chapter of the book of 1 Peter. This second chapter has to do
with the wickedness and deceitfulness of the natural man. and in particular
false prophets and he says in chapter 2 verse 1 but there were
false prophets also among the people false prophets false prophets
is one who tells lies on God doesn't tell the truth even as there shall be false
teachers among you there will be false teachers who privately shall bring in
damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them. And
the result is they'll bring upon themselves swift destruction. But the sorry part of it is many
shall follow their pernicious ways. Many shall follow. Many'll hear. Many'll hear. That's the reason I mentioned
to you this morning about the narrow way and the broad way.
Most everybody right now is on the broad way, aren't they? Really.
They're on the broad way. They believe something. They've
got some sort of faith in some particular object. It may be
in themselves, or in their own works, or it may be in some particular
religious doctrine, or ceremony, or church, or denomination, or
philosophy. They got a belief that they refer
to as their faith in something. And they're on a broad road. They're
not on the narrow way. Christ is not all and in all. And many shall follow their pernicious
ways, by reason of whom the way of
truth shall be evil spoken of." That is, they'd make fun of a
man who preaches Christ only as the basis of salvation. They would make fun of a man
who said, You haven't got a single solitary thing to do with it.
There's nothing you can do to appease God. There's not anything
that you can do to gain favor with God. Now they'd make fun
of a man like that. They'd say, that's not right.
That's not right. You mean there's not a single
solitary thing I can do? That's what I mean. Not a thing
you can do to gain favor with God. Oh, they'd say, what kind
of preacher are you? That ain't right. That ain't
right. Huh? It says, by reason of whom the
way of truth shall be evils spoken of. You talk to them about predestination. You talk to them about God's
divine doctrine of election. You talk to them about imputed
righteousness. You talk to them about free justification. They say you're crazy. That's
God's unfair. You mean God selects, elects,
determines before men are born who's going to be saved and who's
going to be lost? That's unfair. That can't be God. I wouldn't
even do a thing like that and I'm not God. See what I'm talking
about? Talk to some of these people. Have some discussion with your
neighbors sometime across the fence. Tell him about that. See what
he says. I'll tell you what he'll say.
You'll make an enemy out of him right now. He'll say, that ain't
so. He'll say, you're worse than
a Mormon. you're worse than the Jehovah Witnesses. "...and through covetousness
shall they with vain words, deceivable words, make merchandise of you,
the illusion for their profit." That's what these television
evangelists do. They're making merchandise out
of the Gospel. They're making merchandise out of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I heard one fellow say this morning on the television,
he said that he had a burden from God. He said he had a vision. And he said God, in a roundabout
way, he didn't just say God, sit down and talk to him or anything
like that. He might as well because I would
have readily believed that as I would what he said. But anyhow,
he said that he had this vision He's going to win 100 million
souls to Jesus this year. 100 million souls. He said, I can't do it by myself.
Well, I agreed with him there. He said, I can't do it by myself.
He said, I need your help. He said, now I've got some tapes
here that I'm sending out. He said, I already wrote you
a letter explaining to you about my objective of 100 million souls
this year. He said, I'm going to Russia.
I'm going to Russia right now. He said, we're making plans over
there to have a great big campaign over there. We're going to win
millions of them Russians. Going to all those countries that communism
has toppled. He said, they're ripe for the
gospel. He's going to go over there in a jet airplane, drive
around to Rolls Royce or Cadillac or something, and them people
over there haven't got anything to eat. I wonder how well received
he'll be. But anyhow, he said he had this
beast a hundred million souls this year. And he said, I got
this tape here. And he said, boy, he said, this
tape, he said, it's a video. And he said, it'll cost you $30.
And he said, it's a powerful tape. He said, this man preached
in our pulpit here. And he said, it was the greatest
thing that ever happened to our church. He said, everybody in
the church cried and wept. And he said, the altars. were
full of people, backsliders, people repenting, and people
weeping and moaning and groaning and so forth. And he said, he
said, now I'm going to show this, I'm going to offer it to you.
It's on the screen. He said, you call this toll-free
number and send me a check for $30. Well, the guy's making merchandise
out of it. He's making merchandise out of
the Word of God. out of a man's experience. Well,
he said, the vain words make merchandise of you whose judgment
now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth
not. And I said, these fellows, these
false teachers among you who bring in these damnable heresies,
he said, there's going to come a time when they're going to
die, and the judgments are going to be upon them. And verse 4
he says, for if God spared not the angels of sin, If God didn't
spare the angels, the angels in heaven, who sinned against
God, and God didn't spare them, there's no sacrifice made for
the angels. There's no way an angel can be
redeemed. There's no way. There's no way of salvation for
him. Christ didn't die for the angels. He died for men, sinful
men. The fallen angels, there is no
hope for, no salvation for a fallen angel, none whatsoever. For if
God spared not the angels of sin, but cast them down to hell,
and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto
the day of judgment, and he said he spared not the old world. He just saved Noah, the 8th person,
the preacher of righteousness, bringing him the blood upon the
world of the ungodly. And he said he turned the cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemning them with an overthrow,
making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly. But he delivered just life. Vexed,
that word vexed means tormented, just Lot who was tormented with
the filthy conversation of the wicked. For that righteous man,
that's Lot, dwelling there in those cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
and all of their ungodliness, dwelling among them in seeing
and hearing. He saw and he heard what they
was doing. And it tormented his righteous soul. He wasn't enjoying
that. tormented him from day to day
with what? Their unlawful deeds? He said
the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations.
He knew how to deliver just life, didn't he? Got him out of there.
And to reserve the unjust, he knows how to deliver the godly,
the righteous, the believer, the child of God, the sheep,
the lamb, he knows how to do it. And he also knows how to
reserve the unjust, to keep the unjust unto the day of judgment
for what? To be punished. To be punished. If God spared not His own Son, who am I who am a burden to the ground
that I walk upon? Who am I, worm of the dust, less
than the least? Who am I to think that I possibly
could escape judgment and punishment? if God spared not His own Son.
God didn't spare His own Son, He punished His own Son! He poured
out the wrath of God against sin on Christ! And if man won't
have Christ, he must be punished. If a man won't have Jesus Christ
in this life for his all in all, he must be punished. He will
be punished. I think of the poor souls that
I see every day. See their smiling faces and their
cheery hellos. See them and know that they're
without Christ and without God in this world and God's just
reserving them right now for the day of judgment. They're
going to be punished. Boy, something in it. He knows
how to reserve the unjust under the day of judgment to be punished.
He knows how to do it. He's got ways. But chiefly, mainly, number one,
them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, despise
government, despise rule. That word government means dominion.
Despise rule. The man who despises the Lord
Jesus Christ despises Him because of what He requires. He requires
what? Obedience to Him. He requires
that you bow to His rule. His rule is where? And men said,
no, we will not have this man rule over us. A man who vows
to the rule of Christ does what? He makes a commitment to the
Lord Jesus Christ. He commits himself to his government,
to his rule, to his dominion. And a man who does so does because
he wants to. He's not forced to do it. He
doesn't do it against His will. He's willing to do it because
God's made Him willing. And He's seen the beauty and
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and the life to come, and He's
made willing to do it. He said, come hell or high water,
I'm going to be identified with Him, the Lord, in Nazarene. I'm
going to follow Him. But the reason that most
men, most women, most boys and girls have nothing to do with
the Christ of the Bible is because He demands commitment. He demands
surrender. Surrender to my rule. And men
say, no, it's too much. It's too much. I can't give you all my time and
all my money. All my being, I can't do it.
I got to have time for myself. I got to do this. I got to do
that. I got to live. I got to work. I got to play.
Can't do it. You ask too much. Is that right? That's right. That's the reason
people don't bow to it. It's not their sins that keep
them from coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's their self-righteousness
and their refusal to commit their souls to Him who's their governor. He'll be the governor. If any
man follow me and hate not his father, his mother, his brother,
his sister, yea, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. I don't care how he, I don't
care what he says. I don't care what he, what probation
he makes. I don't care where he's standing.
I don't care of his respectability. If he hates not father, mother,
brother, sister, yea, even his own life, he can't be my disciple. What's he saying? I demand total
unqualified commitment to myself. I demand it. I must have it.
That's what he's saying. These people here, they despise
government. And that just about describes
everybody in this, who's a member of Adam's race. They despise
rule. We live in a time when no one
will tell, no one will tell me what to do. Isn't that right?
Nobody! Why? You can get a job. Get a job. Hard as they are to
find. Get a job. Go to work. But you'll have an understanding
that nobody will tell you what to do. That you've got not only
your rights, but you've got a union to protect you. I ain't gonna
tell you what to do. I'll do what I think's so, right?
That's just the way everybody is. In particular, in particular,
in the spiritual realm. He said they despise government,
and presumptuous are they. They're self-willed. They are
not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries. Whereas angels, which are greater
in power and might than they are, bring not railing accusation
against them before the Lord. The angels won't do that, but
they will. But these, these, as natural fruit beasts, made
to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they
understand not. I just told you, if you tell
these people this, you tell them that there's only one way to
God, to be accepted with God and by God, is through the blood
and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, and never
other ways, the false way. God won't have anything to do
with a man except this way, blood and righteousness. What do they
say? They speak evil of you. They
say you're crazy. That's exactly what he's saying
here. He said they speak evil of things that they understand
not. They don't understand what they're
talking about, yet they're an expert on the subject. I talk to them practically every
day somewhere along the road. Someone wants to talk about religion.
I say, are you the reverend? Yeah, well, some say I am, some
say I'm not. Take your choice. Don't make
any difference. What do you want to talk about? You want to talk
shop? Yeah, I want to talk shop. What about this election business?
Well, just open it up right here to Ephesians, chapter 1, and
verse number 3, and we'll read it and see what the Bible says.
Not what I say, not what you say. You want to talk shop? "...according
as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we might behold Him blameless, standing before Him in love."
That's what it's saying. It says that He elected us in
Christ Jesus before time ever was. You don't know nothing about
that. He didn't know what was in the Bible. I talked to two
Mormon missionaries one time and quoted that verse of scripture
and they said, I never heard of it. I said, well, the Bible
says, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. They told
me that God loved everybody. I said, if God loves everybody,
how come the Bible says, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I
hated? They said, where's that at? I said, it's in the book
of Romans, chapter 8 or chapter 9. They said, we didn't know it
was there. Yet they went down the road shaking their fists
at him, saying he's crazy. He said, that man's crazy. He's
crazy. I wasn't crazy. No. Listen. They shall utterly perish
in their own corruption. That's what's going to happen
to them. Well, listen. I started out just to read a
few verses here, not to read that many verses, but to get
back to what I said this morning. This morning, we read there about
a man dying. And I'm taken up. I'm taken up
here lately with this death business. Because I've been around where
some folks have experienced death. I've been around a few funerals.
I've been to a funeral home here lately. And I think, I read in the paper
every day where someone dies in his 60s. And I think about
it. Don't you? You think about that?
I do. Some of you young folks here, you don't think about it.
When I was your age, I didn't think about it either. I didn't
think about it when the war was on. I didn't think about dying.
I've seen some, I've seen some airplanes. I've seen them dropping
bombs and I've seen the water splash and I've seen some people
bleeding. But I didn't, even at the time,
I didn't think it was going to happen to me. I wasn't, I wasn't
scared that much. Not that much. I didn't think
I was going to die. I thought I was going back home
to the United States. I didn't think I was going to
die. I never worried about it. But I think about it now. I think
about it now. I just read, I believe it's in
this morning's paper. I read about a fella that died.
Him and I started to work the same day in the mine in Berricksville.
Same day. He was a little older than I
was. He was 69 years old. His name was William Cochran.
You know him? Him and I started at the same time working for
Jack Steele. I seen this morning's paper where he died! He died! I got to think about this. Not
just today, I think about it. Die, and I know I'm going to
die. I know it. I know it. This is the common
experience of a rich man and a poor man. They both die. This
man who lived in poverty, poverty and disease, this poor man, he
died, and his needs were over with when he died. And the rich
man who fed sumptuously every day, he died. They both died. Isn't that right? They both died. But as far as
I know in those 14, 15 verses, in Luke chapter 16, it's the
only place in the Bible that I know of, maybe someone else
knows another place, I'd appreciate it if you'd tell me, the only
place I know of in the Bible that describes outside the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's the only place in the Bible. It says, and a rich man died,
and being in hell he was tormented by these flames. That's the description
of what happens to the man who dies outside of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I think, since this describes
the feelings of the unconverted after death, For this reason,
it deserves our attention and consideration. A man's worldly condition is
no test of his state in the sight of God. Two men, one a very rich
man and another a very poor man. One fared sumptuously every day.
This beggar, he had nothing to call his own. Of these two men,
the poor man had grace and the rich man had none. The poor man
lived by faith and walked in the steps of Abraham. And the
rich man, what was he? He was a thoughtless, selfish
worldling and he was dead in trespasses and in sin. And when
he went to hell and was tormented in these flames, that was the
reward or the wages of a misspent life. He would not yield himself
to the rule of the Lord Jesus, so he had to be punished for
his disobedience. The common idea. I hope we can
be delivered from this common idea held by the majority of
people at any given time. in the U.S.A. of America. The common idea is that man are
to be valued according to their income. That the man who has
the most money is the man who ought to be the most highly esteemed. It wasn't so in this case. It
wasn't so in this case, and it's not so in very many cases. The
scriptures is opposed to it. Let me read something to you. The first chapter of the book
of 1 Corinthians, it says this, it says, For you see your calling,
brethren, you see your calling, how that
not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble,
are called. Isn't that right? Not many mighty,
not many wise men, not many noble, that's rich, powerful, famous,
influential, not many of them. This is what the Word of God
says, it's not what I said. It said not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called but God. God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.
And the base things of the world and the things which are despised
hath God chosen, yea, things which are not, to bring to naught
things that are. Why? That no flesh should glory
in his presence. That's true. There's another
verse. Let me read this to you in the book of Jeremiah. The
book of Jeremiah chapter 9. This is a good verse. You'll enjoy this. Verse 24. Verse 23. Thus saith the Lord,
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory
in his might," listen to this now, "...let not the rich man
glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this,"
what's that? "...that he understandeth and
knoweth me." If a man is going to glory, let him glory in that!
"...that he understands and he knows God." That's what he said. I am the Lord, which exercise
loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For
in these things I delight, saith the Lord." Well, because a man's rich, and
sometimes we're very envious because there's people who make
$60,000, $80,000, $100,000 a year, and we're trying to make it on on $10,000, $11,000, $12,000,
$15,000, $16,000 a year trying to buy a car and
raise their children and going to the grocery store and pay
insurance and all that. We ain't got a dime. Ain't got
a dime left over. When the bills is paid, you can't
find a dollar to buy a hot dog. Is that right? That's for the man that he's
working out here for $5 or $6 an hour. How can he have anything? He
can't have anything. Here's another fella, he's making
$12 and $15 an hour. He can have him a boat, he can
have him a pickup. He can do this, he can do that.
But that $5 an hour man, what can he do? Huh? What can he do? He can barely pay his bills,
and I'll guarantee you, at the end of the month, he comes up
short. And the longer he goes, the farther
in debt he becomes. My God, if there's ever a man
who's an object, who's a fit object to commit what the rich
man's got, that poor man is. Because there's so many got so
much. And that poor man ain't got nothing. Ain't no way out
for it. Ah, listen, well, well, W-E-A-L-T,
money in the bank, riches, is not a mark of God's favor. You can mark that down. That's
not a sign that's a favor of God's upon a man, cause he got
a lot of money. And I'll tell you this, too.
That poverty is not a mark of God's displeasure, because there
was a poor man here that didn't have nothing. He went to heaven, and there
was a rich man that had everything, and he went to hell. Now the two, if this has got
anything to do with it, I'd rather be the poor man and not have
nothing. Keep going in the hole at the
end every 30 days. Keep sliding back. Keep sliding
back. Tell them, my wife, how we're
going to do it. How we're going to make it. How we're going to
make it. Oh, listen. Those whom God justifies
and glorifies are seldom of the rich of this world. Now, if we'd measure men as God
measures men, we must value them according to their grace. So, what can I say? Death is
the common end to which all classes, rich and poor, of mankind must
come. The trials of the beggar and
the high living of the rich man comes to an end because both
die. Death is a great fact which all
acknowledge, but very few realize. We all acknowledge we die, but
we don't think we're going to die. We don't give it much credibility,
we don't give it much serious consideration. They'll say, well,
yes, I know, I know, death's coming, death's coming, and we
sat in the funeral home, go there and talk to people, and people
say, well, yeah, he died, and if I say, well, you're going
to die too, and I'm going to die, well, they said, we'd rather
not talk about that, let's talk about something clear. But this
could be pleasant. This could be the best thing
that ever happened to a man is to die. Huh? If he dies, Paul said, for me
to die is Christ. For me to depart is to be with
Christ. He said, it's gain. If I die,
it could be better. I said most people eat and drink
and talk and plan as if they were going to live on this earth
forever. No one wants to talk about this
day. And I bet there's a lot of people that won't read the
obituaries. Well, listen, you and I who are believers in Christ
Jesus, ah, we have a good hope, a good hope. Whether we live
or whether we die, we are going to serve the Lord. That's for
me and my house. I don't know about the others.
We're going to stand over here. We're on the Lord's side. They're
going to identify with the MC. So we got to guard against this
spirit. This spirit of eating and drinking
and talking and planning and acting like we're going to live
forever when we know that's a lie. And make a consideration for
that day when we lay it down. We go out into eternity. We are,
we're going to go out in eternity. We're going to die. We got to
be on guard against this awful spirit, worldly spirit that prevails. Eating, drinking, talking, planning,
if we're not going to die. We'd do well, we'd do well if
we'd ought to keep this last day before us. And if we would,
it'd guard, it'd be an antidote against arrogance and against
pride and against being self-willed and foolish and careless and
ungodly. If we kept that, if we kept that
with us as our daily, let that be our daily companion. Walk
with us and talk with us, you're going to die, you're going to
die, you're going to die. Where are you going? Depends
upon the question that our Lord asked one of those fellows. He
said, What think ye of Christ? What think ye of the Lord Jesus
Christ? Whose Son is He? Your answer
will be indicative of where you're going and where I'm going. I believe He's the Christ, the
Son of the Living God. He's my only hope. If I've got
no hope, pardon me. If He didn't die in my stead
and bury His body, the penalty that was due me as a sinner,
for my rebellion, for my pernicious ways, for my sins and sin, if
He didn't do that, and He didn't clothe me with His righteousness,
I'm a gone Jesuit. No hope for me. No hope for me.
What reason I got to believe it? That's what the Bible says.
The Bible said He did that for sinners. And that's what I am.
He didn't call me to be anything else but what I am. What are
you? I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner undone. No hope of myself. What about
the poor fellow? What about this poor fellow?
Pity him. Pray for him if you will. Pity.
Pity. My God pity this man. Pray for
him. His wife told me this morning.
She said please pray for my husband. Please pray for him. She said
he's trying to quit chewing tobacco so he can come to church with
me. He thinks that the only sin that he's got is chewing tobacco.
He thinks that if he could quit chewing tobacco, he'd be all right. Boy, you see what we're
up against? This is what we're up against.
I'm telling people it's not what goes in a man that defiles him,
it's what comes out of him. I'm telling you about that principle
of sin that he inherited from Adam in the fall. He's a sinner
and he has that constitution as such. That's what I'm saying. You hear these fellas. This fella's
far older than I am. Been around a lot longer than
I have. And he thinks if he quits chewing tobacco, everything will
be all right. That's what we're up against.
That's what the preach. Quit this and quit that and you'll
be alright. Well...