Let's read verses 13 through
16 again, okay? Let's read those again. These are the dying words of
Peter. Peter says, I'm about to be crucified, as the Lord
told me. He said, and I think it meet
or fitting, as long as I'm in this tabernacle, to stir you
up by putting you in remembrance. That is, to keep reminding you. knowing that shortly I must put
off this my tabernacle as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed
me. And moreover, I will endeavor
that ye may be able after my decease to have these things
always in remembrance." Peter says, I want to remind you now
while I'm here, and he's writing this letter, and this letter
will be read again and again and again after he's gone to
remind us of the same thing. Same thing. Now here's what he
says in verse 16, and this is the text. He says, We have not
followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the
power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses
of His majesty. Now, God's Word is written to
God's people. This is important that we understand
this. God's word is written to God's
people. Look at chapter one again, verse
one. He says, he writes, to them that
have obtained like precious faith with us. You see that? To those
whom God Almighty has given faith. And that faith is not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. Isn't that right? Ephesians 2,
8. God's Word is written to God's
people. God's Word has very little to
say to the world and to unbelievers except repent, bow, bow to my
Son, believe, or perish. That's right. But God's Word is full of promises
to God's people promises, reproof, rebuke, exhortation, comfort,
warnings, and so forth, to God's people, to God's children. God
is not the Father of all mankind. Romans 9 plainly tells us that.
But the children of the promise are the children of the seed.
They are the children of God. Not because they are the children
of Abraham. Not because they are sons of Adam. No. God has
one only begotten well-beloved Son, that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
All others He adopts. Christ is the firstborn. And
those He adopts are also born again, born from above. Not all
human beings are the children of God. But God Almighty writes
His Word to His people. And like a father, our Lord said
in John 6, they shall all be taught of God. Now, he got that,
well, he wrote that. I started to say he got it from
Isaiah, but he wrote that. In Isaiah where it says, all
thy children shall be taught of thee. All thy children. They're all taught of God. If
you all had a father and a mother, one father and one mother, they
taught you, and you had several people in your family, several
siblings. There were four of us. We were all taught by my
father basically the same thing. Chris, we all knew my father
as he was, as he is. We didn't have different conceptions
of my father. You understand? We didn't have different conceptions.
One didn't think this way about him, one didn't. No, we all knew
the same father. And all of God's people know
God as God. True God. They'll all be taught
of God. Our Lord said that, John 6, 45.
And they'll all come to me, Christ said. They'll all come to me. That's what the Father teaches
them. And that's what we're going to see in a moment. But like
a father continually reminds his children of the same things
over and over again. You ever do that? If you have
real young children, you're always telling them the same thing over
and over again, aren't you? One time a mother told her little son or daughter or something,
several times, and somebody said, I counted it. I counted it. You
told that child ten times the same thing. Why'd you do that?
And the mother said, because they didn't get it after nine. And God Almighty reminds His
children over and over and over and over again of the same things. I'm not going to tell you anything
new. You better hope I don't tell you something new. But the
old, old story. It's as old as God. It's the
same story, the same gospel that God Himself preached in the garden
to the first sinners. The same gospel that all the
prophets preached, that all the Old Testament saints were saved
by hearing. That's right. Everybody is saved
one way. Didn't Christ say, I am the way? He didn't say, I am
now the way. There used to be a different
way. No. I am the way. I am that I am. The way. The truth. The life. Nobody comes
under the Father but by me. Moses was saved by looking to
Christ. By believing Christ. That's what Christ said. Moses
wrote of me. Abraham believed Christ and Christ
was his salvation. That's right. That's what Christ
said. Abraham saw my day. He saw it and he was glad. I'll
save one what? My crop. Well, in chapter 2 of
2 Peter, God Almighty warns His children, warns His people of
false prophets. That's what the whole chapter
is about, basically. He warns them. Chapter 3, look
at verse 1 again. He says this second letter, or
epistle, Beloved. You see that? Beloved. You know, he says that, Chris,
four times in this one chapter. Four times. And most, well, all
of these false preachers today take 2 Peter 3, verse 9, and
just abuse it. They say it applies to everybody.
God is not willing that any should perish. God didn't say that to
everybody. He said that to His beloved.
He said that to His people. This is the Father talking to
His children. This is why I started this whole thing by saying this.
This is vital that we understand this. This is God's Word written
to His people. He said, My sheep, hear my voice.
My children. They'll all be taught of God.
They'll believe, see, because God foreknew them, elected them,
chose them, called them, predestinated them, brought them, gave them
faith, and so forth. They're His children. Born from
above. And he says four times in chapter
3, Beloved, Beloved, Beloved, Beloved, Beloved. He says, Beloved,
be not ignorant of this one thing. A day is with the Lord a thousand
years, a thousand years a day. God's not... Look at it, verse
9. The Lord is not slack concerning
His promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering
to us-ward. Now, who's He been talking about?
Beloved. Us-ward. Not willing that any
should perish. Who? Us. You have two children, Tony?
Are you willing that any of them should perish? No. If it's in
your power to save them, would you? Absolutely. It's not in
your power, is it? It is in God's power. And if
He's not willing that any of His people perish, they're not
going to perish. They're not going to perish.
Well, all right. He reminds us. He reminds His
people. And let me say one more thing
about God's Word. You see, this is what the modern preacher is
doing all over. They're taking God's Word meant
for God's people and applying it to everybody without exception.
They're going out there and telling people who are under the wrath
of God that God loves them. And they're lying on God and
lying to men and women. Bearing false witness against
God and giving people a false refuge. You write a letter to
your wife or your husband, don't you? Do you address it to them? What if you wrote a letter to
your wife or your husband and said, Honey, sweetheart, beloved,
I love you. I don't want anything to happen
to you. I have provided all things for
you. I'm going to protect you. I'm going to love you to the
end. I'm yours and you're mine. Nobody else can have you. All
my worldly goods are yours. You're going to inherit them.
Signed, Your Beloved Husband." What if I wrote that letter to
my wife and some woman found that and began going out and telling
people how much I loved her? See? Everything his is mine,
and he has a wonderful plan for mine. She'd not only be deceiving
herself, but she'd be lying on me. And I'd be furious. And Jeremiah 23, the whole chapter
is about that. About false prophets telling
people things that God didn't tell people. No prophet ever
went out in the world and told people, God loves you. Not one time. Jeremiah 31.3 says,
I have loved thee with an everlasting love, and therefore with loving
kindness have I drawn thee. Who's he talking to? Israel. Through Jeremiah. Not the world.
Not the world. Is this important? It sure is. Well, he says in chapter 1, now
look at this. He said, I want to remind you.
I'm reminding you. of all these things. What things?
What things? Well, in verse 16 of chapter
1, he says this, We have not followed cunningly devised fables. He says, Beloved, are those of
you believers who have obtained like precious faith with us?
This is no fable. We didn't make this up. Peter
is writing to the church. Like the Revelation. It says
it's written to the churches in it. To the churches. To the
churches. To the churches. Peter says this is no fable.
We didn't make this up. Nor did anyone else. He says
the first thing you need to know. We need to know. Look at verse
20. He says, knowing this first.
This is the first thing we need to know. is that no scripture, no prophecy
of scriptures of any private or personal interpretation, that
is nobody, Isaiah didn't sit down one day and decide to write
a book, call it Isaiah. Jeremiah didn't, Ezekiel didn't,
Daniel didn't do that. See, it's the first thing that
God's people need to know, that this is indeed God Almighty's
Word, not the words of men. Remember when Paul thanked God
that the Thessalonians received the Word that he preached, as
it was in truth, the Word of God, not the words of men. And that's what God Almighty,
the first thing He reveals to His people, this is My Word.
Infallible, inerrant, inspired. No man sat down to write this.
This was no fable. They didn't all get together.
Isaiah and Jeremiah come up with this elaborate plot or scheme
to perpetuate a lie. James and John and Peter and
Andrew and all of them didn't get together and say, let's make
up a story and we'll keep this thing going will get rich and
famous. Oh, no, they were all killed
for it. They didn't gain anything. They were killed. They lost their
heads or were crucified for it. You know, the fishermen then
and now are men generally known for their honesty. If you face
one of them, they're going to tell it like it is to your face,
aren't they? That's what fishermen are, kind of like longshoremen.
They're not trying to impress anybody and have nothing to gain
by impressing anybody. Just gruff, bluff, honest men.
That's what these fishermen want. Peter, throughout his life, he
showed that, didn't he? Afraid of no one. Backed down
to no one. And these fishermen, they said,
we're not making this up. We have nothing to gain by making
this story up. We have everything to lose for
telling it. Do you understand that? That's what he's saying.
We have everything to lose for telling them. They did. They
lost their lives. I said fishermen are honest only
when, except when it comes to the fish they caught. But you know what I'm saying. You know what I'm saying. He
said this is no fable. This is no fairy tale. It didn't
make this up. Didn't make this up. No, no.
He said, we, that is, James, John, Andrew, Matthew, and others,
we're witnesses. We made known. Here's what we
are making known. This is what we're doing. Verse
16, we're trying to make known unto you. We're trying to declare
or preach unto you. Now, this is what they did. It's
what I'm trying to do, but what Tom does, this is what every
witness Faithful witness does. Faithful preachers. What every
prophet sent by God, called by God. Every apostle sent, called
by God. The apostle of Jesus Christ means
a messenger. What does he do? He's sent by
God to tell a message. What is it? It's about Him. It's
about Christ. The apostle, the messenger of
Jesus Christ. He sent Him, and Christ is a
message. And so Peter said, we're here to make known unto you one
thing. Because there's one thing needful.
that we need to know. Him. Christ. He said, when we
made known unto you, now look at this. Here's what I want to
dwell on. When we made known unto you, this is no fable, what
we're declaring, what we're witnessing and testifying of, the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And we were eyewitnesses. We
saw Him. We are eyewitnesses of His majesty. Oh my, may the Lord… You know
this is salvation? This is salvation. Our Lord said
in John 17, verse 3, This is eternal life, that they might
know Thee, the only true God, the only God who is God, and
Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. Who Christ is and why He
was sent. To know Him. Believe Him. Trust Him. Come to Him. This
is life eternal, he said. This is salvation, to know God.
Men and women, by nature, don't even believe there is a God,
let alone worship Him. You know, every knee will bow
someday. Every tongue will confess someday
that God is, that Christ is. Salvation is to do that now.
by the grace of God. Salvation is right now for us
to know God and worship Him and believe His Son. It is the only
way to God. He said, We made known unto you
the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Would you turn
over to John 17 with me that I just quoted a verse from? John 17. The power and coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ." And he said, we were eyewitnesses.
We saw His majesty. He said, here's what we're declaring. The power of that One who came. The power. Now, there have been
powerful men and women, even, down through history. Powerful
men and women who reigned over kingdoms, who reigned over the
then-known world. Our young people on the spot,
I preached this at home a couple of weeks ago. And I put them
on the spot and I'm going to do it to you now. Now you paid
attention. They did too. But do you know
who Attila the Hun is? I'm asking the children. The
adults might. What about, I had to write his
name down, Magus Alexandros. They called him Alexander the
Great. Male Cetan. You may not. Our children didn't. Adults may
not know. These were some of the most powerful individuals
to ever walk this planet. Attila the Hun went through Europe
and just butchered over 70 cities. There weren't many cities back
then. They were few and far between. He just destroyed them all. Powerful. Alexander the Great was only
33 years old, but by then he had conquered the then known
world. India, Asia, Egypt, and so forth. All he knew about it,
he had conquered it. Powerful. Powerful. Now these were men,
and there were some women also. Powerful. These were men and
women who had some power. Now listen to it. They had some
power. You know where they got that
power? From Jesus Christ. They had some power. They had
some power to kill. Whoever they said died, died.
Right? Whoever they said, no, I'm going
to spare him. They were spared. Whoever they promoted, they were
promoted. Raised up. Whoever they cast down, were
cast down. Whoever they took something from, they took it.
Didn't ask any questions, did they? But they all came, and they all
came in time. But they all went. They all were
some power. But Brother Moody, they lost
it. Everyone of them lost it. Now, let me ask you. Lauren,
I'm picking on you tonight. Do you know who Jesus Christ
is? How much power does He have? Let's look and see what He says.
Look at John 17. He says in verse 2, He's talking
to the Father. As thou hast given Him power
over all flesh. Read on, it doesn't stop there.
Now, here's power. Power over the souls of men,
the hearts of men, the wills of men, the minds of men. That He should give eternal life
to as many as led Him. It doesn't say that, does it? That He should give eternal life
to as many as will accept Him. It does not say that, does it?
That's the highest blasphemy. That he should give eternal life,
that he should give, see it's his, the Father gave it to him,
this power, that he should give, it's his to give, to as many
as thou hast given him. All that the Father giveth man,
he said, shall come to pass. Now, we're talking about power
here. This is the one who came. Peter said, we're trying to make
known. Everywhere we go, this is all we have to say. Trying
to declare who it was that came. His power and His majesty. You see, if God will, by His
mercy and grace, will show us who Jesus Christ is, we'll hit
the dirt. We'll hit our knees. Now! It's not doctrine. I'm not just
dealing with doctrine here. We're talking about a real person
sitting on a throne, right now, whose hands our breath is, in
all our way, who can save us or damn us, very seriously. It's
life or death. This is not just another Sunday
morning message. It's life or death. Our Lord said, He that hath the
Son, that is, knows who Christ is, His power, His majesty, His
glory, who it was that came, why it came, what He did, where
He is now. have life, and whoever doesn't,
doesn't have life. They're dead, and someday will
be really dead. All power. You see, Christ came. He said, we're trying to make
known the one who came. He came. Over in 1 John 4, He
tells us this is how we'll know true prophets and so forth. He
that confesses that Jesus came in the flesh. Jesus Christ has
come in the flesh. You know, every so-called preacher
stands up and says he believes that Jesus came and so forth. It means a whole lot more than
that. It means He was before He got here. I came here. That means I was somewhere before
I got here. Right? I came here. You can't
come somewhere unless you leave somewhere. You see, this is the one who
came, who Proverbs 8 says, I was from everlasting. No beginning
or end of day. No mother, no father. With the
Father from the beginning. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things
were made by Him. Who are we talking about? Jesus.
The one they call Jesus. The one that men and women think
is just a man. No, God was manifest in the flesh. The eternal God. When he was born, he said, call
his name. This child is born, but the son is given. So he came.
Call his name. Wonderful counselor. The mighty
God. The everlasting Father. That baby in the hands of that
woman named Mary was really her father. See, I can't explain
that. I can't either. That's what makes
him God. He came. John said, He that believeth
in Jesus Christ is come into flesh. All right? That means
He was somewhere before He got here. And He came. I came here
with a purpose, folks. I came here with a purpose. I
drove straight here, three hours, to do one thing. A purpose. And that's what I'm
trying to do. as poor, as pitiful a job as
I'm trying to do, but this is what I'm trying to do. Jesus
Christ is God. He was sent by God with a purpose,
with a work to do, Brother Chris. He came to do a work. When he
was 12 years old, the first recorded words out of his mouth were this,
I must be about my father's business. And the last words that he uttered,
excuse me, The last words that are recorded by him are this.
It is finished. What? Whatever he came to do.
He finished it. He didn't try to. He didn't make
an attempt to. Didn't his men help him do it.
He finished it. What was it? You see, I'm talking
about these fellows, and he warns us, whoever confesses Jesus Christ
has come into flesh. It means a whole lot more than
just saying that Jesus came, died, rose again. It means he
was before he got here. He's God. And he came here with
a purpose sent by God. We just read it. God gave me
a people to save. God made him the surety of the
everlasting covenant. God made him the sin sacrifice,
the substitute of God's people, the Lamb of God. John said there
he is. Lamb of God for God's people. And he came down here
to save a particular people given him by the Father whose names
were written on his breastplate. Written on the palms of his hand.
And he saved every last one of them. Yeah, he did. Made an atonement. We heard Brother
Tom say last week, wasn't an attemptment. It was an atonement. We're talking about power, folks.
We're talking about all power. All power given unto him. You
know, most people will believe or they believe that God has
some power. No, that Christ has some power. He has power over, you know,
the weather. But not over my will, not over
my soul. You know, that's up to me. Let
me show you a few verses of Scripture, okay? You do well. We would do
well to commit these to heart. Deuteronomy 32, Deuteronomy 32. And you know, you could, you
know, you could say any meaning mighty mode, put your finger
down and say the power. I mean, the God of the Bible
we're talking about, here's the problem, brothers, folks, folks
aren't reading the Bible. God's word. They're really not holding the
truth in unrighteousness. Preachers are keeping it from
people. They're using it as a prop, waving it around. They're not
preaching it. They're not going verse by verse. Because they
know. Because they're con men, Chris.
They know the truth will set people free. And they have people captive.
Satan does. They're ministers of his, he said. Now, there's only one thing a
truth preacher wants to do, and that is declare God's Word. What
does it say? Deuteronomy 32, verse 39. This
is God speaking. You know, this is Moses' psalm,
verse 39. See now that I, even I am he. There is no God. You see that
small g? There's not even a small g with
me. Small g. Meaning there's nobody has power
over anything. Anything. See now, my dad's from Alabama.
And he used to say that to me. Now, you see here, buddy, I better
be listening. I mean, this is serious. Sit
up and take notice here. See now that I, even I, am he. There's no God with me. Look
at this. Verse 39. I kill. There's no such thing as an accident.
No such thing. Now, what I'm saying here is
not fatalism. It's Bible. It's God's Word. And it shouldn't lead us to despair. It should give us all our comfort
and all our hope. For the life of me, I don't know
why people trust in and believe a God who's not in control of
everything. A God who doesn't want things to happen to your
loved ones, but He does anyway. Why do you need Him? Huh? That Satan's having his will.
Satan's having a heyday. Do whatever he will. God's standing
on the sidelines. Can't do anything about it. Why
would you need a God like that? Huh? Why pray to him? Let's pray
to Satan. Ask him, quit doing this. Huh? That makes a fool out of God,
doesn't it? He said, see now, I, even I, am he. I kill. My brother was killed at 21 years
old in Vietnam. Did a sniper's bullet do it?
God did it. No souls are coming into God's
presence. God is saying, well, I wasn't
expecting you. What are you doing here? I wasn't
expecting you. Oh, no, there's a book of life,
the Scripture says. And in it, all things are written.
Known unto God are all His works from the beginning, Acts 15,
18. Now, this is not fatalism, this
doesn't lead us to despair, but it will make you rest in the
unchangeable, all-powerful God who is God. How did my parents
get through that? Their oldest son. The only way,
one way, knowing that God did it. Like Eli. It's the Lord. It's the Lord. It's not circumstances,
not this, not died in a car wreck. Oh, what? No, it's the Lord.
I kill. I make alive. I wound. Anybody get sick? Deuteronomy 30. I left it already. He says, I wound. My sister died
of cancer at 42 years old with two young children. Who did that? Are there germs
floating around out there? We'd better get lucky. They hope
we don't get them. God says, I wound. And then you've got all these people.
See, it's a godless society we live in that even brag on the
fact that they're survivors, giving themselves credit. Like
the ones who didn't live and died of cancer, they weren't
as strong as me. They ought to be down on their knees, giving
God the glory, shouldn't they? Thanking God who has their breath
in His hands for letting them live. Said, I heal. God says,
I heal. Forgive me for hollering. I don't
know of any way to say that. I wish we'd open the windows
and the whole world could hear this, don't you? That's why you're
here. You're not hearing this throughout
your community, are you? Not hearing this. It's hard to
find. Our Lord said this, many false
prophets are gone out into the world. Do you know He numbers
the stars? He has all the stars numbered.
And if He says many, that's a lot. A lot. Oh, power. We're talking about
power here. Neither is there any that can deliver out of my
hand. You know, Isaiah, and I wanted
to turn to several, but I'm taking too long here. Over in Isaiah
43, he says to his people, he says, You have I chosen, your
mind, that I might make myself known to you. You're the ones
I've chosen. I've chosen that you might know me, that I'm God.
There's none else. Everybody doesn't know that.
Everybody doesn't believe that. If you do, you thank God that
He's made Himself known to you. He said, you know that I am God
and I will work. And who's going to let it? I
love that verse. I will work and who will let
it? That is, who's going to let me do anything? Don't you hear
people say that all the time? False prophet? Let God... Where
does it say that in this Bible? It doesn't say that anywhere
in this book. Let God. Let God. He worketh all things
after the counsel of His will. Where does it say? You know,
you have a free will in the Scripture. Say that, it says His will be
done. Whoever has a free will is God. You know that? Whoever's doing
their will. Nobody can do anything about it. That's God. Now, who's
God? Man or God? Christ said, you will not come
unto me. He said, no man can. Doesn't
sound like a free will to me, does it? Well, I'm not going
to answer, you know, all the arguments there. But anyway,
let's go back to 2 Peter. So he says, I'm making known
unto you. And this is all I want to do.
This is all I preach, the power, the coming. He who came, why
He came, what He did when He got here, where He is now. Where is He right now? Well,
He's outside your heart's door, and He's knocking, and He's in
the rain, and won't you let Him in? There's no handle on the
door, you see. Where does it say that? They're taking that
from Revelation 22, which is not written to everybody. It's
written to the churches. And it doesn't say whose servant
will may come. It doesn't say that. He said,
Whosoever is thirsty, spirit and the bride say, Come, let
his thirst say, Come. And whosoever will, then take
the water of life freely. The Spirit says it, draws them.
God makes them thirsty. And the emphasis is not the will,
it's on the whosoever. Male, female, rich, poor, young,
old, black, white, whosoever. Will. Who will? Thy people. Psalm
110 verse 3. Thy people. God's people. God's
elect. The one whom Christ came to die
for. Thy people shall be willing in the day of His power. Who
will? God's people will. Everyone of
them will. They will come. They will come. It is God which
worketh in us both to what? Will and to do of His good pleasure. Philippians 2 verse 13. Not of
him that willeth or of him that runneth. Whose will is it? God's. You see, if you want to examine
two sides to a doctrine, here's how you may know if it's of God
and if it's from God's Word. That's right. Who gets the glory? Who gets the glory? Who's getting
the glory? God said, I will not share my
glory with another. I'm not going to share my glory
with the creature. Who's got power? God says nobody
has any power whatsoever. Not even a little G. We need
to see that God's word is so precise. See, there's no, not
a capital G on it, but there's not even a little G on it with
me. There's nobody that can lift a finger. Charles Spurgeon said,
Our God reigns and rules and has predestined the particle
of dust that you see in the sunbeam coming through the window. He
has already predestined where that particle of dust will land. You say, no, that's ridiculous.
I don't believe that. Because you can't understand
it. That's why you don't believe it. You see, we must have a God we
can't understand. I don't want a God I can understand.
That means He's like me. That means He's no more powerful
than me. He's no smarter than me. He can't do anything more
than I can. They say God has no hands but
your hand, no feet but your feet. That's a quadriplegic. I don't
need a God like that. I need a God, the Scripture says,
His right hand and His right arm. A God in whose hands, big
hands, no hands, I'm in them. We're in them. Everything's in
them. That's how. No hands? That's blasphemy. And any man
stands up there and says there's a liar. And as I said, I know why people
want a God like that. It's a God they can control.
They're proud of the fact of what they've done for Jesus and
how they let God in their life. That's what they're proud of.
Self-righteousness. That's the whole reason, in a nutshell. And they're
going to get a little crown and glory when they get that for
all they've done for Jesus and accepting Him and letting Him
in when He was knocking. That's the whole reason. That's why
people like God like that. Everybody gets real sentimental at Christmas
time. They've got this little baby in their arms. They've got
Jesus right where they want Him. You know, Jesus Christ was a
man one time. God put His Son in the hands
of man one time! One time! Paul said, wrote in
Hebrews, he said, we see Jesus made a little lower than the
angels. Why? To die. Just to die. That's it. A man. He's not sweet, gentle Jesus,
and He's not even meek and lowly anymore. No, sir. Paul said,
we see Him now. Ha! And lifted up. Reigning and
ruling over all flesh. That's Jesus Christ now, and
the whole world's in for a terrible shock when they see the Jesus
Christ of Scripture. That's what shook up 3,000 people
at Pentecost. They didn't go away talking about
tongues and all of that. They went away talking about
the One in whose hands they were. And they all cried out with one
accord, what are we going to do? We thought this Jesus was
in our hand. Now we realize we're in His hand.
What are we going to do? Peter and all of them didn't
ask them, won't you accept? Won't you come down, friend? Won't
you, won't you, won't you? They were asking Him, what are we
going to do? He can save us or damn us. This is what Peter said. We were
eyewitnesses of His majesty. What's that? Kingship. You see,
this modern world doesn't have a clue what sovereignty is. Even
preachers use the term today. It's getting popular, sovereignty.
They don't have a clue what that is. What does that mean? Turn
with me. One more, okay? Psalm 115. Psalm
115. I preached from at home this
morning. Psalm 115. And this psalm is about the true
God and these idols. Psalm 115. All these idols out
there are man-made gods. You've got man-made them, and
they can only do what men let them, you see. Look at it. I love this passage. I wanted
to preach on it this morning, but I didn't feel... Well, I
am, aren't I? Here it is. Psalm 115. He says
in verse 1, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us. This is not about
us. We don't come here. It's not
about us. Oh, it's so good to see Brother Tony here this morning.
Oh, God's so happy to have Brother Tony. That's blasphemy. That's giving Tony honor and
credit. The only reason Tony's here is
because God brought him here. If it wasn't for the sovereign
grace and mercy of God, Tony wouldn't even believe there is
a God. If God hadn't called you by His grace and brought you
here, you wouldn't be here. You wouldn't think about God.
God wouldn't be in any of your thoughts. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto Thy name give glory. How much glory? All glory. Why? For Thy mercy. Salvation
is all about mercy. Sovereign mercy. What is mercy,
man? You know, Brother Tom, why are
you so blessed? I haven't said anything yet that
you haven't already heard. It's obvious. Mercy means not
getting what we deserve. The wages we've earned is death. Sold at sin must surely die,
Scripture says. That's what we've earned. If
God gave us what we deserve, People say, that's not fair.
If God gave us what was fair, it is just and right, we'd get
that. Punishment. Death. But no, God
is merciful. God shows mercy. Mercy means
not getting what we deserve. Grace means getting what you
don't deserve. And there's no other kind of
grace but sovereign. There's no other kind of mercy
but sovereign. Do you know what I mean by that? A lot of people
talk about grace. Grace is a gift. Now, just a
very simple illustration. I'm going to give you a one dollar
bill. I'm sure I'm not going to give you. There you go. What did you do to earn that? I gave it to him. Why? Why didn't
I give it to him? Because I decided to. It's my sovereign You didn't earn it. I gave it
to you. Now, if you had cut my grass, I'd be paid. It'd be wages, wouldn't
it? Paul wrote about this. He says, it's either grace or
it's works. It's not works. Grace and works. Is it? It's
grace. By grace, you say. See, Brother
Chris, it's always sovereign. If it's grace, it has to be sovereign.
If a man's preaching grace, it has to be sovereign grace. There's
no other kind. Meaning you give it to whom you
will, because you will. And it's not an offer. Scripture
does not say that anywhere. Not anywhere. It says Christ
offered Himself once to God, but it doesn't say He offered
Himself to us, to men. Nowhere. It doesn't say that.
That's blasphemy. The so-called Methodism has that
slogan. What time do we have to leave
here? Okay. Methodism has that on their bumper
stickers, on their slogan, offer them Christ. That's the highest
form of blasphemy I know, other than put free will all over your
building. He is not theirs to offer. No, God, Christ offered himself
to God once. To God, not men. It's not an offer. Grace is something
that God does to us, not offers to us. It's an operation of God
upon us. It's something God bestows upon
us. It's something God does to us. He said, I'll give them.
I'll give them. I'll bestow upon them. I'll put
in them this operation. I'll put a new heart, a new spirit. Wash them. Ezekiel 36. Just read
that sometime for yourself. All the way through. I want to
do this. God said, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will. That's
what I want to do. Bestow it. Give. Grace. Sovereign.
It's always sovereign. If somebody's preaching grace,
it must be sovereign. Or it's not grace. It's not grace. Sovereign mercy. Here's somebody
guilty. See, God's the one that's been
offended. God's the one that's been offended. What if I... Brother
Dwight, what if I walked up... Your dad's a pretty big fella,
isn't he? I'm not, am I? In case you hadn't
noticed. What if I walked up and just
hit him in the mouth? Say, I don't like you. Hit him in the mouth. I've offended
him, haven't I? I've assaulted him, haven't I? I've sinned against him, haven't
I? What if I stood back and said, Oh, you know, Brother Tony, Brother
Dwight, I decided to let you forgive me. That's not my decision to make,
is it? You see what I'm trying to say?
David said against thee, and thee only have I sinned, and
done this evil in thy sight. You're going to be clear when
you judge, and just when you speak, and clear when you judge
me. The only way I'm going to be saved is if you have sovereign
mercy upon me. If you decide, we've sinned against God. All
flesh has. It's not up to us to let him forgive us. No, sir.
Not up to us to make peace with God. We can't do that. It's up
to God. And I tell you what, though,
He will to everyone that comes to Him by Jesus Christ. I've
seen, like David, according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies,
please, would you please forgive me? I tell you what, I know God.
Whoever comes that way, He'll say, yes, I will. I will. It's up to Him. It doesn't have
to. Sovereign mercy. This thing of majesty, sovereignty.
Look, I didn't even get to my verse. Look at Psalm 115. The heathens say, Where is your
God? Verse 3. I love this. Oh, I love this. They say, Where
is your God? David, or whoever wrote this,
says, Our God is in the heavens. I just quoted a while ago that
Christ, in Hebrews 1, He sat down at the right hand of the
majesty on high. He's seated right now. He's not
walking the banisters of heaven worried about anybody. He's seated. When He gets up, that's when
men ought to start worrying. But He's seated right now, expecting
His enemies to be made His footstool. He's seated. Our God's in the
heaven, seated. And what can He do? What can
your God do? Well, I'll tell you what he hath done. Not what he can do. That's not
the question. What he hath done. What? Whatsoever he hath done. That's
sovereignty. Sovereignty is someone who does
what he pleases, with whom he pleases, because he pleases,
and nobody can say or do anything about it. Paul wrote in Romans
9, he wrote all those things, you know, and he said, what shall
we say to these things? What do you say to these things?
Now the world says, I don't like that. It doesn't matter. That's
the way it is. That's the way it is. But if
you say from the heart, I like it that way. I like God being
God. I love God as God. I love Christ
as being all in salvation. Not up to me. I love that. I
believe He's all and in all. All glory, all honor, all credit
goes unto Him. All due unto Him. I believe that.
Oh, God's must be for you. May God be for you. Oh, He's done whatsoever He pleases.
Oh, Peter said we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. And let me close in our text there. He says, We
were there. We heard his voice. We heard
God's voice. You know, God has only spoken out loud from heaven
twice. That's right. Three times, counting
to Christ himself. He spoke twice, though, and whoever
heard it, he said the same thing. God doesn't have anything different
to say to anybody. It's one thing to say to all
mankind. That's what he said. God didn't speak out loud in
the Old Testament. Never did. Never did. He spoke unto the
fathers by the prophets, Hebrews 1 says. And hath in these last
days spoken unto us by his Son, whatever Jesus Christ said, now
that was God speaking. Christ said the words that I
speak are not of myself, but the Father which dwelleth in
me. But when God from heaven spoke
out loud, twice, three times, one privately to his son, but
twice to whoever heard it at the time, he said one thing,
one thing, and he hadn't spoken since. You know, everybody wants God
to speak, don't they? If God would just speak, He has. It must be pretty important what
He said, mustn't it? Do you understand that? If God
only spoke out loud twice, we'd better sit up and pay attention.
What does He say? This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. Hear it. Because God is not going to speak
to anybody except through Him. Nobody is going to see any God
but Him. But Him. Nobody is going to speak to any
God but Jesus Christ. You know, there are people going
door to door to call themselves Jehovah's Witnesses. No, no.
I'm Jehovah's Witness. They're lying on Jehovah. They
don't believe Jesus Christ is God. I do. I'm Jehovah's Witness.
I believe Jesus Christ is Jehovah. He's Jehovah Sid Kenu. I asked
them that one time. They came to my door. I said,
Do you know who Jehovah Sid Kenu is? Oh, no, never heard. You're
a Jehovah's Witness? Found in Jeremiah where he said,
The Lord, our righteousness. That's what that means. The Lord,
Jehovah. It means Lord, our righteousness. No, never heard that. Do you
know who Jehovah Ra is? They said no. You don't? And
you're a Jehovah's Witness? That's Psalm 23. 1. The Lord
is my shepherd. Didn't Christ say, I'm the good
shepherd? Didn't He say that? Didn't He say that? The Lord
is my shepherd in Psalm 23.1. Didn't Christ come down here
in John 10 and say, I am the good shepherd? Sound like the
same person to me. I'm Jehovah's Witness. You are
too. They're lying. They're anti-Christ. Mormons. All of them. Southern
Baptists. same thing. No different. No
different. No different. And who had made
us to different? We were in that, and every one
of us were in that mess. But for the sovereign mercy and
grace of God, I'd be standing up here this morning begging
you to do something with Jesus. Yeah, I would. Just another one
of the many false prophets. Thank God. So Peter says, He has all majesty,
all power. The one who came, we heard his
voice, and he said, we have a more sure word of prophecy, that you
do well to take heed. Maybe there's somebody in here,
a young person, who this really hadn't come home to them. He said, well, you do well to
take heed until the day's star arises in your heart. I heard
messages, and nobody heard more preaching than I have, literally.
Literally, I'm a preacher's kid. We used to... I thought my parents
were abusing me by making me sit under so much preaching.
We'd take our vacations to go hear preaching. I didn't want
to do that, but I did. Now I know it was the best thing
they could have done for me. Had me under the sound of that
Word, which is the power of God. They're not going to be saved
apart from it. And I heard message after message
after message. Didn't care. And I was a prodigal
son. I literally was a prodigal son
left home. Couldn't wait to leave. Get away from these parents that
don't understand me, you know. Get out in the world and be on
my own, you know. You know, all these messages. Message
after message. I heard them. Heard them. Didn't hear them.
Didn't hear a thing. Deaf. Didn't hear a thing. Came back home like the prodigal. The Lord brought me home. I got
down in the hog pen, just like a prodigal. Got down in the hog
pen. Brought me back home. And you
know, very few people come and sit and hear the gospel for the
right reasons the first time they come. But God has them there. He'll
bring them to His sheep. And they're not there, you know,
to hear. They don't know God. But God knows them. And He brings
them. Well, there was a young girl.
I'm making a long story short. Fifty-one year. There was a young
girl that I had my eye on. That's why I came. That's why
I was there. I'll just be honest with you. And I thought, well,
I need to clean up my act and get a good job if I'm going to
get a girl like that. You probably can't understand
how I did get a girl like that. Anyway, all the wrong reason. I was there for her. But God... And I heard message
after message. But one day, it's like I was
the only one in there. Is that the way it was with you? He said, My sheep hear my voice.
Personally, Christ speaks to his sheep. Powerful you think.
He's talking directly to me. Broke the heart over my sin.
I forgot she was there. Just forgot she was there. Give you a good closing, a real
good true story. There was a man years ago, his
wife, who was a member of the church where my father pastored.
She loved the gospel and her husband didn't. And she was always
talking to him about it. He wouldn't have it. He wouldn't
have it. He wouldn't come with her. Except on Christmas and
Easter. Mother's Day or something. Anyway, he came. And you know, the Lord in mercy
and grace started working on that old boy. And the first time, he went home.
He went home with his wife. And on the way home, he said
to her, Honey, you've been talking to that preacher about me, haven't
you? I said, no, I really haven't. We haven't had one conversation
about you. Yes, you have. You've been telling on me. And
no, I haven't either. See, the Word of God is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Like a sword, you
know, that pierces and finds you out. That's the first thing
God's Word does, is find you out. And the Lord kept working on
that fellow through the preaching of the gospel. And the Lord saved
him. And he loved the same Lord as his wife did. But, you know, he didn't have to. He didn't
have to. And that's what we pray. We pray
unto God that He will show mercy on us, upon our children, that
He reveal Himself. That He reveal Himself. We don't
ask people to do anything. No, no, no, no. We're asking God. We hope this
is Your will. We pray that You will reveal
Your Son to my son, my daughter, my husband, my wife, my father,
my mother. It's up to You. You don't have to. You don't
have to. You did it to me, and You'd like to show mercy, and
we'd be much obliged if You'd do it again. And this prodigal
son, I'm one of them. Live in example, that God will
show mercy to the chief of sinners. Yes, He will. Alright, now stand
with me and I'll dismiss this in prayer. Our Lord and our God and our
Father, thank You so much for Your sovereign mercy and grace
in Christ Jesus. Thank You for revealing Him to
us, in us, Thank you, Lord, for revealing the truth, the truth
that sets us free, the truth of who you are, what we are,
who Christ is, and caused us by your mercy and grace to come
to Him, giving us faith and repentance. Oh, Lord, we give you all the
glory, all the glory for all things. Every good and perfect
gift comes down from you from above. What do we have we have
not received? And so we give you all honor
and glory to the praise of the glory of thy grace. Amen.