

And they went out from us. They don't stay and sit under the simple, and I use that word respectfully, you know, the singleness of the gospel. They don't sit under the singleness of the gospel of God's grace. Just tell me again, that's an amazing thing. A believer is a strange thing to this world. You tell me now, you're telling me that you like to hear the same thing over and over and over again. Yes, I do. And buddy, if I hear something different from what I know is the simplicity of Christ, then all of a sudden I'm gonna be watching you. I'm gonna be listening to you. And I want, because I want to hear, I want to hear Him.

He said, little children, it's the last time. There's many antichrists. Verse 19, they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, what would they have done? They'd have continued. They'd have continued in the gospel. Now, I've told you before, I'm not saying that if one person leaves, one place where the gospel is preached and go somewhere else where the gospel is preached. But if they just quit, they just quit and they're never brought back. It's a sure thing according to scriptures, they went out from us that it might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

This is a marvelous thing that Peter is warning people about. Recognize, you're going to have some struggles in your heart. You're going to have some struggles with the flesh, struggles with the world, struggles with false religion. It's all, they're all lumped in together. They're all going to come back to the same thing. Antichrist. They're against Christ. But Peter said, I'm warning you. Those that walk, he said back in 2 Peter chapter 3, knowing this first, that there shall come in the last day scoffers. walking after their own lust, walking after what their flesh desires. Walking after their own lust, what does that mean? The absolute disregard, coldness, attitude, that coldness of attitude toward the gospel, their own carnal reasoning and what their flesh dictates that natural, fleshly desire, running after the things of this world, religiously, physically, what are you going to say? More than Christ, over and above Christ.

Knowing this first, there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lust, and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since The fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. And for this, they willingly are ignorant, ignorant of that by the word of God, the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. but the heavens and the earth, which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved under fire until the day of judgment, perdition of ungodly man.

I want to warn you, according to these scriptures again, that we have an old man living in us and that old man loves the things of this world. It loves the lust of this flesh. The pride of life. It loves these things that are against Christ. They love that that old man loves this world, but be mindful. This world is ending. This world is coming to an end. Somebody said you don't have to remind Remind me of that. Yes, I do Because I need to be reminded of it and the scripture tells us that we need to be reminded of it And if the scriptures tells us I'm putting this that you might be mindful. I want to tell you this again I want to tell you this again. I want to tell you this again

If you knew good and well That tonight's it this is it this is the last message you're going to ever hear and This is gonna be the last sermon that you've ever heard while you're on this earth. You're getting ready to leave this world and you're gonna stand before God.

The thing I think about is I am so thankful that I could be here in an assembly where God's people are assembled together and we can hear the gospel. But I want to say one thing to myself. Marvin, please listen. Please listen to what's being said. Listen to what God has to say. Listen to what the Lord has to say to his people.

I want to read you. I said I was going to stop, and I will after this. I promise. Turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. I want to read the first 10 verses. First, 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. 2 Thessalonians 1, 1-10.

Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians, in God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace unto you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. We're bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, as fit, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth, so that we ourselves glory in you, in the churches of God, in your patience and faith, all your persecutions, your tribulations that you endure, which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer, seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and not and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord Jesus or from the Lord and from the way I'm sorry let me read verse nine who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, to be admired in all of them that believe, because our testimony among you was believed in that day.

Peter was saying, Paul was saying, all the apostles were saying, be mindful of the struggle that we're suffering right now. We're suffering with our flesh. Peter felt the frailty of his flesh. We're suffering because of those that are in this world, that are scoffers at the gospel that we love, the message of Christ that's preached, believed on. We're suffering from getting older. We feel the frailty of this flesh. Peter said, I know I'm not long for this world, but lift up your head. Be reminded, the Lord is not going to forsake us. He's not gonna leave us to ourselves.

This world is but for a moment in light of eternity, but there's coming a day when indescribable, I don't even know, I won't even attempt to say it, I have not seen, heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man those things that God's prepared for his people. I know that, but I know this, it's gonna be glorious, and we'll be with him soon.

I want to stir up all of our minds to remember that. Seek the Lord while he may be found. For God's glory and our good.