PETER – 2 Peter 1 and 2
Knowledge; False Teachers
How has God given us everything pertaining to life and godliness? 2 Peter 1:3 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(yes or no) Are there qualities which a Christian should add to his faith?
What will be the result? 2 Peter 2:1-7, 11 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
How did Peter know the things which he had taught? 2 Peter 2:16 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In 2 Peter, Peter spoke of his death as (a) soon, (b) distant, or (c) unknown?
2 Peter 1:14 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Where did Peter say that prophecies originated? 2 Peter 1:21 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
According to Peter, who would distort the truth? 2 Peter 2:1-3
How can a person become enslaved to sin? 2 Peter 2:19 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Good evening. How’s everyone this evening. Good. The way I keep backing down towards the front of the auditory, you’d think that we’d had a lot, lot of people here. We’re just all really spread out, but that’s okay. Take your Bibles if you will. And open them to second Peter, we are in second, Peter, and then we are going to head straight into first,
John, after we’re through with it. Now, the lessons for on the sheets have us going through chapter one and chapter two of second Peter tonight. And I can just tell you, that’s not likely, I’m saying there’s Not a chance. I mean, it might happen. It might happen. But, uh, I checked with myself earlier and I said self not having it.
So, alright, let’s begin with a word of prayer. Our gracious father in heaven, we bow before your throne grateful for the day that you’ve given to us and the life that we have, the opportunities that we have to serve you. And the open doors that are before us, may we always be looking to those opportunities to glorify your name and to preach the gospel,
to those that are around us to teach them, encourage them, to be obedient to your word, to stand up for what is right and stand against that, which is wrong. Help us to always strive to see the world and see sin and see righteousness. As you see it. Lord, we ask that you forgive us when we sinned and fall short of your glory.
When we failed to do what we ought to do. And when we do that, which we ought not, we ask that you be with us as we go throughout this period of study, may all that we do be in accordance with your will and all that we say, be right in your eyes. All this, we pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Peter’s going to write to basically the same audience that he wrote to in the first letter. He concluded that letter with greetings, from those who were with him. He concluded that letter with a warning of out an enemy that they needed to be sober-minded of. They needed to be aware they needed to be paying attention, but the focus of the first letter is suffering.
The focus of the second letter is eternity. And so as we go through second, Peter, he’s talked about eternity in first, Peter, but not with the same razor focus that he does here in second, Peter. But as he talks about sec is he talks about eternity. He does it in a specific context. And that is a reminder when you go through second,
Peter, you’re going to see that idea of a reminder, a reminder of the basics, a reminder of growth, a reminder of this always being in remembrance. And here’s why he knows his time on this earth is short and he is setting them or setting before them a reminder. So they are ready when he’s gone. Compare in your mind. Second,
Peter second Timothy, when Paul is almost ready to, as he says, be poured out and John chapter 14, 15, and 16 and 17, frankly, because each one of those is the last message before someone leaves this earth in death. This last reminder, and every single one of them shares some very significant properties. Number one, a focus on truth.
Jesus in John chapter 14, 15 and 16 would tell the apostles that he was going to send the comforter and the comforter would guide them into all truth. Paul would write to Timothy and he would set before him a reminder in the end of chapter three, about the inspiration of God and a charge in chapter four, beginning to preach that inspired word, and then a warning against those who will get to a point where they would desire to have their ears tickled.
Instead of hearing the truth and a pointing out of those who had departed from the truth. Peter is going to focus on the truth. He’s going to focus on the doctrine that leads to salvation. And he’s going to talk in depth about false teachers and warn against those who would pervert the gospel and lead them away into destruction. So you see these connections between the three of them,
but then you draw into that John chapter 17 in that prayer, that Jesus gives in the upper room before he goes to the garden before he’s betrayed. And this reminder that the thing he’s given to them, the, the word of God is the thing that they’re going to give to everyone else. And when they give the word of God to everyone else,
that is the singular thing that can bring about unity between that person and those apostles and God, the father and Jesus Christ. The truth is the fundamental hub of unity in the church. The moment the truth gets sacrificed on the altar of opinion or on the alter of preference or on the alter of tradition or on the alter of whatever supply the list. The moment the truth gets sacrificed.
There isn’t unity because we lose unity with God. And when we lose unity with God, it doesn’t matter what we agree on. We’ve lost all unity because the only unity that matters is fellowship with God, the father, and then fellowship with one another. Okay. So second Peter chapter one, Simon, Peter, a bond servant, and apostle of Jesus Christ to those who have obtained like precious faith with us,
by the righteousness of our God and savior Jesus Christ notice a number of things as he begins. Number one, faith, he sets the tone, the tenor, the atmosphere of the entire letter with I’m writing to you because of the faith you have. But what, how does he describe that faith? Precious. We have things in this life that are worth what we pay for them.
Uh, have you ever gotten a toy in a happy meal from McDonald’s outside of the collectible ones that have been around for 40 years and are in perfect condition and someone can pay a very large sum of money for I’m just talking about the one you get yesterday at the, how much is it worth exactly what you paid for it, it came with the meal.
Okay. Because you paid very little for it. It’s pro it’s likely value is very little, but what bought our salvation, the sacrifice and the blood of Jesus Christ. So when Peter introduces this, he says we have obtained a like precious faith. He starts off with a comparison, like precious. He says we together have obtained a unified faith because it is the same faith I have is the same faith.
You have this, this is one of those passages that just puts aside every idea that some modernist have. And we just all have different face and different beliefs. And we’re all headed to the same place. No, Peter says the foundation of what you have and what we have together as Christians is a like precious faith. And as soon as you get rid of the same single thing,
that’s most important. And that is the faith that begins in the righteousness of God and the son of God and the revelation of God, you have nothing, because that was what Jesus came to give. So he says to those who have obtained like precious faith, let me also make a note there that if you can obtain like precious faith, that means you weren’t born with it.
It also means that God didn’t choose you to have it arbitrarily without any decision upon you and choose others. Not to have it because you obtained it. You had a part in it. Calvinism, can’t be true if this passage is because Calvinism would determine that the Holy spirit shows you from before the foundation of the world, you to be saved and someone else to be lost.
And in addition to that, the Holy spirit gave you the faith that you have by a miraculous event. And you didn’t have anything to do with it. Not what Peter said. He said, you obtained it. You did something to gather this faith, but he says, it is like precious with us by the righteousness of our God and savior Jesus Christ.
When we see the word righteousness, sometimes we see it and we think right, doing, but really at its base, most of the time, especially when it’s talking about God, it is talking about his justice. It is talking in a, in a civil sense about one who is right in his judgment. So when you see righteousness, you see the law,
you see God’s judgment and his reward to those who do righteousness and his judgment against those who do unrighteousness. Okay? So when you see the righteousness of God, don’t just think, Oh, he’s talking about God does good things. No, God is just and right. And all of his actions are just, and right. So he says, we have obtained a light precious faith,
or you’ve obtained a light pressure space with us by the righteousness of God and the savior, Jesus, grace, and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus. Our Lord, he introduces faith. Verse one knowledge verse two, because knowledge and faith cannot be separated from one another. There’s a mentality in the denominational world that says I have faith,
which is a blind leap in the dark. Then what’s the point of knowledge. No. Peter says you have a light precious faith. That’s founded upon the knowledge of God, not a blind leap in the dark. As a matter of fact, he’s going to set that contrast very starkly, because he’s going to tell them about the knowledge of God and the promises of God.
And that those promises are so sure that you can live your life with zero doubt about those promises coming true. It’s not a leap in the dark. It’s not guesswork. Here’s the thing. Have you ever been walking through your house with the lights off? You pretty much know where everything is. Yeah. Have you ever been walking in a building you’ve never walked into before in your life and the lights are all off or maybe you go on a tour of a cave and you get down there and just when they,
you get down there and they say, all right, well, everybody’s standing real still. We’re in turn all the lights off and you literally cannot see your hand in front of your face. Now, try and walk around. See this mentality of the modernist is faith is a leap into the unknown with no knowledge of what’s there. Peter didn’t believe that for a minute.
Peter said that we are to have knowledge based upon God’s revelation. We know what’s there. We don’t know exhaustively what’s there, but I mean, let’s face it. We don’t know exhaustively. What’s here. Raise your hand. If you knew what the coronavirus was 18 months ago, we don’t know exhaustively. What’s here. Let alone what’s there. He’s not talking about exhaustive knowledge.
He’s talking about knowledge that cannot be disputed and could not possibly be wrong because it originated with a righteous God. Now he says, as his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue. God not only is righteous. Jesus not only is our savior. Grace and peace are not only given to us so that we have them supplied in and multiplied in the knowledge of him.
But he gave us all things. We were to do this from a logic class of MSOP. We do it this way. We, we draw he’s shaking his head. No, and we draw a circle. And in that circle, we’d put all things that pertain to life and godliness. Now, if there is one thing, one thing out here that pertains to life and godliness,
that’s not in that circle, then that’s not true because if there’s one thing outside the circle, then all things aren’t there. But Peter made it clear everything, all things to the exclusion of all other things, all things are here that pertain to life and godliness. So if someone comes to you and says, I believe the Bible, and I think it’s a wonderful book.
And I think it came from God. And I think it’s inspired, but I think you should also read this thing because this thing will tell you things. This thing doesn’t tell you, here’s what you can know. There may be some sort of advice in there, but either it’s repeating the thing that’s already here and therefore isn’t necessary or it’s wrong and isn’t necessary.
It’s why we don’t need the book of Mormon. We don’t need any other latter day revelation. We don’t need the creeds of churches or the decrees of the Catholic church. Or I’m not saying that there aren’t things you can learn from those things, but you can learn things from a history book too, can’t you? Yes, but that’s not the context of this.
The context of this is what do you have to have to have, uh, all things that pertain to life and godliness. Obviously the context of life here is not a discussion of all things you need in order to do business or write a contract or that that’s not, that’s not what he means by life. What kind of life is he talking about eternal life?
And as we go into the passage a little bit more going to become clear, he’s talking about the life that really matters. Not the life on this earth, eternal life and godliness, everything that pertains to those, none of it originates with a man. None of it comes through any source besides God. So then he says this, God not only has given us through his divine power.
All things that pertain to life in Gatlin as he’s called us to something, what did he call us to glory and virtue? Now, if we were to single out second, Peter, as, as an epistle all to itself and not think about the last two that we’ve just studied James and first Peter, we might look at the word glory and think God’s called us to majestic things into a life of,
of glory and a life of, of majesty and alive. Just filled with nothing but good things. But if we’ve re we’ve read James and we’ve read first, Peter, how many times was glory attached to suffering all through both of those books, he’s called you to glory and virtue and glory has repeatedly been the context of the suffering you go through in this life to achieve the glory you receive in the next.
So when he says you’ve been called the glory and virtue, you don’t don’t imagine that that means you’ve been called to nothing but happiness in this life and good things and good actions, good things, good actions on the virtue part, but glory, that’s got a cost attached to it. It’s called suffering. And so he says all there, his divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue by which have been given to us exceeding great and precious promises.
Here’s where he wants you to take your faith. He wants you to take God’s righteousness. He wants you to take what he has given to you in the knowledge of him to give you everything that pertains to life and godliness and this calling. And he wants you to wrap them all up into one ball that says, God made a promise, just like in the life of Abraham,
where in Genesis chapter 12, we’re introduced to Abraham and God says, you go where I send you, I’m going to show you a place and I’m going to give you this. And I’m going to make of you a great nation. And through you, all nations of the earth will be blessed. And Abraham went on that journey through good times and bad,
hard times and happy times, but he went on that journey. Looking the Hebrews writer tells us for a city whose builder and maker was God looking for the end of a promise. Now, were there times along the way where Abraham questioned whether or not God was going to deliver on those promises? You remember when Abraham said I is my servant over here,
that was born in my house going to be my air. Yeah. There were times that he questioned the promises where he questioned whether or not God was going to do it. And there was even the time where God said before the years out, you’re going to have a child. And he laughed to himself because he was old. But God also said with man,
this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. So as he draws you forward into these promises, as he talks about the truth and the knowledge and the faith and the glory and the virtue in all of these things, being drawn together into these promises, he says this, he said by which you have been hurt by, which have been given to us exceeding great and precious promises that through these,
you may be partakers of the divine nature. Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. He now sets this contrast and the life of the Gentiles and the life of those living in the world and the life of a Christian. There are those who would argue that we through the feeling of our bodies and through the emotions of our bodies and through the experiences that we can have in our bodies,
we can reach a higher spiritual plane. I mean, if you would like to spend a few million dollars, just go look for people selling that, and you can spend all the money you want. But Peter said that if you want to take part in par, take in the divine nature, you can’t do that wall fulfilling fleshly loss. He said,
there’s an opportunity here for you to partake in God’s nature. But it comes at the exclusion of sin because as long as sin is in your life, you can’t have part of that life. So then he says this, but also for this very reason. So because of this, because we’re striving for this because of these promises, because of this calling,
because of this faith, because of these things that he’s given to us in the knowledge of him give all diligence, we’ve all seen and probably done it in our lives. We’ve all seen a group of people where ma we’ll, we’ll say there were four, four people and three of them were working very hard. And one of them wasn’t and we look at it and go,
that’s just, that’s just terrible because those three are working like a dog. And that guy is doing nothing. Now, maybe occasionally we’ve been that guy. Everybody else is working. And we’re just not this giving all diligence is the idea that we have set ourselves to accomplish something and nothing, nothing, nothing will hold us back from it. We are going to do everything.
No matter the cost, no matter the effort we are going to give, not some diligence, but all exhaustive diligence to do this. He says giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue. So he talked about their light, precious faith. Now he’s going to talk about virtue. What is virtue, moral courage. It is this idea that you stand up for what’s right?
And you never turned back. It is a moral decision to say good and right. We’ll try out and I will stand beside it and I will be involved in it. And I will lead in it. And I will guarantee while I’m standing that good will be represented. He said, you take your faith and you set on it, a determination, a courage,
a conviction that good will be done. But then he says, and to your faith, virtue, to virtue knowledge, you didn’t start with faith without some knowledge, but there’s a growth that is to occur. The knowledge you had to become a Christian is one thing. The knowledge you ought to gain after you’re a Christian is something entirely different. And so he says,
you take your faith, which is based on this fundamental knowledge that you have. And then you add virtue, this moral conviction and courage, and then you add more knowledge. But then he says, you add to knowledge, self-control with a conviction to do what’s right. And the knowledge of what is right. You begin to exert control over yourself. You begin to exert control over your actions.
You begin to exert control over how you live and to yourself, control perseverance. What’s the word perseverance mean? Not giving up. It’s an, it’s another word in the original language that we often find translated patience, or to stand up under. We’ve talked about that. I think back in James, the idea of to stand up under something and not stop as if you are lifting a burden and you’re not going to put it down,
he says, you take your faith and you add to it, your virtue. And you add to that, your knowledge and you add to that your self control. And you add to that, your determination to carry on through any thing, because it’s one thing to make a decision, to have a stand for moral courage. And it’s another thing entirely when you’re faced with a real consequence of losing your life for that decision that you actually carry through.
Many people determined to do what’s right, until times get hard. And then they lose the conviction they had and they turn around and go the other direction. And so he says, you start with your faith and you add to it, your virtue. And you add to that, your knowledge and you add to that yourself control. And you add that your perseverance,
that standing up under the burden and struggles of this life, and then godliness, you say, Whoa, wait. We’re, we’re all the way up here in perseverance. Before we get around the acting like God, if we think of godliness as an equivalent of holiness, then what happened to self control? That what happened to virtue? That’s not really the idea here.
You remember. He said, you can partake in the divine nature. When you set aside the fleshly loss, he said, you take your faith and you add to it, a determination to stand for what’s right. And you add to that, the knowledge that God’s given concerning what is right? And you add to that, your harnessing of controlling yourself.
And then you add to that, this perseverance to continue doing what’s right in the face of everything the world throws out at you. And then you begin to experience God like NIS. That’s what godliness is. God like this. Not saying that we begin to start handing out miracles. Not not saying we begin to whisper and things happened. This just happened to be created.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. We begin to look like him. Jesus said in Matthew chapter five, you do all of these things to be attitudes. And you’ll be blessed. That word blessed means what happy and those things that you be blessed in doing included. Things like suffering, being poor in spirit, being humble,
seeking righteousness, hungering, and thirsting after righteousness. But it also included standing for what’s right? Because he gets over there to verses 14 and 15 and 16. And he says, you are a city that is set on a Hill. You are the light of the world. You are the salt that changes the flavor of everything, unless you’re not. And if you’re not,
you’re worthless, but if you are, they’ll see your good works. And they’ll see through them to who God, because they’ll see your good works and not glorify you. But your father who is in heaven, what does that mean? That means you became the picture of God, right in front of them. You represented him. That’s why they saw your words and they didn’t glorify you.
They glorified him. Now he says this. He says to your godliness, add brotherly kindness. It’s really interesting that we’re this far into the list before we get brotherly kindness. But this relationship, this love of a brother, this love of your brethren is something that frankly people don’t always start out with because they don’t understand it. They don’t understand what it means to truly be a family in Christ.
And so they’re there to a degree lost on this, not lost in the sense of, of lost in sin, but they don’t comprehend that when you read concerning people who go through difficult circumstances, when you read concerning the things that some military units have gone through and they come out, we’ve got a phrase for it. They come out a band of brothers,
they went through everything that could be thrown against them. And the only guarantee they had that they would make it to see another day was the guy standing next to them who would fight for them. And he for the other one. And when they got out the other side of that encounter or the other side of that experience, they had a bond that was unbreakable.
That’s here. This love for brethren is here because when you’ve done all these previous things, you’ve gone through it. All you’ve gone through. Remember we already had perseverance. You’ve gone through everything the world could throw at you. And you came out the other side with those who also were faithful. So he said, you add brotherly kindness, and then add what love charity,
a GAAP, a love, the love of someone else more than yourself. As he calls us to go through this. He said, you begin with faith and you end with love. And it only gets any coincidence at all. And that he ends with love. And first Corinthians chapter 13 makes it clear that love is the enduring character of God. First John chapter four makes it clear that if you can’t love your brother,
you can’t be righteous with God because God is love. Now, some will say, well, wait, wait, wait, all right, but I get this. This is a progression, but don’t you grow a little bit in these all the time. I mean, you’re not suddenly going to just, just have perseverance. And that’s true. These are kind of like a circle of growth.
You keep going back through this circle and you begin again at faith and you keep growing again. And again and again. So it’s not a onetime all down. I have perseverance. Okay. I can check that off the list. Oh, now I have faith. I can check that off the list. Oh, now I am brotherly kindness. I know this is a growth pattern that builds momentum towards eternity.
So yes. I think something to note though, too, is all old lady, brotherly kindness relates to the individual themselves holdings they have for themselves. If they have to take care of within, before they can show up without, you know, he’s talking about, take care of yourself before you can him, somebody else different pastors. Talk about some examination.
All of that leads up to when I have those things, then I can show brotherly kindness. Not that you can’t show at a better time, but your brotherly kindness will be seeing more when you have those characteristics and say would the away Absolutely good point. So just this idea. See, I told you, we weren’t getting into chapter two. This idea that the first five are inward focused.
They’re focusing on yourself, six and seven focus outwardly. They focus on how you enact what’s inside towards others. So then he says for, if you do these things, excuse me for, if these things are yours and abound, not just the idea that you have, you’ve got to, you’ve got a smattering, you got a little bit, you’ve got a,
a dip or a novel or whatever the current term is in the cooking world is that you have these things in abundance. You’re growling in these things, your exceeding in these things. He says, if you have these things, if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Here we are back in knowledge again.
So there’s fruit produced in these things. He’s a, you can’t possibly exceed in these things and a bound in these things and be unfruitful. But then he says for he who lacks these things is shortsighted even to blind this and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Now I know we don’t have a lot of time, but we’ve got to go over to Deuteronomy chapter six because this statement here carries a connotation that is born right back here in the old Testament.
Deuteronomy chapter six, Moses is talking to the second generation. Those who came out of Egypt, they, those who died in the wilderness have now given birth to the second generation. The second generation is commanded to do this beginning in verse three, therefore hear O Israel and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you. And that you may multiply greatly as the Lord.
Your God, that, excuse me, that is the Lord. God of your fathers has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey hear O Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your, and with all your strength and these words,
which I command you today shall be in your heart. Now, just step back and think Moses given them the law and is giving them the law the second time. And he says, you know who God is. And you know, his law and his law belongs in your heart because of what it’s going to do in your life. But notice what he says.
He says, and you shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house. And when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up four different times throughout the day, he describes this idea of you are constantly to be involved in teaching your children, these things. And if you’re constantly teaching them,
you’re constantly reminding yourself. And so this knowledge gives birth to their obedience, but then he says, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand. And they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your Gates. He said, you put them ever before you, you remind yourself over and over and over again,
concerning these things that belong in your heart. And then he says, so it shall be when the Lord, your God brings you into the land, which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities, which you did not build houses full of good things, which you did not fill hewn out Wells,
which you did not dig vineyards and olive trees, which you did not plant. When you have eaten and are full, then the wear less. You forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. He says, I’m warning you. You put God’s word in your mind. You put God’s law in your heart.
You continue in it day in and day out. And when you receive the promises, don’t forget the Lord. And we have a mindset that says, wait a minute, I would look at all these done for me. How could I possibly forget him? If he gives me all of these things, if he fulfills every promise that he’s ever made to me,
how could I possibly forget where it all came from? And if we thought that way, we would be entirely naive because that’s exactly what they did. They received all the blessings and all the promises. And then for God, where it came from and in the first century church, the same thing happened. Do you remember what John wrote to emphasis? When he said you’re doing this and you’re doing this and you’re standing against that,
but I have somewhat against you because you’ve left your first love and all of the effort to defend God, to fend his word, defend the church, do what’s right in an enact. Good. They forgot God. Peter tells them. Don’t forget God, okay, we’re going to leave it there. Thoughts or questions. We’re going to cover the actual questions since they cover chapters one and two.
We’ll cover those on Sunday. If not, you are dismissed. Thank you for your attention.<inaudible> Good evening. Good to see everybody out tonight, uh, got a little bit better crowd and we’ve been having all spread out and everything. So it was good to see y’all we don’t have very many announcements tonight. We need to remember the sick, the Rodale and Dorothy and Joan Springer,
Pam Shaffer. And we’ll see the doctor this week about her MRI and Sylvia. Have you had yours yet? Friday by Friday. So we hope that comes out and good. A former member here, Tom Allen passed away today from Pat pancreatic cancer. I understand he’s had that for a long time, but anyway, uh, we need to remember that family means meeting Monday,
July the 27th at six 30 here at the building, uh, national gospel meeting call flyers are on the table out there. If you want them. That’s all those announcements. Um,<inaudible> singing. Uh, Michael Dale has the devotional interior weekly has closing prayer.<inaudible> Marquis books. Number 900 to 900 to 538. Number five, three eight. My hope is built on nothing less than jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trucks, sweetest frame, but wholly lean on jesus’ name on Christ. The solid era ground is sinking sun, a whole other grounded.<inaudible> when darkness dance, his love the face. I rest on his son, changing graves and every high and stormy Gail my anchor holds with and the veil on Christ. The solid rock got that. Oh,
all other ground is sinking sand. A whole other ground did sneaking Simon. When he choked, come with trumpet sound Oh, Marianne then and, and be found dress Dan, his right up nestled on both legs to stand before the throne on Christ. The solid rock I stand the ground is sinking son. Oh, how the ground is.<inaudible> My lesson this evening.
My Divo this evening is on trusting the instrument over intuition. Dr. Erwin Lutzer, who is a, a pastor tells the story of flying on a commercial flight. Seated next to him was a man who used to be a commercial airline pilot, but now flies his own smaller plane. The two became engaged in conversation about the safety of flying. The pilot said many people think that these huge jets are more safe and therefore are more safely put together and therefore are safer to fly than smaller planes.
People think that because they are more, there are more crashes with smaller planes than with commercial jets, but he said, that is not true. The reason that so many lighter planes crash is not bad equipment it’s because, because of inexperienced pilots flying the little planes let’s replied. Tell me more. The air of inexperienced pilots is that they refuse to believe their instruments.
The pilots said in a storm, they trust their instincts rather than their navigation instruments. And that’s where they get into trouble. For example, they are absolutely convinced that the altitude of the plane is increasing when it’s not. There is an internal mechanism that tells them the altitude, but when the altitude is not increasing, they often choose to disbelieve the instruments and adjust the plane.
According to their senses, they think that the plane is turning or banking when it’s actually not. When the pilot ignores his readings and adjusts the plane, according to his intuition, it is sure to crash. Then he said, there wouldn’t be as many light planes that crash. If pilots would devotedly believe they’re inside their instrument panels rather than accepting what they think their senses are telling them.
When you consider your relationship with God, with God, is what do you base your conclusion, your faith on? Do you believe you are right with God because you think or feel you are, or do you know you are right with God because you are following the instrument, his word, which has provided a guide for you to get home heaven. God’s word is truth.
John chapter 17 in verse 17, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth and arriving at our heavenly destination. Depends on whether we follow the instrument. God has provided the instrument, which God provided to create. Belief is his written word, Romans chapter 10 and verse 17. So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God,
God’s word was written. So that the one who is reading it might believe and know that they have eternal life. John wrote, but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name, John 2031. Again, John writes these things I have written to you who believe in the name of the son of God in order that you may know that you have eternal life.
First, John five, 13, a man once said, and I’m sure there’s several men that have said I wouldn’t trade. What I feel for a stack of Bibles. Yet life in his name has never been based upon feelings. It has always been based upon believing that Jesus is the Christ. The belief comes through the instrument. God’s word as well.
The Hebrew writer States and having been made perfect. He became to all those who obey him, the source of eternal salvation, Hebrews chapter five and verse nine, Jesus said, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will of my father, who is in heaven, Matthew seven 21 here,
we learned that eternal salvation is never based upon feeling you are saved, but through obeying the instrument that he has given you, his word air traffic controllers can not guide the pilot. If the pilot will not obey his instruments and his instructions, likewise, God cannot guide us with his word. If we are not willing to obey it, it is his word of truth that will judge us.
He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has one who judges him. The word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day, John 1248. If we are to arrive safely at our heavenly destination, we cannot allow our feelings to determine our path. There is a way which seems right to men, but it’s end as the way of death,
Proverbs 14, 12, we must believe obey and trust the instrument of his word. It was provided so that we might be sure of our final destination. When we ignore God’s word and adjust our lives. According to our feelings, we are sure to crash and great. That crash will be Matthew chapter seven, verses 24 through 27. Most of us are aware of this,
uh, that Jesus spoke of the wise man and the foolish man, therefore whosoever here at these things of mine and do with them. I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house. And it fell not for, it was founded upon a rock and everyone that heareth,
these things of mine and do with them, not shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand and the rain descended. And the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon the house and it fell and great was the fall of it. If we listen to his instruments, we know that we must believe John eight, 24.
Once we have heard, and we believe in his instrument, we must repent Luke 13, one through three, our instrument God’s word then tells us that we are to confess Jesus openly before men, Matthew chapter 10 and verse 32. Once we have done this, we have put full assurance in our instrument and are ready to devote our life to it. Through baptism acts 2216.
We must follow and listen to our instrument every day and walk in the light to receive a crown of righteousness, or we will fall like those in the small planes. If we step into the darkness first, John one, six and seven in revelation, two 10. If you have yet to decide on following his word or instrument, everybody knows the waters of baptism are all ready,
always ready for you. If you have been falling, failing to let his instrument guide you the way you should, and you have been falling into darkness, we are here to pray for you. Whatever you need. Come forward. As we stand in 902 Can walk away then nothing. Right?<inaudible> what can make me whole again, nothing but a few years.<inaudible><inaudible> no.
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Uh, the<inaudible> nothing, but<inaudible> ah, Let us pray. Heavenly father, we thank you for the privilege to be in your house tonight. We thank you For Aaron and Michael, that proclaim your word to us Lord, and in a way that we can understand, Lord, we thank you for the blessings that you give us every day. We thank you for the rain Lord that we got date.
We thank you, Lord, for loving us when we were unlovable Lord. And just when we stumble, Lord, just help us pick herself back up and get back on the right path. Thank you Lord, for letting us come into your house tonight and forgive us, our sins, these things we ask in your name. Amen.