Turn your Bibles to 2nd Peter
chapter 3 2nd Peter chapter 3 Just want to take a little time
to thank you all so much for the opportunity and the privilege
to preach the Word of God to and what a blessing you all are. You don't know how much of a
blessing you are. God is truly blessed. I've entitled the nice
message, By Way of Remembrance. By Way of Remembrance. Hope to
stir you up a little more. Because as saints of God, we
must be constantly reminded of the gospel of Jesus Christ And
if we are to ever mature and grow in grace and in faith in
Him, salvation is, as we know, all
of God. It's all His work from eternity
to eternity. He has allotted and purposed
all the times and the steps that we walk in. He's loved us from
eternity. We've been in Christ from eternity.
And we walk in His Spirit by God's grace in Christ Jesus,
that same Spirit, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit,
the same Spirit that has been there since eternity. They're
one. Led by His Holy Spirit that He
gives us when He borns us again in Christ. He has delivered us. He's delivered us from the bondage
of Satan and sin. And He tells us it's our reasonable
service, being servants of God, to pray that He would make us
fruitful in Christ. When you work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling, Philippians 1-2, we see, for it is God which
worketh in you both to will and to do His good pleasure. We are
only recipients. That's all we are of God's grace
in the finished works of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and
Savior. And it is God's free and sovereign
grace in His Son, Jesus Christ, He borns us again by the inward
operation of that Holy Spirit, of God, gives a spiritual life
in His elect, those that believe on Him. Because we are born spiritually
dead, we are born totally depraved in our own sins and in the fallen
nature of Adam. And it's God who quickens us
and gives us that spiritual life and faith to believe on His Son.
And to understand spiritual things because in our own nature we
don't understand those things. We can't. We're spiritually dead. But He gives us that life. He
gives us the faith. And His Spirit testifies with
our spirits. And He only tells us of Christ. But we must be stirred up as
we so easily are led astray. And we need to stir each other
up by way of remembrance of what
God has done for us in Christ Jesus. As God chose us in Christ before
the world was, in Christ, Christ redeemed us with His own blood,
and at His appointed time, He calls us by His gospel. And that
Holy Spirit quickens us and reveals these truths and these promises
of Christ and God's grace to us. And we're made partakers
of His divine nature, born again by His Spirit. And here in Peter, An apostle of Christ, inspired
by that same Holy Spirit, stirs up our pure minds, those
minds and those hearts sprinkled by the blood applied by that
Holy Spirit when He borns us again and puts us in remembrance. So here in verse one, This second
epistle, beloved, I now write unto you, in both which I stir
up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that ye may be mindful
of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets."
Who inspired those prophets? They were inspired by the word,
by the Holy Spirit. And of the commandment of us
apostles, and of the Lord and Savior. The Gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what motivates us. That's
what we need to hear. That's what stirs us up. That's
what makes our minds pure. It's Christ in us. That hope
of glory. He sent His Son The true rock,
the true foundation of our salvation, that's what we build on. That's
our foundation. That's our solid rock. And we
build on Him as God gives us the grace in Christ to do so,
led by His Spirit. As Christ came and set up His
church, and He gave us preachers, His apostles, His witnesses. They're His witnesses. That Holy
Spirit witnesses His being with Him from the beginning. And He
testifies of Christ. And by the foolishness of preaching,
He gave us His Word. He gives us His Word. Christ
came, made sin for us who knew no sin, and made us the righteousness
of God in Him. And he suffered. He did the Father's
will. In Hebrews 2 verse 9, but we
see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the
suffering of death, crowned with the glory and honor, that he
by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became
him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing
many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation
perfect through suffering. And in Luke 11, verse 49, therefore
also said the wisdom of God, I will
send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay
and persecute, that the blood of all the prophets which was
shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this
generation. The Lord is over. He's over all
his generations and in the ages. We're scattered. He scattered
his elect all over the world. And he anointed his church to
preach the gospel, to feed his sheep. In 2 Corinthians 5.17, Therefore,
if any man be in Christ, He is a new creature. Old things are
passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to Himself
by Jesus Christ and has given us this ministry of reconciliation. He has given the church the ministry
of reconciliation. The Gospel of God. For the furtherance
of the Gospel. God has his elect all over the
world, in each generation, in each age. We are to preach his word and
declare it, because we are his instruments. We are to his glory
and to the furtherance of the gospel. We preach Christ crucified. He has satisfied God is satisfied
with his son and he keeps us in his son and in his Holy Spirit
leads us And he is coming again We read
in verse 3 knowing This first that there shall come in the
last days scoffers walking after their own lust and saying where
is the promise of his coming and For since the fathers fell
asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning
of creation. 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 was then,
or 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. There is a time again that God
has allotted and purposed when his son will come again. It's
only known to him and he is coming. He purposed before the world
was in Christ. Jesus is coming. And
as her brother read, we'll read it again over in Ephesians. Ephesians 1 verse 9, having made
known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good
pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation
of the fullness of time, he might gather together in one all things
in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth,
even in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance,
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will." It's all in God's providence,
all in his purpose. Nothing happens that God has
not ordained. And as in the days of Noah, There
shall be scoffers and mockers sent. But these things he tells us
must be. They must be. But pay them no
mind. God is sovereign over all. Jesus Christ, the God-man, must
reign till his enemies be made his footstool. He must. And he is. And as he sealed Noah in that
ark and his family, those eight souls out of all those people
that were all populated this earth or the earth at that time.
God puts eight souls in that ark. Because Noah found grace in the
eyes of God. And He put him in that ark, which
was a picture and a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Savior. God puts us in Him. And He seals us in. The door is shut. That door was shut and sealed.
Keep them. By that mighty hand of God. And in Christ Jesus. That's what God's doing with
us. Just like at art. So let the scoffers come. God
sends. We're to do His will. We're to
look to Christ. Not to worry about this world.
Yeah, we have concerns, we do. Wouldn't we? We do. We're in
the flesh. We are concerned with God. He's
eternal. This world is temporary. We're
not of this world anymore. It's not where our citizenship
is. We're in Christ. We're in that Holy Trinity. God. God, the Father, God, the
Son, God, the Holy Spirit. We're sealed in him. The one who's in control of everything. And in Christ Jesus, only in
him, we are safe and secure. Safe from Satan. We're safe from sin. We're safe from this present
evil world. We're safe from ourselves. Yeah, we're still in the flesh.
We still have that old nature. And it wars. It wars with us. It brings us down. It diverts
our attention away from God. But stronger is He that's in
us, that's in the world. He's conquered us. He has conquered
us. When He rose again, He conquered.
He rose successful. He rose victorious over all. He conquered us. Now our life is hidden in Him. Saved from what else? Saved from
the wrath of God. In Christ Jesus, we're saved
from the wrath of God. And that's the only thing anyone
should have to fear. Is the wrath of God. The one
who's in control. The one who has created it all
for His glory and His good pleasure. for the salvation of His elect. That's why it's here. That's
why it exists. That's why it's still spinning
on its axis. That's why He holds it in place.
And He's in control of it all. Save from His holy judgment. We deserve that wrath. That eternal
damnation. Because we sinned against God. Hadn't done it, we was in Him.
We have His nature. And we sin constantly. By Christ Jesus' sin atoning
blood, His righteousness alone, the punishment, that we so justly
deserved and earned. God sent his own son, even while
we were still his enemies, to redeem his elect. It was done. It was done in eternity. And God purposed it all as done,
because he doesn't change and he doesn't lie. He said it, it's done. But his son had to come and accomplish
it. There was no other way. There's no other salvation other
than the God-man, Jesus Christ. God demand perfect obedience,
perfect righteousness. And the only one who is perfect
came in our flesh and in our nature without sin, and satisfied
and appeased the holy justice of God with His blood and with
His sacrifice of Himself for all of His elect. He, holy and
pure, blameless, the Christ Jesus, came in the flesh as a man with
our nature, born of a virgin, born of the Spirit of God, the
God-man. He's as much God as He was man. never ceased to be God. What'd
he say? The Godhead resides in him bodily. He was filled with the Holy Spirit
without measure. God says, here's my son, and
who I am well pleased, here ye him. Without seeing righteous and
holy, And it was He who suffered, made
perfect through suffering, through the obedience, doing the Father's
will, that perfect righteousness. His blood, that precious blood
shed for the remission of our sins. He died. He was buried. And we were in Him. And praise God, on the third
day, as according to the Scriptures, He arose from that grave. He
arose because there was no sin in Him. God's justice could not
demand any more for all the sins of the elect that God gave Him. They're paid for. Justified. Declared righteous in Him. Alive
and victorious. Successful. That blood is sufficient,
it's effectual. He put our sins away in His own
body. And we were in Him. chosen by
the Father in Him before the world was. In Romans 6, verse
3, know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus
Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried
with Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in the newness of life. We have life because he
came and died for us. And he rose again victorious. And now our life is in him. It's
in him. He in us, we in him. And we're under God's grace in
Jesus Christ, because we belong to God. We're kept by his spirit,
preserved forever. Sin hath no more dominion over
us in Christ Jesus. And just as in the days of Noah,
this world that is now is kept in reserve, that we're told,
for destruction. Not again by water. That's why we have the rainbow.
This world has tried to pervert that beautiful symbol that God
has give us. But we know better. That's God's promise. He's not
going to destroy it by water. But he has reserved it for fire.
And we are not of this world. We look for that city whose builder
and maker is God. It's in Jesus Christ that true
Jerusalem, true Israel, He is eternal and we are and shall
be in Him. He separated. He separated us
from the wicked and from sin. And it'll all be tried by fire.
He is a consuming fire. God is a consuming fire. But
that fire tries us, that fire keeps us, and that fire purifies
us. But to the wicked, it's destruction. It's eternal damnation. It's
God's judgment. But in Christ, we don't have
to fear that judgment because there's no condemnation. Those that are in Christ, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. We don't have
to fear that judgment. We don't have to fear that wrath
of God. He delights in mercy. He loves us like he loves his
son, and he loves his son. But we shall not fear God's judgment,
for in Christ we are made righteous in Him. He is our only righteousness. He has justified us, sanctified
us. He is our only hope, only hope
of acceptance to God. And the just shall live by faith.
Christ is faithful. We live in Him. He's made us
one with the triune God in Him. And we hear it many times, but
it is so precious and so wonderful to hear that by grace, by God's
grace, we are saved through that gift of faith that He gives us
in His Son, the faith of Christ. And that not of yourselves, thank
God it is not of us. But it is a gift of God because
we have nothing, nothing in our nature, nothing in our flesh
that would please God. We're abominable. Not of works
lest any man should boast, because we merit nothing. Christ Jesus
paid the ransom in full. We give glory to him. Christ
was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. And he has redeemed us with his
own blood. His one time offering. Of himself
as the atonement for our sins. That please the Holy Justice
and satisfied God. His work is finished. It's successful. He sits on his throne, and he
shall not fail. He has saved us to the other
most, and he will save all our brothers and sisters that are
in him. He won't lose one. That's why he's long suffering
towards us. We shall be judged, but we shall
be robed in his righteousness alone, and we shall be washed
in his sin-atoning blood. And we shall be in him, righteous
and without sin for eternity. For he has paid all the sin debt,
all of the elects in full. He bore our sins and he put them
away. He bore our punishment. He bore
our guilt. He bore our shame. He made it
his own. And we were given to Him in eternity,
and He bought us with His own blood. We are His. There's no
way, no way around it. You belong to God, and that door,
that door will be shut. We shall enter in, and in the
judgment of God, His wrath will be poured out on the wicked, Satan and his demons, all of
his demons and all the fallen angels, they'll be cast in the
pit. That man of sin. They'll all be burned for eternity
in the lake of fire. God's wrath. But His righteous
ones, His righteous ones are in Him. And He shall separate
us from sin and from Satan. forever. The sheep shall be separated
from the goats. Revelations 21, 27, and there
shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither
whatsoever worketh abomination, maketh alive, but they which
are written in the Lamb's book of life. Written before the world
was, and only he, only Christ, is worthy to open that book. Alright, 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 is one day. The Lord is
not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness.
but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish,
none of his elect, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in the 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 are ye his
elect 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 elements shall melt with
that fervent heat Nevertheless, we, according to his promise,
look for new heavens, a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent
that ye be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless,
in account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation. Even
as our beloved brother Paul, also according to the wisdom
given unto him, hath written unto you. The long-suffering
of our Lord is salvation. All that the Father has given
him shall come to him. They shall be saved. And he won't
lose one. He took full responsibility for
God's elect. Scattered throughout all the
world, his elect are scattered throughout
the world and throughout the ages and the generations. Time does not mean, doesn't limit
God. God's in control of it. It's for our use. God has allotted
a time for man. He's allotted the time for His
work. All this is His. All this is
His creation. All purposed of God. This is an allotted time
that God has given. And God has allotted For each
one of His elect, that time of love, when He reveals
Himself to you, when He reveals Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Isn't that wonderful? We're a number that man can't
even number us. We're innumerable. But each and
every single one of God's elect, God has allotted a time for you. When He will send a preacher
to you with His gospel, and He will reveal Himself to
you in Christ. Born you again. Make you a new
creation. It ain't this flesh. It's that
new creation He creates in you. That massive sin. That ugliness. That chaos. He creates something new in you
and reveals Christ Jesus in you. The hope of glory. Have hope. Have spiritual life. That hope that you will be resurrected
just like your Savior who came first, the preeminent to have
preeminence over all, to be the firstborn among many. We have
the hope, the promise, allotted that time of love for
each one of his elect, no matter where they are, and what age,
and what generation they are. He is long suffering towards
his elect. He delights in mercy. All of
true Israel shall be saved. God's chosen in Christ. For known unto God are all his
works from the beginning of the world. Let's look over at Isaiah
and just hear how wonderful he is. I never get tired of hearing
this. Isaiah 45. Verse five, I am the Lord and there is none
else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee though thou has
not known me. that they may know from the rising
of the sun and from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord and there is none
else. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. Drop down ye heavens from above
and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open and let them
bring forth salvation and let righteousness spring up together.
I the Lord have created him. Oh, let that sinner chill through.
Don't that stir you up? Huh? Look at how sovereign and
mighty our God is. He's over everything. There is
none beside Him. There's none equal. There's none
that can counsel Him. There's none that can go up against
Him. And we're in Him. How safe and secure are you? In Christ Jesus. And God knows His people. What
another blessing. What another blessing. Look over
in John 10. Look over in John 10. Let me
see if I can find it here. Yeah. Go over in John 10, verse
25. John 10, verse 25. Jesus answered them, I told you,
and you believe not. The works that I do in my father's
name, they bear witness of me. But you believe not, because
ye are not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice, and I know them. He knows us intimately. And they
follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. Look at this. Neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. There is nothing that can pluck
you out of the almighty God's hand. My father, which gave them
me, is greater than all. And no man is able to pluck them
out of my father's hand. And I and my father are one. Woo, look over here in Exodus.
Exodus 34, verse six. Let's hear just a little bit
more. And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed, this is 34, Exodus 34, verse six. And proclaimed,
the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering
and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity, and transgression and sin, and that will by no
means clear the guilty. All sin will be punished. Visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children and upon the children's children
until the third and the fourth generations. Time, time does
not have any hold on God. He does not leave us to ourselves. We are His purchased possessions.
And knowing these things, brother, we know these things. We know
these things by His Spirit, because His Holy Spirit convinces us.
He convinces us of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.
And how careful we should be when we are given all these things. We are given all these blessings,
all these promises of God in Christ Jesus. Christ is in us, the hope of
glory. God's in us, and we are in Him. The one and only triune
God. It's hard to wrap your mind around
that, ain't it? But blessed is what He says.
Christ has made us one with God in Him. Oh, how we should pray
God keep us in his spirit. Keep us walking in his spirit.
God, please keep us looking to Christ. Stir us up by way of
remembrance. Look over in 2 Timothy here.
2 Timothy. Chapter one, verse six. Second Timothy chapter one verse
six. Wherefore, I put thee in remembrance
that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting
on of my hands. For God have not given us the
spirit of fear, but of power and of love. Oh, he loved us. How we should love him and love
each other. And of a sound mind, be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but
be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God. We're called on to suffer for
his namesake. He who suffered for us, who has
saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world was, but is now made
manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who
has abolished death and has brought life. We got eternal life in him. and
immortality to the light through the gospel. Through the gospel of God. We belong to him. We're taught
by him. We're taught by his Holy Spirit
that he gives us. Don't be content. Don't be lukewarm. We should be doers of the word
and not hearers only. First Corinthians chapter two,
verse nine. But as it is written, I have
not seen nor hear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
But God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit. For the Spirit
searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. We're led
by His Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God resides
in us. It is our reasonable service.
Romans 6, 15. Romans 6, verse 15. What then? Shall we sin because
we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid! Know ye not that to whom ye yield
yourselves servants to obey? His servants ye are to whom ye
obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness.
But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have
obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered
you. Being then made free from sin,
ye became the servants of righteousness. Look what God has done for you
in Christ Jesus. You're the servants of sin. And
look how easily, look how easily you divert, you're diverted,
you're turned to sin. How easy it besets us. But now we have no condemnation.
We don't have a fear of God's wrath because we are under grace. We're motivated to love him because
he loved us first. and gave Himself forth. Look what He's done. Look what
He's done for you. Made you the servants of righteousness. Servants of the King of kings
and the Lord of lords. You're His child. His bride. Oh, we belong to Him. We serve
the living God in Jesus Christ. led by His Spirit. Look over in 1 Corinthians here
now. But of Him, 1 Corinthians 1,
verse 30. It's so wonderful. I know we
hear it all the time, but we still, if this don't stir you
up, I don't know what will. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us. Wisdom. Righteousness. Sanctification. He's holy. He's made us holy. And redemption. That according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Look what He's done. Look what He's done for you.
All the promises are in Christ are yea and amen. He's put you in Christ. We know
Christ is all. All right, let's go on here.
Verse 16. As also, talking about Paul here,
as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things,
in which are some things hard to be understood. They are to
the natural man. which they, that are unlearned
and unstable, wrest, they wrestle, they wrest, they fight, they
twist, they turn, they pervert it, as they do also the other
scriptures, unto their own destruction. The reprobates, those that don't
know God, that don't believe God, that aren't entered into
His wrest, Ye therefore, beloved, seeing
that ye know these things, we know how we know these things,
because we're in Him. Before, beware lest ye also,
being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your
own steadfastness. That profession of faith that
we have in Him. gift of God's faith and grace,
but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ, to him be glory, both now and forever. Amen. Brother, the reprobates, those
left in their fallen natures, those who hate God, is once we
were. He's the only difference. He who's in us is the only difference.
Ain't nothing we did. Nothing we've done, nothing we
could ever do. He did this for us. Just like we were. Beware. They don't understand. So they
use their own knowledge. Man's wisdom and man's understanding. Antichrist. We'll worship. Self-righteousness. Man's religion. They twist the
Word of God. But don't worry about it. Don't
pay them any mind. We're taught of God. You wrestle with anything? You
think you lack anything? He's left them in their unbelief.
And they cannot understand these things. They don't have that
faith that God's given us. They don't have that spiritual
life to understand. They're not taught of God like
we are. Why is it any wonder that they
don't understand or they twist things? We did. You still do when you
try to understand things in your own wisdom. When you don't go to Him, you
don't bow and humble yourself before Him at His throne of grace,
where there's mercy, where there's forgiveness of sin, where there's
pardon for iniquity. You ask Him. You ask God. You ask Christ. You look to Christ. They shall
not enter in His rest. You lack anything. Go before Him. Humble yourself. He is our High Priest. He sits
on His throne as our mediator of the covenant, as our only
advocate with the Father. He intercedes for us. He lives
to intercede for us. He loves you. He knows you sin
continually. He does. He intercedes for us. He interprets
our prayers. You ask in His name, He says,
and according to God's will, and it shall be given unto you.
What are these things? These fruits of the Spirit. These
promises in Christ that are given to you because you're in Him. Are you ignorant of them? Then
ask Him. Oh, ask Him. Ask Him for wisdom. Ask Him to know more about your
Savior, to reveal Himself to you more. Ask Him. He delights in mercy. Stand fast in Christ. All the
promises are in Him and they're amen and yay. Walk in His Spirit. Study His Word. Worship Him publicly. Don't forsake the gathering of
yourself. Listen to His preachers. And in private, read His Word. Study His Word. So that you're
not led to and fro by man. You can discern in Him. Be able to tell others
of that hope that's in you. Be able to. You never know when
one of your brothers or sisters are out there. You need to hear
about Jesus. What He's done for you. That
you may grow in grace. By the knowledge of Jesus Christ
our Lord and Savior. God help our unbelief. Suffer
for His name's sake. That your joy may be full. That
you may mature in Him. That God make you fruitful. in
Christ by His grace. Those steps that He has already
ordained you to walk in. He has sent us and He has sent
His word. He has ordained His church. This
is where you're going to get fed. This is where He said He'd
meet you. Not the building, but His church. The gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace in Jesus Christ. Harden not your hearts and grow
in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Stir up
your pure minds. Those minds are made pure by
Him, by His blood. That peace you have with God,
that you can call Him your God, that was done by Christ. His
shed blood, He made peace. God reconciled you to Himself
and His Son by way of remembrance, because Christ is all and He
is all our salvation. Christ crucified, remembrance
of Him and all that He has accomplished for you. I hope it stirs you up and I
hope it brings a blessing to you. May God bless his work.