Well, we're delighted to be here. We have fond memories of our
time here before. And I've forgotten names. You'll
forgive me. I have pet names for Judy because
I forget her name sometimes. But it's good to be here. It's
always good to be with God's people. And we're thankful. We bring greetings from David
and Teresa. They said, please greet the church
there for them. And there's several others that
mentioned to say hello. So I've done that. And I don't
want to forget to do things like that. God help me. Well, I'd
like to bring a lesson on the importance of making sure we're
interpreting the scriptures correctly. So if you would turn to 2 Peter
3, please. And as an introduction to this
lesson, I was thinking about Peter when he was in the garden
with the Lord Jesus the night he was arrested. And there were
so many Roman soldiers and servants of the great high priest there. that I wonder what Peter was
thinking when he drew his sword and cut off the ear of Malchus,
a servant of the high priest. Now you can't fault Peter's love
for his master and willing to lay down his life if need be,
but boy, the opposition was so great, you can't help but wonder
what he was thinking. ready to go to eternity for his
Lord. I think that was one of the things
that was going through his mind. But our Lord Jesus, it's amazing when you stop and
think about things like this. He restrained those soldiers
from sending Peter right out into eternity. That's God's restraining
hands. And he restrained that sword
from splitting Malchus's head wide open, directing it over
to his ear. It's interesting that the Lord
allowed the ear to get cut off because what he shared with Peter
and shares with us is important as far as the ear. We need to
hear the truth. And the Lord's restraining hand
was upon that sword as well. keeping it from going on down
and cutting off part of the neck or the shoulder. It just amazes
me to see things like that. And he reached up and he touched
Malchus's ear and healed that ear just by the touch of his
omnipotent hand. And it did not change the hatred
that was in the heart of that servant of the high priest. which
is another portion of God's word that teaches men are not converted
to Christ by signs and wonders, but by the gospel. And then our
Lord told Peter, put up the sword. Put up the sword, the cup which
my father hath given me, shall I not drink it? Peter had to
learn as well as all of us need to learn, that the weapons of
our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling
down of strongholds. Our sword is the word of God. And Peter learned that. And we
have here in 2 Peter 3, a portion of God's holy word that is so
abused by the Armenian freewill universalist who believe in universal
atonement. I cannot begin to tell you how
many times over the years that the Lord has allowed me to serve
him. I have heard those in the other camp, the camp of the ungodly
who hate God's grace and his mercy. How many times they said,
well, the word of God says he's not willing that any should perish.
Well, that's not what the word of God says. Those are a few
words taken out of a verse of Scripture right here in the 9th
verse of 2 Peter 3. And I'm sure we're all familiar
with this, but let me read it in your hearing. Verse 9 of 2
Peter 3 reads this way, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise,
as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to usward,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Now the promise that Peter's
referring to is the second coming of our Lord, his return. He's
not slack concerning that promise. The reason he hasn't come back
yet is because he still has some of his lost sheep that he died
for, and they're gonna be brought in to fold. He said this, our
Lord Jesus said this, other sheep I have, which are not of this
fold, them also I must bring. And he's gonna have every one
of them. All those for whom Christ died
are going to be called out of darkness, brought into the waiting
arms of our Lord Jesus by his sovereign, irresistible drawing
power. None will be lost. And so Peter
is talking about when he says the Lord is long-suffering to
us, he's talking about a people that were given to him by God
the Father in the eternal covenant of grace before this world was
ever created. a promised people, a people that
he suffered and bled and died for. And the us word, I like
that because I'm one of them. Don't you like that? That thrills
me to read things like this that point to God's elect. He says
that God is not willing that they should perish, and if God's
not willing that they should perish, none's going to perish.
Because God works all things after the counsel of his own
will, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou?
And besides, it says that all should come to repentance, and
God is the one who grants repentance unto life. No man in his unregenerate
state, no woman in her unregenerate state will repent and come to
Christ. They hate Christ. We hate Christ
before the Lord sends His Spirit into our heart, giving us a desire
to come to Him, giving us the love for Him. We hate Him, all
of us. And so this is not teaching universal
atonement, not weakening God's hand like they do blaspheming
his name. It's teaching us that God has
a people and they're gonna come. I wanna take you to John chapter
six and show you a parallel passage that teaches the same thing that
Peter is teaching right here. And our Lord, when he sent him
out, he told Peter, to go and teach all men all those things
that he had taught Peter, to observe them, and that's what
Peter is doing. And here in John chapter six,
we have a parallel passage that just thrills me. Now, we're to
interpret God's word by God's word. There are no contradictions
in God's word, none whatsoever. This is one, inspired by God, unified book. Every passage of scripture is
here by God's decree. I know that several men wrote
the Scriptures over a long period of time, but it was God the Holy
Spirit that moved all of them to write the Holy Scriptures.
And so there's perfect harmony all through the Bible, an approach
to our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And here in John chapter
six, starting at verse 37, our Lord himself speaking, Plainly
stated, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. All that
the Father giveth to me shall come to me. What does that mean? All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. That's what that means. And him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. He's not gonna
lose any of them. They're all gonna come by sovereign,
irresistible grace. Our Lord is on His throne, and
He's bringing all of His sheep under the gospel, under the preaching
of the gospel, as it pleases Him. And in His appointed time,
and it is appointed by God Himself, He brings His sheep out of darkness. All of a sudden, the light comes
on. I heard that song by Hank Williams
years ago and I don't know if he knew what he was singing or
not. I saw the light. Well, I read in the scripture
where the same God who said, let there be light, commanded
the light to shine in my heart to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And we have
this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power
may be of God and not of us. So they're going to come. All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. And then he tells us why.
Look at verse 38. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine
own will, but the will of him that sent me." So we're talking
about God's will, and that's what Peter was talking about.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness, but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that
any should perish. And so we're talking about God's
will. And our Lord mentions this. He says, For I came down from
heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent
me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that
of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of
him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and
believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up
at the last day. So brethren, the scriptures are
plain enough. It's not that those who hate
God and hate his gospel can't read these things. They just
don't believe them. They don't believe, they won't
believe them unless God deals with the heart and gives them
faith to believe them. And so it's important, so very
important that we don't take scripture out of context In other
words, consider the surrounding verses. Or just quote a portion
of God's word without considering the whole of God's word, the
whole sentence or the rest of the scriptures that surround.
I want you to go, if you will, over to Romans chapter 10. Let
me show you what I mean. Romans chapter 10, which is another
passage of scripture that is actually abused by the free will
Armenians who try to teach that God is trying to save everybody.
God never tried to do anything. If God tried to do anything,
it's implying that he might fail and God cannot fail. God does
what he's purposed to do. He's in the heavens, he does
what pleases him. And none can stop him from doing
what he has purposed. And here in Romans chapter 10,
if you're with me, look at verse 13. for whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." And many false preachers
read that verse and stop right there and will not read any more
because they want to deceive their hearers into thinking that
God wants to save everybody. Well, if God wanted to save everybody,
everybody would be saved. And so they just read this 13th
verse. And I like whosoevers, don't
you? We're in that camp. This is talking about all of
God's chosen people from every kindred and tongue and people
on nation. All of those that were redeemed by the blood of
Jesus Christ. The whosoevers are God's elect. And he says, Brother Paul, writing
on a divine inspiration, says, for whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. Look at verse 14. How
then shall I call on him and whom they have not believed?
If I'm reading this correctly, when we cry out to God for mercy,
we already believe. Am I interpreting that right?
I actually am not interpreting, I'm just telling you what it
says. How then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? Why would we call on God to save
us if we don't believe that he can save us? So those who are
the whosoevers that cry out for mercy are those who have seen
their need of God's mercy. Those who have come under the
convicting power of God, the Holy Spirit, who know that they
have sinned against Jesus Christ, against the triune God, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, and deserve nothing but God's eternal wrath.
All right? remember vividly when God broke
my heart. I'm telling you folks, I was
miserable. I had never heard anything like
that. I had never felt that kind of
mourning as far as grieving over my sins and wondering how in
the world I could be forgiven for what I'd done against my
God. But the Lord didn't leave me
there. He didn't leave me in that state of conviction. The
man that was preaching the gospel told me that Jesus Christ himself paid the debt in full for all
of my sins, past, present, and future, that all of my iniquities
were laid on my Savior, and that He by Himself purged my sins,
and God will not charge His elect with anything." Nothing can be
laid to the charge of God's elect. I tell you, when I heard that,
It was such good news. And isn't that what the word
gospel means? Good news, such good news. I
just almost had a runaway. And I've been thinking that ever
since, about having a runaway. And one of these days I'm going
to. I'm gonna be delivered from this body of death. And I should
run into the presence of my Lord Jesus, because Jesus paid it
all. all to him I owe. Sin had left
a crimson stain, and he washed it white as snow. So I would
not have called upon him if I had not believed." And we read in
that 14th verse, how shall they believe in him of whom they have
not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? So God has ordained preachers who preach his gospel
to deliver his chosen people from that bondage of sin, the
bondage to Satan, the bondage to darkness. We were held, we
were slaves, we were captives. I didn't know it, but I was a
slave to sin. And the Lord delivered me from
that by his sovereign power in His grace and His mercy being
imputed to me for the glory of Jesus Christ in such a way that
I have never forgotten it. And we never will. For all eternity,
we'll be worshiping our God for such a Redeemer as ours. Let
me show you something in 1 Corinthians 2. I don't have much more time,
but maybe a little bit. 1 Corinthians 2 is a very important
passage of Scripture when we're dealing with the importance of
making sure that what we're hearing is according to the inspired
Word of God, not something that is taken out of context. In 1
Corinthians 2, We read in verse 12, now we have
received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is
of God, that we might know the things that are freely given
to us of God. And so this just confirms what
we've already said. It's the spirit of God who leads
us into all truth, guides us into all truth. And we have to
have his spirit. There are people who, have a
mental assent to some facts. I mean, they agree with what
the preacher might be preaching, but they don't have the spirit
within them to give them the joy of salvation. Now, we don't trust in our feelings,
but brethren, when the Lord delivers us, there's feelings. They accompany
the salvation that God manifests to us under the preaching of
his gospel. Peace is a feeling. And I never knew such peace as
that when I heard that my God has forgiven me for Christ's
sake. There's such a peace that flooded my soul, It's unspeakable. Joy unspeakable and full of glory
is the way the Apostle Peter put it. And those are feelings.
Joy is a feeling. Love is a feeling. We have these. And those who just have a mental
ascent to some facts, they don't know. They don't know the joy
of salvation. We have a brother over in rescue. His name is Mike
Loveless. And he didn't even know he could
sing until one of our music and testimony nights, and he got
up and sung a song. His timing is worse than the
time. He can't keep time at all. But Judy plays the piano, and
she plays with the singer. And his voice is just amazing. And he sings a song. Glory, glory
is what the angels sing. I don't know if you've ever heard
that. And the course goes like this. Glory, glory is what the
angels sing. And I expect to help them make
the courts of heaven ring. But when we sing redemption story,
they must close their wings. Because angels never knew the
joy that our salvation brings. And those who just have a mental
ascent to some facts, they don't know that joy. That's joy unspeakable. I've been preaching for a lot
of years. It's still joy unspeakable. I
wish I could preach in a way that would just express the joy
that's in my heart. But for those who have experienced
the miracle of the new birth, I don't have to. You know that
joy. You know that. Let me close this lesson with
the passage of scripture over in Hebrews chapter one. When
we preach the gospel, brethren, we need to Let people know who our God is
and what He has done for us. And that's what we were reading
in Romans 10. How shall they call on Him whom
they've not believed? How will they believe Him whom
they've not heard? We need to hear. We need to know
who Jesus Christ is. We need to know what He has done.
We need to know where He is right now. And it's all through the
New Testament, but listen to this. In Hebrews chapter 1, starting
at verse 1, we read, spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his
son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he
made the world." So he's our creator. Jesus Christ is the
one who just said, let it be. And everything came into existence
by the word of his mouth. That's power. That's power. And finite, sinful, ungodly men
who don't believe God try to portray Jesus Christ as someone
who wants to get your attention. If he wants to get your attention,
he's gonna get it. I'll guarantee you. And Jesus
Christ is powerful. And where the word of a king
is, there's power. And so he's our creator. He's
the one who's the heir of all things. But look at verse three,
who being the brightness of his glory, Jesus Christ is the brightness
of God's glory. He is God's glory. That's the
glory I mentioned in that passage of scripture that says, for God
commanded the light to shine in our hearts and give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. If we don't see him as God's
glory, we haven't seen him. And it says in this third verse
that Jesus Christ is the express image of his person. Jesus Christ
is the express image of God Almighty. I have three sons. They all look
a little bit like me, and I'm sorry, I had nothing to do with
that, but they all resemble me a little bit, but they're not
an express image of me. Jesus Christ is the express image
of God the Father. Whatever we can think of concerning
our great majestic God and all of his glorious attributes, they're
found in Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior. He's omnipotent. He's omniscient. He's omnipresent. Everything that the Word of God
teaches concerning God is found in Jesus Christ. He is the express
image of God's person. He is God. He's Jehovah. He's the one who we bow down
to and worship, and when we worship Him, we're worshiping God the
Father and God the Holy Spirit. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and it says in this third verse that
He upholds all things by the word of His power. Aren't you
thankful? Every time I get in an airplane,
I'm thankful for that. He upholds all things by the
word of His power. He is God Almighty. That pew you're sitting in right
now is being held together by the one we bow down to and worship,
Jesus Christ the Lord. Everything is in His hands. He
is in control of everything. He's the very one we read about.
that works all things after the counsel of his own will, and
none can stop him from doing what he has purposed." Then we
read this, when he had by himself purged our sins. When did that happen? Back at
Calvary, 2,000 years ago, when he said, it is finished. All of our sins were laid on
Him. He satisfied the holy justice
of God. He took our sins upon Himself. He was made sin for us that we
might be made the righteousness of God and Him. And He took those
sins and purged them from God's sight forever, never to be remembered
against us no more. Is that good news or what? And
it says, He sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high. He's God's strong right arm. That does not mean that Jesus
Christ is off to the right of the throne. He's in the midst
of his throne. But it does mean that he's God's
strong right arm. All those stars we see in glory
on a cold, dark night, just scattered them there with his fingertips.
But salvation is by his strong right arm. And he's there right
now on his sovereign throne of power. as our great high priest,
making intercession for all those who were given to him in the
eternal covenant of grace, all of those that he paid to sin,
dead, and full for, and nobody, absolutely nothing is going to
take him off of that throne. His eternal throne is forever,
and he promises us Our Lord Jesus himself promises us that he will
never leave us nor forsake us. As Brother Henry Mahan stated
so well, we're as sure of heaven as if we're already there. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. God bless
you folks.