Our message today is in two parts,
as I told you, this morning's message and this evening's message. But I want you to keep in mind
three questions, both this morning and tonight. I'll try to answer
two of them this morning and the last one tonight. Whose message
is it? Who's the sender? Who's the author
of this message? Secondly, to whom is it directly
sent? To whom is it sent and for whom
is it intended? And then tonight, what are the
results? All right, who's the author?
Verse 1, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, says the human
writer is Peter. But if you look back at Hebrews
1, verse 1, we have an explanation of the origin of the word of
God. Hebrews 1, verse 1 and 2. It
says God, Hebrews 1, verse 1, God, who at sundry times and
in different manners, God spake in time past unto the fathers
of the prophets. The Old Testament scriptures
written by Moses and all the other writers, it was God who
spoke through them. The Old Testament, the writings
of the prophets, is God's word. God's word. God spake to the
fathers by the prophets. These holy men of God wrote as
they were breathed into and elevated above their knowledge and experience
and wisdom to write what God dictated. That's what I'm saying.
It's the word of God, from Genesis to Malachi, the word of God.
It's not subject to change, it's not subject to our interpretation.
God is the author and God is the interpreter. The word of
God, the action of the word of God, the infallible, inerrant,
verbally inspired, God-breathed word of God. And so is the New
Testament. Our Lord chose apostles, and
I want to read something about these apostles. Turn to Mark
16. He chose twelve apostles. One
of them was a betrayer, and that was all in God's purpose. Mark
16, returning, that was all in God's purpose. Paul is an apostle
that took the place of Judas, but there were twelve apostles. In Mark 16, when our Lord gathered
these apostles around him before he ascended back to heaven, there
were eleven left. Judas was gone. Mark 16, verse
14. And afterwards he appeared unto
the eleven, as they sat at meat, upbraided them with their unbelief
and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which
had seen him after he had And he said to them, Go into all
the world and preach the gospel to every creature. You men, you
eleven, you'll be joined by Saul of Tarsus later. And he that
believes what you preach and is baptized shall be saved. And
he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall
follow them that believe, follow these apostles and the early
church fathers before the word was completed. In my name they'll
cast out devils. They'll speak with new tongues
and languages. There are no apostles today.
There are no men today with that kind of gift, those kind of gifts.
Now that's just so, and I'll show you a reason for that in
a few moments. They'll take up serpents. Paul, you remember,
reached his hand toward the fire, and the serpent latched on his
hand, shook it off, and they waited for him to die. These
pagan folks that were around him, they waited for him to drop
dead, but he didn't And they said, he's a God. He's a God. They fell down to worship him.
He said, no, I represent God. This is a sign that I tell the
truth. God gave this sign so you'd hear
me. That's what he said to them.
So take up serpents, if they drink any deadly thing, not on
purpose. No apostle of Christ would pick
up a glass of red devil eye and drink it to show off. He'd die
right there, God would kill him, and he ought to kill him, any
man that would do anything like that. But if they do drink any
deadly thing, if anybody attempts to poison them, it will not hurt
them, they lay hands on the sick. But they don't do it to show
off their powers or show off their spirituality or piety,
they do it on purpose to glorify God, and they shall recover. So he gave these men these special
gifts. Turn to Hebrews 2, and it tells
you that all over again. It emphasizes the very things
that I just said. In Hebrews 2, verse 1, now I want you to read
this, Hebrews 2, verse 1. Therefore we ought to give the
more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at
any time we let them slip. For if the words spoken by angels,
Old Testament prophets, Old Testament messengers, the messages delivered
to them by God, by the angel of the Lord, by the inspiration
of God, if these things were steadfast, and every transgression
and disobedience received a just recompensive reward, if these
people who heard the Old Testament didn't hear it as it is in fact
the word of God, and receive it as the word of God and obey
it as the word of God. And they were dealt with in judgment.
Look at verse 3. How shall we escape in this day
if we neglect so great salvation which at first began to be spoken
by our Lord himself, the gospel, the fulfillment of the Old Testament
prophecies, the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises, the
fulfillment of the Old Testament types and pictures and symbols.
Christ came in the flesh, died on the cross, was buried and
rose again. He spoke to us. He spoke the word of God. He
was that prophet of whom Moses wrote. Now, if they refuse to
hear Moses, and didn't escape the judgment of God, how are
we going to escape? We won't hear Moses long, and the one
of whom Moses wrote. And not only him, but listen.
The gospel was spoken by our Lord and was confirmed. Oh, what
an important word that is. The gospel was confirmed by them
unto us, by them that heard him. Who heard him? Twelve apostles. They heard him. He personally
talked to him. God also bearing them witness. God bore his son witness. You
know, Christ in John 5 said this, if I bear witness of myself,
Our witness is not true, because the scripture says, Let every
word be established by the mouth of two or three witnesses. So
Christ said, John the Baptist bore witness of me. God sent
John the Baptist in a most unusual way, born of an old woman and
an old man, miraculously, filled with the Spirit from his mother's
womb. And John bore witness of Christ. And they were willing
for a season to rejoice in that life. But not only did John bear
witness, but the Father bore witness. The Father on two occasions
spoke from heaven and said, this is my Son, in whom I am well pleased. The
miracles that Christ did, healing the blind, healing the deaf,
making the lame to walk, all these miracles that he did, they
bore witness of him. And the scriptures, the Old Testament
scriptures, Genesis through Malachi, he said, they bore witness of
me. And you Jews are busy searching the scriptures, searching the
scriptures, reading all about the ceremonies and the histories
and the kings and the prophets and the Solomon and all this.
And you think you have eternal life in your traditions and in
the scriptures. Those scriptures testify of me. That's what they're all about. And you won't come to me. You go to the scriptures and
you go to the traditions and you go to the sacrifices and
you go to the Sabbath day, but you won't come to me. that they
testify of me. So our Lord had witnesses. And
these disciples, it says here, his message was confirmed by
them that heard him, confirmed by these twelve apostles. Listen,
God also bearing them witness. God gave signs and miracles and
wonders, just like Paul shipped the snake off his hand. Just
like Paul raised the boy from the dead that fell out of the
window. Just like Peter said to the lame man at the gate,
beautiful, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give
I to thee in the name of Jesus Christ. Rise up and walk. And
he walked. And people listened to him because
God confirmed their message with miracles. I don't need that kind
of confirmation. I don't need that. Why, preacher?
I had the word. I had the completed word. I don't
need a confirmation. All I need is his word, the word
of God. But God confirmed, God bore it
in witness, with signs and wonders and different miracles and gifts
of the Holy Ghost, according to his will. These men were blessed with these
miraculous, unusual gifts by the will of God, not by their
will. And they didn't pass it on to one another, and they didn't
seek to get it. practice speaking in tongues,
try to do these things, they didn't try to do them, God enabled
them to do them. Why? For a purpose, that they
might get the ear of the people, because they didn't have the
New Testament, only the Old Testament. But now God, through these men,
gave them the New Testament. These men were eyewitnesses of
Christ's majesty, of his glory, and of his teachings. He taught
them personally, three and a half years. Turn to Matthew 17, verse
1. These men were eyewitnesses of
his majesty. You're going to see something
here, Peter, James and John. He took these three to the mountain.
They saw something that you'll see some day. But no man has
saw it prior to that, and no man saw it after that. They saw
a most awesome, awesome, heavenly revelation. In Matthew 17, verse
1, after six days, Jesus taketh Peter, James, and Johnny's brother,
bringeth them to High Mountain apart, and he was transfigured
before them. He took on his original glory. You know, he prayed, Father,
glorify me with the glory which I had received before the world
was. That glory came upon him, transfigured, his face did shine
as the sun. Think about this. His raiment
was white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto
him Moses. Moses represents the law. God gave the law through
Moses. And Elijah, the prophet Elijah. the law and the prophets, here
is Christ the Son, boy, my, my, here is Moses the law, here is
Elijah the prophet, and they sat and talked. What did they
talk about? The scripture says they talked
about the work that he would accomplish on the cross, they
talked about his decease at Jerusalem, they talked about his crucifixion,
and these disciples were eyewitnesses. And Peter is saying, Lord, it's
good for us to be here. If you will, let us make here
three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, and one for us.
He talks like us, doesn't he? He doesn't talk about them like
a man that just saw the glory of God. While he was speaking,
behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and God Almighty, the Heavenly
Father, spoke from heaven and said, This is a rebuke to Peter. This is setting the whole philosophy
of Peter straight. This is my son. Moses is a servant. Elijah is a servant. Moses is
a servant in the house. This is my son. You hear him. You hear Moses, that's fine,
but when you have Christ, you hear him. Now then, when Peter went out
preaching, And when he writes to us here in 1 Peter, turn back
to 1 Peter, he was an eyewitness of this
majesty. But he says, there's something
better. I'd give the rest of the years
of my life if I could see that. And there's something better?
That's right, there's something better. Turn to 2 Peter 1. And here it
is, 2 Peter 1. And Peter says here, verse 16,
2 Peter 1. We have not followed cunningly
devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But I was an eyewitness to his
majesty. What I'm telling you, he said,
is not a fable or something I picked up somewhere or heard or passed
down from generations, as an eyewitness of his majesty. For he was seen from God the
Father honoring glory, when there came such a voice to him from
the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased. He said, I was there. And this
voice which came from heaven I heard when we were with him
in the holy mountain And we have a more sure word of prophecy.
We've got something better than that, better than that experience,
better than that revelation. We have a more sure word, a more
sure word. Where unto you beware that you
take heed, as a light that shineth in a dark place. In the Old Testament,
Christ was the light through the word, throughout the Old
Testament, before he came in the flesh. They had a light,
a light in the dark place. Christ is coming and he did.
And we've got a light that shineth in a dark place until the day
dawn when Christ comes again, until the day a star rise in
your heart. We've got a light. And it's not something these
natural eyes see and experience. Knowing this first, that no prophecy
of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy,
the scripture, came not in the old times or any time by the
will of But holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy
Spirit." In other words, something better. Peter said, I'm not going
preaching my experience, or preaching what I heard, or preaching what
I saw. I'm preaching the word of God, which came by the power
of God and was written. That's our more sure word of
prophecy. We don't depend upon somebody's
experience. we depend on the word of God.
For the scripture, look at verse 20. Knowing this first, that
no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
God is the author and God is the interpreter. By the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God. Why were they called holy men
of God? Moses and and David and Samuel and Elijah and Elisha. Were they called holy men of
God because of their spiritual lives or because of their personal
lives? No, sir. They were examples.
But they were called holy men of God because, like the apostles,
they were special instruments of the Holy Ghost who sanctified
them to the work of writing the scriptures, of teaching God's
word, preaching God told them what to write and what to preach.
Turn to 1 Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians, just a moment, 1 Thessalonians,
chapter 2. Paul says here in 1 Thessalonians,
chapter 2, to this church, in 1 Thessalonians 2, 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
effectually worketh also in you." That's what Peter is saying over
here. This prophecy, the Old Testament and the New Testament,
didn't come at any time by the will of man. But holy men of
God spake or wrote as they were compelled, as they were moved.
The word moved there is they were compelled. acted upon as
they were elevated above their own knowledge, above their own
experience, above their own ability, their minds illuminated with
the knowledge of divine mysteries, infallibility. That's what we're
talking about here. That's how the scriptures came.
So reverence before this word, and regard for this word. And
obedience to this word cannot be overemphasized. This is the
word of God. It's not subject to our alteration,
to our change. I worry about folks taking upon
themselves the translation into new translations of the scripture.
I worry about that. I worry about that. This is not
just church history. This is not just laws and rules. This is the word of God. That's
what I'm saying. You received it, Paul said, not
as the word of men, but as it is indeed, the word of God. Now, let me show you a powerful
scripture. Turn to Psalm 138. This is just
awesome. Psalm 138. This is one of the
most amazing, remarkable statements to be found in the word of God.
I read so many men this week. their thoughts about this scripture.
Psalm 138, verses 1 and 2. It says here, now listen to it, and I'm talking about the Bible,
I'm talking about the Word of God, being the Word of God, not
the experience of men or the feelings of men or what they
remember happened. These men were moved by the Holy
Ghost, holy men, sanctified, set apart for this purpose, elevated,
moved, acted upon, lifted far above their understanding of
their experience, of their knowledge, of their capabilities, lifted
to write supernaturally God's word, which has been preserved
by his good providence. Now, listen to Psalm 138, verse
1. I will praise thee with my whole
heart before the gods, that's a liturgy, idols, what people
call gods, before all of this world will I sing praise to thee.
I will worship for thy holy temple. I will praise thy name for thy
lovingkindness and for thy truth. For thou hast magnified thy word
above all thy name." I'm going to tell you something here that's
awesome. The scripture David wrote here,
God has magnified his word above all his name. As I said, I've
read so many men, but the best one I've found, most satisfying,
gratifying, scriptural, was J.C. Philpott. Not well known to some
of the other writers. But this is what he said, my
friends, the name of God. He's magnified his word above
his name, all his names. The name of God includes all
the perfections of God. Everything that God is. His justice,
his majesty, his holiness, his greatness, his glory. And whatsoever
God is in himself, I am. I am that I am. Yet he has magnified
something above all his name. What on earth is it? His Word. His Word. This may, Mr. Philpott said, refer only to
the incarnate Word. the Son of God. He's called the
Word of God. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, the Word was God. They are created by
record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost.
Therefore you may take this scripture. God has magnified his Word above
all his name, to mean God has magnified his eternal above all
his great name. He has given him a name above
every name, and it's the name of Jesus, every knee will bow,
every tongue will confess he is Lord, preeminent over all
other perfections of his majesty. R, yes, he has magnified his word. That
means he has written written in the scriptures above
all his name. But they go together. The incarnate
word, the Son, and the written word cannot be separated because
Jesus Christ is not only called the word, he is the fulfillment
of the word. He is the fulfillment of every
promise, every prophecy, every purpose, and he himself is called
the truth. He says, I am the truth. You know the truth and you're
free. But whether it's God the Son, the Word, or his written
Word, God's faithfulness to his Word, both his Son and his promises,
is so dear to him that he has exalted his faithfulness above
all his other perfections. Philpott said, I've seen that
demonstrated on this earth by certain men. There are men who
regard their word to be so dear and so important that they'll
give up property rather than give up their word. Actually,
they'll give up their lives, they'll die rather than compromise
their word. So God Almighty would sooner
all other perfections come to naught than for his word. his faithfulness to fail, his
word endureth forever. Heaven and earth may pass away,
but the word of God endureth forever. My word will not return
unto me. What a firm and sure salvation
is mine in Christ the Word, based on the written word and promises. which God has chosen to magnify
above all other perfections." We've got something. He said
it, and shall he not do it? That's all Abraham believed.
God said it, and that's all. And he magnified his word. He
said it in Christ, he said it through Christ, he said it by
Christ, he said it in his word, he said it through his And God is able to perform all
that he said. And to him, his word means more
than anything else. That's confidence, that's foundation.
Let me show you a scripture, Numbers, Numbers 23. I'm talking about
this word I'm holding in my hands, too, now. I'll tell you, it's
a treasure, it's a It's precious, it's God-speaking. Numbers 23 and 19, God is not
a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should
repent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Hath he spoken,
and shall he not make it good? Then over here in Isaiah 46,
listen to this. Verse 9-11. Remember the former things of
old. I'm God, there's none else. I'm God, there's none else, none
like me. I declare the end from the beginning and from ancient
times of things that are not yet done. I declare it. It's
written. I declare it. I declare it unto
you. It's written. It's written in the Word. And there's no other
place it's written. There's no other place it's manifested.
The end from the beginning, from ancient times, the things that
are not yet done, is the Word. And I say my counsel will stand
and I will do all my pleasure, calling a ravenous bird from
the east, the man that executed my counsel from a far country.
I've spoken it, I'll bring it to pass, I've purposed it, I'll
do it. Now I've exhausted myself just
thinking about this awesome, awesome, awesome scripture. But I've got enough left to answer
that second question, to whom is this word sent? 1 Peter 1. Let me lay this foundation,
1 Peter 1. I tell you, to me this just is
an awesome experience to read what God says, to enter into
what God says. To whom is this word sin? Well,
Isaiah asked this question. Who believes this? Who believes this? Do you know
anybody who believes this? Our Congress and Senate doesn't believe
this. Preachers in this town don't believe it. Most people
don't believe it. Well, they believe this book
contains the word of God. They believe there are certain
things in the word in here that are the word of God. It's in
red, most Bibles are put in red, so you'd be sure to know that's
God's word, the rest of the Bible is just Paul or Peter or James or
John or Moses or David or some other guy. Not meant for us anyhow, except
what's in red. To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? When I led priests in John 6, a bunch of those people
said, That's a hard saying! Who can hear it? Who can hear
that? Who in the world can hear that?
Well, I'll tell you who hears it. He said, My sheep hear my
voice. They'll hear it. They'll hear my voice, and they'll
believe it. They'll come to me. And I'll
tell you who else will hear it. He says in Acts 13, As many as
were ordained eternal life heard it and believed it. They'll hear
it. My sheep, those ordained to life, they'll hear it. And
Matthew 13, he that hath ears to hear it, you'll hear it. Blessed
are your ears, they hear. Blessed are your eyes, they see.
Blessed are you, Simon. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you, but my Father, they'll hear it. But here Peter tells
us who will hear this message and to whom it's sent. Verse
1, he says, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers
scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, and Bethany.
But they are not strangers to God. He said, I know my sheep. They are not strangers to the
angels. The angels are guardian angels
sent to minister to the heirs of salvation. They are not strangers
to one another. They are all in one family, but
they are strangers to this world. Turn to John 16. These people
are peculiar people. They are a holy nation, a royal
priesthood. In John 15, he says in verse
16, you have not chosen me, I have chosen you, and ordained you
that you should go and bring forth fruit, that your fruit
should remain. And whatsoever you ask of the Father in my name,
he'll give it to you. These things I command you, that
you love one another. If the world hates you, you know
it hated me before it hated you. And if you were of the world,
the world would love you. But because you're not of the
world, because I've chosen you out of the world, therefore you're
strangers. The world hates you. And this
message is to the strangers. And then secondly, in 1 Peter
1, verse 2, he says it's to the elect. That's a precious word. That's what God called the Lord
Jesus, not elect. And they are elect according
to the foreknowledge of God. They didn't know God, God knew
them. They didn't love God, God loved them. They didn't choose
God, God chose them. They are elect according to the
foreknowledge of God. Through the sanctification of
the Spirit, the miraculous setting apart, illumination of the Holy
Spirit, unto obedience. They're going to believe the
gospel, they're going to hear it, and they're going to believe it,
under obedience. And the sprinkling of the blood,
they're going to be sanctified, they're going to be justified,
they're going to be washed and cleansed of the blood of Jesus
Christ. And they're going to be recipients
of grace and peace, multiplied grace. And then he says thirdly,
this is written to those people, Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again. begotten us again? Born again? Yeah, we were born the first
time of dead parents, spiritually dead parents. My father and mother
were spiritually dead, and I came from the womb spiritually dead.
But I was born again, listen, unto a living hope, a lively
hope. The hope I had as an infant coming
from the womb was nothing, dead, no hope. This is a living hope. I'm born again under a living
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He died
and he lives, and because he lives, I live. I have a living
Father and a living Savior. And when I was born of the first
Father, I was born dead. Born of the second Father, I
was born alive. Born alive, living. And I'll tell you this. Let me
show you something. You know why I believe the Bible? Because I'm born again. I'm not
born again because I believe the Bible. I believe the Bible
because I'm born again. Look at 1 John 5, verse 1. Whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. That's why he believes,
because he's born of God. That's why I hear, because I've
got ears. That's why I see, because I've got eyes. That's why I love
him. Turn to 1 John 4, verse 7. That's why I love God, because
I'm born again. 1 John 4, verse 7. Beloved, let's
love one another. Love is of God, and everyone
that loves is born of God. Natural people don't love. They
love themselves. Why don't they love God? Because
they're not born of God. They're born of a daddy who hated
God. They're born of a granddaddy that hated God. and a great-granddaddy. But I'm born, we're born of God,
therefore we love. That's why we love. He that loveth
is born of God. Not born of a human father, he's
born of God. He that believeth is born. When
I talked about this word a while ago, My strength was drained
out of me. I believe it so strongly. I love
it so compassionately. I desire to understand it more
than I desire breath. And it just releases you. It sucks your strength. Why am
I affected by the word like that? Because I'm alive. I don't live because I'm affected.
I'm affected because I live. See, I'm not born because I believe. I believe because I'm born. And
that's the people this message is sent to, they're alive! They
hear it, they believe it. Because the Holy Spirit in them
bears witness with what he witnesses here. The same Holy Spirit that
wrote this is the one that gave you life. And he won't deny himself. If you write that down, folks
out there say, I don't believe that election, I don't believe
that redemption, I don't believe that blessing. They're not saying
it, it's impossible. Because the Holy Spirit who wrote
this can't be in them. He can't deny himself. That's
stupid, even thinking he can deny himself. Christians all
agree, they do. They do. Ever-blessed one of
them. And I'll tell you something else, it's written to the heirs,
verse 4, to the inheritance incorruptible. We're heirs of God. Let me ask
you a question. Who's interested when a man dies?
Who's interested in the reading of the will? Well, I'm not. He's not coming to me. I wouldn't
go to the meeting. I don't know him. But the folks
that are in the will go. They get there early too, don't
they? They get there early. They're
interested in what's in there for them. And I want to tell
you to whom this is written, to the strangers, to the elect,
to the born again, to those that are in the will. They'll be here
tonight to hear me read some more about this will. They'll
be here Wednesday. They can't stay away, because
this is their life. This is their riches. And they
kept verse 5, and they tested and tried, and then they finished
this message. verse 8, it says this about them,
about this appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen,
they love. I've never seen him in the flesh,
but I've seen him in the Word. I've seen him in creation. I've
seen him in type and picture, but I haven't seen him in the
flesh. The reason a lot of people talk
about visions is they are not satisfied with the revelation. That's the reason they want to
hear somebody talk about, this is the Lord, I don't want to
even hear him, I don't want to listen to him, because he's lying. God reveals himself in his Word,
and listen, I'm happy with the revelation I have. I don't want
to see somebody standing at the foot of my bed. Do you? No, sir. No, sir. But when I see the Lord, I want
to see him coming in glory, and I'll see him as he is, and I'll
be like him. And until then, I'm happy with
this revelation right here, totally happy. Whom having not seen,
we love. Listen, whom though now we see
him not, now we see him, but we hear him every day. We see
him in his word every day, but we don't see him in the flesh,
yet we believe. And we rejoice with joy unspeakable. I saw him, John the Apostle,
who wrote 1 John, 2 John, 3. He said, I saw him. Well, John,
I saw him in the Word. I heard him, he said, with these
ears. I heard him in the Word. I touched him. He touched me. I'm happy with that, aren't you?
John said, I touched him and proved that God became a man.
Well, he touched me and proved that a man could become like