If you would go ahead and turn
with me to the book of Hosea, Hosea, the Old Testament book
of Hosea, chapter 4. That's where we'll begin this
morning. This year is the 50-year anniversary
of Teresa and I's graduating high school. Just this past week,
Another one of my childhood friends died and was buried. We grew
up in the same neighborhood. We went to the same junior high
and high school. Ran in the same circles. In the
past couple of years, Several of those who I had association
with in years gone by have passed from life unto death. In their obituary, the ones that
I read, it was said of each one of them that they were now with
the Lord. He went home to be with his Lord
and Savior. Or she went home to be with her
Lord and Savior. They were declared by the preacher
to love Jesus, and now we're in the presence of the one they
loved and the one who loved them. Anymore, that's pretty much what
every obituary says. It doesn't matter how the person
lived, if they ever attended church or not. They went home
to be with the Lord Jesus. But not everybody does. But from what I know from some
who had remained in touch with this friend of mine, none of
them gave any evidence that he loved the Lord. And one of my other childhood buddies
called me Thursday night. He had visited the funeral home. of the recently passed acquaintance
that day. And as a side note, I call the
deceased an acquaintance because I haven't seen him or had any
contact with him for nearly 45 years. But occasionally I would
hear things about him. without having any personal contact
with him at all. So the friend that called me
Thursday evening began to tell me about all the other childhood
associates that were at the departed's visitation. And he said, well,
you wouldn't believe how feeble so-and-so has gotten. He said,
you wouldn't believe how old John Smith now looks. I didn't even recognize cheerleaders,
Mary Johnson and Donna Williams and Betty Clark. And if you're
wondering, those aren't their real names. Another one of our old classmates,
who is now a, quote, preacher, officiated the funeral service.
And just as I expected, my friend was taken back, knowing the deceased,
that the preacher preached him right on into heaven. Right on
into a mansion of glory, walking the golden streets and cloud
hopping with all the other saints that have gone before Him. And
His salvation was based on His kindness, His reputation, and
His love for His community, His family, and His friends. That's
not going to do it. That's not going to get it done. Only ignorance would say such. Now, I'm not trying to be ugly.
Do you know that Scripture talks a great deal about ignorance?
Man's ignorance? And please understand that I
stand not before you today as their judge. It's true that I
didn't and don't know their hearts. But I will be bold enough to
say that we live in a day where almost everyone professes to
have a good thing going with Jesus, who's referred to often
as the man upstairs. That's ignorance. To even call
Him such is ignorance. It's ignorant. It's another Jesus, another Spirit,
another Gospel, and altogether another God, and they're putting
all their hope and trust in a false God and Savior. And I'll be even
bolder to say that the reason that this is so is because the
majority of men and women in the world today are ignorant
of the things of God. Please understand that the word
ignorant does not mean stupid. Stupid means to show a lack of
intelligence or common sense. I'm not saying that people perish
because of a lack of intelligence or common sense. That's not what
I'm saying. The word ignorant means a lack
of knowledge, a lack of information. Now here in Hosea chapter 4 verse
6, The Lord says this, My people
are destroyed, that word means cut off, for a lack of knowledge. And the one who cuts them off,
the one that destroys them, is the very one that they have no
knowledge of and are ignorant of, God Almighty. The Lord goes
on to say in verse 6, because thou hast rejected knowledge,
I will also reject thee. People today perish for a lack
of knowledge. Ignorant. The information that
they need is readily available, but they don't need it. They
don't want it. They won't ask God to reveal
it to them. And they reject it to their own destruction. Because
they reject it, the Lord rejects them. Turn over a couple pages to Hosea
chapter 7. Here the Lord continues to speak
through Hosea the prophet. This is Hosea's sermon from the
Lord. I sure hope that this message
today is from the Lord. I pray that it is and I believe
that it is. Here the Lord continues to speak. That's what we do when we preach. We seek the Lord for a message.
And we, the best we can, deliver that message to you. That's what
I'm endeavoring to do to you this morning. I'm striving to
give you a message from the Lord. Hosea chapter seven begins with
charging Israel, specifically the tribe of Ephraim, who was
the strongest tribe in the northern kingdom. He charges them with
their sins and the punishment that will follow. They're charged
first with ingratitude to God. They sin in a fearless manner
against God's mercy. They commit falsehood, thieves,
and robbery. Look at verse one. When I would
have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered
and the wickedness of Samaria, for they commit falsehood. That's
fabrication. We hear a lot today about fake
news. Well, that's what they're talking
about, fabrication, just things fabricated, no truth to them
at all. They commit falsehood, fabrication, and the thief cometh
in, and the troop of robbers spoileth without. Verse 2 tells
us that they without consideration of the omniscience of God. God
knows everything. We saw that in the Psalm study
this morning. Men think that they go unnoticed
by God when they sin. They don't. He's omniscient,
He knows everything. And He notices their sin, yet
they blatantly continue in sin. Verse three, we're told that
they flatter their king and the princes and they lie and say
that God is pleased with their idolatry. You know, there's a
lot of folks today standing up, telling their hearers just how
pleased God is with them and their church and all they're
doing for Jesus. That's not what the gospel is
about. The gospel is about what God has done for sinners. And
if you're not hearing that, you're not hearing the gospel. Verse
four, they raged like a heated oven in adultery and physical
lusts. And verse five, with drunkenness,
they dragged their king and princes to do the same, scorning the
God of truth. And then in verse seven, with
their raging lusts, they devoured their judges, made their kings
to fall, and brought on wicked corruption in their nation. And
then in verse eight, they mixed themselves with the nations of
the earth, learning superstition and idolatry, intermingling such
practices with the worship of God. And notice what they're
compared to here. All they did was to make themselves
like a half-baked cake that had not been turned. burnt on one
end and unbaked on the other. Now that pretty well describes
men and women by nature. Half burnt and yet unbaked. That's how God describes us.
Now we saw in our studies of Exodus and Numbers and especially
Judges, over and over and over again, The children of Israel
did sight again, or did evil again in the sight of the Lord. God would send a judge, God would
deliver them, the judge would die, and then the children of
Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord. Five or six
times in the book of Judges it says that. Speaking of the nation
of Israel in general, and the men of Israel in specific, the
Lord says here in verse nine, now look at it. Strangers have
devoured his strength, Israel's strength, the nation of Israel,
and each individual man and woman of Israel. And he knoweth it
not. Yea, gray hairs are here and
there upon him, yet he knoweth it not. Consider those words,
he knoweth it not. What does that mean? It means
they've got a lack of knowledge. It means they're ignorant. That's
exactly what it means. There are a lot of things that
I'm ignorant about. I'll be the first to tell you.
That doesn't mean that I'm stupid. I got on an airplane last week,
flew to New Jersey and flew back. And I don't know the physics
of how an airplane flies. But I got on that plane and flew.
I know they fly, but I'm ignorant of how they fly. Ignorant simply
means unaware of. It means unconscious of, unfamiliar
with. All of us have things that we're
ignorant of. In most cases, that's not a bad
thing. All of us are ignorant of some
things. But when it comes to our ignorance and our unawareness
and our unconsciousness, our unfamiliarity with God and His
Word, it's a bad thing. It's a really bad thing. Why?
Because men and women perish and are destroyed, cut off by
God, by a lack of knowledge. Ignorance of God, who God is,
who and what we are, a lack of awareness, unconsciousness, unfamiliarity
with God and His Word. Strangers have devoured men's
strength. They've sold them a lie, and
they don't even know it. They're ignorant of it, they're
unaware, they're unconscious, they're unfamiliar. Who are these
strangers? Well, the word stranger in the
text means actually to turn aside. They're those who have turned
aside others. It means specifically to commit
adultery. These strangers are those who
seek to turn us aside, appealing to our lust, our fleshly desires,
and we don't even know that they're doing it to us. They make us
think that they love us, but they don't. They're out to destroy
us. They make us think they love us, but they don't. You know
what? We're pretty easy to fool. Men and women by nature are ignorant,
unlearned, and unaware of the things of God. And we're most
definitely ignorant concerning ourselves. The apostle Paul admitted
to such until God revealed his ignorance to him. Paul told Timothy,
1 Timothy 1, verse 13, he said, I was a blasphemer. He said,
I was a persecutor. I was injurious. I caused people
harm. But I obtained mercy because,
now listen, I did it ignorantly in unbelief. Ignorant, unlearned, lack of
knowledge. Paul went on to tell Timothy
that God's grace was exceeding abundant to him. And he continued
on and said, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
ignorant, unlearned sinners like me. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad that he did?
Those who are unaware that sin is what they are. Well, I've
sinned a time or two. No, sin's what you are. You can't
do anything but sin. You cannot not sin. Sin's what
you are. You know, many times in Paul's
writings, he said, brethren, I wouldn't have you ignorant.
Wouldn't have you to be ignorant. But by nature, we're ignorant,
we're unlearned, we're unfamiliar, unaware of these things until
and unless God reveals them to us. God says here, Ephraim, strangers
have devoured your stream. And you don't even know it. You're
ignorant and unlearned in these things. Gray hairs are here and
there upon you. Yet you don't even know. You
don't know what's going on. You're unaware. Why is gray hair
mentioned here? I think gray hair is the prettiest
hair there is. A lot of people spend big money
to get the color hair Sharon had. And she'd tell you that
she earned every one of them. And we do, don't we? We earn
them all. But why is gray hair mentioned here? Well, in men
and women's older years, as they get older, they still don't know
the things that they should have learned. When the Lord speaks
here about gray hair, it's referring to getting older. Hoary hair,
gray hair, white hair in the scripture refers to getting older.
It's a sign that we're getting older and death is coming. Now,
I know there are some who are younger, who are prematurely
gray. And you're not old, but when your gray hair comes, you
do realize that you've gotten older. You didn't have them when
you were 10, but maybe at 23, you have one sprout out and you
go, oh my, let me get that, pluck that thing out. And in most cases, when gray
hair comes, it means that we won't be here as long as we've
already been here. You know, I get a little tickled
sometimes. People say, oh, he's a middle-aged man. How old is
he? 50. Well, he gonna live to 100? He's a lot older than middle-aged
if he's 50. Unless you're like Paul, 45,
big middle-aged. Now, if I live until I'm 80,
I got a little over 10 years left. And if I live to be 90,
like Brother Hibbs, I've got a little over 20 years left.
Yet, regardless, there's no guarantee that I got tomorrow. And the
gray hair reminds us that time is short. The point is, I have
considerably less years left than I've already lived. So,
to you, my gray-haired friends, And that includes you that still
color your hair. And not just you women, I know men that color
their hair too. We're old enough and we've been
here long enough to know some things. We've been around long
enough to have seen some things, to have heard some things, to
have experienced some things, and to be responsible for some
things. Gray hair should be a sign of
maturity, should be a sign of wisdom, patience, understanding,
but that's not always the case. Some knoweth it not. Ignorant, that's what the word
means, unlearned, a lack of knowledge. Many in their old age hadn't
learned anything. You know them and I know them.
Peter talking to the Jews in Acts chapter 3, he said, you
denied the Holy One and the just and desired a murderer to be
granted unto you. Talking about Barabbas. And he
said, crucify Christ, give us Barabbas. He said, you killed
the Prince of Life whom God hath raised from the dead. And then
he said, but you did it ignorantly through ignorance, unbelief.
Therefore repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted
out. Friends, we need to ask God to
reveal some things to us, to give us some knowledge and some
understanding in the things of God. It's, therefore repent and
be converted that your sins may be gone, blotted out. It's not
a lack of intelligence. It's not due to a lack of mental
capacity. It's because of a lack of knowledge,
a lack of information. You know, men and women can be
intelligent in the matters of the world and be totally ignorant
in the things of God. I'm amazed at how many bright
men and women there are that believe the most foolish things
about God. You know it, Steve. You've told
me about a few of them. that you've come in contact with.
Bright, bright men, intelligent men, bright women, intelligent
women, and they'll worship a tree stump. Eye hath not seen, ear hath not
heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of the man the
things that God hath prepared for them that love him. People
are ignorant. These things are included in
the new heart that God gives us. God's got to give us a new
heart. And with that new heart, he reveals to us these things. In the hearts of all that are
wise hearted, I have put wisdom, God said. But the natural man
receiving not the things of the Spirit of God, but foolishness
unto him. Oh, you mean to tell me, I had
a man tell me one time, you mean to tell me a man named Jesus
died on the cross, shed His blood, and that's how you're gonna be
saved and wind up in heaven? Well, that's foolishness, that's
what he said, that's foolishness. Well, it may be to you, it may
be to you, but Christ in me is the hope of glory. The only hope
that I have of all of being saved is if that's so. See, I'm not
ignorant of these things, because God in His Word has taught them
to me. He's revealed them to me. But of Him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God has made into us wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. It's of God that we have those
things. Understanding and knowledge of
the things of God comes by revelation, not by education. First thing
people ask me that don't know me, when they find out that I
am a preacher or a pastor, well, where did you go to seminary?
It's not by education. I went to the University of Adversity. I went to the School of Hard
Knocks. brought me down before He raised
me up. God killed me before He made
me alive. God set me under a gospel preacher
and taught me from these words the unsearchable riches of the
Lord Jesus Christ. They can't be revealed. They
can't be bought. They can't be earned. And they're
certainly not merited. You know, a man once told Mr.
Spurgeon that he didn't believe in election. He was adamant about
it. He said, Mr. Spurgeon, I have
read through the Bible 23 times on my knees and never saw the
teaching of election. And Mr. Spurgeon said, well,
there's your problem right there. He said, first you need to get
in a comfortable chair, get up off your knees. He said, no wonder
you didn't see election. You were too uncomfortable to
see anything. And he said, secondly, you need to slow down. He said,
if you've read through the Bible 23 times as young as you are,
then you're reading too fast. And you'll read right over it.
Slow down. Get in a comfortable chair and
slow down. Ask God to reveal it to you. Ask God to reveal
it. Saul of Tarsus, he was a knowledgeable,
intelligent, educated man. But he didn't know saving grace.
He was ignorant of what the Scriptures really said. But God knocked
him off his high horse into the dust, blinded his eyes, put scales
on his eyes, and after he did, Paul wrote the majority of the
New Testament Scriptures. Isn't that amazing? Friends,
unless God divinely reveals Christ to us, we too are ignorant and
remain that way, and will remain that way. Now, I want to quickly
give you a few things. I'm not going to tell you how
many because it may distract you. Somebody once said, if you've
got more than three points, don't even tell people. Well, I've
got just a few more than that, but I'll hurry. These are things
that men and women are ignorant of. They're unlearned. They're
unconscious. They're unfamiliar with these
things. These things are simply and directly given us in the
Word of God. First, we are ignorant. We're unlearned and unfamiliar
in how to obtain the perfect righteousness that God requires
in order for us to be saved. Turn with me to Romans chapter
10. Romans chapter 10, verse 1. Romans 10, verse 1. Paul writes, Brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. For I bear them record, that they have a zeal of God,
but not according to knowledge." What does that mean? They're
ignorant. They're ignorant. Verse 3, For they, being ignorant
of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own
righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness. to everyone that believe it.
Now see, there's only one way for one who has no righteousness
to obtain the perfect righteousness that God requires of us. Jesus
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. That simply
means Jesus Christ is our righteousness. Now are you ignorant of that?
Who's this for? He tells us, everyone that believe
it. Whosoever believeth. That's who
it's for. I thought it was only for the
elect. If you believe, you're one of the elect. It can't be obtained by endeavoring
to establish your own righteousness. It can only be obtained by submitting
to Christ's righteousness. Just stand before God and say,
I don't have anything in my hand to bring. No price to bring in
my hand. I have nothing. I don't have
anything to give. Secondly, we're ignorant about
the mystery of our salvation. Turn over just a page, Romans
11, verse 25. Paul said, for I would not, brethren,
that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should
be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part has happened
to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles become you. Now,
to my knowledge, there's none of you here this morning that
are Jewish. We're all Gentiles. And Paul
wouldn't have any of us to be ignorant of this mystery. None
of us should be conceited in our own minds to look upon contempt
upon anyone, especially the Jewish nation, and think that they should
remain in a state of darkness. You know, you hear a lot about
the nation of Jews today, well, they're getting what they deserve
because they don't even believe that Jesus is Christ. Be careful
what you say. There's some in Israel that are
of true Israel. I'm sure of that. We're not better
than they, and they're not better than us. Because Paul says very
plainly in the book of Romans, there is no difference. No difference
between Jew or Gentile. But the difference that God makes. The blindness happened to them
so that the Gentiles might have the gospel preached unto them.
And this was all a part of God's purpose in order to save the
Gentiles, that they might come into the kingdom. That's nothing
to be puffed up about. If God saved me by His grace,
what have I got to be puffed up about? The blindness of the
Jews was temporary until the full body of the Gentiles were
called. Our salvation is by the mercy
and grace of God, not by anything that we did to deserve it. For
by grace are you saved through faith, and that's not of yourself.
It's a gift of God. Is that hard to understand? We're
not ignorant of that, are we? You say by grace through faith.
It's not of yourself. You did not do it! Nothing. You didn't do anything. It's
God's gift. Not of works lest any man should
boast. For we are His workmanship. created in Christ Jesus unto
good works. We're not saved by good works.
We're saved by grace to do good works. Two different things.
Good works are not the cause of salvation. Good works are
the result of salvation. You know that. You're not ignorant
of that. Thirdly, we're not to be ignorant
of the fact that salvation's of the Lord. Turn over just a
few more pages to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. No, it's chapter
1 verse 10. No, it's chapter 10 verse 1.
I'm acting ignorant. Chapter 10, verse 1. Moreover, brethren, I would not
that ye should be ignorant, uninformed, how that all our fathers were
under the cloud and all passed through the sea and were all
baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. You see, all
the people of Israel were led by that cloud They were led to
the sea, led through the sea by that cloud. That cloud represents
the presence of God going before them. And you know, I had a friend
bring this to my attention not long ago. We were talking about
a study in Exodus. And when the Egyptians pursued
Israel at the Red Sea, that same cloud that had went before them
went behind them. Remember that? And it blinded
the Egyptians from seeing the Israelites. how true that the
presence of God pictured by the cloud gives some life and cuts
others off. The cloud, God's presence as
our guide and governor, is a picture of our baptism, our identification
with Christ. That's what baptism is. There's
no saving efficacy in getting wet in the water. But it is publicly
confessing to everyone that Jesus Christ, He died for my sin. He was buried for my sin. He
arose from the grave, putting my sin away and showing that
God accepted His sacrifice as my Lord and Savior. It's our
identification with Christ. And look at verse 3 here. And
did all eat the same spiritual meat? And did all drink the same
spiritual drink? For they drank of that spiritual
rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ." All believers,
all the children of God eat the same meat. Christ is the bread
that came from heaven. Christ is the manna that fell
from heaven. He said, all that eat of this bread will never
hunger, never hunger. They shall never perish. All
the elect of God drink from the same spiritual rock, that spiritual
rock that followed them. That rock was Christ. We all
drink from Christ. All God's people saved the same
way. Through Christ, the man from heaven, through Christ,
if any man drink, eat, shall live forever. Those who are thirsty
drink from the rock of ages, from which there flows rivers
of living water. Salvations of the Lord. People
perish who are ignorant of that. Salvation of the Lord doesn't
mean salvation of the Lord, but I've got to accept Him. Salvation
of the Lord doesn't mean salvation of the Lord, but I've got to
add my part. No salvation of the Lord, period. That's the end of the matter.
Fourthly, don't be ignorant or confused of the truth that mercy,
grace, and forgiveness and salvation is the Lord's to give. Turn over
a couple pages to chapter 14, 1 Corinthians, verse 33. 1433.
For God is not the author of confusion. But of peace, as in all churches
of the saints, let your women keep silence in the churches,
for it's not permitted unto them to speak, and they are commanded
to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they'll
learn anything, let them ask the husbands at home, for it's
a shame for a woman to speak in the church. What, came the
word of God out from you? Or came it unto you only? If any man think to be a prophet
or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write
unto you are the commandments of the Lord. But if any man be
ignorant, let him be ignorant. Now, a man thinks himself to
be wise. He thinks himself to be a prophet.
A man sees himself to be spiritually grown. He's beyond the instruction
of Scripture. Yeah, I know that. Well, you
know, God says, yeah, I know this. You know, He knows everything.
A lot of people know everything. They don't know nothing beyond
the instruction of Scripture. Paul asked that in verse 36. He says, did the gospel originate
with you? Did the word of God come to you
only? If a man refuses to own that
mercy, grace, and forgiveness come to him from God as a gift,
thinking he did something in and of himself, he's ignorant. And let him be ignorant. Let
him be ignorant. Now listen, I know that we're
to witness, I know that we're to share the gospel with folks,
and you know this and I know this, sometimes, You're not gonna,
a lot of times, you're not gonna convince anybody differently
from what they believe. They've believed it all their
life. Their mama believed it, their daddy believed it, their
grandma believed it. You're not gonna change them
in believing. People will say, well, if I believe
what you believe, then I have got to acknowledge the fact that
my mama and my daddy and my grandma and my grandpa are all in hell.
I can't do that. I can't renounce that. It's ignorance. It's lack of
knowledge. If a man sees himself to be wise,
a prophet sees himself to be, oh my, gospel didn't originate
with you. It didn't come under you only. Don't let This ignorance hinders
anyone from bowing to the mercy, the grace, and forgiveness of
God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Such men are not often convicted,
convinced that they're wrong and changed. You're not going
to convince them differently. Mercy and grace and forgiveness,
it's the Lord's to give. And if He doesn't give it, they'll
never see it. Fifthly, we must not be unlearned,
ignorant of eternal life and eternal death. Look at 1 Thessalonians
chapter 14, a few pages over. And I'm hurrying. I'll get finished
here in just a second. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse
13. Paul writes, but I would not
have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,
that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. If someone
is dead, that's what he's talking about. But if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with
the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God, and the
dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with
the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another
with these words." Life doesn't end with this physical death,
with physical death. In many ways, that's when it
begins. It's appointed unto men once
to die, and after this, the judgment. How will we spend eternity? Well,
God is the one who appoints the judgment. He's the eternal judge.
Those who are asleep in Christ, those who are alive in Christ,
shall forever be with the Lord. Why? Because they're in Christ.
That's our comfort, that's our assurance, that's our hope. In
Christ, we live forever. And we must not be ignorant concerning
this. Christ in you is the hope of
glory. Sixthly, one more place, 2 Peter 3, verse
5. 2 Peter 3, verse 5. Jesus Christ is the Creator.
All things were made by Him. He made everything that was made.
Verse 5, 2 Peter 3, For this they willingly are 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 unto
fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. Now what Peter is saying here
is understand, comprehend, familiarize yourself with and be aware of
the fact that Christ as God has the right to do what he wills
with his own. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. The world and all they that dwell
in. The whole shooting match belongs
to Him. He can do what He will with what's His own. He can do with this earth what
He wills. He created the earth in Genesis
chapter 1. He destroyed the earth with water
in Genesis chapter 7. And He will once again destroy
the earth by fire. And this He does as He desires. Don't be ignorant of that. God's
in control. It's all He is. It all belongs
to Him. He can do with you what He so desires. You dwell within
His earth, right? He'll show mercy to whom He'll
show mercy. Why does that make anybody mad? You're His to do what He will
with. He'll be gracious to whom He'll be gracious. They don't
make me mad. Maybe He'll be gracious to me. He will allow His goodness
to pass by some. That's what the Lord told Moses. He'll put some in the cleft of
the rock. Why not me? Why not me? I'm a sinner. I qualify. That's
who He came to save. This is the God with whom we
have to do. Don't be ignorant and unbelieving.
Last thing, seventh thing. Now right here, you don't even
have to turn. Verse 8. But beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years, and a thousand years as one day. Now listen, for hundreds
of years, men have proclaimed that time is short. For generations,
men have said, the Lord's coming soon, the Lord's coming soon.
And I think folks have become a little bit callous to it because
the Lord hasn't come yet. But God is eternal. And what
Peter's telling us here is that He's not bound by the time that
binds us. One day to our God can be a thousand
years to us. And a thousand years to us can
be one day to the Lord. So, in God's time frame, now
listen, the Lord's only been gone two days. He's just been gone two days. So let's don't be ignorant. Let's
don't be unlearned. Let's don't be unaware. Let's
keep seeking Him. Let's keep praying that His will
be done. Let's keep studying and preaching His Word. We have
not because we ask not. Well, I'd like to learn more
of the Scriptures. Ask God to reveal it to you and start studying
it. Listen, if you only hear my words
this morning, there's a good chance you'll wind up in hell. If you don't hear from God, if
you hear just from me and not God, that's ignorant. That's ignorant. Keep studying and preaching the
Lord. Keep looking to Christ. Please keep looking to Christ.
It won't be long now. Verse 9, I'll finish. The Lord
is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness,
but is longsuffering to us, not to the world, but to His people,
not willing that any should perish, not that anybody in the world
should perish, but that any of His people should. Remember who
these letters were written to. But that all should come to repentance.
God will see to it that every one of His sheep will come to
repentance. But the day of the Lord, verse 10, will come as
a thief in the night, when you least expect it, into which the
heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up, seeing then that all these
things shall be dissolved. What manner of persons ought
ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and
hastening unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens,
being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat? Nevertheless, we, according to
His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, those beloved
of God, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent
that you may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless. How do we get that way? In Christ. It all comes back to Him. No
wonder Paul wrote that everything give thanks. Everything give
thanks. For this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you.