Fill your heart, O man of God. Make it perfectly whole. Help me walk from day to day, day to night, oh Lord. In the dark, in the dark, may
I ♪ Will I have to walk your path
♪ ♪ And be your companion? ♪ ♪ Be the one who watches me
♪ ♪ Go in that direction ♪ ♪ Till thy wills are known and
done ♪ ♪ And we are the winners ♪ ♪ In the cross, in the cross
♪ ♪ We are glorious ♪ ♪ Till thy wills are known and done
♪ Thank you. All right, let's go back to 2
Peter 3 now. 2 Peter chapter 3. We have looked
at this third chapter of 2 Peter many times together, several
times. I know I have enjoyed it. I know you enjoyed just reading
it just now. But with each passing year, it
becomes more necessary and more urgent that we hear what Peter
says and heed it. Right? With each passing year,
it's more urgent. The message is more and more
urgent. He says in verses 1 and 2, he says, Beloved, speaking
to believers, Beloved, I now write unto you in first epistle
and the second, stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance,
that you be mindful. I want you to remember what we've
been saying, always keep in mind. Don't forget, but always have
on your mind. We're so forgetful, aren't we?
Like little children, we have to be told over and over again. That's what we are. They said,
you need to be mindful, verse two of the words. This is what
we're doing here, what you're doing, what you're hearing. Is. Is life and death or death. This is the words of life. This
is the only way. That God deals. Sons of man. These are the only answers God
gives human beings. Be mindful of the words which
were spoken before by the holy prophets and the commandment
of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior. What did the prophets
say? What was it they were saying?
What did all the prophets say? What did the apostles say? Basically,
they did say the same. All of the prophets said this,
this is a wicked generation. Every one of them, every one
of the prophets said, we're living in a godless, wicked generation. Repent. Turn from it, because
the Lord is coming. That's what the prophets said,
didn't it? Wasn't that their message? This
is a wicked day. God is angry. We all need to
repent before the Lord. Fear the Lord. Fear the Lord.
Repent toward him. Believe his son, because he's
coming. He's coming. What did the apostles
say? Same thing. Save yourselves,
Peter said, from this untoward generation. Paul said this is
perilous times. Repent. Repent. The Lord is Now
the Lord is coming and no clearer evidence. Never been more evidences
than now. And now. So he says, be mindful,
always keep on your mind, verse three and four, know this first.
This is the first thing he says, I want you to understand. Know
this, understand this, beloved believers, that there shall come
in the last days scoffers. scoffers walking after their
own evil desires, saying, where is the promise of his coming?
There's never been an age of more scoffers than now. This
is the day of the agnostic, the question. I was watching television
the other day, and they were interviewing a religious leader,
and one of them, they were all, this is the question on the minds.
of man now, with all this Muslim stuff going on. The question
is, does God only save Christians? That's the question. Is God only
the God of Christians or the God of the Muslims? You must
be a Christian to be saved? And one of the newsmen, a liberal
newsman, asked this religious leader that he was interviewing,
You mean to tell me that you believe there's only one way
to heaven? And he said it with a smirk on
his face. And the fellow said, well, that's
what the Bible says. I wish men, you know, that's
all right to say that. I wish they would come out and
say, that's what Jesus Christ said. And if you don't believe
Him, you're saying He's a liar. That's what this is all about.
You know what? That's what this whole thing
is all about. Jesus Christ came to this earth and everything
He said is truth. Everything else is a lie. And
Christ said, No man cometh unto the Father but by me. He said,
I am the way, the truth, the life. Now that's the issue. It always
has been. And that was the issue back way
back then. You mean that this Jesus is that
if you don't believe that you're going to go to hell, you. And
they laugh and they scoff and never there's never been more
scoffers than that. And, you know, I blame most of
the scoffing on the absurdity of modern day religion. You know,
I blame it on these absurd weaklings called preachers. You know, I
wish that fellow would have said that, don't you? It's not Bible. Jesus Christ said that. You see the difference, Brother
Stephen? He said that. If we believe him, the Muslims
will kill themselves to defend Mohammed. They'll kill you. And we don't do that because.
Because we have the true God tells us not to kill love our
enemies and so forth. That's how you know it is the
truth. But. We speak out or should on
behalf of our our Messiah. Not defending a book. It's a
person's honor. It's a person's word. Scoffers,
read on, says they say, where's the promise of his coming? Since
the fathers fell asleep, or that is since for many, many years
now, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the
creation. Yes, they do. That's by God's purpose. He said
they would. Summer. Harvest, winter, springtime,
he said they would. Right after the fall or right
after the flood, didn't he said that all things are going to
continue. That you're not going to see some different changes
in seasons and all. No, we're going to continue by
God's goodness and grace and will remain the same until the
very day. So the very day. Verse five,
he says this, they willingly are ignorant of. Men, women,
are willingly ignorant, or that is, choose to ignore facts, plain
facts of two things. There are two things that Peter
says men refuse to believe, though there are incontrovertible evidence,
irrefutable evidence everywhere. They refuse to believe it. Two
things. Number one, read on. By the Word
of God, the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of
the water and in the Word. That is, God Almighty just said,
let there be life. Let there be a firmament by the
Word of God. Let there be animals. Let there
be fish. That God, by the Word of His
power, just spoke and everything came into existence. Creation.
Creation. men and women scoff at it. It's it's absolutely now a laughingstock
of this modern educated society. Is it not? Evolution is absolutely
accepted as fact. There's not a book anywhere that
anybody puts out that even gives the slightest credence to creation. Is there? is the last day. By the word of God. By the word
of God. Earth. All right. And he said,
by the word, the earth standing out of the water and in the water.
OK, by the word of God. And the psalm says, God said
to the ocean here, the two shall you come and no further. Man's
such a fool if you just stand on the ocean and watch it. I
mean, this vast body of water with the slightest change in
the atmosphere, I mean, the slightest, smallest change in water temperature
or wind pattern or whatever will just send 50 foot waves crashing
and tearing down all man's sandcastles. Yet, it just keeps... A man ought
to stand there and say, how does it do that? Why does it do that? Because God said so. Amazing. You look, you fly over
the state of Florida or some of these lowland places, you
think, one wave would wipe that whole place out. It's zero sea
level. One foot above sea level. My
kid brother Greg Elmcus, when we go down there, we cross a
bridge over there, a bridge that goes over, it goes up about,
oh, I guess 40 feet. I said, whoo, air's thin up here. these mountains of Florida, one
little knoll, you know, that whole place. And it's all water inland. Well,
by the Word of God, God spoke and the world came into existence
just as it is. The waters come so far and no
farther, so far and no further by the Word of God. All right?
They're ignorant of creation. The evidence is plain. It has
a nose on your face. As a print on your thumb, plain. As the sun that rises every day,
plain. As the air that we breathe, perfect.
Sustain our bodies. As the water that falls from,
clear. Evidence is clear. God is. Here's the next thing there.
Willingly ignorant, refused to believe that the world, verse
6, that then was being overflowed with water, perished. How? By the same word. God, who is, said, I'm angry. I'm going to destroy this planet
which I have made. It repented me that I have made
man. God said that in Genesis 6. So
God said to the waters, wipe it out. Wipe out all flesh except eight souls that I've
saved and put in this ark. How did the flood take place?
God spoke by the same word. Men and women refused to believe.
They were willingly ignorant. They refused to believe. Why
are there fish fossils in the Andes Mountains? There are fish fossils. Did they
swim uphill? Why is the matter on top of and
on some of the top layers of the earth older than that on
the bottom layer? That's a fact. One of my neighbors was standing
up in our pasture one day and all those rocks, you know, rocks,
rocks. She said, they look like river rocks. How'd they get up
here? A big flood. And it's more than
the Big River. is the world. They refuse to
believe it. Why? Number one, they refuse
to believe that God is creator because that means He made us
and He owns us. Right? If God is and God created
all things and He owns us, that means He can do with us whatever
He will. Is that right? Number two, it
means that he is our judge. We answer to him. We must do
what he will. He's the creator. He's the master.
I have animals that belong to me. I can do with them what I
will. I can shoot them. Can I not? I can shoot them.
If I get tired of an old dog, boom. Who can say anything to me? It's
my dog. The Lord said, I kill and I make
alive. I am the Lord. I do all these
things. Men say, we don't want a God. No, no, no, no, no. We want to
be masters of our own destiny. And then the flood, men and women
refused to believe a flood because that, the flood was God's wrath
against man. It is not like preachers say
that God loves everyone. The flood is proof of that. The
ones He loved, He saved. He put them in an ark and He
saved them. Yes, sir. Everyone up there was
a written on the inside of the ark was this, smile, God loves
you. As a purpose for your life, that
was on the inside of the ark. On the outside was no such sticker. On the outside was, God is angry. Now this is his judgment. Is
that right? Alright, so men and women willingly
refused to believe that the Creator and that there was a flood. Refuse
to believe that. Number seven, he says the heavens
and the earth, which are now the same heavens and earth that
are now by the same word are upheld by the same word. Everything is controlled by the
same one who gives the command, the same one who gives the orders,
the same one that created it all, controls it all, reigns
and rules over it all. Among the armies of heaven and
the heavens of the earth. From the most microscopic creature
to the president of the Oval Office, he reigns and rules not
only on material things, but the very hearts of men are in
the hands of the Lord. By the same word, it says, are
kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of God's
love and wonderful judgment. and perdition of ungodly men.
You see how the message hasn't changed. Man hasn't changed. Man hasn't changed. The message
is still the same. So man scoffs at all this stuff.
This message that I'm bringing to you this morning of judgment,
people Only an old ignorant mountain preacher says stuff like that.
That's what the world thinks. Only an old ignorant eastern
Kentucky or western Virginia or eastern North Carolina mountain
preacher would talk about hell's fire and damnation. The rest
of these preachers have dropped it. Nobody wants to hear it. They don't believe it either. You take their doctrine to seed,
Brother Henry, that God loves everybody. And you can't you
can't talk about judgment. There's no fear. But Peter said and Peter said,
I want you to remember the day I die and after that. Did he
say that in this epistle? I'm going to put you in remembrance
and I'll endeavor after that all that you may always have
these things and remember this is not Old-fashioned, ignorant,
mountain-preacher doctrine. This is God's Word. So while folks scoffed, let the
wise of the earth scoff. Let the—Brother Paul was pretty
wise, was he not? The Apostle Paul, the most brilliant
man to live on this planet. Oh, yes, he was. I know, because
God used him to write all these books of the Scriptures. You
know he was. Peter even said it. Paul's written some things
that are hard to understand. 1 Corinthians 15, I believe, is
one thing he was referring to. But let the world scoff. And while folks scoff, beloved,
Believers, verse eight, but beloved, don't you be ignorant. Don't
you ignore the signs. Ignorant means to ignore. Don't
you do it. Don't be ignorant. And down in verse 17, he said
this, beware, don't be led away with error of the wicked. What's
the error of the wicked? Unbelief. Don't believe what you see on
television. They're trying to sell airtime.
Solomon said it so wisely in one phrase, money, answer it,
all things. There's a root behind everything
and it's money, the pursuit of it. Well, beloved,
don't you be ignorant. Don't ignore. You ignore them.
Ignore the world. Don't pay attention to what they're
saying. Don't believe what you say. Listen, folks, really, CNN
has become no different now than the National Enquirer. Is that not right? Sources told
us. They don't even have to tell
us sources. If it makes a good story, tell
it. I'm telling you the truth. But don't ignore God's Word,
because He said not one word of mine will pass. Well, be not ignorant of this
one thing. All right. First of all, remember
this, this one thing, verse eight, that one day is with the Lord
as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. Now, Paul or
Peter was saying, scoffers say. Nothing's changed, everything's
continued, you saying the Lord, you say the Lord's coming, what
shows the sign of his coming, everything we don't The year
2000, we think it, we thought it was 2000. We thought it was
2000. Here it comes, and it's gone,
and people see. Had the fool in the Roanoke Times
wrote that. Just scoffing at believers. Making
a mockery. He said, well, the millennium
came and the world didn't end. Scoffing. But beloved, you be
not ignorant of this one thing. You don't be ignorant of this.
A day is a thousand years and a thousand years as a day. God
is not subject to man's time. This is the first thing that
he's telling us. God is not. We don't know what
year it is. We don't have a clue. We think
it's the year 2000. We really don't know, folks.
Goodness, who was around back then to start timing it? We've got a couple of old historians
left, don't we, Brother Ed? Josephus. Anybody here know Josephus? You ever read Josephus? You don't
have a clue who Josephus is, do you? That's one of the only
historians we have. That's what we base everything
on, and a few other Greek fellows. We don't know what the exact
date is. God is not subject to man's time. He's telling us two
things here. One day is a thousand years to
the Lord. A thousand years is one day. A thousand years to
the Lord. He's not subject to time. All
we think about is time. Why? Because our time is limited. We're on a time schedule. We have days appointed to us.
A thousand years. Yeah. A thousand years. It's
not known unto God are all his works from the beginning. There's
no time with God. Well, see? God's not waiting
on you. God's not on your time schedule. Listen to this verse. I was going
to have you turn. Jot it down. I committed it to
memory years ago. Ecclesiastes 8.11. Ecclesiastes
8.11 says this. Because, now listen carefully,
Ecclesiastes 8.11 says, because sentence against an evil work
is not speedily executed, therefore the heart of the sons
of men is fully set in them to do evil. To paraphrase that,
it means that since God doesn't judge men immediately when they
do something, they think, hey, got away with it. And they keep
going, and he doesn't judge them. And they keep, and he doesn't
judge them. But finally they say, there is no God. God's not on man's schedule. Man is on God's, though. And
we don't know what that is, do we? That's what we studied this
morning. We don't know. God's, nobody
has looked at the book but him. But known unto God are all his
works. All right, the next thing he's showing us is a day is a
thousand years, and a thousand years is a day. I believe this
is a prophecy. He said, Beloved, don't you be
ignorant. Believer, Nancy, John, Henry,
Roberta, Believers, Mary, don't you be ignorant. The world is.
Let's scoff at this. Don't you be ignorant. God's not on man's time schedule.
Plus, here's an insight. Here's a prophecy. A day is a
thousand years. A thousand years is a day. God
created the world in six days. Seventh day, he said, I'm resting. What is the last day? What is the day of the Lord called? What is it going to be for all
of God's people and for everything? What will it be? A day of what? Rest. From all things from sin. Rest. This world's about 6,000
years old. Be not ignorant of this one thing. That's a prophecy for us. All
right. Who did Peter just address? Who's he spoken to twice? He said the word twice. Beloved. Did he not? Beloved. Now, he
talked about these scoffers. This is what they're saying.
This is what they're doing. But now, I'm talking to you,
he said, beloved. Now, he's talking to the beloved. This is important,
you understand it. He's talking to the beloved.
Don't you be ignorant. All right, beloved, the Lord
is not slack. He's talking to us. Verse 9. Modern religion doesn't have
a clue what this means. Verse 9, he says, beloved, the Lord
is not slack. Look at it. You're going to need
to know what this is when somebody quotes it to you. Beloved, the
Lord is not slack concerning His promise. They say He is.
They say, where's the promise of His coming? No, He's not coming. Oh, He said He was. Beloved,
He's not slack now concerning His promise that some men, these
scoffers, count slackness. But He's longsuffering to whom? To whom? Usward. Allward? Usward. Who's he talking to? Beloved.
Is that plain? Sure it is. And you know these
things. That's what Peter said. You know
these things. I'm going to tell you again. God is long-suffering
to usward. Where you going? Not willing
that any should perish. Any who? Usward. Our Lord said it, didn't he,
Brother John? I give unto them eternal life. Who's the them?
My sheep, he said. He just told some fellas, you're
not my sheep, didn't he? As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice. I know them. The foundation of
God standeth sure. The Lord knoweth them that are
his. God elected them, gave them to
Christ. Christ died for them. The Holy
Spirit comes calling on them. He knows every one of them. Okay. I'm going to show you how to
do it. I'm going to show you how to
do it.