In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of reflecting on one's experience of accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior. He encourages the audience to revisit the moment of their salvation and rejoice in the fact that they have been made alive spiritually and become children of God. The preacher also highlights the need for continuous growth in faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ. He reminds the listeners of their responsibility to diligently pursue their calling and election, ensuring that they never fall away. The sermon concludes with a reminder that even in adversity, God works all things together for the good of those who love Him.

I have some good news. The clock's been fixed. I was told new batteries have been installed. And, uh, I think I was shocked more than anybody else this morning when I looked, I sat down, I looked at my, uh, watch and I, what has happened? And, uh, just kept going and, uh, felt a little bad about it, but I got over it. I'm surprised that Warren Parrish didn't tell his story about, uh, the preacher that went overtime. And, uh, the, uh, fellow warned the preacher, if you do that one more time, I'm leaving. And so the preacher did do it again, and, uh, the fellow was, uh, leaving. Where are you going? He said, I'm going to get a haircut. And the preacher said, uh, what did the preacher say? And he said, before I came to the meeting, I didn't need a haircut. I'd like for us tonight to look in 2 Peter chapter 1. Uh, there is a connection, I think, between some of the things that we have been, uh, discussing. And I'd like to make, uh, uh, some, uh, draw upon the similarity between some of the things that we have regarding, uh, how, how wonderful it is to have the Word of God as a resource, uh, when it comes to, uh, problems that develop in the body of Christ. And, uh, Peter, uh, is addressing a problem. Uh, his letter is to, uh, those that had gone out and, uh, have been spread abroad. I think one of the things that, uh, more or less amazes me is to how early on, uh, in, uh, the development of the church, uh, there were problems. There were, there was the introduction of false doctrine. Uh, in so many instances, uh, it related to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. And, uh, I know when we read in Scripture and we find that one of the marks of the last days, uh, there will be a departure, uh, from obedience to the Word of God and a reliance upon the Scripture. So, I'd like to, uh, just read, uh, perhaps the, uh, let's see, the first chapter is some 21 verses. And, uh, let's, let's just read the entire chapter, beginning at verse 1. Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And besides this, giving all diligence to your faith, to your faith, virtue, and to virtue, knowledge, to knowledge, temperance, and to temperance, patience, and to patience, godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, charity, or love. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, but he that liketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore, the rather brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if ye do these things, ye shall never fall. For so an inference shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Wherefore, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has showed me. Moreover, I will endeavor that you may be able, after my decease, to have these things always in remembrance. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we are eyewitnesses of his majesty, for he received from God the Father's honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And this voice, which came from heaven, we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawns and the day star arise in your hearts, knowing this first, that no prophecy of this scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Let's bow again in a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we gather as your people to hear the voice of God through the word. We thank thee for the Spirit of God that indwells us and enlightens us and helps us. He is that heavenly comforter. He is the one that can give discernment and understanding of the things that we've read this evening. Lord, grant to each one of us a better understanding of all that we've read, and may it be a rich blessing to us. Thank thee for this Lord's Day. Thank thee for the time together. Thank thee for the privileges that we enjoy, the liberty that we have to gather in this fashion. We bless thee and thank thee for your goodness to us, Lord, and ask that you will indeed presence yourself with us tonight in a real and wonderful way. In the name of the Lord Jesus we ask this. Amen. Well, as I said, the Apostle Peter had, I think, some of the same reasons for writing what he wrote to the saints that were scattered abroad. When Paul wrote that 2 Timothy, his second, his last letter that he wrote in 2 Timothy, he starts it off with the last days shall be perilous times. And that came as a warning. And I sense in this some of that warning to the churches that were established at that time. It seems they must have been prepared of Satan. Those that had the gift of teaching had some knowledge concerning spiritual things, and they were going about and they were creating havoc among so many of the small churches and testimonies that had been established. And I think a part of his warning is to direct them and to help them to face this and to face it in a way that they will be overcomers and they'll not be injured and set back because of things that were contrary to what we believe was the clear teaching of the Word of God. A warning to the churches. I think that would be the way that I began to look at this. And when false doctrine and when something focused upon the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and that holy life that was lived and that all-sufficient sacrifice, they were quick to respond to that because so often other things had been introduced. There were many legalists. There were those that were hedonistic and said, Save by the grace of God, do what you want to do when you want to and as often as you want to. That sort of thing. And it had to be addressed. And this man, he identifies himself as a servant and that certainly reminds you of the Apostle Paul. A born slave of our Lord Jesus Christ to those who have obtained light, precious faith. You know, I think the grace of God is something that comes to us through experience, through knowing something about it. And I was looking at 2 Corinthians 12 and that was the experience of the Apostle Paul. I really am looking at that. I believe the Apostle Paul fully expected to be healed of his thorn in the flesh. I think it came back to him as a warning, No, not every time you pray for healing are you going to get healing. Sometimes there can be something better than getting healed. You know, when you're hurting, that's not too easy to accept. But I think Paul at least thought that. But out of that experience, you know the story. He prayed three times and the Lord gave a negative response each time. But he says, I am going to prove to you the sufficiency of my grace. And he did. And the Apostle Paul says, I rejoice in infirmities. It's a wonderful opportunity for God to prove just how sufficient his grace is in the experiences of life. And so I think what we have just read, there's a lot of that in this. This growth in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that's the way Peter closes this little letter that he's written. It comes through understanding. A better understanding. Growing. Growing is so necessary in our knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so we obtain more grace. We know how to appropriate that grace and make it operative in our lives by the grace of God. By the grace of God. And we begin to apply that to our lives. The experience may be something you might say, well, what has the grace of God got to do with this? If that's the way God wants to deal with it, and He wants you and I to draw from heaven, from a resource that's available to us, the sufficiency of that grace, Paul says that's better. That's better. I learned out of my own experience that that's an experience that you wouldn't want to pass up. You'll learn something. And indeed, I believe that Peter has a very similar feeling about the whole thing. Because there was something important here to be gained. And he didn't want these things to pick it up. The adversity, the trial, all of these things that you're faced with, if you grow under the good hand of God, if you grow spiritually, you will be able to come out of it victoriously. And when you think about faith, it's precious. Precious faith. That's what he lays hold on. Precious faith claims precious promises. This morning we were looking at that word precious. It's a word that Peter used quite frequently. Precious faith lays hold upon precious promises. And this lifts the soul up. You know, when you feel that you're sagging spiritually and you're really getting low, you need something to pick you up. You need something to encourage you. And so Peter can say, "...whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." Now, we have to say this, that he can become a partaker of the divine nature. We cannot become divine. We are human beings. There are limitations. But God would put no limitations upon how much we can grow and we can experience blessing through faith and trust in Him. We can become partakers of the holy character of the God that we have trusted as our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a wonderful hope and promise that should excite each one of us. I can become something for God that I never was before. You know, some of us might look at our lives and we went through a time, a dry time, in which we were not profitable for the Lord. The Lord couldn't use us because of things that we didn't understand. But now, through the experiences in life and claiming the sufficiency of these precious promises, we have grown. We're making progress. We're maturing. We're better qualified to face trial and testing in our lives and do it for the glory of God. And we value holiness, being sanctified and set apart to be used by God. And isn't it wonderful to recognize and sometimes sense that God is using me. God is using me. He has His hand upon me. He's entrusted me with responsibility that at one time He couldn't entrust me with because I didn't know enough to handle it. But now I can handle it by the grace of God. By the grace of God, I'll handle this. By the grace of God and all of His sufficiency, I will be able to come through this experience. So you see, there is a value even in adversity. That verse that we have in Romans 8, 28. Man, that's one that I see more of that. It seems like we know that all things work together for good to them that love the Lord, that are called according to His purposes. And then you come to that part of this passage that is often used to draw upon and to make us aware of progressive growth. It says, besides this, giving all diligence. Take it seriously, brother. Apply yourself and apply yourself with all that you've got. You want to get out of this everything that can be gained from it. This is not a crip course. This is the real thing. We need this. We need this one if we're going to really be used of God and be effective for Him. Add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge. You link all of these things together. You place one of them upon another. It's just like someone said, the stones and an arch, a stone arch. Every one of the stones is important. And you put them all together in the right position. And man, it is really strong. It's there to stay. It can bear the weight of everything that is placed upon it. And that, I think, is a good illustration of what we have in building, building upon these things, link upon link. The stones that are placed there and each one of us is a living stone. We provide some mutual support. It's not like one of us could do it by ourselves, but put us together. That's why unity and oneness in the body is so vital and important to what we're doing in the world today. If one of us stands up against the devil and one says, I'm going to put on the whole armor of God that I might be able to stand. Everybody, all of us, let's be strong for the Lord. And let's stand up. And I'm bearing my part of the responsibility. I'm bearing my part as someone that can contribute something to making this strong. Strong for God. And there's nothing like holiness. There's nothing like what God provides. And again, you take the Word of God and you remember our Lord said to Satan, it is written, it is written. Oh, it's so wonderful to be able to reach back and you have at your command passages of Scripture. When someone says something, but it is written. But it is written. It's so wonderful. I'm telling you, you feel very confident when you can turn to something in the Scripture. There it is right there. There it is right there. And if you believe it and if you claim it, it really works. So we give diligence to the things that God has placed before us that He entrusts us to do for Him. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see. I was reading about that and you know how limited a short-sighted person or near-sighted person really is? They can only see something. You see people, they'll look at something. Close range is the only thing they can see. They don't know a thing about what's going on out there. They can't see. And I think there was some of this in this, near-sightedness or short-sightedness. It sounds like the fellow said, well, what you don't see or what you don't know won't hurt you. You know that's purifying. We want to see just as far as we can see, don't we? And I tell you what, the Word of God and what it provides for us in the way of a clear perception of how things really are is something that we can't afford to be without. Oh, I don't want to just see what's right here under my nose. I want to see what's going on out there. If there's danger coming, if there's a warning given, I want to have good, clear spiritual vision. And I want to be able to see it. I want to be able to recognize it for what it is. And I want to be prepared. So these things are given to us by a man, I think out of his own experience, he's warning. He's warning those people. He's warning to us. I think we're living in the last days. And as I've quoted the Apostle Paul, the last days will be very stressful times. There's so many crazy things going on in the world today. Don't criticize the President now. We're not to take issue with those that are in authority over us. We pray for them. I'm not a politician. I'm not a military strategist. I don't know all those things, but I can pray for those that are involved in making decisions about these things. I think that's our responsibility. But I want to be perceptive enough and based upon the Word of God know what's about to happen, at least as a warning here. It's not like we're going to be caught unaware about how conditions will worsen as the days go along and until our Lord comes. But He is coming. We anticipate it. We believe it. We look forward to it. And it encourages our hearts. And Peter says this. He says, "...Wherefore, the rather brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you shall never fall." I think someone said from this platform, I believe it was Mark, said, you know, sometimes check up, thinking about your experience, your testimony, and how it was with you when you made that decision for the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't think it's time ill spent to review that in your mind. How did that happen? How did that happen? I'm going to enjoy that again. You ever do that, an experience in life? I'm going to enjoy that one more time. I enjoy going over the night I got saved. Boy, that's where it started for me. I was dead in trespasses and sin, and you mean to tell me being made alive spiritually and being born again and becoming a child of God is not something that should excite each one of us? Go back and relive the experience and say, God, I'm glad it happened. I praise You for what happened. I know! I know! We don't go for that hope-so stuff. Oh, I hate to hear a person say, oh, I hope I'm saved. Hope you're saved. You mean you don't know you're saved? You could know it from the Word of God. Well, I don't know about that, but I'm just hoping. I'm hoping. You can't get much joy into that. You're hoping. You're speculating about something happening that you're not sure if it's real or not. So Peter could say, look, check up. God issued a divine call to every one of us to trust Christ as our Savior. And it's up to you. That's our responsibility to accept it or to turn away. Thank God tonight that we're in the family of God. We recall that experience. I'm glad that I had that experience. I'm rejoicing in that moment in time when the Spirit of God finally came in power. And that's what He did. And that was your experience if you know the Lord Jesus. You felt miserable and you wanted relief. And He said, this is the way you get it. You just say, Lord, I surrender. I'm a poor sinner. And you accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior. Peace like a river flows into your soul. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, it's a wonderful experience. Some people, they seem to grow weary of hearing anyone tell about how they got saved. I can't think of anything any more important in your life than getting saved. You're not going to be subjected to the judgment and the wrath of God. You're going to spend eternity with the God who created all things and provided salvation for you, a poor lost sinner, and He has brought you into His family. You say, well, I can't get excited about that anymore. It's been a long time ago. Review it in your mind. I'm thinking that if somebody did take that way, I don't think they'd take very seriously any growth. What had happened all of those years in between the time they made that decision and the presence, this present day. What has happened in my life since I trusted Christ. Peter would remind his brother, he'd say, you need to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And if that's happened to you, thank God you did it in this day in which we're living. In your lifetime. Someone said it like this. You were saved at the glory of the flood. The full flood tide. You know, the tide came in and there was blessing and there was refreshing and you were there and you took advantage of it. I think about what happened in Durham so many years ago, over 50 years ago for most of us. The Spirit of God moved mightily. You know, a lot of poor sinners got saved. Sometimes you hear people talk about it and again, someone says, what was that all about? I wasn't there. Well, I'll tell you, it was a wonderful experience. Oh, there was something to excite your soul. It wasn't anything for not just Brother Detwiler or Lester Wilson or many others. I remember one time as somebody they laid their hands on. I preached a message on a Sunday morning at the Gospel Center and nine people came forward. You know the most surprised person in the audience? Me. Me. I was shocked. The power of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ working. And brethren had to come forward and we dealt with those people and people were saved. Now listen, that's something to excite the soul. Would to God we would see that today. We have churches today that a brother and I fellowship together and he's done a large fellowship and he said, we have a lot of people that identify with our fellowship, but sad to say, we don't have many that have an outright conversion experience. It seems to be on the decline. We hear about it in other places. That's something for us to pray about. Something for us to really pray about. Stay active witnessing for the Lord doing what you can. You know anybody can put a tract in somebody else's hand. I do a lot of that and sometimes I get a good response and sometimes you never hear anything about it. Nobody even says anything about it. But don't be discouraged. Keep doing what you believe God would have you to do. I mean the issues that are at stake are too important for us to just sit down and say, I'm going to take it easy and I'm saved and I'm happy in my salvation and I'm on my way to heaven and I'm just going to coast on into glory. Don't let it happen that way. And Peter says, I would not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things though you know them and be established in the present truth. Yeah, I think it need as long as I'm in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. You know, there's nothing wrong with recalling these things. Someone might say, well, the only thing you can talk about is the past and past blessings. Well, if that would be the stimuli to get us to wake up and say what we were doing then, I'm going to do it now. I'm going to get up and turn the telly off and stop looking at all those events on there and I'm going to go out. I'm going out now. I'm not inviting people to come in. I'm going out into the world we live today and I'm going to make a mark for God. I'm going to tell people about the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we're not doing that, I don't think that we're up with what God wills for our lives. And you can sense in Peter, you know, Peter was there. He was there on the mount when our Lord was transfigured there. He had been through a lot of experiences and he had already been informed that shortly I will put off this, my tabernacle. Our Lord had already told him. Somewhere down the line, it may not be too far, he didn't know exactly when, but he said the Lord Jesus had showed him. Same thing happened to the Apostle Paul. He warned Timothy, you know. It won't be long. It won't be long. I see the handwriting on the wall. I am nearing the end of my ministry and service for God. And brother and sister, tonight in this room, not one of us knows when he may say, it's time to come home. It's time to come home. If he called me or he called you tonight, would you be satisfied with your performance as a believer, as a witness to the Lord Jesus? Have you learned all that he would have you to learn of that wonderful, rich experience of being holy and sanctified for God and a mighty witness for him here in the world today? Are you satisfied with where you stand today? Would the Spirit of God speak to us and say, No, I'm not, but I'm making a move. I'm making a move for God. I've just been awakened to the reality of how important it is. Well, that's what Peter, he said, I was an eyewitness of what took place on that mount. Man, it was inspirational! My Lord transfigured right before me. For he received from God the Father honor and glory when there came a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him on the holy mountain. Would you prefer to have a voice from heaven speak to you and say something to you, or are you satisfied with what you have before you, the Word of God? What's the difference? You say, well, that would be an unusual experience if I heard a voice. You know, I would be frightened about strange voices. People have been deceived that heard voices. You know, Satan is a great magician. He is a master of deception. I'll tell you what, this is the Word of the living God. This is an inspired book that we have in our hands. This is God speaking to us. I don't want to run any risk of listening to any strange voices. The Spirit of God spoke to me. Yes, I'm sure the Spirit of God speaks to each one of us, and He uses the Word of God. We worship God in the power of the Spirit of God according to truth, truth found in the book. So when someone says, I would like to hear a voice, the witness of Scripture, I believe, is even more sure than hearing a voice. I've got the Word of God. Do we value it that way? Do we look at it and search it and seek that enlightenment that we need? And he closes with, knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is any private interpretation. Oh, we have the Word of God. I think we need to regard this book very highly. Most of us have a lot of Bibles in our homes. We've got them laying all over the place. We've got them in the back of every pew in this chapel. They get dusty from not being used. So often there may be a book there and that book has never been opened by anyone searching for light from heaven. That's so sad to me. So much that could enlighten the soul and change that life. And there it is. It's like having a cure for cancer. There it is. It's right there. But it's not used and it has no value. You've got to use this book. You have got to take it into your mind, your heart and soul, and the Spirit of God will give enlightenment and help and growth and grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must regard this book as something that is filled with precious promises from God just for His family, for His children. He wants us to use it. I'm telling you, you can trust it. The Word of the living God. A lot of things may come and go, but the Word of God will stand forever. And how wonderful that is. And that's what we have in hand. And that's what we feed our souls upon. The truth that's found in this book, the Word of God. We've got a lot to be thankful for as believers in the Lord Jesus. Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee again for the day we've spent together and for the time we've spent around the Word of God. Use it, we pray Thee, Lord, to awaken us, make us aware of all of the potential that we have for bringing blessing into the lives of someone else. Help us to use the Word, the sword of the Spirit, so powerful. O our God, we thank Thee and praise Thee that we've been included in that number of those that have trusted the Savior and we're on our way to heaven. And as we look forward to that moment in time when we'll be in His very presence, Lord, keep us busy being a good, strong witness for Him. We ask in His precious name. Amen.