Come back with me now to 2 Peter
chapter 1. In the first epistle of Peter, he wrote this about the prophets
of old. He said, of which salvation? Talking about that salvation
in Christ. The prophets have inquired and
searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come
unto you. Searching what or what manner
of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify.
They knew that the Word of God was talking about one who was
to come. They knew that. They knew that
the Word of God was talking about a substitute. talking about a
great high priest, talking about the prophet who would tell them
all things. And they searched what or what
manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did
signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and
the glory that should follow. Now watch this. Unto whom it
was revealed. Who revealed it? God did. God did. Unto whom it was revealed
that not unto themselves. When Isaiah penned Isaiah 53,
he knew that that was not talking about there and then and him. He knew that this was talking
about God's people, now it included him, but he knew that that was
not for that time, that a time that was coming and it was for
us that they did minister the things which are now reported
unto you. What things? Isaiah 53, Isaiah
64, Daniel chapter 4, on and on you
can go. that not unto themselves but
unto us they did minister the things which are now reported
unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the
Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." The same spirit that inspired
the prophets to write inspires his messengers to preach. And
they preach with an understanding given unto them by the Spirit
of God. by them that have preached the
gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,
which things the angels desire to look into. Wherefore, gird
up the loins of your mind, and be sober, and hope to the end
for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of
Jesus Christ." Now here in 2 Peter chapter 1, we're going to look
at these things a little bit. And I want to start by saying
this, that we're living in a day in which everything takes precedence
over the Word of God. Everything, anything, will take
precedence over the Word of God. You read to them the Word of
God, and they'll say, they'll start telling you what the dictionary
said. They'll start telling you what Billy Graham said. They'll
start telling you what Rex Humbard said. They'll start telling you
what your grandma said. Or they'll say, well, that don't
seem right. Everything takes precedence over
the word of God. Feelings. If it don't feel right,
don't accept it. I had a guy tell me that one
time. It just don't feel right. What you're saying don't feel
right. Did you know that the scripture says that there's a
way that seemeth right unto men, but the end thereof is destruction?
That way that felt right was the wrong way, and that it ended in destruction.
What feeds the feelings of men? Is it not their ignorance, their
carnal mind, and false religion? That's what feeds the feelings
of men. Is it not the imperfect facts established by science,
so-called? and the imperfect principles
of philosophy and the fallen ideals of the wise and prudent.
Our Lord said, I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent. But
we want to put the wise and prudent on a pedestal and let them teach
us. Paul said, you beware. He warned
the Colossians. He said, beware lest any man
spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition
of men and the basic principles, those things which are adopted
by this world. The mind can only process the
facts that it has and the understanding that it has of those facts. The scripture said, to converted
men of the world, those that God had chosen out of the world,
those Gentiles, those Corinthians, those Colossians, Philippians. The scripture says to converted
men of the world to walk not as the other Gentiles walk in
the vanity of their mind. Now watch this. Imagining things
to be proven and acceptable that are not, that's to walk in the
vanity of your mind. I don't know how to get this
across to me and I guess I'm looking too much to myself and
my own inability to get it across and not dependent enough on the
Holy Spirit who's the only one who can. But the sinner, I'm
talking about everybody that's not a believer, the sinner is
a fallen creature. None that understandeth. None seeketh after God. They seek after their God. They
seek after a religious experience, but they're not seeking the living
God. Romans 3.10, as it's written. And you know, when Paul said
that, he said, I have before proved that both Jews and Gentiles
are all under sin, They're all under sin. Paul proved this point
not by logic or experience, but by the Word of God. And did you
know I started looking, and Christ, and all of his disciples, all
of his prophets, all of them, they all proved this by the Word
of God. Everything they had to say. And
so here in Romans chapter 3, verse 10, it says, as it is written. There's none righteous. He didn't
just say there's none righteous, he said, as it is written. Written
where? In the Word of God. There's none righteous. No, not
one. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that seeketh after God. They're all gone astray. They are together become unprofitable.
There's none that doeth good, no not one. Our Lord said basically the same
thing to the Jews in John 6, 44. He said no man can come to
me except the Father which hath sent me draw him and I'll raise
him up at the last day. But even the Son of God did not
leave men to his testimony. Though he was God in the flesh,
Though he had power to do it, he didn't. Now watch this. Even the Son of God did not lead
men to believe his words, but immediately tells them, for it's
written in the prophets, they shall all be taught of God. Therefore,
wherever man comes to me, he'd been drawn of the Father. He'd
been taught of the Father. God's Word is the only reliable
information about God, about man, and about the salvation
of man which God has purposed and which He has accomplished
in His Son. There's no other source of information. You can't
look within and you can't look without. It's in this book. This is the treasure. And I tell
you, it's in the world. This is the treasure. This is
the book. Our Lord said, those scriptures
are they that testify of me. This is the treasure. You know
what happens when a man finds treasure in the field? This world
is the field. What happens when he finds the
treasure? He buys the field. Oh, my soul, here it is. Here's
the treasure. He's gonna buy it all. Genesis
to Revelation. He's gonna buy it all. A thing is not sold because we
believe it. A thing is sold because God says
it. God says it. God is all wise. And therefore His word needs
no amendment. God is unchangeable, and therefore
what God has spoken is not apt to change. God is sovereign,
therefore none can stay his hand or challenge his counsels. God
is just, and justice requires a foundation. It requires a foundational
premise. God is love, but what is love
if it cannot be communicated? God is merciful therefore he
expresses his mercy in his word of salvation and God is gracious
and therefore he gives us his word and preserves it for all
generations. And God is God And he said, therefore
my word will not be void. But it will accomplish what I've
sent it to accomplish. What would faith be without the
word? Huh? What would your faith be
without the word of God? You had a man tell you one time,
I don't care what it says in there. Well, I do. Because all my hopes is built
on this book. What would faith be without the
word? What would a preacher be if he had no word to verify his
message? What would worship be without
the word to tell us who and what and how to worship him? The Word of God is the foundation
of our faith, and without it, our faith is based on every whim
and feeling and experience and imagination of a fallen world.
Peter begins in 2 Peter 1.16 saying, for we have not followed
cunningly devised fables. when we made known unto you the
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. And he relates the story of himself
and James and John on that mount of transfiguration. And he told
how they together heard a voice speaking from heaven and saying,
this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And they saw him transfigured
before their eyes, and they heard the testimony of God. He said,
we were there. We were there. We were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. We saw him transformed and standing
there white and glistering. And we saw him, and we saw Moses,
and we saw Elijah. And we were so impressed we was
going to build altars to him. And he said, this voice came
out of heaven. He said, this is my son. You
hear him. You hear him. Now watch this.
Verse 19. We have also a more sure word
of prophecy. Where unto you do well that you
take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until
the day dawn and the day star arise in your heart. Now I've
got several things that I want you to see here. first of all
that what we call our Bible is the most sure and certain basis
we have concerning the salvation of our souls. This is it. Now, you can't deny
Peter's experience, you can't deny what he's saying, you can't
deny the value of it, the person that was revealed there, you
can't deny any of them things, but he said For you and your
faith, I have also a more sure word. I can show you in the scriptures
what we're preaching. The Bible said whatsoever things
were written aforetime were written for our learning. You know I
grew up in religion and they basically told me to ignore the
whole Old Testament. They didn't just come right out
and say it, but that's what they did. They didn't want us to read
the Old Testament. In fact, they passed out New
Testaments, what they gave us to read as children. That's half
a Bible. Whatsoever things were written
aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience
and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. That's Romans
15 and verse four. Paul admonished young Timothy
to study the Word of God, to give himself to it. Give himself
completely to the study of the Word of God, and by that he would
show himself approved of God, a workman that needeth not be
ashamed. He also told young Timothy that
the scriptures which he began to hear as a child when his grandmother
read them to him and his mother were able to make him wise unto
salvation. They were the testimony of Christ,
the testimony of God concerning his son. And when God the Holy Spirit
begins to work in a man, he begins by establishing a submission
to him through the Word of God. You
know, there come a time, I grew up in religion and when I got
a little older I started looking to religion as my hope. I wanted
to feel what they felt. I wanted to experience what they
said they experienced. I wanted a part of that because
I thought that's what eternal life was. But when God began
to do a work in me, The very first thing he did was focus
my attention on the word of God. I wanted to know what God said. What God said. Let God be true,
Paul said, never a man a liar. The Jews said they were right,
Paul said he was right, Paul said all right, let's let God
be true and we'll all be liars. Let's do that. We do not weigh the Word of God
by the doctrines of men, but it's the other way around. Scriptures alone are given by
the inspiration of God, and they alone are profitable for what? For doctrine. Well, I'll show
you what the Baptist catechisms... Oh, no, I ain't interested. Show
me what God said. Show me what God said. They're profitable, he said,
for doctrine. They're profitable for reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness. I don't need to know what the
Catholic Church has to say about righteousness or what the Baptists,
Methodists, Presbyterians, or Pentecostals have to say about
righteousness. I want to know what God has to
say about righteousness. And God said Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness. So why do I want to bend that
to fit some religious catechism? Huh? Why don't I just take it
as God said it? You know, the Word of God's not
complicated. What makes it complicated is
all the things that men put in our head. That's what makes it
so complicated. Well, that can't be because they
believe, well, Show that aside. Let's just see what God has to
say. God has a divinely inspired book
that's sufficient for all my instruction. And a thousand ministers
all trying to correct me, they won't get the job done. They
just won't. But a single explanation in the
Word of God will. It will. Is Christ the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first
and also the Gentile? Then let me build my faith and
lay my confidence on that. What the church believes today
was founded in the counsels of God and given by inspiration
of His Spirit to chosen men whom God confirmed with miracles and
wonders and signs and with gifts of the Holy Ghost according to
His own will. He tells us that in Hebrews chapter
2. It's confirmed by God, undeniably
confirmed. And don't you know, I've had
so many people, relatives and friends and total strangers.
When I talk to them about these things, they tell me, well, what
proof do you have that this is the Word of God? Well, I've got
all kinds of proof. The Word of God is proof in itself. My soul, how long has it been
in existence? Where's the writings of men that
were written back in these days? And even though they weren't
gathered into a book, somehow those things which God's messengers
spoke were remembered because they're quoted in the book of
Jude. Did you know that? Long before the Bible was ever
written. He tells us that that old prophet,
he prophesied. He prophesied of these false
prophets and all of those things long before Moses was ever born. God himself has confirmed his
word. And religion without the word
of God is nothing more than superstition and vain imagination. That's
all it is. That's all it is. I had a guy
tell me one time, I kept trying to bring him back to the Word
of God. And he said, will you deny what's
been established for hundreds of years? I said, I will if it
was established by men. I can go back farther than that.
I can go back to Pharaoh and the religion of Egypt and back
beyond that to Abraham and the religion of his father. And then the second thing I want
you to consider here today is that his word is to be believed. You might find a multitude of
reasons for not believing me. I'm uneducated. I've never been
to seminary. I may be too dogmatic for you,
I may be too ancient in my theology, too cross-grained in my doctrine,
too anti-religious, but you've got no reason to not believe
the Word of God that I quote. Every word of this book is of
the highest degree of wisdom. It comes straight from God. And
then we're going to take some peanut man and weigh the word
of God in his feelings? I don't think so. I've got the
highest source of wisdom there is right here. This divinely
inspired book is not only inspired of God and confirmed of God,
but it's also purposed of God for the salvation of his elect.
We're built, it says, upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets. I wouldn't give you two cents
for a faith that don't know what it believes and where it's sitting. Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone. When Jesus Christ, the Lord of
heaven and earth, Lord of the dead and the living, Lord of
creation and providence, when the Lord sent his disciples out
to preach the gospel, their hearers were commanded to believe. God doesn't say, well, would
you please believe? You're commanded to believe. And I'm going to tell you something
else. There are consequences to not believing. He that believeth
not shall be damned. He that believeth not, he shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. There are
consequences to not believing. And there wouldn't be consequences
if it wasn't a commandment. Do you know that everything in
the Word of God is law? God doesn't say anything that's
not a commandment. It's a commandment because He
says it. He's the Sovereign. If He says something, it's so. Now I'm going to ask you a question.
This is a question I've been pondering all week long. My daughter-in-law
came to visit. She's a lawyer, and I asked her
this very thing yesterday. Why do we have a written law?
Huh? Why must the law of the land
be written in a book? I asked the computer that. I
wanted to know. And I read several men. All of
them said the same thing. For the premise of argument. Here's what they're saying. How
are we going to establish this crime? We've charged this man
with a crime. How are we going to establish
it if it isn't written in a book? If it's not clearly stated, how
are we going to establish it? Well, he sometimes calls the
Word of God the Law of God. You may not know that, but he
does. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of
God. That is the word of God, the
whole of it. Neither indeed can be. He won't
receive it. But God writes it in a book,
and he writes it to establish it, so that we might have a premise
of argument, that we might stand up and say, this is so, and this
is not. We have the word of God. This divinely inspired book,
it's not only inspired of God and confirmed of God, but also
purposed of God for the salvation of his elect. And when Jesus Christ, Lord of
heaven and earth, he sent them out to preach his gospel, there were consequences. He said,
it'll be those that won't hear you, those that won't receive
you, those that won't submit to what you're preaching to them.
It'll be easier on those in Sodom and Gomorrah than it'll be on
them in the judgment. Shake the dust off your feet,
leave that city, and go elsewhere. A preacher, what's so bad about
not believing? What's so bad about just putting
it on the table for another time? What's so bad about that? Well,
1 John 5.10 says, he that believeth not God hath made him a liar.
That's the first thing. You don't put God on the table. You don't put him on the table.
He that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believes
not the record that God gave of his son. He won't believe
what you read to him in the word of God. And there are no ifs,
ands, or buts. There are no gray areas here.
He makes God a liar. Now you either believe it or
you're calling God a liar to his face. In Hebrews 10, 29,
he calls it doing despite unto the Spirit of grace. The Spirit
is the revealer of Scripture. He's the revealer of Christ.
He's the inspirer of the Word of God, and He's also the applier
of the Word of God, and He's the revealer of it. And to set
these things aside is to do despite unto the Spirit of Christ. In Hebrews chapter 2, verse 3,
it's called the neglecting of so great salvation. Here's the
greatest salvation, the only salvation. None other name given
among men under heaven. Whereby we must be saved, but
we neglect it. Set it on the shelf, put it on
the table. And in 2 Thessalonians 2, 10,
it's defined as receiving not the love of the truth. that you
might be saved. So He tells us we do well to
take heed to the Word of God. You can't do yourself a better
favor than to read and believe the Word of God. You do well. It's a good thing. All right,
thirdly, we are to account that His Word is a light. Now listen
to this, shining in a dark place. Natural man lives out his days
in the vanity of his mind. A mind, Paul says, having the
understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God
through the ignorance that's in him because of the blindness
of his heart. He's in darkness. He's in darkness. All that he hears is darkness.
All that he feels is darkness. All that he experiences is darkness.
All that he thinks is darkness. Our Lord said the eye is the
window of the soul. In other words, the eye is how
you perceive things. I know you because I see you. I perceive. Well, if that eye be evil, then everything I perceive is
evil. Is that right? Now he said, if that eye be evil,
then everything that comes through there is darkness. And if everything that comes
through there is darkness, how great is that darkness? Huh? Here's light. There it is. It's light. This is light. We are to account that the word
is a light shining in a dark place. Natural men are born into an
inherited darkness, a darkness of nature called death. Death
which he inherited from his daddy Adam. Death passed upon all men. And because he's been in darkness
and lives in darkness, he's easily manipulated by the rulers of
the darkness of this world. That's what they rule over. They're
rulers of the darkness, deception, deceit. Scripture said Satan takes them
captive at his will. Got no resistance. Unless God Almighty makes his
word to shine in these dark hearts, we'll just go on in darkness
forever. Or we'll think we know God. We'll talk about knowing
God. We might even go down and sing and worship somewhere in
a church. But it'll be darkness. It'll be darkness. All right,
here's the fourth thing. A light that shines until the
day dawns. Isn't that what he says there?
You do well to take heed as unto a light that shines in a dark
place until the day dawns. What kind of light shines in
the darkness? Let's look at it in a natural
sense. What kind of light? You go out here at night and
there's no electric lights around. You're out here in the woods
or up in Canada somewhere, up in the mountains. What kind of
light is out there? The moon, it doesn't have any
light, it just reflects the light of God. Reflects the light of
the day star, that's what it does. And the only other light
that's out there is stars. Stars he calls preachers in the
scriptures. He tells you that in Revelation
chapter 1 if you remember our study. The moon is symbolic to
me of the church. It has no light of its own, but
it reflects the light of the sun. And the stars are symbolic
of preachers. And the church, he tells us,
is the pillar and ground of the truth. God's word is sounded
out from his local churches by pastors and evangelists. And
these pastors or pastor teachers spend most of their time teaching
the word of God. So what Peter's talking about
here is taking heed unto this light, this light that's being
preached by those who had the Holy Ghost preached unto you,
those things which God has written and established forever. And
they come and they preach this word to you, and they keep on
preaching, and it's the only light you have. Religion doesn't
have a light. Natural man doesn't have any
light. The only light he's got is the light he gets when God
sends him a messenger who reads to him his word and preaches
to him his word. And he said, you do well to take
heed unto that until. Until. You just keep feeding
on that. You keep looking at that. You
keep studying that. You keep submitting to that until
the day star rises. You go all through the night.
until the sun comes up. And I guarantee you, when the
sun comes up, you won't see the stars or the moon anymore. All
you'll see is the sun. And that's a picture of Christ.
We preach and read to you the word of God, that light that
shines in the darkness until the day comes. Until the day
comes, and then you see Christ in all of his glory. Paul said to the church at Corinth
that it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. And he said that both he and
Apollos were ministers by whom men believed, even as God has
given to every man. That if his gospel was hid, it's
hid to the lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine. unto
them. And this book out of which we
preach and teach is the witness of God which He testified of
His Son. It's the record, John said, that
God has given to us eternal life and that this life is in His
Son. The Lord Jesus Christ is the message of this book. It's
through Him that the true knowledge of God is communicated and through
Him that our salvation is accomplished And through him that it's secured
forever. Now he said, you take heed unto
this. It's a light that shines in a
dark place. And then here's the very last
thing. Until the day star. What's that? That's Christ in
you. The hope of glory. Until God's
pleased to put in you that light. at light of the glory of god
john said we know that the whole world life in which in the very
next part he said we know that the son of god have come and
given to us an understanding that we might know him that's
true that were in him that's true even in his son jesus christ
this is the true god and this is eternal life If there be any light from this
church and any light from this preacher, I hope that it's the
light of Christ and that it'll keep on shining in your heart
until he's pleased to bring that sun up and that day star and
that you see his glory. Paul said this, you were sometimes
darkness. That's what you were. But now
you're light in the Lord. So what about that? He said,
well, walk then as children of light. Don't that sound so easy? I'll
tell you what, it's a lot easier than religion. To walk in that
grace that God has given you. I know a man and his wife, oh,
they were so troubled by this, so troubled by it, had so much
religion in his life. And a preacher told him, he said,
just live your life in the grace of God. Huh? He said, it made
perfect sense to me. And he said, this is how we've
been living ever since. Just live your life in the light
that God's given you. Just live it in the grace of
God.