First Peter Chapter 1. I've been
kind of taking my time going through Chapter 1. There's so
much in it, and it really sets the groundwork for the whole
rest of the epistle just like Paul's and the rest of them did.
Last week, we looked at verses 11 through 15 of First Peter
1 and talked about the preacher's goal. What's my goal in coming here?
What was my goal? Why did I pack up my things and
sell my house and move down here to Arkansas? What's my goal?
What do I really hope to accomplish when I'm here? Am I trying to
build something? Am I trying to leave some kind
of legacy or build a monument? Why did I come? What is the preacher's
goal? Well, his goal is to establish
his hearers in the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's my goal. Whatever else happens is great. The Lord in his providence has
allowed us to have this building and have some nice facilities.
He's added to the congregation and I'm happy about that, but
that ain't why I moved here. My goal is that my hearers, whoever
they are, be established in the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's where my heart is, that's
what my desire is, and that's what I want from my hearers.
Now, this morning I want to talk some more about this, but I want
to move into this area of his motives and his reasoning and
the basis of these hopes. 1 Peter 1.16. Peter said, 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. Now in the first part of this
verse, Peter distinguishes himself from the rest of this religious
world. And he did so by two very bold
declarations. He says first of all that by,
he does this, he suggests, he suggests that all who preach
the contrary gospel to his were preaching cunningly devised fables. That's the truth of it. That's
just so. That's just so. Wherever you
find the church of the living God, you find all around it,
all around it, sometimes more than one state involved. But
you find all around it men and women preaching cunningly devised
fables. That's what Peter calls them. God only reveals, declares, and
sends one gospel to men. Most of us in here come to see
that, come to acknowledge that, believe that. Paul wrote to the
Galatians and he warned them about men coming into their churches
with another gospel. They're not just going to set
up camp down the street. Satan is going to bring some
in unawares. That's what the Scripture, that's
how they're entering in comes, unaware. You don't notice it.
You don't see it. They come into his churches with
another gospel, which he said was not another, but it was a
perversion of the original. He wrote Timothy telling him
that the Spirit, who is the author of the Holy Scriptures, the Spirit,
speaketh expressly that in the latter times some would depart
from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines
of devils. speaking lies and hypocrisy,
having their conscience seared as with a hot iron." That's 1
Timothy 4, 1 and 2. He told him in the opening lines
of his letter, he said, do not give heed to fables. Don't you
give any assent to them. Don't you pay any attention to
them. Don't you honor them in any way, these fables. Fables
of men, these cunningly devised fables. Made up doctrine. Made up sayings. Made up duties. Made up laws and rule. Cleanliness
is next to godliness. Not even in the Bible. And then Peter describes these
things exactly as they are. cunningly devised, devised for
an evil end, for fleshly evidence and for ungodly reasons. With
everything that he said and done at Antioch, the thing that upset
the Jews the most, here he is, he preached to them. He went
back in the Old Testament and he came down through the history
of Israel and he pointed out all these prophecies of Christ.
And with all of these things, the things that the Jews was
the most upset about is that the bulk of that crowd wanted
to hear him and not them. That's what they were upset about.
I don't even think they understood the controversy involved in the
truth. They got upset at the crowd. Here's how it reads, when the
Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy and spake
against those things which were spoken. After the miraculous
resurrection of Lazarus, they didn't fear the Lord. You'd think
you'd fear a man who called a man out of the tomb, wouldn't you?
Huh? This man was dead, Lord, by now
he's stinking. Called him out of the tomb. Wrapped
head to toe in grave clothes. Commanded the clothes to loose
him and let him go. Brought that man back to life.
They didn't fear him for that. What upset them was this man
doeth these great miracles and if we let him go on, we're going
to lose our place. We're going to lose our jobs.
We're going to lose our nation. our honored positions. And these cunningly devised fables,
though they are of men, they have a deeper root. They're doctrines
of devils. And those Jews who declared to
Christ in John 8 that God was their father, They were told
point blank by Christ, if God were your father, you'd love
me, for I proceeded forth and came from God. But you are of
your father the devil, and the lust of your father you will
do. Every man quickened out of this spiritual death and depravity
before his conversion was said to walk according to the course
of this world. Every one of us. Go all the way back to the days
of Paul and Peter and these men. Every one of them, before their
conversion, walked according to the course of this world,
that established course. He's talking about the course
of religion, the course of philosophy. Not all men go to church. Some
men have adapted their own religious ideas and philosophies and they
practice them at home. My mother did. But they all walk
the same walk. They walk according to the course
of this world. Now listen, according to the
prince of the power of the air. That's Ephesians 1, 1 through
3. Satan, because of their fallen
nature, takes them captive, the scripture said, at his will.
He can tie you up. He can win you with a single
message. You can be the biggest rebel,
drunk, womanizer who ever lived. Satan can win you with one message.
He can take you captive at his will. And does, according to
the Scriptures. He causes men to walk in the
vanity of their minds, having their understanding darkened.
I can remember the first time I ever heard these things and
read these things in the Word of God, how I feared to even
give these things consideration. They were so contrary to the
religion that I was raised in. So contrary, it's like black
and white. And that which caused me to fear
them now gives me strong evidence that I truly love the Lord. So first of all, Peter based
his message on the Word of God, not on cunningly devised fables. And then secondly, here's his
second statement. He tells them, I was an eyewitness
of his majesty. Look back here in 2 Peter. Did I tell you all 1 Peter 1?
My mistake. 2 Peter and verse 17. For he received from God the
Father honor and glory. When there came such a voice
to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. And this voice which came from
heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mountain."
Three men on the Mount of Transfiguration that day, Peter, James, John,
these three apostles. These three men would be writers
of scriptures. They would be heads of the church.
And all three men approved of God by miracles and signs and
gifts of the Holy Ghost according to His will. And their words,
the words which they penned in the holy parchments, were God-breathed
and yet testimonies of what they saw. Their personalities are
so incorporated in their writings that when you read one and then
read the other, you recognize that these were two different
men. And yet they preached and wrote the Word of God. Now let me say something to you.
I don't need to see them on the Mount Peter did. James did. John did. And I don't need to hear a voice
from heaven. I don't need to raise men from
the dead or be given the gift of tongues or any of these things.
The writers of the New Testament already had this confirmation
from God. He doesn't need to confirm it
to me again. He's already confirmed it. Do
you follow what I'm saying? He don't need to confirm the
gospel that I'm preaching by miracles and wonders and signs
because I can take you back and show you these men who already
preached it who were confirmed by miracles and wonders and signs.
God don't need to do that work over and over and over. They were the writers of the
New Testament. They were eyewitnesses of His Majesty. They walked with
Him, talked with Him, were personally taught by Him. And when I read
their accounts of Christ and His doctrine, I can believe what
I read, and I can preach it without reservation. Listen to this,
2 Peter 1, verse 19. We have also a more sure word
of prophecy. That is, more sure than these
cunningly devised fables. More sure than these long-standing,
worldly-approved religious sentiments. More sure than the majority that's
held in practice by religion today. We have a more sure word
of prophecy, whereunto you do well that you take heed. Now
watch this. As a light that shineth, in a
dark place, in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day
star arise in your hearts. Peter's telling them in no uncertain
terms that he's God's messenger to them and that they'd be doing
themselves a great favor if they'd just listen to what he had to
say. If they'd just listen. All right, preacher, but what
about preachers today? How does God confirm their calling?
What kind of evidence does he give that they are his ambassadors? Well, turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. I'll see if I can show you that. My oldest sister's son asked
me this question 35 years ago. And my first statement to him
was this, you never will but for the grace of God. You never
will. You'll go away and you'll say,
well, that's your interpretation. How many people you had tell
you that? You witness to them the gospel and they say, well,
that's your interpretation. That's your opinion. And that's what I told them,
you won't accept for the grace of God. Look here in 1 Corinthians
1, verse 4. I thank my God always on your
behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ,
that in everything you are enriched by Him in all utterance and in
all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed, where
at? In them. In them. And that's the only confirmation
you're going to get. God lets His people know in their
heart that what that man's preaching to them is the truth. That's
the truth. The first time I heard Henry
Mayhem preach, I said in my own heart, That man knows what he's
saying. That man is sin of God. And that
little fella, he don't come up back here on me, but I'm telling
you, he was as... He towered above me as far as
I was concerned. This was God's messenger sent
to me. And I realized that. I realized
that. God confirmed that message in my heart. What he was saying
was the truth. This was God's message. I'd heard
stuff, I can't even begin to tell you how much stuff I've
heard in my lifetime. I played a guitar and we went
church to church and I sang with a little group for a while and
sometimes I was on my own and we went to this religion and
that religion and some other religion. And I heard their evangelists,
and I heard the best they had, and I heard their pastors, and
I've heard all of their stories, and they all preach the same
thing, works. Salvation by works. Self-righteousness. And then I heard that message.
And I said, that's it. That's it. Well, how in the world
can a man distinguish between all of these things and the truth? Two things. First of all, the
Word of God. When Henry preached, he took
me to the Word of God, and he let me read what it said before
the passage, and he let me read what it said after the passage,
and he held it in context, and he applied what he said and backed
it up with the Word of God. And the second thing was the
confirmation of the Spirit of God in my heart. God confirms His message in the
hearts of chosen sinners and His messengers by that message. I know we've proved what they
preach in the Word of God, but there was a time when you didn't
know anything, wasn't there? Oh, you didn't know anything.
I've heard people talk about God since I was a baby, just
old enough to barely have a memory. I remember people talking about
God. I didn't have a clue who God was until I was in my twenties. Not a clue. Not a clue. I used that word God as flippantly
as I'd use that word piano. There was a time when we didn't
know anything. And then secondly, God converts
His servants by a keen insight into the mysteries of the gospel.
Listen to this, 2 Timothy 2, verse 15. We're talking about how do you know
that this man preaching to you is God's messenger? I know it
because he goes to God's Word with his message. He bases everything
he has to say in the Word of God, takes it over there and
shows it to you. Secondly, because God confirms that message in
my heart. He lets me know that's the only
way God can save sinners is in Christ. That's God's message.
And here's the third thing. 2 Timothy 2, verse 15. He tells Timothy, study to show
thyself approved, now watch this, unto God. Unto God. You don't have to be
approved to me. I ain't nobody. You don't have
to prove anything to me. I remember I used to have Caleb
fill in for me and had somebody else do it. And he said, now
don't wait on him to make comments because he ain't going to. He
ain't going to. I'm not going to. You don't have
to show yourself approved to me. Paul said, study to show
thyself approved unto God. That's what you want to know,
isn't it? Am I sent of God? And he said,
you study. You study. A workman that needeth
not be ashamed. Now watch this. Rightly dividing
the word of truth. That's how you know who God's
messenger is. He rightly divides the word of
truth. God doesn't call a man into the
ministry and then leave him in his ignorance. That's what men
say to justify their calling. I was up in northern Arkansas
preaching in a meeting several years ago, and I went over to
this one church to preach after I'd preached in their conference
that they had. He wanted me to go over there
on Sunday and preach for him, so I did. And when it got done,
he came up to me and he said, if what you're saying about this thing of hearing the
gospel. If this is really true, he said,
how do you justify my calling? And I said, I'm not here to justify
your calling. That's between you and God. I'm
here to preach the truth to you. I'm here to preach the truth.
God doesn't call a man into the ministry and leave him in ignorance. He gets up and he don't know
anything about baptism and he don't know anything about salvation
and he don't know anything about imputed righteousness and he
doesn't know anything about justification. He just gets up there and blabbers
on and on and on about coming down an aisle and about commitment
and about doing this and doing that. He don't know God. That's
his problem. God doesn't call a man into the
ministry and then leave him in his ignorance. And I'll tell you this, here's
another thing. He confirms their calling by
giving to them the hearts of their hearers. You can't do that. You can't
go to a seminary. You can get your degree, and
you can get it all framed real pretty and ready to hang it on
the wall, but you can't make men love you. You can't make
men submit to your rule, and you can't make men willing to
be taught. Only God can do that. And that's
how he confirms his messengers. He gives them the heart of the
people. Listen to this. Paul said to
the Galatians, he said that he preached to them through an infirmity
of the flesh that whatever it was, Paul prayed for it to be
removed. He knew it was, you know, people
would look at it. It was just going to destroy
any hope he ever had to communicate with anybody. And he come to
these Galatians with that infirmity of the flesh. And he said, you
despise me not, but you receive me as, now listen to this, as
an angel of God. There's this old man whose face
is all deformed. He can't see. Maybe he couldn't
talk just right. I don't know what the infirmity
was. I've never told. But when he
came to Galatia, It said, he said, God overcome all those
things. He tuned out everything else
except what I was saying, and you received me as a minister
of God, as an angel of God. Even, he said, as Christ Jesus,
and would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me
if I'd asked you. You try to do that when you're
talking to somebody about the gospel. Only God can do that. Only God can. But here in our
text, Peter is speaking of himself as an apostle of Christ, and
he is telling them that his Word is in fact the Word of God. Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians
chapter 2. Listen to what Paul says over
here on this subject. First Thessalonians 2.13. He said, for this cause also,
thank we God without ceasing, because when you receive the
word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the
word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God, which affectionately worketh
also in you that believe. He was an apostle. And he was called to be a writer
of the Scriptures. And God, the Holy Spirit, made
men to understand that. Sometimes when I'm quoting a
passage, I'll say to you, Paul said, or John said, or sometimes
I'll say to you, the Holy Ghost said. Both are true. Both are true. That which John said, the Holy
Ghost said. That which Paul said, the Holy
Ghost said. And Peter says here, we have
a more sure word of prophecy, and this word, this gospel word,
is as a light that shineth in a dark place. You know, when the Lord left
Nazareth, He journeyed to Capernaum. And this was a fulfillment of
the Old Testament prophecies concerning him. And it says,
the people, now watch this, which sat in darkness, the people which
sat in darkness saw great light. And to them which sat in the
region and the shadow of death, light is sprung up. You can find If you want to see
that in a little clearer light, you can look at it in Matthew
4, 13 through 16. Or if you want to see the passage
that is quoted, you can find that in Isaiah 9, verses 1 and
2. Men and women, unregenerate,
undisturbed. Dead in trespasses and sins dwell
in darkness. They think they have light. I
thought I had light. My father was a Nazarene preacher,
had been and was before all things were totaled up, almost 50 years. I've been hearing the Bible read
and things stated and carried to church my whole life. I never
one time ever thought about myself sitting in darkness, did you?
But that's where God finds you. That's where he finds you, in
darkness. In darkness. Brother Mahan wrote a small article
one time. It got incorporated too, I think,
into some tracts. But he said, it wasn't like you
thought it was. That was the name of the article.
It's not like what you thought it was. Men and women dwell in darkness. Spoiled through philosophy and
vain deceit, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from
the life of God through the ignorance that is in them. They dwell in
darkness. And John said, if we say we have
fellowship with God, He's pure light. In Him, no darkness
at all. And if we say we have fellowship
with Him and we walk in darkness, we lie and don't do the truth. Children of God are called out
of where? Darkness. Darkness. And they're called into His marvelous
light. They're made meek to be partakers
of the inheritance of enlightened Saints. Saints in light. They're
children of light, children of the day, and the reason they
are is because of the light of God's testimony shined in that
dark place. How did He shine it there? He
shined it there through His preacher, through His gospel, and through
His Word. And He said, you do well. You
do well to take heed to what I'm telling you. As a light shining in darkness
until the day star. What's that? That's Christ arises
in your heart. When we talk about Christ arising
in your heart, what are we talking about? Christ is all. He's all. He's the way. He's
the truth. He's the light. He's the bread come down from
heaven. He's all. And that's what happens when
God shines His gospel in a man's heart. Christ arises. And as He arises, that light
fills that dark place. And that man embraces Him. And
that's all he wants. That's all he needs. He's done
with the rest of it. Turn his back on the rest of
it. It just cunningly devised fables. Here's the truth.