The lesson this morning is on
tape, and I think it's very helpful and very needful. If you want
to get a copy of that, listen to it if you're not here. Turn
with me to 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3. Do you know what it means to
beware? Beware. I know we've all seen
a sign from somebody. Beware of the dog. Beware of dog. It means to be careful. Be on
the lookout. Watch out. There's a dog somewhere. Be looking out for a dog somewhere. Be aware. Be aware. Well, so many people live, maybe
you, I don't know, live according to base animal instincts and
lusts, only concerned with the next meal or the next pleasure,
night of pleasure. Unaware or uncaring of what has
been or what is going on around them. Young people especially,
I keep picking on young people, but I were one. And I know how
it is. Young people especially are taken up with the world and
their passions and their feelings and the flesh. And no matter
what happens around them, I remember losing several classmates and
it things happening around me, just
wasn't concerned. Kind of like cattle grazing,
you know. And the butcher comes and takes
one off, and they might look up for a minute, but then look
right back down and keep grazing. But believers, believers, true
followers and seekers of God are constantly warned in the
Scripture to watch. To watch, to be looking, to be
aware, to be aware of what's going on around us. Be aware.
Listen to these scriptures. Christ said this. He said, Beware
of the leaven of the scribes and the Pharisees. Now, that
means self-righteousness or trying to get to God by your morality,
your religion, your works. trying to get to God any other
way than the blood and the righteousness of Jesus Christ, your representative. Beware of that, Christ said.
He said, beware of covetousness. Covetousness, which in one place
is called idolatry. In other words, you can set something
up before your eyes above God, be so desirous of it, it may
be a person. A child, a husband or wife, or
a thing, a house, a job. And Christ said, beware of covetousness. It'll eat you up. It'll consume
you. And it will snuff out all thoughts
of God. Paul said this. He said, beware
of dogs. Paul had it signed up, beware
of dogs. He said, beware of the concision. He's talking about
religious mongrels. that go around, creeping around,
seeking whom they may devour religiously, to count heads.
And so Paul says, beware of these religious mongrels. He said in
another place, beware lest any man, man, spoil you through philosophy
or vain deceit. Beware of smooth-talking, slick-polished
preachers and people. who spoil you through their philosophy
and thoughts, anything but the Word of God. Paul said, beware
of them. You need to be on the lookout,
don't you? Watch, because the wolf is in sheep's clothing,
Christ said. Now, here in 2 Peter chapter
3, the whole chapter, the whole chapter seems to be telling us,
beware. Beware, and that's what I entitled
it. Beloved, beware. Now look at it, verse one of
chapter three, and I'll try to make this brief. This second
epistle, the Apostle Peter is writing a general epistle to
believers, as he says it here, he addresses it here, to beloved. This second epistle, note this
well, everybody. This second epistle, beloved,
I now write unto you. Beloved. Why? Why is he writing? Well, he says, in the first and
in the second, in both, I'm writing unto you to stir up your pure
minds by way of remembrance. To stir you up. And we need our
dull hearts and minds stirred up, don't we? We need to be stirred
up. We're like, our brains are like thick soup that need to
be stirred up. And he says, you're pure minds.
That is, a pure mind is not double minded. That is, it's pure. It's
in one direction. It's as one motive, one desire,
one thought, one attitude. James said a double minded man
is unstable in all his way. He doesn't know what he wants.
A double minded man. He wants the world. He wants
God. He wants to be this way. He wants that way. He wants to
be famous. He wants to be... He doesn't know what he wants.
A double minded man. You know, he says believer. Your
pure mind, you've got one desire. And well, you should. One desire,
one thing needful in your mind. You see it. And you say, I want
to stir your minds up. Your minds that are set in one
direction. This mind being you. One mind. Your pure minds. If
you're truly interested. If truly. To remembrance. Look at it. I want to stir up
your pure minds by way of remembrance. Remembrance. We're so forgetful
of the past, aren't we? We forget. It's just our. It's our Constitution, we'll
forget, you'll forget most of everything that I say this morning,
five minutes after I've said it. Yeah, you will. I'm the same
way. We'll forget. We'll forget something
so easily. This is the reason I really want
to start cutting these things down, because we're not just
we just can't take in so much. But he says, I want to stir up
your minds to remember. Remember what, Peter? Verse two.
That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before
by the Holy Prophets. What words? Well, Moses said
this. Moses said this. Oh, that they
were wise and that they would consider their latter end. What are you talking about, Moses?
He said, we're going to die. Oh, that we were wise, that we
would remember those words constantly. We'd have those before our eyes,
Terry, at all times. Consider your latter end. That
this, what is your life, but a paper, here today and gone
tomorrow. Oh, that we were wise and we
would live our lives conscious of that. That we're here today
and gone tomorrow. Therefore, the only thing important,
worth remembering, is what's ahead of us, right? What it's
looking into. Joshua said this, fear the Lord
and serve him in sincerity. Choose you this day whom you
shall serve. Samuel said this, turn not aside
from following the Lord. But serve the Lord with all your
heart, for if you don't, you'll go after vain things. Soap bubbles. Soap bubbles. David said this. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness
and put your trust in the Lord. Oh, that we would remember these
things. Isaiah said this. Woe to the rebellious children,
saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me. But chiefly, All
of the words of the Old Testament prophets chiefly spoke about
Christ. Oh, that they were wise and would
consider Him. It's His story. The whole thing has to do with
Him. Who? Better we find out, hadn't
we? Oh, that they were wise and would remember the words of the
holy prophets, because all the prophets spoke about Him. What
about Him? Look into it. Look into it. He says that you
be mindful of the words spoken by the holy prophets and of the
commandment of us, the apostles, of the Lord Jesus Christ. What
did the apostles command? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Keep yourselves from idols. Keep
yourself from the world. Partake of the Lord's table.
Baptism. Confess Christ. Follow after
Christ. The walk, the vocation, walk
worthy of the vocation wherein you are called. Be mindful of
Christ. Let this mind be in you. Loving,
helpful. Love your brethren. These things
are what the apostles spoke of. Now look at verse 3. Knowing
this first, now believers, you know this first, that there will
come in the last days scoffers, scoffers walking after their
own lusts. Scoffers. Primarily religious
scoffers. Now I'm not just talking about
people out there. I'm talking about maybe somebody
in here. Maybe a young man, young woman, I don't know. Scoffing
at what we're doing this morning. Seeing it as not necessary. Seeing
it, you know, I'll be glad when this is over. That's scoffing
at what we're doing, isn't it? That's scoffers walking after
their own lust. I'll sure be glad when we get
out of here so I can do what I want to do. This is over. I
don't need this. I got everything figured out.
And walking after your own lust. What am I going to do today?
What am I going to do tomorrow? scoffers in the last day and primarily
mockers of the true gospel. There's so many out there who
mock what we preach here, following after their own self-righteous
ways and works and so forth, heaping up things for themselves.
Well, look at verse four. And they say, this is what they
say, where is the promise of his coming anyway? It could be this is on your mind,
I don't know. Where is He? This seems so unreal,
what we're doing. Jesus Christ. I've heard this
name all my life, and I've sat here all my life and read these
stories about Noah and Moses and Abraham and then Jesus, this
man Jesus Christ coming to earth and going to the cross and all
that. I believed it, I guess, I don't know. But where is He
anyway? Things seem like they're going
like they always have. Where is He? Where is the promise
of His coming? All things continue. Look at
it, verse 4. All things, for since the fathers
fell asleep, all things continue just like they were from the
beginning of the creation. I don't see anything different.
No, it's not. They were saying that before
the flood, weren't they? Men were saying that. Where is
this rain you're talking about, Noah? It's never rained before. Seems so far-fetched to me, you
know, this sky raining drops of water. It's never rained before. This seems so, you know, sky
raining fire and destroying fire and brimstone and men running
to rapture people. Oh, this is so ridiculous. Where
is it anyway? I don't see where any of this
applies to. This has got to be verse 5. Look
at verse 5. are ignorant of. They're willingly
ignorant that by the Word of God, the heavens were of old,
the earth standing out of the water and in the water. Men are
willingly ignorant of what is so clearly seen around us. Willingly
ignorant, right? Romans chapter 1, it says this.
It says, that which may be known of God is manifest to them. All a man needs to do to see
that there is a God is look in the mirror. Right? Or look at his hand. Right? Nothing on earth has a hand like
a man. See, apes do. No, they don't.
No, they don't. That's the reason they hang by
their tails and their feet. They don't have a thumb. Apes
can't play guitars, pianos, can't read books. Come on. The fool
has said, no, God. That which may be known of God
is manifest to them. God showed it unto them. All
a man has to do, Henry, to see that there's a God, to have proof,
open these big eyes. Right? Look around. Look around. The invisible things of him from
the creation of the world are clearly seen, understood by the
things that are made. Even his eternal power and God's
head, they're without excuse. But they knew God. But did he
glorify him as God? became vain in their imagination,
got the big, you know, got smart. All of a sudden, no, God didn't.
An intelligent creator didn't create all this. A big explosion
happened. God made foolish the wisdom of
this world. Carl Sagan and all these supposed
intelligent people. And here I am. Goodness gracious. Willingly
ignorant. That's what he says. They're
willingly ignorant of creation. I don't want to have no God,
no God. I don't want a God. That means
you have to be accountable, right? If there is a God, if there is
an absolute Creator who created you and me, we're accountable
to Him. We've got to answer to Him some day, right? So consequently,
men don't like that. So, no, I'm not going to believe
that. I'll make up something. Willingly ignorant. Look at verse
6. And whereby they're willingly
ignorant of this. The world that then was, was overflowed with
water, perished, a flood. Now, I don't want to go into
all this, but there are many undeniable proofs that there
was a flood, a major flood upon this earth. They found fish fossils
on top of the Andes Mountains. They're the highest peaks on
the face of the earth, the Andes Mountains. Fish! Wouldn't they
swim upstream? There was a flood that covered
the whole world. They found drawings in the caves,
ancient caves in South America, China, all over the drawings,
cave drawings of a boat with animals going on it. I don't believe that. That's a
fable, you know. I'll tell you what, Bible. Willingly
ignorant, right? Verse 7, But the heavens and
the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store.
By the word, what is it? The Word, who all things are
kept in His power by His Word. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things
were created by Him. Without Him was not anything
made which was made. The Word. And right now, this
same Word, this same man in glory, sits waiting for the time that
His Father has set in His own power, the bounds, for Him to
speak the Word and all of it to be folded up like a garment
and laid aside. kept by the same word, just like
God created the world with a word back then. Let there be. And
very soon, Christ is going to say, let there be no more. The
same heavens and the same earth which are now kept in store,
reserved unto fire. Yes, fire and brimstone. I know
it's old fashioned, but it's the Bible. Day of judgment. perdition of ungodly men. Who's
that? Ungodly men. That's all of us.
But most definitely, it's people who don't know Christ. Paul said,
let him that loveth not the Lord Jesus Christ be cursed when the
Lord comes. And they will. But verse 8, but beloved. Verse
8. Beloved. You see who he's talking
to here? John, you see, he's talking to
you. Beloved. Beloved of God. Mercy. Great. But God has made
you beloved. Accepts it in the beloved. Beloved. If you believe, if you trust
Christ. If you don't believe this is old-fashioned and ridiculous.
If you do believe this is the Word of God. Oh, goodness gracious
sakes of life. Most blessed man on the face
of the earth right now. Woman. If you believe this. Beloved,
don't you be ignorant of this. Don't you dare be ignorant of
this. Don't be ignorant of this. One day is with the Lord as a
thousand years. A thousand years is one day.
Perhaps it could be you're saying the same thing. Where is all
this? I don't understand. Things are
going on like they always have. Where is the promise of his coming?
I believe he's coming. I just don't know. Don't be ignorant,
beloved. Because one day is with the Lord
a thousand years. One day. Tomorrow morning. One day is a thousand years.
A thousand years is one day. A thousand years. From 1990 A.D. to 1990 A.D. to the Lord has
been like 24 hours. How long did the day last? We're
going to wake up in the morning and say, where did yesterday
go? And a thousand years before this
Lord who knows no time, day after day, thousand, thousand years
going by, like a day, like a day. Don't be ignorant of that, that
there's no time with God. There's no time. Look at this,
verse 9. And the Lord is not slack concerning His promise. He wrote some promises down.
He wrote a book. Some prophecies down. He wrote
them down a long time ago. How long? A thousand years. Two
thousand. One day. Yesterday. He wrote
this book yesterday. Right? He created a world in
six days. How long was it? Six thousand
years? I don't know. Seven days he rested. The Lord is not slack
concerning his promise. God is not delaying like me.
I want you to turn with me to Ecclesiastes chapter eight. If
you've never seen this verse of Scripture, you want to mark
it in your Bible. Ecclesiastes chapter 8. I heard a story one
time, an old farmer that didn't know God, didn't care for God,
and his neighbor did. And the old farmer was making
boasts of how he's going to do this and that and the other.
And his neighbor was telling him, you ought not do that, you
ought to say it for the Lord's will and so forth. He said, I ain't no
God. He said, I'll do what I want to. I'd break, tear down my bars,
build bigger ones. I shook his face. There ain't
no God. Look, watch this. Bless God. Blinky-de-blinky,
if you're up there, do something to me. And men are doing the
same thing today, shaking their fists in God's face. There ain't
no God. And the old farmer said, let
him, if there's a God up there, let him strike me down. And that
old farmer said, Bud, He said, God doesn't always settle
his accounts in October, or whatever month it was. And but, God doesn't
always settle his account in 1990. It might be 1991, or 92,
or 1995, or 2010. But he don't settle them. God's
not slack. But look at verse 11 of Ecclesiastes 8. Because sentence against an evil
work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons
of men is fully set in them to do evil." Right? And I got by with it this time.
Must not be any God. You can go right on. Must not be any God. But beloved,
don't be ignorant like that, Peter said. Don't be so ignorant.
God doesn't settle his accounts immediately. A day is a thousand
years. What difference does it make
if he punishes you now or later? You're going to be punished,
right? What difference does it make if he pours out his wrath
on ungodly men now or ungodly men later? He's going to do it,
isn't he? He's not slack concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness. We're all procrastinators, aren't
we? God's not putting things off.
Things are right on schedule. Right on schedule. Always on
schedule. He promised to return, and he
will. He didn't tell us when, Terry,
did he? Now, if he'd have told us, I'm
going to return, that's the reason these fools are making fools
out of themselves. Trying to make predictions, you know? God's
coming in 1982. Here it rolls around 1982 or
1983, so I made a mistake, a slight miscalculation. People quit their
jobs. He didn't say that. He says,
not for you to know the times and seasons, right? But God knows
if it's 1992, August the 3rd of 1992, he's coming, right? If he had decided, if that's
the date written down, he's coming, mark her down. He's not slack
concerning his promise. He makes it forever, O Lord,
thy word is settled in heaven. It's settled, John. She's written
down with a pin of iron and a rock. Ain't nobody gonna change it.
I purposed it. I'll do it, he said. I'll do
it. But here it is. Here's the good news. Verse 9.
He's not slack concerning his promise, but he's long-suffering
to us, word. Beloved. Are you a believer,
beloved? A beloved believer? He's long-suffering. Why does he hasten his coming? Violet, why does he maybe hasten?
Maybe so your granddaughters will be saved. Wouldn't that
be wonderful? Why is he hastening his coming?
Why is he long-suffering to us? Could be we're not ready, right? Your children, your wife, I don't
know. But he's long-suffering to us. He's not paying any attention
to these dudes that are cussing at him. All this wickedness going
on, he's got a plan, and he's going to fulfill it. He's long-suffering
us. Us, who's that us? Beloved. Giving all his elect
time to get in the ark, seven days. You know, when Adam sinned,
he died. Well, when Noah built that boat, Scripture says that God waited
what? Seven days? Seven days. For what? For all
to enter in who would. Right? When Adam died, it's been
about 7,000 years now. Coming close. Some people say
that that verse 8 is a real prediction there. Earth is 6,000 years old
and it's soon about 2,000 to start the 7,000th year. Maybe
God will rest. I don't know. Maybe He'll wrap
it up then. I don't know. Nobody knows. There's speculation. But
just like on Noah, the door's open. The door of the ark's open. Christ is still available in
me. I hate to use that term. But
Christ is still there for all who want Him. Right? But this
they're willing to be ignorant of. They don't want Him. They're
not willing. You will not come unto Me. Listen
to this. Let me say this. I'm getting
off here a moment. There's a difference between depravity and inability.
Men deny inability. They might take depravity. Depravity
says you will not. That's obstinate. I will not.
You will not come unto me. That's depravity. Inability,
Christ says, is you. No man can come unto me except
the Father which has sent me drawing. You are depraved and
you are unable to come. Anybody who wanted to go in that
ark, right? But they were depraved, didn't want in, right? I don't
want to be in an ark. They're willingly ignorant of
the flood, right? I mean, they're willingly ignorant of Christ
now. I don't want that. I don't need that Christ to get
this all figured out. I'm OK. But they cannot. God put everybody in that ark
that was going to go in that ark, didn't he? The animals,
every one of them. Everybody that was going to be
in that ark was elect. We predestinated before the ark was built to go
in that ark. You see, God's not unjust, is
He? The door's open. Anybody wants
to come in, come in. Grace, day of grace, salvation. Anybody wants to believe Christ,
can. Or may. May. I don't want to. Door shut. Door shut. But God is longsuffering to us.
We're not willing that any should perish. Any should perish, but
that all should come to repentance. Who are you talking about? God
not willing that they should perish, any should perish, but
all. Beloved, he says it four times. He's longsuffering to
us. He's not willing that any of us all perish, but that all
should be saved. It's so clear because what God
wills, God will do, right? He's not willing. You mean God's
not willing that any should perish and they do? What kind of God
is that? There's no God at all. That's a figment of men's imagination. But he's not willing that any
of us should perish. Thank God. This is mercy and
grace. Are you interested? That's the reason this whole
thing is kept in store. Deborah, he may be waiting on
Jennifer. He doesn't have to, but he may
be. Oh, the long-suffering of the
Lord. He's not willing that any of us should perish. The Lord
is not slack, but the day of the Lord will come, verse 10.
I'd like to stop it right here, but I'm not. The day of the Lord
will come. Well, if I shut my book and walked
out of here, He will come. I wish God would impress upon
us As a thief in the night, a day when you don't expect it, the
heavens will pass away. Have you ever been woken, woken,
awakened? Excuse me, English teachers.
Have you ever been awakened in the night by a loud noise? Have
you been in a dead sleep and all of a sudden, what happens? Well, your heart. Isn't it? Your heart's just beating like
that. What does the Scripture say? When the Lord comes, men's
hearts shall fail. When the heavens shall pass away
with a great noise, waking out of a dead spiritual sleep. He's
here. Nobody's going to have to ask
who? Nobody is going to say who? Because it says all eyes shall
see. He's here. Your conscience, the
word of God is on the conscience. You know who he is. Everybody
knows who he is. But just their will and ignorance
of who He is. No more Him. But when that noise,
I don't know what it is, trumpet? Old-fashioned? Yeah, but it's
Bible. The trumpet shall sound. The dead in Christ shall rise.
And the earth shall melt away with a fervent heat. And the
works that are therein shall be burned up. Now look at this,
beloved. Verse 11. Look at it. Please.
Everybody look at the Bible. Verse 11. Seeing things. that all these things shall be
dissolved. What manner of persons we ought
to be. What manner of persons we ought
to be in all holy conversation and godliness. See in them. You know, you see some things.
If God has opened your eyes You've seen some things, right, Terry?
You've seen who God is. You've seen Him in His holiness,
in His righteousness, in His justice, haven't you? You see who you are before this
holy God, condemned, depraved, unable to come to God, wicked,
vile, rebellious, under condemnation, right? And thank God, by His
mercy and grace, you see who Christ is. And He's drawn you,
led you to Him as your shelter in the time of storm, your protection,
the rock in whom He's going to hide you from that overflowing
scourge of His wrath. Right? You've seen it. Now, see
another thing. Oh, how we ought to have these
eyes open all the time. Right? Do what it takes. Toothpicks. To spiritually keep our eyes
open to what's going on around us. Now, I'm no doomsday prophet.
I said this last week. I know no doomsday prophet. I'm
not saying that it's here, it's time. But something's going on. Right? Christ said you can judge
the times and the seed. Look at the fig tree, when the
leaves are green, spring's here. Something's going on over in
the Middle East. I don't know. Young men, got
your draft cards ready? There's a draft now. If the war
happens, you're gone. What's going on? Isn't it? I don't know. I don't know, but I'm sure watching. Now, I'm not going to live my
life like we talked about Wednesday night. I'm not going to quit
and get holed up in a cave somewhere. I'm not going to stop. I'm not
going to run either for fear, run, hide, but I'm walking. What manner of persons you ought
to be? What? Watching, looking around, looking into. Fear and trembling. Back in the
days of Nehemiah, when they heard the reading of the Word of the
Lord, they heard it was trembling, didn't they? I wish somebody
would tremble in here this morning. He's coming. And not just so I can say, I
told you so. I won't be around to see people's
fear or whatever. I won't. Hopefully, by his mercy
and grace, I'll be holding his face in righteousness, unconcerned
about the world. Unconcerned. Looking for, verse 12, looking
for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God. Oh, let's
be honest with ourselves here. Come on. Come on. Are you looking for Christ to
come? Do you look for it? Just ask! Do you look forward to your wife
or your husband coming home after work or whatever? Your children,
do you look forward to going to pick your child up at school?
Oh, you long for it, don't you? Can't wait! You're going to tell
me that you're a child of God, that you're in love with this
Christ, and you're not looking for Him to come? Not anxious?
Don't want to see Him? God's not mocked. Hastening unto the coming. Even
so, come, Lord Jesus, come. Like I was talking to Brother
Todd on the phone the other day. He said, I look so forward to dying. I
want to see Christ. Looking forward to it, nevertheless,
verse 13, we, according to his promise, some people, do look,
do look for a new earth, new heavens and a new earth wherein
dwelleth, and here it is, righteousness. Him, everything is good and in
Him. You like this world? Christ said, if any man loved
the world, the love of the Father is not in him, right? You like
this place? I'm ready to be done with it.
You know, I'm tired of it. Tribulation is all I've got here.
You say, how can that be? You've got a big home and a hot
car and all. Gracious sakes. Sin! He talks about here looking for
righteousness. I'm tired of my sin and everything
in this world that is sinful, full of sin. I want to see Him
behold His face in righteousness. I want to see Him who is righteous
and perfect. I don't want to ever think another
evil thought, do another evil deed. I want
to worship God like He ought to be worshiped, love Christ
like He ought to be loved. Verse 14, wherefore, beloved,
seeing that you look for such things, do you? Be honest. This is what Paul said over in
Philippians 2, 12. He said, watch out your own salvation
with fear and trepidation. This is what he's saying. Figure
it out. If you're not certain, figure
it out. Go home, get in your closet and
find out if you know Christ or not. He'll tell you. Find it out. Seeing that you, if you do look
for such things, if you do call on the Father, if you do, seeing
that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found
of Him in peace without spot and blameless. Now, how are we
going to do this? I should have heard to this. I will hurt. This is the key. He said over
Philippians 2, 9, being found in Him. not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." How are
you going to be found blameless? How are you going to have peace
with this God who is angry with the wicked every day? And you,
angry with you, and me, angry with us, angry with us. We're
wicked, aren't we? Yeah, we are. How are we going to have peace with
this holy God? Who is angry with it? Who hates all workers of
iniquity? We are workers of iniquity. How are we going to have peace
with it? Unconditional surrender. Lay down your arms. Stack your
arms. And somebody is going to have
to come stand before us. A mediator. A substitute. An
intercessor of Christ. A righteous. He is going to have
to clothe us with a friendly garment. One that the Father can't see,
our rebellion. And He's going to have to take our punishment,
our sin, upon that cross. And He's going to have to make
us willing and obedient in the day of His power. He's going
to have to do it all for us. We're going to need a representative
to make peace with us. Christ said, I am your peace,
my peace. I give unto you peace with this
Father. He's joined daysmen but quick steps. Lay hands on God
and a hand on us. Bring us together. Reconcile
us to God. Reconciler. And without spot
and without blemish, that's Christ's righteousness. Be diligent that
you have that. Don't be satisfied with a head
nodding. That won't do in the day of judgment. Goodness gracious, God, you stand
before that holy throne of God. Would I stand before it? And
he says, what right do you have to be in my holy presence? And
we say, I don't care what it is. We won't say anything. If this isn't a dwelling, if
he doesn't abide in you, you won't be saying anything. Your
heart will be trembling. If we're in him, though, there's
a beauty. If we're in him, we want to face the judgment and
just let us right on in. Take us right on in, no judgment.
So be diligent that you found of him in peace, peace with God,
make sure there's nothing in In you, search me, try me, David
said. See if there be any wicked way
in me, any wicked and evil will and way, without spot and blameless. Having this robe of Christ's
righteousness, His blood shed for my account. And account this,
remember this, don't forget it, verse 15, a long-suffering of
our Lord is salvation itself. The fact, Joe, that He was so
patient with you for so many years, buddy, that's salvation
in it. That was your salvation. What
if? 18, 20, I don't know how old
you were when the Lord sent you. 30 years? I don't know. What
if? Right there, he said, all right, Joe, all of you, I'm going
to take. You'd have been a goner, wouldn't
you? Just like me. Gone. Rightfully so. But he's long-suffering. You know, I'm going to put up
with old Joe another... Well, how long is he going to put up
with you? Another 30 years. Salvation. dungs you like a tree, a useless,
fruitless tree. It dungs you, making you like
crop. The longsuffering of our Lord is salvation, just like
Paul said, according to the wisdom given unto him, just like he
wrote in verse 16. In all his epistles, he wrote
about this, speaking in them these things, which are some
things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned
and unstable do rest. Unlearned, that is people who
haven't been taught by God. About God, about themselves,
about Christ. Unlearned, didn't learn from God, learned it from
seminary professor. Unlearned, unstable, not settled
on the rock, Christ Jesus, but on shifting sands, winds of doctrine. Got them going here, I like that,
I like that. No, unstable. They rest these
things to their destruction, as they do also other scriptures.
Oh, Peter probably didn't realize it, but they were going to take
2 Peter 3, 9. and rest it unlike any other. When he was writing
this, he had no idea that they were going to take that ninth
verse and apply it to everybody and throughout the entire universe.
He said, God not willing, see there, that's what Peter said.
Oh, Peter would have, oh, but no, no, that's not what I said,
wasn't it? No, I'm not preaching that, Peter
would have said. No, I'm not preaching that. But men do, don't they? Rest
it to their destruction. God loves you. Christ died for
you. You're not willing that you should be buried. Well, I'm
okay then, aren't I? I'll just go get drunk. I'll just live
my life like I want to. And when I die, God will save
me. Arrested to their own destruction.
You, therefore, beloved. Look, here's another warning.
Beloved, beware. Verse 17. You, beloved, though. Verse 17. You know this thing. Terry, you
know that verse 9 is not talking about everybody. It's talking
to the elect. You know it. See, and you know these things
before. Beware. Beware, lest you be led away
with the error of the wicked, too, and fall from your own steadfastness. What is that? Faith in Christ
alone. Steadfastness. Clinging to Him
and Him. Grace alone. Right? Pure mind. Him and Him alone.
Why do you say? Well, because I clean my life.
No, Him. Christ. Let your speech be seasoned
with grace. Let it be with grace. Always
seasoned with salt. Verse 18, grow in grace. Grow
in grace. This is not just talking about
being more gracious, although we should. This is talking about
growing more dependent on Christ. You hear what I said? To grow
in grace means to grow more dependent upon Christ, right? To grow more
dependent and trust in Him and Him alone more. And in the knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ, beloved We need to seek Him, and trust
Him, and believe Him, and study Him, and look to Him, and lean
on Him, and learn of Him, and love Him, and emulate Him, and
walk after Him, and follow Him, and seek to know Him, to win
Christ, and be found in Him, before it's ever lost in the
two legs. Good counsel from Peter. I didn't miss Peter's words,
verse by verse. Beloved, beware. Be wary. Be wary of what's going on around
us. Not only in the Middle East,
but within us. Right? Is there a root of bitterness
springing up in anybody? Are you clinging to your righteousness?
Are you not trusting Christ? Are you covetous? Whatever. Beware. Look around you. Beware. And grab ahold of His garments. Grab ahold of His garments. And
you'll be safe. You'll be safe. Staying with me now. you